I'm new to this site, hoping to find and seek advice.
I have a lot of support form my boyfriend. We go to the gym about 5 days a week. He pushes me, and thats what I need. But! ... the food part I'm struggling with...
- Eating to little then eating more, overeating.
- Are the protien shakes any help or the bars?
- What should I eat or shouldn't eat?
- How much should I eat?
I'm so lost!
I'm kinda ready to give up the eating healthy thing and say I don't need it and only excerize. But then agian whats the point?
I'm ready to pull my hair out.
Also... where can I find this journal on this site?
if it's moderate only, you can probably get away with no changes to your diet (which, btw, you should be preplanning, instead of trying to wing it day to day) other than a protein shake after your workout (IMMEDIATELY after, i mean - drink it on the way to the change room).
if you're really into lifting, then you could add one 20min before your workout.
this should allow you to follow a calorie-restricted diet to lose fat while at the same time protecting, preserving, and building your muscle.
I'd suggest you start by logging your calories. Pick a number and try to stay with in it. Don't worry too much initially about the kinds of foods you're eating.
Mostly try to stay away from the fried foods, drink plenty of water and eat lean meats. Also, you can use the app myfitnesspal put in your height/weight, how much you want to lose a week (up to 2lbs) and it should give you an amount of calories you should eat in order to lose. It also lets you log in all your foods/exercise and etc even has a food scanner! Pretty neat
I find the issue of food overwhelming too....even though I've been at this for a very long time. What if I posted a sample day of what I eat? Maybe that would be helpful? Here goes:
I don't eat breakfast. If I'm very hungry, I'll start off with a protein such as a hard boiled egg or a string cheese. The key is to start with protein because it helps me control my blood sugar and if I eat something that is carb/sugar based, it makes my hungrier later.
I do start my day now with hot water and half a fresh lemon squeezed into it. That seems like a good start to the day.
After my workout, I have a small coffee with nonfat milk.
Lunch: salad with grilled chicken breast (about 5-6 oz.) and some Walden Farms Thousand Island dressing (it has zero calories).
Snack: a homemade 100 calorie muffin, 6 Tablespoons of PB2 with 2 celery sticks.
Second snack before dinner: Kale chips (150 calories)
Dinner: Amy's Enchiladas for 320 calories along with more salad and walden farms dressing
Snack/desert: Arctic Zero "ice cream" for 150 calories, a medium apple and a string cheese.
If I want to eat but I know I'm not hungry, I'll sip on club soda and chew gum. Lots and lots of gum. I have an app I love on my iPhone called LoseIt and it helps me keep track of my calories. If you don't have an iPhone, you can still use that app on your computer and I believe it's free of charge.
I workout 5-7 days a week and do 20-40 minutes of cardio and some weights. I also walk my dog a lot.
I find the issue of food overwhelming too....even though I've been at this for a very long time. What if I posted a sample day of what I eat? Maybe that would be helpful? Here goes:
I don't eat breakfast. If I'm very hungry, I'll start off with a protein such as a hard boiled egg or a string cheese. The key is to start with protein because it helps me control my blood sugar and if I eat something that is carb/sugar based, it makes my hungrier later.
I do start my day now with hot water and half a fresh lemon squeezed into it. That seems like a good start to the day.
After my workout, I have a small coffee with nonfat milk.
Lunch: salad with grilled chicken breast (about 5-6 oz.) and some Walden Farms Thousand Island dressing (it has zero calories).
Snack: a homemade 100 calorie muffin, 6 Tablespoons of PB2 with 2 celery sticks.
Second snack before dinner: Kale chips (150 calories)
Dinner: Amy's Enchiladas for 320 calories along with more salad and walden farms dressing
Snack/desert: Arctic Zero "ice cream" for 150 calories, a medium apple and a string cheese.
If I want to eat but I know I'm not hungry, I'll sip on club soda and chew gum. Lots and lots of gum. I have an app I love on my iPhone called LoseIt and it helps me keep track of my calories. If you don't have an iPhone, you can still use that app on your computer and I believe it's free of charge.
I workout 5-7 days a week and do 20-40 minutes of cardio and some weights. I also walk my dog a lot.
I hope that helps!
it does help a alot.
but a few things, I'm allergic to PB I am not a huge fan of thousand island dressing. so can I substatute it for something else.
but your diet does give me an idea for what I need to get on my own butt about.
I'd suggest you start by logging your calories. Pick a number and try to stay with in it. Don't worry too much initially about the kinds of foods you're eating.
So logging my calories in my phone like some of the people where saying is going to help my situation?
if it's moderate only, you can probably get away with no changes to your diet (which, btw, you should be preplanning, instead of trying to wing it day to day) other than a protein shake after your workout (IMMEDIATELY after, i mean - drink it on the way to the change room).
if you're really into lifting, then you could add one 20min before your workout.
this should allow you to follow a calorie-restricted diet to lose fat while at the same time protecting, preserving, and building your muscle.
I am doing all kinds of weight lifting, legs, arms.core and calfs. I try to stay away from the cardio because the personal trainer told me instead of burning unwanted fat I;m actualy burning the muscle fat. unless its a light work out with light sweat.
