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Nutrition Kettlebells and Body Fat

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Abdul-Rasheed

Abdul-Rasheed

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Folks, I did a bodpod test last week and the body fat number came out to be 24%. I am a bit surprised that the number is a bit higher than I expected (especially when the electronic device or caliper at the gym always gave me the body fat of around 21-22%). I have been doing easy strength training last year and half or so using kettle bells and barbells. I feel stronger. The back pain, shoulder niggles all disappeared. The joints feel absolutely fine. However to my disappointment, there is no improvement in body composition. But, am I correct in reading that, strength training, at least in my case did not really result in fat loss? Perhaps it is my age (43)? No, I am not the elite who uses heavy weights. I am only a beginner in strength training. No, I do not have a baseline body fat number to state this for sure. As for the next obvious question, about my diet, I like to say, it wasn't horrendous all along. Generally clean; I never counted calories though. I conclude then, what is needed to improve my body composition is to count calories going forward in addition to the training. I am really thinking about a four week cycle of keto diet and then followed by a caloric-deficit diet paying more attention to the macro nutrients, particularly the carbs. Your thoughts.
 
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The pain disappeared. The joints feels fine. You feel stronger.
This is a great achievement, and this is what you should celebrate.

A few years ago, I told people to stop worrying about their weight, and think more of their body fat. Now, I would tell them not to worry too much about their body fat either, as long as they eat relatively clean. We have entered a new area when everybody is thinking too much about ciseled 6-pack and 1 digit bodyfat. If we saw more often how athletes look in off-season, maybe we would worry less. :)

For sure, at 24% (still pretty close to the 21-22% you thought you had), you can lose some fat. But it is not dramatic either, as long as you keep improving other (more important) parameters. If it still bothers you, I would not suggest to count calories, but to try one of the many diet out there.
At the moment, for practical reasons, I am following a near warrior diet (I still have breakfast, but I eat mainly at dinner, and may just have some fruits for lunch, if anything). Works fine for the past few months, I lost some kg, and still managed to increase strength (thanks to Brett Jones SFG prep program...). I still do not count calories. And still drink my beer/wine every evening. :)

By the way, I have no idea what my bodyfat really is. A rough estimate is 15-20%. You see, not very precise. :)
 
Body comp will be a lot more about your Calories in/Calories Out. Start an honest food journal and you may be surprised that you are taking in more calories than you think. That would be my guess.
 
@Abdul Rasheed: you very likely eat more, or less well, or both, than you need to. You are exercising regularly, and for most people, most of the time, body composition changes are mostly about diet, not exercise.

Of course, I could be wrong, but the above is really where it's at for most people trying to lose weight. Start with keeping a food log - write down _everything_ you eat, and when you've got a week's worth or so, post it here if you don't mind. There are online ways to do this, e.g, fitday.com is one that I remember.

As you investigate your diet, remember that it takes a long time to get used to eating less, usually at least a few weeks, and during those few weeks, you're likely to be hungry.

There are many proven diet plans out there - ketogenic diets in various forms, intermittent fasting diets in various forms. At the end of the day, you need to change what you expect to eat and what you're used to eating.

I have always enjoyed the Warrior Diet - it's a good read, and a fine place to start.

One last thing - Easy Strength is designed to be done every day or almost every day; if you're not doing that, you're better off with another approach, IMO.

-S-
 
@jef True, a lot to be thankful about. Thanks for driving my attention tot the positives :) As for body fat, my goal is somewhere to be in the range where you are in 10-15%. This thread (What is really the ideal body fat percentage?) had some good discussions. I found this http://www.precisionnutrition.com/w...utrition-cost-of-getting-lean-infographic.png in there and i realized that I am not willing to (nor do I need to) make the sacrifices needed for the single digit body fat. Per that image, 15-20% *is* healthy. 13-15 is healthy. 10-12 is healthy. 6-9 is healthy. All with different cost factors. But >20% is not healthy.

@MikeMoran, @Steve Freides Thanks. I realize the importance of diet for fat loss. I plan to keep a food log going forward, to try to watch what we eat, starting Monday 7/10. And, I will post in the forum somewhere, as a separate thread.
 
