Thread: My introduction, and a question

Hello all:

My name is John and have been in the boxing game for 42 years, my father started me when I was 5. I have been training fighters for over 20 years, and have produced 5 golden glove champs, one of which was Kevin Coles from Clairton in 1994. Kevin lost in the Nationals to Antonio Tarver, a split decision that many felt Kevin won.

Anyway, my daughter has been in and out of gyms with me now since the time she was born, she is 16 years old. Lianne, my daughter hits like a truck, and I predict she will be champ one day. My question however is this:
She weighs 200 pounds, she is thick, not obese or fat. She is shedding inches, but not pounds. She does not eat red meat, well seldom does I should say, and she trains everyday. For the past three months, she missed one day in the gym, and she runs 2 miles every morning during the week, and 5 miles on Saturday and Sunday, what I call a boxers jog, slow paced...

She does her crunches and pushups religiously also. Why is she losing inches but not weight? I realize that she is building muscle, and that muscle weighs more than fat, but good lord, the pounds should be comming off....Any suggestions?

My website is www.clairtonboxingclub.com
I have just recently finished the ring, and all of the gym has been redone, I will update photos in the near future. Thanks all, and I love this website, will be a regular for sure. Good job !!!!

Originally Posted by Abaddon

Hello all:

My name is John and have been in the boxing game for 42 years, my father started me when I was 5. I have been training fighters for over 20 years, and have produced 5 golden glove champs, one of which was Kevin Coles from Clairton in 1994. Kevin lost in the Nationals to Antonio Tarver, a split decision that many felt Kevin won.

Anyway, my daughter has been in and out of gyms with me now since the time she was born, she is 16 years old. Lianne, my daughter hits like a truck, and I predict she will be champ one day. My question however is this:
She weighs 200 pounds, she is thick, not obese or fat. She is shedding inches, but not pounds. She does not eat red meat, well seldom does I should say, and she trains everyday. For the past three months, she missed one day in the gym, and she runs 2 miles every morning during the week, and 5 miles on Saturday and Sunday, what I call a boxers jog, slow paced...

She does her crunches and pushups religiously also. Why is she losing inches but not weight? I realize that she is building muscle, and that muscle weighs more than fat, but good lord, the pounds should be comming off....Any suggestions?

My website is www.clairtonboxingclub.com
I have just recently finished the ring, and all of the gym has been redone, I will update photos in the near future. Thanks all, and I love this website, will be a regular for sure. Good job !!!!

Can't really help with your question mate - but I'm sure somebody will shortly

But just to say and have your first

Welcome to saddoboxing John. Anyways I have a few ideas in regards to exercise and diet that may help pull your daughter out of that rut.

First just to get some things straight I need you to answer a couple questions. Does your daughter do any supplemental strength training such as weights? This not counting the typical boxing stint. This is just to rule out if your daughter is gaining more muscle which is preventing her from losing weight.

On another note I should say that a lot of people's bodies differ by their natural makeup, needs and reactions to certain diets and exercises. There's about 3 different categories of bodytypes that people fall into. Extomorphs which account for people that are have narrow shoulders, lean, and in general have a hard time building muscle. The second kind may be category that your daughter falls under. The second category is Mesomorphs, this body type is generally bigger, stronger, easier to gain muscle but on the flipside have difficulty losing weight/fat. I don't think that I'll have to go into the third category which differs from the two before mentioned.

Anyways some people's bodies have unique tendencies and needs that must be recognized for in order to know how to deal with them. A lot of the mesomorph sort of people in general have a body that hoards onto the fat produced by carbs. Reducing carbs can help as long as the body is getting enough. You experiment with reducing your daughter's daily amount in her diet, and record how her body reacts. You can not cut too much carbs from your diet because then your body would have to convert protein into energy and your body would also produce harmful toxins. A lot of people have done well to increase the amount of protein in their daily dietary intake. Protein takes more energy to burn, it's essential and there's an amount that your body needs. It'd be a good idea to find out how much protein that she needs.

Another thing that should be noted is eating balanced meals. If you eat too much carbs, or eat too much in general a few detrimental things will happen. For one you're causing a big insulin spike, which leads to more more carbs and fat to be stored as body fat. A big meal also sets you up for a big let down later when your blood sugar drops.

Even if she's working extra hard it still wouldn't be a good idea to to eat big meals. The effects are still the same, for example look at a lot of the guys in the NBA, they burn thousands of calories on the court, but the gorge themselves eating, this causes their bodies to hoard onto those extra carbs and fat.

