SpinQueen's Journal

SpinQueen · 21-Nov-03, 09:57 AM

Ok, I'm a formerly obese 22 year old female. When I started losing weight two years ago, I was 232 lbs. I'm now down to 170. I'm about 5' 8" and large framed. I have got to lose 20 lbs, and I'm on an annoying plateau.

My basic meal plan goes like this:

Breakfast:

4 egg whites
2 slices veggy cheese
4 slices turkey

250 calories

Lunch:

I snack on celery and green bell peppers all day.

About 40 calories

Pre-workout:

Protein bar (sugar free)

190 calories

Dinner:

Here's where I have trouble. I workout pretty hard, so I'm usually starving at night.

Ordinarily I'll have:

The rest of the turkey from that morning. 125 calories
2 slices veggy cheese 80 calories
A pear 80 calories
Sugar free, fat free instant jello pudding topped with 1 cup Fiber One cereal and cool whip.

About 600 calories.

Total intake: around 1400 calories.

I try to stay between 1000 - 1500 calories a day. Sometimes I get as high as 1900. I do workout a LOT everyday, so these cal figures are before subtracting what I burn. I wear a HRM when I exercise, so I know what I'm burning.

My workout sched is like this:

Monday:

Run 3 miles in the AM
Spin class and Step class in the PM

Tuesday:

Run 3 miles AM
Step Class PM
Leg Day (weights): I have a personal trainer, so he kicks my ass across the gym on leg day.

Wednesday:

Run 3 miles AM
Spin class PM

Thursday:

Run 3 miles AM
Urban Rebounding PM
Weights (Upper Body) PM

Friday:

3 miles AM
Spin class PM
Occasional Step class PM

Saturday:

2 Step classes AM

30 min Ellip PM
Leg Day on my own but according to the routine my trainer set for me

Sunday:

Step class AM

30 min ellip PM
Upper body on my own.

I also do a lot of ab work at the end of my group fitness classes, and with my trainer.
I'm trying to lose my stomach, the last flabby part of me. The rest is mostly muscle, as I lift fairly heavy weights for a female.

**cursor** · 21-Nov-03, 10:08 AM

You could easily bypass that plateau by adjusting your meal plan. From looking at your food/fuel flow, it looks like you're having three meals plus a pre-workout bar ... right?

While you seem conscious of the volume of calories that you're intaking, you seem to be missing some of the essential elements of macronutrient balancing and manipulation. Want some help?

Oh ... glad to see that you've decided to particpate in this marvelous forum!

SpinQueen · 21-Nov-03, 11:25 AM

I would LOVE some help, cursor. Thankyou

All help is welcome. I'm DETERMINED to firm up and get my personal training cert in March.

I just got certified to teach SPINNING last week.

**cursor** · 21-Nov-03, 01:06 PM

In my opinion, one of the most important things that you can do is to eat in accordance with your activity level. If you're sitting on your butt watching sitcoms for 4 hours, your body clearly doesn't need all those nachos and Big Gulps that you're pumping down. On the other hand after a serious workout, you don't want to starve your body. I'm not talking about YOU specifically ... it's just an example.

When you're driving your car up a steep incline, what do you do? You give it more gas ... right? If you don't, you simply won't succeed. Granted, optimizing your body is more complex than simply stepping on the gas pedal. The truth is though, that by paying attention to the flow of daily activity we can keep the motor purring at an efficient level.

here is your plan
meal 1
4 egg whites
2 slices veggy cheese
4 slices turkey

meal 2
I snack on celery and green bell peppers all day

meal 3 – pre-workout
Protein bar (sugar free)

[___w o r k o u t)___]

meal 4 – post-workout
The rest of the turkey from that morning. 125 calories
2 slices veggy cheese 80 calories
A pear 80 calories
Sugar free, fat free instant jello pudding topped
w/ 1 cup Fiber One cereal and cool whip

Protein, carbohydrates, fats, and fiber) all serve different functions in support of your body. By optimizing the doses (meals) and combinations of elements, you body can do better ... or worse.

For a little starter you might read through these threads:

Slimming Down
Workout Timing and Diet Tactics

We'll doctor your plan ... but after you absorb those threads.

SpinQueen · 21-Nov-03, 04:36 PM

Wow, I'm really impressed with your ability to break down those meal plans into pf,c ratios like that. I'm not quite grasping how it's done, though. Those threads are great to go through, but I don't really know what to do to change my meal plan just yet. What would you suggest?

**cursor** · 21-Nov-03, 04:56 PM

I'd recommend more frequent meals that are structured for your activity level. For example, after your serious workout your body NEEDS more nutrition that did before you worked up a sweat. By understanding what it is that your body really needs, you can provide the optimal nutritional body-building materials.

