Survey on clothing sizes

by | Feb 5, 2013 | How Your Body Works, Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Another comment I made on a forum post regarding clothing sizes

 

Hi Ann,

You’re right it does have many variables. The clothing industry basically abandoned the standard cloth-sizing agreement in the 1980s. What used to be for instance, a size 10 became a size 4, size 14 became an 8, size 18 became a 14 and so on.

How much weight you lose to drop a dress size however depends on how big you are to start with. It’s probably easier to understand if we start from the smallest size. Imagine a stick-thin model putting on a few pounds, she would probably shoot up one or maybe even two dress sizes through only gaining, say 3 or 4 inches around the waist and bust combined. At the other end of the scale dress size could be hardly affected at all even with a loss of 20 or 30 lbs, that’s for someone over 250 to 300 lbs of course.

If you look at the official figures on the old standard, dropping from a size 12 to a 10 which is a modern 6 to a 4 would have meant a combined loss of 3 inches in total from the bust, waist and hips equating to a loss of 10 lbs. Remember back then of course it was considered that shorter people were going to be generally smaller. I think that was based on the average woman’s height at the time being 5’4″. At the other end of the scale someone who was a size 50 would have according to the clothing manufacturer’s standard of the day, being around 5’6″ and in order to drop 2 dress sizes, they would have lost 15 lbs and 6 inches around the bust, waist and hips combined.

The thing is as much as for the ladies and the men, those sizes have changed so much over the last 30 or so years that they don’t mean a lot at all anymore. I shop between four different countries, the sizes the manufacturers chose relate very much to the demographics of the population they serve. For instance a large T shirt bought in the UK would be an XL T shirt for the same size in France and an XXL for the same size bought in Italy.

So the bottom line is really, it’s not what size clothes you’re buying that matter so much, its how looser the clothes that you bought last time that’s what gives me the thrill.

Hope that helps,

Mark

 

Taking measurements

by | Feb 5, 2013 | How Your Body Works, Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

A copy of another comment on a forum post regarding body measurements

 

Hi Mark,

I would actually use three lots of measuring methods to gauge how well my body shape is changing, obviously the scales although they are known for not telling the truth all the time, and then measuring.

This is how I advice people to measure:

 

Let’s start with the men first:

– Around you neck where the shirt collar would go.

– Around your chest, just under your armpits more or less at nipple level.

– Around you stomach at the largest part.

– Around your upper arm at the largest part but without flexing your muscles and keeping your arm straight.

– Forearm at the largest part with your arms straight and again without flexing muscles.

– Your thighs at the largest part and do take time to measure each leg separately and also around the calves because some men do put fat on around the calves.

 

Now the ladies: They have a little bit more to measure. Ladies measurements are:

– Again, around the neck where the shirt collar would go.

– Around the chest or bust and it’s important to keep the measuring tape parallel with the ground. Probably the best way of doing it is measure around just under the bra and exhale; you want this measurement to be as smallest possible in order to retain the accuracy. Measure your bust as well by standing straight with your arms at your side and measure the fullest part of your bust preferably while wearing a bra and again make sure the tape is parallel to the ground.

– Then the upper arm at the largest part of the arm without flexing the muscles and the arm is straight.

– The forearm, the largest part of the forearm with straight arms and without flexing muscles.

– Then the waist ideally at the smallest part but you need to be the judge of that. The secret is to keep the same place each week.

– The stomach which is normally a little bit lower than the waist, again at the largest part.

– Hips, at the level of the hip joint or the largest circumference of your hips.

– Thighs, at the largest part of each leg again measured separately.

– Calves, at the largest part of each of your calves.

 

Those are the areas of the body both for men and women that will show the greatest change due to fat loss and a change of muscle tone.

The bottom line is the more places you measure the more indicators you’ve got of a change of body shape. Different areas of your body will change size at different times depending on the quality of the underlying fat but also the type of exercise that you’re getting as well.

One last thing that I always recommend people do is when they first start on an effective diet like low carb is to put on the snuggest outfit they’ve got and on the same day they measure, get it out and see how loose it’s starting to get.

