Taking it to the next level

king_of_inismac · 19-01-2014 2:29pm #1

Hi all,

Looking for some expert advice. After having some stomach troubles last year, I had to change my diet and decided to couple that with some exercise. In the interim, I've lost about 4 Stone.

My goal for this year is to keep the progress going and drop my body-fat percentage. Ideally I'd like to keep dropping the weight until I get a six-pack (or something close).

My diet is most protein and healthy carbs:
Breakfast - baked beans and one slice of whole-grain bread plus some salami
Snack - Fruit (apple/pear)
Lunch - Brown Bread sandwich (cheese and ham)
Snack - Fruit (apple/pear)
Dinner - Beans, Chicken, Sweetcorn, low-fat Cheese
I also try to drink 2L of water per day and take some vitamin supplements. I've also recently added some creatine to my diet.

My gym routine is 5-6 days per week, usually involving:
30 minutes threadmill (at various speeds - sort of like interval training)
30 minutes on spinning bike (at various speeds - sort of like interval training)
30 minutes of free weights (high reps, low weights)

With this approach, I'm still losing a bit of weight, but I'd really like to get more "Cut". Any major problems with my routine/diet? What should I do to keep progressing?

Attached is a photo showing progression from Dec to January.

JJayoo · 19-01-2014 2:41pm

Ideally you would like a good source of protein with each meal/snack. So maybe a few simple changes like below.

Breakfast - Porridge with hot low fat milk and some stevia to sweeten it, One portion of fruit, small protein shake and some healthy fat.
Snack - Fruit (apple/pear) + a source of protein, could be a can of fish, some lean meat a small protein shake.
Lunch - Brown Bread sandwich (cheese and ham) and a portion of fruit.
Snack - Fruit (apple/pear) + protein source and some healthy fat.
Dinner - Beans, Chicken, Sweetcorn, low-fat Cheese + some veg.

It would also be best to do your weights first and then do your cardio afterwards

king_of_inismac · 19-01-2014 3:32pm

Thanks for the advice.

If my goal is to get cut (rather than to get big), should I be adding more protein to my diet? I know it's required for muscle building, but it will still increase my calorie intake at a time when I'm trying to lose fat.

JJayoo · 19-01-2014 3:48pm

Lean sources of protein will not add a huge amount of calories. If you need to drop some calories then drop the bakes beans.

arse..biscuits · 19-01-2014 4:01pm

king_of_inismac wrote: »

30 minutes of free weights (high reps, low weights)

Start increasing the weight slowly

Challo · 19-01-2014 4:03pm

I'd advise you to read the stickies on this forum, they're super.

I'm far from an expert and trying to improve my own diet but from what I've learned here, yours is not great. You need a lot more protein and less processed carbs - get rid of the bread and two portions of beans a day. Less fruit and way more vegetables. Do more weight training and less cardio/spinning. I had a session with a PT last year and it was more than worth the money to get a proper programme, makes all the difference. A few post on here, advise you to get in contact to sort out your gym work.

king_of_inismac · 19-01-2014 5:55pm

Challo wrote: »

I'd advise you to read the stickies on this forum, they're super.

I'm far from an expert and trying to improve my own diet but from what I've learned here, yours is not great. You need a lot more protein and less processed carbs - get rid of the bread and two portions of beans a day. Less fruit and way more vegetables. Do more weight training and less cardio/spinning. I had a session with a PT last year and it was more than worth the money to get a proper programme, makes all the difference. A few post on here, advise you to get in contact to sort out your gym work.

Thanks for the excellent advice. I'm a bit surprised about reducing the cardio. I'm aware of the "more muscle more resting calories burned" argument but I would have thought that the cardio would be more beneficial in terms of cutting?

As I mentioned, I'm not really interested in getting bigger just want to get leaner. I'll definitely change my diet based on your suggestions.

RidleyRider · 19-01-2014 6:21pm

Cut the bread altogether would be a good start.

dylbert · 19-01-2014 6:22pm

king_of_inismac wrote: »

Thanks for the excellent advice. I'm a bit surprised about reducing the cardio. I'm aware of the "more muscle more resting calories burned" argument but I would have thought that the cardio would be more beneficial in terms of cutting?

