All this drinking, sitting on my a$$ all day in my cubicle, and eating mostly fast food for lunch is really taking it's toll. I'm about 5' 6-7" and 185 lb at the moment. I'm looking to start running again and slowly make my way up to about 5 miles a day. How much weight should I expect to lose in a 3-4 month period with a better diet?
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How much weight can I expect to lose from running and a better diet?
- Thread starter jtvang125
- Start date
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
WTF are you babbling about? He's not going to lose muscle from running.
Fingolfin269
Lifer
Uhh.. do you know what you're taking about? Do you think that all weight loss is fat?
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
Yes, yes I do.
Fingolfin269
Lifer
Wow. I'll just leave it at that since I don't feel like getting into it.
OP, you will lose muscle if you 'lower your diet' and just run. You will also lose fat but you will lose more muscle this way than you would if you were also lifting weights in combination with your cardiovascular routine and a better diet. BTW, 'lowering your diet' should not simply be watching caloric intake. You need to be smart about what you eat as far as protein/fat/carb proportions go.
No, you don't 🙂 He will indeed lose muscle. How much depends on his diet, his overall physiological condition and a bunch of other factors. For the most part, it's simply impossible to lose fat and not some muscle, and it's equally impossible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Losing fat is catabolic; gaining muscle is anabolic. If you force yourself into too large a caloric deficit you will lose muscle mass.
His best bet is to better understand what his caloric needs are. Simply saying, "I'm going to run 3-5 miles a day!" doesn't help. If he works out too long, operates in too large a caloric deficit and has a poor diet he'll lose a lot of weight, but a lot of that will be muscle.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
No, no he won't.
wheresmybacon
Diamond Member
best thing for him to do is eat clean, get on a strength training program, AND do cardio.
and yes, you will burn lean muscle from distance running. if you didn't, don't you think pro bodybuilders would do nothing but distance running when they cut?
wheresmybacon
Diamond Member
this is correct
AbAbber2k
Diamond Member
It's almost impossible not to lose muscle mass on a weight loss routine. :roll:
That said, a healthy amount of weightloss is around 1lb/week or 4-5lb/mo. About a 500+ kcal deficit per day (1lb is 3500kcal). Also, you can limit muscle loss, to an extent, by increasing your protein intake and lifting.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
You're welcome. 😛
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
:thumbsup:
Koing
Elite Member <br> Super Moderator<br> Health and F
Forget weight loss. You don't want to be 160lbs and a stick. You want to be 175lbs and somewhat muscled.
2lbs a week is what you should be getting at least until you drop 10-12lbs imo.
Weight training will put muscle on to you. The running will lean you out. So your 'overall' weight loss will be skewed.
Aim to be ~ 170lbs with a bf% of around 14%. You could be 155lbs depending on what sort of build your aiming for.
Koing
2lbs a week is what you should be getting at least until you drop 10-12lbs imo.
Weight training will put muscle on to you. The running will lean you out. So your 'overall' weight loss will be skewed.
Aim to be ~ 170lbs with a bf% of around 14%. You could be 155lbs depending on what sort of build your aiming for.
Koing
It helps to know about how many calories your body needs to maintain its current weight, and how many calories you are eating each day. Weigh yourself first thing every morning, and record it. You can track everything you eat on this website:
fitday
You can find an estimate for your body's maintenance level of calories here:
BMR Calculator
Eat the same amount of calories every day for a week - use the number given in the calculator above. Track your weight first thing every morning. If after 1 week you have not lost any weight, reduce your daily total by 200, and eat that much for the next week. If you still haven't lost anything, reduce again. Keep this process up until you are averaging about a 1 lb./week loss. Of course this isn't all going to be fat, and like others have said, you would be better served by doing a weighlifting program to minimize muscle loss, but that is an entirely different topic.
Honestly, you don't have to do any cardio to lose fat, although it would certainly help. Short, intense sessions are preferrable to long, slow ones.
I think one of the big reasons people don't see results with any type of body-recomp program (gaining muscle and/or losing fat) is because they have no clue what they eat and never track it, when in reality that is the most important thing of all. You really have to track everything for best results.
fitday
You can find an estimate for your body's maintenance level of calories here:
BMR Calculator
Eat the same amount of calories every day for a week - use the number given in the calculator above. Track your weight first thing every morning. If after 1 week you have not lost any weight, reduce your daily total by 200, and eat that much for the next week. If you still haven't lost anything, reduce again. Keep this process up until you are averaging about a 1 lb./week loss. Of course this isn't all going to be fat, and like others have said, you would be better served by doing a weighlifting program to minimize muscle loss, but that is an entirely different topic.
Honestly, you don't have to do any cardio to lose fat, although it would certainly help. Short, intense sessions are preferrable to long, slow ones.
I think one of the big reasons people don't see results with any type of body-recomp program (gaining muscle and/or losing fat) is because they have no clue what they eat and never track it, when in reality that is the most important thing of all. You really have to track everything for best results.
imported_Stew
Golden Member
My dad just started walking 2 hours a day plus a really healthy diet, and has lost about 30lbs in a couple months. (Went from 230 to 200)
AbAbber2k
Diamond Member
Everyone has some amount of muscle mass. When you're in caloric deficit all the time, the chances of you being able to repair and rebuild that muscle drops. But like I said, those effects can be buffered with a significant protein intake and a little strength training (in conjunction with cardiovascular/aerobic training).
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