Diet

[♥Purity♣]

I can't seem to get rid of my belly fat no matter what I do. I worked out three times a week. I mainly do cardio , weights and running.

I believe the main problem is my diet. I don't drink any carbohydrate beverages, caffeine and alcohol.


Any suggestion will be appreciated. ( Sorry, I'll write out my diet plans later.)

[MaNiCC]

What are your current stats?

What stats are you aiming for.

Its a little hard to advise without knowng your diet post it up for us, the more info we have the more we can give you

-MaNiCC-

[♥Purity♣]

What are your current stats?

What stats are you aiming for.

Its a little hard to advise without knowng your diet post it up for us, the more info we have the more we can give you

-MaNiCC-

Currently I weight 107 and I am 5'4.

Aim: To get tone and build a little bit of muscle everywhere.


Breakfast:

oatmeal with nonfat milk
H20

or

Yogurt with fruits & OJ

or

One bagel with low fat cream cheese
nonfat milk


Lunch:
Bake Chicken season with salt and pepper
Brown rice
Veggies
h20


Dinner:
Tilapia with brown rice
Veggies
h20


I believe the main problem is I eat too much carbohydrate. Sometimes I skipped breakfast


I basically want the body of gina carano

[gbrice75]

Currently I weight 107 and I am 5'4.

Aim: To get tone and build a little bit of muscle everywhere.


Breakfast:

oatmeal with nonfat milk
H20

Make sure your using whole oats and not packet oatmeal with all the sugar. 1/2 cup dry should be plenty for you. Use water instead of milk; nonfat milk still has 12g sugar/cup and has a bloating effect. How about some protein here? Do you like eggs? I would suggest 1 whole egg, 2-3 whites.

or

Yogurt with fruits & OJ

Sugar sugar sugar. This is why you can't lose your belly fat! Each meal needs protein and either a good complex carb or a healthy fat

or

One bagel with low fat cream cheese
nonfat milk

Highly processed carb, and useless spread. Again, no protein here (not couting the milk since it should be dropped anyway)


Lunch:
Bake Chicken season with salt and pepper
Brown rice
Veggies
h20

Well, here you have a good meal. Careful with the salt; sodium causes awful water retention, moreso with women


Dinner:
Tilapia with brown rice
Veggies
h20

Depending on how late in the day this is, you might want to drop all carbs a few hours before bed. A good meal here would be the tilapia, veggies, and some olive oil drizzled over the veggies


I believe the main problem is I eat too much carbohydrate. Sometimes I skipped breakfast


I basically want the body of gina carano

You're only eating 3 meals/day - that's the first glaring mistake I can see. You should be eating small meals every 2.5 - 3 hours. This will keep your metabolism fired up and constantly fuel your body with nutrients.

I made some suggestions above in bold, but you really need to work in more meals. How many calories/day are you eating? If you don't know, you need to research and find out ASAP. Then come back and post up a better diet listing macros for each meal (protein/carbs/fat/total calories) so we can get an idea of what you're eating.

[Damienm05]

Sample diet for a female client who isn't a hardcore BB, just a working mom who was trying to drop 35 lbs while building/toning. Look at how the meals are built around lean protein. Substitute any lean protein for another, same with carbs and fat using the info below. Use the info and formulas to understand the cals you should be taking in. This client lost all the weight plus 5 lbs. in 12 weeks doing cardio 3-5x per week.

"*****,

I ran your numbers based visual estimates since we’re yet to do a body fat test using calipers. I have gotten quite accurate. Based on that and what you’ve told me about your lifestyle, I’ve established a TDEE of right around 2100 for you. Rather than starve the lbs. off of you, I’d rather set a daily caloric intake of 1600. That deficit alone won’t result in rapid weight loss but if you plan on doing cardio 3-5 times per week you’ll still be losing 2 lbs. per week. That may not seem like a lot but you’re going to drop a lot of lbs. from water weight right away. Also, as you become more active and build more muscle – your TDEE will go up and give you some more leeway. At this point we’re looking at 3 lbs. per week and in just 2.5 months of dieting you’ll be good to go but no cheating minus the controlled day once per week! We’ll keep training hard in the gym but this is where the hard work really counts – it’s all in the diet.