So there are three ways that you can see how well you’re doing and encourage yourself from week to week. Oh yes, only do this once a week by the way, any more than that is just a waste of effort.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Low Carbs and Post Workout Muscle Fatigue/Soreness

by | Feb 5, 2013 | Exercise, Low carb diet, Questions about low carb, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Below is a copy of the comment I did on a forum post about a low carb question

 

Hi Siltz,

I switched to low carb during my time as a body builder and I actually found that after I’ve got into ketosis I actually had more energy and less fatigue such that I cut my session time down from just under an hour and a half to between 25 and 30 minutes doing the same number of reps with the same weight and in fact the gym instructor used to follow me around because he couldn’t believe what I was doing in the time I was doing it in.  I think if he would’ve had his way, he would’ve had me dope tested.

The only thing I would say the quality of protein that you are taking if you’re doing any form of serious exercise has to be high. I know a lot of people resort to whey protein shakes but I would tend to steer away from those because of the other ingredients they contain, things like soy and various artificial sweeteners.

Honestly the best protein you can take if you’re exercising to that sort of degree is good old fashioned grass- reared beef. I also agree with Doug wholeheartedly, you should give your body time to rest and also make sure that you’re not just drinking water but remember to make up the salts, literally with salt but don’t forget to dose up with potassium as well.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Mayonnaise?

by | Feb 5, 2013 | Food Choices, High Fat Diet, Low carb diet | 0 comments

Here is a copy of the comment I made on a forum post about mayonnaise

 

Hi Jay,

I also agree with “nette and Buttoni as well. Home made mayonnaise can be done quickly and easily and you don’t even need a blender. I do it the old fashioned way. I just take a big bowl, crack into it 1 egg yolk then with a whisk whisk that up thoroughly and then as I’m whisking I slowly drizzle in ground nut oil as I find that gives  a lovely taste. Keep on adding oil until no more will mix in and then add 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of cider vinegar and voila…. you have a typically French mayonnaise!

You can also use lemon juice if you want to change the flavor slightly and I have to say it’s much better than shop-bought, oh yes and it keeps well as well but only if people don’t see it sat in the fridge then it doesn’t keep at all.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Protein shakes??

by | Feb 5, 2013 | Artificial Sweeteners, Low carb diet | 0 comments

This is a copy of a recent comment I made on a post about protein shakes

 

Hi Jez,

There are of course a huge range of protein powders available on the market and all of them do have quite high protein content and there are some that only use whey as the source of protein which is obviously good and I would totally agree with Janet, don’t take anything with soy protein. It interferes with the way our body works on so many levels. It really should carry a health warning.

The only problem with commercially made whey protein mixes is that they do contain a lot of artificial sweeteners. When I say a lot I mean a lot, things like dextrose, maltodextrin, sucralose, sucrose and so on. So while you might be getting your protein you’ll be getting lots of other things that you don’t really want.

You can of course make your own protein shakes which you can base on nice full fat raw milk. If you want something thicker you can use yogurt or green yogurt, add to that some cottage cheese mainly because that contains the protein casein and some lauric. You can add to that something like some sort of nut butter, peanut butter for instance or even almond butter. Now with those ingredients you could literally put everything in the jar and shake it up but if you want to add some low carb fruit or something like that, I would suggest you use a blender to make the mix. Now as it is like that it won’t be very sweet so if you’re looking for something sweet add some Stevia or a good quality stevia extract and voila… you have your home made, ever so tasty, guaranteed natural protein shake!

Hope that helps,

Mark

I need some advice on dieting. I have been looking at several diets?

by | Feb 4, 2013 | Diet, Low carb diet | 0 comments

Another comment of mine on a forum post about dieting over at Yahoo answers

 

Hi Jeanie,

Well looking at what you’re doing as far as activity goes, you’re already doing a lot more than most people to keep yourself active. Going to the gym once or twice a week plus a daily walk and one or two bike rides a week for a whole layer, you’re doing very well actually as far as activities go.

With that level of activity I would suggest you try the Atkins diet that is low carb with high fat and a good percentage of protein. The books are inexpensive and easy to follow and the more closely you follow the method as set down in the book, the greater you will find your success and quite often you’ll find the books in a library as well if you don’t want to invest in one for yourself although I would strongly encourage you to try to do that.

Your doctor by the way is in error. Whilst the body may be able to store certain things over the short term it cannot do so over the long term. If you’re not getting enough nutrition, then your body will start to use every resource it can. If these were not the case, then you would not see emaciated people on the news when they’re reporting about famines; that is just plain obvious. I would however concur that it might be better for you to eat more than one meal a day.

So well done for doing the amount of exercise you’re doing but please do look seriously at properly doing a low carb diet as I think that will help you address many of your health problems.

Cheers,

Mark