I have been training for two weeks now after not doing much for 10+ years. I started gently to avoid hurting myself too badly. Now I am lifting fairly heavy four days per week. I do very little cardio. I have been tracking my protein, carbs and caloric intake. I was under the impression that I needed a lot of calories to build muscle mass however I do want to lost some fat.
I’m about 23% now and would like to get down to 20%. I have been taking in about 1500-1600 calories, about 150 grams of protein, 120 grams of good carbs, fats I haven’t measured but add some to every meal that is lacking. I just started measuring my intake so I’m still learning and making adjustments accordingly. One day I took in 2100 calories which I suspect is too much.
I am 5’ 6", 123 lbs, female (please don’t move this to the women’s forum. I think I’ll get more rsponses here.)
How many calories do I need? What should my protein/carb ratio be?
Amanda
Meal 1: 2 whole eggs, 3.5 egg whites scrambled with 1/2 green pepper & 1/4 cup shredded cheese, 1 slice whole wheat toast with Earth Balance spread (even balance of all three fats)
Meal 2: Protein shake made with one small banana, fish oil cap
Meal 3: 5 oz chicken breast grilled, romaine lettuce salad with dressing (canola oil based)
Meal 4: Protein shake with banana, fish oil cap
Meal 5: 6 oz shrimp, 1 slice whole wheat toast with spread
Meal 6: 1/4 cup almonds, 1/4 cup raisins
calories: 1450
protein: 148 g
carbs: 86 g
This is a sample of one of my days. I started adding a little more carbs because it seemed a bit low and I shoot for 135 grams of protein minimum.
I meant to say I started adding more carbs after I saw it only added to 86 g. I’m not sure which way is best though.
Here is what I ate yesterday. I didn’t add up the numbers though.
1: 2 eggs, 3 whites scrambled with 1/2 cup broccoli, whole wheat toast slice with spread
2: Protein shake with banana, fish oil cap
3: 6 oz chicken, 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup beans, steamed veggies
4: Protein shake with banana
5: 1 cup corned beef hash (has potato in it which I rarely eat)
6: Romaine lettuce salad with 1/4 cup shredded cheese, dressing
7: 6 oz shrimp, shortly after 1 bowl of oatmeal
I think I could have left out the oatmeal since the carbs seem a bit high.
It’s really not bad, I would drop the carbs late at night though. But that’s me, I’m a FFB and I don’t do carbs so well.
You could probably increase your fish oil consumption, may help with body comp (Berardi suggests 3-6 grams combined EPA/DHA, so like 10-20 of the generic fish oil caps)
I would switch to Olive oil or avocado oil, but that’s personal preference.
Read this, I’ve been following these rules for the past several months and have made great progress. http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459493
TESTOSTERONE NATION - 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs
Adjust your meals to match the rules and you’ll be on track.
At your calorie intake, it may be beneficial to increase activity (extra walks or sprints or jumping rope) instead of decrease calories to lose fat. Increase your activity enough and you can also increase your calories (read up on G Flux).
When do you train? What does your PWO nutrition look like? What time do you eat these meals?
I added the oatmeal with my last meal so I would get protein and carbs, not just protein. No good?
10-20 caps of fish oil? Wow. I was just following the suggestions on the label. Tha’s a lot of vitamin a. I’ll do some more reading on the subject.
I have read the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs and I thought I was pretty much following it. Did I miss something here?
Sorry but what is PWO nutrition?
I eat the meals starting at breakfast shortly after I get up around 8am. 2-3 hours after the big egg breakfast I drink the shake. I do this for conveneince because I’m usually busy at this time. About 3 hours later or less I have lunch and so on. I work out around 4:00 to 5:00 pm. As soon as I get home I have the next shake and start making dinner. I figured the banana was good for post workout. Sometimes I have white rice post workout. Within a couple of hours I have dinner. Basically I eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
PWO is post workout nutrition, usually you try to eat some fast burning carbs with a good amount of protein post workout to try to feed your starving muscles. A lot of people just use a recovery shake like Surge to start out their PWO nutrition.
Nutrient timing is imperative when trying to lose fat…I would only eat carbs upon wakening, pre and post workout. Morning carbs would ideally be slow digesting like oats, and post would be something very fast absorbing like Maltodextrin/dextrose. Pre could be a piece of fruit. But those are the times I would only allow carbs if on a fatloss phase. All other meals would be a lean protein, veggie and healthy fat source.
[quote]AmandaSC wrote:
Meal 1: 2 whole eggs, 3.5 egg whites scrambled with 1/2 green pepper & 1/4 cup shredded cheese, 1 slice whole wheat toast with Earth Balance spread (even balance of all three fats)
How about eggwhites, green pepper, oats, FatFree cheese
Meal 2: Protein shake made with one small banana, fish oil cap
[/quote]
How about Protein shake, mixed nuts, veggie
looks good - maybe olive oil would be better
Looks good for pre-workout nutrition(within 30 min of lifting)
ADD PWO nutrition - whey/dextrose/maltodextrin shake, look into some Surge
ditch the toast, maybe some brown rice here, veggie
ditch the raisins - Cottage cheese, natural peanut butter is a great meal to end the day
Wow some great suggestions here to round off the basics. Ths gives me a better understanding of when to eat the most carbs. I was just thinking to eat both a protein and a carb with each meal or snack.
The whole dextrose/maltodextrin thing is new to me. Would it be the same to eat some fruit with the shake? That was the point of the banana. Is the banana not enough? I would love to try Surge eventually. I’m afraid I won’t like it. Do they sell small amounts incase I don’t?
I have my own recipe with plain whey isolate that I like. I add Ghirardelli cocoa powder and Stevia as a sweetener along with ice and the banana.
Please keep the comments coming. I am reading articles too but it gets a bit confusing. The whole carb cycling thing through the week is just too much to me. It’s bad enough weighing food, counting protein grams etc.
[quote]AmandaSC wrote:
Wow some great suggestions here to round off the basics. Ths gives me a better understanding of when to eat the most carbs. I was just thinking to eat both a protein and a carb with each meal or snack.
The whole dextrose/maltodextrin thing is new to me. Would it be the same to eat some fruit with the shake? That was the point of the banana. Is the banana not enough? I would love to try Surge eventually. I’m afraid I won’t like it. Do they sell small amounts incase I don’t?
I have my own recipe with plain whey isolate that I like. I add Ghirardelli cocoa powder and Stevia as a sweetener along with ice and the banana.
Please keep the comments coming. I am reading articles too but it gets a bit confusing. The whole carb cycling thing through the week is just too much to me. It’s bad enough weighing food, counting protein grams etc.[/quote]
I think that carb cycling is a great idea, but only if you have the ability to stick to a basic program first. What youre doing now is just fine, if it aint broke, dont fix it. When you get a little farther along, maybe look into carb cycling, but right now, just work on being consistent and getting into good habits.
Amanda the banana wouldnt be quite the same, You could definately eat it here but fructose takes much longer to process as it is treated in the liver first. You dont have to have the Surge, it is just your best bet here especially if your workouts are fairly intense.
The maltodextrin and hydrolyzed protein is absorbed super fast and goes right where you want it to go. Theres no way in hell you wouldnt like it…or just get some malto/dex and mix it with your choice of whey if you dont. Good luck!!
