A lurker revels herself!

[nbusch1128]

I have been lurking around these boards for a few weeks now. I stumbled across EF while I was looking for success stories of people who have used Hydroxycut. Though, I really didn't find the success stories I am happy I found EF. I have finally decided to get serious about my health and weight. I have been over weight from adolescent to now. I have dabbled in weight lifting off and on since my teens, I'm now 31. I never achieved a goal of being in shape and losing the weight. I always gave up.
I started my latest journey to health and fitness 6 December 2002, at 5' 6.5" weighing 194 lbs. 40% BF, based on Tanita model 2001.
B: 41"
W: 34.5"
H: 47"
Today I weigh 176 and 39% BF.
B: 37.5"
W: 31.5"
H: 46"
To lose the weight, I used Hydroxycut (maximum dosage) and was eating as little as 1200 calories and as much as 1500 calories a day. My goal each day was to consume at least 100 grams of protein a day and stay below 60 grams of carbs, I didn't care how many fat grams, but I averaged 70 grams. I came up with these numbers based on some advice I received from calling Muscle Tech for help with my diet. They advised me to do 60% protein, 30% carbs and 10% fat. I didn't know at the time what they were talking about. At that point I didn't work-out except for doing 25 minutes on the bike 2 or 3 times a week.
From December-January I lost 13lbs. and I haven't lost much since. I figured that my body got used to the Hydroxycut, so I stopped for 2 weeks and resumed using it for 3 more weeks and lifting weights 2 times a week, and then I only lost 2lbs. I decided to try NYC (maximum dosage) and increase my calories to no less then 1500, increase my protein to 165 grams and increase my carbs to 100 grams. I also am trying to eat more often. It has only been a little over a week, but I haven't noticed any progress.
I know that I lost muscle in my initial weight loss, but I know I lost body fat as well. I know my diet is the problem, but I am having the worst time trying to eat clean and eat enough. I easily lose my appetite if I don't like the taste of something. Eating becomes a chore and less of a pleasure and can make physically ill. I just switched from whey protein to soy, which I like 100 times more. What do I need to do to turn this around? Did I ruin my metabolism for good?

 

[JJFigure]

Welcome!

Patience, patience. When you make a change to your diet - which you should always do once you start stagnating - give it a couple weeks before you try something else.

Now, how about a detailed diet? What exactly are you eating? what about working out? Are you? If so, what are you doing? Cardio? Weights? The more detail you can give us about your daily diet and activities, the more we can help.

 

[nbusch1128]

Thanks for wanting to help, this is my typical diet. I don’t want you to think that I eat like this everyday, I try to eat better than this, but there are times when it is worse than this.

Breakfast:
2 eggs
1 egg white
Canadian bacon 4 oz.
¼c. Cheese
Snack:
Cottage cheese
Light n fit yogurt
Lunch:
Frozen prepared meal like
Vegetable lasagna about 420 calories 41 carbs 27 protein, 18 fat
Snack:
Chicken thigh
Dinner:
Chicken breast
Cottage cheese
I know I don’t eat enough vegetables, only because I don’t like them.
My usual work out:
2 sets of 10
dumbbell presses
one arm rows
flyes
lateral raises
concentration curls
kick-backs
for abs I have one of those wheel gizmos, I usually can only do one set of 10
I do this twice a week, with 25 minutes on the bike as much 6 times a week. Last week I added 2 sets of plie squats and lunges all with no weight.

Thanks!

 

[JJFigure]

I don't like veggies either, so I relate. However, I force myself to eat at least one salad with some real veggies in it once a day - usually at lunch. I strongely recommend you ditch the frozen prepared meal and replace it with a salad with chicken breast or tuna (or turkey or beef - protein, in other words).

It looks like you're trying to do a high fat, moderate protein diet, but with carbs too. This approach isn't going to work - you have to pick and choose your poisens. Do a search on Spatt's cutting diet - this will give you a good idea of what a clean diet looks like. You're also only eating 4 x day - I'd try for 5-6 x day. Your metabolism increases everytime your body has to digest food - the more frequently you eat, the higher your metabolism will stay while you diet.

On to the workout. Do you belong to a gym? Or is this a home workout? If you belong to the gym, you might want to start doing more compound exercises. Right now, you're doing a bunch of isolation exercises. Isolation exercises help shape mass, but aren't the best exercises for building muscle. Free weight squats (yes, you should be using weight), bench press, barbell rows, military presses, incline press, dips, chins, deadlifts - these are exercises that build muscle. You won't look lean and tight if you don't have some muscle. Do you have access to someone who can show you how to lift using compound exercises? Actually, maybe I should be asking the question do you want muscle? Some women don't - I hate to assume.

 

[nbusch1128]

I knew I came to the right place… I am pretty sure I want muscles. My work-out routine is from the convenience of my home gym. I am in the military and I do have access to several gyms and there is someone available to show me how to use the various pieces of equipment. So I guess I better go make myself an appointment with the gym. I also need to go grocery shopping.

 

[Twigz]

Congrats on your success so far! Keep on going, I know with my experience, that once I got going it was addictive.

 

[JJFigure]

Good luck! I have a feeling we have another addicted lifter in the making. Trust me, once you start to get stronger and see a little muscle, there's no stopping you! You're hooked for life.

And, you'll be amazed how much better you feel once you clean up your diet.

 

[wyst]

congratulations on making a great start! keep up the good work.

xoxo

Wyst

 

[fawnmarie]

JJ's right - waaaayyy to many carbs with that much fat. If you would like to lose body fat a little quicker, definitely cut the carbs down to 20-30 grams per day. Maybe one high carb meal (with low protein & low fat) per week to keep the motor running, would be helpful.

It also looks like you'll need to add lower body work as well. Since you're in the military - DO take advantage of all those free gyms while you can. That's the ONE thing I still miss about the Air Force.

I don't know what branch you're in, but I know the USAF expects women to have no more than a 28% BF under 30 years of age, and 32% over 30. I imagine that puts a lot of pressure on you to start cutting the fat off, because you can't get promoted if you're on the "Fat Boy Program".

I SURE wish I knew then what I know now. When I was in they went by weight, and being the little naturally muscley hulk that I am (my lean body weight without effort being as much as SOME women weigh in total), I really struggled to stay under my max weight. I was still in when they switched to the BF% standard and it was SUCH a relief!

When I first got in my weight standard was 138. For me, that is pretty thin. Then they realized more women were lifting weights and raised the weight for my height and age to 146.

THEN, they started the BF standard -
At the time I was under 30, and I usually weighed in around 150, but only about 24% bf, so I was finally able to stop doing all the stupid shit people did to get under their max weight (i.e. hours in the sauna, massive laxatives and diuretics, etc.). Switching to the BF standard was probably the best thing the USAF ever did to improve the troops' actual health!

If you are really under pressure to make weight standards a bit faster, then I definitely recommend you cut those carbs to 20-30 per day!

Congratulations on your hard work so far! You're doing really well.

And I'm with you - I HATE vegetables. It's a real chore to get them down.

Fawn

 

[Radical Ice]

You've made great progress -- never give up! And by the way, if you are still looking for motivational stories, there's a ton of them with pics at

http://www.bodychangers.com/interviews.shtml

Good stuff!