As for your cheat day we discussed – just make sure you don’t eat a ton of calories or fat and cut off carb consumption 3 hours prior to bed. Within those parameters, eat all the Chinese food you want. A cheat day is beneficial because your body will realize it’s not starving and become more willing to let go of stored body fat. Just don’t consume too many calories or you’ll create new fat. Also remember what we touched on earlier regarding business happy hours: there’s no need to give up drinking 100% on this regiment. Just mix with diet and account for the calories in your drinks and either skip a meal (not recommended) or do an extra cardio session the next day (recommended). Remember, alcohol, even without added sugar, is 7 calories per gram!

This diet may look strict but I promise, you’ll have so much natural energy and you’ll feel so thin after the first week, you’ll get addicted to eating this way.

I’ve assumed you wake up at 6:30 AM and go to bed at 10:30 PM. Adjust the times based on any variation from that assumption, it doesn’t matter.

Supplements/additions: Female specific multivitamin, calcium/bone-health supplement, One gallon of water daily, caffeine as needed (this increases your heart rate and causes you to expend more energy and sweat more, increasing weight loss).

Note that each meal is accompanied by specific macronutrient statistics -
(grams of protein / grams of carbs / grams of fat / calories)

Meal 1 / Breakfast - 7:00 AM: 1 whole egg, 3 egg whites, ½ cup oatmeal. Add splenda to your oats instead of sugar.
20 / 28 / 7 / 261

Meal 2 / Snack - 10:00 AM: 1 oz. Almonds (about 18-22 kernels), ½ cup greek yogurt with ½ cup sliced strawberries. Add splenda to your yogurt instead of sugar.
12 / 14 / 18 / 250



Meal 3 / Lunch - 4:00 PM: 4 oz. chicken breast sliced, 1 cup green veggies (whatever your favorite is, I like Asparagus), 1 cup brown rice.
39 / 44 / 6 / 398



Meal 4 / Snack - 4:00 PM: Kashi brand granola bar, 1 scoop whey shake – very healthy, low-sugar, sweet snack to kill sugar cravings and give you something convenient for your commute home.
27 / 19 / 5 / 140

Meal 5 / Dinner – 7:00 PM: 6 oz. Salmon filet, 1 cup green veggies, 1 teaspoon olive oil
38 / 5 / 15 / 397


Totals:
- 136 grams of protein
- 108 grams of carbohydrates
- 52 grams of fat
- 1546 calories


Grocery List for one week:
- 32 oz. Boneless, skinless chicken breast – approximately 4 large breasts.
- 2 dozen large eggs
- 7 Salmon Filets (Wegman’s sells a club pack of 7 frozen 6 oz. Chilean Salmon filets for $19.99)
- 1 jar of roasted almonds
- 1 quart no-sugar added Greek yogurt
- 2 packages of fresh Driscoll’s strawberries
- 1 large cylinder of raw rolled oats
- 1 bag brown rice
- 2 boxes of Kashi Granola bars (6 in each I believe)
- At least 50 oz. of brocolli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, spinach etc. You can never have too many because when hungry, you should snack on these. Buy more depending on how much you like veggies. I eat 8 cups daily. I also pay for convenience and buy them in ready-to-microwave steam bags.
- Low calorie cooking spray for lubricating pots/pans pans. A little extra virgin olive oil now and then is fine of course."



BMR/TDEE formula:

Let’s start with BMR. This is your Basal Metabolic Rate. AKA – how many calories you burn each day by just sitting on your ass. In order to figure out your BMR, you need to know what your lean body mass is. In turn, you need to know what your body fat percentage is.

If you don’t know your body fat percentage, go to your gym and get tested (please don’t use electronic scales to get your bf % checked, they're horrible). If you don’t have a gym that offers this service; ask me and I’ll give you a pretty good estimate.