@Abdul Rasheed , the key for most people is to find a sustainable diet. With the food log, you are on the right track to identify the little things that keep you above 20% and implement something that works long-term.
In my case (we are all different), I found the quasi warrior diet good for controlling what I eat. But everyone has to find its way.
Of what I observed around me, and people who had success, all kind of diets worked. It was more the control people put on their eating that worked that the diet per se.

15% is a reasonable and achievable goal. You'll get there.
 
Thanks @jef. If you look at me I don't look overweight. Some friends think I don't have to worry about diet. I always thought just focus on strength, and keep a general clean diet (80%) and fat loss will take care of itself. But that idea didn't work for me. Perhaps I haven't progressed enough yet (the weights that I use are not exactly heavy yet), to make that conclusion. I do not know. In any case I am going onto a more watchful diet.
 
5 days a week is fine; my memory is that you haven't been able to do that. 5 days a week of the same handful of lifts every day. It is not the only approach but its success depends on frequent practice of the same lift.

@jef, I would be careful with phrase "sustainable diet." I know what you mean, but my experience has been that many successful diet plans don't feel sustainable for the first weeks and require a period of time in which to adapt. JMO.

-S-
 
Yes, I understand your point.

It needs to be precised.
When I say sustainable, I mean that after a few weeks of adaptation, when it can be difficult, it becomes easier and does not really require a lot of effort anymore.
If I take the example of the warrior diet: first few days/weeks, you probably feel hunger at lunch time. Then it is becomes easier to fast until evening. Drinking a glass of water may be enough to distract hunger. Then you do not even think about food in the day. You can keep this diet for a very long time. It has become the normal way of eating.
It does not mean that it easy when you start.

I oppose it to these diets that are by design short-term. You do it for a limited period. Useful for very overweight people who need a breakthrough fast. Often counterproductive to slightly overweight people who often experience a yoyo effect.
 
OK - for 3 days a week, I would program differently. Easy Strength is for almost every day, i.e., could be 6 days a week or even 7 with a rest day every now and then.

-S-
 
My two cents, for what its worth - the type of calorie DOES matter. I never understood the 500 calorie a day deficit. Example - I eat a balanced diet of 2500 calories. I switch to 2000 calories but it all comes from donuts, muffins and cookies. do you think I will lose weight? highly unlikely. The biggest contributor to obesity, general unhealthiness - sugar. My approach is to cut this out and it seems to work for a ton of people.

as Dan John would say - more protein, more veggies, more water
a few things I generally recommend to those looking to drop some body fat, and that I think fit into your goals @Abdul Rasheed :

1. cut out all calories that come from liquids. no pop, no high sugar fruit drinks, etc.

2. limit yourself to 3 meals a day with no snacks - if hungry in between meals, a few nuts like almonds will suffice. (I will highlight this suggestion with the fact that I very much believe the less meals the better in order to moderate blood sugar spikes - see the works of Dr. Jason Fung for more)

3. limit your intake of ADDED sugars to <35 grams a day for a male. Please remember the added part and do not worry about normal sugars, such as those found in fruits.

Going straight to no carb diet might be difficult; not saying impossible, but it is quite an aggressive approach if you currently eat it with any sort of regularity as most of us likely do.

The above suggestions are not at all meant to be taken as a hierarchy, a progression or any of the sort but simply approaches that may not put such a dent in your lifestyle. All suggestions have worked for myself in reducing my own body fat comp, and for others as well.

Also please keep in mind that I don't follow my own advice - I have wine with dinner most nights and never say no to a beer or two after a senior league baseball game. I do not, however, ever have pop or fruit juice.

lastly - I am not a nutritionist or registered dietician, nor do I play one on TV
 
@wespom9 thank you for chiming in!

1. "cut out calories.." Good point. I have been following a, what I call "clean" diet last several years. I do not touch any of those colored drinks except very very rarely.
2. "limit snacks" This, I have to pay attention to. It was always 3 meals (sometimes 2) for me however I have no clue about the snacking I do.
3. "limit sugar" I was always aware of sugar and stayed away from it however I do not thing I was as strict as needed.
4. "low carb diet" I have been on on low carb diet in the past..and was conscious enough to eat low carbs as much. However how strict, how effective, I do not know.
I know as many of you told me already, the food log will help with all these 'doubtful' items mentioned above :) A few months of food log, should teach me something, and after that I hope to reach a state where I no longer need it; I should automatically know when I pick any food, a rough idea of its contents, calories, macro nutrient percentage etc.
 
