Need help Cutting!

**roxygirl** · 03-08-2005, 10:05 AM

Hi! Im new to this board and would love your help. I have been pretty active my whole life but as a freshman in college I put on this nice little ponch around my stomach that I have not been able to get rid of. Im now a senior and will graduate in 3 months- from there I will move to Hawaii and I need to get my body in shape in 12 weeks. I am 5'10'' and at the moment flucuate between 135-140 lbs. My legs are super skinny but I dont think genetics will allow me to build them. My arms are toned, but I could cut more fat off the back of my tri's. Really my only problem area is my stomach. I cant seem to loose the fat. So here is what I am doing. 20-30 mins of high intensity cardio everyday. Usually running 3 miles at 6.5-7.5mph and then I work out one muscle group a day. Diet is this:
Breakfast: Slim Fast Shake with Skim milk
Snack: Banana or Wheat Thins or Raisins
Lunch: Lean Cuisine
Snack: Same as above
Snack before gym: Bagel with Peanut Butter, milk
Dinner: Salmon, usually another bagel, green beans, milk
+ lots of water

Any suggestions on how I can get rid of the fat without hurting my muscle? I basically just need to cut. I dont want to be a body builder, just nice and toned. Ever seen Blue Crush? I want Kate Boshworths body! Thanks for your help.

**Jodi** · 03-08-2005, 10:45 AM

Ok, well, your diet DEFINATELY needs some work. Unfortunately this typeof diet is not going to help you get lean. First, I'd suggest reading this Guide to Cutting, Bulking & Maintenance You need to learn about proper nutrion. Next, figure out something that would work for you. There are several canned diets in there or even just coming up with a clean isocaloric diet. Once you have read and found something that would work for you, go ahead and post a sample diet and we can critque. Unfortunately this diet that you currently have would have to be wiped out and start from scrach.

**ZECH** · 03-08-2005, 10:54 AM

You never know if you can build your legs until you try. I would be willing to bet you could add some size.

**roxygirl** · 03-08-2005, 02:23 PM

Any advice on how to get that started? My legs are strong, and you can see the muslce but the still are about as thin as a rail...

**DeadBolt** · 03-08-2005, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by roxygirl

Any advice on how to get that started? My legs are strong, and you can see the muslce but the still are about as thin as a rail...

Yea in order to grow you need to have an excess amount of cals...ever tried bulking? You seem pretty light at 140ish.

Your current diet needs work as well.

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by DeadBolt

Yea in order to grow you need to have an excess amount of cals...ever tried bulking? You seem pretty light at 140ish.

Your current diet needs work as well.

I have never tried bulking...Im afraid it would simply go to my problem area which is my stomach. I really want to loose that excess weight and I know that I can not spot reduce- so I dont know that bulking would work for me. I've never tried it though.
And I agree my diet needs major work. I am trying to come up with a meal plan right now following the guidelines that Jodi posted. I will post it as soon as I can figure it out!

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 09:25 AM

How does this sound? Im trying to have lean muscle and loose that fat that is sitting around my stomach.

BF Slim Fast w/skim milk, Banana
Snack Cottage Cheese and Wheat Thins
Lunch Rice & Chicken w/ Veggies
Snack Yogurt or Raisins
Dinner Salmon, Spinach, Milk
Snack Bagel w/ Peanut Butter

Are premade meals like "lean cuisine" bad for you? I need something easy that I can eat at work, and TV dinners as super easy but Im not sure about their nutritional value.

**DeadBolt** · 03-09-2005, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by roxygirl

How does this sound? Im trying to have lean muscle and loose that fat that is sitting around my stomach.

BF Slim Fast w/skim milk, Banana
Snack Cottage Cheese and Wheat Thins
Lunch Rice & Chicken w/ Veggies
Snack Yogurt or Raisins
Dinner Salmon, Spinach, Milk
Snack Bagel w/ Peanut Butter

Are premade meals like "lean cuisine" bad for you? I need something easy that I can eat at work, and TV dinners as super easy but Im not sure about their nutritional value.

BF-Ditch the slim fast and banana....way to much sugar. I'd go with a protein shake and an apple if thats the form of meal your looking for. Other wise eggs and oatmeal works great as well. Ideally you want some complex carbs not fruit but if this all you have time for so be it.