With your bf % in hand, here’s the formula:

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Total weight x bf % in decimal form = total bf weight

Total weight - total bf weight = total lean body mass

For example:

I am 6'1 210 lbs at 10% body fat... so I would multiply 210 by .10 (converted from percent to decimal) = 21 lbs
210 – 21 = 189 lbs lean body weight

189 / 2.2 = 86.0 lean mass in kg

370 + (21.6 x 86) = 2227.6 BMR (this is high for the average person)

Now that we have a BMR figure, we can move on to TDEE. Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is how many calories we actually use during the day via our BMR and activities such as work, exercise and various tasks. We can figure this number out with simple math but be honest because this figure is to be the cornerstone of your diet and healthy lifestyle. We need to determine your activity level. We’ll choose from a few levels:

§ If you are sedentary (little or no exercise): Calorie - Calculation = BMR x 1.2
§ If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
§ If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
§ If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
§ If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

For example:

I train with weights 5 days for 90 minutes per week. I play hockey three times per week
for 90 minutes. I do 60 minutes of cardio training 5 times per week as well. I also practice my sport 3 times per week for 90 minutes. Either via skating or puck/shooting drills. All are high-intensity. I am between very and extra active. Let’s say BMR x 1.8. My TDEE is 4010.

In terms of food choices, here goes:

I love analogies. Let’s use a good one. Think of your perfect body as a house that you must build. You’ve figured out your BMR and TDEE, so you know the exact specs of the property you have to work with. You know how exercise affects weight loss and how much of a caloric deficit/surplus we must create to lose/gain said weight; so you know how to build - you understand architecture. You also know the pace you intend on losing/gaining weight at based on these other factors, so you know it will be harder to get your house built in weeks as opposed to months. The only thing left is the tools/building material you must use and because you don’t know how to eat, you still can’t build anything. At least, not well. Sure, you can starve yourself for a few months but you’ll just gain all the weight back in a couple weeks of binge drinking and shitty eating on a vacation – you’re house will fall down!

So, let’s talk tools baby. Let’s talk food. First off, there are only 3 types of foods/macronutrients. Protein. Carbohydrates. Fat. That’s it.

Protein – 4 calories per gram - Building material. Bricks. You can’t gain energy from protein, you can only use it to build muscle/skin/hair/nails. It’s basically just amino acids and it’s what our bodies are made of. As such, we need lots of it. 1g of protein per body lb is a good number to shoot for . Go as high as 2g per body lb if you’re lifting weights and trying to build muscle. For example, I am 207 lbs and I eat between 300-400 grams per day. Our body can only break down so much at one time however, so we want to eat 20-40 grams of protein in every meal, several times per day. Protein, being building material only and not energy/labor – the body can rarely find a reason for it to be stored as fat. If you must over-eat – make it lean meat/fish.

Carbs – 4 calories per gram - Think of these as human labor for your house. Think of sugar as dudes you pick up out front of home depot and oatmeal as a skilled carpenter. Both are carbs, both serve very different purposes. Carbs help transport essential nutrients to the muscles, create glycogen stores, and as such, increase protein synthesis but do not build muscle; they are simply an energy source. As such, they should only be eaten/used when we need energy. Any carbs we ingest before bed or before watching a movie, or something sedentary are not used as energy, and as such, are more likely to be stored in the body as glycogen (glucose/water in our muscles that we will use when doing high-intensity exercise). Once our glycogen reserves are full, they will spill over and be stored as fat. Yes, they will make you fat. Carbs can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Fats – 9 calories per gram - Like carbs, fats are an energy source, not a building material like protein. They provide nowhere near as much energy as carbs however. Ask anyone who's on a ketogenic diet. With regard to our house, think of fats as the glue/cement. They provide much needed essential fatty acids, which are great for joint/organ health and increase our protein synthesis. Going back to our analogy, cement/glue increases the effectiveness of bricks! If we give our bodies the right fats, it will be able to burn stored body fat quickly as it won’t see any use in keeping it. Remember, like carbs – not all fat is good and ALL fat is high in calories so watch out. A tablespoon of peanut butter can be a good addition to a meal. Snacking on 5-6 tablespoons, however, means you’ve just eaten over your TDEE for the day.

Acceptable proteins for your healthy lifestyle diet:

The goal is to eat lean protein. Meats/other sources low in fat/carbs.

§ Ground beef (93% lean or better)
§ Lean steak (Flank, flat iron, or top sirloin)
§ Bison sirloin (the highest quality red meat)
§ Chicken breast
§ Turkey breast
§ Tuna (canned or sushi grade)
§ Salmon
§ Tilapia (mostly all white fish)
§ All shellfish
§ Venison
§ Whey protein (post-workout recovery purposes only)
§ Casein/Cottage cheese (before bed only)

Black-List Protein sources. Do not eat these because they are high in fat. And not the
good kind we find in nuts and olive oil – I’m talking about cholesterol raising saturated
fat!

