newbie!

[Mizz*Jacqui]

Hey everyone,
I'm Jacqui. I have been playing sports all my life, dancing etc. I have been going to the gym with my boyfriend for the last year. Lately, i have been slacking and have gained 15 unwanted pounds.

I am ready and willin to get rid of it. (at least 10)
I'm 5"9 and right now 128 lbs.

My new diet sucks Weight Watchers

breakfast

1/2 cup special K
tea/coffee

snack
carrot sticks
cellery

lunch
sandwich, no mayo w. letuce
OR
soup (veggie or chicken noodle)
OR
salad
piece of fruit.


Dinner
small piece of meat (size of my fist)
1/2 cup of green veggies
small salad
small glass of milk

snack
small apple or piece of fruit



I totally understand the point of this diet is to lower your calorie intake and continue to burn them while exercising. I was also told to work out 'ever other day' is this correct?

If any ladies think that this may be the best diet to work on while doing cardio or 45 minutes 3 times weekly (while increasing it after periods of time)
or have any other suggestions, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[devil1]

welcome aboard, you will find all the answers you need here.

[AnatomicallyBlessed]

Sounds like you have a good diet plan. All it takes is disapline. Keep up the good work.

[sassy69]

I'm sure weight watchers has a purpose for some people, but you sound to be very tall & slender. When you say you want to lose 15 lb-- 15 lb of what? Fat or muscle? ON this diet + nothing but cardio or aeorobic activities / sports, you'll most likely lose plenty of muscle. That's one way to lose 15 lb-- however it won't do much for LOOKING lean. Low muscle content & slender == skinny fat.

There's barely an protein in that diet. To illustrate what exactly you are eating, I'd suggest you enter that meal plan into a food counts program like www.fitday.com and see just how much you are eating - total cals, amount of protein, fat & carbs There's also hardly any good fats in that diet. BTW, what are you supposed to do with the Special K? NO milk? Or just munch on it? Also no mention of water. YOU NEED TO DRINK WATER!!!!!! To hydrate and also to help flush out all the byproducts of your daily life -- stuff you eat, the undigested stuff, the stuff you absorb from your environment, etc. And I'm talkign like 1-2 gallons / day. A good amount is drinking an equivalent number of ounces of water to your body weight. Also protein wise- you want to eat somewhere between 0.8 and 1.2 g of protein for each lb of lean muscle mass you have. You don't mention what your bodyfat is -- can you get that measured? This will tell you , of your 128 lb of body mass, how much is fat and how much is lean bodymass You want the % fat to drop, but not the muscle.

Regarding weight - weight is basically what you weigh as a mass of bone, muscle and fat (and tissue and other stuff, but mostly those 3). What that weight is made up of is what is important. So when you are dieting , you need to not freak out about if your weight moves up or down so much, say how your clothes fit. To illustrate, I started dieting for a BB competition in December 2004, after about 2 yrs of lousy eating, alot of stress, sporadic gym time, etc. I started at 162 lb, 24% bodyfat. Mind you I've been lifting most of my life so I have an excellent base of muscle mass, but also a lot fo fat. Dieting very tightly and training, I dropped 9% bf by March, but my weight only changed about 2 lb during that time. I went from a size 10 jeans to a 6. As I entered the last 8-12 weeks of contest prep, my bodyfat dropped from 15% to 8% and my weight went down 20 lb. My jeans went from a 6 to a 2. Note I only maintained that 8% for a few days around my competition, but I remain a fairly low bodyfat right now which I will maintain thru the summer and start cuttign again soon for a comp in Sept.

Also do you plan to do any weight lifting / resistance training? Cardio you really only need about 20-30 min 3 x / week. For you I dont think you need much. NOTE because this diet doesn't have much to it, you will be burning whatever cals you ate and then some. Too much cardio is catabolic - meaning when it runs out of carbs of food you ate before cardio and then turns to the fat stored on your body, it will then turn to the muscle. You dont' want your muscle mass consumed for cardio. That's just a waste. Instead incude some weight training and less cardio.

Honestly -- IMO I'd toss the weight watchers diet -- you already said you hate it so you're already sabotaging your attempt to follow it. A "diet" is not supposed to be "Die" with a "T" -- instead it is part of your lifestyle. If you aren't enjoying it, you won't make it part fo your lifestyle and you will most likely start binging when you get bored. My bet is you will probably be freekin hungry on this diet too. Restricting your calories below what your body needs to run will only make your metabolism slow down & limit your ability to efficiently burn calories.

