Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below Hey Ladies, I wanted to see about getting some diet advise for my Lady. I have been working with her strickly on her diet for a year now and I just cant seem to get her passed this plateau. I have her eating pretty clean six days a week, mostly chicken, yams, brown rice, oatmeal, greens, protien shakes and some red meat. It took me a while to get her to take olive oil for fat source but now she is finally starting to, and we have been mixing in peanut butter and milk once in a while for hunger fillers and fat source. She is probabaly around 18-2000 cals now and am sure protein and carb requirments are filled. Weights hard 4/week Cardio 3/week right now. I know muscle is building, but fat isnt coming of fast enough i dont think. Need advise! Who beleives losing bfat you need lees cals in, and more burned? I dont think she should be eating any less, she is hungry enough as it is. Daisy girls oppinion would be appreaciated as would anyone elses. Thanks in advance ladies!
Diet Help
- Thread starter gollieth
- Start date
Well, being Natty (no AAS) it is VERY VERY VERY hard to build muscle AND lose fat at the same time.
Building muscle needs a surplus of calories to gain. Losing fat requires a deficit of calories. See how it will be hard to do both? She needs to pick one thing and focus on that. What are her stats? 1800-2000 calories is high to cut unless she weighs 170-200lbs. Normally, to cut fat, calories are about 10xBW. To gain muscle, calories are usually 11-13xBW
If she wants to build muscle, then she needs to forget about losing fat for the meantime. That doesn't mean she has to GET fat, but she will likely put on weight - muscle and possibly a little fat. If she continues to eat clean, then the weight she puts on will mostly be muscle.
If she wants to focus on losing fat right now, then she might be sacrificing a little muscle too. Eating clean, high high protein, lifting heavy and limiting cardio (maybe just to HIIT) will help her lose fat without losing a lot of muscle too.
She might be getting hungry for several reasons..... 1) dehydration. How much water is she drinking?.... 2) How are you tracking her calories? Could there be errors in calculations? ...... 3) Not enough fat. Add fat to meals and it "stays with you" longer.
Also, if she has been eating the same and training the same for a year...then it is time for a MAJOR change. I would try to change things constantly - different exercises, different cardio machines/workouts, free weights vs machines vs bodyweight exercises, different meat sources, different carbs sources, etc.
Hope this helps....let me know if I can help anymore.
Building muscle needs a surplus of calories to gain. Losing fat requires a deficit of calories. See how it will be hard to do both? She needs to pick one thing and focus on that. What are her stats? 1800-2000 calories is high to cut unless she weighs 170-200lbs. Normally, to cut fat, calories are about 10xBW. To gain muscle, calories are usually 11-13xBW
If she wants to build muscle, then she needs to forget about losing fat for the meantime. That doesn't mean she has to GET fat, but she will likely put on weight - muscle and possibly a little fat. If she continues to eat clean, then the weight she puts on will mostly be muscle.
If she wants to focus on losing fat right now, then she might be sacrificing a little muscle too. Eating clean, high high protein, lifting heavy and limiting cardio (maybe just to HIIT) will help her lose fat without losing a lot of muscle too.
She might be getting hungry for several reasons..... 1) dehydration. How much water is she drinking?.... 2) How are you tracking her calories? Could there be errors in calculations? ...... 3) Not enough fat. Add fat to meals and it "stays with you" longer.
Also, if she has been eating the same and training the same for a year...then it is time for a MAJOR change. I would try to change things constantly - different exercises, different cardio machines/workouts, free weights vs machines vs bodyweight exercises, different meat sources, different carbs sources, etc.
Hope this helps....let me know if I can help anymore.
Should have mentioned she did her first 4 week var cycle 3 weeks ago and has her next in a week. She is 5,8 and 150 right now, I do calculate her cals myself. So you belive to drop b fat you should drop cals first? And you base 10 cals/lb of weight? I am trying to have her drink ay least a gallon of water/day, but it is prob 3/4. I do think lack of good fats was a issue for a while, cause it seems like when we added a cup of milk a day, she started losing again, but who knows. I would appreaciate any more advise. As for as dropping cals, I might try that, but i dont want her metabolizm to slow down, or too much muscle lost, cause muscle burns fat, do you agree. THANKS
First, losing fat and gaining muscle is very individual, so everyone kinda has to "play" with things to get what works for them. 
1) Make sure she drinks more water. She needs to drink at least 1 gallon a day, but should get more. 1 gal should be assumed.