Do you follow?

What would be then better is eating more smaller portioned meals throughout the day. Your body would get what it needs without putting it into storage. Getting enough protein in those meals are also necessary. This will also keep you from getting frequent cravings that is a result from lower blood sugar levels.

Some obvious things that should be taken to mind is gradually reducing the amount of calories during the day. This would mean eating smaller lean portions, and cutting out any junkfood for the most part. Don't be too strict with the diet, at least one or two days a week it is necessary to eat more carbs to maintain your leptin levels. Leptin is our body's antistarvation hormone that that sends signals to the body saying that we're getting enough to eat. A higher amount of carbs one day a week will maintain the leptin levels which will prevent your body from going into a fat hording survival mode. Some other obvious stuff is to stay away from junk food such as saturated fats, trans fats.

I hope this helps, next I'll go over some exercise ideas...

I got stuff to do so I'll go over some exercise ideas later. If you got any more questions don't be afraid to shoot.

Hiya:

Yes that gave me a lot to think about. I have my daughter on a low fat diet, her diet is shredded wheat for breakfast, low fat soup and a chicken or turkey sandwhich for lunch, and chicken or tuna with veggies on the side. No junk food at all, and for a snack she eats fruit and an occcasional protein bar. She also eats some fruit between meals.....

That's a good start but think what else can you do to improve it? I mentioned the importance of protein and that it takes more energy to burn it. You don't want to cut too much fat out of your diet but you want to stay away from bad fats. For fats if you can get your daily need from fish and nuts that'd be perfect. Anyways here why don't I show you what my diet for today looks like:

6:00 am, Breakfast:
-3 scoops of oats, half a cup of milk mixed with 4-5 strawberries, a handful of blueberries and crushed flaxseed.
-1 scoop (18 grams) of Whey Protein
-1 glass of distilled water or half a cup of orange juice
-Multivitamin supplement

6:30-45 am, long walk followed by a light core workout.

9:00 am, Brunch:
-Protein shake: 2 scoops of Whey protein w/ glass of distilled water/ice, with almond oil.
-1 WA. Delicious Apple

11:45 am, Lunch:
-Tuna sandwitch (serve on whole wheat bread)
-1 poached egg

1:00 pm, Roadwork (more than every other day)

2:30 pm, Meal 4 (pre-workout):
-Protein shake
-Lipo 6 (caffeine supplement)
-Ginseng and Royal Jelly Supplement

4:00 pm, Workout.

5:45 pm, Dinner:
-Salad with veggies,
-grilled chicken sandwitch
-1 scoop of Protein

If I'm hungry after dinner I may have something light to eat such as a piece of fruit, or some yogurt/cottage cheese, but never after 8:00 pm.

I haven't added it all up yet but by the end of the day I'll know about how much calories, protein, carbs and fat that I've taken in. Knowing this I can always adjust it accordingly depending on what my body needs, and how it's responding.

Does this mean you have to be meticulous about it, no but it helps. You at least need to know what your body's needs are and have a ball park figure when it comes to how much of what you should be getting. Now you don't need to have a bunch of protein shakes like I do, if you'd like to prepare something else that's fine, I just do the shakes thing because it takes just 1 minute to have it all whipped up and doesn't take me long to drink.

You still need need to live and learn and find out how much you or she needs, and then establish a plan that works around it. This allows you to adjust the diet to reach your goals. Now if you are carrying around some extra weight weight yourself some of the things that I have outlined will help you bigtime.

With this all you're not going to lose all the weight over night, the first few weeks you'll burn the visceral fat which lies in your muscles. This will make the muscles appear to become smaller while in all actuality you're not losing any muscle at all. Later you'll burn the fat that covers your muscle which will give you a more defined lean look. Also in general upper body fat is burned before lower body fat, I can't explain why, it's just how the body does things.

I gotta get working now, I'll definitely go over some exercises later.


Peace...

Sounds like she is an endo/mesomorph and is probably at her natural healthy training weight.

One way you can check for sure can be a little expensive but was worth it for me - I saw an anthropometrist.

He measured me on body fat percentage scales but since they can be out by a bit he also measured me with those tong thingies (sorry can't think of the name right now) and measured many points to get an idea of my bone structure.

