Some Advice Needed.

lindak

Hi Im new to this. So here i go.

Im a 25 year old female. I weighed around 9 stone 2 up until 11 months ago. I was always very active and decided about 11 months ago to start weight training and increase my excercise. I now do 5 days per week, this entails 3 days weight training and mayb 30 min cardio on weight training days and then the other two days I do cardio solely maybe 50 min - 60 mins cardio. My weight has crept up to 10 stone over the last couple of months and Im a bit confused I know I will have gained muscle but would this be 12 lb in muscle.?Im not looking for a muscular body, just a toned and slim one. I have also been taking slender pro whey protein on weight training days only the last couple of weeks though. I have now changed to Tony Quinn 90+ its a casein protein. So really what im wondering is could I have gained 12 lb in muscle ? Also would casein protein aid fat loss ? Thanks

justsomebloke

ok woman + weight related issue = mine field. (and as g'em will testify to I generally have a tendency to step on a lot of them)
Anyway a few questions.

1) have you dropped any body fat since starting training.

2) what sort of shape where you in before you started lifting

3) what sort of diet do you have and does it vary

4) what are you current weights programme and how much do you lift

5) Bar what may be weight gain do you like how your body looks now compared to how it did look and if not, what is it you aren't happy with

6) from how you are now what are your goals

Vegeta

Can somone gain 12lbs of muscle a year, yes

Did you gain 12lbs of muscle over the course of a year. Absolutely no way of knowing unless you give your bodyfat% at the start and end of that year.

If your bodyfat increased then its not 12 lbs of muscle. So do you think you have put on any fat??

To your second question, why would eating protein make you lose fat? Protein has calories so just adding it to your diet will not help you lose fat

lindak

1) I have never calculated my body fat % , only BMI and I am aware that this is not accurate .
2) I was slim before lifting weights, but i would say that i am more toned now, well i hope I am
3) I have a healthy diet , at the weekends i allow myself treats but during the week i am very strict with myself, I lost 2 & 1/2 stone 5 years ago so I am eager for the fat not to go back on!
4)My weight programme are varied on my 3 weight days, 2 of the day it included lunges with bar and squats. I squat 35 kilo. My weight programme varies will i give you exact workouts ?
5)Im ok with my body at the moment but I feel for the work I put in I should be better .. Maybe this a the problem I have bad expectations ?

In relation to the protein what I thought and I am not an expert I only learning !! is that protein repairs muscle after weight training and produces lean muscle and in turn the more muscle you have the faster the metabolism. ? Should I not be taking protein ?

Vegeta

lindak wrote: »

1) I have never calculated my body fat % , only BMI and I am aware that this is not accurate .

I have never done it either but its probably the best way to make sure that its muscle rather than fat. Yes BMI is a load of sh1te, one of the lads here is classed as grossly over weight just because he is so heavy due to having lots of muscle. it fails miserably to take into account body composition, it just looks at weight, doesn't matter how much is muscle or fat. For the average Joe though who doesn't lift weights or exercise I suppose it might be valid.

4)My weight programme are varied on my 3 weight days, 2 of the day it included lunges with bar and squats. I squat 35 kilo. My weight programme varies will i give you exact workouts ?

Sure why not, the people in the know may be able to help make improvements or suggestions

In relation to the protein what I thought and I am not an expert I only learning !! is that protein repairs muscle after weight training and produces lean muscle and in turn the more muscle you have the faster the metabolism. ? Should I not be taking protein ?

You are dead right about the protein helping to repair muscle and then using more calories because you have more muscle mass.

Apologies, I thought you meant that if you just ate protein suddenly it would start to make you lose fat, obviously you realise that it takes hard and heavy weight lifting in the first place.

well done on the previous weight loss and achievements v:D

lindak

How or where would I be able to calculate my body fat % ??? oh and thanks for the quick replys ! I know I reckon your right about it being for the average joe not lifting weights ?

BossArky

You could try body fat caliphers. To be honest I find them rubbish. Apparently the golden metric is to emerse yourself in water... but that sounds like a bit of hassle.

