Ever increasing waist size

[Yohan]

Because of the nature of my job, I don't do the same things on the same days every week but I currently do:

2 x BJJ classes per week. The classes range from 1 hour - 2.5 hours
3 x Weight training sessions lasting about 40 minutes
1 x Interval training - 5 x 30 second sprints on steep hills

I've been told that 30 minutes of moderate exercise in the morning and not eating for an hour will help strip fat. Anyone know if this is true?

Also, if you do some kind of exercise in the morning, you should eat your breakfast before the exercise, then eat something directly after the workout (preferrably in liquid form), then avoid food for a couple of hours. Read the article to find out why.

[Asriel]

All of this is done in the evenings mate.

I was considering try out the - moderate running and no eating for an hour - thing too

[Odacon]

How many times a day do you eat?

[Asriel]

Today, this was my eating:

9am - Omelette with Salad
11am - Protein shake
1:30pm - Tuna salad
4pm - peppered beef
5pm - Banana

[Jadonblade]

Thats alot of protien!

[Teh El Macho]

See the thing is that modern exercise science has actually shown that an increase in physical activity will lead to an increase in size without controlling diet. It doesn't really sound like you are controlling your diet, so the fact that you are putting on weight does not surprise me.

First step:

Record everything you eat for the next 2 days in conjunction with your workout schedule and post it here. I'll critique your diet.

Here is the article that backs up the claim I'm making about more exercise = more weight gain:

http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/

This is really interesting stuff and if you are working on your diet, it's required reading regarding meal timing and intake control.

So, if without changing my current diet, if I run 8 miles instead of the 1-2 miles a day I do (thus increasing my physical activity), I will increase in size?

ps. There is value in that article, but it has some fundamental (pretty fucked up) flaws. We can discuss this in a different thread, though.

[Teh El Macho]

Asriel,

Waist size can be many things: flab, water retention, heck sometimes a muscular barrel gut under a layer of flab.

Do you know how many calories you are taking?

Do you know how many calories do you need to retain your size, gain size or decrease size?

I strongly suggest you check the sticky thread:

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=61712

and in particular the thread we have on nutrition and supplementation:

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=61083

See the link to the post discussing caloric requirements as well as "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs & Protein Prejudice " by John Berardi (linked also in that thread.)

You need to have a clear grasp on your caloric requirements (determined by your age, gender and height) as well as your daily eating habits. From there, you'll be in a better position to determine what's going on with your body composition and what actions, if any, to take.

-- edit --

I don't know why people don't check the damned sticky.

[jj77]

calories in - calories out = calorie excess/deficit

This is one of the basic truths that we can't change. Our instructors always tell us if you want to lose the weight the intake has to be less than the output. Other factors such as salt, what type of food, how much water you drink and how much do you really sweat ? All the indications you have mentioned show that you should be losing waist size. One mention is if you try and starve your body, it will go into starvation mode and store everything that it can. Reasonable eating, more water and less bread, more fruits and vegies to your diet should work well for you. I personally try and not eat at all after 7:30 pm due to its too close to bedtime and your body has to digest whatever you eat. Protein shakes are good and are also decent meal replacements . If you are still gaining on waist size I believe I would have to see a doctor to find out why

[Cullion]

Today, this was my eating:

9am - Omelette with Salad
11am - Protein shake
1:30pm - Tuna salad
4pm - peppered beef
5pm - Banana

There's no quantities here. It could be a tiny amount of food.

And to reiterate what Macho asked, how do you know that the increase in girth is fat?

[Jadonblade]

Working out your body fat percentage would help alot me thinks.