Please help with our diets...

[GonnaBeHuge]

My wife and I are getting back in the gym after a long time away. I used to be in pretty good shape (5'10" 215lbs, 13%bf) about 3 years ago, and she used to run track and has a pretty lean body.

Recently, with a new job I started last year, I just sit in front of a computer all day, and have gained a bunch of fat (was up to about 260lbs 5 months ago). I have tried to get back in shape a few times during the past year, but it wasn't until now that we really got serious about it.

So, about 5 weeks into a new lifestyle, I am at 229lbs and she's around 120lb, we are trying to eat right and workout even better to get back on track.

Here's what the current diet/workout looks like. We would really appreciate any feedback, since its been a while since I paid much attention to details and I don't know what the new trends/practices are.

7am: 1/2 cup oats + 1/2 cup skim milk + 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese + 3 egg whites + 1 scoop Whey Isolate + multi-vitamin

11am: 8oz chicken breast + veggies (mushrooms or green peppers or green beans) + 2g EFAs (Fish Oil capsules).

3pm: MRP shake in water (40g Pro, 25g Carbs (Malto Only, 0g sugar), 3g Fat from EFAs)

6pm: Workout

7:30pm PWO shake (60g Whey Isolate, 30g Malto, 30g Dextrose, < 3g Fat)

8:30pm: 8oz Chicken breast + Veggies + 1/4 cup Brown Rice or whole grain pasta + Multi-Vitamin

10:30: Bedtime shake (50g Casein + 2g EFAs (Fish Oil capsules).


My wife's diet is very similar, only minus the whey isolate during breakfast, 1/2 the PWO shake, and no bedtime shake.

On Non-Workout days, we do the same thing only minus the PWO shake.

Our workouts have been great, each muscle group once every 7-10 days, 3-4 days a week. Cardio 30-40 minutes 2 times a week. Plus on the weekend, we usually go for a jog/hike for 2 hours or so. Usually its just walking around town, sometimes climbing hills, hiking on trails. Pretty low intensity.

Let me know what we can tweak. I have been losing weight pretty steadily, but I want to ensure I can still keep an start getting my muscle back. Also, I didn't really know how to construct a diet for her, so I just kind of made it a mini version of mine... any ideas for her?

Thanks!

[Mealticket]

throw up your nutrition breakdowns, fat/carbs/protein w/ each meal.
each muscle group every7-10 days is really really light, even for just staring out.
Some muscle groups you can work 2x a week.
Looks good overall.
Cardio only 2x a week is on the low end as well.
But it seems to be working well for you so need to tweak it too much until it starts to taper off.
Keep it up

[GonnaBeHuge]

7am: 1/2 cup oats + 1/2 cup skim milk + 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese + 3 egg whites + 1 scoop Whey Isolate + multi-vitamin (60g Pro, 40g Carb, 4g Fat)

11am: 8oz chicken breast + veggies (mushrooms or green peppers or green beans) + 2g EFAs (Fish Oil capsules). (52g Pro, 5g Carb, 12g Fat)

3pm: MRP shake in water (40g Pro, 25g Carbs (Malto Only, 0g sugar), 3g Fat from EFAs)

6pm: Workout

7:30pm PWO shake (60g Whey Isolate, 30g Malto, 30g Dextrose, < 3g Fat)

8:30pm: 8oz Chicken breast + Veggies + 1/4 cup Brown Rice or whole grain pasta + Multi-Vitamin (58g Pro, 37g Carb, 12g Fat)

10:30: Bedtime shake (50g Casein, 1g Carbs, 2g EFAs (Fish Oil capsules).

Daily Total = 320g Pro, 168g Carb, 36g Fat (2273 Calories)

Non workout days (- PWO shake) = 260g Pro, 108g Carbs, 33g Fat (1769 Cals)

Wife's diet is about 215g Pro, 126g Carb, 29g Fat (1625 Cals) on workout days

and 185g Pro, 96g Carb, 27g Fat on non workout days. (1367 Cals)

Well, I was considering the weekend walk/jog/hike as a third day of cardio, but I can probably squeeze in another 30-40 min cardio somewhere. Also, I was planning on increasing the intensity for weight training, but I'm still sore for 4-6 days after lifting!.

