Thread: Day 1-fitgirl cut

How many meals did you eat, and at what time?

List what you ate and when.

7:30-coffee w/skim milk, shake
Noon-salad w/fresh mozzarella cheese, avocado, 1 oz ham, olive oil balsamic and pita crackers
2-banana, string cheese
6- sweet potato, Greek yogurt
8-chicken (4oz) and broccoli w/soy sauce

That doesn't look like much food for the numbers.....

Originally Posted by fitgirl

7:30-coffee w/skim milk, shake
Noon-salad w/fresh mozzarella cheese, avocado, 1 oz ham, olive oil balsamic and pita crackers
2-banana, string cheese
6- sweet potato, Greek yogurt
8-chicken (4oz) and broccoli w/soy sauce

That doesn't look like much food for the numbers.....

I'd say have something "of substance" for breakfast, keep or cut out your shake, also have somthing else at 9:30-10.....maybe that shake. Cals will increase but you're body will be "running" better IMO.

Bring your protein up to at least 150g, and have 50g of protein with your first meal of the day. Reduce your meals to 3 down from 5, and eat larger portions of protein (at least 40g) with each meal.

Originally Posted by Built

Bring your protein up to at least 150g, and have 50g of protein with your first meal of the day. Reduce your meals to 3 down from 5, and eat larger portions of protein (at least 40g) with each meal.

Will do-not sure how to get so much protein, so I may flip things around a bit.

I did the lifting program followed by a 3 mile run in 25 mins. But I was so hungry, I ate a zone bar. I counted it and it fits in the plan. Maybe not the best choice? Are there any bars you would recommend? If I get too hungry, I become a super bi*ch and I don't want to subject my little people to that

Originally Posted by fitgirl

Here is where I came in today:
Cals-1560
Protein-132
Carbs-148
Fat-53

I was hungry and light headed later in the day and I'm hungry tonight. I'm hoping this will pass? 40oz of water (not enough)?

Day off for workouts

Hi Fitgirl,

40 oz is not enough, I drink at least 1 1/2 gallon a day.

Originally Posted by Built

Bring your protein up to at least 150g, and have 50g of protein with your first meal of the day. Reduce your meals to 3 down from 5, and eat larger portions of protein (at least 40g) with each meal.

Why? Just seems counter productive in keeping the body fed...maybe I'm missing somthing. I mean I see the amount of protein, provided its slow release and could see the complex carbs making it work provided she's consuming enough to make the hour span but that seems it could back fire pretty quick too if the diet isn't under the microscope.

You gotta eat to lose (fat). Already the fact that you got hungry & had to have a bar is saying you're insufficiently fueling for your goals. Bars are crappy source of food for anything other than convenience - they're great to keep around and will work in a pinch, but for the most part they are high protein candy bars. IMO if you made these a daily part of your diet, it will hinder progress.

Good and easy sources of 35-40 g protein:

-1 whole egg + 6-8 egg whites (even easier to get egg whites in a carton)
- 5 oz chicken or turkey - e.g. 1/2 chicken breast or 2 turkey burger patties
- 6 oz fish - e.g. 2 tilapia filets
- 4 oz steak or beef
- handful of almonds (e.g. 23 pieces)
- 1 1/2 scoops protein mix

Originally Posted by fitgirl

Will do-not sure how to get so much protein, so I may flip things around a bit.

I did the lifting program followed by a 3 mile run in 25 mins. But I was so hungry, I ate a zone bar. I counted it and it fits in the plan. Maybe not the best choice? Are there any bars you would recommend? If I get too hungry, I become a super bi*ch and I don't want to subject my little people to that

Please, no zone bars. They're really just shitty-tasting candy bars with a little protein. Try a hardboiled egg next time.

Originally Posted by Curlingcadys

Why? Just seems counter productive in keeping the body fed...maybe I'm missing somthing. I mean I see the amount of protein, provided its slow release and could see the complex carbs making it work provided she's consuming enough to make the hour span but that seems it could back fire pretty quick too if the diet isn't under the microscope.

I'm not sure why you would think higher protein would be a problem, but I may not be reading your question properly. Could I impose upon you to restate?

