Please help me with my gf's goals...

[nsashbl01]

Well my gf has been eating better and cut out some of the cardio. She's looking better, but still freaks at the scale! I keep telling her to ignore it. She is now on the Body for Life kick as well. I haven't read it, but the general idea seems ok. We also found a trainer to set up some workouts with her. She goes just after Thanksgiving.

It's funny though, I've explained to her that she eats way to much bad carbs and sugars. Now that she read about it and actually looked at what she ate, she sees that she was a carb junkie!

 

[nsashbl01]

Ok, my gf is over a year into her fitness program, and is getting really frustrated. For a time we figured she was having issues due to birth control pills, so she went off 2.5 months ago and things are no better. She says they are actually worse. Shes really frustrated. She eats well, and has recently tried to dial it in better and changed her training program. She is very muscular, but is unhappy with her bf. The only thing I can see bad, is her lack of sleep. Shes a teacher, so thats not an easy thing to get! Daisy, you can understand?? Here is what she gave me as her recent diet and training program...

LOTS OF WATER...almost eight bottles of water a day!
Breakfast
1 coffee with skim milk and splenda
1 c. total with protein (14 g)
1 c. of Atkins no sugar, fat free milk (10 g)
Splenda

Snack
No sugar yogurt (10 g)

Lunch
1 cup whole wheat pasta
1 chicken breast (25g?)

Snack
one serving cottage cheese (10 g)

Dinner
1/2 c. kidney beans
1/2 c. lental beans
1/2 chicken breast
1/2 c. whole wheat rice

That is how I have been eating for almost two weeks...

Excercise

Monday (WEights 30 min)
Cardio (45 minutes...interval)

Tuesday (off,,,due to class)

Wednesday (weights 30 minutes)
Cardio (45 minutes)

Thursday (weights 30 minutes)
Cardio (20 minutes)

Friday (off)

Saturday (weights 30 min)
Cardio (45 minutes)

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.....

 

[Daisy_Girl]

You said she has been eating this diet for 2 weeks. What was it like before?

How long on this training program?

I know she has been a years progress....what has gone on during that year? How has the diet been, how has the training been? Lifestyle? Illness?

She went off BCP fairly recently...the change in hormone levels may cause a temporary problem until the hormones stabilize.

Has she had any bloodwork done to rule out any problems? Thryoid, Testosterone?

 

[Sassy69]

Can you give us her stats so we know what "not happy with her bf" means? Height, weight, current bf.

Taking a look at the diet, here are some of my suggestions:

LOTS OF WATER...almost eight bottles of water a day! --- GOOD!

Breakfast
- If possible get rid of the milk - skim or not, its basically just sugar. There are better sources of calcium as well.
- Try oatmeal instead of Total.
- Also don't get too caught up in the "no sugar" stuff - keep the food as minimally processed as possible. "no sugar","non-fat", "low-carb" all equal more processing.

Snack
- Again with the dairy stuff. Its not bad, but there are better options.

Lunch
1 cup whole wheat pasta - I personally just stay the hell away from pasta - its a processed carb and there are better sources.
1 chicken breast (25g?) - good!
- Good meal for veggies.

Snack
one serving cottage cheese (10 g) - OK, but maybe more basic protein & veggies.

Dinner
1/2 c. kidney beans
1/2 c. lental beans
1/2 chicken breast
1/2 c. whole wheat rice
- this is all good. I personally would cut out the complex carbs (rice) and just keep it in my earlier meals.

Generally - there's no fat in this diet. Don't be scared of fat because there are good fats that you really need in your diet. These can come from almonds, natural peanut butter, flax seed oil. I often will get my fats by putting vinegar & olive or flax oil on my chicken & salad at lunch.

What is the typical resistance training schedule? Is she lifting hard & intensely? The one HIIT cardio could probably be cut back to 20-30 min instead of 45.

 

[hoteacher]

Hello...I am the girlfriend. I did not choose this name, my boyfriend set this account up for me.

Here is a quick rundown of what I have been doing:

Alternate 2 day on, 1 day off. Upper Body with Cardio, Lower Body with Cardio, day off.

Weights include. Upper body (db rows, lat pull down, incline bench, reg. bench, flys with cables or dumbells, shoulder press, reverse flies, front raises, lateral raises, bicep curls with bar and dumbells, tricep extensions, skull crushers and chair dips ), then lower body workout (leg press, squats, stiff deads, db lunges, calf raises, leg extensions, aduction, abduction). I do at least three exercises for each muscle group. Abs everyday I workout. Usually do the 12, 10, 8 set...I feel like I lift hard. After weights, I usually do an interval cardio workout for at least 20-45 minutes depending on how tired I am.

My bottom line goal is to lose body fat and be more ripped. Since starting this whole weight training program, I have gained almost 20 lbs! I now weigh 120 and I am 5’ 2”. I know I am not suppossed to look at the scale, but I have had to buy new clothes twice...getting expensive. Had my body fat tested in August and suppossedly it was 14 percent. I never had cellulite until this past year. Don't know if it is possible, but the more legs I do, I feel like my muscles get bigger and push my fat outward?

Lastly, went off the pill because I thought that was my problem… still have not gotten my period in almost two and half months.

Also, wondering if anyone has suggestions for how many grams of protein and calories I should be consuming to get more cut.
Thanks for your time.

