thoughts on my progress?

[i<3sushi]

i've been doing the abs diet for about 5 weeks now. i dont know if you guys are familiar with it. but my progress isnt up to par. according to the body fat scale ive gone from ~21% to ~19% and lost about 4-5lbs.
ive followed the workouts from the book pretty strictly. (3 total body workouts a week, 2 days of light cardio, 1 day of interval cardio, 1 day of rest)
and here's yesterday's diet:

8am: instant oatmeal with blueberries, 3 egg whites pan fried with salsa

11am: protein shake--1 scoop whey, 1/2 tbsp flaxseed, 1% milk, nonfat plain yogurt, strawberries, ice (post workout)

1pm: turkey sandwich with spinach and mustard

4pm: 1 oz almonds and water

6pm: chicken wrap with cilantro/spinach, hummus

8pm: string cheese and steamed broccoli

here's today's:

8am: oatmeal with raspberries, 3 egg whites with salsa

11am: protein shake

1pm: roast beef sandwich

4pm: apple with PB

6pm: grilled chicken with steamed broccoli, 1/2 grapefruit

8pm: lowfat vanilla yogurt

havent really done any calorie counting. so i dont know if im eating too much or too little. but my progress seems minimal if not slow. according to the book people have lost a lot of weight... but ive recorded my diet everyday. and even on my cheat meal, i'd just order some soup at a restaurant. what do you guys think???

 

[MsBeverlyHills]

Im not familier w/that diet.. but it looks high in starchy carbs (sandwiches & wraps?) & low in protein. How many ounces of turkey, chicken, roast beef & grilled chicken are in those meals?

Id also get rid of ALL the fruit & pan-fried egg whites!! yikes- any fried foods will NOT help ya get abs..LOL

 

[Gymgurl]

But I thoughe berries were pretty low GI and could be eaten?? I eat them all the time...maybe that is not a good thing lol

 

[i<3sushi]

Im not familier w/that diet.. but it looks high in starchy carbs (sandwiches & wraps?) & low in protein. How many ounces of turkey, chicken, roast beef & grilled chicken are in those meals?

Id also get rid of ALL the fruit & pan-fried egg whites!! yikes- any fried foods will NOT help ya get abs..LOL

well. my bread and tortilla are both whole wheat and low in sugar. and with turkey/roast beef. i use about 2 slices of each. chicken about 4 small breast tenderloins. i do eat a lot of fruit. i cant find any more ways to incorporate veggies. i cant for anything swallow raw veggies (cept salads/spinach) like celery and carrots or even broccoli. i has to be cooked/steamed in some way.

and my panfried eggs are just cooked in a fry pan with canola cooking spray. i use evoo sometimes when i cook chicken. but its not that bad i dont think? i could be wrong.

 

[medicj]

well. my bread and tortilla are both whole wheat and low in sugar. and with turkey/roast beef. i use about 2 slices of each. chicken about 4 small breast tenderloins. i do eat a lot of fruit. i cant find any more ways to incorporate veggies. i cant for anything swallow raw veggies (cept salads/spinach) like celery and carrots or even broccoli. i has to be cooked/steamed in some way.

and my panfried eggs are just cooked in a fry pan with canola cooking spray. i use evoo sometimes when i cook chicken. but its not that bad i dont think? i could be wrong.

I'm not one of the pro's on board ... so I could be wrong but it looks to me like u need more protein, less fruit, and cut out anything fried(yikes!!) Spinach is a great veggie .... I like mine with about 1tbs of flax. oil. It actually tastes really good. Carrots are good but u need to be careful.If u eat a lot of carrots u take in a bunch of extra sugar. Like I said, I could be wrong. I'm just learning myself but this is how I try to eat.

 

[Roonytunes]

I have the abs diet book (a good amount of similarity to Body for Life), and while I do think it advocates good eating habits, I think you had to have eaten pretty badly or have a lot of weight to lose for it to be as effective as it claims. I know it says not to bother with calorie or any other counting, but if you're not getting the results you want, I suggest you start plugging in food into fitday and see what exactly you're eating. After that, you can tweak those numbers a bit to try to see what works for you.

That's my 2 cents...that said, I do find the pocket version of the Abs Diet book very motivating.

 

[Sassy69]

I agree w/ Roony -- its hard for us to really comment on the diet not knowing the portions and having to spend the time to load it into a food counts program like fitday.com. Even if you do it just w/ the above meal plan or a representative meal plan, you get an idea of what you are doing (or not doing).

MsBeverlyHills' comments -- completely optimized diet with removal of berries, etc. is one route. I follow something like that for competition. For a general "fitness lifestyle" diet, it is totally appropriate to have some fruit and variety in your diet because almost all non-processed food has a place in your diet and a use in your body. E.g. enzymes from fruit help to shuttle out waste left over from the metabolism process. But the degree of "optimization" on diet and training will also dictate how fast and consistently the results will appear and be maintained.

To that end, I'd also say that any program you follow your body will start to adapt to and should be modified to rekick-start progress around evey 4-6 weeks. So you are probably about due for a change anyway. You might consider breaking your full body workouts into muscle groups and maybe going to a 4 day split. And also based on the results of the food break down in fitday, you may want to adjust your proteins/fats/carbs as well.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

I second Sassy and Roony.

Berries ARE fine for a normal healthy life. It is UNhealthy to cut out any food or food group (obviously, except heavy fats and the like). A normal, non-competition diet can incorporate berries, fruits, and dairy. Most bread products should still be limited - mostly because they are so processed.

Additionally, "cheat meals" are NOT NOT NOT bad. They can actually HELP your progress.

Most of these special "diet books" are good for the obese (like Roony alluded to) or very unhealthy. But for the average person in an a healthy average BF range (like you are), then you will likely NOT see dramatic results.

I am not sure what your goals are ...... to compete? Gain muscle? Get leaner? What your goals are can dictate what type of diet and advice people give you.

 

[i<3sushi]

i actually have been trying to put my foods into fitday.com for a couple of weeks. but i dont really measure my foods. like in my oatmeal, i just put in several berries. i dont measure in a measuring cup. so its kinda hard for me to determine exactly how much i ate. but i have been estimating. i come up with about 1400 cals a day.

my main goals are to get leaner i suppose. ive gained some weight in the last couple of years, just by not paying attention really to what im putting in my mouth and not doing much physical activity.

i guess i had lots of hopes like the other people in the book, to lose some weight in 6 weeks. i just needed to know, somehow, that i am making progress and i should keep going. am i heading in the right direction? that sorta thing. but i guess i just need the motivation. its so hard, to work at something for a while and not see any real results.

everyone else in here is so disciplined (dont know if thats the word im really looking for). its admirable.

also people keep saying fried is bad. but how else do you cook your eggs. cooking them in a frypan with canola cooking spray is bad? why does that not seem bad to me. it's healthy. no?? i dont understand that. i just see it as the fastest/easiest way to cook.

one more question. 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, is the foundation of the abs diet. but sometimes. i dont think im hungry 3 hours after... lunch. or i get hungry only 1 and a half hours after a snack. whats the deal?? then i wonder if im really am hungry. then i feel slightly fatigued. i think im hungry, then i get really busy at work (or something else) and all of a sudden im just not hungry at all. doesn't happen that often. but a every few days. its very strange

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Cooking eggs, even frying them, with spray oil (like Pam, right?) is FINE. It is NO different than scrambling them. if you were frying them with butter, that would be different. But spray cooking oil, such as Pam, is totally fine.