New female user looking for help with diet before starting clen

[prettypoodle]

Breakfast (when I have time to cook): 2 eggs plus an extra egg white with onions, peppers, low fat mozz on 2 pieces of multi grain bread and 2 cups of black coffee.
Breakfast (when I don't have time to cook): Some sort of granola bar or cereal with 3/4 cup 2% milk, 2 cups of black coffee.

Typically, I do not have a mid morning snack, but when I do, it's greek yogurt with some sort of fruit, or a spoonful of peanut butter with a bottle of water.

Lunch: Usually either a turkey sandwich or a green salad with balsamic vinegar and either chicken or tuna. Bottle of water or seltzer.

Afternoon snack: Again, usually don't eat one. But I do drink a lot of water throughout the day (because I'm usually hungry...)

By now its around 4:30/5 and this is when I head to the gym... so it's usually been about 3 hours since I last ate anything.

Dinner/After the gym: I'm ravenous and eat a huge meal, consisting of some sort of protein (usually chicken) and probably too many carbs (a lot of brown rice or a whole baked potato, a couple of pieces of bread, etc) plus a salad.

Dessert: Frozen yogurt or a couple pieces of fruit.

Now this is my idea of "clean eating" i.e. when I'm really making an effort to watch what I eat. I eat pizza and french fries and ice cream not every day, but definitely enough for me to mention it.

Now on to my training.

M-W-F: I do an hour of intense cardio, either cardio kickboxing or spinning late in the day. I don't do any strength training on these days because I think my legs get enough of a workout from these classes that I teach.

T-Th: These are my strength training days. I train my legs heavy, doing high reps of squats (@120 lbs), leg curls (@40-60 lbs), lunges (20 lb dumbells in my hands), leg press (@150lbs) and seated calf raises (@230-250 lbs), sometimes both days. I don't do ab exercises (I'm probably wrong, but I think it'd be foolish to work on defining muscles in an area that is covered in a layer of fat) and I've been working on building up my upper body strength which is seriously lacking. To put it in perspective, I can do like, 3 girly pushups... horrible, I know. I do the rowing maching for about 20 minutes, but sometimes I feel like that's more cardio than an upper body workout. After or before whatever strength training I do, I do 15 mins of light cardio (jogging or elliptical) to arm up or cool down.

[gbrice75]

It's certainly possible that the trainers at my gym were wrong, but when I used the hand help BF monitor about 6 weeks ago, my bf was at 30%. I was certainly surprised, as that does seem pretty low for my weight. Back when I was seeing the nutritionist, he said my maintenance calories were 2500 a day, and said to eat 2000 day in order to lose about 1.5 lbs a week. I did even lower than that (1700 a day), but found myself starving all the time, no matter how well I spaced out my meals/snacks and how much water I drank.

I set my goal at 30 lbs (with an ultimate goal of 55 lbs) just to make it seem more doable for me. I think it'd be more motivated if I set reasonable smaller goals rather than one, large goal. Also, I'm not looking to get too small as I think image wise, I look and feel the best around 170-180 lbs. If I go below that, I start to lose my lady lumps, which is not what I want. I have a large frame and prefer to have a bit of weight on me, just not this much haha.

I've posted my current diet and workout details below. I certainly appreciate you being frank with me and hope that you continue to do so.

All understood. I'm all for short term goals - I just wanted to make sure 30lbs wasn't the big picture. I spin too and know first hand that it can be a leg workout as much as it is cardio - that would lead me to believe that you need to tone down your leg workout (strength training wise) because you are most likely overtraining your legs. Plus, that would free up more time for upper body work which you said yourself is lacking right now.

The row machine is meant more as cardio then strength training, which is fine because you do want plenty of cardio. I'd say a hour a day as many days as you can do it. Mix up lower intensity stead state cardio with HIIT. Get your upper body workouts in - use dumbells for everything, do some basic press movements for your chest and shoulders, some arm work is fine too although you don't want to beef up your arms i'm sure... also definitely get some pull exercises in for your back. We can work on a specific plan if you want.