Thanks!

[Mealticket]

pretein is about 50% overkill for people not using AAS and only working out as few times as you are, which means you have really expensive urine!

[GonnaBeHuge]

Okay, so say I up the weight training. Would lifting something like this be overkill on that few of calories?

Mon: Chest/Back
Tue: Bicep/Tricep
Wed: Cardio
Thu: Legs/Calves
Fri: Shoulders/Traps
Sat: Cardio
Sun: Cardio

That is what my eventual goal was, but I am worried about not taking enough calories while I'm cutting and I don't want to start losing any muscle.

[Mealticket]

as long as your protein intake is high, around a gram ed for each lb of lean body mass you're not going to lose muscle mass, you may not put on slabs and slabs of it but they're deff not going to be atrophying.
since losing weight is your main goal, around 200grams of pretein ed for you is more than enough to keep you from losing muscle while you train.
What are your goals and weight you would like to be @?
You could do that workout, only take in 1800kcals ed and as long as it was high in protein you're not going to lose muscle. It's called lean bulking. Preserving the muscle you have while still trying to lose fat tissue.
If you have the time to train that often then train.
Only you have an idea if it's going to be too hard.
I dont know how hard you train. I dont know if you crawl out of the gym when done training.
Are you the type of guy that after training can go home and mess around the house for 2 hours becaseu he has enough energy?
or are you the type of guy, that on leg day, makes sure he drives his vehicle w/ an automatic transmission because it would literally be dangerous to others if he had to muster the energy to drive a manual on the way home?
i'm the 2nd.
Only way to find out who you are is to get in there and bust asss

[perfectbeast2001]

Drop the MRP as they are full of crap and swap for whole food (or make your own Pre workout shake with good ingredients like powdered oats, whey, banana, honey)
I wouldn't be to quick to lower cals as you may hit a wall and be left with knowhere to turn. See how you do for a couple of weeks then lower cals by 100-200 if needed. Repeat every two weeks. I think you have too much pro and not enoungh carbs there. You are going to be exhausted. I would keep carbs at a minimum of 150g ED. I would do this by swapping the cottage cheese in the breakfast meal with extra oats (breakfast should be biggest meal of day) and lower the whey iso in PWO (no need for 60g pro here, 40g will do fine) and add a few more carbs to the pre workout.
And you need to do cardio ED if you are serious about fatloss....

[Chronic]

Mealticket: You could do that workout, only take in 1800kcals ed and as long as it was high in protein you're not going to lose muscle. It's called lean bulking. Preserving the muscle you have while still trying to lose fat tissue.

Thats not a lean bulk thats cutting.



To the OP, shake overkill. Drop all shakes except PWO. Replace with lean and healthy whole foods. No fruits, no milk. Search my threads to see a better guideline for a cutting diet.

[GonnaBeHuge]

@ Mealticket

My goal is to be back down to 200-210lb and then start putting on some decent muscle again. As for the intensity, We're definitely the second type The other day after shoulders, we had to sit in the parking lot for 20-30 minutes before we could drive home cuz I couldn't hold onto the steering wheel hard enough to turn it

@ Perfectbeast

Wouldn't cardio ED be overkill? Or would adding something small like 20min post workout be enough to burn off a bit more fat, and not too much as to cut into muscle? And keeping 30-40 min on non-workout days. Also, I am extremely sensitive to carbs, and I have almost no activity throughout the day since I sit in front of a computer for 8-10hours at work. If I were to just drop the protein down to 200-250g, and keep the carbs where they are, would that be enough? That should bring me down closer to 2000 Cals.

Thanks for all the input guys! What about for the wife? She has pretty damn good genetics and is already growing like a weed. But she wants to lean out in the midsection as well. Would just upping the cardio be enough for her, or should she tweak her diet as well?