please review my workout and diet

catherine22

im trying to lose weight(30 lbs), im roughly 5 6' and weigh in and around 74 kgs, im not sure about my bodyfat but i would say its probably about 27%-28%.

i go to the gym 4-5 times a week.
twice i will only do cardio usually 30 mins on the bike and 15 mins on the rowing machine
the other times i will do the same cardio and then weights as well, both free weights and resistance.
i try and swim about once a week and do maybe 1 spinning class a week too.

my diet is my big problem

in the mornings, i will have cereal either cornflakes or fruit and fibre with skimmed milk, i dont usually have a huge breakfast, probably only 5-6 spoonfuls.
mid-morning, i will have a scone and tea
lunchtime, its either another scone or maybe a bagel with turkey and salad.
mid afterrnoon, i will have another cup of tea (but not always)
dinner is usually in and around 7-7.30, i have either cheese and tomato on toast or pasta with tuna or baked potato (usually something that requires little effort)
and then i might have another cup of tea and 2 digestives b4 bed.

i also try and make my own smoothies about 3-4 times a week (using live natural yoghurt) and i try and drink fresh vegetable or fruit juices 3-4 times a week

im also known to have a sweet tooth but i am seriously trying so hard to cut down on it

i drink about a 1 litre of water a day and go to the gym about 5ish in the evenings

so there it is, feel free to criticise and any suggestion are more than welcome thanks

dajaffa

Well you'll eed to increase your water intake to 1.5/2L a day anyway. Try to have a bigger breakfast so u don't need that morning scone. Instead of the bagel at lunchtime try a sandwich using wholemeal bread. Again maybe try wholemeal bread/pasta in your evening meal, amd ditch those biscuits before bed. If you can try to replace your tea with green white tea. I've started drinking white tea (u can get it in the holland & barrett + other health shops) and it's a lot better than u may think.

madmurdock

To be honest catherine you're eating far too little and most of it isn't good,

By eating too little your body will actually store fat,

You're not getting enough fruit,veg, good fats into your diet,

Fruit and fibre is useless as are most cereals,

Ditch the scones in the morning, get rid of the cheese (ful of calories and fat) on toast, (which is white bread i presume) make sure you're eating wholewheat pastas

Your breakfast is the most important meal of the day, try to force some food down your neck at in the morning, your body will get used to it after a time and it really does make a difference, in the morning you should be eating your biggest meal of the day and reducing the amount of food each meal, I rarely eat a big meal in the evenings,

Hydration is also very important, you should be aiming to drink between 2-4 litres a day, don't worry, it will do you no harm, i drink about 4-6 litres a day and have done for years,

smoothies are good, always make sure you're using low fat yogurt and not too much!!

catherine22

thanks for all the advice i will be sure to follow it but what should i eat in the morning? would 2 wholemeal pieces of toast be ok? i think i might buy weetabix as well although the very thought of it has me heaving!

Transform

That was some of the WORST advice i have ever seen!!!

I am sorry people here goes

1st - you are a carb junkie i.e. most of your day is filled with too much carbs. Breakfast ideas - yogurt and nuts/seeds, 2 boiled eggs with one piece of wholemeal bread, smoothie etc

2nd Mid morning or any snacks - nuts and ONE piece of fruit

3rd Dinner - please please please understand that you have lots of time to prepare or you are making time to feel overweight and bloated. When you are making dinner make some for the next day also e.g avocado, chicken, red onion salad with basil pesto (lots of good fats, good protein source and not excessive in carbs).

4th Overall ditch the wheat as much as possible and go for other options e.g. oatcakes

Most people will NOT function well on wheat and i would guess you are one of them


Finally on the training front walk!!! Start this week and ditch the bike - burns more calories and push hard in spin classes,

What gym are you in?

madmurdock

Interested in your reply,

Please point out the faults in my post

Transform

madmurdock wrote:

Interested in your reply,

Please point out the faults in my post

I am not posting on you i am posting on helping catherine get your own post

Finally - some good advice and opening with you do not eat enough when you are 27% body fat!!! Not a good opener as she is eating plenty just the wrong foods

madmurdock

No I take your point, that was the wrong thing to open with but from the way she put it it looks like some days she only eats a bowl of cereal, 2 scones and cheese and tomato on toast with 2 digestives!

She's not eating enough GOOD FOOD,

catherine22

ok lads or girls calm down (didnt meat to start an argument) i see what u r both saying and to be honest ive always thought that i did eat 2 many carbs but i suppose at this stage its habit (which i fully intend to break).

thanks for the advice i fully appreciate it- im clueless with these sort of things.

btw- im a member of la fitness. part of my membership includes a review of my workout every 6 weeks or so but to be honest i find that leaves me less motivated (strange i know). at the review they will take my weight, bodyfat, etc, look at what exercises im doing, what i want to achieve, etc and make a workout especially 4 me but i usually find it jst leaves me unmotivated. the workout that i do now takes in what the personal trainers have said to me over the 2-3 reviews i have had and yes they have recommended the treadmill every single time and i do try the treadmill but its jst that in the evenings when i go the treadmills r always busy and theres constantly a queue. i dont go to the gym to stand there and look round me.

