diet help

[musclegirl28]

I was wondering if someone out there could take a look at my diet... tell me what you think... I'm 19 weeks out from a bodybuilding show... I'm 130 pounds today, and looking to cut 20 pounds. Is there something I should be/not be doing?

1) 8 egg whites, 2 oz oatmeal
2) 4 oz chicken breast, 100 g brown rice
3) 4 oz chicken breast, 100 g brown rice
4) 100 g chicken breast, 100g cauli/broccoli, 60 g red beans, 50 g corn
5) 8 egg whites, 50 g peas

I continue to train heavy, and I find my energy is lacking later on in the evening (about 6 pm). My day starts at 7 am. I eat every 3 hours.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

I was wondering if someone out there could take a look at my diet... tell me what you think... I'm 19 weeks out from a bodybuilding show... I'm 130 pounds today, and looking to cut 20 pounds. Is there something I should be/not be doing?

1) 8 egg whites, 2 oz oatmeal
2) 4 oz chicken breast, 100 g brown rice
3) 4 oz chicken breast, 100 g brown rice
4) 100 g chicken breast, 100g cauli/broccoli, 60 g red beans, 50 g corn
5) 8 egg whites, 50 g peas

I continue to train heavy, and I find my energy is lacking later on in the evening (about 6 pm). My day starts at 7 am. I eat every 3 hours.

What I put in bold is a no no... Also add another meal

Are you doing a fitness of figure comp?

 

[musclegirl28]

I'm doing a bodybuilding show

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Cutting 20lbs? Of what? Fat? What is your height and BF%? 110lbs would quite small, unless you are very short. I worry that in a quest to lose 20lbs, you will sacrifice a lot of muscle.

I would aim more towards trying to cut a certain % of BF, rather than lbs. Weight is misleading the more muscular you are.

To be so far out, your diet is very limited. What is the goal at 19 weeks out? Are you satisfied with your muscle mass? Are you trying to add more muscle AND lose fat? What supplements are you taking? What are your workouts like? What kind of contest?

While diet is the leading factor of success or failure - all these things are interrelated. We need to have A LOT more info to give useful advice.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

I'm doing a bodybuilding show

Check out Sassy's log her diet is on spot for pre comp. Pay attention to the ratios she uses and apply them to yourself.
When is the show?

 

[musclegirl28]

I am 5'2, quite muscular... I have competed before, but am just aiming to come out more lean without sacrificing too much muscle. I took an off season where I gained 20 pounds more than I normally was (went up to 144 pounds), and now, for the last 6 weeks, I have lost an average of 2 pounds per week... this is continuing!! I do have a good amount of fat on me to shed - however, I don't know how much MORE muscle I have since last year. (Only my cutting will tell!!) In terms of supplements, I am currently taking a multi-vitamin, l-glutamine, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. The contest I am aiming for is a lightweight division of women's bodybuilding (114 pounds and under)

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Do you know your BF%?

If not, get that done and you'll have a better idea of how much you have to lose.

The 20lbs you gained off season is a combination of fat and muscle. You do not want to shed it all! You just want to shed the fat - hence, knowing the BF%.

I agree w/QT about checking out Sassy's DIet Log. She is prepping for a BB show soon. SHe IS heavier than you, so your food amounts may vary. But look at her food choices and ratios as a starting point.

I truely think that at 19 weeks out, if you get TOO strict now (limited yourself to 2-3 kinds of food) that you will lose your mind! The show is almost 5 MONTHS away.

 

[Sassy69]

I"m gonna caveat my thread - I've made great progress from Jan thru March with the diet I posted. After March I started w/ a new trainer & changed my diet. I dont' recommend trying to follow that because I dont post the details.

I agree w/ the above - you should eat another meal - if you could put your planned diet into a food counts program like www.fitday.com you will know exactly what you intend to eat. The cals & break down will be important.