Vegeta

lindak wrote: »

How or where would I be able to calculate my body fat % ??? oh and thanks for the quick replys ! I know I reckon your right about it being for the average joe not lifting weights ?

to be honest I wouldn't worry about it too much. It would have been cool for yourself to compare todays body fat figures to last years but its probably not much use to you these days.

as the BossArky says the most consistent way is probably a set of calipers. There are electronic machines but the figures they give are not consistent (figures can vary due to hydration levels) so are not the best. At least with a calipers, even if the figure is not accurate, it does show the trend correctly.

by this I mean if you measure yourself with a calipers today and it says you have 15% body fat, it may not actually be 15% exactly but in another 11 months you measure it with the same technique and it is 10% (again you may not be exactly 10%) but the trend will be correct and you are probably down 5% in bodyfat. I hope that's clear. Calipers may not be totally accurate but they are consistent but the electronic ones are neither

again wouldn't worry about it, if you are happy with your look then that's all that counts

lindak

Ok her is my work outs I am 3 weeks int this routine. I will only include my weight training days ok which is 3 days per week

Weight day 1

Warm up Cross trainer 10 min

Squat ( smith machine) 35 kilo reps: 12 sets : 4
* superset flat bench press : bar flat dunbell fly : 6kilo reps : 12 sets
Lunges with barbell 22.5kilo reps: 15 sets 4
Incline dumbell press rotating 7.5 kilo reps 12 sets 3
Aducctor machine weight 35
Abductor machine weight 35

Then compound set ab curl reverse crunches

Weight day 2
warm up as before
Squat ---- as before
lat pulldown wide grip weight 20 reps 12 sets 3
lunges with barbell as before
pulley seated row reps 12 sets3
adductor / abductor as before
upright row with 12.5 kilo barbell reps 12 sets 3
back extentions reps on bench 12 sets 3
compound ab set

Weight day 3
warm up as before

Arnold press 6 kilo reps 12 sets 3
*superset bicep curl standing with barbell 10kilo/tricep pushdown cable reps 12 sets 3
frontal & lateral raise combo 3 kilo reps 12 sets 3
posterior raise reps 12 sets 3

bridges / torso twist etc

may be someone can shed some light on this !! On top of this i do 30 min cardio after each weight session and then two day of 50 - 60 mins cardio only ...

justsomebloke

off topic: by any chance do you train in northwood

lindak

Eh why ? Yep I do ?

justsomebloke

I just had a funny feeling, it is not to often that you come across girls who lung in a squat rack yet actually use the smith machine to squat in. anyway I have a funny feeling I was briefly talking to you last night and suggested that you should squat in the squat rack and not in the smith machine.

lindak

Oh my god yep thats me !! haha no hiding

justsomebloke

ok back on topic, I'll just be slightly more careful with my words now:D

ok you say you where very active before and that you lost a good bit of weight (even though it was quite a while ago), so I have a funny feeling that you may have had a slightly lower lean body mass then you should of had and now that you are taking your diet a bit more seriously as well as your training that you have put the lean body mass on and maybe added a bit more.

The one thing you will have to remember now that you are weight training is that you are going to have to rethink how you use the scales. Cause due to the lean mass which will help give you a good figure and the "toned" look it can adversely effected what you image to be a good weight as women generally feel they should be a lower weight rather then the more important factor which is how good you look.

truthfully I am probably better off not giving my opinion of how you look as then my girlfriend my get the wrong idea or I may offend you and it may also make me look even smarier then people think I am:D

but actually no you look good so I wouldn't be to worried about the extra weight

lindak

Well thanks , Im not looking to lose weight., I just want to be in the best shape I can. Yep I lost weight 5 years ago and have kept it off but was mainly doing cardio, so the last 12 months I have started weight training ! Im really njoying it, but yep I have realised that I cant really go by the scales as its not accurate for me. So I tend to measure my self. So whats your opinion on the protein im taking ?

justsomebloke

lindak wrote: »

So whats your opinion on the protein im taking ?

ye I noticed yesterday that you had a mixer on you and I was actually wondering what you had in it as you are the only women I have seen with one.
but On topic truthfully I can't say with out knowing what the rest of your diet is like. So post up the rest of your diet