I was trying to make weight at 54 kg and hold it and making myself sick. Found out my minimum healthy weight is 55 kg. I may be able to get down to 54 kg for short periods of time without adverse effect but holding it too long is dangerous for me.

He could tell me what it was safe to aim for and how to do it with minimum risk. Bone structure is unlikely to change and you can measure muscle mass on some body fat percentage scales so I don't think it's something you need to do again often.

I found when I did force the weight down to 54 kg my body fat percentage went UP!!!! I lost muscle, my body went into starvation mode and wanted to store fat. Training became harder and harder and my performance suffered.

I'll also add I think this is MORE dangerous for women. It interferes with our hormones which prevents us from absorbing calcium. Over a long period of time it can reduce bone density and increase the risk of osteoperosis. Google "female athlete triad". I suffered from this but hopefully not long enough to suffer any permanent damage.

Women have naturally higher body fat percentages than men and I know a lot of successful female athletes who don't have six packs. If you think she performs well at her current weight and hits like a train she will probably do well. From what I've seen and experienced in the womens boxing scene here the skinniest are not always the best.

Thanks for all the input !!

Originally Posted by Sharla

One way you can check for sure can be a little expensive but was worth it for me - I saw an anthropometrist.

He measured me on body fat percentage scales but since they can be out by a bit he also measured me with those tong thingies (sorry can't think of the name right now) and measured many points to get an idea of my bone structure.

I was trying to make weight at 54 kg and hold it and making myself sick. Found out my minimum healthy weight is 55 kg. I may be able to get down to 54 kg for short periods of time without adverse effect but holding it too long is dangerous for me.

He could tell me what it was safe to aim for and how to do it with minimum risk. Bone structure is unlikely to change and you can measure muscle mass on some body fat percentage scales so I don't think it's something you need to do again often.

I found when I did force the weight down to 54 kg my body fat percentage went UP!!!! I lost muscle, my body went into starvation mode and wanted to store fat. Training became harder and harder and my performance suffered.

I'll also add I think this is MORE dangerous for women. It interferes with our hormones which prevents us from absorbing calcium. Over a long period of time it can reduce bone density and increase the risk of osteoperosis. Google "female athlete triad". I suffered from this but hopefully not long enough to suffer any permanent damage.

Women have naturally higher body fat percentages than men and I know a lot of successful female athletes who don't have six packs. If you think she performs well at her current weight and hits like a train she will probably do well. From what I've seen and experienced in the womens boxing scene here the skinniest are not always the best.

What's strange is if you reduce the amount of food that you eat the hormone leptin decreases which is the trigger for your body to go into starvation mode and burn more muscle than fat. One way to counter this is to eat more carbs on one day durring the weak. This'll send your body the right signals that will maintain your leptin hormone levels therefore not putting you into starvation mode.

Originally Posted by Abaddon

Thanks for all the input !!

I guess that means you'll stay right?

Originally Posted by Chris N.

What's strange is if you reduce the amount of food that you eat the hormone leptin decreases which is the trigger for your body to go into starvation mode and burn more muscle than fat. One way to counter this is to eat more carbs on one day durring the weak. This'll send your body the right signals that will maintain your leptin hormone levels therefore not putting you into starvation mode.

Interesting little tit bit of info CC Chris

You mean 'tid bit' right? because there's no nipples in this one.

Anyways, you can find more info on the hormone leptin on google. I found one artical that linked low leptin levels with morbin obesity. I think that's both unfortunate and ironic because when we're talking about a 500+ pound person's body that thinks it's starving.

Anyways it's late, I'm bashed so I'll save the rest for tomorrow.

Until then,
Chris

Oh heck yea I am gonna stay, lol. As a matter of fact, I have linked to your forums from my website, hope you dont mind. My site is new, and I do not have many hits yet. I built it mostly for communication between my boxing team. You guys should check it out. The ring in the pics was under construction, it is done now, and we have some good pics of our resident pro, with an up and commer sparring.......www.clairtonboxingclub.com

I also have another site, www.dirtydawgs.net that has been in existence for 7 years. It is an on-line gaming community, and my squad is one of the best in the world. The reason I am straying from the topic of my daughters weight is because you all have been so kind and insightful, if ya ever want a site built, let me know, it will be done for free:....Thanks all, and I will be posting often, just call me a pest...lol

I think it's cool that this forum has input from people who are interested in boxing - not only mens boxing but all boxing.

I'm glad we've got another coach of female fighters here CC