justsomebloke

well what interests you and when you go to the gym what equipment is usually free. Im my opinion a good PT should be trying to incorporate things into your gym sessions that you enjoy as this is more likely to keep your interest and keep you working out. Just remember your not in the gym just to get fit the object is that once you get fit you stay fit by keeping active and this can really only be done once you are enjoying it

edit: don't worry about the fighting it happens a lot in here (you should check out the how to get toned abs thread), and it basically stems from the fact that certain things work for some people and not others so your diet and your exercise regime has to be about what works for you

MisterAnarchy

What type of cardio are you doing ?
A 20 minute interval intensity session on a bike is far better than a constant 45 min session on the bike and rower.
20 mins at varied intensity going flat out and you will burn alot of fat.
Do it 6 days a week .
You will get your metabolism up and if you do it right 20 mins should be enough,you should be knackered after it.

yomchi

Transform wrote:

That was some of the WORST advice i have ever seen!!!

I am sorry people here goes

1st - you are a carb junkie i.e. most of your day is filled with too much carbs. Breakfast ideas - yogurt and nuts/seeds, 2 boiled eggs with one piece of wholemeal bread, smoothie etc

2nd Mid morning or any snacks - nuts and ONE piece of fruit

3rd Dinner - please please please understand that you have lots of time to prepare or you are making time to feel overweight and bloated. When you are making dinner make some for the next day also e.g avocado, chicken, red onion salad with basil pesto (lots of good fats, good protein source and not excessive in carbs).

4th Overall ditch the wheat as much as possible and go for other options e.g. oatcakes

Most people will NOT function well on wheat and i would guess you are one of them


Finally on the training front walk!!! Start this week and ditch the bike - burns more calories and push hard in spin classes,

What gym are you in?

Ahh Advacado! Probably one of the most complete foods on the earth. Any good diet must have it in there somewhere IMO

b3t4

Ok, I'm no expert but I have lost over a stone since Christmas so I can only suggest what worked for me.

catherine22 wrote:

thanks for all the advice i will be sure to follow it but what should i eat in the morning? would 2 wholemeal pieces of toast be ok? i think i might buy weetabix as well although the very thought of it has me heaving!

I eat museli every morning which really keeps me full till lunch time. Also the dried fruit in it means that you don't need to add any sugar for sweetness. One thing to be careful of is that some museli's have sugar added to them, avoid these as much as possible and always check the ingredients to see if there is sugar listed. Some of them will list sugar as an ingredient in the dried fruit, for example dried banana lists sugar. I ted to ignore this somewhat as they are generally very far down the ingredient list. I eat Tesco's traditional museli with semi-skimmed milk and think it's yummy and always look forward to a bowl in the morning. I was never much of a breakfast person but it's great once you get into the habit of it.

I also recommend that you keep your two biscuits, as long it is only the 2, for the moment. You'll find it easier to motivate yourself to be good all day if you have a treat to look forward to. You'll find it easier as you go along to not have the biscuits but for the time being don't be too hard on yourself or you'll end up falling off the band wagon.

Also, I recommend you plan your meals. It's harder to snack if you know exactly what you'll be eating and when.

You definately need to up your water intake as with the exercise you are drinking very little. I too was not a water drinker but will always at least drink 1.5ltr's a day. One thing I have noticed is that when before I'd go for a snack, I can now recognise that I'm in fact thirsty and not hungry. This has saved me lots of calories

One thing that my sister advises and she has lost over 2stone is that she never eats anything 3hrs before she goes to bed.

Ok, that's all the wisdom that I can think of,
Best of luck with the weight loss and always remember how far you've come instead of how far you have to go

A.

Dermington

Transform wrote:

That was some of the WORST advice i have ever seen!!!

WARNING

Transform is the fitness forum's version of Mr. Nice Guy

EPO_MAN

Transform wrote:

I am not posting on you i am posting on helping catherine get your own post

Finally - some good advice and opening with you do not eat enough when you are 27% body fat!!! Not a good opener as she is eating plenty just the wrong foods

Well Mr. transform - I reckon she isn't eating enough. I'll bet she gets hungry during the day.
Her diet is a bit miss matched too. A better mix of food would be advised.

Please don't be an asshole by saying crap like "That was some of the WORST advice i have ever seen!!!" cos it's not the worst advice you've ever seen.

The advice to stick that rod in your ass was probably the worst advice you seen and (unfortunatly) taken

EPO_MAN

Catherine - you workout seems comprehensive. losing 30lbs will take time.
not point rushing it cos you want to lose fat not muscle and water.
If you lose weight rapidly then you'll end up lighter in weight but just the same body composition - in other words the same you are now just smaller. And probably end up putting on the weight again.

