One of the reasons I was considering the Zone Diet is because it explains exactly what to eat and when to eat it. I already lost over 20 pounds, just from watching what I eat and exercising.
Congratulations on your weight loss, great job. A job well done!
A little about me:
I am 43yrs old
6’ 2”
215 pounds
My goal is to lose 15-20 pounds first then gain muscle. I would like to lose my love handles and just be stronger in general.
I train in CKM (Commando Krav Mega) at least twice a week. This, by the way, is a very intense workout. And I work out at the gym another 3 day’s a week. So I work out 5 day’s a week. I feel that I have made some very significant gains over the past 8 months.
I think now with a more structured workout and diet, I can shed the last few pounds and make some real muscle gains.
What is you have been doing to solicit the 20 pounds of fat loss, if you do not mind me asking? I assume this has been a self-designed program? Or is it a mirror of some other type of program? Is fat loss continuing or has it stopped? 20 pounds of fat loss spanning over a period of 8 months ....is a more than reasonable period of fat loss. What has your strength/muscle improvements been like?
Do you have the money to hire a trainer? If you do, I have a couple of persons I can recommend. I will inform you through a PM.
So… My question now is.. With all of the information on nutrition, just how granular do I have to get? Do I really need to educate myself on macro nutrients? Do I have to know the difference between poly and mono fat? Or could I just stay away from saturated fat?
If one were to go on their own, the degree of education required can be higher, and the
extent in which this education is applied, can vary on the persons goal, and position within that goal (such as trying to get to extreme low body fat as compared to simply losing a few pounds of fat tissue).
There is no doubt knowledge of the calorie and macro nutrients are important. They are important for general tissue gain/loss, and health in general. My opinion, is yes, you need to self educate yourself on macro nutrients and calories, on your spare time, whether you do or do not get a trainer (or follow a structured program). This will enable you to assist your health (attempting to eat more healthier), and to identify bull-sh^t, when you read diet and fitness material, and refine issues within your goal quest.
I understand what you are saying. Some persons need a guideline or a well designed and structured program to follow, because it suites their lifestyle (considering time constraints, etc), then taking the time to develop one on their own (because this can take some time in developing dependent on level of education within diet and fitness), when they have the money to do it. Some simply need guidance and structure like that.
The zone diet isn't a bad diet approach on its principles. But really, we all have diets, its just that a lot of people attribute the word diet to meaning one eating to support adequate tissue loss (or something similar).
How you approach your eating habits and become accountable to what you eat to support tissue loss, is really an individual issue. I get quite extensive and involved in my nutrition and fitness training. However, the extent in which I do (which is near obsession), is not required of someone else.
The bottom line is developing a personal eating pattern that is most acceptable to you, supports your goal, and most importantly, enables you to be consistent, and allows you to maintain what you had lost when you are finished.
There is going to be "a degree of education required" (about yourself), tissue loss, and fitness training, if you decide to go on primarily on your own without a personal trainer/nutritionist. Basically you become your own personal trainer/nutritionist (by acquiring education), and apply these in ways that would most benefit you, and most importantly, work within your lifestyle, personality, and variables only you know best.
But if you’re like most people wanting to lose fat tissue, you need to be aware of how much you’re eating, and to keep this process as...simple as possible or simply attempt to get it at a level that will work for you.
If their is a structured and well designed program which outlines healthy dietary guidelines (specifically for you and your personal goals, or can be modified to allow for your personal variables), than there is nothing wrong with this. It will take some of the pre-construction time out of it, and good programs like this exist. Some simply need a structured format like this, because of having complications on designing their own.
I was considering ordering P90X, it seems the reviews are very good and it comes with a structured diet and workout routine. I would be happy to hear any comments on P90X.
Sorry for the long post. Hope you can make some sense of it.
Thanks again
Its seems a lot of people get the idea, that one has to primarily weight train to lose tissue and/or stay in shape, etc, etc. Well, dependent one's personal goal, this is simply not the case.
One of the highlights of this program (of what limited knowledge I have of it), is that it focuses on "expending high amounts of energy" in a series of fitness exercises. Coupled with a diet supporting proper tissue loss, this is very "beneficial" toward the application of fat loss. Additionally, it doesn't really require fancy equipment, so on base principle.....its not a bad program. I actually like the body weight and "expending high amounts of energy" focus it provides. Primarily because when losing tissue "expending quality energy" is critical for fat loss, and it does focus on that.
Best wishes,
Chillen