Originally Posted by sassy69

You gotta eat to lose (fat). Already the fact that you got hungry & had to have a bar is saying you're insufficiently fueling for your goals. Bars are crappy source of food for anything other than convenience - they're great to keep around and will work in a pinch, but for the most part they are high protein candy bars. IMO if you made these a daily part of your diet, it will hinder progress.

Good and easy sources of 35-40 g protein:

-1 whole egg + 6-8 egg whites (even easier to get egg whites in a carton)
- 5 oz chicken or turkey - e.g. 1/2 chicken breast or 2 turkey burger patties
- 6 oz fish - e.g. 2 tilapia filets
- 4 oz steak or beef
- handful of almonds (e.g. 23 pieces)
- 1 1/2 scoops protein mix

^This.

Thanks all-I guess this takes some trial and error.

Sassy-thanks food the protein info. I realize I don't like protein (or that much) probably because I eat so many carbs normally. I'm not a junk food person, but I do eat too many other carbs.

I will work on protein this week....baby steps

The reason why protein is so critical here is twofold. For one, it'll help you hang onto muscle while you diet off fat; but the more important reason - from my perspective anyway - is for comfort: protein keeps you feeling fed for hours. Carbs are satiating, but make many of us hungry again within two hours. You appear to be one of 'em, and I can attest to being like this, personally.

Eating less-frequent, large meals is also better for promoting satiety that lasts. Small meals don't trigger the complete cascade of hormones that let us know we're fed; if you eat small, frequent meals your body really never gets the "fed" signal - and you'll stay hungry all day.

Eating a large serving of protein for the first meal you use to break fast is key to your success here. Make that one a very protein-heavy meal.

Try this tomorrow, and let me know how you felt on the same calories but with 150g of protein for the day, only 3 meals, and 50+g of protein for that first meal.

Originally Posted by Built

Please, no zone bars. They're really just shitty-tasting candy bars with a little protein. Try a hardboiled egg next time.



I'm not sure why you would think higher protein would be a problem, but I may not be reading your question properly. Could I impose upon you to restate?


^This.

I was "thinking in text" trying to figure out why you would suggest cutting meals back to 3 a day and what would be needed to load up on to stay nourished until the next feeding. Certainly not suggesting protein was bad, probably piss poor wording on my part. I see your explaination it just seems the opposite happens when eating more frequently, you're fed, not hungry (eating really before you get hungry- kind of like drinking water before you're thirsty..if you're thirsty you've waited too long) and the body keeps truckin along like a machine- isn't that what were all after anyway? A machine thats never on low fuel and running at top notch per se? I'm just thinking 3 squares a day there's a lot of room for error, either A not eating enough or B eating too much....both endstates have her posting WTF here in a couple weeks. Ofcourse there's the possibility she "nails it" exactly what she needs to stay nourished for 5hr(ish) a crack and an overnight.....but yeah um......
anyway I'm probably just blowing hot air out of my ass.

Originally Posted by Curlingcadys

I was "thinking in text" trying to figure out why you would suggest cutting meals back to 3 a day and what would be needed to load up on to stay nourished until the next feeding. Certainly not suggesting protein was bad, probably piss poor wording on my part. I see your explanation it just seems the opposite happens when eating more frequently, you're fed, not hungry (eating really before you get hungry- kind of like drinking water before you're thirsty..if you're thirsty you've waited too long) and the body keeps truckin along like a machine- isn't that what were all after anyway? A machine thats never on low fuel and running at top notch per se? I'm just thinking 3 squares a day there's a lot of room for error, either A not eating enough or B eating too much....both end-states have her posting WTF here in a couple weeks. Of course there's the possibility she "nails it" exactly what she needs to stay nourished for 5hr(ish) a crack and an overnight.....but yeah um......
anyway I'm probably just blowing hot air out of my ass.

Weirdly enough - and I know it flies in the face of what we've been told for YEARS in the world of physical culture, but while dieting at a deficit, for many people it's actually easier to do on fewer, but larger meals than on frequent small meals.

I wouldn't have believed it either, until I tried it myself. It is so much easier, there is absolutely NO comparison, for me at least. I'll NEVER go back to the "six meals" thing. It's just too miserable, and without weighing my food, believe me, there's twice the margin of error for going over in calories than there is in eating three large meals a day.

