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Help for all the beginners

Temple

New member
ATTENTION BEGINNERS

It seems that we get allot of questions from new gals wanting to know how to gain
muscle, lose fat, what to eat, when to eat it and what supplements to use. The
information is pretty basic and many of us have typed it more than once so my idea is to
put together a thread that we can bump or attach when someone has these questions. I
will get it started and the rest of you please add to it!

1. Diet is critical and by diet I don’t mean starving I mean eating. In the absence of
adequate calories your metabolism will slow down and fat loss will stop. You cannot
build muscle from stored bodyfat, you must have protein to build muscle. The reason
that many women are thin and flabby i.e. skinny fat chicks is because they have starved
themselves for so long and their body has used what muscle they had for fuel and clung
to their bodyfat stores. If you have been depriving yourself of adequeate calories it will
take some time to get your metabolism up to speed. You will gain some fat, probably
retain a bunch of water for a few weeks and will feel absolutely stuffed but in about
three weeks your metabolism will kick in and you will need to eat every few hours. The
water weight will go away. It is necessary that you eat 6 meals per day each comprised
of protein, carbohydrate and fat. Eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of
bodyweight.
Protein sources should be: chicken breast, tuna, lean beef, egg whites
Complex Carbohydrates should come from oatmeal, whole grain rice, whole grain
breads, yams and vegetables
Fats should come from what is naturally occurring in foods as well as flaxseed oil and
natural peanut butter You must have fat in your diet to lose bodyfat!
Protein can be supplemented with protein powder
Food should be as unprocessed as possible. Attempt to eliminate all sugar from your
diet.
My current diet consits of 2500 calories, 83g fat, 250g protein, 188 g carb. My focus is
on building mass so you will have to adjust these numbers to what works for you. Three
of my meals include a protein shake and three are from whole foods.

All women believe that they “bulk” easily and are scared to death of lifting heavy
weights for fear of ending up looking like she/man. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN, YOU
DO NOT BULK EASILY AND YOU LACK THE NECESSARY HORMONES TO
GET HUGE!!!!! If you want a shaped, toned hardbody there is only one way to get it
and that is to lift heavy weights. You can’t shape or tone what ya don’t have!!!Work
each bodypart once per week 3-4 sets for large muscle groups 2 sets for smaller muscle
groups, 3-4 sets with a heavy enough weight that you are really struggling to get 8 reps.
I personally prefer to use a 10/8/6 rep scheme or a 12/10/8/6 increasing the weight each
time I lower the reps. Make sure that you are not lifting so heavy that you sacrifice form
or lose control of the weight. I always have someone to spot for me when I lift.

Cardio - if you are just starting out read the thread “WHEN 30+30 DOES NOT = 60.
One hour of cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach at minimum to
moderate intensity is the best place for beginners to start as it will not interfere with
recovery or stress the joints overmuch. It is possible to do too much cardio, 3-4 times a
week should be adequate to start with. As you progress the amount of cardio that you
do will change. Cardio should never take priority over weight training.

It is almost impossible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time unless you are very
very overweight. It is better to concentrate on first gaining the lean mass as muscle
burns far more calories at rest than does fat and the extra lean mass will make the fat
loss much easier. I struggled for a long time trying to do it backwards and it just doesn’t
work. For most women this process takes a major leap of faith. The best thing you can
do is throw your scale in the trash unless you are a total masochist like me in which case
you will have to watch the number go up and up. Muscle weighs more than fat so you
will be able to weigh a whole lot more but wear a smaller size. For awhile you will even
get larger as the muscles will be growing and the fat will still be there - just keep telling
yourself how hot you are going to look when that fat comes off and what is left are those
rock hard, beautifully shaped muscles.

Water is a must - drink at least a gallon a day!
You must be consistent to see results and it won’t happen overnight!
Allow yourself a cheat meal once a week or so - it will keep you sane.

For supplements I take a good multivitamin, extra B complex and L-glutamine post
workout. I take a whole lot of other stuff but those are the basics.
When it comes time to start shedding the fat things such as carb cycling, ECA, and
yohimbine hcl can be helpful.
 
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Sample Diet (and it's not all icky stuff)

Great idea!! I posted this in another thread, but it seems like it belongs here...

If you can buy even one session with a personal trainer/nutritionist to go over what your diet should be for your goals, do it! It's worth the money!

This was the easiest way for me to calculate all the calories, protein, etc. and figure out how to eat 5-6 meals a day:

I wrote up what my calories were supposed to be (given to me by my trainer), and how much protien, carbs, and fat I was supposed to have, and made a list of all the foods I can eat. Then my husband and I put all those foods with their caloric values for Calories, Protein, Fat, Carbs into a list in Excell. Next, we made up a little chart, for each day, with the goals for Cal/Pro/Fat/Carbs across the top, and basically mixed and matched by copying and pasting foods from the master list until the totals came as close as possible to the goals (some slightly over, some under - they almost never come out dead perfect). End result: I ended up with a list for each day of what I should be eating that day.

Next step: Go to the grocery store and buy exactly what you need to make all the food on your list.