2) Make sure she keeps getting good fats.
3) You don't want her metabolism to slow, which dropping cals CAN do if they are too low. What is her BF%?
4) Post up an EXACT day's worth of food. With specific size/amounts/measurements, condiments, preparation, etc.
1) Make sure she drinks more water. She needs to drink at least 1 gallon a day, but should get more. 1 gal should be assumed.
2) Make sure she keeps getting good fats.
3) You don't want her metabolism to slow, which dropping cals CAN do if they are too low. What is her BF%?
4) Post up an EXACT day's worth of food. With specific size/amounts/measurements, condiments, preparation, etc.
Meal 1 .5 Cup Oat Meal, 32grms Whey+ 2tblsp Olive Oil Or 1 Cup 2%milk And 1 Tblsp Olive Oil
Meal 2 3.5 Ounce Chx Breast, .5 Cup Brown Rice Or Yams
Meal 3 3.5 Ounce Chx Breast, .5 Cup Brown Rice Or Yams, 1 Cup Broc. Or Salad, 2 Table Spoons Low Cal Dressing
Meal 4 3.5 Ounce Chx Breast, 1 Large Apple
Post Workout 32grms Whey
Meal 5 3.5 Ounce Of Lean Beef Or Chx Breast, .5 Cup Brown Rice Or Yams Or 1 Low Cal Wheat Tortilla, 2 Cups Salad, 2tblsp Low Cal Dressing
Meal 6 32grms Whey+1tblsp Olive Oil, Or 1 Cup 2% Milk, Or 1tblsp Natural Peanut Butter, Or Alternate Meal-1 Cup 2% Cottage Cheese+1ounce Copped Almons
Sometimes Also Will Through In A Tblsp Of Peanut Butter For A Hunger Filler Even Though I Dont Advise It. Comments, Advise????
Meal 2 3.5 Ounce Chx Breast, .5 Cup Brown Rice Or Yams
Meal 3 3.5 Ounce Chx Breast, .5 Cup Brown Rice Or Yams, 1 Cup Broc. Or Salad, 2 Table Spoons Low Cal Dressing
Meal 4 3.5 Ounce Chx Breast, 1 Large Apple
Post Workout 32grms Whey
Meal 5 3.5 Ounce Of Lean Beef Or Chx Breast, .5 Cup Brown Rice Or Yams Or 1 Low Cal Wheat Tortilla, 2 Cups Salad, 2tblsp Low Cal Dressing
Meal 6 32grms Whey+1tblsp Olive Oil, Or 1 Cup 2% Milk, Or 1tblsp Natural Peanut Butter, Or Alternate Meal-1 Cup 2% Cottage Cheese+1ounce Copped Almons
Sometimes Also Will Through In A Tblsp Of Peanut Butter For A Hunger Filler Even Though I Dont Advise It. Comments, Advise????
Last edited:
Sassy69
New member
Is it her weight or her bodyfat that is at the plateau? If she's doing var cycles she's probably getting some weight from added muscle or possibly even retaining water. Also it sounds like you are selecting to do 4 week var cycles, repeated every 4 weeks?? Any particular reason? Women can run cycles at low doses for pretty long, up to 6 months is not ridiculous. Your average var cycle is probably 8-12 weeks.
Diet-wise, has she been on the same diet for a year? How often do you tweak the diet? Also if she's hungry all the time, perhaps she simply isn't getting enough of what her body wants to exert the energy she is consuming with heavy training & cardio. Does she find she has a particular type of craving or is just hungry? If she's just hungry then perhaps her body is in a sort of starvation mode where it's trying to hang on to whatever it can, expecting it may be entering a "drought".
To that end, I might suggest a carb cycling diet - where the carbs are increased on the days she does heavier training and lowered on the days she does no training. One way is to keep the total calorie count the same across the whole week, but replace the calories from carbs with calories from fat on the non-training days. You might also consider tossing the carb in the meal 5 because it's later in the day. Possibly replace the calories with some simple carb in her post workout whey drink when it would be consumed quickly by muscles seeking to replenish after a training session. You might even up the carbs a little on the training days & drop more on off days. There are so many ways to tweak a diet, but I'd definitely do something would "shock" her system out of the plateau. I did carb cycling to prepare for a competition on 1475 calories and it worked great for me - at 8 weeks out on this diet I even managed to get my curls up to 45 lb dbs. (After that everything started decreasing because I was seriously on a low cal diet but the focus then was to cut up.) If you decide to do something like dropping carbs & increasing fat cals on certain days, see how she feels with the increased fats too. You might throw in some fish meals for another source of fats on some days.
