Need advice...

[Cloe85]

Is there a way or anything i can do to get my skin to tone back up and not sorta sag... its so-so now on my stomach and legs, though im still holding a lot of fat in those areas. its getting better the more weight i loose and the more i exercize... but it still kinda looks bad... i look better with clothes on than with them off.

Is there anything i can do other than plastic surgery???

im 40, female, 6" tall, was over 350lbs and am now in 170's.

---I try to do an hour a day before work of aerobic exercise on the stepper machine that has the arms pushing and pulling.

---My diet consists of:
4-5 french vanilla slimfast shakes a day. 180 cal each.
2 around 6:30am - 7:00am, 2 more somewhere between 10:30am - 12
pm, and if really hungry one around 5pm.
2-6 ricecakes a day. 50 cal each.

110mg of riddlin a day- for ADD, but has the side effect of appitite
supprerssion
300mg a day of caffeine a day in the am

was taking ephederine 50mg a day, then cut to 40mg, then cut to 30mg and finnaly just stopped taking it because it made me to jittery.

dont drink water much at all because it makes my stomach sick - i have gastritus.

drink 3-4 Power Zero 20 oz bottles a day, sometimes more if i can.
0 calories each, non carbonated

Any suggestions???

[Phate]

those slimfast diets are horrible, they throw you into starvation state like crazy(meaning your metabolism will start slowing down since you aren't eating near enough and after a while your body will hoard fat into fat cells and stop using it for energy)


i would suggest a completely different approach to dieting, which we will help you with if you would like

[Cloe85]

yes, please. What should i be eating to loose weight at a decent rate? i know i should stay away from carbs...

[Phate]

yes, please. What should i be eating to loose weight at a decent rate? i know i should stay away from carbs...

not at all, unless you are running a ketogenic diet carbs are essential, your brain's primary fuel source is glycogen(derived from glucose which is derived from carbs)


first we need your TDEE(total daily energy expenditure)

go here and use one of the two calculators to get it

http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

[Cloe85]

ok, i got the TDEE and a few other things that you might want too

Height and age:
TDEE is 2295
for weight loss 1795

Based on body fat:
estimated lean body mass is 128

"lossy" preferred body fat of 15% - target weight 148

"lossless" preferred body fat of 15% - target weight 150

Caloric need:
BMR 1632
TDEE 2530
caloric need for weight loss 2030

[Phate]

ok, i got the TDEE and a few other things that you might want too

Height and age:
TDEE is 2295
for weight loss 1795

Based on body fat:
estimated lean body mass is 128

"lossy" preferred body fat of 15% - target weight 148

"lossless" preferred body fat of 15% - target weight 150

Caloric need:
BMR 1632
TDEE 2530
caloric need for weight loss 2030

k, i have to run to the gym really quick, but when i get back we'll get to working on this

in the meantime, write down any foods you would like to try to include in the diet and any that you would not or have an allergy to

[Cloe85]

cheese; canned corn; canned spinnach; canned baked beans with onions; cold cuts - turkey and roast beef; grilled chicken on iceberg lettus with onions and crutons - no dressing (from shop); yogart; yams; slimfast; ricecakes; plain pasta; popcorn...

I dont cook, only microwave where i live. besides i hate cooking lol

i am kind of a picky eater too...

[Cloe85]

oh beef jerkey and ricecakes too

[eatrainrest]

ALL LINKS, ID WATCH THEM IN ORDER MAKE SURE TO WATCH ALL THE VIDS IN THE 1ST!
those 2 links are the basis of what you need right now, come back with goals, proposed diet with macros (pro, carbs,fat) of all foods, meals, day along with calories. then post up your BMR and your CURRENT diet and that is what we need for a proper critiqe. GL
So you wanna learn how to Diet? ** WATCH ALL DVD VIDEOS FIRST!
Another way to calculate BMR

[Phate]

cheese; canned corn; canned spinnach; canned baked beans with onions; cold cuts - turkey and roast beef; grilled chicken on iceberg lettus with onions and crutons - no dressing (from shop); yogart; yams; slimfast; ricecakes; plain pasta; popcorn...