Did you ever track your calories?
It really helps to do it for 3-4 weeks to get an idea about the amounts that you eat.
Even eating clean can make you fat. I had to talk to my parents about that. They started to eat clean for two reasons: Health and fat loss.
So for example instead of bread buns with jelly for breakfast they ate oats with milk, curd, berrys, fruit and nuts - clean and healthy food. But a bowl of this was like 800-900cal.
 
@Kettlebelephant no, I never done it; I always thought i cumbersome and unnecessary. I learned only late, what you said. It is good to do the calorie counting to increase my awareness. I am starting a food log starting tomorrow, I have installed myfitnesspal app. We shall see how I fare :) Thank you.
 
Abdul Rasheed said:
Folks, I did a bodpod test last week and the body fat number came out to be 24%. I am a bit surprised that the number is a bit higher than I expected (especially when the electronic device or caliper at the gym always gave me the body fat of around 21-22%). I have been doing easy strength training last year and half or so using kettle bells and barbells. I feel stronger. The back pain, shoulder niggles all disappeared. The joints feel absolutely fine. However to my disappointment, there is no improvement in body composition. But, am I correct in reading that, strength training, at least in my case did not really result in fat loss? Perhaps it is my age (43)? No, I am not the elite who uses heavy weights. I am only a beginner in strength training. No, I do not have a baseline body fat number to state this for sure. As for the next obvious question, about my diet, I like to say, it wasn't horrendous all along. Generally clean; I never counted calories though. I conclude then, what is needed to improve my body composition is to count calories going forward in addition to the training. I am really thinking about a four week cycle of keto diet and then followed by a caloric-deficit diet paying more attention to the macro nutrients, particularly the carbs. Your thoughts.
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Thanks Abdul to discuss this topic in this forum.
The Kettle bells are not only one of the most effective adaptable pieces of equipment; it's also one of the most suitable. If you're tight on time, or looking for a fast workout you can do anywhere with minimal stuff, all you need is one bell.
This is very effective for back pain, shoulder niggles all disappeared.
 
@Abdul Rasheed in all candor, this is an old discussion with you; but you are not alone in persistently banging your head against the wall and making little-no progress. That you started a new thread does not change the game.

"If you continue to do what you have been doing, you will not lose body fat."

"Wanting to change" and "wishing for results" is not the same thing as "affecting change" and "seeing results".

You are not unhealthy, but you are carrying a bit of the visceral body fat that tends to be associated with health problems. Vanity aside, you have reason to gently nudge your body in the proper direction. If you choose to beat it into submission, you will likely fail.

1. be honest with yourself about wanting to change your lifestyle; not wishing it were so, but wanting it to be so
2. reduce all controllable stress; your body will simply not give up visceral body fat in a stressful environment (save for starvation)
3. maintain an honest foodlog
4. adjust intake based on results, or lack thereof
5. train your aerobic system; you are not 20yo and/or your metabolism may be dysfunctional; strength training alone will not find "you" results (see #1)

It is fantastic that we have online forums and social media will all sorts of anecdotal stories. If the social norm does not work for you, you need to individualize your approach.
 
To add to @aciampa's excellent message, I would like to pick up on his last sentence, "you need to individualize your approach."

One aspect of this might be deciding that how much bodyfat you carry right now is actually OK. There are many factors - stress and diet to name two - that, besides exercise, can make a difference. It's perfectly OK to say something like, "Hey, I'm supporting my family, I'm being a good parent to my children, I am strength training and getting stronger, I'm eating the best I can right now, and I'm OK with not looking like a bodybuilder." Sometimes giving one's self permission to be where you are and to understand why you're where you are - sometimes these are the most important steps that need to be taken. If you can make progress with body composition, great, but I have seen you in person and no one I know would describe you as overweight - you're just not as svelt as you might like to be, but the people in your life are very happy to have you, anyway, I'm sure.

If you want to change something about your body composition, be prepared to feel hungry some of the time, and start keeping a food log.

JMO, YMMV.

-S-
 
Aren't caliper test +/- 3% and those electronic devices about 5%? I'm not sure about those bodpods but with those electronic devices dehydration can cause a much higher BF%.
 
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