Thread: am i on track?

what is your cardio like? when i get ready for a show i do an hour easy going on an empty stomach in the morning so i can look good for my competition and the summer. it is realistic to get down to 12% but you cant cheat yourself.

it seems like your diet is consistent with protein but try to consume your carbs on your first three meals other than your last ones.

keep it up and work hard....

Good to see you here

If you're serious about getting down to 12%, you'll need to cut out the sugar in your diet.

meal 1

1/2 cup oatmeal
4 egg whites
1 TBS natural peanut butter

This is good, assuming that's natural oats & not the sugared-packets. I would increase the eggs to 6 though.

meal 2
whole wheat pita stuffed with
1 can tuna (i mix the tuna with fat free cottage cheese instead of mayo - extra protein that way and it tastes ok to me)
chopped tomato and lettuce

Bread, or any type of wheat product is not good on a cut. Neither is the cottage cheese. Mix the tuna w/ 1 tbsp full fat mayo or olive oil. If you want the cottage cheese, switch it to full fat, limit it to 2 tbsp, & add 2 tsp flax seed or olive oil....you will have to cut it eventually though. Good veggies.


meal 3
chicken breast
1/2 small yam or brocolli

Excellent! Just add 2 tsp flax seed oil or p/b.


meal 4 - after gym
protein shake made with protein and banana

Switch the banana to blueberries or strawberries & add tbsp flax or 2-3 tbsp heavy cream. Make sure the protein is carb free.

You also need to eat more often. Shoot for 6 meals every 3 hrs. Drink lots of water too.

Here's a few things to read up on:

read this

and this

and then this

w8.. with the low carb diet shoul cardio continue??? or is there a problemtic effects with that??

Hey,
I am new to the boards, but not new to the sport, even alittle bit old.

Well, there is possibility for you to go down to 12% bodyfat in 2-3 months but if you have a very strict diet and cardio.

I got this from my website, read next, or visit my article on fatloss in http://www.angelfire.com/darkside/gunns/fatloss.html


"Carbohydrates - carbohydrates are sugars. There are different kinds of sugars. Carbohydrates also release amount of insulin. High GI carbs are fattening, so avoid high-GI carbs, and stay only on low-GI carbohydrates. You can use high-GI carbs when you want to create an insulin spike. Intake high-GI carbs only when necessary. So stay on low-GI carbs. Although, the less amount of carbs you intake, the better chances for you to lose fat are. Since carbohydrates are the first source of energy in your body, and fat is the second source of energy, your body will be burning fat when the there are no carbohydrates. Our main goal when cutting is to decrease our bodyfat levels as low as we can. So try to avoid carbohydrates. To determine how many grams of carbohydrates to intake, multiply your weight by .8g-.9g of carbohydrates, depending on your metabolism. The amount you will get will be the amount of carbohydrates in grams you will have to take in a day.
Protein - Protein is very important when cutting. During cutting you will be reducing amount of fat and carbs you're going to eat. So your body depends on protein to prevent itself from being in a catabolic state. Depending on your metabolism, multiply your bodyweight by 1.25g-1.50g of protein to know how many grams of protein to eat in a day. Extra protein can be used to build muscle.
Fats - Eating fat during cutting can keep you from reaching your goals being full - cut, shredded. Fat is not that important, although essential fatty acids (unsaturated fats) are used by your body for many biological functions. To determine how many grams of fat to eat in a day, also depedning on your metabolism, multiply your bodyweight by .26g-.30g of fat.
Saturated Fats - Saturated fats are bad fats. Why I say bad is because they raise your LDL levels, which are bad cholesterol levels. Saturated fats are also very hard to burn off. So if you can, try to avoid them.
Unsaturated fats - Unsaturated fats also called Essential Fatty Acids (EFA), are good fats. They are necessary for hundreds of biological functions in your body. There are two types of unsaturated fats. They are linoleic acid (omega-6) and linolenic acid (omega-3). They are not manufactured by your body, thus must be provided by your diet. They help you raise your HDL levels, which is good cholesterol, and also involves in T-production.
Multiply your bodyweight by 10-12kcals to determine how many calories a day to eat.

Here are some tips when losing fat:

Do cardio 3 times a week for atleast 30 minutes. 45 minutes is optimal. Have you seen people running in parks, or tracks at 6-10AM? This is because after you wake up in the morning, your glycogen leves are down. So the next source of energy your body is going to use will be the fat. Thats why it is so effective to run in the morning. But don't forget that you have to run only on an empty stomach.

Sleep atleast 8 hours. Sleep is very important. When lifting, you damage your muscle tissue, you need to rest in order to repair the tissue. Remember, you don't grow when you're in the gym. You grow when you're resting.

Drink water. Drinking water will keep your metabolism going. Never dehydrate you cells, this can lead to decrease in protein synthesis. Never let yourself dehydrate. Always keep yourself hydrated. Multiply your bodyweight by .66 to get the amount of ounces of water to drink in a day.

