A Slow-Burner asks a question

An online Slow Burn advocate sent this letter to me today. I though that her issues might be similar to many of yours so, I figured sharing it might be of help to some of you.

Her email:

Dear Mr. Hahn,

I am a 44-year-old white female. I started the Slow Burn workout about a month and a half ago. I have just in the past week cut all grains out of my diet. Prior to that, I was only eating whole organic grains.

Back in January when I started working out, I weighed 380 lbs. I have only lost 7 pounds since January. I am extremely frustrated because I workout three days a week. I do the elliptical machine for 30 minutes and then do the Slow Burn technique on the weight machines. I was just wondering when I will start seeing some results with the weight loss. My clothes are definitely looser, and I am starting to see muscle tone in my arms again. However, at some point because of how much I weigh, I would think that I would see drastic results on the scales. Do you have any suggestions or comments?? Thanks.

Jennifer P

Here's my reply:

Hi Jennifer –

Great that you started the workout. Let me get right to the point and say that exercise is not the answer to fat loss. Not even close. While I commend you for the effort you are putting in, what you eat is the answer, not exercise. Since you just cut out all grains last week, you will soon see dramatic changes pretty quickly so long as you don’t go crazy with fruit as fruit, like all grains, are carbohydrate. Give me a sample of your daily food intake so I can see if you are on the right track.

 Also, you are exercising a bit too much. Just do the SB workout twice a week (you don’t need the elliptical either but if you want to do it do it AFTER the SB workout) and follow my book as closely as you can.

Make sure to eat a protein rich, low to no carb meal (or better a shake) immediately after your workouts. Don’t skip breakfast on your training days (or ever for that matter).

Drink a gallon of cool water a day and get at least 8 hours of sound sleep.

And remember, you are building muscle too. If you weigh 370 pounds and after a month lose 5 pounds of fat but gain five pounds of muscle, you’ll weigh the same – right? Right. But your in much better shape.

Stay the low carb course and you’ll see much faster results real soon. Just remember that what you eat is 99% of the fat loss equation. Strength training adds muscle which contributes.

 All the best,

Fred

 

Comments

[Fred Hahn]

If you read Dr. Diana Schwarzbein's book 'The Program'

http://www.amazon.com/Schwarzbein-Principle-Program-Losing-Healthy/dp/0757302270

she discusses these issues. The hormonal issues can be good and bad. Too much is not good. Too little has little effect.

Stick to strength training 2X a week. the rest of your exercise should be fun and enjoyable not intense and fatiguing.

[ethyl d]

Okay, in reply to your very helpful answer to my question (thanks), this brings up another question. You said: "You may think it [exercise]calms you or or gives you a second wind, but this is not the case hormonally." Do you have any information or links about what hormonal effect exercise has on the body? I'd be interested in learning more about that. Thanks.

[Fred Hahn]

All aerobic type activities are (or should be) secondary to strength building exercises. Strength building exercises are far more important for general health functionality. So by doing aerobic-type exercises after you spend all of your fresh energy on your strength exercises you'll get more out of your strength workout.

For the record, aerobic exercise is a colossal waste of time if you are strength training properly and consistently.

I recommend doing a total body SB routine twice weekly. You can try three and see how you feel. But you'd better be eating and sleeping right or you'll get run down after a few weeks of this much intense exercise.

Exercise is a powerful stressor. You may think it calms you or or gives you a second wind, but this is not the case hormonally. Too much exercise is not good. The best pick me up I know of is a 20 minute nap.

I hope that helps! Thanks for reading.

[ethyl d]

Fred, could you elaborate on why you recommend doing exercise on the elliptical machine after the SB session rather than before?

Also, this is a question I've been wondering about for a while. In your book you recommend doing SB exercises for the whole body in one session. Is it okay to do just one body area per day over several days? For example, legs and glutes one day, chest and back the next, arms the next,
shoulders after that, and ending on the fifth day with abs? I find I really want to exercise every day after work--it revives me after all day at a desk and gives me a second wind for the rest of the evening. Or should I do a whole body SB one day a week and then just some moderate cardio/calisthenics the other days for a pick-me-up? Or is either way just as effective?

[Fred Hahn]

Hi Lokes - My point was that weight loss can come from fat and lean mass. You never want to lose lean mass when trying to lose excess fat although in the morbidly obese this can happen as someone who weighs in the range of 300 plus pound who is of average height will have more lean mass then they actually need by the time they get down to, say, 140 pounds.

So we tell our clients to focus on fat loss and less on the weight on the scale.

[Lokes]

Is there no relation between fat loss and weight loss? How can both be different? Atleast some weight loss should be there if some fat has burned.
The problem with me is I never get sound sleep. What I have to do?

[Sam]

Most important I'd say is not to watch the scales, but the waistline instead.

She already lost a lot of fat ("my clothes are definitely looser"), but gained muscle mass, so her weight has not changed as much as she would have liked.

The trick: don't watch your weight, instead measure your waistline and see how it will shrink.