Spatts......

[Candy]

I thought maybe you could help me....
I am 22 years old and I am about 5'5 - 23%bf that will not drop down any lower! I weigh about 140-143 depending on the day water I guess and I need some crazy help.

I work out pretty hard - my schedule looks like this:

Monday - back and bi's
Tuesday - legs
Wednesday- abs
Thursday -shoulders and triceps
Friday - chest or back and biceps again
Saturday - circuit
Sunday - off

With three to five of those days I do cardio in the morning - about 30 min.

My diet: right now I am doing a CKD. I eat around 1200 calories a day. I am going absolutley nowhere. I dont want any chemical help - thats why I'm asking you. I want help from someone who did not have help themselves.... anyway.... Just wondering. My diet? Not enough cardio? WHATS WRONG WITH ME? hee hee thanks.

 

[Sassy69]

Can you lay out your diet (typical daily meals) 1200 cal sounds kinda low. Even when I was in final contest prep cutting diet, I was at 1500 cal. You may be starving your body.

 

[bignate73]

1200 sounds low to me too. especially with that much activity.

how much fat are you taking in?

 

[spatts]

Probably diet...

You've seen brickgirl right? She cut on 1600 cals a day.

....and what method did you use for body fat testing?

 

[Citruscide]

At your bodyfat and weight your BMR is 1303 calories. Your BMR is the amount of calories you'd burn just sitting around, with activity, you'd have to add to that the calories you need in order to have enough energy/food for the body.

Given your weight and your lean factor... and assuming your activity ranges between light and medium, your estimated daily caloric intake requirements would be between 2000 and 2150 calories per day. If you wanted to cut, you'd want to lower that amount down... to say... 1600-1700? -- that way you are cutting out 300 - 550 calories per day... over a period of time, that can add up... you will be able to lose weight (assuming your macronutrient content isn't too disproportionate) safely and steadily.

C-ditty

 

[Citruscide]

Probably diet...

You've seen brickgirl right? She cut on 1600 cals a day.

....and what method did you use for body fat testing?

yeah, I'd say activity and the KINDS of foods, when you eat them and such all play into effect... I mean, sticking to a 1200 calorie diet isn't great if you eat 800 before you go to bed at night... or in one meal for that matter.

C-ditty

 

[Candy]

no - I eat six meals a day about 200 calories. Tuna or eggs or chicken - I'm watching my carbs. The method that was used was the machiene that used the electrical impulses - thats what they had at the gym anyway. I did the skinfold too. Im fat. This is the most bodyfat I've ever had - sooooooooooooo youre saying I need to eat around 1500 to 1600??? Should I quit cutting out the carbs?

 

[spatts]

I' going to guess that your body fat reading is off. If you have time for a trip to KU's phys lab for a hydro weigh in, and want to go, PM me. I get a discount.

Perhaps you need more cals and more strategy. Can you lay out where you training falls in to your diet? Like wake up, eat this, do cardio, eat that, work, eat, work,m lift weights, eat, bed....etc...?

 

[Candy]

Oh. My diet:

Well breakfast is usually two eggs.
Then around ten I have tuna. One of those packets.
Then for lunch chicken salad is normal or just a chicken breast
Then around three or four either tuna or a low carb mrp
Then after the gym or later - chicken AGAIN or fish

 

[Candy]

5:30 wake up 30 min cardio (3-4 days a week)
6:15 breakfast 2 eggs
10:00 tuna
1:00 chicken breast
4:00 MRP
weights 5:00 through the week (today is leg day )
8:00 dinner - fish w/ veggies or chicken
go to bed at 10.

Thats my life. Maybe I need more strategy. I work eight to five. M-F. I sit at a desk all frickin day.

 

[spatts]

Where are the nutrients? Where are the veggies? You can't be watching carbs because there aren't any! lol You have to have carbs to burn fat. As far as I can tell, you're starving, and as long as you're starving you're going to be bone and fat.

Get some veggies...please. Green veggies won't make you fat, and you need the nutrients.

