Nutrition for weight loss and training

Stargazer7

Hello all!

I don't know if you can help me here as what I am trying to achieve may be a bit unreasonable but here goes:

I am a 23 yr old female, 5'5" and 11stone on my last weigh in. I have been up as far as 13 stone due to depression but I have managed to lose the weight healthily and keep it off. However, I have reached a plateau and want to lose another stone and a half ideally. I am carrying a bit of muscle so it might be better to post my bodyfat % but that'll have to wait for another day!

I trained for 12 weeks for the half marathon in Kildare in May and since then have taken a bit of a break from running and have taken up some resistance training. My plan is to lose weight, get stronger and then give the Dublin marathon training a good lash in time for October. However, I'm really struggling with my diet as I am a bit of an emotional eater.

Could any of you suggest a good diet plan to adhere to for the time being while I try to lose some of the weight? I have about 3 weeks to a month before I start into proper marathon training. I would like to continue losing weight in that time but I'm not sure how easy it would be in terms of eating enough carbs to refuel while still losing lbs.

Thanks for your help and let me know if there's any info you need.

MadMardegan

Stargazer7 wrote: »

Hello all!

I don't know if you can help me here as what I am trying to achieve may be a bit unreasonable but here goes:

I am a 23 yr old female, 5'5" and 11stone on my last weigh in. I have been up as far as 13 stone due to depression but I have managed to lose the weight healthily and keep it off. However, I have reached a plateau and want to lose another stone and a half ideally. I am carrying a bit of muscle so it might be better to post my bodyfat % but that'll have to wait for another day!

I trained for 12 weeks for the half marathon in Kildare in May and since then have taken a bit of a break from running and have taken up some resistance training. My plan is to lose weight, get stronger and then give the Dublin marathon training a good lash in time for October. However, I'm really struggling with my diet as I am a bit of an emotional eater.

Could any of you suggest a good diet plan to adhere to for the time being while I try to lose some of the weight? I have about 3 weeks to a month before I start into proper marathon training. I would like to continue losing weight in that time but I'm not sure how easy it would be in terms of eating enough carbs to refuel while still losing lbs.

Thanks for your help and let me know if there's any info you need.

What does your current meal plan look like?

Stargazer7

It's a bit all over the shop to be honest- I live in a house with people who eat a fair bit of junk food so it's always around. I want to just start afresh with a set plan so that I can just stick to it and won't be tempted to wander.

Today I had:

Breakfast: Porridge for breakfast - made with water. Added some low fat milk and sweetener.

Lunch: mixed leaf salad with 1/2 avocado, 1 orange, ~10 pecans and a drizzle of olive oil. 3 ryvita

Dinner : More mixed leaves, beetroot, 3 egg omlette with sundried tomatoes, onion and about 30g of cheese.

Snacks: 1 grapefruit, pear orange and ~5 almonds. 1 cupcake from yesterday's baking. I know I need to cut this out in any diet plan I have. I know how to cook healthily but I just need to get a handle on how much I eat and cut out the mad snacking.

I did resistance training today and have been doing it on average 3 times a week since I started a few weeks ago.

laurenm94

I posted pretty much this same advice on another thread started by bubblypop btw so don't be surprised if you see it again.

Breakfast does seem a little small. You may need to bulk it up a little bit as this is the meal that starts your metabolism and is the key meal if you want to lose weight. Use low fat milk instead of water. It will keep you satisfied for longer and add maybe a teaspoon of peanut butter.
Your snacks are not mad so don't worry. In fact you should look at increasing them and making sure that you are eating every three-four hours. Try to have a protein based snack at least once a day (some nuts or cheese perhaps). It will help your resistance training and will keep for from being hungry. Calcium is also important as the more you exercise, the stronger your bones become and a good intake of calcium will help this. If you take calcium tablets make sure they have vit D with them as this will help your body absorb it properly.

I also say that you should probably re introduce carbohydrates into your diet. Your brain uses 500 calories of glucose a day just from sitting around the house all day watching TV. It will be even more when your are working. Then the rest of your organs also require glucose as well so adding it up your body needs carbohydrates even if you are losing weight. Try to fit in at least one-two serving of carbohydrates into your meals. (so instead of ryvita have some potatoes or a piece of bread. Ryvita, though people call it a cracker is mostly air and does not contribute much energy to your body.In fact it will probably make you crave food even more and contribute to binging) It will be better and healthier for your body and mind in the long run.
Also when you are finally off the diet your body will suddenly crave carbohydrates as it has been deprived of them for so long and may cause you to binge and you don't want to risk ruining your hard work.

You will also get the most benefit out of your exercise of you eat carbohydrates because these carbohydrates will be burned off as you use the energy instead of all the protein you are eating. This protein is then free to be used to build muscle, tone and generally repair your body. Then the more muscles you build the more calories you automatically burn because muscle is the highest calorie burning tissue in your body, except for your brain.

I would also recommend that if you are set on building a lot of muscle to stop weighin yourself as your may get disheartened at the reading. Your scales may tell you that you weigh alot but in reality it is just the muscle. Better to concentrate on body fat %.

I think even if you are concentrating on resistance exercise at the moment, think about keeping up a little bit of cardio, this could just be going for a gentle jog every couple of days.
With the amount you are exercising I would certainly make sure you never eat below 1500 calories. Or else you will never have enough energy to build muscle. Aim for between 1500-1800. 1800 on days you exercise. Then make sure you go back up slowly to 2000 when you are off your diet.

And finally, don't worry about the cupcake. It's perfectly fine to have a treat every once and a while. I know some people who have worked a scoop of ice cream into their diet plans everyday and they have not gained weight and in fact it stopped them binging because they were no longer craving sugar. If you are prone to craving junk food you should perhaps look at this technique.

