Diet/Workout Discussion Thread

[Underdog]

Hey fitness-junkies,

 

I'm 27, male, and currently weigh ~167lbs. About two years ago I got engaged and decided I didn't want to be 220lbs and that "fat/skinny/weak" physique that I had been since early college when I was working out regularly. I promised myself that if I could get my weight down for the long-term by changing my diet first, that I would let myself start trying to put on more lean muscle. I know adding lean muscle would have helped me do that faster, but that is how I chose to do it.

 

Now that I am <170lbs I am back in the gym, and have been for a little over a month. I still have a tiny bit of a gut that I'm working off with a regular 5-day cardio/resistance training routine. On a work day I eat ~1,700 calories from the following foods:

 

- Fruit smoothie w/ 1 scoop of ON Gold whey

- Grapefruit snack @ 10am

- 1 can of tuna w/ celery and onion (and sriarcha hot sauce) for lunch or an avacado on a whole grain bagel thin

- 1oz. of homemade ginger toasted almonds

- Fish (salmon or tilapia) or chicken plus at least two veggies for dinner

- Two more simple whey protein shakes, one pre and one post-workout

 

On the weekends I probably take in a bit more calories, again from fish, chicken, veggies, eggs, fruit, some whole grains. However, I am more active on the weekends doing stuff outside rather than working behind the desk.

 

I feel like I have my diet and protein intake at a good spot, although I would like to add some casein to my last shake of the day. Now I am at the point where I am looking to supplement my diet to make the most of my workouts. I have considered starting a kre alkalyn regimen and adding some BCAA's to my shakes. I have also heard good things about supplementing with glutamine...

 

My goals are to ultimately end up no more than 180lbs, but very lean... as lean as possible in fact. For sports I really only snowboard and dabble with golf, but core strength and "explosive" power are important to me as fitness goals. As such, my 5-day routine includes a day dedicated to core exercises with smaller core workouts mixed into some of the other days, a day of just cardio and stretching, and at least one plyometric exercise for each core muscle group. I tend to do 8-12 reps over 3 sets for each exercise, and 3 or 4 exercises that work different parts of each muscle group.

 

So really what I'm looking for is the experience of people who have been doing this for a while. What can you recommend for my supplement "routine"? Are there any obvious holes in my workout plan?

 

Thanks for the input!

[Underdog]

C'mon... c-lo, I'm lookin at you.

[mbcracken]

Sounds like you are starting out right...

Is there any Crossfit gyms near you? There are usually some pretty good folks to talk to at these gyms. I like how their grassroots feel in getting back to the basics of working out through interval training.

http://crossfit.com/

 

Cheers,

Mike

[RuskiTrombone]

Where are your Kegel exercises?

[Underdog]

There is one about 45 mins from where I live, but my gym is 1 mile down the road, and I can jog or ride my bike there. I had not heard of crossfit before but I glanced at the site you linked and I liked what I saw. Thanks for the tip Mike.

 

I think I need to up my calories a bit. BMR calculators put me at ~2400cal, so I figure with my weight-loss goal and exercise I should be eating at least 2000cal. I'm going to try a 40-30-30 split of calories between carbs, protein and fat. I will have to see how my current diet breaks-down first.

 

*edit* I'm getting my Kegels in right now...

[subiedad51]

I've been doing Crossfit for about 3 months now. The workouts are great, usually 30-40 minutes but extremely intense, not those 2 hours P90x crazy ones. I'm 44 about 5' 8" and started at 178 lbs and 24% bodyfat. I'm now 155 and 14% bodyfat. You won't bulk up but you will be lean and build strength and stamina. I play hockey and I've gotten alot faster and stronger since there is so much leg and core work.

 

And please no old guy jokes!

[Underdog]

Wow, good for you man. 23lbs in 3 months is awesome progress! Those results sound exactly like what I am looking for, just scaled from 5'8" to 6'.

[subiedad51]

Yeah - very happy. I obviously changed my diet as well but nothing crazy. Cut out all the crap after dinners and actually starting eating more meals per day, just less at each one. I'll trade you a few pounds for a few inches of height

[Underdog]

[mbcracken]

Personally, I find a combination of Crossfit and Yoga helps one gain strength and maintain flexibility.

 

subiedad...glad to hear that someone else is in the +40 club here. 42 y.o. myself.

 

Underdog...take a look at someof the diet suggestions on the crossfit.com website. They also have a forum there for further discussion.

 

My only joke about crossfit is that membership should come with your own bucket to puke in.

 

Cheers,

Mike

[subiedad51]

Yes - they are sneaky in that you look at them and say that's not hard. 20 minutes later you wanna hurl! And since most of the workouts are named after people you have to be careful because you start walking around saying things like F-ing Linda kicked my butt today, F-ing Michael

[mbcracken]

Have you done the Filthy Fifty? Anything with massive burpees get me everytime.