Eat more CLEAN carbs like oats or rice or sweet taters before your weights. This will make your time in the gym more productive, and that will help to raise your metabolism. Then, after your postworkout shake (hint hint), eat protein and fibrous carbs (veggies) the rest of the night. All the cabs you ate earlier get used up in training. Then, on days you don't lift weights, go ahead and no/very low carb if you want. It's like filling your car's tank with gas, but only enough to get where you're going. Make sense?

 

[Candy]

Oh my god are you serious? I know that veggies dont make you fat but I was just ..... um..... trying to cut out ALL my carbs....I ... thought that was good. heh. I figured low carb? Screw it I'll go no carb!

so maybe a more low fat mod carb thing.... clean carbs before I go to the gym? Post workout shake and around 1600 cal a day.

Maybe I'll do a little better now - was kinda low on engery towards the end of the week.......

 

[spatts]

If you hit about 1600 cals on training days and about 1300 on non training days, that would be a good place to start.

 

[Deleted member 33117]

Wow, Candy, you are not doing a CKD. You need ALOT more raw green veggies, as spatts said. Also, where is your fat? You need to up to 1500-1600 cals, and increase your fat intake alot. In fact, you could add the 300-400 calories in the form of fat, and replace a couple hundred of your protien calories with fat. Cheese and olive oil are your friends. What does your refeed day look like?

 

[Citruscide]

If you hit about 1600 cals on training days and about 1300 on non training days, that would be a good place to start.

I agree with this.

Also, being bone and fat isn't too fun LOL -- not that I'd know... but that would suck.

As Spatts suggested, try to balance out your food better... from the looks of what you wrote down, it looked like alot of your meals are just protein.

You should also supplement with vitamins and minerals -- especially ALA and Vitamin C -- these will help quash free-radicals that occur from strenious training -- you dont' want to get sick, now do you?

C-ditty

 

[Candy]

My refeed day is pretzels, pasta, and oatmeal. sorry guys. I KNOW its my diet. I'm having a really hard time understanding what my body needs and why to get it to do what I want it to do. I promise - I'm not stupid. I'm just trying to figure out whats right for me. Its taking a long time.

 

[takniteasy]

Might I add that waiting too long between meals is not too good either. From 6:15 a.m to 10:00 a.m. - almost 4 hours may be a lil too long to refeed your body and keep metabolism up. Try to add another meal in there somewhere to lessen the time between meals. And to get those veggies in. Hope this helps!

 

[bignate73]

wow! thats the first thing i saw. if its supposed to be CKD, then the fat intake should be waaaay higher. that just looks like a strictly protein diet, which will be unhealthy as all get out. thats like saying to your car "you can have gas, but no oil or antifreeze" (so to speak)

 

[JJFigure]

Whenever I drop below 1500 kcals/day, I quit losing fat; my body just kind of shuts down on me. Once I increase my kcals back up, the fat loss starts again.

Spatts has given you good advice; I personally don't count the carbs or kcals of my fibrous vegetables; I found when I count them, I tend to cut them out. My body likes me much better when I keep them in. Besides, both the kcaloric and carb content of fibrous vegetables is so low, there's really no point in limiting yourself.

 

[Candy]

ha ! Thats funny (the whole car thing) I put gas in my car but rarely get oil changes or any maint. like that. I know that the fat is supposed to be high.... but its hard getting all that fat in ya know? So JJ - you dont count the carbs or cals from your fibrous veggies??? thanks for the advice!

 

[Citruscide]

The main thing to remember is don't guess at how many calories you should eat... figure them out... kind of like I did with the equations (not listed) in post #5.

C-ditty

 

[spatts]

How's it going so far, Candy?

 

[RnRGirl]

Spatts, How much is that hydro weigh in. Do you know if they have anything like that in the St. louis area?

 

[spatts]

Yeah, I think UMSL and SLU both have one. Just call their physiology departments and ask if they have an applied physiology lab. Sometimes it's part of the recreation/athletic training facility.