My betters have told me 2lb a week is the best to lose.
So you're looking at 3- 4 months.
If it's important you could buy a fat burner (loadsa threads on this)- but they won't work too good unless the diet is corrected.

madmurdock

Just reading over Catherine's original post,

Transform - Catherine has estimated that her body fat is 27-28%, no disrespect to Catherine, but this could be way off! It's very difficult to tell body fat without calipers and you're making assumtions that this is correct. Now that i've re-read her diet she is definitely eating too little! Her metabolism has obviously slowed right down due to this, therefore she's finding it hard to burn fat and more then likely with all the cardio she is doing she is burning muscle which again slows down metabolism.

People should not rely on scales so much, it's how your body looks is what's important, instead of using a scales, get naked and use a mirror! At the end of the day you want to look right!

You still think I'm giving sh*t advice transform?

t-ha

For my part I would say to the OP to watch your portion sizes, especially around periods of inactivity (usually the evening times, for example, people get food cravings but aren’t actually very active). Having more of you calories earlier in the day can help reduce these cravings, also I’ve found green tea can be drunk in the evenings to keep away snacky urgings. Also, those digestive biscuits actually pack quite a punch in terms of carb-based calories. Your tea & biscuits before bed could be a bigger meal than you think, especially if you happen to have a third or fourth. Also, the right diet for you should leave you feeling quite energetic during the day, so play with it until this happens. Keep an eye out for the nutritional labels on the backs of foods if you want motivation to stay away from sweets!

catherine22

ok so heres what im thinking 4 my new diet

breakfast 2 weetabix and skimmed milk and apple and mango juice or porridge

mid morning apple or banana

lunch wholemeal pitta bread with tuna and salad and a few nuts and grapes and maybe a yoghurt

mid afternoon peach and a few nuts

dinner (after gym) 2 scrambled eggs and a piece of wholemeal toast

drink 2-3 litres of water a day.

would i be eating enough with this cuz i dont think i could honestly eat more, i dont usually have a big appetite

gym- wise the treadmill instead of the bike, power walking or jogging 4 around 30 mins and then the rowing machine and my weights

EPO_MAN

catherine22 wrote:

ok so heres what im thinking 4 my new diet

breakfast 2 weetabix and skimmed milk and apple and mango juice or porridge

mid morning apple or banana

lunch wholemeal pitta bread with tuna and salad and a few nuts and grapes and maybe a yoghurt

mid afternoon peach and a few nuts

dinner (after gym) 2 scrambled eggs and a piece of wholemeal toast

drink 2-3 litres of water a day.

would i be eating enough with this cuz i dont think i could honestly eat more, i dont usually have a big appetite

gym- wise the treadmill instead of the bike, power walking or jogging 4 around 30 mins and then the rowing machine and my weights

you say you don't have a big appetite (wish i was in your boat!!) but I'd say you dinner should be bigger - especially if you've driven yourself in the gym.

Dunno your exact routine in the gym but if your not in a heap (or close to a heap) at the end of a session you mightn't be achieving the best out of it.

another tip I found useful was doing the weight training first. It'll tire your muscles and mean to achieve your cardio goal you will need to use up my energy.

Hope it helps

t-ha

catherine22 wrote:

...and then the rowing machine and my weights

Just a quick point to note on the rowing machine, - obviously I've never seen you row before so you could be doing it perfectly & if so then don't mind me - alot of people use it wrong and don't get the most out of it. If you think this may be you, or you have never been specifically shown how to use it, get an instructor to show you the correct technique.

Transform

EPO_MAN wrote:

Well Mr. transform - I reckon she isn't eating enough. I'll bet she gets hungry during the day.
Her diet is a bit miss matched too. A better mix of food would be advised.

Please don't be an asshole by saying crap like "That was some of the WORST advice i have ever seen!!!" cos it's not the worst advice you've ever seen.

The advice to stick that rod in your ass was probably the worst advice you seen and (unfortunatly) taken

To both my loving fans (you know who you are) please post pic of you good self up and let all see how effective your program/diet is.

Again its not about me its about her so start new post if you wish

Finally talk is cheep lets see how long she keeps it up and will she keep us informed of her progress?

catherine22

is that a challenge transform??????? cuz if it is, i like the sound of it and i will keep u informed. so far this week ive been to the gym 3 times and intend to go another 2. ive kinda sorted out my diet in that i know what i should be eating but havent got to the shops yet ( ill go on saturday) so at the min im eating healthily but unfortunately its still white pasta, cereal in the morning, etc, but that will all change come the weekend!

Transform

Promises promises promises.

Keep us informed next week

EPO_MAN

Transform wrote:

To both my loving fans (you know who you are) please post pic of you good self up and let all see how effective your program/diet is.

Again its not about me its about her so start new post if you wish

Finally talk is cheep lets see how long she keeps it up and will she keep us informed of her progress?

no probs. don't be too over-awed.

Reyman

catherine22 wrote:

lunchtime, its either another scone or maybe a bagel with turkey and salad.
mid afterrnoon, i will have another cup of tea (but not always)
go to the gym about 5ish in the evenings

Lots of good advice already but I'll just mention that you're going into the Gym at 5ish --- 4 hours after eating a bagel or scone at lunchtime.

You really can't train properly after a four hour fast. You need to get some solid food inside you say around 3.00pm if you're going to train at 5.00pm