As I mentioned, I'm not really interested in getting bigger just want to get leaner. I'll definitely change my diet based on your suggestions.

Getting lean is all about diet, you could spend time on the treadmill burning off the couple of slices of bread, it's a lot easier to just not eat the bread.

arse..biscuits · 19-01-2014 7:12pm

king_of_inismac wrote: »

Thanks for the excellent advice. I'm a bit surprised about reducing the cardio. I'm aware of the "more muscle more resting calories burned" argument but I would have thought that the cardio would be more beneficial in terms of cutting?

As I mentioned, I'm not really interested in getting bigger just want to get leaner. I'll definitely change my diet based on your suggestions.

The cardio is fine initially, but as you progress, you need to start building a bit of muscle or your progress will stall

king_of_inismac · 19-01-2014 7:14pm

dylbert wrote: »

Getting lean is all about diet, you could spend time on the treadmill burning off the couple of slices of bread, it's a lot easier to just not eat the bread.

100% agree. Bread will be gone.

I want to exercise anyway, just for the health benefits. I guess my question is should I stick with 2/3s cardio, 1/3 weights balance or change it (with cutting solely in mind)?

siochain · 19-01-2014 7:36pm

with your current approach you may continue to loose weight and perhaps skinny fat if you know what I mean.

If you want to reduce fat, get leaner and have some muscle definition spend more time lifting heavy stuff for lower reps and add in some METCON work.

You also don't need to spend 90 mins working out. Up the intensity and have it wrapped up in 60 mins. If your training 6 days shoot for 3/4 days weights and two cardio days.

As for diet stay way from anything processed where possible. Eat whole foods and keep sugar and wheat to a minimum.

Challo · 19-01-2014 7:42pm

king_of_inismac wrote: »

Thanks for the excellent advice. I'm a bit surprised about reducing the cardio. I'm aware of the "more muscle more resting calories burned" argument but I would have thought that the cardio would be more beneficial in terms of cutting?

As I mentioned, I'm not really interested in getting bigger just want to get leaner. I'll definitely change my diet based on your suggestions.

Getting lean = reducing body fat. The most effective way to do this is a clean diet and building more muscle. At the moment, you're spending twice as much time on cardio than weights. Should be the other way around if anything. Also interval training, it would make more sense to do 15mins hard effort than 30mins medium effort.

arse..biscuits · 19-01-2014 8:16pm

Challo wrote: »

Getting lean = reducing body fat. The most effective way to do this is a clean diet and building more muscle. At the moment, you're spending twice as much time on cardio than weights. Should be the other way around if anything. Also interval training, it would make more sense to do 15mins hard effort than 30mins medium effort.

This. I can guarantee you that if you were giving it max effort would wouldn't last 30 mins.

Alf Veedersane · 19-01-2014 8:48pm

king_of_inismac wrote: »

I
30 minutes threadmill (at various speeds - sort of like interval training)
30 minutes on spinning bike (at various speeds - sort of like interval training)

When you say "sort of like interval training" it seems to me that it's sort of like interval training in the same way that netball is sort of like dodgeball. You'll get more bang for your buck if the fast intervals are faster. And keep the rest periods shorter than they might be at the minute. You probably won't make it to 30mins but you'll probably get more value for it

duffyshuffle · 19-01-2014 10:43pm

JJayoo wrote: »

Ideally you would like a good source of protein with each meal/snack. So maybe a few simple changes like below.

Breakfast - Porridge with hot low fat milk and some stevia to sweeten it, One portion of fruit, small protein shake and some healthy fat.
Snack - Fruit (apple/pear) + a source of protein, could be a can of fish, some lean meat a small protein shake.
Lunch - Brown Bread sandwich (cheese and ham) and a portion of fruit.
Snack - Fruit (apple/pear) + protein source and some healthy fat.
Dinner - Beans, Chicken, Sweetcorn, low-fat Cheese + some veg.

It would also be best to do your weights first and then do your cardio afterwards

Where do you buy stevia?

thegreatiam · 20-01-2014 11:47am

duffyshuffle wrote: »

Where do you buy stevia?

tesco

Taking it to the next level

Comments