Workout Thread II

[Heidenreich]

Stopped working out about a month ago. I had been running 3 days a week & doing 200 sit ups the other three days since the summer.

In the past month, I haven't gained any weight (that I know of) but all my ab defintion is gone. It was nice to have a 6 pack (even if it was very faint) for a couple of weeks.

Once the spring starts up, I'll get back on the horse, I think. I'm very happy with how I look today from how I looked in March when I started my diet.

From size 38 weighing 235 pounds to a size 32 weighing 194. Not too shabby......

Anyone hear anything about the "insanity workout?" My brother just sent me something about it. He said it was mostly cardio, which is all I'm interested in. I don't really care about lifting.

[LaxBuddy21]

I am still stuck and dont know what to do. I am eating pretty healthy and working out 3 days a week but I am stuck and cant drop any more weight. My gut is going nowhere! I have tried mixing up my workouts a bit. Did pyramids week before last, skipped last week due to the holidays and am doing pyramids again this week. Hope it helps some. Anyone got any other suggestions?

[IbleedBnG83]

I am still stuck and dont know what to do. I am eating pretty healthy and working out 3 days a week but I am stuck and cant drop any more weight. My gut is going nowhere! I have tried mixing up my workouts a bit. Did pyramids week before last, skipped last week due to the holidays and am doing pyramids again this week. Hope it helps some. Anyone got any other suggestions?

This is probably due to nutrition. If you are regularly working out, than something needs to give. Either you are eating too much or too little. This happened to me recently. I actually INCREASED my caloric intake and I dropped 4 pounds that same week!

I would start really writing down the amount of calories, fat, carbs, and protein you take in. Figure out you nutrition needs with an online calc.

I would go with a 40/40/20 (40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat) breakdown.

Maybe you need to go down. BUT, since you said you are doing good with nutrition, you probably need to eat more.

Trying varying your workouts, like your cardio. Trying doing HIIT for your cardio. Thats really good for your metabolism.

[LaxBuddy21]

This is probably due to nutrition. If you are regularly working out, than something needs to give. Either you are eating too much or too little. This happened to me recently. I actually INCREASED my caloric intake and I dropped 4 pounds that same week!

I would start really writing down the amount of calories, fat, carbs, and protein you take in. Figure out you nutrition needs with an online calc.

I would go with a 40/40/20 (40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat) breakdown.

Maybe you need to go down. BUT, since you said you are doing good with nutrition, you probably need to eat more.

Trying varying your workouts, like your cardio. Trying doing HIIT for your cardio. Thats really good for your metabolism.

The problem with HIIT is my knees. I mix walk and run instead of run and jog to give my knees a bit of a break. I usually do 3 min run 2 min walk up to 20 minutes. It would be a lot easier if I had sports to play every day. Dont seem to notice my knees when Im doing something I actually enjoy!

As far as my diet goes, maybe I do need to look at my intake again. I did it a couple months ago and made major adjustments but maybe they are not working any more. I tend to eat low fat high protein high fiber diet. I guess its possible I am not taking in enough calories. I just have to remember to write everything down.

Thanks for the advice!

[KingGibbs]

I am still stuck and dont know what to do. I am eating pretty healthy and working out 3 days a week but I am stuck and cant drop any more weight. My gut is going nowhere! I have tried mixing up my workouts a bit. Did pyramids week before last, skipped last week due to the holidays and am doing pyramids again this week. Hope it helps some. Anyone got any other suggestions?

Lax. if you aren't keeping track of what you eat rest assured your diet is your culprit.

Estimating what you eat WILL NOT work. You'll either under or over estimate what you eat. As mentioned you are either eating too much or too little. You can not out train your diet.

I'm assuming you are a regular user of the internet and you need to use that tool to help keep track of your daily calories. I use livestrong.com and there are other sites such as fitday.com that will help you keep track of your calories, carbs and fats ratios.

Again, don't assume that your diet is good. Log on to one of those sites mentioned and do it daily. At first it takes some time, but after that you are looking at maybe 3-5 minutes of your time daily.

[LaxBuddy21]

Lax. if you aren't keeping track of what you eat rest assured your diet is your culprit.

Estimating what you eat WILL NOT work. You'll either under or over estimate what you eat. As mentioned you are either eating too much or too little. You can not out train your diet.

I'm assuming you are a regular user of the internet and you need to use that tool to help keep track of your daily calories. I use livestrong.com and there are other sites such as fitday.com that will help you keep track of your calories, carbs and fats ratios.

Again, don't assume that your diet is good. Log on to one of those sites mentioned and do it daily. At first it takes some time, but after that you are looking at maybe 3-5 minutes of your time daily.

I have used tools before so I can see where I am at in a regular week and made adjustments based on that. That is how I was able to lose some of the weight I did lose. The problem is it is REALLY tedious to enter the food I eat on a daily basis. I also get bored with the foods I eat and need to find some more variety that will not break the bank. I will try my best to keep up with tracking my food but I know I am not going to keep up with it more than a couple of weeks. Its hard enough to make sure I go to the gym 3 times a week!

And as a side note, I can track what I am eating without the computer because my diet does not vary a lot from week to week. Dinner is almost always lean protein and a veggie side with an occasional carb (rice or pasta) thrown in. I eat basically the same things for lunch week to week. I eat the same snacks. Its really not hard to know what I am eating but thanks for the advice anyway! Maybe if I can find some more variety, I will have more of a need to track my food regularly.

