ugh... cardio... do you enjoy it?
Basically... Would you say you had a slow metabolism? its one of the problems i suffer from being a bit of an endomorph.
this whole stripping fat business is very vague.. do me a favour and do this for me
Take your weight in lbs and multiply that by 11.. this number is a more accurate measurement of your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
In other words... on the back of health foods where it says males should consume 2500 calories per day is obviously not the same for everyone. Your RMR that you just worked out is much more accurate..
Surprised?
yeah its a lot higher than you thought isnt it
What this means is that if you were to lie in bed all day, this amount of calories should make sure that after 24 hours and at the same hydration, you are the same body fat/ body mass/ weight you were when you started
To lose some of your body fat and visceral fat, you need whats known as a calorie deficit. Everyone knows about the "take in less calories than you use" well thats the simple version and its very true.. The Deficit should be at least 500kcal per day, and up to around 800kcal if you think you can do it.
However you are going to want to do this healthily! Anyone can eat say 2300kcals worth of chocolate eclairs!
Right onto metabolism quickly. Your muscle mass and quality is part of what determines your metabolism. Your muscles will use energy when they are under load, and your energy comes from your calorie intake. The more muscle you have to burn calories, the higher your metabolism (it also depends on a lot of other things but i wont go into that just now)
Now... cardio is good for keeping your heart rate up, you dont want it to go too high, so caning up the treadmill to 15degrees or too fast a speed isnt good! your heart rate should be kept at a healthy level (which you will need to work out with your weight, age combo... Dont delve too deeply into the science of this.. keep your heart going faster but not stupidly fast... you should know the difference!)
Right back to your calories!! The majority of your calories should now be taken up by protein, between 50-60% of your calorie intake should come from protein sources. In order of greatness these include;
Whey protein (shakes)
Cows milk
Cooked Egg White
Fish (tuna, mackrel, salmon are good fish)
Lean red meat
Chicken
soy protein (soybeans)
Oats
Rice Protein
Peanuts
Peas
Whole-Wheat
So as you can see there are carbs involved in some of those protein sources, the rice, oats, peas, and wheat all contain carbs. But as you may know, Carbs come in 2 main types... Complex and Simple (refined)
Complex is far better than simple, and they are things like
Scottish oats
Wholemeal pasta, remember couscous is just pasta
Whole Grain Rice (wild and basmati fall into this)
Wholemeal bread
Chick Peas
so chuck out white rice, white bread and white pasta if you can
after your 50% intake of protein, 30% should come from carbs... complex ones
and the last 20% you might be surprised to hear is FAT!
you will be taking in fats and oils from the fish you eat if you choose to, of they can be supplemented if you can't stomach all that fish. Omega 3,6,9 oil or supplements are highly recommended if you plan to avoid fish. It doesnt taste of fish so splash it on your salads if you like
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is good on salads and, things like this are called essential fatty acids. Don't try and cut them out of your diet
You want to avoid saturated fats, hydrogentated fats and trans-fatty acids
You will find all of these in a product like margarine, use butter if you have to!
Avoid sugar altogether if you can, in drinks, sweets, cakes and things like that. Naturally occuring sugars are OKish, like fruit and honey, but being slightly higher GI you might want to cut back on thier use.
If you find keeping off sugar quite hard then try and get some chromium in your diet, supplements are good. A good mens multivitamin will sort you right out and should help cut those cravings
Your question about a bad day... Yes and No
A bad day is a no no, but if you have done well in a week then a "Cheat Meal" is good for motivation and shouldnt do you any harm. Literally just the one meal though, dont make it an all day thing
Lastly in my post
Eat more often!!!
make sure you eat breakfast... take your carbs in at breakfast (oats made in skimmed milk... perfect)
and at lunch (wholegrain rice and veg with some chicken or fish?)