But post workout the slender pro is probably better then the tony quinn stuff (generally we are mostly very anti Tony Quinn here). This is due to the fact that after a weights session you need to get a fast digesting protein into you so slender pro (which I think is whey based) is better then 90+, as whey is quick digesting protein where as casein is a slow digesting protein.
Generally post weights workout it is best to have a combination of simple carbs and fast digesting protein to replace the muscle glycogen stores which have been used up. For this I use a product called RAM but even something like adding some fruit post workout would be beneficial

lindak

My diet oh god. Ok this goes for every week day

Breakfast - linseed , seasame seed, oat bran mixed with low fat yogart banana and strawberry

11oclock- apple & 2 mandarin

Lunch - sandwich or beans and toast or soup and bread or salad and wholemeal pitta ( all bread i eat is brown wholemeal bread)

3.30 / 4 oclock - apple and shake if weight training day
after weight training i immediatley take another protein shake

8 oclocl dinner - pasta chicken peppers and pesto / fish baby potatoe veg / stir fry ....

snack - apple / handfull of pisstachio / cashews

That would be monday to fri

sat or sunday I would maybe go for a meal, I am not a strict at the weekend !!

justsomebloke

ok what I will suggest for this evening light reading is the diet and nutrition sticky at the top of the forum as there is a shed load of info in it so go read this and if nobody has gotten back to you in the mean time I will get back to you tomorrow but the one stand out thing I would note is the general lack of protein in your diet. you seem to get more protein from shakes then whole foods

oh and the link to the sticky is

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054886861

lindak

Ok cheers , sure mayb il see ya in the gym tommorrow !

justsomebloke

nah it will be monday as it is all home gym days for me till saturday morning

lindak

Just bumping this up so that it not lost ! still looking for some advice cheers

Transform

Breakfast - linseed , seasame seed, oat bran mixed with low fat yogart banana and strawberry

Have natural yoghurt only

11oclock- apple & 2 mandarin

Have one piece of fruit - you are eating again in 2 hrs anyway

Lunch - sandwich or beans and toast or soup and bread or salad and wholemeal pitta ( all bread i eat is brown wholemeal bread)

Drop the bread totally and go for salads with chicken, tuna or eggs

3.30 / 4 oclock - apple and shake if weight training day
after weight training i immediatley take another protein shake

Take one shake after weights only (the tony quinn one is not the best)
fruit and some nuts other wise

8 oclocl dinner - pasta chicken peppers and pesto / fish baby potatoe veg / stir fry ....

Drop the pasta and potatoes totally and have a main protein source with tons of veg (non root based)

snack - apple / handfull of pisstachio / cashews

That would be monday to fri

sat or sunday I would maybe go for a meal, I am not a strict at the weekend !

No major slips at weekend - just don't blow all your progress and stay off the foods listed above

justsomebloke

ok the main points to note in your diet are the lack of protein and to a lesser extent the lack of good fats. I would also maybe try and cut down on the amount of starchy carbs that you have.

So try and get some protein into you at every meal. If you look at your diet the first time you may get protein into you is at lunch and even then chances are that it mightn't be a whole lot either.

So for breakfast maybe try and have one of your 2 shakes then or incorporate eggs into your breakie. Also be careful with the low fat yoghurt as quite a few of them can be high in sugar to compensate for the lack of fat so try and get a fat free one

Then for 11 0'clock snack add some nuts in as well.

For your main lunch make sure you are getting a good quality protein source into you so something like chicken or turkey breast or some beef if possible. I would also try and lean towards having salads with some good quality oil or milled flax seed instead or sandwiches or beans and toast.

Then as you have moved the other shake to breakfast then either have some more nuts or another small salad.

then on weights days maybe include some some simple carbs with your post workout shake.

For dinner the one thing I would keep an eye on is portion size as people often tend (me included) to eat more then they should.

I would also suggest that for a couple of weeks use something like www.fitday.com to track how much you are eating and what the macro split of it is. i.e. the split of carbs:protein:fats. As it can be quite useful to see how much you are actually eating.


Other then that drop the abducter machines and maybe think of taking up some form of deadlifting into your programme actually I might look at your programme again and get back to you as ther maybe some tweaking needed to it

lindak

Thanks for all replies !! I do know that i need to be taking in more protein so thats top of this list for me !! I had boiled eggs at lunch today. And il take it from there ! can I ask what is the problem with tony quinn casein protein ? and his products in general ??