Stay away from alchohol. Alchohol will only decrease your protein synthesis, and will dehydrate your cells.

Eat from 5-7 meals a day. The more often you eat, the higher your metabolism is going to be. The higher your metabolism is, the more fat you're going to burn. Thats why when we do cardio, we burn fat. Why? Because our metabolism increases.

Intake high-Gi carbs (simple carbs) only after a workout, and you may also intake them after you wake up. After your workout, it is benificial to raise your insulin levels, or create an insulin spike since it will speed up recovery and replenish your glycogen levels (Re-fuel your energy levels).

DO NOT intake simple (high-GI) carbs when not necessary. It is necessary after a workout and after you wake up only.Glycemic Index number starts from 0 to 100. Any food that has a GI number over 60 has a high-GI number. So eat carbohydrates that scores lower than 60."

Peace

Confused!!
w8lifter says not to eat cottage cheese b/c its not good for a cut. I'm assuming this is b/c its dairy and all dairy is BAD.
But goodforhisage says do not consume any high GI foods meaning nothing above 60. other than post work out and in the morning.
I couldn't find cottage cheese on my list but skim milk is 32.
and the banana scored 54. So techinically, both are low GI. And I can eat both of them on a cut right? iff we go by the GI scale, there are a lot more foods we can eat out there that will actually inhibit insulin spikes.
I know you need to avoid sugar but isn't it all about how our body reacts to the form of carbohydrate we ingest? As long as your overall carbs in a day are in check, how could ingesting low GI foods throughout the day inhibit fat loss??

You should be confused! I don't mean to be a dick here, but that article...I don't agree w/ much of it. To everyone who's been following the diet I've posted...read the article! It says some very contradictary things to what I've posted...reduce fat intake...create an insulin spike...reduce fat AND carbs & rely on protein??????

This diet may work for some, but imho, it's not that good, but again just my opinion...bottom line is, don't mix diets! Choose one and stick to it...this article goes against the diet I've posted in just about every way! My diet will not work if you follow these recommendations.

Do not forget all the information I've posted....it's been bumped several times. Make a choice!

GoodForHisAge.....welcome to the site, hope you don't take offense to this, it's not intended, just trying to clear some things up. It sounds like to will make a great addition to the site!

w8lifter, I"ve actually bookmarked all the pages you've given and read the Holy Grail.
I admire you stamina at being able to sustain such a diet let me tell you!!!
Thanks for your opinions.
And you too GoodForHisAge. Just wanted clarification on what you said.

I found out that this diet worked well for me, so thats why I posted it. I didn't take it as an offense.
Peace

increase meal frequency to 5-6 times per day.

w8, Why is cottage cheese a bad idea when cutting? I always thought it was supposed to be a great source of protien. I have just started eating CC& an apple for breakfast but now I'm thinking I should go back to my old Egg Whites, Natural PB & Rice Cakes Breakfast (Post Workout Meal).

AHHHHH!!!! I am so confused!

Thanks in advance for the info.

It has lactose, lactose is sugar!!!!! Sugar is evil!!!! Especially on a cut. And rice cakes are worse than the CC!

Out of the few you've written there, the best would be

3-4 whole eggs + 2 whites & the apple BUT you could do better by cutting the apple entirely....fructose = sugar = evil!

Or do 2 whole eggs + 4 whites + 1 tbsp p/b

I've heard that you should eat every 4 hours or so too

w8 - you are the best. thank you so much for being here and telling us what works for you. i have to get used to eating fat. i started at this back in '91 (wish i had 11 years straight training under my belt...but i don't) anyway- then fat was the evil. the idea of using full fat mayo in the tuna instead of nonfat cottage cheese is a shock. but i'm hear to listen and learn!

no more dairy for me. i'll do more reading on your other posts to find out how much carb i should eat. i don't even like the pita with the cottage cheese so that's no problem letting it go. yams are ok? green veggies are good? do you eat no carbs like rice/bread/potato ever at all? is it just morning oatmeal and veggies for carbs?

i will miss my banana in my shake though. i mistakenly thought that was ok since it was right after the gym. would 1/2 a banana in there be ok if there aren't carbs in the protein powder?

thanks so much

Sugar is evil, fat is good

Yams/sweet potatoes are good, veggies awesome, old fashioned oats are good. You can either get 60-70 grams of carbs a day from oats & sweet potatos & brown rice or go under 30 grams a day and carb up in your last meal every 4 days. A carb up usually consists of 1/2-1 cup oats, 6-8 oz sweet potato, banana, 2 cups veggies & 1 tbsp fat. I normally skip the veggies and do 1 cup oats, & have p/b for the fat...feels like a total cheat

Switch your banana in your shake to 4-5 strawberries...it'll taste just as good and less sugar & lower GI.