New to site and looking for some help.

[nikkita]

In my opinion, at 12 weeks out, don't expect to gain muscle ... so your focus should be on preserving muscle. Your diet should be changing to gradually reduce carbs, and increase your cardio. Your training can start on circuits, not to failure but heavy enough to keep you pumped.

 

[lookinfit75]

meh we beat that horse enough already.

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/steroids-discussion-forum/should-i-take-steroids-564161.html
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/steroids-discussion-forum/you-ready-steroids-597374.html
We talk about this subject and push it daily in the aas forum. Hell we ban people under the age of 21 that even ask about using aas to much. We refuse to give them advice and most of us boy's over there won't give advice to some one that has not got a good base and some experence.

We really can't beat the horse any more then we already do.

True that NeedTo. Doesn't hurt to see it put so simply and eloquently though. We tend to be a bit brutish on our side haha (Take the 300 cholesterol guy-not that I don't think the obvious shouldn't be stated in that case LOL).

 

[figure newbie]

I think if you have 12 weeks to comp, you might want to adjust your diet and training. I go heavy to build (in my off season)and high volume with heavy a few weeks before com in oder to get more definitions.

For the past month I have been following this diet:

Meal 1: egg whites with 1 whole egg and 1/2 cup of oatmeal

Meal 2: protein shake with about 40 grams protein w/ either almondbutter or cream

Meal 3: Small sweet potato cup of green veggies and some lite tofu

Meal 4: protein shake w/ water

meal 5: cup of veggies garden salad and fish or tofu

Meal 6: egg whites or protein shake

I try to get about 1600 callories at a 45/25/30 split....is there anything thing wrong with this. I have only droped about 2 pounds in the 4 weeks. I know that slow weight loose is best but should I change my diet. Thanks everyone....all of the feedback has been great!

 

[Thandie]

For the past month I have been following this diet:

Meal 1: egg whites with 1 whole egg and 1/2 cup of oatmeal

Meal 2: protein shake with about 40 grams protein w/ either almondbutter or cream

Meal 3: Small sweet potato cup of green veggies and some lite tofu

Meal 4: protein shake w/ water

meal 5: cup of veggies garden salad and fish or tofu

Meal 6: egg whites or protein shake

I try to get about 1600 callories at a 45/25/30 split....is there anything thing wrong with this. I have only droped about 2 pounds in the 4 weeks. I know that slow weight loose is best but should I change my diet. Thanks everyone....all of the feedback has been great!

I'm trying to understand your numbers. Is 45 (protein) 25 (carbs) 30 (fat)?
If so, that can't be 1600 calories. However, if you're getting 1600 calories, I'd suggest:
1-lowering your carbs slowly in order to burn body fat. However it doesn't look like you have much carbs. If you can clarify your macros would be helpful.
2- Do 35 minutes cardio in the morning and 30 in the afternoon/evening.
3-Drop the cream.
4- Have more food, less protein shake.

Tofu, does that have a lot of fat? I'm not familiar with it.

 

[Tatyana]

I think the 45/25/30 are percent ratios of the diet, not the amount in grams.

Those ratios are great for offseason, usually people manipulate one macronutrient, so the lower their fat or carbs, do carb tapering, so drop starchy carbs at night, or carb cycling.

You don't want rapid WEIGHT loss.

1 lb of muscle is only 600 kcals, so if you are losing weight quickly, and a lot of it, unless you were quite big to begin with or on a low carb/keto diet, you are probably losing muscle.

Remember 1 lb fat is 3500 kcals, so a 500 kcal deficit/day.

You could lose almost 1 lb of muscle in one day if you are too calorie restricted and training intensely.

Losing muscle is a SIN

I am of the mind that there is no point in messing up your metabolism for ONE competition, you want to be doing it over and over and over again (if you like it and get the bug).

You also want to be able to return to a normal bodyfat without the rebound or issues with a slower, damaged metabolism and have to go through the hassle of fixing it.

Far too many people diet incorrectly IMHO, too severe a calorie restriction which does have an impact on the physical and psychological.

Take a peek at the Minnesota Starvation Study I have posted in this section.

 

[figure newbie]

I'm trying to understand your numbers. Is 45 (protein) 25 (carbs) 30 (fat)?
If so, that can't be 1600 calories. However, if you're getting 1600 calories, I'd suggest:
1-lowering your carbs slowly in order to burn body fat. However it doesn't look like you have much carbs. If you can clarify your macros would be helpful.
2- Do 35 minutes cardio in the morning and 30 in the afternoon/evening.
3-Drop the cream.
4- Have more food, less protein shake.

Tofu, does that have a lot of fat? I'm not familiar with it.

I am sorry I should have clarified...those are the percentages not the amount.
As for the tofu, if you get the lite kind it is very lean, high in protein, low in fat and carbs. I am a vegetarian and just introduced fish in to my diet. I would add more food but I heard that it is not safe to eat fish everyday. I eat salmon or tuna about every other day. Also at my gym we w a device that you breath in to for 11 minutes and it spits out your rmr. It said that mine was 1800 calories obviously before it factored in exercise and life style. I just wanted to say that I think that all of you ladies are so great and inspirational! I work in fitness everyday for a living and it is amazing how different training and nutrition is for someone and bbing or figure. It is like a whole new world to me and I am so excited to learn as much as I can not only for myself but for my clients....Thanks!

 

[Thandie]

I am sorry I should have clarified...those are the percentages not the amount.
As for the tofu, if you get the lite kind it is very lean, high in protein, low in fat and carbs. I am a vegetarian and just introduced fish in to my diet. I would add more food but I heard that it is not safe to eat fish everyday. I eat salmon or tuna about every other day. Also at my gym we w a device that you breath in to for 11 minutes and it spits out your rmr. It said that mine was 1800 calories obviously before it factored in exercise and life style. I just wanted to say that I think that all of you ladies are so great and inspirational! I work in fitness everyday for a living and it is amazing how different training and nutrition is for someone and bbing or figure. It is like a whole new world to me and I am so excited to learn as much as I can not only for myself but for my clients....Thanks!

Ok, I understand! 1800 calories is way too much before comp.
I'm not familiar with eating vegetarian. I eat fish every night, but not with every meal. It's best to keep the protein powders and bars to a minimum as they have a lot of fillers.
Now that we have the macros figured out, I'd suggest to start lowering your carbs slowly and increasing your cardio. Keep the protein at about 125g.
You should start doing more repetitions in your workout, but heavy enough that you feel it and have a killer workout.

Please, keep posting your progress and ask questions.
Check to see if you physically see any difference in your body as well on the scale.
Drink a gallon of water.