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Setting the Record Straight

A lot of doctors, nutritionists, specialists, professionals and gurus preach to people on what’s right and what’s wrong. Everyone has an opinion and everyone has their own methods of approach. My approach is to guide as much people as I possibly can to a healthier lifestyle.

The transition into this lifestyle will not be easy, but with practice comes perfection; and perfection in this specific case might take years. I have researched, practiced, experimented (on myself) and experienced all the methods that I will be providing this blog. Whatever I will be providing has taken me 7 years to accomplish. However, the more I know, the more complicated it gets, which is where you differentiate the men from the boys.

My posts will start from scratch in order to welcome all beginners into a healthier lifestyle. Blogs will provide anything and everything that has to do with the world of health and fitness. I’ll also be reviewing restaurants whilst giving recommendations on what to eat and what to avoid. Moreover, I’ll be reviewing nutritional supplements.

Lastly, free free to to ask questions in regards to health and fitness, which will be answered at a separate Q&A post.

Here is to a healthier lifestyle and a new beginning.

Posted by Fahad AlYehya
Core Fitness – Kuwait

57 replies on “Setting the Record Straight”

I’m a 163 cm female, weighing 103 kg.

What exercise should I be doing at this point to start a weight loss program? I have visited a nutritionist and will be following a diet.

Any supplements to recommend? Apart from the excess weight, no other health problems.

@JellyFish I’m happy you decided to do something about your excess weight. You are well over your ideal weight by 40kg and I hope you take the time and patience to lose it all Ensha’Allah.

In regards to your questions, I wouldn’t recommend you start exercising and supplementation just yet. Approach this in stages:

Stage One:
Start a diet plan and let the low calorie intake do it’s job (this stage usually lasts 4-8 weeks depending on your metabolism).

Stage Two:
Start exercising 3 times a week for 30 minutes once weightloss has slowed down or stopped. Specifically, fast-paced walking for 30 minutes. You may increase the number of days once weightloss slows down or number of minutes. Do not go over 60 minutes of exercising per day.

Stage Three:
Supplement with a fat-burner, starting with a low dosage and gradually increasing. It’ll take you 3-6 months to reach this stage, as fat burners are mostly used to squeeze out the last layers of stubborn fat you have left.

I don’t know what your nutritionist gave you, but a lot of females tend to over diet, which causes hair-loss, anemia, skin, bone and nail problems. I would normally recommend women to supplement with a mult-vitamin/mineral once a day, calcium/zinc/vitamin D, iron (at times of blood loss) and flaxseed softgels.

Lastly, don’t forget to hydrate yourself with water throughout the day.

Hello Fahad,

I am 184cm male my weight is 104KG now. I Don’t eat much I try to avoid Fatty food. Still my weight is the same I have been seeing a doctor since 3 months now and My doctor prescribed me Reductil 10mg. for some reason I don’t lose weight easily. It took me 1 month to lose 1.5kg only.
I am doing exercise like 30minutes of cardio and light workout.

I don’t have any health problems else than being overweight.

@mansoon If you’re bodybuilding nutritional plan is in order, I’d suggest Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey Protein.

1) Contains various filterations of whey protein to ensure a full spectrum of amino acids (isolate, concentrate and glutamine peptides).
2) Contains Aminogen, an enzyme that ensures optimal amino acid uptake.
3) Instant mixability and fair taste. It doesn’t taste like a Johnny Rocket’s milkshake, but it doesn’t taste bad either, and it mixes easily.
4) Affordable. Doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg to get a month’s supply.

Be sure to mix it with water and not milk. Store it in a cool dry place(room temp) away from sunlight and humidity.

@JellyFish My pleasure. Please don’t hesitate to update me if any overcoming obstacles come your way.

@Max Personally, I don’t like appetite surpressing medication. I teach my clients how to deal with their hunger naturally; I never recommended Reductil to anyone and never will.

Since I’m limited to only the information you gave me, I’ll have to go on a whim and say you’re most probably lacking nutritionally, i.e. your diet isn’t working for you.