§ Bacon
§ Sausage
§ Expensive fat-marbled Steaks (Ribeye, Strip, Filet)
§ Pork and beef ribs
§ Pork/Lamb chops
§ Restaurant ground beef (80/20 fat – most burgers)
§ Duck
§ Chicken legs/thighs
§ Chicken skin
§ Cheese

Acceptable Carbs for your healthy lifestlyle:

Complex carbs are now your creed. These are slower-digesting, natural, low on the glycemic index carbohydrates that digest slowly and provide us with sustained energy. They do not drastically affect our blood sugar and do not cause insulin spikes. Thus our body sees no reason to store them as fat, it would rather burn them for energy. Simple carbs such as enriched white breads/pastas/rice/potatoes/sugars (including most fruit) cause insulin spikes and are high GI foods. They should not be eaten when on a strict diet. Fruit can be consumed early in the day or pre/post-workout because of it’s high nutritional value but should usually be avoided due to being a form of simple sugar. Remember, healthy, low-calorie foods aren’t always the correct foods and such is the case with fruit.

§ Oats/Oatmeal
§ Grits/Cornmeal
§ Unsalted/non-buttered popcorn (great, low-cal snack)
§ Sweet potato (the best choice)
§ Butternut squash
§ Whole wheat pasta (not enriched)
§ Organic whole wheat bread (not enriched wonder bread crap)
§ Brown rice
§ Ezekiel bread
§ Swedish grain bread
§ Gluten free bread
§ Wheat couscous
§ Corn
§ Quinoa
§ Lentils
§ Beans
§ Many more, look up the GI (glycemic index) for healthy choices

Black List:

§ White pasta
§ White bread
§ Baguette
§ Bagels
§ Cookies, cake, muffins, cupcakes, all sweets basically.
§ White couscous
§ White rice
§ You get the idea…

Don’t get discouraged upon reading this list. I still make desserts all the time with whole
grain flour and splenda. I buy bagels and baguettes at the health food store that use
complex carbs as a base. If you’re dedicated, you don’t have to miss out 100%

Acceptable fats for your healthy lifestyle:

We look for fat sources that are high in omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. Also, many are high in protein. We do not want saturated fats such as butter, cream, meat fat. We don’t want test tube fats like trans (the worst). We want mono/polyunsaturated fats that our body can use for something other than calories. Remember, even good fats are high in calories.

§ Natural peanut butter (no sugar added, just roasted peanuts)
§ Natural almond butter
§ Cashews
§ Almonds
§ Peanuts
§ Flax seeds
§ Flax seed oil
§ Salmon and Trout (great fatty proteins)
§ Fish oil
§ Extra virgin olive oil (should be used on all veggies/salads)
§ Chia seeds
§ Grapeseed oil
§ Macadamia nut oil

Acceptable miscellaneous foods:

These foods don’t provide much as far as macronutrients but are great for adding vitamins/minerals and taste. Notice some of these other foods are dairy. Dairy is another animal’s milk. We lack the enzymes to digest it as they do and it’s high in fat/sugar. It should only be eaten early in the day for nutrient purposes with the exception of whey and casein (cottage cheese).

§ Skim milk (Hood brand is only 45 calories and 3g of sugar per cup)
§ Greek yogurt (no sugar added)
§ Berries (all berries are much lower in sugar than other fruits and packed with fiber/nutrients – eat berries)
§ Green Vegetables. These are technically carbs but they are packed with fiber (a type of carb that isn’t used as energy or stored). In bodybuilding/nutrition – we refer to most vegetables as fibrous carbohydrates. While a serving of Broccoli may have 6g of carbs, 5 are from fiber. Meaning that it contains only 1g of storable carbohydrates. In addition, green vegetables are a calorie neutral/negative food (our body uses more calories to digest them than they contain – think celery). Veggies should be eaten with every meal. Every day. If you do this, you can become almost impervious to getting sick. Some vegetables are better than others for healthy diets.
§ Many non-green vegetables. Most are fine – just check labels, some have a good bit of sugar and should be eaten in moderation only (carrots)