Trying to lose fat, trying a new nutrition/workout plan

[matts0344]

OK, I had a topic on here a while ago, but I've lost about 6-7 lbs since then and my fitness level and mind set have changed. I need to focus a bit more on nutrition. I've lost about 15 lbs since I've started working out and eating better (around October of 2006)

To refresh, I'm 20 year old male, about 150lbs, and 5'4, I need to lose probably 25-30 more lbs of fat. Now, I know this plan is not great, but its a lot better than I ate a year ago. I'm slowly building up to plan that is considered healthy, I haven't gotten there yet.

Breakfast: (around 8am)
Shredded wheat cereal, 1% milk
quarter of a glass of orange or apple juice

Lunch (12pm)
Turkey breast on wheat
12ozs of water

Snack(3pm)
some fruit (apple, grapes)?
6-8oz os water

Dinner(heres where I need some help) (6pm)
A small salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olives, etc) no croutons
about 16 ozs of water
I should be eating some protein here right? What do you guys recommend.
What I'm doing now is basically whatever my family is making/eating (in other words, very very bad)

Snack/Dessert (8:30pm)
some more fruit?


On to execsize
I have access to a treadmill, bike, and dumbells.

Currently I'm doing 6 days a week on treadmill. (inclined)
7 minute warm up 3mph
1 minute at 4mph
1 minute at 5mph
1 minute at 6mph
reapeat 3 more times

3-4 days a week before I do my treadmill I workout with some beginner weight training.
3x 12-16 reps with 15lbs (switching to heavier soon)
dumbell curls
concentration curls
Overhead Triceps Extensions
Flat Chest Presses
Lateral Raises
Half Squats
+ 2 sets of a 30 bicycle crunches

I know this is not anywhere close to an ideal plan for losing fat, especially the diet, like I said, I'm slowly improving, I don't need to lose this weight overnight. Also, this is permanent plan for the rest of my life (of course, it will change however), what I mean is this is not some 4 month thing and then I'm back to eating pizza and burgers.

I'm looking for some tweaks in the nutrition plan, especially what to eat for dinner, and a better cardio workout if needed? (like is a mine ok that I have 7 minutes of walking + 3 minutes jogging or is this just stupid?)

Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[shikashika]

Hi!

It would eb a good idea to have some protein with your breakfast and dinner.

What kind of lettuce are you using? Can you use spinach or dark greens and not iceberg lettuce.. you need to have something with some nutrition in!

yes, you need some protein with that salad.. What about some grilled chicken.

turkey is ok, but make sure is is not too packed full of sodium... a lot of deli meats are.

[matts0344]

The lettuce I'm using is the kind that is very green (I actually hate light/liceberg lettuce).

The turkey I use is actually one of those pre-cooked turkeys and then I just slice up the breast, is that ok? Also, what affect does sodium have on trying to lose weight? Don't I want some because I sweat a lot while I walk/jog? (especially now that its warm)

OK, grilled chicken with the salad, I'll try that, but what protein is good for breakfast? I can't imagine eating any turkey,fish etc for breakfast, is the only choice an egg? Is so, don't I want to cut back on what I eat? This is where I get very confused.

[Beyondthesea]

I hope you mean that you are trying to build muscle, not lose weight.

You are NOT eating enough. I eat as much as you do as a female and weigh the same, at 28% body fat. A man needs to eat more calories than what you are.

You are not eating enough for the amount of exercise you are doing for sure. Your body needs calories!

I would go to a nutritionist or someone in a health food store and talk about your options.

[matts0344]

I always thought it was:

more calories (calorie surplus) --> muscle building
less calories (calorie deficit) --> fat loss

[heynowwww]

I personally do 10 oz of chicken and 1 cup of broccoli for dinner, but yes I would add some protein, maybe grill some chicken and throw it in the salad or tuna whatever you like. I have a foreman grill which is great for cooking chicken. For cardio the best way to lost fat is High Intensity Interval Training. If youd like to try it , here is what I do, 4 min warm up so either light jog or walk, then sprint for 1 min then walk for a min do this 6 times then a 3 min cool down. During the sprints you want to try to get to 80% of your max heart rate. It is tough so you may have to work up to it. You can research it on the internet. It keeps your metabolism raised hours after you do it. Check out these websites for tips:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[ves]

Originally Posted by matts0344

I always thought it was:

more calories (calorie surplus) --> muscle building
less calories (calorie deficit) --> fat loss

Well, more calories could also equal fat building if you're not also exercising.

If you eat TOO little, your body will go into starvation mode, cling to every calorie you eat, and you won't lose weight. Not to mention you won't have enough energy to get through your workouts, and it will be harder to maintain the loss when you reach your goal.

Have you looked into Weight Watchers? You can find all the rules online, so you don't even have to pay for or go to meetings. I have lost 50 lbs on WW so far without going to a single meeting, and I have about 30 to go. It's a really sane way to lose weight, and extremely successful for so many people. PM me if you want more info.

[pinkelephant]

I'm kind of confused from reading that. Do you want to lose fat AND gain musle?

If so, read this.
First thing first, you eat too much fruit. Switch to veggies. Fruits are basically simple carbs with vitamins. While vitamins are essential, you can get them from veggies. Simple carbs are evil and should be avoided as much as you can. They cause sugar spike that brings out the insulin which leads to storing more fat. Bad bad baddd!

In case you don't know what simple and complex carb is - please look them up. Do a lot of reading. You can't do this uneducated.

