A Hello and a Nutrition Question

[L.Millar]

Hi, I'm new to the forums, looks like a great place to get some much needed info for myself.

A bit of background to help with my question:

I'm a 37 year old female, I am close to 5'5, and currently weight 128lbs to 130lbs depending on the day, and have a medium build.

August last year I quit drinking and started on a healthier lifestyle, and "sort of diet" consisting of 1800 calories a day. Over 6 months I lost 30lbs easily and have stayed a constant 128lbs give or take since.

I work for several horse owners and a large riding stable looking after horses during the day from 7am to 3pm or later, Monday to Friday, its a very active job, 8 hours straight of walking, lifting, and movement. Take my word, its a long day, and very tiring, but a labor of love too. I also ride and have my own horse to care for.

3 weeks ago I added weightlifting with my husband in the evenings 6 times a week (working each body part twice a week.) I work each muscle group with 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, this seems to work well, and I am managing this work out ontop of my usual active day quite well. I'm also please with the results thus far and am thrilled how well weight lifting has made a huge difference in all I do.

Here is my question.

What do you think I should be eating in calories (also break down protien, fat etc...if possible) to ensure I have enough energy for my extremely active lifestyle while keeping in mind I would like to still lose more fat and have a leaner more muscular appearance.

I am not worried about what the scale says, and am sure with continued lifting I'll most likely gain a couple pounds. I would simply like to reduce my body fat.

Any ideas? Currently I eat about 2000 - 2500 (give or take a hundred or so) calories a day. I try to eat a low fat diet with an emphasis on protien and carbs. I usually drink a couple of "meal replacements" during the day as stopping for lunch is nearly impossible. I also try to eat some yogurt with a banana in, and fruit and veggie leathers (pure fruit and veggies) as well as other more natural snacks.

Any help would be great as I know that once pointed in the right direction I'll see improvements much faster. I would love to maximize fat loss with a proper diet, just need some help.

Thanks everyone.

L.Millar

 

[Trouble]

Maybe you've started off on the wrong track, but your job may have inadvertantly done the necessary deed. We call it anatomical adaptation, the earliest phase of strength training, normally using body weight and very light resistance, to begin building the muscle-skeletal support (connective tissue conditioning and reinforcement).

I'm gonna suggest you post your training program in the appropriate section (Training section), cause you just might want to rethink it. Reasons are to be discussed elsewhere. One item that jumps to mind is the number of training effort days. I guess we need to know a little bit more of your general condition and bodytype before we jump to conclusions on its suitability - because you're not the typical sedentary newbie to resistance training.

Now your question on diet is thought-provoking...and it too, requires some consideration of your energy needs and your recent history of bodyshape, and also habits that have affected that shape.

You best start a thread down in the diet and nutrition section, and well talk about metabolism, set-points, and the ins and out of various dietary strategies. How to calculate caloric needs, and some hints on how to shift calories, and food types, to suit your metabolic state and energy demands. We'll also need a snapshot example of what your typical days diet looks like, please, plus a few more statistics.

Welcome to Iron Magazine Forums, LMillar.

 

[L.Millar]

Thank you for the thoughtful and excellent reply.

I'll post my training schedule, and go from there with advice given.

L.Millar

 

[Arnold]

L.Millar welcome to IM!