Snack-Try and go for some grilled chicken with veggies or something like that here.

Lunch-Make sure thats brown rice

Snack-

Thats all sugar...you need protein, carbs, and efa's in here.

Dinner-Salmon and spinach are good but I'd drop the milk.

Snack-Not good at all for right before sleep...I'd switch this with some cottage cheese and pb.

Overall the diet has cleaned up but I'd say drop all bagels, and other processed carb choice. Also those pre made slim fast things are loaded with sugar its better to make your own. Your carb intake and especially your sugar intake is very high in that meal plan. Depending on how low you are trying to get your body fat you may need to drop dairy...each cup has 12g's of sugar and a yogurt has roughly 20-30g's of sugar each but thats only if your getting super serious here. You also need some efa's...the only source of those I see are in the salmon and natty pb.

Also list your macro's...how many grams of carbs, fats, and proteins you've got in total.

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 09:54 AM

Slim fast, wheat thins, banana, and bagels on a cut

I don't think so

You need some whey protein. You need more protein in that diet as well as EFA's and more veggies.

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 10:35 AM

This is harder than I thought it would be. But I am serious about cutting! I am sick of having toned everything and a fatty stomach. So I will tweek the diet again...and try to figure out calories. Im thinking I should stick to something around 1600 cals. And I will ditch the sugars and bagels (man i love bagels) I didnt know slim fast had so much sugar. I bought the 45% less sugar kind! No?

This sounds like body for life- is that what I should try and stick to? My best friend did that last year. She got cut arms and legs, but again- that damn belly fat didnt budge.
No cheat days on this diet? Should I give myself a day where I can eat sugar? Or just a refeed day where I can eat bagels?
You guys are great- thanks for the help.

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 10:41 AM

What you need to do is figure out a diet that works for you. It sounds like you are trying to do to many things. No, body for life is an amatuer diet and it sounds like you need something more precise. Try an iso-caloric diet. You won't need refeeds and its an easier diet than low carb, that's for sure.

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by Jodi

What you need to do is figure out a diet that works for you. It sounds like you are trying to do to many things. No, body for life is an amatuer diet and it sounds like you need something more precise. Try an iso-caloric diet. You won't need refeeds and its an easier diet than low carb, that's for sure.

Isocaloric? I will read your previous posts on this, Im pretty sure I ran across some of them. For now- hows this sound?
BF Eggs & Oatmeal
Snack Grilled Chicken and Carrots
Lunch Brown Rice, Chicken, Spinach, Tomatoes
Snack Tuna Sandwhich on Wheat
Dinner Salmon, Spinach
Snack Cottage Cheese, Avocado, Penut Butter
I may move the last snack up before dinner and eat it right before I go to the gym, then have dinner be my last meal.

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 10:50 AM

Much better. Replace the carrots with a green veggies like broccoli or green beans.

Make sure your wheat bread doens't contain any brown sugar or high fructose corn syrups and that it is high in fiber.

1% or FF cottage cheese and natural PB.

Check out iso-caloric in the like I posted for you.

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by Jodi

Much better. Replace the carrots with a green veggies like broccoli or green beans.

Make sure your wheat bread doens't contain any brown sugar or high fructose corn syrups and that it is high in fiber.

1% or FF cottage cheese and natural PB.

Check out iso-caloric in the like I posted for you.

Jodi- Im not finding it...is it listed under iso-caloric?

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 11:09 AM

To figure your caloric needs the best method is calculate and track 3-5 days of meals. Once you've figured what you need to maintain your bodyweight now you can figure what you need to cut. You are better to start out slow and drop cals as needed so that you have room to tweak as you go. As progress slows, you've left yourself room to drop cals as needed. Now that you have your maintainance number drop your cals by 200-300 and figure out your ratios.

The above is by far the best method to find your maintenance. However, if your not sure how to go about do this then you can always play around with some standard numbers. Remember these are for the average person so you may need to play around with it to find out what you need.

Cut - 10-13 cals per lb of bodyweight
Maintain: 13-15 cals per lb of bodyweight
Bulk: 15-18 cals per lb of bodyweight

Once you know how many cals you need to start cutting, now you can figure out your P/C/F ratio. Some of these ratios of Protein/Carbs/Fat many have successfully used are: 40/40/20, 50/20/30 or Isocaloric 33/33/33 to name a few.

