Losing weight

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Originally Posted by diffusionx

Stop drinking beer or other alcohol because alcohol is very high in carbohydrates.

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Not entirely true. Beer contains carbs and alcohol. Liquor doesn't have much in the way of carbs, but it has plenty of alcohol, and a 7 calories a gram, it's almost as calorie-dense as pure fat.

Anyway, if you decide to work out, try to maintain a low to medium level of exertion for at least an hour. Like someone else said, you don't start to burn fat until you've been exercising for twenty minutes, and if you exert yourself so hard you can only go a half-hour, you're not burning much fat. Also, you need oxygen to burn fat (like anything else), and if you're working hard enough to be out of breath, that oxygen is going to replenish your tired muscles and not to burn fat. A hour a day is best.

Otherwise, don't starve yourself. You'll lose weight, but you'll break down muscle instead of fat and you'll look and feel like shit. The Adkins thing will work (it really helped a lot of my family) but you will go through a period of sluggishness and you will gain the weight back once you quit. It's best kept for absolute fatasses who have no hope of exercising.

Sticking with it is really the hard part. I'm 5'4" 165 lbs. and I pretty much look fine clothed, but I'm really trying to shed a good twenty pounds.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

Yes, I know, I'm a total girl about my weight. I'm 5'7", so in reality no, being 150lbs is not obese. But I don't like the extra weight that I have, and would prefer to be back in the 130-135lbs range. At the size, for my height and build, I look the best.

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At your size it wouldn't be healthy to try any of the extreme diets. You're probably around your optimal weight but losing fifteen pounds shouldn't hurt you as long as you go the reduced calories/balanced meals/low level cardio route.

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Originally Posted by Hero

Dolemite is the man, man. =p

So I have a question - how does someone with hypoglycemia get a good workout without destrying themselves? I'm told to eat more than most, but I don't gain much, and my blood sugar is low, so I can't exactly cut that. I'm just looking to build tone on my muscles anyway, not drop 50 pounds =p

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Lift weights. Start on weight machines if you have access to them, and you should if you're still in school. If not, do some calisthenics - like push-ups, sit-ups and what not. You're a little guy - don't be intimidated by the weight other people can lift, they're not you. And stay far away from the cardio machines (the bikes, the treadmills) until you get a doctor's advice.

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Originally Posted by Hero

So I have a question - how does someone with hypoglycemia get a good workout without destrying themselves? I'm told to eat more than most, but I don't gain much, and my blood sugar is low, so I can't exactly cut that. I'm just looking to build tone on my muscles anyway, not drop 50 pounds =p

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I've had low blood sugar problems in the past, though things have been under control lately. In addition to that, I have a ridiculously bad diet. I rarely eat, and when I do, it's usually instant or extremely poor quality food. Sometimes I'm unsure that it'd even qualify as edible. That, and I smoke a lot more than I should. And yet I'm still able to lift. So you can probably do that. It's a good way to build muscle, and you can feel the change set on pretty quickly after you start doing it. Of course, you'll be insanely sore when you start, if you push yourself to the limits. The thing is, stick with it and the weakness and soreness go away really quickly. Work through the pain. Even if you're relatively weak, you can still lift. Just use small amounts of weights, do as many reps as you can, rest for a bit, then do it again. Find a friend who lifts to help you out, that's how I got into it. Learn some exercises, then you can go on your own when you need to.

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Originally Posted by Grave

Work through the pain.

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I agree with everything you posted but this. In the middle of a set, you need to work through muscle fatigue. That's fine. But if a set of muscles is sore from a good workout for a few days, you need to let them heal. Muscle is built not during the workout, but during the recovery - the point of the workout is just to tear them up so they can rebuild themselves better.

If you're lifting sore, you're cutting off your recovery and slowing down muscle growth. In the extreme, frequent lifting can actually deplete your muscles.

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Originally Posted by burgundy

I agree with everything you posted but this. In the middle of a set, you need to work through muscle fatigue. That's fine. But if a set of muscles is sore from a good workout for a few days, you need to let them heal. Muscle is built not during the workout, but during the recovery - the point of the workout is just to tear them up so they can rebuild themselves better.

If you're lifting sore, you're cutting off your recovery and slowing down muscle growth. In the extreme, frequent lifting can actually deplete your muscles.

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I don't mean immediately after it, but when I began, I was sore for a good week. I felt like I had to go back so I could work on getting myself into a routine. The second time was 4-5 days later, and my arms still hurt, but I was functioning well. Now I'm hardly ever sore after lifting, unless I push myself incredibly hard. I mean, sometimes it's just impossible to. After the first time I could hardly push myself out of bed in the morning, and the ab pain made it hard to even move around. There are times where resting is all you can do, heh.

I was expecting everyone to tell me how I'm going to die in 4 days like everyone else does when I tell them my diet.

I'm disappointed.

That's because your diet isn't all that unhealthy. It's probably not optimal but it's better than what you used to eat.

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Originally Posted by Hero

Dolemite is the man, man. =p

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:D

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So I have a question - how does someone with hypoglycemia get a good workout without destrying themselves? I'm told to eat more than most, but I don't gain much, and my blood sugar is low, so I can't exactly cut that. I'm just looking to build tone on my muscles anyway, not drop 50 pounds =p

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Burgundy basically said it right- just lift some weights. Make sure you stretch and warm up properly beforehand to prevent injuries. Always make sure you do a high-rep warm-up set of the exercise you're about to do as well- like about 15-20 reps. Then, do a few more sets with more weight. Since you said you just want to tone, aim for about 10 reps per set, keeping your form strict. Take the sets until you can't complete another rep without compromising your form. Don't worry about lifting tons of weight, just concentrate on being strict, and make sure you train everything- legs, back, shoulders, arms, chest, abs, etc. Toning up is fairly easy.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

Yes, I know, I'm a total girl about my weight. I'm 5'7", so in reality no, being 150lbs is not obese. But I don't like the extra weight that I have, and would prefer to be back in the 130-135lbs range. At the size, for my height and build, I look the best.

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I'm 5'8" and when I was 160 I looked damn good.

You must be a scrawny bastard. :)

Yeah, pretty much. Back in high school, christ, I was pretty skinny. Right now, I'm actually not bad, I just have a bit too much in a few places. As I said, back when I was around the 130-135 range, that was really the best point for me build. I'm not sure I'd want to go much below that, though, because I'd start getting back to a point where I look "skinny" instead of "normal." (Normal for me, at least.)

I'm 5'8", and I'm at 170 :(

In high school I was 125... it's like I'm carrying a midget wrapped around me.