To answer Daisy. I was really never out of shape. I’ve been a runner all my life, and lifted a little weight. (upper body only) My diet has never been bad, I may not have eaten frequently enough because my work schedule makes it tough. I also may have been a little shy on the protein. Lifestyle hasn’t changed to much, except for a little more work, (went from teaching jr high to high school). Health has been good. I tried Levorexin for a period, and did get a little cut, and vascular. I did cut out a lot of long distance running. I had my gyno check my thyroid just before I went off bcp, and was in range.

Boyfriends comments… Anyone that she talks to about her appearance thinks she’s crazy. She is by no means overweight, she just likes to be lean. Last year she started gaining more than she’s used to, and all efforts have not satisfied her. Staying thin was never an issue despite what she ate or did! That slowly changed, like it does for most at some point in their life! She is very muscular, and has a body type that can hold weight and still look lean. I am pretty sure she can fine tune her diet, and change up her training and get good results. I also feel that her hormones may be out of whack. If this were my body, I’d swear it was mostly water weight? I appreciate everyone help……

 

[nsashbl01]

Come on girls. Make my life easier and help out here! My gf is literally loosing it over this!

 

[velvett]

Breakfast
- If possible get rid of the milk - skim or not, its basically just sugar. There are better sources of calcium as well.
- Try oatmeal instead of Total.
- Also don't get too caught up in the "no sugar" stuff - keep the food as minimally processed as possible. "no sugar","non-fat", "low-carb" all equal more processing.

Snack
- Again with the dairy stuff. Its not bad, but there are better options.

Lunch
1 cup whole wheat pasta - I personally just stay the hell away from pasta - its a processed carb and there are better sources.
1 chicken breast (25g?) - good!
- Good meal for veggies.

Snack
one serving cottage cheese (10 g) - OK, but maybe more basic protein & veggies.

Dinner
1/2 c. kidney beans
1/2 c. lental beans
1/2 chicken breast
1/2 c. whole wheat rice
- this is all good. I personally would cut out the complex carbs (rice) and just keep it in my earlier meals.

Generally - there's no fat in this diet. Don't be scared of fat because there are good fats that you really need in your diet. These can come from almonds, natural peanut butter, flax seed oil. I often will get my fats by putting vinegar & olive or flax oil on my chicken & salad at lunch.
.

I totally have to chime in with this one in regard to all the dairy - a lot people can't diet with dairy. Good fats are easy to add as already stated and to add avocado is a great source as well.

Where are all the green and grean leafy veggies?

No or much less dairy
More healthy fats
less bean/animal flesh combos and much more greens
four small/small med meal and maybe a snack (like some nuts - also good fats)

Meal one - 1/2 cup cream of wheat or oats with nuts, splenda & vanilla extract, or tbls peanut or almond butter. 1-2 eggs (or 3 -4 egg whites w/ 1 yolk)

Meals 2-4/5 - roughly 4-6oz of protein (I eat mostly fish), for 2 of those meals either 1/2 potato or a real small one or 1/2 cup of rice (white or brown) and for all meals as much salad or green veggies as you want.

 

[Sassy69]

I"m sort of curious - it was stated above that there hasn't been much lifestyle change over the course of all this that might've caused the weight gain. Usually if you have been and are prone to be a certain weight / mass, and that changes quickly due to something, it is usually easy to get back to that weight by getting back to a 'normal' diet / training / lifestyle. In this case, that hasn't changed. I was wondering if there's some chance it is just a change in life as part of "aging" (don't freak - 28 isnt' old .. I'm older ... but sometimes a body just changes). I was also wondering if your hormones have settled back down after the birth control pills? If you are new to taking them, sometimes you have to try a couple different brands to get one that is tolerated well?

 

[hoteacher]

I have not been on the pill since I was sixteen ...then went on the pill at age 28. During the time of the 15 lb weight gain I was training for the marathon, running almost 35-40 miles per week. I look at pictures and I literally look "chubby". I have been almost rail thin my whole life. At 5'2" and 103 lbs, now I am 120. I had my body fat tested with a caliper and some machine that received a reading through my bicep after I answered a whole bunch of questions. Both determined I am 14 percent body fat. I feel as though I am retaining TONS of water. I feel bloated and I have noticed the most weight gain in my hips and abdomen. Do you think I should start counting calories? I have cut the rice or whole wheat pasta out of my dinner and limited complex carbs only to am (natural oatmeal with splenda) and wheat rice at lunch (half a cup). I am a teacher which requires quite a bit of energy and lately I find myself irritable and can hardly stay awake. I am truly killing myself at the gym. I guess if this is age...can it really happen in only six months or so? and while running so many miles? I am going to have some blood work done to see if this may be the problem. Thanks for everyone's response.

 

[Sassy69]

That's so cute your b/f set up your screen name He obviously thinks highly of you!

Anyway - hard to say when you get a change like that. I went through a weird change in my system after I dieted down for a BB competition, then tried to do another one 3 months later and somewhere I overtrained and coudlnt' get my weight in check and actually blew up a good 20 - 30 lbs. I got the bloodwork and thyroid and everything checked and still didn't get a straight answer. That was 4 years ago and I still haven't figured it out. Life has gone through a lot of transition during this time so I haven't been able to keep any sort of tight training & diet schedule for any period of time, so I'm just slowly getting back into the right shape.

Let us know how the bloodwork comes out.