What about loosing Extra Weight in a way that will not make me gain weight again ?

when i ever i loose weight and gain it back with eXtra… 🙁

my life sad stoy

Please Advise

@Phil that blog is for entertainment purposes only buddy 😛

@Tariq This will seem ironic to you, but your actual problem is weight loss.
Weight is composed of muscle, water and fat; and when you focus on losing weight then you’ll lose all 3. If you want permanent change, then focus on losing the fat. Scientifically speaking, weight takes a mere 2 days to put back on, while fat takes weeks if not months to gain.

To Fahad,

Im a 17 year old male, living abroad who weighs around 62KG and has a height of about 175cm…ive been trying to GAIN weight(muscle) for the past 3 months but have a problem doing this.

I eat alot of healthy food, take a mass gainer and go to the gym 3 times a week.

how can i gain weight instead of just maintaining it?

Dear Fahad,
Great idea, if you dont mind I want to share my story.
I started a new life style 8 years ago, that resulted in me completly stopping all soft drinks and candy snacking. I was on a strickt diet for over 3 months, meaning very little carbs and alot of basic food. Home mad non pre made packed food.
It resulted in me loosing over 15 kg = 3 months. No exercise other than my studies and work on the side. This was in Norway. From beeing a junky on Coke Cola and chocolate bars… I regained my health, energy and mental fitness. The Kg was not my goal.. more my health.

Sugar was killing me and making me very depressed. Something that helped me was a mineral called Crome, it took away my craving for sweet stuff. After the 3 months I could not eat a piece of chocolate wihtout feeling overwelmhed from the sweet taste.. discused.

When I came to kuwait 6 years ago , I found it hard to maintain the healthy lifestyle, because of stuff avaible in the shops. Hard to cook also away from home. I lost it a bit, but still do not touch any soda since 8 years.

If I was to give any advise from all of it, stay away from all “candy stuff” if God didnt make it, dont eat it.. If you can give it to your dog og plant why would you eat it..?? Try to give your plant coke and see what happends.

I would like to ask you if you know of a good Yoga place with evening classes?

Thank you

Thanks fahad.
and according to max, i am against diet or weight loss pills as well, and i talked about the side effects in my blog.
I also talked about the ways to increase metabolism, so i advice you to read it coz your main problem mightbe a slow metabolism, unorganised meals and timing of meals, specially that your are dieting and not losing…

@3aziz Weight-gain or fat-loss are NEVER impossible to accomplish. I believe that everything can be achieved if approached with the correct methods.
So far, I’ve established that you’re young and below your optimal weight, which I assume means your metabolism is very high. Nutrition is more than a healthy diet and a weight gainer. Here are a few tips to help you gain weight:

1) Eat a large breakfast EARLY! (Upon Waking)
2) Eat every 2-3 hours. Don’t skip a meal, especially in your case.
3) Eat 5-7 meals a day:
*Breakfast (7-8am)
*Mid-Morning Snack (10-11am)
*Lunch (12-1pm)
*Pre-Workout (2-3pm)
*Post-Workout (3-4pm)
*Post-Workout Meal(5-6pm)
*Dinner (9-10pm)
4) Workout Insurance: Eat or drink before and after your workout.
5) Stay hyrdated. Muscle cells expand with water.
6) Get your 7-9 hours of sleep. Muscle grow with rest. Weight-lifting only tears down the muscle for repair.
7) Make sure each meal has the 3 macronutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and fats, in equal amounts, i.e. don’t load up on carbs because you love french fries.
8) When your weight stops, increase food accordingly to your meals, i.e. an extra portion of meat, 1/2 cup of rice or a tablespoon of Olive Oil.

@d’fine Your question is pretty general, so I’ll try my best to answer it.
Not everything is good or bad for you; too many veggies can be bad for you and a little coke can’t really hurt you. You have to learn how to balance these things out in your life and by the looks of things, it seeems like you’re trying to split hairs.
I always tell my clients that simplicity and moderation is always the answer. When you go to a certain extreme, you will rebound back harder to where you were 8 years ago, and this is what happens to strict dieters.