My suggestion if you are new to dieting, take a look at the Body for Life book / program by Bill Phillips. You dont need to eat all the EAS products he promotes, but the diet is a good basic diet that gives you the essentials of a good fitness way of eating and the basic guidelines for a healthy but not miserablly restricted diet. It also addresses training and cardio for people who are new to the concepts. Doign hours and hours of cardio will not get you anywhere.

Good luck!

[Mizz*Jacqui]

Thank you for all of your great information..
Of course it is necessary to drink a lot of water.
basically the 15 pounds isn't even the problem. More less i want to lose inches. i want to lose 10 pounds all over. More less fat. Untill i lose the inches i am only doing cardio about 45 minutes 3times a week. Then after that point i will start to tone.
With the special K it is milk (low fat or 1%)

I am really hoping to lose the weight and my mom and boyfriend are both very helpful, and are supporting me all the way.

[v-twin]

welcome to AR

[RA]

Welcome to AR.

[sassy69]

Untill i lose the inches i am only doing cardio about 45 minutes 3times a week. Then after that point i will start to tone.

What does that mean??? Resistance training will help you optimize the rate you burn fat. Just cardio before toning is a load of crap IMO. Why wait? "Toning" is a load of crap too. Just lift. The point is to change your bodyfat to lean muscle mass ratio correct? If you just do cardio you aren't doing anything to increase your muscle mass. And since cardio can be catabolic you may be burning fat AND muscle. As a result you can literally maitnain the same fat to muscle ratio which just gets you skinny-fat.

And that diet. Ugh. Sure if you restrict your calories eating anythign you will still lose because you are starving yourself. That works for a while. Then you plateau because your body has determined that it is not going to be getting the amount of fuel that it needs and it will slow down the rate it metabolizes.

Let me illustrate what exactly you are eating:

Food Name Servings Serving Size Cals Fat Carb Prot
Special K cupsingle serving box (.625 oz) 57 0 11 3
Milk, cow's, fluid, 1% fat (1/2 c) 51 1 6 4
Carrots, raw 1 cup, 47 0 11 1
Celery, raw 1 cup 19 0 4 1
Bread, whole wheat, 2 slices 135 2 25 5
Ham, sliced luncheon meat 3 slices 102 5 1 12
Lettuce, raw 1 cup, 7 0 1 1
Chicken, breast, 1 cup 264 10 0 40
Raw vegetable, 1/2 c 13 0 3 1
Lettuce, salad with assorted vegetables including tomatoes and/or carrots, no dressing 13 0 3 1
Milk, cow's, fluid, 1% fat (1/2 pint) 102 3 12 8
Apple, raw small 63 0 16 0
Totals 874 23 93 75

Calories Eaten Today
source grams cals %total
Total: 874
Fat: 23 207 25%
Sat: 8 69 8%
Poly: 4 36 4%
Mono: 9 78 9%
Carbs: 93 319 39%
Fiber: 14 0 0%
Protein: 75 302 36%

The prot / fat/ carb break down is actually not bad, though I'd definitely go with more protein. HOWEVER the cals is ridiculous. That will lean you down real fast.

Seriously -- why don't you eat like a normal person and not starve yourself and be a stronger, healthier person?

[MBaraso]

Welcome. Sassy's info sounds pretty solid!

[stocky121]

welcome to AR

[SHAOKAHN]

Welcome. Agree with sassy, up the protien.

[sassy69]

BTW -- that food breakdown is done in fitday.com. I used it to build a meal plan picking some of the options your diet lists , e.g. "sandwich" -- i chose 2 pieces of whole wheat bread & 3 slices of ham. Its a great tool to sort of "idiot check" your diet because it is so easy to 'guestimate' and then either totally overblow or undercut your diet.

[Billyspt4]

Welcome, sassy is right with all the posts, listening to her will definitely get you where you want to be

[powerbodybuilder]

Welcome !!

[Mizz*Jacqui]

Thanks sassy!
Unfortuantly i was unable to start last monday, as well as today, hopefully i will be able to start up next monday. I am slowly getting back into the gym without pushing it or over-doing it.