Breakfast:
- Can you get oatmeal instead or anything that's whole grain? Make sure the stuff you get are indeed whole grain and not "made with whole grain" like your shredded wheat.
- As for the milk, 1% is okay, but do some research and realize how much you're losing when you take the fat away from the milk. I can't tell you which is better, but you do lose minerals and vitamins. A lot of Vitamin A along with the fat.
- Juice is good, especially in the morning. However, is this juice from concentrate? If so, please stop drinking it. Make your own and add honey (instead of white sugar and make sure it's real honey if you can afford it) for taste. If you like fruits, try and eat them just in the morning. Mornings are when your body needs vitamins and antioxidents the most. Any berries (strawberries, black berries, raspberries, blue berries) should be your bestfriend.

You need a snack between breakfast and lunch. Four hours is too long of a break. Have some almonds. Almonds contain Vits and good fat, it will help you lose weight + good skin.
- Strawberries & cheese are what I'm eating right now.

Lunch:
You need more for lunch. Again, is your bread whole grain? If not, switch. It will be hard to eat at first, but you will get used to it and you'll like it MUCH better - trust me.

- Your veggies need more variety. Try out any deep greens. Cabbage and cauliflower are the only light colored veggie you eat.
- Protein can be any - chicken, steak, pork chops, etc.

Are you lactose intollerant? Why don't you have any dairy in your diet other than milk? Eggs and cheese are great sources of protein. Have some cheese with your turkey breast sandwich.


On to execsize:
Wth? You can't be that unfit.
One minute on 3.5 mph (max 2)
10 minutes at 5.5 mph
Go back to one minute 3.5
Then 10 minutes at 5.5 mph.
Then slow down. Increase incline + speed if it gets too easy.

The key is to get your heart to the fat burning rate. 7 minutes at 3mph is absolutely ridiculous!!! I'm surprised nobody said anything.

If you're going to do weights, do it before you do your cardio. To start off, I recomend big movements. That means squatting big time, this excercise is the key excercise. However, make sure that you're doing it right. Google it or ask someone to help you. Most are friendly at the gym. Make sure you target alll your major musles when doing weights.

Once you're comfortable with doing weights, I recomend doing split days. That's only once you're comfortable though. This whole body thing is okay for the first few months.

& Make sure you have resting days and don't over work yourself.

Any other questions, just IM me.

[pinkelephant]

Oh and make sure you get enough calories.

A good site for this is:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

It's free and it's good to keep track. Too little calories will cause your body to go into starvation mode like the person above me said.

[matts0344]

Originally Posted by pinkelephant

I'm kind of confused from reading that. Do you want to lose fat AND gain musle?

If so, read this.
First thing first, you eat too much fruit. Switch to veggies. Fruits are basically simple carbs with vitamins. While vitamins are essential, you can get them from veggies. Simple carbs are evil and should be avoided as much as you can. They cause sugar spike that brings out the insulin which leads to storing more fat. Bad bad baddd!

In case you don't know what simple and complex carb is - please look them up. Do a lot of reading. You can't do this uneducated.

Breakfast:
- Can you get oatmeal instead or anything that's whole grain? Make sure the stuff you get are indeed whole grain and not "made with whole grain" like your shredded wheat.
- As for the milk, 1% is okay, but do some research and realize how much you're losing when you take the fat away from the milk. I can't tell you which is better, but you do lose minerals and vitamins. A lot of Vitamin A along with the fat.
- Juice is good, especially in the morning. However, is this juice from concentrate? If so, please stop drinking it. Make your own and add honey (instead of white sugar and make sure it's real honey if you can afford it) for taste. If you like fruits, try and eat them just in the morning. Mornings are when your body needs vitamins and antioxidents the most.

You need a snack between breakfast and lunch. Four hours is too long of a break. Have some almonds. Almonds contain Vits and good fat, it will help you lose weight + good skin.

Lunch:
You need more for lunch. Again, is your bread whole grain? If not, switch. It will be hard to eat at first, but you will get used to it and you'll like it MUCH better - trust me.

- Your veggies need more variety. Try out any deep greens. Cabbage and cauliflower are the only light colored veggie you eat.
- Protein can be any - chicken, steak, pork chops, etc.

Are you lactose intollerant? Why don't you have any dairy in your diet other than milk? Eggs and cheese are great sources of protein. Have some cheese with your turkey breast sandwich.


On to execsize:
Wth? You can't be that unfit.
One minute on 3.5 mph (max 2)
10 minutes at 5.5 mph
Go back to one minute 3.5
Then 10 minutes at 5.5 mph.
Then slow down. Increase incline + speed if it gets too easy.

The key is to get your heart to the fat burning rate. 7 minutes at 3mph is absolutely ridiculous!!! I'm surprised nobody said anything.

If you're going to do weights, do it before you do your cardio. To start off, I recomend big movements. That means squatting big time, this excercise is the key excercise. However, make sure that you're doing it right. Google it or ask someone to help you. Most are friendly at the gym. Make sure you target alll your major musles when doing weights.

Once you're comfortable with doing weights, I recomend doing split days. That's only once you're comfortable though. This whole body thing is okay for the first few months.

& Make sure you have resting days and don't over work yourself.

Any other questions, just IM me.

OK, first, yes I am that unfit, 10 minutes at 5.5 mph? There is no way I could do that yet. I would have to stop after that. I would need something a little ligher.

Also, yes I am doing the weights before the treadmill.
I will add some cheese to the sandwhich,
I'm actually not allowed any food between breakfast and lunch because I'm in school, and there is no food allowed.

Looks like the concensus is definintely MORE food. I'll try to see how I could fit more in, thanks.