I have been very good about diet for the past 5 months. body fat is at 19% and I have been very diligent about working out everyday with one day of rest with no weight training but still do 30 to 40 minutes of cardio daily. I do weight training (about 40 minutes) alternating arms and legs with abs every other day also. Just had body fat checked again and much to dissappointment I still am at 19%. So I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. I thought I may drop percentage at least a little bit. I am female 38 years old, 5'8" and weigh 135. I was wondering if one of the trainers our there could give me some pointers about what I could be doing wrong?. Below is a list of a typical daily diet. I don't drink any soda, stay away from cookies, candy and sweets, chips and all junk food. I load body with plenty of water, take a 1 multi vitamin daily.
Breakfast 6:45 a.m 3/4 Cup oatmeal with scoop protein powder/made with skim milk, raisens, 1 tbl. of sugar free syrup or honey. 12 oz water.
Morning workout
9:45 a.m. Snack usually consists of apple with peanut butter, or 1/2 C no fat cottage cheese with 1/4 C no fat yogurt, or handful nuts, or rice cake with peanut butter, or bananna with peanut butter. Water
12:30 p.m. Lunch constists of Tuna with no fat mayo lettuce tomato on whole wheat or turkey sandwich on whole wheat, apple, or banana, or small piece of fruit, water.
3:30 p.m. Snack as listed above or a 10 oz. protein shake made with skim milk and sugar free choc syrup. Water
6:00 p.m. Palm size portion turkey or chicken breast, or salmon, or turkey burger, or shrimp, or orange roughy, or egg beater omelette with freash veggies, 1/2 Cup brown rice, portion of vegetable, water.
8:45 p.m one portioned snack as listed above.
I feel great just disappointed with results after 5 months of what I felt was hard work. Any input would be appreciated!
Diet Help
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
Okay, I'm not a trainer, but I will try to asisst you as best I can.
If you're making Omelettes, then try not to use too many Yolks, or you'll increase the LDL cholesterol level in the meal.
You only need 1 maybe 2 most, as the Yolks do contain some Vitamins, and Protein, and also Lutein, which helps reduce degeneration of a part of the Eye, called the Macular.
Although Lutein is prevelant in other things like Corn, Spinach etc etc, 1 Yolk with an Egg meal, is not going to seriously bump up the LDL bad Cholesterol, but you might have a slight problem, if you consume 4-5 whole Eggs, rather than 1-2 Yolks and 4-5 Whites.
I would be inclined to get rid of the Peanut Butter, it can be a little Fatty that stuff sometimes.
You're also being inconsistant with some snacks. an Apple has about 80 calories in it, plus PB, you're probably talking about 120 calories all in.
Cottage Cheese often has slow digesting Proteins, which means 8 calories per gram not 4, so if you ate say 20 grams , you'd get about 160 calories not 80, like most other Protein sources.
Keep your Nuts low Salt, as too much Salt can cause Water retention.
The thing is though, that snack with 120 calories in could be too low, and not fueling your Metabolism properly. Especially when sometimes you eat the , and potentially get 50% + more calories.
The Banana with PB, is giving you insufficient Protein, and possibly insufficient calories too. I would look to add some Protein in with he Banana, so things like a Can of Tuna, A Low Fat / Non-Fat Yoghurt, Tofu, Low Salt Nuts etc etc.
Jus be sure not to eat too much Tuna, maybe one portion every 2 days max. and continue get your Protein from other sources.
You could also incorporate small Berry type fruits into your Snacks, particularly in the morning, when Fruit will be good, as opposed to Veggies, as things like Grapes, Cherries and Strawberries, are roughly 1 Carb per berry, so they're easy to count, and track your Carbs with.
It just sounds mainly like your Snacks are letting you down.
You're getting good nutrition, but possibly you're getting 1/3 - 1/2 less calories per snack, compared to a meal like Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and therefore you could be slightly affecting your Metabolism, by fluctuating what it gets to process.
You're not going to have to radically change your snacks, just incorporate more Protein where necessary, maybe a few more Carbs, sometimes, and make sure snacks don't drop below 200-300 calories a pop, so you get about another 250 calories a day.
It sounds strange to be adding more in, but if your Calories each meal are pretty similar, rather than potentially 100+ difference, your Metabolism will be getting more regulated activity, not fluctuating activity, and it might just give you a better chance, to keep Fat reduction moving along a bit more.
