Newbie, help!!!

[julesW]

I have been reading the threads for a few weeks now, and decided to tell alittle about myself and ask for suggestions. I don't compete, I lift for myself. I just want to look awesome naked, thats all. I'm 5'4'' and 138 lbs (I've gained 8 lbs because I quit smoking). My diet is pretty good, but I have my moments. I do 45 minutes of cardio 5 days a week, including running (I'm in the military). In the evenings I lift 4 days a week, religiously. I struggle to stay at 130. My legs are my problem area and my upper body I'm satisfied with. I've been doing research into var, win, or clen. I know I need to work on my diet alittle...but I'm starving in the middle to late afternoon. As much as I work out I think I should be having more results. I've been lifting for about 4-5 years. Can anyone help me?

 

[jkmom]

post you diet

 

[jenscats5]

Post up exactly what you eat - times, amounts, etc & in relation to when you workout & we will review.

 

[julesW]

6:30: 45 minutes of cardio
9:00: 3/4 cup oatmeal and 5 egg whites (cup of coffee)
10:30: 1/2 meal replacement
12:00: Chicken breast sandwich and an apple
2:30: Detour bar
7:00: Chicken breast and vegetables(after weight lifting)
9:30: Protein shake

I have one cheat meal on Sunday. The only time I may not follow this diet is in the evening. If that happens I try to snack on almonds or raw vegetables. I only drink water all day (1 cup coffee with breakfast).

 

[Sassy69]

The first thing I would do to change that is replace all those "fitness foods" w/ some real food. Detour bar is basically a candy bar. Those meal replacement things are better replaced w/ real food. Get those out of your diet, replace w/ real food. Also if you put your diet into a food counts program like fitday.com (free account) then you can know for sure how much of each thing you are really eating. The only explicit complex carb you have listed is the oatmeal, but those replacement things & bars are loaded w/ them. Better to replace them w/ things like sweet potatos, regular potatos, brown rice, etc. Same w/ the bread in the sandwich. Also you only have one serving of veggies listed. I'd include a protien & veggies in every meal and only change on the carbs & fats.

 

[fitbabe]

If you are still hungry at lunch I would fill up on salad or green veg.. I get hungry an hour after lunch but so I split my mid afternoon meal and have half earlier.

 

[Sassy69]

Good catch FB -- I didn't look at the times -- that's a long stretch between the 2:30 & 7 pm meal. Your body metabolizes protein , fats & carbs every 2-3 hrs - that's why people say to eat several small meals over the course of the day every 2-3 hrs instead of 3 big ones at breakfast, lunch & dinner.

 

[julesW]

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about fruits. I used to have an apple with lunch and was worried about the sugar in fruits in general. I did put my diet into fitday. I was at 53 protein 28 carbs and 18 fat. It was vbery handy, I didn't realize how much protein I was eating and needed to eat more fats. Is there a good way of adding "good fat" to my diet. Again, thank you very much.

 

[Sassy69]

As complete foods, some good fat options are raw almonds or NATURAL peanut butter (should have nothing in it but nuts). Additional things are EFA or fish pills as a pill fat source or flax seed or borage oil. You can usually get these at your local grocery store or health food store. If you get flax oil you can do things like mix it in w/ a very low carb protein shake (but don't load fats after a workout) or on a salad like vinegar & oil, where the flax oil is the "oil". Some people can just chug a spoonful. I'm not one of them.

 

[slat1]

I, personally, would not eat the apple with lunch. The natural sugars in it will bond with the other foods... so you will not absorb all of them.
A lot of diets will let you have an apple a half hour before you eat other meals.
Sassy is right. Real food is what you need. Supplements are just that... supplements to real food. Make sure you are getting enough. If you need an MRP once in a while when you can't eat real food that is fine. If you make one make it with water too.