For fitfreak - let's talk diet

[Sassy69]

I think I made it through all your posts so far & didn't see your current diet. You said you've done the BFL diet 2x and with a recent change in your living situation, you lost some of the results and are now looking for a different approach to kickstart.

Can you start by posting up what your current diet looks like -- what you eat, when you eat it. An important part of successful dieting is making sure it fits your lifestyle -- by which I mean, you don't get grossed out by the food on the diet (e.g. my protein mix & tofu mush snack) and that you have the time (or can make the time) to prepare and eat the meals. Sometimes this just means a little schedule & priority rearrangement. Trust me, we've all done it. (Ever try carrying 2 meals of fish with you during the last week prior to competition and hoping your boyfriend will let you stink up his microwave to reheat at feeding time...?) You make time for what is important to you.

And also please post up your training regimen & schedule.

I'm going to suggest you take a long perusal of Daisy's epic thread about what a clean diet can do first.

http://www.expertpcsupport.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278522

On the first page she lists her diet. There are all sorts of variations that are similar to the BFL diet. But you are right, when you follow the same regimen for a long time, your body stops responding as it used to and it does get boring. I've got my old competition diet that got me from 155 lb / 16% bf down to 133 lb / 8.6% bf in 16 weeks. I'll post this up when i get home tonite. Its a carb cylcing diet that keeps the total calories (for me was around 1475 cal/day) the same over the course of the week, but does a 3 day cycle of exchanging the calories from carbs for calories from fats in meals 2 & 4 over the course of these 3 days. I'm very sensitive to carbs & I carry bodyfat around my legs / thighs / hips. This diet + cardio 2x/day 4 days / week + training got me decent results in that 16 weeks.

Let's see what you're doing now & we'll go from there.

 

[velvett]

GREAT POST Sassy!

 

[Sassy69]

LOL Thx Vel! Just need fit freak now....


Oh wonderful -- see what happens when I post at work ... expertpcsupport.com. LOOL!


Here's Daisy's amazing transformation thread on the correct link:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278522

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Very good post Sassy. I had noticed the lack of diet information this morning, but had no time to discuss further. The fact that Sassy took a LOT of time to post thread should be acknowledged. She is awesome.

There are also several diets, as well as good information, posted on this thread:

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=344728

 

[Sassy69]

 

[Fit Freak]

Thanks Sassy Will read you post today

 

[Fit Freak]

Right now my diet is all jumbled up. I try to eat clean, but I keep getting sucked into the naughty cupboard that is full of yummy stuff like biscuits and snacker bars. Id get rid of these completely but its not fair on the other people who live in my house. I just need to get off my ass and start realising that is not easy work (that I know, its just convincing my stomach of that again )

Lets see, this is my plan....

Wake up at 7.30 am
Train at 8:00am - 20 min high intensity cardio on the stepping machine, followed by either 30-40min of upper body or lower body. My goal right now is to drop body fat, and im not too concerned about muscle at this stage. My body type allows me to build muscle quicker than that it takes me to lose fat.

Drink three cups of water while working out

First meal at around 9:30-10am - Soya Sausage, with 20g of Low fat cottage cheese
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup pineapple
1 small fat free yoghurt with 8 almonds

Second meal usually 2 hours after first meal
- I try stick to a nutrition shake becuase at this time Im not really hungry

Third meal
Grilled chicken breast and some broccoli (This is usually where I go wrong. I have the two meals above even now, but by this time Im in "junk food mode". This is what I try to eat and sometimes get it right

Fourth meal
Whatever is for supper. I usually cook it so its 90% healthy. We have either steak, chicken or fish either grilled or baked, with some veggies and (I know its bad), rice or potatoes

Straight after supper Im still thinking food, even though im not hungry i end up eating something I know I shouldnt be.

Hope this helps

 

[*MissFit*]

I always give her credit.. her and shadow r the bomb for info

Very good post Sassy. I had noticed the lack of diet information this morning, but had no time to discuss further. The fact that Sassy took a LOT of time to post thread should be acknowledged. She is awesome.

There are also several diets, as well as good information, posted on this thread:

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=344728

 

[superqt4u2nv]

First meal at around 9:30-10am - Soya Sausage, with 20g of Low fat cottage cheese
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup pineapple
1 small fat free yoghurt with 8 almonds

Second meal usually 2 hours after first meal
- I try stick to a nutrition shake becuase at this time Im not really hungry

Third meal
Grilled chicken breast and some broccoli (This is usually where I go wrong. I have the two meals above even now, but by this time Im in "junk food mode". This is what I try to eat and sometimes get it right

Fourth meal
Whatever is for supper. I usually cook it so its 90% healthy. We have either steak, chicken or fish either grilled or baked, with some veggies and (I know its bad), rice or potatoes

Straight after supper Im still thinking food, even though im not hungry i end up eating something I know I shouldnt be.

I put in bold the weak spots. Fruit = sugar if your trying to drop weight not a good idea. Yogurt is good low GI carb as long as it is plain. The soya sausage is loaded with addatives etc drop it instead have some egg whites. Third meal put in some good carbs (ie brown rice, yams, rolled outs etc.) In between the 3 and the 4th meal there should be a protein shake. At supper the rice and potatoes has got to go expecially if it is white. This is what is causing your post supper cravings you have spiked you insulin making you feel hungry. I also recommend another protien shake 2 hours after dinner.
Regarding your training if time allows it split the lifting and cardio. Cardio in the am lift in the evening. If you can't work that lift first then cardio.

 

[Sassy69]

Training - God bless you if you can train on an empty stomach. If you want to train first thing, I'd get a protein mix or some cottage cheese or something. Then do cardio after the training.

Diet - same comments as QT.