Each Gram of Protein = 4 cals
Each Gram of Carbs = 4 cals
Each Gram of Fat = 9 cals

To figure this out is alot more simple than you think. For example, to follow a 40/40/20 ratio for a 200lb person.
40%
Approx: 2400 cals needed to cut

Now do the math:

2400 cals 40/40/20
40% of 2400 = 960 cals need to come from Protein
40% of 2400 = 960 cals need to come from Carbs
20% of 2400 = 480 cals need to come from Fat

Now that we know where the calories need to come from, its time to figure grams.

960 divided by 4 = 240G of Protein
960 divided by 4 = 240G of Carbs
480 divided by 9 = 53G of Fat

Then divide this up by 5 to 6 meals a day add in 3-4 servings of Green fibrous veggies and your done. Be sure that most of your fat comes from EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids - see below)

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 11:29 AM

Awesome! Thank you!
So I figured that I need 160 g of prot and carbs and 36 g fat. Is that in each meal? Because that adds up to more than 1600 cals.

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 11:32 AM

hen divide this up by 5 to 6 meals a day add in 3-4 servings of Green fibrous veggies and your done. Be sure that most of your fat comes from EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids - see below)

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 01:05 PM

One more question- sorry! I have a damn drawer at work full of raisins and wheat thins. I was using them for "snacks". These are no-no foods? Is it cuz of the sugar? Also, you said no bananas? I eat a lot of grapes, are they safe? Yogurt? Also no, becuase of high sugar content? Thank you for all your help. Jodi, and everyone, you have been a HUGE help. I appreciate it. I cant wait to get started!

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 01:30 PM

It's up to you. The more of the sugary foods you eat the slower the progress

Apples, peaches, grapefruit, pears and berries are your best fruits. Everything else is going to slow progress.

No fat, plain yogurt is fine.

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 01:44 PM

Awesome! I will keep you posted on my progress. Thanks for you help!!

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 03:01 PM

K so I know I said I only had one more question but I was talking to my friend and she was saying this is way low carb. Jodi in particular but anyone with advice...should I be following low carb? I didnt think that was what I was doing.

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 03:13 PM

She thinks that's low carb? She doesn't know what low carb is

oats, bread, brown rice, veggies and cottage cheese are all pretty high in carbs.

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 03:17 PM

I know- Im new at this! Im learning though. Thanks for the help, I'm probably driving you insane!

**Jodi** · 03-09-2005, 03:21 PM

Not yet

**roxygirl** · 03-09-2005, 03:31 PM

oh, ill get you there.

im out for the day. thanks for you help. cya.

**DeadBolt** · 03-09-2005, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by roxygirl

K so I know I said I only had one more question but I was talking to my friend and she was saying this is way low carb. Jodi in particular but anyone with advice...should I be following low carb? I didnt think that was what I was doing.

Low carb?!?! Yea right! One day you'll experience low carb then you'll wish you never went there in the first place LOL!

Diet looks alot better...glad jodi was around to help ya out...she knows her stuff boy!

**PreMier** · 03-09-2005, 10:30 PM

Originally Posted by DeadBolt

Low carb?!?! Yea right! One day you'll experience low carb then you'll wish you never went there in the first place LOL!

You mean my 300g a day isnt low carb? Im going to starve

Welcome to IM, I live in SLC too.

**DeadBolt** · 03-09-2005, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by PreMier

You mean my 300g a day isnt low carb? Im going to starve

Welcome to IM, I live in SLC too.

Hey not everyone can be a monster like you

...

My carb cycling is treating me pretty good lol high day=400+ carbs low day=175 carbs no day=0 carbs.

**roxygirl** · 03-10-2005, 07:13 AM

Originally Posted by PreMier

You mean my 300g a day isnt low carb? Im going to starve

Welcome to IM, I live in SLC too.

Thanks! SLC's not a bad place, for now!

**Missfit4all** · 03-11-2005, 10:33 AM

Hey, i just got done reading from top to bottom. Deadbolt, i thought u did a Great job with your Nutritional advice and was even starting to sound like a Nutritionist!

Jodi, great on knowing your Numbers and facts and this little guy cracked me up!

Best weight wishes 2ya Roxygirl, sounds like you're in good hands!

Ya, tummy pouches are our worse enemy! They GOTS to GO!!!!

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