I dont cook, only microwave where i live. besides i hate cooking lol

i am kind of a picky eater too...

oh beef jerkey and ricecakes too

okay, cheese, canned corn, slimfast, and plain pasta won't be used on this diet on a daily basis

the reason for this is that your main carb source will be veggies(corn and carrots not included), on your refeed day you can have some pasta if you like


tell me about your day, when do you wake up? go to work? go to the gym? go to sleep?

i would like you to eat around 6 meals on a daily basis, most of which will contain lean protein(chicken, lean beef, beef jerky, tuna, salmon, egg whites, etc..) and fibrous carbs, while the other meals(pre and post workout) will contain lean protein and starchy carbs

[Cloe85]

i try to get up at 4am... though lately i have been having a very hard time... just so sleepy and drained feeling (maybe not enough food). some days are ok and im up at 4am.

im to the gym by 4:30am-4:45am and work out for 1 hr on the stepper machine. occasionally ill do half hour on the stepper and do half hr doing floor exercises, crunches, leg lifts and stuff like that. (if i get to the gym later, then my workout is shorter).

get ready for work at gym and get to work 6:30ish am.
i have two 15 minute breaks during the day
1 hr lunch
have the ability to take more breaks if i want... they are not strict at all here
i also can eat and drink at my desk, as everyone else does too

i leave work at 3pm and get home around 3:45pm

then i talk with my husband when he does his workout... or watch tv or do something on the computer. he says im lazy... guess i am when i think about it.

then stay up and watch a movie or tv (the family guy is a riot!!!). sometimes i fall asleep at 6:30pm - 7pm, other days i can make it to around 8pm, and on rare occasion ill be up to 10 or 11pm but thats usually on the weekends and i try ond force myself to stay awake (i like to watch Moonlite at 9pm friday nights and movies).

looking at my schedule written out like this, it looks pretty bad with ME looking at it. Ug.

[Cloe85]

the easiest protein that i can work with is beef jerkey. i like it and it doesnt need to be cooker or refrigerated. so could i use that for all my daily protien intakes?

if i understand you... frozen corn (birdseye or something like that)? i have a frig and micro here at work, so i could do corn.

i hate carrots. is there something else instead? not beets either - they are even worse lol

i love spinnach, would that be acceptable?

carbs... no idea

[Cloe85]

almost forgot... i have a desk job on the computer.

some days when the owner is not here, i do crunches... he hasnt gone on a business trip in a while so its been a while...

[CJG560]

the easiest protein that i can work with is beef jerkey. i like it and it doesnt need to be cooker or refrigerated. so could i use that for all my daily protien intakes?

I eat jerky but I am very picky as to which one I use as I try and limit my salt intake to minimize water retention. There are some good ones out there. I get alot of my on-the-go protein from cans of tuna and chicken with pull off tops.

Forgot to mention I use flax oil to mix in with my chicken/tuna as a way to up my EFA's.

[Cloe85]

Swanson pull top chicken is not too bad... forgot about that one

i am lost and overloaded...
i dont know how to put this diet together. ...Im Blonde...

i do know that work will not impede on a multiple meal schedule.

Thank you all for the imput

[Phate]

Swanson pull top chicken is not too bad... forgot about that one

i am lost and overloaded...
i dont know how to put this diet together. ...Im Blonde...

i do know that work will not impede on a multiple meal schedule.

Thank you all for the imput

don't worry, i'll help you design the diet step by step and feel free to ask questions as i go, if i do my job correctly you should have a basic understanding of how to design a diet when we are finished, i'll be back on later to start designing it

[Cloe85]

Phate,

Thank you so much, that would be great!

[Cloe85]

i went to some of the dieting forums to see if i could get some ideas... what a joke!

'loose 10lbs in 10 days' 'this pill vs. that pill' 'atkins diet, this diet, that diet' and all of it was really junk. then eating small meals of junk food...

i knew forsure that this is the right place for me for diet and toning and eventually some definition (just a little).

[Cloe85]

Phate,

ok, i admit ive gone the extreme to a type of anorexic diet the past months... i have lost weight, but it has not been healthy - as i have watched vids and read other peoples diets yesterday and much more today...

keep in mind that im afraid to start eating food... im going to try to listen very hard to what you say ... we need to ease into this real slow though... i dont know how well my stomach will handle solid food anymore ... in the past number of months, i think i went off my slimfast diet twice, both times grilled chicken on lettus with crutons and onions... it tasted great and made me sick.

do you think you can still help me?

i have concluded that i have not made things easy

[eatrainrest]

you will rebound my friend!

