my big butt

[littlebell]

I don't know what i am doing wrong, and i don't know how to get the right info. I am at 22% bf and want to be 18%. I eat five small meals a day trying to stay somewhere betweeen 1600-1800 cals but i am ALWAYS hungry!

I lift 3 times a week, and do cardio 6 times. 3 days of cardio machines, 45 minutes, 2 days of 4 miles at 10 min/mile, 1 day of stadium, 30 minutes.

I think my diet is pretty clean, i just find myself always wanting nuts or crackers.

My workouts are in the morning and I've been reading that cardio should be done on an empty stomach. I usually have 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg on 1/2 of a small plain bagle (245 cals) before heading to the gym. I don't know if i could make it through 45 mins of cardio and 1 hour of lifting w/o food in me?

sorry about the long message but the ladies out there really seem to know what they are talking about.

 

[littlebell]

Sure here is my schedule.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: cardio 8:15 - 9:00am

 

[Sassy69]

bell-

can you post your diet? Sounds like you aren't eating enough. Maybe your body is starved for more protein? carbs? fats? Getting some good quality EFAs in there? Basically if you are not getting results and are always hungry, you need some food and you need to change what you are doing. Sometimes you need to bulk a little so your body doesn't think its going into a famine or something and starts slowing its metabolism down to "run" better under a "limited fuel" scenario.

 

[littlebell]

sorry, that didn't work.

MWF, cardio 8:15 - 9:00 am; weights 9:00 - 9:45; strech 9:45- 10
T 4 mile/10 min mile jog 6:30 pm
R stadium 6:30 pm

MWF i eat at 8 2 egg whites, 1 egg, 1/2 bagle, 1 tsp low fat cream cheese =270
10:30 protein shake (carb solutions) w/ 1 cup soy milk & 1 banana = 310
12:00 16 oz can progresso black bean soup =340
3:00 can of tuna, crackers, fat free yog = 385
6:00 6 oz chicken, 8 oz can vegg = 250
8:30 romaine lettuce, 4oz broiled mahi, balsamic vinegar, sugar free ice pop = 150
10:00 1/2 bag of healthy choice popcorn = 100 (i can't concentrate on anything bc i'm too hungry)

total = 1800

my meals are very similar in quantities and times on T and R
i switch tuna for turkey sandwich or if i don't have time for a meal bc i have to be in court i eat a bar (usually mioplex lite, powerbar pria or EAS lite). some days i have more veggs than others. I really like to cook, most everything comes out of cooking light magazine. once in a while i will have a cup of pasta with chicken, but that is rare.

In the last six weeks i dropped 3% bf but now i feel that my body is getting flabbier.

Thanks for your help!

 

[smallmovesal]

small frequent meals

now post up your diet silly

 

[littlebell]

oh i forgot the numbers!

I am 135 lbs, 5'3", 22% bf

I was 132, 25% 6 weeks ago

 

[littlebell]

what gets changed from the spreadsheet since my cardio is usually in the am and my weights are always in the am?

i went to a nutritionist at my gym and did a funny test with a snorkle like contraption in my mouth. based on that and my exercise, he suggested i eat no more than 1700cal/ day to lose 5lbs. Bottom line...too hungry for such little food. im already starving on 1800

 

[MR. BMJ]

Actually, your diet doesn't look all that bad, I have seen a lot worse. I think you may be able to reduce your calories to around 1600/day and still be fine. You may want to give that a try. I just multiplied your bodyweight by 12. Anyway, its a thought because most people seem to be fine at a caloric level of 12 X's their bodyweight and not have it be too catabolic. As for the hunger pains, if you like cottage cheese, you may want to eat this later on in the night since it is a very slow digesting protein. Also nuts are pretty good too since the healthy fats in them will help slow down gastric absorption as well. Bottom line though, at least for me, is that when dieting down, there is NO real answer for hunger! You kind of have to "toughen' your ass up if you know what I mean. Fenfluramine (Pondimin) can help if you can get it, and it doesn't seem to affect sleeping patterns as well, that is if you want to go the "drug" route. One more thing, if you can add some more fiber to your diet as well, soluble fiber is AWESOME at slowing down gastric absorption/GI rate as well, and it doesn't ad any calories. Anyway, hope this helped some, GOOD LUCK!