Read through this:
Welcome (if you haven't yet)

SpinQueen · 21-Nov-03, 10:28 PM

In reading your welcome thread (which was very informative, btw) I noticed that there is additional info I should provide.

How much time am I willing to dedicate? All of it. Whatever it takes.

What is my ultimate goal? To lose body fat.

I did that BodyGem thing at the gym once, and it said my RMR was about 2200.

Did I miss anything?

SpinQueen · 22-Nov-03, 08:47 AM

Ok, so yesterday wasn't the best day for me as far as exercise goes. I only burned off 530 calories, which is pretty low for me.

Food was ok, though.

Breakfast was the usual,

4 egg whites
2 slices veggy cheese
4 slices turkey
250 cal

Lunch was celery and hummus.
100 cal

Had a sugar free jello cup and half a protein bar pre-workout.
110 cal

Workout:
10 min stairmaster
Chest and triceps.
20 min Elliptical
45 min Spin class (but our usual intructor was out, and this sub sucked big time, so the class sucked)

Dinner:
1 cup ceviche (raw tilapia marinated in lemon jouice with onion)
3 oz. lean broiled chicken, no skin
Approx 300 cal.

Snack:
Sugar free, fat free pudding with one cup Fiber One and whipped topping.
500 cal

1 medium pear
70 cal

One extra cup Fiber One (was feeling hungry last night)
120 cal.

Total cal: 1450
Total burned: 530
Net cal: 920

I could have done better, though.

**Lady C** · 22-Nov-03, 09:42 AM

Hi there,
I am trying to lose the last 5 lbs of body fat so I thought that I would share with you a sample diet of mine with you. Reason being is I don't think you are feeding the machine (body) enough to get to where you want to go.

Pre-workout
1/2 plain yogurt & 1/2 oz flavoring

Workout
3 day split

Post workout meal
Protein and fruit shake

8-8:30
1 oz rolled oats
1 oz brown & wild rice blend, cooked
1/2 scoop protein
lots of cinnamon

11:00
2 oz chciken breast
4 oz broccoli

2:00
1/2 cottage cheese
apple

5:00
veggie pattie
4 oz broccoli

8:00
2 oz chicken breast
6 oz steamed califlower

On non-workout days I eliminate the first two meals and adjust the timing to spread it out throughout the day.This is about 1300 calories - and it drops to about 1000 on non-workout days. I'm smaller than you (5'-4") so I think you should be a bit higher in the caloric intake. The most important thing to do here is spread you meals out evenly throughout the day.

SpinQueen · 23-Nov-03, 07:29 AM

Thanks, Lady C. I'm not sure that works for me, though. The times would be off for me, but I suppose I could modify the time.

My meals for yesterday were roughly the same.

Total Calories: 1535
Total burned: 750
Net cal: 785

I ran three miles, took a Hi/Lo class, and spent about 2 1/2 hours doing aerobics in my instructor training course.

Today I'm doing a step class, maybe a Hi/Lo so I can get used to it, and I have legs tonight with my trainer.

SpinQueen · 23-Nov-03, 08:32 AM

Had a new breakfast this morning which was VERY filling, and (I think) a good mix of protein, fat, and carbs.

2 slices Whole Wheat n' Fibre toast.
1 tbsp peanut butter (low sugar and sodium kind)
4 egg whites
1/2 cup Fiber One cereal (which I put in the gg whotes to cook.

I also put cinnamon in my eggs.

Total: 400 cal.

I'm sure that will take me through my AM cardio and then some.

**Lady C** · 23-Nov-03, 09:21 AM

Pick your own times - this was just an example. I was trying to show you that you need to have more evenly spread out meals.

Make sure you get a protein and a fruit or veggie at each meal. This works best.

That may be too large of a breakfast. Each meal should be about the same size except for the post-workout. It will be your largest meal of the day.

SpinQueen · 23-Nov-03, 12:20 PM

You are right! It was too large of a breakfast. I STILL feel it sitting in my stomach, and I just got home from the gym after an hour and a half of cardio.

I'll be lowering that tomorrow.

SpinQueen · 24-Nov-03, 06:34 AM

I wish I were not so hungry at night.

Yesterday was fine, I just always consume the majority of my calories at night.
Tonight I'm going to make an effort not to.

Total caloric intake: 1645
Burned: 1130
Net kcal: 515

My trainer burned my legs out last night, so I couldn't quite make it for my three mile run this morning.

However, I do have a High Intensity Spinning class tonight, followed by high impact Step. And there is a possibility I'll do upper body with my trainer tonight instead of Tuesday, because he's leaving for the holiday.

That should be enough

SpinQueen · 24-Nov-03, 09:39 PM

I want your input, guys! How else can I get all sexy-like if no one gives me suggestions?

Seriously, though, this is the best forum on the net for Fitness that I've seen, and I'm totally confident that everyone here has great suggestions for losing that body fat.

What can you tell me?