WIFE needs help in losing fat

[MohawkMuscle]

A brief history.

I met her weighing 180lbs. We started to workout together, she followed BodyFor Life... she lsot about 20-25 lbs. She went down to 160ish with still a little more to lose. (she has good muscle tone.. 140-150 is her lwest weight I would imagine) Anyways... she got pregnant and blew up to 200lbs! She is very depressd and wants to lose the weight fast! She wanted to go back to BodyforLife way but losing only 25lbs will only bring her back to her weight before she started training. I wanted to put her on the ProteinPower plan. Or basically the keto diet inorder for her to lose as much fat as possoble, then switch to a sensible way of eating. Please help. I have her on adipokinetx 3X per day. She wight trains 3x and does cardio 3-5X per week 20min at a time.

Thanks

 

[diamonddiceclay]

try atkins first-she'll lose a ton of fat in a short time

 

[MohawkMuscle]

thats is basically just almost zero carbs while eating eggs bacon, steaks ect...

 

[diamonddiceclay]

yes

 

[Gladiola]

I'm not a fan of Atkins/Keto personally, but there are plenty here who do it.

Typically you hear that going into ketosis makes you miserable. I've never done it (I'm moody enough naturally, thank you very much). But it IS dangerous....
Most importantly, you often have fatigue. No carbs = no glycogen to fuel your muscles (and BRAIN) = no energy to workout = not working out or doing less than optimal workouts = not building lean mass.

I think you would agree that building lean mass is the best thing for her.

Not only that, but why do something (Atkins) that she won't be able to maintain long-term???? That's like doing Jenny Craig where you eat all their pre-packaged food (& not maintain that long term). I don't get it. The you go back to your old habits (eventually) & you go back to your old body.

IMO she should just start the same sensible training regiment and 'clean' eating plan that the majority of us are now following.

Did she keep up that exercise program during the pregnancy? Most ppl here (including me) will reccomend a minimum of 3 strength workouts per week (heavy one week, lighter the next), and cardio maybe 3-5X per week, for 40 - 60 min at a time at a moderately low intensity.

-Gladi

 

[MohawkMuscle]

yeah, she trained right untill the 7-8th month. Eating sensibly and training is the best way IMO. But keto diets are supposed to work very well, very fast. Im sure she is more interested in losing as much bodyfat as possible before she wants to gain more muscle. LIke a said before, she is strong with good muscle size (that is hidden) so While she keeps her muscle, she wants to get rid of all excess fat. When she reaches acceptable levels then she will gradually go back to eating normally... but untill then all she wants is fast fatr loss.

 

[new@gettinbig]

If I was in that situation I would do a rotating carb diet...She can get lean doing this. What is her current diet like now? Is she training w/ heavy weights..that is the only way she is going to build lean mass..I would also increase her cardio to 45-60 minutes in the am on an empty stomach if possible. Give us a little more info on what she is currently doing now..how long ago did she have a baby?

 

[MohawkMuscle]

okay... she had the baby 6 weeks ago.

She trains MONDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY. Upper body/ lowerbody. She does cardio on her days off as well as 20min after her workout.

Her diet is 3 shakes MRP 3 meals... 1 portion protein and carb.

Sunday is a cheat day.

 

[KEL]

I think the spatterson cutting diet was post baby (there are many threads about it)


sorry if I'm mistaken
kel

 

[ann]

okay... she had the baby 6 weeks ago.

6 weeks ago?? My gosh....its taken her nine months to put that on...... patience Dont push it so much..... enjoy that baby !! It took me 6 months to a year, to get back where I wanted to be after each baby.

Let her know, with a sensible diet and proper exercise, she will return to normal.....in DUE TIME

 

[Debu]

Yep...was 220 and 37% fat AFTER I had him...at 5'9''.

2 years later...no evidence, no excuses.

HOLY MOLY SPATTS!!! You're even more AWESOME now! Did ya just go cold turkey and whup your butt in shape to where you are now?

 

[Sapphire]

I was never a fan of Atkins until recently. I've lost 7lbs. in 2 weeks. Being a carboholic myself I thought I'd be cranky, moody and down right miserable....to my surprise I wasn't! I gets boring fast but sheds the weight quickly.

After she drops the initial weight on Atkins she can carb rotate like new@ suggested. That's my current path and think that in the end it's a better more balanced way to live.

 

[BatZgirl]

Hmm mind if I use it too

Yep...was 220 and 37% fat AFTER I had him...at 5'9''.

2 years later...no evidence, no excuses.

hey spat

Mind if I use your cutting plan on my site if I do decide to start it, cant pay you but will definately give you great exposure )

BTW: are you a fitness professional or do you just know so much about fitness thorough experiance?

 

[MohawkMuscle]

what is this cutting plan?

 

[BatZgirl]

what is this cutting plan?

Its spattersons fat cutting diet, youll find it in this forum just do a search on Cutting XLS

 

[MohawkMuscle]

I cant seem to find anything under that search.. please send me a link.

 

[KEL]

for those of you without Excel, give this a try:

http://home.swbell.net/arkaynen/cutting.txt

or

http://home.swbell.net/arkaynen/cutting.xls

 

[Gladiola]

I was never a fan of Atkins until recently. I've lost 7lbs. in 2 weeks. Being a carboholic myself I thought I'd be cranky, moody and down right miserable....to my surprise I wasn't! I gets boring fast but sheds the weight quickly.

