Low fat and low cals

[JBoxHero]

Ok I'm not like super fat or anything I'm like 16% but I want to lose some fat on my face and make even less on my stomach, I know theres no spot reduction but how do I lose face fat? Should I burn more calories then I take in or start having really low fat?

Im kinda wondering what the difference is between low fat and low cal diets basically, and alos wondering what to do about face, even though it's probably genes and I'd have to get REALLY skinny to lose it (which would suck)

can someone help me for eather question?

 

[JBoxHero]

by the way im new hi everyone lol

 

[artrius]

At its most basic level, to lose weight, yes, you must burn more calories than you consume. Fat has more calories per gram (9 food calories per gram) and that, I think, was the rage with low fat diets.

Your best bet is a low to moderate carbohydrate type diet. Of course, you need to consume less calories than you burn. Overdoing the calorie cutting will be bad in the end, as you will end up destroying your metabolism and losing muscle.

Diet is the most important to this. Then cardio.

 

[artrius]

Oh, and by the way, the difference between low fat and low cals is just that... low fat diets have little to no fats in their diet. I'm pretty sure most people on this board would agree that this is BAD. Its a good idea to get rid of trans-fatty acids and limit saturated fats, from the diet, but cutting out fats entirely is a very bad idea. Do a search on EFAs, omega-3s, or dietary fats and you'll probably see what i mean when you read some of the posts on it.

Low calorie diets, at any rate, cut back on total energy intake, whereas low fat diets cut back on fat consumption. When the normal consumer sees "Fat Free!" he or she normally thinks it is healthy. This is not always the case; it will more often than not be loaded with simple sugars. In other words, low fat diets do not necessarily cut back caloric intake, which is essential for fat loss.

 

[Millie]

To lose weight, you need to lower your calories, so regardless of what macronutrient ratios you choose, you will always be on a lower cal diet.

What is your diet like now?

For the face, you could try Yohimburn, there are quite a few people here on the boards, who have used it on their faces.

 

[onerepmaximum]

Unless I'm very lean, it looks like I have fat under my chin. You're right, you can't spot train, just lose fat and it will go from everywhere. I agree with what was already posted about paying attenction to calories and not fat or carbs. Try to keep a ratio of about 40% protein and 30-30 for fats and carbs. That's a good general rule.

 

[bran987]

For the face, you could try Yohimburn, there are quite a few people here on the boards, who have used it on their faces.

that's what I was thinking.. if you're lean everywhere else but you're face.. you could try this as an expensive last resort.. I've never used it though

 

[JBoxHero]

To lose weight, you need to lower your calories, so regardless of what macronutrient ratios you choose, you will always be on a lower cal diet.

What is your diet like now?

For the face, you could try Yohimburn, there are quite a few people here on the boards, who have used it on their faces.

keep in mind im not trying to lose weight really, just lose some extra fat.

right now i have this cereal that is 12 grams of protein in the morning (Hi-Lo) lunch i eat a really lean-meatty sandwich with wheat bread,
then i come home and have a 6gram of fat steak or chicken burrito
then sometimes some whey protein
then whatever is for dinner, usually chicken or something. Sometimes when im out with friends we get fast food though, i try not to get to much of it.

i dont do any aerobics really, but i workout biceps forearms back and triceps on monday wed fri and abs inbetween, im 6' tall and 160 pounds

 

[JBoxHero]

oh and ive heard of this 40 30 30 stuff before, does that mean 40% of your grams of food a day should be protein and the rest the other things?

 

[artrius]

Well, Losing fat almost always means you're gonna lose weight. Its possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, which you then might be gaining weight, but to try and do both at the same time is normally very difficult to do. At least, very difficult to do effectively. If you want to lose fat, you must burn more calories than you consume, however you do it.

 

[Millie]

Well, with this workout routine you have and your diet, don't expect much to happen.

You have too much processed food in there, you need to clean up your diet, regardless of how much you want to lose.
And you need to change that workout, doing only biceps, triceps, back and abs is not enough.
Are you in high-school?

