Lowering Body Fat. How can I improve?

[Fung]

First off let me state my goals. I want to have a lean model physique (think Brad Pitt in fight club). Ideally I'd like to get my body fat sub 10%.

3 weeks ago I started getting very serious about my diet. I cut out drinking alcohol, dairy, and coffee (I miss this more than anything!), eating beef, pork, fried foods, unhealthy carbs, or any food that is generally associated with unhealthy. My weight at the time was 180lbs (I'm 6'). I also started taking from GNC 2x a day. I had one in the morning and one in the afternoon before I go workout (generally around 5pm), also 2 caplets of in the morning.

Listed below is my diet for the first 2 weeks.

Breakfast: Protein shake (1 scoop of whey powder, frozen strawberries, banana, ice and water.) Sometimes 28gs of oatmeal with raisins.

Snack #1: Generally apple or some fruit with Jif reduced fat peanut butter. If I was still hungry I would have a handful of raw almonds.

Lunch: Generally left over’s from dinner the night before. Chicken, turkey, or fish is what I use as my meat. My general guideline for cooking dinner and lunch is nothing fried, low carbs, no butter, no salt. If I make pasta I use wheat pasta. I like to use men’s health recipes.

Snack #2: Low sugar granola bar or more fruit.

Dinner: Reference lunch.

Before this I did WODs. Which is basically a full body workout. I've completely changed my routine. I now lift 3x a week (chest/arms, shoulders/back, legs), cardo 4x a week (alternating between rowing, running, stairs, bike and swimming), and abs everyday for 20 minutes. When I started lifting I focused on doing 2 sets for 15-20 reps.

Last week I went on a detox diet eating only vegetables with the exception of bananas and raisins also taking GNCs 7 day detox kit. For snacks I ate raw vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, or celery with a little peanut butter. For my morning shake I added a scoop of . I substituted my meat with Tofu. Which I hated!!! I hope I never have to eat that again.

I will now blend my pre-vegetable and all vegetable diet. I really enjoy raw carrots! My question is where do I need to improve to get my body fat % to my goal? Should I be having post workout protein shakes? Yesterday I did my abs, chest and then went swimming for 30 minutes. I made a protein shake afterwards that consisted of 1 scoop of whey protein, 1 scoop of vegesplash, 1 banana, honey, ice and water. It was delicious and I felt great. Definitely gave me energy because I was exhausted after the workout. For lifting I will now work on doing 3 sets for 20-25 reps while continuing my normal cardio workout.

I now weight 165. So I've lost 15lbs in 3 weeks. I look and feel great. I went from a 34 waist to a 32. However last week I used LA Fitness body fat machine. You hold it in your hands; I don't know the name of it. It said I had 14% body fat! What the hell! I'm not sure how accurate the machine is but it's a lot higher than I thought (I had around 14-15% to start the year). Any comments or suggestions would be great appreciated. I don’t want to weight any less than 160lbs. My goal is to cut body fat and have muscle tone!

Thank you!

 

[dgoff]

By the sounds of things, you've been at this routine for 3 weeks and you expect to have the body of Brad Pitt?!?! Let's get realistic here...

You have lost 15 pounds in 3 weeks? That is a very fast pace especially considering you weighed 180 pounds and are 6' tall. A healthy weight to lose each week is 1-2 pounds. I don't care what it says on The Biggest Loser, 1-2 pounds is what you should be shooting for each week.

I can't believe that people are buying into this whole "detox the body" crap! Your body "detoxes" itself on its own! Any crap you put in you is either harming you or is a placebo. A diet consisting of only veggies, bananas, and raisins is NOT HEALTHY! There is a food pyramid for a reason! See mypyramid.gov for more information...

Not only is your diet wrong, now you're doing 3 sets of 20-25?!?! Someone wake me, I'm in a horrible dream! You might as well just stick to running on a treadmill because reps that high in number is strictly cardio. Stick to 8-12 reps for muscle gain. There are numerous studies that point to that range being the maximum for muscle gain while minimizing the risk of injury.

My advice to you:
1. Stay out of GNC. Salesmen in there are just that - Salesmen. They would sell you dirt in a bottle if they made it. Remember, GNC used to sell Ephedra products (which has now been banned because it's been deemed dangerous and life threatening to consume). Most of the stuff in there is NOT FDA approved. Know what you're putting into your body. You only have 1.
2. Eat like a normal human being. Eat a normal, balanced diet. Carbs are not the enemy. Being healthy comes down to two principals - Exercise more, Eat Less (Calories). 3500 calories = 1 lb. If you cut your calories by 500 each day, you will lose 1 lb/week. That's all there is to it. The carb craze is crap. It call comes down to calories.
3. Keep your reps at 8-12.
4. A body like Brad Pitt doesn't happen overnight (or in 3 weeks). It takes time, discipline, and determination.