Hi Sapphire,

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad to hear it isn't a garuntee that someone on Atkins will be in a "Bitchy ketogenic Haze" as W6 once put it!

 

[Sapphire]

Hi Sapphire,

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad to hear it isn't a garuntee that someone on Atkins will be in a "Bitchy ketogenic Haze" as W6 once put it!

After the initial shock I had more energy/felt better. Agree with Spats though, it's mostly water, carb rotating now and using FitDay which you all have suggested. Bitchy Ketogenic Haze? sounds like another term for PMS I like it!

 

[fawnmarie]

Your wife will lose fine on Protein Power or Atkins with the current workout schedule.

And she needs to have patience!

Also, if she continues to be depressed, she needs to see her doc about possible post-partum depression. It is very common and can be very dangerous.

Hormone changes are a complete bitch!

Fawn

 

[fawnmarie]

...someone on Atkins will be in a "Bitchy ketogenic Haze" as W6 once put it!

? huh ?

I gain about 40 IQ points when I do Atkins and finally STOP planning my loved ones' demises.

No mood swings, no drama, no depression, no PMS. Actually it's a nice change of pace.

You DO have to eat a lot, but I can usually handle that part of it.
: )

Initially it is water - but not most of it. I lost 65 pounds on it, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't mostly water.

Fawn

 

[KBgrl]

mohawk,, ...i just saw this post now...i originally answered on the diet board....... spatts answered here so its cool....just ignore the part where i told u to contact her

 

[MohawkMuscle]

Update!!!

Heres an update... now 6 monthes later she dropped 10lbs.

She went to the doctor to check her thyroid, but when the results came back they didnt say anything about it, so now she is going for a second opinion.

She eats fine, hitting about 1200calories per day. She started the slim fast plan. I know its the the best but it is helping her keep control of her calories...

She is thinking about going on Clen or even Thyroid medication. She did try adipokinetix and didnt lose much. She wants to try Xenadrine, but I feel all fat burners are basically the same, if the first one didnt do much then this one sure wont.

She is depressed about this and is starting to not want to weight train anymore... she does walk outside though..

Any suggestions?

 

[MohawkMuscle]

well she was eating more before... 3 shakes Metrx 3 meals..

But didnt get very far...

What can she do? She is not a bodynuilding like myself who writes down everything I eat and read everything I can.

She is a hard working house wife...

How should she eat?

 

[KEL]

OK no flames ladies!

Getting comfortable in a gym may take time. Suggest to your wife to take walks for and hour every day. She can push the baby. Hopefully after doing this for a few weeks it will be part of her routine that she doesn't want to miss. Soon she'll be ready to add some new muscle and hit the weights!

From my experience diet alone won’t make you lose weight- you have to move. Once you start to move the pants start to fit better and you become more motivated. In no time you’re back on track. Good luck to her.

 

[MohawkMuscle]

she has been at the gym for the last 6 months...

weight training 3 days per week cardio 3-5 days per week...

 

[KEL]

she needs to look at her diet....
what is she *really* eating and how often is she eating?

 

[MohawkMuscle]

meal 1 - Slimfast shake
meal 2 - Slim fast snack bar
Meal 3- Slimfast shake
Meal 4- Dinner (chicken rice and salde)
meal 5- Slimfast snack bar (maybe munch on some popcorn in the evening)

 

[MohawkMuscle]

she did the "atkins plan and lost 10pounds. The weight just stopped.

I even got the gym owner to give her a program to follow. And she does do it. But she is not 100% consistant in going to the gym. She goes when I go, but if its my off day she wont go. She doesnt like to go by herself...

The bototm line I guess is she needs motivation. Before we had the baby she was doing freat with Body For Life plan. I was so happy and proud of her.
She actually used ot wake me up at 5am telling me we are going to the gym before work. The at work she would remind me its time to eat. Every 2-3 hours!!!

Now its totally different.

 

[KEL]

My friends who are moms say a child will suck the life out of you if you let them.
Does she get time away from the baby? She might be exhausted and looking for the easiest (in her mind) most convenient method ...slim fast.

Encourage her to start back on the BFL program and get some free time away from the baby.

 

[MountainMomma]

Yeah, I'll agree with spatterson. It's a hard case and the info is here. I'm sure she knows.
I'll lend alittle experience.
I had near the same... balloned up after childbirth. It took me a year to get motivated. I had the postpartum depression the whole bit. What finally did it, I just got up and realized it's all mental
There will be success if and when she wants it.
One last thing, no way she can be surviving on the slim fast plan and doing anykind of work out. I would be sneaking and stuffing my face full of cookies for sure.

Good luck!

 

[FitFossil]

Pregnancy can really screw with the hormones and this can cause varying grades of depression, because hormones have a direct effect on brain chemistry. Even 6 months later, things can still be out of wack. Of course just taking care of a baby can totally wipe you out, leaving little enthusiasm for anything but sleep.

If you suspect it's something more than baby adjustment (which is a HUGE adjustment), have her get hormone levels checked and screened for depression. This type of depression is not mental, it's chemical, and one cannot will it away any more than they could will away heart disease.

I worry a lot about the steady diet of Slim-Fast shakes and bars. She is only eating one real food meal a day. While this may be convenient, it's neither nutritious, nor cheap. No matter what it might contain in protein and vitamins, it's fake food - full of chemicals and additives. While fine for a meal in a pinch, not good in large quanities.