P.S. you say you train Arms and Legs, what about other areas?
If you're making Omelettes, then try not to use too many Yolks, or you'll increase the LDL cholesterol level in the meal.
You only need 1 maybe 2 most, as the Yolks do contain some Vitamins, and Protein, and also Lutein, which helps reduce degeneration of a part of the Eye, called the Macular.
Although Lutein is prevelant in other things like Corn, Spinach etc etc, 1 Yolk with an Egg meal, is not going to seriously bump up the LDL bad Cholesterol, but you might have a slight problem, if you consume 4-5 whole Eggs, rather than 1-2 Yolks and 4-5 Whites.
I would be inclined to get rid of the Peanut Butter, it can be a little Fatty that stuff sometimes.
You're also being inconsistant with some snacks. an Apple has about 80 calories in it, plus PB, you're probably talking about 120 calories all in.
Cottage Cheese often has slow digesting Proteins, which means 8 calories per gram not 4, so if you ate say 20 grams , you'd get about 160 calories not 80, like most other Protein sources.
Keep your Nuts low Salt, as too much Salt can cause Water retention.
The thing is though, that snack with 120 calories in could be too low, and not fueling your Metabolism properly. Especially when sometimes you eat the , and potentially get 50% + more calories.
The Banana with PB, is giving you insufficient Protein, and possibly insufficient calories too. I would look to add some Protein in with he Banana, so things like a Can of Tuna, A Low Fat / Non-Fat Yoghurt, Tofu, Low Salt Nuts etc etc.
Jus be sure not to eat too much Tuna, maybe one portion every 2 days max. and continue get your Protein from other sources.
You could also incorporate small Berry type fruits into your Snacks, particularly in the morning, when Fruit will be good, as opposed to Veggies, as things like Grapes, Cherries and Strawberries, are roughly 1 Carb per berry, so they're easy to count, and track your Carbs with.
It just sounds mainly like your Snacks are letting you down.
You're getting good nutrition, but possibly you're getting 1/3 - 1/2 less calories per snack, compared to a meal like Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and therefore you could be slightly affecting your Metabolism, by fluctuating what it gets to process.
You're not going to have to radically change your snacks, just incorporate more Protein where necessary, maybe a few more Carbs, sometimes, and make sure snacks don't drop below 200-300 calories a pop, so you get about another 250 calories a day.
It sounds strange to be adding more in, but if your Calories each meal are pretty similar, rather than potentially 100+ difference, your Metabolism will be getting more regulated activity, not fluctuating activity, and it might just give you a better chance, to keep Fat reduction moving along a bit more.
P.S. you say you train Arms and Legs, what about other areas?
food - get some fish oil and have 1 - 3 grams a day...you need a protein shake with carbs as soon as you finish your last set...you not building any muscle to lower because your waiting too long to eat after a workout...if you don't consume fast digesting protein (liquid form) and simple carbs (rice, cerial, pasta etc) within 45mins of finishing training, you've missed the boat to reap the benefits essentially making that workout a waste of time from that stand point
training - hopefully you are using compound exercises only (multi joint such as rows, squats deadlifts, pull ups, bench presses, push ups etc) and no isolation (single joint) or machine exercises as well as actaully using a set and rep scheme that will actaually build muscle (2 - 3 x 8 - 12 each exercise)
training - hopefully you are using compound exercises only (multi joint such as rows, squats deadlifts, pull ups, bench presses, push ups etc) and no isolation (single joint) or machine exercises as well as actaully using a set and rep scheme that will actaually build muscle (2 - 3 x 8 - 12 each exercise)
swanso5 wrote:food - get some fish oil and have 1 - 3 grams a day...you need a protein shake with carbs as soon as you finish your last set...you not building any muscle to lower because your waiting too long to eat after a workout...if you don't consume fast digesting protein (liquid form) and simple carbs (rice, cerial, pasta etc) within 45mins of finishing training, you've missed the boat to reap the benefits essentially making that workout a waste of time from that stand point
training - hopefully you are using compound exercises only (multi joint such as rows, squats deadlifts, pull ups, bench presses, push ups etc) and no isolation (single joint) or machine exercises as well as actaully using a set and rep scheme that will actaually build muscle (2 - 3 x 8 - 12 each exercise)
What brand or kind of fish oil?
I am doing compound exercises mixed with machine exercises also, like leg presses, lat machine, hamstring curls, leg extentions, etc...