try and keep the carbs to a minimum when it comes to dinner time if possible. If you are going to the gym then a small portion of carbs is ok about 90 mins before gym in the evenings. Try not take any other carbs in after about 5pm though. So cut the rice pasta and potatos out of your dinners. Sweet potato is better than white potato if you like the taste
So you are going to want to bump up your meal intake to about 5-6 meals a day. I am taking in protein shakes while im at work as meal replacements.. ill get on to protein shortly
Try and eat breakfast on or around 8? whenever you get up is fine, eat again at 11, then at 2 then at 5, 7.30ish and then again at 9-9.30
If you work out in the evenings like i do then a protein intake after the gym (within 20 mins if possible) is very beneficial. Milk protein before bed is also good...i combine the two. I go to the gym at 9 till 10.30, have a whey protein shake in skimmed milk when i get back
If you think this is too much food, think of this, a portion of something should be about the size of your palm, if you have a tin of tuna as one portion, it should help you work out everything else, so for dinner, your meat is one portion, veg one portion and rice/ sweet potato is one portion
you wont go hungry! The idea behind this is that you need to keep your thyroid active and let it be processing as much as time. Eating like this is known as grazing, and over time it will help you speed up your metabolism
a "MEAL" doesnt have to be a square meal,
For example
8am
Egg omlette
or
oats in skimmed milk
protein meal replacement (make sure it contains carbs)
11am
protein shake
or
plain bio yoghurt
2pm
Tuna salad or
chicken salad or
Sandwich of either on wholemeal bread
chicken rice and veg,
steak and pasta
salmon and rice
whatever!! a healthy lunch basically! make sure protein is involved and you are sensible with portions!
5pm
protein shake or
fish or chicken sandwich (go crazy on the salad if you like)
7-8pm
chicken or fish salad (no carbs though)
add rice if you are training
GYM
protein shake or
fish or chicken and salad
milk protein before bed
so as you can see theres a lot of meals, if you can stick to something like that you will be surprised that your body will do a better job of cutting fat off your body (as long as you are working out!!)
PROTEIN!!!!!!!!!!
right
protein is the foundation of preserving or building muscle!! your body needs it! and it needs more than you you think or have been giving it!
As a general rule, an average person SHOULD be consuming between 1 and 1.2 grams of protein per Pound of body WEIGHT per day
if you are on an eating plan then consider pushing this up to 1.5-1.8g/lb per day
BUT! you dont want to eat it all in one go!
The body can deal without about 40-50g protein at a time, it then takes between 2 and 3 hours for it to be ready to process more, which is why the meals are based around this. Every meal you eat in a day should contain protein.
There are different sorts of protein, the type in meats and fish and eggs are absorbed pretty quickly
Milk Protein (casein) take much longer to process, but this is sometimes beneficial it means you dont have to take it in as often... SO this is why people should take milk protein before bed time, the body will take 4-6 hours to process it which should last you most of the night, Then as soon as you wake up you get some more carbs and protein down you! basically... dont let up! The longer you leave between meals the less active your thyroid gets. So an optimum time of 2 1/2 to 3 hours between meals is perfect
IF you need to know more i can direct you to some good info, if you want to avoid supplements make sure your food is varied enough. Otherwise i would suggest again, a decent mens multivitamin, containing chromium and magnesium
Whey protein supplements are good if you are on the go... go to myprotein.co.uk and look at thier impact whey protein (wpc80) its very well priced. You mix it with water during the day and milk at night... it tastes ok with water to be honest! but GREAT with milk!!
pm me or reply here if you need more info... i hope i have been helpful! just telling you to eat helthy or run more isnt all that useful, have plans and have a goal.
With the help of my cousin and a few websites and another forum, i have lost 18lbs in body weight and kept/built muscle mass in 4 weeks (only just bought body measuring scales the other day)
i just realised i haven't even got into work outs!! basically cardio is best done in the morning before you take in food... then you burn fat stores not food you have eaten during the door. Otherwise is can actually impede the work your muscles do. If you enjoy weight lifting then its more beneficial to you in getting your muscles to do the work. i can talk about that next time... Dont be afraid, you might be surprised how little you need to do each time at the gym, i can have you done in 40 mins a day, 3 days a week, 4 if you like
(20mins @ 6.5mph) then do 20mins on the cross trainer