 

[Fung]

By the sounds of things, you've been at this routine for 3 weeks and you expect to have the body of Brad Pitt?!?! Let's get realistic here...

You have lost 15 pounds in 3 weeks? That is a very fast pace especially considering you weighed 180 pounds and are 6' tall. A healthy weight to lose each week is 1-2 pounds. I don't care what it says on The Biggest Loser, 1-2 pounds is what you should be shooting for each week.

I can't believe that people are buying into this whole "detox the body" crap! Your body "detoxes" itself on its own! Any crap you put in you is either harming you or is a placebo. A diet consisting of only veggies, bananas, and raisins is NOT HEALTHY! There is a food pyramid for a reason! See mypyramid.gov for more information...

Not only is your diet wrong, now you're doing 3 sets of 20-25?!?! Someone wake me, I'm in a horrible dream! You might as well just stick to running on a treadmill because reps that high in number is strictly cardio. Stick to 8-12 reps for muscle gain. There are numerous studies that point to that range being the maximum for muscle gain while minimizing the risk of injury.

My advice to you:
1. Stay out of GNC. Salesmen in there are just that - Salesmen. They would sell you dirt in a bottle if they made it. Remember, GNC used to sell Ephedra products (which has now been banned because it's been deemed dangerous and life threatening to consume). Most of the stuff in there is NOT FDA approved. Know what you're putting into your body. You only have 1.
2. Eat like a normal human being. Eat a normal, balanced diet. Carbs are not the enemy. Being healthy comes down to two principals - Exercise more, Eat Less (Calories). 3500 calories = 1 lb. If you cut your calories by 500 each day, you will lose 1 lb/week. That's all there is to it. The carb craze is crap. It call comes down to calories.
3. Keep your reps at 8-12.
4. A body like Brad Pitt doesn't happen overnight (or in 3 weeks). It takes time, discipline, and determination.

Absolutely not. I am simply stating my goal. I expect to be at this as long as it takes.

At no point did I feel bad or unhealthy during the 3 weeks. I ate 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, every day. It did seem fast, but I also was working out every day and cutting out a lot of bad parts of my diet (alcohol, fried foods, blue cheese burgers, etc..).

I want muscle tone not necessarily muscle mass. I see your point and I haven't started yet!!!

As far as GNC is concerned that's very interesting info. Do you not subscribe to multivitamins? If so, who do you go with?

It's hard for me to gauge the proper amount of calories because I don't know how much I'm exactly burning. I read you burn about 100 calories every hour doing normal functions. So that's a minimum of 2400 calories a day. Every day I do abs for 20 minutes. For cardio I do about 30-40 minutes and the same amount of time for lifting.

Eating like a normal human being can be a challenge. Can I really eat whatever I want and still get the results I want? I like the amount of time I spend in the gym everyday so I want to make sure my diet works with that. Yes we all know the Michael Phelps breakfast of 10k calories or something ridiculous. It sounds like it would be good for me to have at least 1 "fun" meal a week (burger and fries). I see now I need to have more healthy fats and carbs into my diet. I guess the post workout protein shake wouldn’t hurt either!

I have the time, discipline, and determination. Hell look what I put myself through the past 3 weeks! I'm willing to do whatever it takes. Obviously I'm way off course on the diet.

 

[dgoff]

Sorry if I came off rude, but I am flabbergasted by people who take supplements without doing research into what is actually going into their body. I do take vitamins. I take One-A-Day Active. I avoid the One-A-Day Energy because of the caffeine. I've got not no problem with supplements as long as you know what the short term and long term effects are. As I said before, you have to know what you're putting into your body because you only have 1.

Muscle tone = muscle mass. You cannot get one without the other. This is a common misconception. You will receive your best results (while minimizing risk of injury) by sticking to 8-12 reps.

Try this link to determine your calorie needs:
(I can't submit links until I have made 15 posts)
Search Google for calculate my calorie consumption needs and click the top result.

Having one "fun" day a week sounds reasonable. But eating healthy does not have to mean eating things that you don't enjoy. Your Men's Health magazine should be full of healthy meals that also taste good too. A quick google search should yield similar results. Just remember, you are not on a diet. Diets do not work. Diets are temporary. What you need to focus on is that you are making a life change. This is how you're going to live your life. Only then will changes be permanent.