Am i losing body fat?

Specialbear · Tue, February 17th, 2004, 05:02 PM

Ok, when i was 15 i weighted like 230. After dieting and maintaining for a while i reached 160 this summer. Now deciding to bulk up, i weigh in at about 178 and can finally bench 200lb!!! Weirdly however, i weiged 178 for lik e the past month, and a mont ago my max was about 130. I have noticed motible gains in other excersizes, (shoulder press, squat, biceps, triceps). Can i assume then my muscle mass went up, and bf went done b/c weight is equal?

marcus · Tue, February 17th, 2004, 06:47 PM

Hi specialbear,

Great job in going from 230 to 160

You can get great gains in strength without adding any muscle mass. Your central nervous sytem adapts to the stimulus by activating an increased number of motor units at any one time. And by increased neural drive through an increase in firing frequency of motor units. You also get imporved coordination and increased condfidence that helps you lift heavier.

You could have put on muscle and lost fat and hence no weight change. Its for this reason that its not good to judge your progress by your weight. Record girth measurements and your bodyfat% percentage to work out your lean body mass. If your lean body mass rises you know you are putting on muscle.

Keep it up.

Marcus

Specialbear · Tue, February 17th, 2004, 09:02 PM

thnx a lot for encouragement man. My goal is 250 by the college year ends (June). Is 50 lbs asking for too much?

Two Step · Wed, February 18th, 2004, 08:10 AM

Well, for the sake of easy math, lets just say its March, that means you have all of March, April, and May - to meet your goal by June 1. So say you have 12-14 weeks to reach your goal. Once you start a fitness program and flush a bunch of excess water weight and toxins out of your system ( this is the reason people experience a lot of weight loss early on) it is pretty much impossible to lose more than 2lb/week and still maintain lean muscle, adequate levels of hydration, and your sanity.
I would say that realisticly you could lose about 25 of those 50 by June. If you stick to a strict diet/exercise plan. Which is GREAT !!
I think that getting rid of 50 lb in that short a time (in a healthy way) is just not going to happen.

GOOD LUCK

marcus · Wed, February 18th, 2004, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Specialbear

thnx a lot for encouragement man. My goal is 250 by the college year ends (June). Is 50 lbs asking for too much?

Yeah bump on what Two Step said. It may take a bit longer to reach your goal but you easily save time by hanging on to your muscle mass and you have a better chance of keeping the fat off in the long run.

Marcus

Specialbear · Wed, February 18th, 2004, 11:25 AM

lol, my bad.

I currently weigh178. My GOAL is to bench 250 by june and i am on200.