I have the protein shake called muscle milk. I believe that's a drink 20-30 minutes before you work out, ut the protien bars I could eat after weight lifting?
Absolutely. You can use any dressing you want. Just don't use one that has too many calories. Some people use balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. Others buy a low calorie dressing....but just look at the calories and try not to get one that has a lot of sugar. If you're allergic to peanut butter, you can substitute for almond butter or just eat nuts and maybe some apple slices as a snack. It's good to pair a fruit with either string cheese or almonds because it steadies the blood sugar and keeps you from getting as hungry later.
Absolutely. You can use any dressing you want. Just don't use one that has too many calories. Some people use balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. Others buy a low calorie dressing....but just look at the calories and try not to get one that has a lot of sugar. If you're allergic to peanut butter, you can substitute for almond butter or just eat nuts and maybe some apple slices as a snack. It's good to pair a fruit with either string cheese or almonds because it steadies the blood sugar and keeps you from getting as hungry later.
okay, i'm going to come across as rude here, but your trainer's full of it.
there are two types of fat: white fat (metabolically inert, just blobs up under your skin) and brown fat (metabolically active - it contains mitochondria and is used to help regulate the body temperature).
you don't get to choose which is burned - your body does. if you exercise in subzero temperature (ie, cross-country skiing in shorts and a tank) you'll activate more brown fat. but that's another lecture.
anyway, the only thing you want to avoid is doing cardio AND weights *in the same workout*.
your muscles only have so much fuel to run on and if you burn it up doing weights, then cardio is going to get short-changed and if you do cardio first, you won't have the energy for a proper weight routine.
doing weights will increase your muscle tissue. more muscle = more calories needed to run your body = higher metabolism = more calories burned doing nothing.
but it's cardio that burns the fat off - there's no way around it.
the routine i used to follow was two workouts a day - weights in the morning, cardio in the evening 12hrs later - six days a week.
not everybody wants to spend their life in the gym, so there's nothing wrong with doing weight at the gym and then going bike-riding, walking, swimming, zumba, martial arts, or whatever on your own time.
I am another that is a big fan of calorie counting. Get used to looking at labels and measuring food, but it's really very simple. You are doing a lot of exercise, so you would probably be able to start with 1600-1800 calories a day, track for a few weeks, then make adjustments to fit your personal needs. If you start with 1800 and after several weeks (definitely give it a few weeks, maybe even a month) you aren't losing or not losing at quick the rate you want, trim back to 1700, or even 1600. If you start lower, say 1600 and after a few weeks are absolutely starved all the time or have no energy, bump your calories up a bit. Don't be afraid to tweak your amounts.
I use myfitnesspal.com on my phone and computer. It's free and I can enter stuff on my phone then see it on the computer. It seems to have a large database of foods, you can add your own foods, add recipes, track exercise. There are many other options for calories trackers out there, look around and see what you can find. If calorie counting doesn't seem like something for you, check out some of the diet specific forums. There might be something else you like better (South Beach, Weight Watchers, etc.).
So much of losing weight is an individual thing, it's difficult to just tell someone what they should do. What works for me may not work for you so you may have to experiment a bit to see what you like, what you can handle and what is going to work best for your body.
okay, i'm going to come across as rude here, but your trainer's full of it.
there are two types of fat: white fat (metabolically inert, just blobs up under your skin) and brown fat (metabolically active - it contains mitochondria and is used to help regulate the body temperature).
you don't get to choose which is burned - your body does. if you exercise in subzero temperature (ie, cross-country skiing in shorts and a tank) you'll activate more brown fat. but that's another lecture.
anyway, the only thing you want to avoid is doing cardio AND weights *in the same workout*.
your muscles only have so much fuel to run on and if you burn it up doing weights, then cardio is going to get short-changed and if you do cardio first, you won't have the energy for a proper weight routine.
doing weights will increase your muscle tissue. more muscle = more calories needed to run your body = higher metabolism = more calories burned doing nothing.
but it's cardio that burns the fat off - there's no way around it.
the routine i used to follow was two workouts a day - weights in the morning, cardio in the evening 12hrs later - six days a week.
not everybody wants to spend their life in the gym, so there's nothing wrong with doing weight at the gym and then going bike-riding, walking, swimming, zumba, martial arts, or whatever on your own time.
you didnt come off rude at all.
lol
and thank you for telling me that!
i've never heard of muscle milk barring ads but the name alone puts me off, lol.
i just looked up the chocolate and it's 310cal/serving?? if you add a typical protein bar which is usually around the same, that's 600 extra calories. there's no *way* you're burning that off with a weight routine.
half the muscle milk OR half the protein right after your workout should be more than enough. all you want is the protein - you don't really need carbs because you're getting enough of that from your diet so no need to knock back the whole lot.
Last edited by threenorns; 03-29-2012 at 10:53 PM.
FOOD ADVICE!!! somone help me!!!
I have an app I love on my iPhone called LoseIt and it helps me keep track of my calories. If you don't have an iPhone, you can still use that app on your computer and I believe it's free of charge. 
