GF Needs Diet Help

[DianaBallBusta]

Hey ladies. My girlfriend is looking to get back into shape for the spring. She asked me to put together a diet for her, but I honestly don't know where to start.

21 yrs old
5'5
122

She doesnt weight train, she just runs and does crunches. She said she wanted to lose about 8-10 lbs. She isn't fat at all, but she's a bit bottom heavy. The holidays put and extra inch on her ass.

Any help would be great.
Thx

DBB

 

[slinky]

Well, if you're lost and she's lost - that means you need to find out what exactly her diet is like now.

And THAT means: food log. Have her begin to log everything she eats. Now. Find out exactly where the problems could be in her diet. For example, how many calories a day does she consume? Is she getting sufficient amount of protein? Too many carbs late at night? Not enough earlier in the day?

And you should also find out what her BF% is now, too. That way you can monitor her progress. For instance, 6-weeks from now: did she lose BF and gain LBM or was it the other way around?

Also, she should begin a weight training program. By gaining LBM, her metabolism will become elevated, even at rest. And that's a good way to keep pesky BF away. Running doesn't do that. And it has a tendency to tear down precious LBM. Who'd want that? She doesn't need to embark on anything extreme. Nice, simple two - three day a week routine. Two days (split lower body/ upper body) and the third day could be a cardio day.

 

[DianaBallBusta]

Thanks slinky.

I think her problem is that she doesn't eat often enough. She skips breakfast, and then sometimes lunch. Then for dinner she'll eat pasta or something filled with carbs.

I'm wondering how much protein women need daily. If I made a diet for her and it contained too much protein I'm afraid she'd get fat.

I've been trying to get her to go to the gym but she's stubborn and stuck in her ways, and running, or cardio, is all she'll do. I will try to convince her otherwise.

 

[JJFigure]

If you increase the protein in her diet, you'll probably need to decrease some of her carbs. I think most of us who are lifting are eating at least 1g protein/1lb bodyweight. I'm eating 1.5 g per lb. bodyweight right now, but you'd hardly be able to call me fat.

You really need to work on getting her to change her eating patterns - eat more early in the day, less in the evening. Most of my kcals happen before 2:00 pm, since I lift in the am. After 2:00 pm, I start eating less. I also eat 6-7 meals/day - the first 4 meals are higher kcal than the last 2-3.

 

[FitFossil]

...I've been trying to get her to go to the gym but she's stubborn and stuck in her ways, and running, or cardio, is all she'll do. I will try to convince her otherwise.

Hehehe. My husband tried to do the same with me, telling me to eat more, lift heavier, and do less cardio. I kept telling him "...but I'll get fat...I don't wanna get big..."

Three years ago I saw a picture that changed my life. It was of Kelly Nelson, a 70 year old woman who didn't pick up her first weight until age 53. Her body at 70 was better than most 20 year olds. And even though she's a professional bodybuilder, she wasn't "big", just rock hard and no fat - Damn!

I figured if the bodybuilding training and eating lifestyle worked so well on her, it could do great things for me, since I was a lot younger. I wasn't looking to be a BB, just to tone up my fat legs. Best decision I ever made. Totally changed my body and my life. Every now and then my husband will say "Told you so", but that's the thing, sometimes we're stubborn with those closest to us and don't want to listen.

Here's the link to the pictures. Also pictured is her daughter, who's in her 40's and looks awesome too. She started training in her 20's, so she's another testament to weight training.
(Go to the "Gallery" link)
http://www.agelesstraining.com/indexx.htm

 

[slinky]

Fitfossil: Kelly Nelson is friggin' amazing. Agree. And waaaaaay back in '86, I got to train with a woman who was 55 and a competitive bodybuilder. She's the one who inspired me to stick with it.

Okay, dude: Sounds like your gf has got the "bulking up" fears typical of many women who have never weight trained. And it sounds like you also believe in the "women need to do this and men need to do this". And that's not the case. Diet and training is geared to the individual's needs, regardless of gender.

As for her fears: that's why alot of women follow that minimal protein type of diet.

I follow about the same way of eating as JJ: I eat more earlier in the day and less as it progresses. My breakfast is normally big, but my lunch is now the biggest meal of the day. Sometimes, I'll have two hamburgers (ground sirloin patties, no cheese - just in case alot of you got worried 'bout that) for lunch. Or a steak, and another steak for a midday meal. My boyfriend's a chef and prepares all my meals for me (yes, I'm a lucky gal) And I'm faaaar from bein' fat and bulky.

It takes ALOT of work for any women to gain a ton of muscle and begin looking like a She-Hulk (even though the John Byrne drawn version of She-Hulk would actually be cool). If that is indeed the fear here, explain to your gf that fat is bulky and shapeless. Muscle is sleek, shapelier; not to mention a hell of alot more sexy!

 

[JJFigure]

I need to get a boyfriend like yours, Slinky. Or a houseboy - may be less of a hassle.

Anyway - just show her some of the pictures of the women from Elite. Slinky is a prime example - she's been lifting for 15+ years (I think close to 20), and she has a very tight, compact, lean, muscular physique any woman would be happy to have. You just have to get your gf's mental image of the professional female bodybuilder out of her head and replace it with the image of tight, sexy, natty physiques.

 

[Dingo12]

Eating too many kcals will increase your mass/fat, not too much protein. In fact swopping protein for carbs can actually decrease bodyfat.

 

[smoknjilly]

#1 - throw out all scales. 5'5 and 122 is already low in my book. She should focus on inches and the way her clothes fit, and NOT on lbs lost.

she should start a diet like spatts cutting diet and an easy split to start like these ladies are talking about.

i lost weight by starving and doing cardio about 10 years ago, and you know what..i was a little smaller, but i had exactly the same shapethat I always hated. I am sure your GF does not want to be even smaller on the top (which is what happens to women) compared to her bottom.

with weights i am losing inches and changing my shape...which I am sure is what she wants to do...

 

[slinky]

I need to get a boyfriend like yours, Slinky. Or a houseboy - may be less of a hassle.

He even delivers my food for me to my work. What's great (and yes, I'm taking up space to brag about my boyfriend), is that when I'm in precontest, all I need to do si tell him "how" I'm going to eat for the week; i.e. optimize my carb intake, more fibrous, less starchy, need to pick up my protein: and he accomodates it.

Today it's chilly - low fat, too with plenty of ground sirloin. Yummy! I'm trying to get him to add some of his recipes to the board. He's got some goooooood ones!