[Phate]

Phate,

ok, i admit ive gone the extreme to a type of anorexic diet the past months... i have lost weight, but it has not been healthy - as i have watched vids and read other peoples diets yesterday and much more today...

keep in mind that im afraid to start eating food... im going to try to listen very hard to what you say ... we need to ease into this real slow though... i dont know how well my stomach will handle solid food anymore ... in the past number of months, i think i went off my slimfast diet twice, both times grilled chicken on lettus with crutons and onions... it tasted great and made me sick.

do you think you can still help me?

i have concluded that i have not made things easy

that's a major problem with people that go on liquid based diets for prolonged periods of time, the stomach is elastic and as such it can shrink when not stretched for an extended period of time, this is more than like why you don't feel well after eating food

we will slowly ramp up your diet (once we've completed it) by adding in fibrous veggies at a rate you feeling comfortable with(100cal every week should be fine)

can we still help you? of course we can, have you made it hard? well, i would say you have made it more difficult than it normally would be, but i love a good challenge so that's not a bad thing at all

[Cloe85]

hehe that sounds like something my husband would say

ok, great... 100cal a week sounds reasonable... i wont blow up like a balloon lol

so what do we/i start with?

[Phate]

okay, we're gonna start with 1200cal a day and work up from there

let's start with 120g of protein, 120g of carbs, and 30g of fat per day, spread this over 6 meals

fibrous carbs will be used in all meals except pre and post workout, where complex carbs will be used

20g of fibrous carbs is equivalent to around 2cups of broccoli, 2.5c of califlower, 2 cups spinach, etc.....

[Cloe85]

ok... thats a lot of food.

i picked up some beef jerkey Teriyaki,
each bag has:
49g of protein
280 cal
15g carbs
---> so i eat about 2 1/2 bags spread out today into 6 snacks totaling:
120g protein
700 cal
37 carb

Apple and cinnamon rice cakes:
50 cal
11carb
1 protein
---> so i eat 4 rice cakes through the day totaling:
200 cal
44 carb
4 protein

the veggies will have to wait til i can get to the grocery during lunch hour... dont have them here. i will get spinnach.

do yams fit into this diet anywhere? i love them. (forgot to mention that above)

OK, so far im at 120 protein, 900 cal, 81 carbs.

Is what i proposed above correct? or do i need to alter it? remeber im blonde, so i will ask silly questions and make mistakes hehe

[Cloe85]

i forgot Fat...

beef jerkey 2 1/2 bags
3g fat

rice ckaes 4
0g fat

.... ok i see a problem already lol

not enough fat... ummm... What needs to change? and into what should it be? some kind of junk food like liquorish??? that will have the fat but im not sure thats the right kind of fat...

[eatrainrest]

Oils

that is the current great thread about oils and fats.. you should rotate them, almond/walnut/EVO/fish oils daily

[Cloe85]

at 4:35 at gym
4 sets of 20 hanging leg bends (resting forarms on pads and then haning that way did the bends)

1hr on the stair stepping maching - doing cardio workout

got to work 7am

at 7:30am i ate some beef jerkey
at 11:00am eating beef jerkey and rice cake

stomach is queezy and i do not feel hungry at all. feel like im force feeding myself.

are you sure this much food needs to be consumed all in one day so soon? if you say Yes, ill keep forcing it... will force it until i hear different from you.

[Cloe85]

will also get almonds during lunch break as well ... thank you

[eatrainrest]

yews it does, but you have to understand something... you should not introduce more than 500 calories daily into your diet or you will shock your body and it will store the excess cals as fat. slowly start increasing. yous hould implement a weight training program as well, i have an example in my workout thread for beginners in the first post. you shoudl also have some carbs pre and post workout. a banana with some protein will work for now.

[Cloe85]

ok thank you eatrainrest... thank you... i am not doing well trynig to eat this second meal... 500 calories a day to start with real food sounds better

[eatrainrest]

the foods that you have chosen are also not good. you could use much better sources of carbs than rice cakes, etc. here are some of the things i use when cutting

startchy complex carbs-
oats (i make oatmeal pancakes with sugar free syrup and they are the best tasting things)
-yams

fibrous veggies-when cutting
lettuce
broccoli

when bulking-mixed veggies, broccoli liek 5 servings throughout the day tho lol

fats-
almond oil, walnut oil, fish oils, extra virgin olive oils

proteins-
london broil
egg whties
turkey breast
chicken breast
whey after workouts
casein at night

*starting to sub the whey and casein with food proteins.