In regards to Yoga, I don’t know a gym that does any, but I do know an expert of that practice.

@eatlikemira I definitely agree with you.

@Laila Hey Laila, the Paleo diet is (in my opinion) and improved version of the Atkins diet. It contains essential animal proteins, green veggies, fruits and fats, excluding starchy carbs, refined sugars, grains, legumes, dairy products, salt and some fatty meats.

I do advise and use the Paleo diet myself and to clients from time to time. What I mostly like about it is the lack of allergen foods (foods that cause allergies). With the exclusion of the foods I’ve listed above, majority of my clients witness a significant decrease in skin problems (acne and/or eczema), loss of excess water weight, stability in mood levels, and digestion problems.

Yes Laila, I do recommend it.

I have a problem. Ever since I started a new part time job and stopped going to the gym (due to the lack of time) back in June 09, it seems like most of the fat I’m consuming seems to end up in the buttocks area. It’s gotten to the point where every part of my body looks slim except that specific part. It’s making me feel insecure and it’s really bothering me (I’m a 21 yr old male and I shouldn’t be feeling like this! 🙁 ). I’m planning on quitting my current job in a few months and joining the gym again, but for the time being, what are the most important things I should do to burn the fat in the buttocks area? I started jogging and power walking for 40 mins every 5 days in a week, what else should I do to see quicker results?

Hey Fahad,

I weigh around 82 Kg, and im 182 cm tall. How much daily protein intake do I need for muscle growth?

I used to workout 5-6 days/week and have been off gym now for 2 weeks but considering going back.

Also I am against anything not natural so please dont advise me with the Whey Protein and Amino 666 and all the supplements 🙂

@holla Appreciate your kind words 🙂
@Elegant Chic Glad you’re interested!

@123 KDD I’m going to be approaching this scientifically so bare with me:
Males tend to accumulate fat around the waist and females in their lower bodies. Assuming that your body isn’t accustomed to fat storage in that area:
1) You’re at an age where your body starts to define the speed of your metabolism; unfortunately, it didn’t go well for you.
2) At the age of 21, your hormone levels are at their peak. When those hormones are wasted on doing nothing, they convert into estrogen (a female hormone) which signal your body to store fat in those particular areas.
3) Don’t quit your job! Try as best as you can to MAKE TIME! You don’t need hours upon hours of endless workouts. A maximum of 1 hour per day 3x a week is optimal to get you back on track.
4) Before you start with #3, you need a nutritional plan which I will be talking in depth in future posts.

For the time being, eat breakfast very early, snack every 3 hours and cut carbs after 6pm. Power walking is great, and stay away from any bicycles or anything that resembles the movement of one.

I hope this helps buddy. Best of luck!

Hi Fahad 🙂 Good to see you getting more people healthy. Godspeed to you man. Would like your opinion on something. Do you prefer doing cardio first and then hitting the weights or vice versa? I prefer the latter. Curious to know yours. Cheers.

@Sheriff Hi Sherif
I’d normally recommend 1.5 x your lean bodyweight in pounds.
Assuming you carry 12% bodyfat, your LBM is at 158lbs, multiplied by 1.5 which equals 237 grams of protein per day. However, protein is a mere factor in a larger equation to gain muscle:
Proteins & Fats are the true muscle builders while carbs fuel the process (more on this later), which means you need all 3 macronutrients to grow.

Let me throw in a few facts about protein powders and you decide:
Protein powders are derived from milk. Milk contains casein (slow acting) and whey protein (fast acting). Casein is used to protect current muscle while whey is used to build new muscle. In order to obtain these types of protein for active use, manufacturers filter out the fats and carbs from the milk.
In terms of whether it’s natural or not, the majority of protein powders are actually much more natural than KDD Full Cream Milk. Milk isn’t supposed to last more than a few days, so how can KDD make it last for 6 months?
Think about that buddy 🙂

@Reno I’m glad to be here providing optimal alternatives to a healthier life 🙂

In regards to your question, cardio post workout is your best bet. Your body uses up any food you have consumed first, then you’re fat stores second. You need those nutrients to help fuel your workouts in order to build more muscle. When you have completely depleted your nutrient stores (an average of 30 minutes of intense weight-lifting activity), do a few abdominal exercises and any cardiovascular activity to further boost fat-burning.