Then: On a convenient day (usually Sunday, for us) pre-make all your food for the week and store in the freezer.

After all that preparation, it's easy day to day! All you have to do is check your list of foods for the day, pull the containers out of the freezer and stack them in your lunchbox. (My lunchbox has become a mini-cooler, because there wasn't enough room anymore in a regular lunchbox). Then you are all set for the day. You eat everything on your list, and when you are finished, you are finished for the day. I split it out into 5-6 meals, try to eat approximately every 2.5 hours.

I would record what you are eating for at least a week first, to see how much you are really taking in.

When I wrote this (about a month ago), my stats were: Height 5' 5.5", Current Weight 122, b/f approx 16%

Here is a typical day for me, when I am not on carb rotation:
(Sorry the columns don't line up right)

FOOD CAL -- FAT -- PRO -- CARBS -- TIME
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oatmeal (1 cup) 300 -- 6 -- 10 -- 54 -- 8:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Carrots (10 baby) 40 -- 0 -- 0 -- 6 -- 9:30
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Turkey Breast" 110 -- 1 -- 19 -- 0 -- 11:15
Red Potato 100 -- 0 -- 0 -- 26 -- 11:15
Fresh Spinach (1 cup) 5 -- 0 -- 0.5 -- 0.8 -- 11:15
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pure Protein Bar 270 -- 4 -- 32 -- 13 -- 1:15
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Beef Stew" 178 -- 8 -- 21 -- 6 -- 3:15
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Turkey Breast" 110 -- 1 -- 19 -- 0 -- 5:00
Red Potato 100 -- 0 -- 0 -- 26 -- 5:00
Fresh Spinach (1 cup) 5 -- 0 -- 0.5 -- 0.8 -- 5:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicken breast 200 -- 6 -- 36 -- 0 -- 7:30
Green Beans 25 -- 0 -- 1 -- 4 -- 7:30
Sugar Free Jello 15 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 7:30
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS 1458 -- 26 -- 139 -- 136.6

When I am on a carb rotation, I have to manipulate the foods around to get the levels of protein and carbs my trainer tells me for each day to load and then deplete. Also, on lower carb days, you get to eat more fats, like natural peanut butter, for instance.

Stay away from sugar, (I use Stevia in packets, and love it), breads, pop, chips/snacks.

I didn't put them in the above typical day, but often I will substitute eggs and cheese for one of the meals.

My recipe for "turkey breast":

2 pounds of ground turkey breast (not just ground turkey, must be ground turkey breast), broil, add 2 cups of water, and 2 packets of "turkey gravy" mix, simmer. Divide into 10 portions. Portion values listed above.

My recipe for "beef stew":

2 pounds of lean beef, 2 cups of water, 1 packet of "beef stew" mix, 1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies. Broil the beef until it browns, then drain any fat, then add everything else, and simmer with the lid on for about 5 minutes. Divide into 12 portions. Portion values listed above. It's my favorite meal of the day! :)

Chicken breast is just plain old grilled chicken breast. I eat with a little ketchup, or mix with a serving of the turkey to get extra flavor. The Oatmeal is the "old Fashioned" kind, not the instant. I don't put anything on it.

Fennec
 
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What a great idea for a thread!
I use this handy on-line site to monitor my food--largely to make sure I'm eating enough. There are other sites around but this one works for me--lots of visuals.
http://www.fitday.com

I recommend doing something like this (or Fennec's Excel program) because most of us can't really eyeball our amounts and calories accurately.
 
Temple01 - maybe you should change the title of the thread - right now it's getting lost in the sea of "New to the board, please help" threads. Maybe something like "Help for all the beginners" or "Attention beginners: Read this post first, then ask questions"....

Fennec ;)
 
It is almost impossible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time unless you are very
very overweight.


This is a great idea, and a great thread...however, I disagree with the above quote. Am I crazy...my shoulders are increasing in size (a weak point I've had...so I work hard on them) and my lower body has decreased in size (nearly all fat was lost) while I've significantly increased the strength of my back and thighs. I've done this in the past two months or so...after I slimmed down quite a bit.

If I thought I couldn't increase muscle while losing fat I would never spend so much time in the gym.
 
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After a certain point the body will respond better to doing it in cycles - bulking and then cutting, then bulking and more cutting. On 2500 calories a day I do not lose bodyfat and am doing good just to maintain it but I put on alot of muscle in a 12 week period. My body has now regulated itself to run on that amount of calories and has the added muscle which will aid in the cutting process so simply adding cardio at this point will create fat loss, when the cardio stops working I will then go to carb cycleing but maintain 2500 a day. Attempting to do both at the same time will ultimately end up with a body that refuses to respond.
Iron God or anyone else who does this please feel free to jump in on the explanation of this one.
 
Great post!

we often forget about the basics and essentials when we are new to something, eagerness overcome us! We expect to be able to get from A to B without taking the appropriate measures to prepare for the journey. Thanks for looking out...
 
Great Post!
I really enjoy the sample diets and appreciate all of you who take the time to post them....
I welcome more of you to do so as I find them soooooo useful, my biggest problem is my diet.
Thanks
:)
 
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