Get back to Shape - lose fat

[z4ydi]

Hi Everyone. I will start with some details:

Age: 33, Sex: Male, Hight: 5.8, Weight: 85.3KG,

I did Martial arts from age 12 till I was 22, I have been on and off after that - recently I kept away from training for few years and I started to put alot of weight on reached 88KG. 6 weeks ago I started eating 5-6 times a day every 3 hours, and do 20min jog - then 2min weight/stress training hitting different parts of my body, I lost about 2 killos in the first 3 weeks. but for the past 3 weeks I only lost 0.7kg, do you think i should reduce the sizes of the meals?,

Thanks

[madhusudan]

You mention you're eating 5-6 times a day, but not what and how much you're eating. If you're not losing the weight you'd like to be, it simply means you don't have the right calorie deficit.

Most people on this website use the Stronglifts program, or have moved beyond it to other variations. My experience, and also what I've read here from others, is that most people are excited and pleased with the results they've gotten from doing that program. I'd recommend it to you as well. But, of course, to each their own.

Here's an NYT blog that might interest you: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/0 ... t-loss/?em

My take on what's presented there is that finally, no matter the exercise, supplements or other lifestyle factors it's simply a matter of calories in / calories out.

Get your diet in order and you'll lose the weight you want to. However, easier said then done. If you're serious about it, use a website like www.fitday.com to get a handle on what you're actually eating each day. Or, just intuitively reduce portions and calorie dense foods that aren't worth it nutritionally until you reach the balance that is right for you (trial and error). I kind of do both.

It depends what you're looking for in physique in the end. Just by restricted eating, running and lots of PT I lost a ton of weight in BCT in the Army until I was rail thin and super fit, but that's not what I'm going for now. Good luck in reaching your goals.
Just my 2cents.

[z4ydi]

Thanks for your response. You asked for more details about my diet:

I have an extremely busy job and I don’t have a very organised/good eating combination, so this is how I adjust/schedule my meals:

1. I wakeup at 6:30AM and have breakfast at 7:00AM one of the following:
· 1x whole egg and 2x egg-whites with1x brown toast, 8oz of skimmed milk OR

· 1x whole egg and 2x egg-whites with mushrooms, with1x brown toast, 100g of cottage cheese

· 1x whole egg and 2x egg-whites with 1/2 tin of tuna and brown toast OR

· 1x whole egg and 2x egg-whites with1x brown toast and a tin of Sardin, OR
1x chicken breast with 100g of yogurt

2. at around 10:30 or 11:00 I eat one of the following:
· 1x chicken breast OR,

· walnuts and nuts and an apple 1x toast with cheese OR

. Skimed Milk with 4x dates and some nuts


· Cottage cheese with brown toast. OR

· 1 x Tuna sandwich

3. at 1:30 I have my lunch:
· mostly jacket potato with tuna, sweet corn and mayonnaise and salad (I normally eat only half of the potato) OR

· salmon and rice I eat till 80% full OR

· grill chicken with salad + olive oil dressing OR

· chicken or meat curry with rice I eat till 80% full (rarely). OR

· lean beef steak with salad. OR

. Sardin with salad OR

· Spinach in olive oil

at around 05:00 I eat (same as 2):
at 8:00 I have my dinner (same as 3):
at around 10:30 (I eat same as 2) (I don’t always have my sixth meal):

I sometimes have snacks i.e walnuts, nuts, almond, pistachio etc

I now ordered the Impact Whey Isolate (protein shake) and wanted to take it once a day. Is one does a day enough for me with the objective in mind that I want to build lean muscles?
Is there any side effects in having protein shakes?

[grole]

What's with the egg whites? The yolk has just under half the protein and all of the vitamins A, D and E along with a bunch of other beneficial stuff.

You could probably improve your diet by replacing the egg whites with whole eggs and skimmed milk with whole milk.

The Nutrition Faq has some good information.

- Peter

[jfh26]

Lose the starchy carbs (i.e. bread, potato, rice) except for post-workout. I agree with the whole milk - if you're going to drink milk regularly then get all you can out of it - remember that fat doesn't make you fat. And last thing - eat the whole egg!!

http://stronglifts.com/cholesterol-satu ... ggs-daily/

Have you actually added up your daily caloric intake and compared it to your maintenance level (i.e. from the Cunningham equation)? This would be a good start.
Here's some links to various nutrition articles from the site, if you haven't read them already:

http://stronglifts.com/nutrition-101-de ... nutrition/
http://stronglifts.com/how-many-calorie ... t-per-day/
the-cunningham-equation-an-accurate-way-to-predict-calories-t13712.html
http://stronglifts.com/fat-loss-101-how ... oss-diets/

[z4ydi]

The reasons I eat egg-whites is because the yoke has alot of calories - I beleive 2 x egg white plus whole egg will give me about 12g of protein and only 100kcal. but if I eat 3 whole eggs this will add up to nearly 230kcal and 16g of protein.
on the same token I drink skimed milk because of reduced fat and low calory (8oz = 80kcal and 8g of protein) but whole milk will have triple the amount of calories and fat but roughly the same amount of protein.

[grole]

There is a lot more to nutrition than just number of calories. I know it is mixing the metaphors a bit but skipping the yolks and having someone remove the fat from your milk is kind of like throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Yes, you are reducing the amount of fat and total calories. You are also reducing the range and quantity of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.

Even if you ignore that and try to simplify down to the idea of calories from fat vs calories from simple carbs you are losing out. Although fat is more calorie dense than your average simple carb, those calories are slowly 'released' by your digestive processes providing your body with a steady stream of energy, rather than being digested rapidly and flooding out into your blood stream as sugar, where it then needs to regulated by increased insulin levels.

As jfh said, work out your calorific needs using the cunningham equation. Once you are confident of your needs adjust your diet appropriately, and try to reduce the percentage of your calories that come from simple & starchy carbs (potatoes, rice, bread / pasta).

Try logging your diet on fitday.com and see exactly how many calories you are consuming and exactly where they are coming from.

After that just monitor, tweak and repeat.

[jfh26]

Exactly what I was getting at, grole.

To the OP, if you're really that concerned about the calories in egg yolks, keep in mind that cutting out the starchy carbs is also going to take a lot of calories out of your diet - you're going to have to make them up somewhere. I think the reason you aren't happy with your fat loss is due to the excess of starchy carbs in your diet and not due to your caloric intake.

Also, is the weight you are losing fat or muscle (i.e. are you checking body fat?)? Weight loss is a poor measurement because you don't know which you are losing - tracking fat loss is much more meaningful. And if the weight loss is not fat, you need to up your caloric intake anyway.

[z4ydi]

If I substitute one of my meals with a protein shake - is that going to keep my metabolism fired up or do I have to eat more than a shake so that it can be counted as a meal.

[jfh26]

I would say it depends again on the calorie content. In the States I made (and will continue making when I get back) a post-workout shake with a cup of oats, a banana, 2 tbsp. peanut butter, and the rest with whole milk. That's pretty calorie heavy, so I count it as a post-workout meal. Problem is, I think you'll find it hard to make a full meal replacement shake that has enough calories without using starchy carbs (i.e. oats and bananas) or milk. Which is fine if you're having it post-workout only, but not necessarily optimal for your other meals if you're going for fat loss.