Heads up: You will feel less energized when you do your cardio after a weight-lifting session. Our bodies are not accustomed to using fat stores as sources of energy.

Goodluck Reno!

@Ali Just to be clear about a few things, I’ll be focusing on muscle-gain (not weight gain) and fat-loss (not weight loss). Huge differences between the two. I’ll be sure to include informative posts about both those subjects.

@J Done.

@Mathai Appreciate your support 🙂

@mansoon Health Planet at Soug Sharg or Mall 360.

Hello Mr.Fahad, I am a 25 year old male. My weight is 82kg and my height is 184cm. I am trying to build muscle. I split my workout schedule into 3 days.

Day 1 – Chest, Tri, Shoulders

Day 2 – Back, Bi

Day 3 – Cardio (15 mins), Abs, Legs

My question is, is the workout above sufficient if i want to build muscle?

Thank you

@Mr.Mo

Yes, it’s possible to build muscle on a 3 day schedule (assuming your diet is in check). This split is a lot better:

Day One (Sunday): Chest / Shoulders / Triceps / Quads / Crunches

Day Two (Tuesday): Back / Biceps / Hams / Traps / Leg Raises (for lower abdomen work)

Day Three (Wednesday): Repeat Day One

Research a technique called “Doggcrap Training”. Apply it to the muscle groups above.

Lastly, exercise is only 20-30%. Nutrition and recuperation represent 70-80% of the any fitness process.

Thank you Mr. Fahad for your reply I appreciate it. May I just ask why the split you gave me is better? In what way or in what sense is it more effective? The split I had was according to push and pull muscles (day 1 working the push muscles and day 2 working the pull muscles)

Another question I have is I want to do cardio but I’m not sure of how much I should do because if I do too little, the belly fat stays, if I do too much, that could burn my muscle. So how do you know how much cardio to do?

Thanks again, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into answering our questions Mr.Fahad.

@Mr.Mo My split is thr exact same as yours, I only included quads with push group and hams with the pull group.
The split I proposed makes you hit each muscle every 3-5 days, which means more stimulation for muscle growth. You need that much stimulation since you’re only workout 3x a week.

The split you proposed will workout each muscle every 7 days and I’m willing to bet you’ll recover in less than 5 days which gives your muscle more time doing nothing.

Be sure to take every set to absolute failure.

Since too little cardio won’t do anything and too much cardio will flatten out your muscles, moderation is key.
You may either do cardio immediately after your workouts for 30-45min on low intensity speed (speeds 5.0-6.0) OR 45 minutes of cardio on non-workout days, also on low intensity.

What I mean by low intensity is to keep your heart rate under 130bpm and above 120bpm (beats per minute). Calculate your heart rate by placing both your index and middle fingers below your jaw (the area below your ears, on your upper neck) and count how many beats in 60 seconds.

Hey Fahad,
I go for KDD because i like kdd taste and not because of the nutritional facts they have listed on the side 🙂

Well maybe ill give it a shot and see if it taste any good the whey protein 🙂

Hey Sheriff,
KDD tastes great and I’m sure everyone agrees. You may also thank its high sugar and fat content for that great long-lasting flavor :P.

I’m not saying don’t drink KDD, but when comparing apples to oranges, they are all essentially the same. Anything processed or refined is considered unnatural.

I see what you mean Mr.Fahad and I agree with you. With my older workout schedule, I was only working a muscle once every 7 days and i guess if my goal is to build muscle I will have to train it more frequently.

I’m sorry to ask you so many questions, but if you could, I have two more questions I’d like to ask you.

1. What’s the difference between doing cardio before a workout and after a workout?

2. Is it better to do high intensity cardio for a shorter time rather than low intensity for a longer time?

Thanks again.