If you are looking to kick start bodyfat, you would want to look at cutting out all the excess -- fruit & processed food count as excess in the world of hardcord dieting.

I apologize - I can't find the exact diet I followed for my first comp, but it looks something like this:

Meal 1:
1/2 c oatmeal
1 1/2 scoop protein mix (very low fat & carb)
3 strawberries

Meal 2:
4 oz chicken or tuna
Salad
3 oz sweet potatoe or brown rice

Train + cardio over lunch

Meal 3:
2 scoops protein mix + water + flax oil

Meal 4:
4 oz chicken or tuna
Salad / veggies
3 oz sweet potatoe or brown rice

Meal 5:
4 oz steak
Salad / veggies

Meal 6 (if still hungry):
2 scoop protein mix OR the protein mix + tofu mush


This should count out to about 1450-ish cals.

After running this for like 2 weeks to ease into this diet, the carb rotation starts.

Day 1:
Replace the sweet potatoe / rice in Meal 2 w/ the same cals in flax oil -- I usually put the flax in the salad w/ vinegar as salad dressing

Day 2:
Put the sweet potate / rice back into Meal 2, skip the flax
Replace the sweet potatoe / rice in Meal 4 w/ same cals in flax oil

Day 3:
Replace the sweet potatoe / rice in Meals 2 AND 4 with same cals in flax

Day 4 -
Put the sweet potatoe / rice back into Meals 2 & 4, skip the flax.

Day 5: repeat


Then as I got within say the last 4 weeks, I started pulling out the oatmeal for breakfast & just keeping the protein mix + flax like 3 days / week

Cardio only days coincided w/ the lowest carb days and legs & heavy training days hit the high carb days.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

I agree with QT's comments. ESPECIALLY about the fruit. My comment is the AMOUNT of fruit. You are eating almost 2 cups of fruit everyday - that is A LOT. Plus, the pineapple is VERY high in sugar. Fruit itself is not BAD, but moderation is key. And, there are good fruit choices, and less smart fruit choices.

Along with QTs comments on the Soya stuff - eating clean means eating foods that are not processed. If it is packaged, molded into a shape, or "imitation" anything (this also goes for most FF stuff) then it is probably processed. You want BASIC foods - things found in their natural state.

You need to eat more. You are BARELY eating 4 meals - I say barely because one of those meals is a shake. You need more food. Your body is starving - that is why you cannot control the cravings. You are craving foods because your body NEEDS food! I bet if you add more CLEAN food, you will crave food less - because you are not starving.

There are NO "bad foods" - only better choices. Everything is fine to eat - but in moderation. Once you start labeling foods "bad" and "good" you set yourself up to feel "bad". You can eat anything - but everything has it's time, it's place, and it's amount.

 

[Fit Freak]

Training - God bless you if you can train on an empty stomach.

Funny thing is I can only train in the am on an emtpy stomach. If I eat before I train, I feel sick during and after my trainin, cardio or weights.

Sometimes when I train in the afternoons, I eat first then wait three hours before I go to gym and workout

Guess it must be the way my body works

 

[Fit Freak]

There are NO "bad foods" - only better choices. Everything is fine to eat - but in moderation. Once you start labeling foods "bad" and "good" you set yourself up to feel "bad". You can eat anything - but everything has it's time, it's place, and it's amount.

Very True Daisy

Thanks for all your help guys, will definatley make some diet changes and keep you posted on my progress

 

[Sassy69]

Funny thing is I can only train in the am on an emtpy stomach. If I eat before I train, I feel sick during and after my trainin, cardio or weights.

Sometimes when I train in the afternoons, I eat first then wait three hours before I go to gym and workout

Guess it must be the way my body works

This is really interesting. My stomach goes thru phases where it is really picky about what & when I eat relative to training / cardio. Currently it isn't, so I'm rolling w/ that. I have been staying away from carbs like oatmeal in the morning because it just did not sit well after I moved. The last few months have been ones of big uphevel for me and that's probably why. So I was doing like a grilled turkey pattie + 1/2 c of fat free cottage cheese. Go figure that I can't digest milk but I have no problem w/ cottage cheese. I was having trouble w/ eggs (1 whole, 3-4 whites) so I skipped those too. The last 2 days its been the eggs + turkey bacon. That sits just fine. I need to ease back into the oatmeal again tho.

Anyway (I rambled for a minute), what I've found is that your body responds in different ways to whatever you feed it at whatever times -- it seems like sort of dictated by where you are in life, i.e. whatever are the circumstances you've arrived at by the time you are dieting. But, especially if you go on a particular diet / training schedule, it will adjust. I found that out in a big way when i did my little competition. But I adjusted. The only time it is going to be absolutely criticia l that you learn (and also train your body) to adjust to a particular diet / training is if you are on a strict schedule w/ a strict goal such as competition prep. You are looking at an absolutely optimized fueling schedule w/ exactly the prescribed macronutrient ratios to give you exactly what you need to feed, burn & refuel, how much you are going to burn during a particular workout (e.g. heavy leg day, or cardio day) and also what time of day you are eating what you are eating in order to start manipulating how your body responds at a particular time on a particular day (e.g. contest weigh in and then pre-judge, estimating you'll be on stage at say 10 AM on contest day). Stuff like that can blow up on you if say the judging is dragging ass and you don't get onto the stage until 2 hrs after you anticipated. Then you are left feeling really drained because your eating schedule got screwed up and possibly the time between looking completely filled out from carbs has passed and you have "spilled over".

So, yes, maybe now your body has determined that it prefers to train on an empty stomach in the morning. But you might want to do a breakdown of the cals you are putting in at what time, how what you eat is meeting the needs of the demands you put on your body and determine if it works or there's a better way. The better way may take some time to train your body into working with, but the change may also kickstart the situation that your body is currently "comfortable" with.