 

But we should temper our descriptions as we don't want to scare Underdog away, right?

 

Cheers,

Mike

[LosAngelesLGT]

You need to be eating more. You are not taking in enough fiber and too much protein. Seriously, you are not a teenager anymore. Add a salad every day and maybe an apple too.

 

Lower the weight you are working with and double your reps (will help prevent putting on much mass keeping you lean and mean). Get a jumprope and jump 100 every morning till you can do 200. When I was in prime shape I could do 1000.

 

SWIM SWIM SWIM. If your gym has a pool, start every workout with a swim. It is less fun to swim AFTER the workout.

 

I had 25% strength and mobility from a stage 3 step deformity in my left shoulder from getting T-boned by a drunk driver on my motorcycle. I was in bed for months. Had to rebuild. Swim, swim, swim.

[subiedad51]

Did that one last week. How about the Burpee Pull ups or Burpee box jumps. Fun stuff

 

I do agree that he needs to eat more. I'm eating 5 times a day. You need the protein to rebuild the muscle tissues you're tearing up. When do you typically work out? Also, make you sure you really vary you workout to shock your body. You'll be amazed how quickly the body will get used to the same routine, and while you'll gain aerobic capacity you won't really see any of the changes you're looking for.

[BoxerGT2.5]

You have to add calories. What you've been doing is "cutting", it is very hard to add "mass" during a cut. If the weights your doing you do 3 sets of 8-12 then add weight and start doing 4-5 sets of 6-8.

[Underdog]

Haha, I won't be scared away. Truth is, I'm not open to changing gyms... mine is just too convenient and cheap. (No pool unfortunately) However, I am open to adopting some of their philosophies.

 

I do want to add some more calories but I really don't want to bulk up yet. I'd like to get a bit more lean before changing from my 40-30-30 to a split with more carbs (like a 50-20-30). However, even with the 40-30-30 and trying to keep the calorie deficit, I think I need to add more carbs from whole grains.

 

Oh, and I eat 5 times a day, per the menu in the first post. My workouts are in the evening, usually 1.5hrs, starting at 7PM. I have a plan that has two 5-day cycles, the first 5 days has different exercises for each muscle group than the second 5 days. For example, the first week I might do more incline press and flat/lower flies for chest and on the second week I do flat bar and other fly type exercises to burnout the upper pecs. I also mix it up with dumbbells for my presses to strengthen the stabilizing secondary muscles.

[Underdog]

Just because I love data points...

 

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5527/lbsc.jpg

 

The most recent vertical bar is when I started going to the gym. Before that was a period over the summer where my wife and I did some hardcore dieting and a lot of projects around the house.

[RuskiTrombone]

Maybe I need to cut burgers, pizza and french fries out of my diet. I weight nearly 120lbs more than you. Kegels are not enough exercise for me.

[Underdog]

Only if being ~280 bothers you... all those foods are delicious and it sucks giving them up. I've just reached a point where the reward for abstaining is greater than the reward for eating (and the subsequent food coma).

 

Don't know why but just the word kegel makes me laugh.

[subiedad51]

Everything in moderation. At least with all your kegels you won't be needing Depends anytime soon

[sactojesse]

What you've been doing is "cutting", it is very hard to add "mass" during a cut. If the weights your doing you do 3 sets of 8-12 then add weight and start doing 4-5 sets of 6-8.

Agreed. Use heavier weights and build up your lean muscle mass. Then you'll burn more calories whether you're exercising, sleeping, or taking a dump.

[RuskiTrombone]

Well I've been meaning to eat healthier, but looking at what you are eating, I would throw up. Do your lunch mates ever complain about your stinky food choices?

[Underdog]

I will definitely step up the weight in a few weeks as I transition from the cutting 40-30-30 plan to a building plan. Like I said, I'm trying to get the secondary muscles active again. I noticed a lot of shoulder pain the first week because I went straight to military presses and didn't do any rotator exercises to wake up the atrophied secondary muscles.

 

The tuna is a little stinky but I made sure to ask my office mates before eating it at my desk. No one complains, if they know what's good for them![/roidrage]

 

Avacado doesn't smell at all!

[__KJ__]

First off I would like to add my support for the CrossFit program and the website. I started doing CrossFit while deployed in 2007 and have been off and on since then. The webiste is an excellent resource for all sorts of information, both dietary and exercises, and if you can afford 25 bucks, you can get a year long subscription to the CrossFit Journal which has more information than you would believe on MANY topics. If you're looking for more strength I would also reccomend Coach Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength book and Practical Programming for Strength Training.

 

Hopefully this helps ya!

[Underdog]

Very cool... I will check it out. Thanks!