help FEMALE 138

[largerthannormal]

5ft 2 138lbs 25%

Maintenance 1345

(she is not familiar with dieting, only eating good foods)

her goal is the scale weight of 120-125.

her cardio is 5days per week and pretty intense from stair steppers to full out 45 min runs , all what most consider great cardio. Some high intensity resistance training.

I think her problem is lack of food , just by taking a peek it seems way to low ( starvation/storing mode)

Her response:
i dont count cals nor have i really ever close to it id write everything down but never counted calories. right now just been cereal in the morning lunch chicken with broccoli or aspargus sometimes snack after work depends. dinner usually broccoli or asapargus n fish or chicken.

My problem I see is her maintenance is so low to begin with I normally do not like to see anyone below 1300.

As of right now she looks to be way under, just off the top of my head that doesn’t even look like 1000 cals.

My fear is bumping her to or above maintenance she may gain and get scared?

What do you suggest I start her at?

Macro Im planning is 50/30/20, possible even 60/20/20 as she seems to be very very sensitive to carbs from personal experience.

Any help guys/gals?

[Tron3219]

Is this that one girl u were helping awhile back that I chimed in on

[largerthannormal]

nope completely new girl, same stats i think?, but this ones current diet is diff and more active.

Im in fear of starting her to high

[largerthannormal]

any help guys? thinking i may just start her at maintenance? or a tad over so i know what were working with

[Back In Black]

How long has she been eating like that? She may well have skewed her metabolism.

[largerthannormal]

A very long time, her ex is a fitness trainer and somehow had her eating this. I would say in excess of a year or two

I fear any way I go she may gain due to that exact fact.

[Back In Black]

A very long time, her ex is a fitness trainer and somehow had her eating this. I would say in excess of a year or two

I fear any way I go she may gain due to that exact fact.

So she has, essentially, been keto (depending quantity of cereal) for a long time with no refeeds? Also her fat intake is low so Her body is feeding on muscle hence her fat levels remain relatively high.

This is tricky as she is eating very little and probably now has a low metabolic rate. You need to be gentle with her to get her back on track. I'd suggest that she start to reintroduce carbs slowly. Maybe 30-40g per day, pre workout, for 10-14 days and see where she is at. Don't change anything else for now except maybe adding an egg at breakfast.

[largerthannormal]

I agree, this is very tricky and very touchy I am a lil nervous on this one to be honest,

Honestly I think your idea is pretty good! I will maybe give her 1 cup brown rice PWO,

I appreciate your help as always Back In Black!

So she has, essentially, been keto (depending quantity of cereal) for a long time with no refeeds? Also her fat intake is low so Her body is feeding on muscle hence her fat levels remain relatively high.

This is tricky as she is eating very little and probably now has a low metabolic rate. You need to be gentle with her to get her back on track. I'd suggest that she start to reintroduce carbs slowly. Maybe 30-40g per day, pre workout, for 10-14 days and see where she is at. Don't change anything else for now except maybe adding an egg at breakfast.

[Back In Black]

NP buddy, any time

[GirlyGymRat]

i tried doing 1/3 c oatmeal for breakfast and 1/2 sweet potato b4 workouts. After my late afternoon workout I was starving and would end up eating more carbs within 2 hours of sleeping. Baseline posted some vids about messed up metabolism due to very low caloric intake. The idea was to slowly introduce carbs over time. I thought I would give this a try. I added a half bagel to my lunch ( salad and chicken) which seems to help me get thru the rest of the day without having to eat carbs later in evening.

it hasn't hurt me one bit, in fact I am down 4 lbs. after my workout, I eat another salad with fish and I am good to go. I also added more veggies which seems to have a filling effect as well. I am eating around 1400 cal on workout day. Seems to be working for me very happy about adding the 1/2 bagel for lunch....

[largerthannormal]

This is good GGR!! I think I got the over all idea now and we are all on the same page, thanks for the reassurance!

i tried doing 1/3 c oatmeal for breakfast and 1/2 sweet potato b4 workouts. After my late afternoon workout I was starving and would end up eating more carbs within 2 hours of sleeping. Baseline posted some vids about messed up metabolism due to very low caloric intake. The idea was to slowly introduce carbs over time. I thought I would give this a try. I added a half bagel to my lunch ( salad and chicken) which seems to help me get thru the rest of the day without having to eat carbs later in evening.

it hasn't hurt me one bit, in fact I am down 4 lbs. after my workout, I eat another salad with fish and I am good to go. I also added more veggies which seems to have a filling effect as well. I am eating around 1400 cal on workout day. Seems to be working for me very happy about adding the 1/2 bagel for lunch....

[Tron3219]

If she's going to b in keto like that with no refeeds and low fats. She has to eat excess protein to make up the energy difference. Her bf apparently doesn't know that the body has to have glucose. Primarily the brain, but I think the heart too. The brain can use ketones as energy but only up to 75% of its energy consumption. The remaining energy has to b glucose which is provided via gluconeogenisis. If she's not consuming enough dietary protein it will most definitely come from bodily protein. If u have high bf you can get by with high protein, low fats and no carbs. But as you get leaner, u have to supplement with extra fats.

I'm almost positive that if u introduce carbs after this diet for this long she will b very angry with u because there's a good chance she will gain upwards of 10 pounds because of the water retention that carbs have. If she was consuming carbs on a higher extent prior it wouldn't b that bad, but she's prolly in a deep ketosis.

How many grams of protein is she consuming? Did u say?

[Tron3219]

Personally, I'd explain to her the faults in her diet, and tell her that she's experienced a metabolic slowdown. It has to be reset. Tell her scale weight may go up because of water retention but it's a must. Put her on a maintenance diet. With high protein high fat and gradually increase carbs and decrease fats to get to a balanced diet. Run it for awhile then you can start working on a deficit.