OK so you are 144 now and plan to compete at 114 or under. That's 20 lbs of unwanted fat + about 10 lb of water weight that you will most likely dump the last week of prep. Definitely get your bodyfat done. To compare, my weight fluctuated about 3 lb for nearly 4 months but I dropped about 8% bf. Since March I've dropped another 4-ish% bf and 15 lbs.

 

[musclegirl28]

I'm not too worried about eating the same foods every day (as a matter of fact, last year, I did a similar diet consisting mainly of chicken just like the above) (yuck!) Is there a danger to eating the same food for 5 months? If it's a depletion in required nutrients, which should I take to replace them?

Can you tell me what a good replacement would be for the corn, red beans and peas listed above? I know myself that these things aren't good (I was questioning them myself)... and if I were to choose myself, I would sub them in with romaine lettuce, spinach and green beans... is this good?

I checked my bodyfat, and it says 27% bodyfat... (not sure how accurate this figure is... I'm using a stand up digital scale that also outputs bodyfat... I think I'll buy calipers today!) I am 129 pounds today (so it works out that over 6 weeks of dieting so far, I have lost 16 pounds). The competition is early September.

Sassy, Daisy and Superqt... you don't know how much this means to me! Thank you for all your posts so far! I know I'm 5 months away, but I'm worried that after all my weight gain in the off season, I may not make my weight class...

 

[Sassy69]

If you are further out from your show you can slowly start cutting out those veggies and move towards broccoli, green beans, spinach, asparagus. You proteins can be chicken, fish, steak, turkey, even buffalo (excellent lean protein source). Your fats can be natty peanut butter, almonds, flax oil, fish, fish oils, etc. Starchy carbs - potatos, sweet potatos, oatmeal, cream of rice, brown rice. This is actualy not a ridiculously restricted diet - I've been doing it for 5 months & feel great. Just a little bored after awhile. I also recommend easing back out of the diet after competition day and if you do competition more often, I suggest a 1-2 week cleansing diet as well just get all the residual stuff out of your body & start clean.

 

[Sassy69]

Congrats on the 129. It sounds like you are really on schedule. The only thing I would be careful of at 19 weeks out is losing too much too fast because once you get really lean its hard to maintain that for more than a few weeks while you are coming into show date. And your body / mind / attitude might burn out too soon. You might lay out a progress schedule for smooth bf & weight loss until your date so you can track that youa re going at a good speed.

 

[musclegirl28]

Thanks for your help Sassy! And good luck to you on your upcoming show! (Know that you have a canuck rooting for you up here!! ;-) Yeah, I can deal with the boredom of my meals... but I know that at some point, my weight loss will taper off... thus far, I've been losing 2-3 pounds a week. Once I plateau, what should I then do with my diet? I checked out www.fitday.com (thank you guys for suggesting it!) and it told me the basics of my percentages... it looks somthing like this - 38% protein, 34% carb and 28% fat. I've also calculated that I expend more calories than I do take them in.

I'll stick to your advice and switch over to those veggies you listed above... I'm a little wary about the corn and peas. This diet was actually given to me, but I never really enquired about why I was eating what.

When do you think I should change my diet again?

 

[Daisy_Girl]

What I like about Sassy's pre-contest diet is that is it NOT restricted. SHe eats a variety of foods (albeit, only CLEAN foods). WHat you see so many people doing is eating 2 kinds of food and that is it. Sassy does a nice job of keeping variety in there. I think that helps with boredom and minimizes the feeling of deprivation.

If you start to plateau, then you can change several things.

workout timing
exercise choices
workout intensity
workout length
change intervals of HIIT
change set/rep amounts
food choices
food amounts
food timing
more carb ups
less carb ups
change food ratios
drink more water
change supplements
get more sleep
reduce stress

The list is endless. What you have to do, is pick 1-2 things to change. Try that for a couple weeks. See what happens.

Usually, when someone plateaus on diet, they need to change their food intake or choices. When you plateau on workout, you need to change your intensity and/or choice of exercise.