LOL…Well good we agree that they taste great and I dont mind the sugar and fat in there that gives the taste. At least dont have to suffer anymore with ABC.

Well ill give the Whey a shot, since I saw it somewhere in the house before 🙂

Hi Fahad,
I just wanted to say how happy I am to hear about people like your self who are putting so much or their own time and effort to promote healthy living in Kuwait.
Im currently part of a huge project that inshallah everybody will hear about in the near future, that is about promoting healthy living in Kuwait.

If you have time (or any about reading this who has the time) could u please help us out by filling in the 1 minute questionnaire.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFZ6TjNKSHM4LTlfYjNsVWZHLVhXZnc6MA

Thank you and looking forward to reading your posts 🙂

Mr. Mo, Ask away 😉
1. Cardio after your workout assures that you burn fat for fuel and not the food that you ate.

Scenario #1:
Let’s assume that you ate lunch 2 hours before your workout. You went to the gym and did 30 minutes of cardio first and it was easy. After that, you did 30-45 minutes of weight training which was hard. What happened? You burned all those calories consumed at lunch doing cardio. When it was time to build muscle, you had no energy (food) to support muscle growth.

Scenario #2: You ate lunch 2 hours prior to working out. You went to the gym, warmed up on the bike for 5 minutes. You then hit the weights and you had a burst of energy for 45 minutes. After, you did 30 minutes of cardio which took out all the energy you had to spare. What happened here is that the food you consumed went to muscle building. Once you finished, there was no food/nutrients to spare, so your body had to use bodyfat in order to fuel your cardio.

2. It’s true, but I prefer low-intensity for a longer period of time(45 minutes MAX). Personally, high intensity cardio takes the fullness out of my muscles, which is what I don’t want to happen. I want to be able to maintain my muscle mass and a low body fat. However, your body may react differently.

Sheriff, More than glad to help buddy :).

Dana, Thank you so much 🙂 I’ll be sure to fill in that questionnaire now.

Hi I am 32 years old and 103kg i go to the gym evey morning day for an hour and i do weight training in the evening i walk on the treadmil for 15min i have cereal with skim milk for breakfast and a grilled chicken quater chicken for lunch no chips and no fizzy drinks for supper i have about one cup of rice with meat and some veggies all prepared with olive oil but im only loosing 1 kg a week i thought it would be more than this as i need to lose a considerable amount of weight by end of March 2010 Please Help!!!!!!

santa maria salim hassim,

1kg per week is a healthy decrease in weight per week, but I do agree with you; you should be losing 3-5kg on your first week then average about 2kg per week for about a month or two. In regards to what you wrote, I can locate your current diet regimen problems:
1) You eat 3 meals a day
2) You include carbs for dinner
3) You concentrate more on weight-lifting rather than cardio

#3 is causing your body to recompose, meaning your switching fat into muscle which is why your decrease in weight is very slow.

Try this out for 2 weeks and email me:
Upon Waking: 500ml of water
Breakfast (10-15min later): 1 Red or Green Apple followed by 2 scrambled eggs

In between: 500ml of water

Snack: (3-4 hours later)
15 pieces of raw almonds + 1 teabag of Green Tea

In between: 500ml of water

Lunch: (3-4 hours later)
Skinless Grilled Chicken (2 breasts or half a chicken), 1/2 cup of white rice w/ green veggies (lettuce, parsley, broccoli, cucumbers, green peppers, anything green) and 1 tbsp Olive Oil and 2 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar

In between: 500ml of water

Workouts (3 hours after Lunch):
1 teabag of Green Tea 30 minutes prior to the gym

5 minutes of warm-up on (treadmill or eliptical. Avoid bicycles if you have a lot of lower-body fat)
30 minutes of weight-lifting. Make sure it’s fast and intense, no talking or chatting w/ other people
30-45 minutes of cardio (treadmill: 1 min on speed 5, 1 minute on speed 6, then repeat)
1 liter of water throughout the workout (yes I’m serious)

Dinner:
Lean red meat, green veggies (same dressing as above), no carbs whatsoever.

Hope this helps!

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