[eatrainrest]

you dont hav eto jump into a routine like this.. but slowly get your body used to some of this. like i said, for post workout start otu by taking 1 banana with some food protein like grilled chicken 4-6oz. post up a new proposed diet taht you can try eating but make sure that its no more than 500 cals daily, this will make you gain 1lb pwer week. if you want to up cardioo account how many MORE cals you burn during cardio.

[Cloe85]

ok, ill start thinking about how i can re-do my diet, and in accordance to working out.

i am not looking to gain weight though... im looking to loose it... so i should start doing cardio 2x/day and working the carbs and protein in with it...

then ill be loosing weight, right? because of the way the body burns fat,... am i getting it?

[Phate]

ok... thats a lot of food.

i picked up some beef jerkey Teriyaki,
each bag has:
49g of protein
280 cal
15g carbs
---> so i eat about 2 1/2 bags spread out today into 6 snacks totaling:
120g protein
700 cal
37 carb
this is okay
Apple and cinnamon rice cakes:
50 cal
11carb
1 protein
---> so i eat 4 rice cakes through the day totaling:
200 cal
44 carb
4 protein
these you can eat but only in place of starchy carbs, personally i would prefer you eat yams
the veggies will have to wait til i can get to the grocery during lunch hour... dont have them here. i will get spinnach.

do yams fit into this diet anywhere? i love them. (forgot to mention that above)
yes, they are one of the best if not the best complex carbs source
OK, so far im at 120 protein, 900 cal, 81 carbs.

Is what i proposed above correct? or do i need to alter it? remeber im blonde, so i will ask silly questions and make mistakes hehe

i forgot Fat...
the carbs in those meals should be fibrous and the carbs from the beef jerky are due to sugar
beef jerkey 2 1/2 bags
3g fat

rice ckaes 4
0g fat

.... ok i see a problem already lol

not enough fat... ummm... What needs to change? and into what should it be? some kind of junk food like liquorish??? that will have the fat but im not sure thats the right kind of fat...

you should go get some fish oil capsules at the store, you can use those to get in the amount of fat you need per meal

at 4:35 at gym
4 sets of 20 hanging leg bends (resting forarms on pads and then haning that way did the bends)

1hr on the stair stepping maching - doing cardio workout
are you going this before you eat or after? and at what intensity are you doing cardio
got to work 7am

at 7:30am i ate some beef jerkey
at 11:00am eating beef jerkey and rice cake

stomach is queezy and i do not feel hungry at all. feel like im force feeding myself.
if this is so then you should lower food intake slightly, take away some of the fibrous carbs, keep the protein
are you sure this much food needs to be consumed all in one day so soon? if you say Yes, ill keep forcing it... will force it until i hear different from you.

no need to force feed and it will get easier, your stomach is just smaller than normal from not being used to quality food consumption

ok, ill start thinking about how i can re-do my diet, and in accordance to working out.

i am not looking to gain weight though... im looking to loose it... so i should start doing cardio 2x/day and working the carbs and protein in with it...

then ill be loosing weight, right? because of the way the body burns fat,... am i getting it?

you could start 2x a day cardio though i don't think it's necessary yet

[Cloe85]

i have not been eating before i go to the gym in the morning. --will a bannana be good just before and just after my workout?

i do heavy cardio on the stair stepping machine.

i have 3 fish oil capsules at home i can start taking

so would would my diet look more like this:

4:30ish bananna
4:30ish work out
5:30ish bannana
7am at work
7am beef jerkey with yam and fish oil
10am swanson chicken in a can or beef jerkey
1pm beef jerkey, yam and fish oil
4pm beef jerkey
7pm fish oil

is this closer for a start that i should be doing??? im only gonna be able to eat a mouth full or two at each sitting though at first.

[Dont wanna be old]

Are you still drinking the diet beverages ?
(drink 3-4 Power Zero 20 oz bottles a day, sometimes more if i can. )
I don't see any information on salt consumption . These 0 cal and o carb drinks are not good IMO .
Can you drink unsweetened tea's ? Keep a box of teabags in desk .

[Cloe85]

yes im still drinking the power zero.

i like raspberry tea, i dont think it has sugar in it... and i dont put any in it. ill get some of that at the grocery too would be better than the nutri-sweet true.

[Cloe85]

sodium for one power zero bottle is 137.5mg

[TITANIUM]

You are doing just great!!!!It takes time to loose weight and cut.But it takes time to build quality muscle also.( even when I cycle ).Diet is the first place you start looking at, no matter what you are trying to achieve.Titanium

[eatrainrest]

your missing one big point... protein should be equally distgributed throughout every meal