I hope all of this helps

Lauren

gymfreak

I think your diet is lacking in protein. Protein is needed for repairing and growth of tissues but at the same time it actually fills you up for longer.

My suggestions to you would be to..
1. Read the stickies..there is an abundance of information in there from a lot of really qualified people.

2. Use the stickies to figure out how many kcals you should be eating if your goal is weightloss.

3. Log on to myfitnessplan.com and track your kcals here so you know what you're eating.

4. Try to make sure you are getting 1g of protein per lb bodyweight.

and then re-read the stickies:)

laurenm94

gymfreak wrote: »

I think your diet is lacking in protein. Protein is needed for repairing and growth of tissues but at the same time it actually fills you up for longer.

My suggestions to you would be to..
1. Read the stickies..there is an abundance of information in there from a lot of really qualified people.

2. Use the stickies to figure out how many kcals you should be eating if your goal is weightloss.

3. Log on to myfitnessplan.com and track your kcals here so you know what you're eating.

4. Try to make sure you are getting 1g of protein per lb bodyweight.

and then re-read the stickies:)

This is good advice as well, myfitnessplan is good for kcal tracking (it allows your mind to not get bogged down with all the counting)

I forgot to mention it in my original post, like gymfreak said more protein, have it every meal, along with a carbohydrate.

gymfreak

laurenm94 wrote: »

This is good advice as well, myfitnessplan is good for kcal tracking (it allows your mind to not get bogged down with all the counting)

I forgot to mention it in my original post, like gymfreak said more protein, have it every meal, along with a carbohydrate.

I get the majority of my carbs from fruits and vegetables and I function and train really well this way. A lot of people tend to overconsume carbohydrates because they are fixated on the old idea of the 'food pyramid'. The old food pyramid is FAR from ideal and I myself avoid bread, pasta, cereals, potatoes etc.

Like I said OP, check out the stickies they give very clear guidelines on what you should be eating from a variety of knowledgable people.

laurenm94

Fruit and vegetable sugars aren't even close to the same benefits of sugars from startchy carbs. I believe fully in the nutritional benefit of having an alround balanced diet with bits of everything and not cutting anything out, keeping fats, carbohydrates, protein and everything. We are omnivores, our bodies we made to consume a wide range of foods and types of biomolecules and cutting a type out isn't good for us.

That's just my opinion, and you obviously believe differently gymfreak and I'm not your dietician so it's your own decision and fair enough.
And OP it's always good to get different opinions and decide what works for you.

laurenm94

Also yes the food pyramid is a bit out of date and they do have people working on a new, easier to understand one....

Stargazer7

Thanks for your input guys.

Had a good day today - it's nice to get back into more "clean eating" so to speak. It's all about having the right foods in the cupboards/fridge for me and drinking more water. I bought a good bit of lean meat today along with plenty of veg and some nuts so I'm hoping for a new start.

Here's what I got up to today:

Breakfast: 40g porridge, 200ml milk. 1Tbsp sweetener, 125g blueberries 326cals


(missed lunch so ended up compensating with snacks)


Dinner: 200g lean beef, half an avocado, mixed salad, ½ pepper, 10g of cheese ~600cals


Snacks: 9 almonds, 9 walnuts, 1 grapefruit, low fat natural yogurt and berries 370cals


2 cups of tea + milk ~50cals


Total: 1346cals


Did a light jog for a few kms today and a fair bit of walking so overall pretty happy. Also resisted the temptation to have a drink when out with friends - had a lovely black coffee instead.

I think I'm going to avoid bread and pasta for now - I'll have some sweet potatoes tomorrow in a curry I'm making. I find it easier to cut them out altogether and I want to see what difference cutting out most of the wheat from my diet will have.

gymfreak

laurenm94 wrote: »

Fruit and vegetable sugars aren't even close to the same benefits of sugars from startchy carbs. I believe fully in the nutritional benefit of having an alround balanced diet with bits of everything and not cutting anything out, keeping fats, carbohydrates, protein and everything. We are omnivores, our bodies we made to consume a wide range of foods and types of biomolecules and cutting a type out isn't good for us.

Laurenm94, although you are trying to be helpful, I do feel that you may be misinformed a little. Just as you stated above I completely believe in having a balanced diet without cutting out bitts of anything..my diet contains protein(meat, fish, eggs) fats (walnut oil, nuts, seeds) and carbs(every type of vegetable under the sun...I really do like my veg:D).
You stated above

Fruit and vegetable sugars aren't even close to the same benefits of sugars from startchy carbs.

What are these benefits?

Also

We are omnivores, our bodies we made to consume a wide range of foods and types of biomolecules and cutting a type out isn't good for us.

Well actually, I was suggesting that she cuts out low quality foods that out bodies' were not made to digest effieciently. There is numerous reasons why I myself limit grains in my diet. A few quick reasons would be
* Anything I can get from a grain, I can get elsewhere, from a much more nutritious source.
*Grains are a fairly 'modern' food source. Our ancestors were hunter gathers they hunted wild animals and fish and ate berries, fruits and other plants...I think they survived perfectly fine on this diet if we're still here to tell the tale.:)
*Grains are an inflammatory food and they irritate the gut.
*And probably the most important reason for people dieting to try to avoid.......overconsumption of grains is very easy. Grains give a quick burst of energy, spiking an insulin response and this 'quick' energy disappears nearly as quick as it came..leaving you craving more, more and more!

laurenm94 wrote: »

That's just my opinion, and you obviously believe differently gymfreak and I'm not your dietician so it's your own decision and fair enough.
And OP it's always good to get different opinions and decide what works for you.

Absolutely laurenm94, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and it's best to find out what works for you.

Here's a website that advocates eating a varied, balanced, healthy diet. http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/

meijin

the new, simplified food "pyramid"