Thanks for the protein shake tip, I will try that after workout.
Re: Diet Help
Actually your diet is not bad. You will want to watch your portion sizes of nuts and peanut butter since they are high in fat and calories, but are a fairly good source of protein. If sodium is an issue for you, unsalted nuts and unsalted and low fat peanut butter is available.Boopster wrote:I have been very good about diet for the past 5 months. body fat is at 19% and I have been very diligent about working out everyday with one day of rest with no weight training but still do 30 to 40 minutes of cardio daily. I do weight training (about 40 minutes) alternating arms and legs with abs every other day also. Just had body fat checked again and much to dissappointment I still am at 19%. So I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. I thought I may drop percentage at least a little bit. I am female 38 years old, 5'8" and weigh 135. I was wondering if one of the trainers our there could give me some pointers about what I could be doing wrong?. Below is a list of a typical daily diet. I don't drink any soda, stay away from cookies, candy and sweets, chips and all junk food. I load body with plenty of water, take a 1 multi vitamin daily.
Breakfast 6:45 a.m 3/4 Cup oatmeal with scoop protein powder/made with skim milk, raisens, 1 tbl. of sugar free syrup or honey. 12 oz water.
Morning workout
9:45 a.m. Snack usually consists of apple with peanut butter, or 1/2 C no fat cottage cheese with 1/4 C no fat yogurt, or handful nuts, or rice cake with peanut butter, or bananna with peanut butter. Water
12:30 p.m. Lunch constists of Tuna with no fat mayo lettuce tomato on whole wheat or turkey sandwich on whole wheat, apple, or banana, or small piece of fruit, water.
3:30 p.m. Snack as listed above or a 10 oz. protein shake made with skim milk and sugar free choc syrup. Water
6:00 p.m. Palm size portion turkey or chicken breast, or salmon, or turkey burger, or shrimp, or orange roughy, or egg beater omelette with freash veggies, 1/2 Cup brown rice, portion of vegetable, water.
8:45 p.m one portioned snack as listed above.
I feel great just disappointed with results after 5 months of what I felt was hard work. Any input would be appreciated!
I'm not sure what Boss Man means by increasing the "LDL cholesterol level in the meal." LDL levels in the blood are affected by saturated fat intake, there is no LDL level in a meal. Maybe you can clarify? Also the rate of protein absorption has nothing to do with how many calories are in a food. Also metabolism is affected by exercise, not by any particular food.
I meant LDL Cholesterol in Egg Yolks. The more Yolks, the more increase in bad Cholesterol, which as far as I know, is contained in Yolks.
I know Metabolism is not affected by particular foods, but if Calorie consumption is too low, the body would use muscle for energy, thereby affecting the Metabolism. That is probably what I was trying to get across.
I'm not sure what you mean by Protein absorption, not being relative to the calorie content in food. I am aware caloric content of food has no effect in how Proteins are absorbed.
I assume you are possibly refferring to this.
It's creating an irregular pattern of Metabolic activity, though when one meal consumed 24 hours after, has significantly greater calories, as then the persons totals daily are too different, creating a kind of Caloric yo-yo effect.
As opposed to a Caloric intake daily, that is pretty much the same each day, which I think would be better for someone to do, in most cases.
I know Metabolism is not affected by particular foods, but if Calorie consumption is too low, the body would use muscle for energy, thereby affecting the Metabolism. That is probably what I was trying to get across.
I'm not sure what you mean by Protein absorption, not being relative to the calorie content in food. I am aware caloric content of food has no effect in how Proteins are absorbed.
I assume you are possibly refferring to this.
I was making light of the fact, a meal like that, gives a lot more calories, than something with 120 calories, and therefore, the two meals have inconsistant calorie amounts, and that can be a problem, if someone is eating more calories for a specific meal, and the next day a lot less. 8 calories per gram, just means that takes twice as long to process than a normal protein source, around 6 hours, instead of 3, which is why many people use it for Anti-catabolic reasons, during the sleep process.The thing is though, that snack with 120 calories in could be too low, and not fueling your Metabolism properly. Especially when sometimes you eat the , and potentially get 50% + more calories.
It's creating an irregular pattern of Metabolic activity, though when one meal consumed 24 hours after, has significantly greater calories, as then the persons totals daily are too different, creating a kind of Caloric yo-yo effect.
As opposed to a Caloric intake daily, that is pretty much the same each day, which I think would be better for someone to do, in most cases.