MR. BMJ

 

[MR. BMJ]

Yeah, i would agree with ya there Spatts. The equation/set-up you used is one i have heard of before, and it usually yields a higher calorie amount than just simply multiplying your bodyweight by 12, but i have not seen too many people go catabolic with the 12 X's method. Usually if it is off, it is not by much, thus they can add or subtract a little at a time until they find their optimal level. One thing that happens though on a hypocaloric diet is that thyroid conversion of T4---->T3 is usually decreased. the only real options are to add exercises, decrease calories, add T3, and of course, if she isn't using any thermogenics, then they would help as well (they aslo will help with hunger too). Even then, some people have to stop dieting for a week to have their thyroid conversion function properly again. I don't think she has reached that point of stopping her dieting for proper thyroid function yet though. Actually, a lot of people find that they are still not catabolic even at a caloric level of 10 X's their bodyweight. I usually go with the highest amount of calories I can which will allow me to loose fat, then when this is no longer efficient, I will lower my calories a bit. My calorie levels usually go like this: BW X 14...until no longer efficient, BW X 12..., BW X10.... If I am not losing any more fat at 10 X's my bodyweight, then i either add T3 and increase my calories to 12 X's, or i will increase my calories to around 18 X's for a week to help restore thyroid function. Of course, I use the hell out of thermos

One thing i have not really had time to research on is the whole LEPTIN situation. It is something i am gonna have to do after my semester is over. I know that on a Keto diet, one of its downfalls is that it will decrease leptin, thus this is why it is important to have a carb-up. This may also be what is happening on a low-hypocaloric diet as well, thus is the reason for the weeks overfeed to get things working properly. This may also be why Lyle McDonald is configuring/experimenting with Cyclic Isocaloric dieting...and explains why people like Wilson and MS get great results as well with themselves and clients (Their high carb/high protein/highfat cycleing etc...)...i don't know

Maybe MS or Par Deus can add something about the Leptin situation, as they probably (well, I know) have more knowledge about the subject than I do right now

About the LBM thingy...If i am not going to do a calorie limit of 10 X's my bodyweight, then I usually will use LBM of my weight X 12. But i have found that the just using my overall bodyweight is also effective. I don't really start worrying about that until I get into single digits. I normally will not go to 10 X's my LBM unless I am towards the end of my dieting cycle as this amount of reduction is generally not necessary until then. However, if one finds that they are not losing muscle at this amount, then it would to use. When you start getting to this level, you really have to have a feel with your own body, and that is generally impossible to evaluate over the net...LOL. Hopefully I made sense...LOL.

BMJ

 

[gvulf]

ummm, I may be all wet here...

But, if you actually did lose just a little over three pounds of fat and truly gained three pounds of muscle within 6 weeks, I'd have to say that you're making great progress. That would imply that you're not entering a catabolic state and your metabolism (i.e., BMR) will be increasing proportionately to your increased LBM. Where it gets you in trouble is when you see the scales going up and start feeling like nothing is happening. I get myself in trouble when I over-engineer my diet, so I'd recommend doing just what you're doing and guage your progress on how you feel, how your clothes feel and get your BF tested ....say once a month.
I'm 5'4" and weighed in at 147# maybe a year and a half ago. Today (I'm still 5'4") I weigh in at around 143# and am in clothes that I haven't worn since I weighed 134#. I kinda think that rushing matters is really not in your best interest when you're hoping for long-term change. And too, it's not as much fun when you have yourself wrapped around the stress pole all the time. If you haven't already done so, I'd also recommend taking measurements (you know, biceps, quads, hips, etc.)

If you wanna see a big ass, I'll gladly point you to a pic of what mine looked like 5 years ago.

Chin up and pat yourself on the back!