What does the scouter say about his power level?

[aLuko]

its. ITS! eh, a couple hundred at best...

Hey everyone, just wanted to introduce myself. I've been browsing around this site for a couple weeks and decided its time to become more of an active member. lol

I'm a 2d/3d animator in Dallas, TX For the past 9 months I've been doing the Spartacus workout I found from Men's health.com without getting the results Ive really wanted. I've put on some muscle but not lost any of the weight I set out to. Actually Ive put on a few...

So here I am to hopefully jumpstart my fat-loss goal! I'd like to cut my BMI in half in the next 6 months. Right now I weigh about 200lbs and my BMI is at 30% according to some online calculator. So if my math is right, I need to lose 30 pounds. Also, I'd like to be able to do 10 pull ups!

For the past couple weeks Ive been easing myself into the paleo diet. I've already lost a few pounds, but i think its still too early to know if its from my body freaking out, "Where the hell is all my pasta!?"

Anyone else out there following the paleo diet? What was your experience when you made the transition?

[Junglizer]

Hello and welcome! For starters, lets clear up a few things.

1) BMI isn't a very good way to track health and progress. Here is some information on it's various shortcomings. A much better solution is to use body fat percentage. This brings me to my next point.

2) Don't use pounds as your only factor. Like you've mentioned you've seemingly gained weight not lost it. Go pick up a scale for 30 or 40 bucks at Walmart that does body fat percentages. Everyone knows the old adage "muscle weighs more than fat" right? So don't use the scale as a guide to weight loss. You're looking to change your body composition, i.e. more muscle less fat, rather than what you weigh.

Pull-ups! That's a great goal actually, somewhere around here is a forum section entirely dedicated to that.

Paleo: I'm just switching to it right now, along with several of my friends that are doing the slow-carb/comparable diets. It's been good to me so far, though it's only been about a week and a half. Everyone that I know to have followed it rather strictly, has greatly improved their overall health and lost weight. I'm a pretty skinny guy and I'm trying to add muscle, but have chosen it as a diet/lifestyle to stay healthy, as well as the science behind it (food absorption/nutrition) makes a lot of sense.

Once again, welcome!

[NorthRoad]

3) Stop reading men's health, it's the same information over and over again. ( yes they post some research now and then but that's hardly worth the money ).

4) You find lot's of information here for free

welcome to the forum !

[aLuko]

Wow, thanks for clarifying that. I assumed BMI and BF% were the same thing lol. I'll check out those scales.

NorthRoad: Yea I just took their workout. I dont read mens health regularly. I've learned more here in a couple weeks than I have other places in months!

[Junglizer]

Make sure you write down what you measure. A scale that's 40 bucks isn't going to be amazingly accurate, but the ability to measure changes is still there. The key is consistency. Don't freak out and weigh yourself too much, because it's natural for your weight to fluctuate. Once or twice a week is good. Make sure it's the same time of day each time also, this way things like water weight won't vary so crazily. Write it down, and you can track it over time. That's really what it's about. Taking down your measurements, waist, arms, thighs, etc.. is also good, this can often be a clearer way of determining weight loss.

[Junglizer]

This is the scale I've got. Nothing amazing, but it does allow you to set up a profile and target weight. You can save your changes each time you weigh in if you want.

[aLuko]

Got that scale last night. I'd like to revise my goal to be focused on reducing my bf% from 23 to 10 in six months while minimizing losing muscle mass as much as possible. I plan to do this by continuing eating paleo, and following my body wieght exercise routine (MWF Squats, push ups, pull ups, planks, and some dead lift with dumb bells with HIIT jump rope and walking on Tue Thur Sat) to retain and strengthen the muscle I have now.

Does this sound like a reachable goal and decent way to achieve it? I'm not to sure about what an average rate of fat loss is or much about ways to keep from losing muscle too.

[Junglizer]

I think that sounds like a great goal. Make sure you're taking in enough protein to maintain your muscle mass.