I think you can and should work your abs, even if just once a week. Yea, sure they're covered by a layer of fat NOW - but when that comes off, wouldn't it be nice to already have somewhat developed abs? It's a big rookie mistake, and then when people lose the fat they don't understand why their stomach still looks kind of soft - that's just undeveloped abs.

Diet comments below

Breakfast (when I have time to cook): 2 eggs plus an extra egg white with onions, peppers, low fat mozz on 2 pieces of multi grain bread and 2 cups of black coffee.
Breakfast (when I don't have time to cook): Some sort of granola bar or cereal with 3/4 cup 2% milk, 2 cups of black coffee.

Let's make it ONE whole egg, and 3-4 whites. can you handle eggs enough to stick with this? Drop the low fat cheese, and i'd say drop the bread too - do the egg as an omelette. Instead of the bread, have 1/2 cup whole oats - sweeten with splenda and cinnamon. If you don't have time to cook, then the next best/quickest thing is a protein shake - and you can still do the oats, because quick-oats are done in a minute and a half in the microwave. Granola and/or cereal + milk isn't a good balanced breakfast - almost no protein at all, and highly processed carbs

Typically, I do not have a mid morning snack, but when I do, it's greek yogurt with some sort of fruit, or a spoonful of peanut butter with a bottle of water.

You need to - start eating every 2.5 - 3 hours. Greek yogurt is fine - make sure it's plain fat free. Again, you can sweeten with splenda - i do and it's pretty decent. instead of fruit, add berries. If you want, you can add some granola here but make sure it's really high quality organic or something like that... i.e. not quaker brand. A spoonful of peanut butter isn't equivalent to a meal, so drop it. Keep the water, the more the better

Lunch: Usually either a turkey sandwich or a green salad with balsamic vinegar and either chicken or tuna. Bottle of water or seltzer.

I'd rather see you stick with the green salad and chicken or tuna (no mayo, right?). keep away from the bread. Here you can add a bit of olive oil for some healthy fat, maybe 1-2 tsp

Afternoon snack: Again, usually don't eat one. But I do drink a lot of water throughout the day (because I'm usually hungry...)

Great about the water, but you NEED to eat. Especially on your weight training days, get a pre-workout meal in. Lean protein and 20g or so of complex carb. You can't expect to have an intense training session if you're running on fumes. Plus, you said you're starving in a caloric deficit - but this is the 2nd time you've stated that you may not eat at this time of day - of course you're starving!

By now its around 4:30/5 and this is when I head to the gym... so it's usually been about 3 hours since I last ate anything.

not anymore

Dinner/After the gym: I'm ravenous and eat a huge meal, consisting of some sort of protein (usually chicken) and probably too many carbs (a lot of brown rice or a whole baked potato, a couple of pieces of bread, etc) plus a salad.

It's not a bad time for carbs, in fact it's a good time - but make good choices. Replace the baked potato with sweet potato, forget brown rice - do something like lentils or beans instead. Quinoa is another great option. Also get your fiberous green veggies in

Dessert: Frozen yogurt or a couple pieces of fruit.

No more dessert, for now. Have a serving of nuts if you're really hungry - it's getting late in the evening and the chances of carbs being stored as bodyfat are increased

Also - get a meal in right before bed. Do you like cottage cheese? It's a great choice (casein protein, slow digesting), lean red meat is the best choice but most can't stomach that before hitting the pillow. Hopefully you like cottage cheese, go with full fat for this meal

Now this is my idea of "clean eating" i.e. when I'm really making an effort to watch what I eat. I eat pizza and french fries and ice cream not every day, but definitely enough for me to mention it.

Honestly, this is your problem more then anything else. Ok, not every day - but how often would you say? Please be honest

Now on to my training.

M-W-F: I do an hour of intense cardio, either cardio kickboxing or spinning late in the day. I don't do any strength training on these days because I think my legs get enough of a workout from these classes that I teach.