 

[JBoxHero]

what processed food do you mean? i know cereal is almost always crappy but its pretty much just a protein and fiber tpye, other then that i dont know what food you mean.

and yeah all i have right now to workout with is some dumbells, and a bench with an attached preacher curl, so i cant do squats or anything, and i dont have a rest to hold the weight so i cant do bench press (i really need to get one somehow), but i do like 5 sets of pushups for triceps which gets chest kinda.

how should i chagne my diet?

 

[ProtienFiend]

your best bet would be to peruse the forums for a bit and gather some dieting knowledge to arm yourself with... come up with a simple routing (pullups, situps, pushups, iso-squats, etc..) and a good diet.

did you ever think of getting a gym membership?

 

[Millie]

processed food in what you have listed:
- cereal
- bread
- burritto
- fast food

If you want results, you have to eliminate these from your diet.
If you keep them and just lower your cals, all that will happen is that you will most likely lose a quite a bit of muscle.

 

[JBoxHero]

wait why would eating stuff like whole wheat bread make me lose muscle?

i thought about going to a gym but the price wasnt really worth it, and i might start working out at my friends home gym anyways

millie can you tell me what exactly is wrong with those things? i know when they process stuff they do some bad stuff to it,but i didnt know it was that bad, what exactly DO they do?

 

[Millie]

no, no, whole wheat bread per se is not going to make you lose muscle.
when losing weight in general, your body breaks down both muscle and fat for energy. thus the idea is to try to maintain as much muscle mass as possible and primarily lose the fat. eating clean foods is a good way to achive this goal.

as far as processed food, Daisy_girl gave a very good explanation in another thread recently:
"Processed foods are NOT a good idea for pre-training....processed foods usually contain chemicals and/or ingredients that our body cannot use appropriately. This means that they will not be effective in giving your body energy to train.

Clean foods are easier for your body to use, therefore will be more effective as pre-workout foods.

No matter WHAT your goals, cleaner foods are better than processed...no ifs ands or buts about it. Stick with rice, potatoes, oatmeal, cream of wheat for carbs."

 

[bran987]

millie.. out of curiousity.. what's processed about a chicken burrito (besides the flour tortilla?)

 

[ProtienFiend]

millie.. out of curiousity.. what's processed about a chicken burrito (besides the flour tortilla?)

not much...

but the flour tortilla is bad enough!

 

[Millie]

bran, are you talking about a home-made one or a frozen one from the store?

for home-made, you can make it pretty healthy, depending on what you add to it.

for the freezer ones, pretty much everything about them is processed. they have to last a longer time, so they are loaded with chemicals to keep them fresher.

 

[bran987]

well I meant for instance there is this place here called Chipotle

the flour tortillas they make the burrito in are well.. flour tortillas.

but they stuff them with black beans, different kinds of rice, grilled veggies, chicken, fresh salsa, fresh guacamole and stuff like that

 

[Millie]

it really depends on how fresh all the ingredients are, and how they cook them. i am guessing that a lot of the ingredients come from a can.

personally, if cutting, i wouldn't consider eating this.

 

[JBoxHero]

yeah thats sort of what im trying to do. and yeah i am in high school so im not sure about bringing potatoes to school and stuff, right now i just have turkey breast sandwiches. If i rip off most of the flour (which i always have done) does that help much? Man I hate how high schools don't sell anything good, the sandwiches they sell are like 5 bucks and its just a bigger version of what I have, besides that they only sell crap.

 

[bran987]

yeah thats sort of what im trying to do. and yeah i am in high school so im not sure about bringing potatoes to school and stuff, right now i just have turkey breast sandwiches. If i rip off most of the flour (which i always have done) does that help much? Man I hate how high schools don't sell anything good, the sandwiches they sell are like 5 bucks and its just a bigger version of what I have, besides that they only sell crap.

yeah bro, rip off all the flour you can. you know what you should be eating and what you shouldn't be, I know the pain of paying $4.99 for a sandwich in a pinch and then throwing away everything but the meat!!!!!11

it's what us hardcore folk do, feel priviledged, not ripped off.