A critical trick here is to eat a huge portion of protein in the first meal. This suppresses ghrelin (the hunger hormone) for many hours, and it's been a real stunner to see just how well this works.

Try it sometime, just for shits and giggles. You may be very surprised.

Originally Posted by Built

Weirdly enough - and I know it flies in the face of what we've been told for YEARS in the world of physical culture, but while dieting at a deficit, for many people it's actually easier to do on fewer, but larger meals than on frequent small meals.

I wouldn't have believed it either, until I tried it myself. It is so much easier, there is absolutely NO comparison, for me at least. I'll NEVER go back to the "six meals" thing. It's just too miserable, and without weighing my food, believe me, there's twice the margin of error for going over in calories than there is in eating three large meals a day.

A critical trick here is to eat a huge portion of protein in the first meal. This suppresses ghrelin (the hunger hormone) for many hours, and it's been a real stunner to see just how well this works.


Try it sometime, just for shits and giggles. You may be very surprised.

I gotchya, to each their own I guess. I could see it "working" as long as the attention to detail was there.....like the weighing of food and what not. Which shouldn't be too difficult for most we're allready tracking calories and macros over the 6 meals a day; theoreticaly it should be easier to just do it for 3 meals. Food for thought.....possible pun intended.

There is good scientific evidence as to why this often works better. A great deal of it has to do with incretin; turns out there's a threshold for meal size, below which the body simply does not recognize it's really been fed. For some, this meal size must be quite small, because some folks feel just fine on six meals. For a small woman though, think about this for a moment: imagine cutting on 1200 calories a day. Now imagine calling 200 calories a meal.

Sucks, right?

But something like 500 calories, 300 calories and then 400 calories doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Off to a great start:
1 egg + 1 cup egg whites
Spinach, ham, goat cheese
Along with my latte

53 g protein, 14 g carbs

So my carbs are too low I'm afraid and I'm so full I feel a bit sick. Off to the gym soon, let's see how long I stay full!

Looking good fitgirl...how about some before photos?

There's really no such thing as carbs "too low" - I'll be very interested to hear how long you feel full. Eggwhites aren't great for satiety, but the yolks are, and so is the milk protein.

Built's right. Ever since I got my carb cycle plan under control with her help, it's been a low day of carbs at 60g. I can live with it because my high day is over double!

Good thread!

Agreed, great info in this thread.
-Jason

Originally Posted by rayb

Good thread!

I feel very full-almost too full. I felt a bit sick in my spin class and sluggish. So I am going to mix it up a bit tomorrow because I'm team-teaching a HIIT class.

BUT....I was told I was looking lean today, so

J-I will work on some pictures soon!

I'm happy others are benefitting from this thread as well. So thankful you all are here to help (esp Built!)

Eat the heavier meal after the class. Try to eat very little beforehand.

Great thread with great info here. If I could rep those posting assistance, I would.

Good luck fitgirl. Adjust your meals as they say and you will enjoy the results.

more protien in the yolk than the whites, although both do contain protien.. youll get more protien and satisfaction from the yolk, not to mention you get lots of nutriants from the yolk that isnt found in the white. im no chemist or nutritionist, but i have read that over and over while dialing in my diet over the years.. and yes +2 on never eat a protien bar unless locked in a candystore overnight! ... keep up the good work and lots of luck girl! GREAT POST BTW!

Plan for this AM:

B4 workout (8)- oatmeal and 2 eggs, latte w/nonfat milk
Post workout (11)- protein shake, 2 egg whites

Then I'll have lunch @ 1

Goals: more water!

Yesterday:
Cals-1580
Fat-58
Carbs-110
Protein-136

I'm finding it difficult to eat so much protein.....

Originally Posted by Built

Eat the heavier meal after the class. Try to eat very little beforehand.

Sorry- I read "try to eat a little.." so, maybe this is better

B4 workout-oatmeal, latte
After-shake?

The problem is, I'm out still until @ noon, so this second meal has to be portable.

That should be plenty of nutrition, maybe it psychological or maybe you didn't spread food out well enough