Do you know what the macro calorie (% prot / carb / fat) breakdown is in the diet you posted?
Diet-wise, has she been on the same diet for a year? How often do you tweak the diet? Also if she's hungry all the time, perhaps she simply isn't getting enough of what her body wants to exert the energy she is consuming with heavy training & cardio. Does she find she has a particular type of craving or is just hungry? If she's just hungry then perhaps her body is in a sort of starvation mode where it's trying to hang on to whatever it can, expecting it may be entering a "drought".
To that end, I might suggest a carb cycling diet - where the carbs are increased on the days she does heavier training and lowered on the days she does no training. One way is to keep the total calorie count the same across the whole week, but replace the calories from carbs with calories from fat on the non-training days. You might also consider tossing the carb in the meal 5 because it's later in the day. Possibly replace the calories with some simple carb in her post workout whey drink when it would be consumed quickly by muscles seeking to replenish after a training session. You might even up the carbs a little on the training days & drop more on off days. There are so many ways to tweak a diet, but I'd definitely do something would "shock" her system out of the plateau. I did carb cycling to prepare for a competition on 1475 calories and it worked great for me - at 8 weeks out on this diet I even managed to get my curls up to 45 lb dbs. (After that everything started decreasing because I was seriously on a low cal diet but the focus then was to cut up.) If you decide to do something like dropping carbs & increasing fat cals on certain days, see how she feels with the increased fats too. You might throw in some fish meals for another source of fats on some days.
Do you know what the macro calorie (% prot / carb / fat) breakdown is in the diet you posted?
Thanks for the advise, I think her weight and bfat are both at a plateau, I could car less about what the scale says, thats more her issue. I am keeping var cycles short for now to see her reaction to it and to keep water and acne down. The last time I broke it down I believe I had her around 50/30/20
prot/carb/fat. It has changed im sure, now that she has been using hunger fillers. I have to go through her whole diet again this weekend to get the exact numbers on everything and tweek it. Thanks in advance for all help!
prot/carb/fat. It has changed im sure, now that she has been using hunger fillers. I have to go through her whole diet again this weekend to get the exact numbers on everything and tweek it. Thanks in advance for all help!
nillagorilla said:
She might be one of those people that don't do well with dairy maybe you could experiment with eliminating it for a few weeks and maybe eat less rice/yam/tortilla (actually I would lose these tortillas completely) and add more green leafy veggies for late afternoon/evening meals.
Also - check the low cal dressing - she might be better off with some straight Olive oil.
I also think Sassy's carb cycling suggestion is right on as well.
nillagorilla said:
I just re-read this..
I think her cals are too high - I had similiar stats and I could have never lost # on 2000 cals.
Has she measured her bodyfat?
And to chime in with Daisy - maybe she could focus on either cutting or adding muscle separately for a while. I think I'd go out of my mind trying to do both succesfully.
O.k. , current bfat is 22.9%, I think I am going to try the carb flux and lower the cals some. 16 weeks till wedding and she wants to get this bfat dropping. I am going to keep cardio at 3 days per week for now untill maybe the last month. What do you girls think.More advise appreaciated. Thanks!
Maybe try HIIT instead of regular cardio those 3 days a week?
I think dropping cals a little are a good idea, along with carb cycling.
When is wedding date?
I think dropping cals a little are a good idea, along with carb cycling.
When is wedding date?
nillagorilla said:
Yikes, that means my wedding is 18 weeks away.
16 weeks is a long time though - she should be able to do wonders. How much does she actually want to lose?I think the M, T, TH, F protein is too low and the carbs are too high, even for carb cycling, IMHO.
BUT, I am not an expert on cycling - it tends to be too complicated for me. I like eating the same thing for 6 days a week and having 1 day as cheat/refeed day. It is just more simple for me to follow and I like consistency. Maybe someone else can give some insight on cycling.
Well, I Didnt think more than 1gram of protein/ lb of lean bodymass was needed on her reg carb day, but maybe i will lower the carbs on that day by 30grams or so. I did want to keep the protein higher though on her low carb days. All she has to woory about is loosing a pound per week to get to 15% befor the wedding. Hopefully this change up will do the trick. Its go time!