Agreed - which is why i'd like to see you tone down your leg workouts and work more on your upper body

T-Th: These are my strength training days. I train my legs heavy, doing high reps of squats (@120 lbs), leg curls (@40-60 lbs), lunges (20 lb dumbells in my hands), leg press (@150lbs) and seated calf raises (@230-250 lbs), sometimes both days. I don't do ab exercises (I'm probably wrong, but I think it'd be foolish to work on defining muscles in an area that is covered in a layer of fat) and I've been working on building up my upper body strength which is seriously lacking. To put it in perspective, I can do like, 3 girly pushups... horrible, I know. I do the rowing maching for about 20 minutes, but sometimes I feel like that's more cardio than an upper body workout. After or before whatever strength training I do, I do 15 mins of light cardio (jogging or elliptical) to arm up or cool down.

Comments above in bold

[prettypoodle]

wow... okay, so many things that confuse and concern me about everything you are stating, however I am going to give you credit for posting a thread here for us to help you, and try to work with whatever you will allow us to work with. I can honestly say that it seems as if you are not fully commited to doing what is necessary to make what should be obviously needed differences in your physical condition. I understand you are only 22 years old, but you have already shown a consistent pattern of letting food rule your life. I'm going to agree with GB and base, obviously, and ask that you set your goal at losing 60lbs of fat before using the clen. This being said, your diet is terrible, but you are going to get great diet help from GB and base. Your workouts were not specific, other than the leg portion, so I'm not sure what you mean when you say you have been working on getting your upper body stronger. Not that it really matters, since that needs to be completely re-vamped as well. You will definitely decide you will cook your breakfast every morning, as your non-cooked breakfast is not an acceptable choice, and that you will pre-pare all of your meals and eat what and when you are told. Since you are doing cardio after 5 it is a good thing that it is after not having eaten for 3 hours, since that is how long it should be if you aren't doing them first thing in the am totally fasted. Your weight training should be a total body routine that will be identical every day you train until we get to a target weight that allows us to modify it to your goals at that time. We are here for you, but please give us your totally and complete best. We must have your total honesty, but it is very dis-heartening to work with someone who really doesn't care if they stick with a program or not. We will want you to succeed even more than you want to, and we have the knowledge and experience to help you get there as fast as anyone.

I don't think I let food rule my life... I don't over eat or anything... it's that I don't eat enough and when I do eat, it's usually not the right things. I'll be the first to admit that I don't have much knowledge about nutrition and what I should be eating to fuel my body and how to work out... no clue, and that's why I came here to get help from people who know what they're talking about. I'm definitely serious and fully committed to making changes and wouldn't waste my time (not to mention everyone elses) if I wasn't; you guys tell me what to do and I'll do it. You say I should wait to use clen until I've lost 60 lbs of fat... but after 60lbs of fat loss, I'd already be at my ideal weight. Do you think it'd be best to just lose all of the fat naturally, or lose say 40lbs of fat before using clen for the last 20? Like I said earlier, my ideal weight range is 170-180, just with a healthy BF (22-24%)

Baseline- I can start running early in the morning before classes but on certain days, I don't know if I'll realistically be able to eat so frequently simply because I have no where to store it. If I replace 2 of my day time meals with some sort of protein shake, would that be ok? If not, I'll find a way to get all of my daytime meals in.

Gbrice- So much great information, thank you so much, wow. That many eggs won't be a problem and I've never had cottage cheese to say if I like it or not, but I've heard it's gross so I'll stick with the lean red meat which I don't eat enough of anyway. And honestly, I eat crappy food like, all day at least once a week but no more than twice. It's usually on the weekends when I sleep in later, go out at night and find myself eating and sleeping really poorly. This also got me to thinking that I should cut down on the alcohol... I drink once a week, but I know that it adds up.

As for my upper body/core workouts, if you'd be willing to help me with a plan, that would be great. I always think that in order to see results, I need to go for the higher weights as opposed to 5lb dumbells, but I'm probably wrong about that. As for toning down the leg workouts, will I lose any of the muscle and tone I've developed if I stop working them so hard? My legs are really strong, really tight and I'd hate for the one really developed part of my body start to disappear.