[KingGibbs]

I have used tools before so I can see where I am at in a regular week and made adjustments based on that. That is how I was able to lose some of the weight I did lose. The problem is it is REALLY tedious to enter the food I eat on a daily basis. I also get bored with the foods I eat and need to find some more variety that will not break the bank. I will try my best to keep up with tracking my food but I know I am not going to keep up with it more than a couple of weeks. Its hard enough to make sure I go to the gym 3 times a week!

And as a side note, I can track what I am eating without the computer because my diet does not vary a lot from week to week. Dinner is almost always lean protein and a veggie side with an occasional carb (rice or pasta) thrown in. I eat basically the same things for lunch week to week. I eat the same snacks. Its really not hard to know what I am eating but thanks for the advice anyway! Maybe if I can find some more variety, I will have more of a need to track my food regularly.

I felt the same way at one time. I was keeping track of my intake and seeing results. I stopped doing it and so did the results. I asked myself how bad do I really want it. I started keeping track again and the results are coming again.

How bad do you really want it?

[LaxBuddy21]

I felt the same way at one time. I was keeping track of my intake and seeing results. I stopped doing it and so did the results. I asked myself how bad do I really want it. I started keeping track again and the results are coming again.

How bad do you really want it?

If I was rich I could pay someone to track it for me....lol I am using livestrong.com and entering my food over the past two days to see where I am. Lunch today was 564 calories, 28g of fat, 51g carbs and 8g of protein. Looks like fat is a little high and protein is low. Dunno what to do about that though. Need easy to make lunches. Thoughts?

[mattsb84]

If I was rich I could pay someone to track it for me....lol I am using livestrong.com and entering my food over the past two days to see where I am. Lunch today was 564 calories, 28g of fat, 51g carbs and 8g of protein. Looks like fat is a little high and protein is low. Dunno what to do about that though. Need easy to make lunches. Thoughts?

Peanut butter and Jelly? It's easy to make and cheap. Good protein/fat and you can use bread that has additional protein in it. Arnold makes some 2x protein and you get like 14g in two slices or something like that.

[IbleedBnG83]

Lax, I am willing to be you can keep the same diet but either increase or decrease portion sizes, or a combination of both (depending on the meal) to reach your goal. Increasing or decreasing your calories but just 400 cals a day can make the world of a difference!

Remember, 3500 calories equals a pound of fat. So whatever you need to maintain your weight BASED on your daily routine (which includes working out), you need to subtract 500 cals a day to loose 1 pound a week. Decrease a 1000 cals a day to lose to pounds a week. But DON'T go under 1,800...especially if you are working out. Based on what you wrote, I would go with 2.400 cals a day.

[IbleedBnG83]

If I was rich I could pay someone to track it for me....lol I am using livestrong.com and entering my food over the past two days to see where I am. Lunch today was 564 calories, 28g of fat, 51g carbs and 8g of protein. Looks like fat is a little high and protein is low. Dunno what to do about that though. Need easy to make lunches. Thoughts?

I try to stay at 53 grams of fat, TOPS, a day following a 2400 calorie a day diet. You at almost half my fat in 1 meal!

I like to pack either sandwiches, although deli meat is high in sodium, and healthy frozen meals (also high in sodium). I use 12 grain whole weat bread that is packed full of protein and good fat.

The BEST addition I have added to my diet...Greek Yogurt!!!! DELICIOUS! Get Chobani at Giant! My favorite is pineapple. Has SOOOO much more protein than regular yogurt and most are fat free. The pineapple only has 2 grams of fat.

I always try to include fat free cheeses (sliced and cream cheese). Good sources of fat are nuts, fish, lean meats.

I try and buy a bunch of chicken breasts on sale and grilled them and make a variety of meals out of them.

Sloppy joes with either 93/7 ground beef or ground turkey is good. You can rinse the beef of the excess fat with water in a strainer.

Protein shakes are a great way to add much needed protein and those extra good calories you need.

I make it a rule to eat 2 pieces of fruit a day. Either an apple, orange, or banana.

[skinsfan2003]

But DON'T go under 1,800...especially if you are working out. Based on what you wrote, I would go with 2.400 cals a day.

Where are these numbers coming from?

[IbleedBnG83]

Where are these numbers coming from?

Online calorie calculators, articles i've read, my own and others experiences.

Here:

http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/...culator1_2.cfm

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/calories.htm

http://calorieneedscalculator.com/

http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/calneed

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/co...calculator.asp

http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsm...lcalintake.htm


My favorite is the last one

[LaxBuddy21]

Peanut butter and Jelly? It's easy to make and cheap. Good protein/fat and you can use bread that has additional protein in it. Arnold makes some 2x protein and you get like 14g in two slices or something like that.

I like peanut butter and jelly but doesnt jelly have a lot of sugar?

[IbleedBnG83]

I like peanut butter and jelly but doesnt jelly have a lot of sugar?

The only time I will eat a PBJ is AFTER a workout. Sugar is actually good after workout as a recovery meal. And if you supplement like I do, fast burning carbs like simple sugar is ideal when taking creatine. But you would just incorporate the amount of total carbs, fat, and protein to your total daily intake.