Sport need more help with diet plan (pic included)

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NeuroRN76

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OK, I read the Nutrition 101 thread, which was extremely helpful, but it stopped at Carbs, and that's kind of what I need to know.

I've changed my goals a bit since I've last written. To refresh your memory, I am going to be 31 (next Sunday!)... I'm 5' 6", and currently weigh about 114. I started out at 118, got down to 112, which was great, but somehow I gained 2 pounds back. (In one week!) I'm having my thyroid checked again, as I may need an increase in my Synthroid. But I think I know why I gained back 2 pounds. Because I'd be so busy on the weekends, that I'd barely eat. I'm sure I was consuming less than 500 calories per day on weekends, and that's being generous. (I didn't do it on purpose, sometimes you just get busy and forget to take care of yourself, you know.) So when I'd get back to work on Monday, and the girls were ordering fast food or pizza, I'd say "what the heck, I can afford it, I barely ate the last few days." So I'd over-indulge for a day or two. And I think I was probably in "starvation mode" at that point, so my body just kept it as fat. (Am I right? Still new to this. Even though I'm a nurse, I don't know squat about nutrition. I can save your life if your heart stops beating, but ask me about dieting and you're outta luck.)

OK, so back to the drawing board. I'm not so concerned about losing those few pounds. I don't think I look bad. Actually I might even look too thin. I have a small frame so even a few pounds of weight loss looks pretty drastic. Here's a pic of me from Labor Day. It might help to see what I look like compared to other women who are at healthy weights. (Mind you, these women are 10 years my junior!!) I'm second from the left in the grey corset-style shirt.

Despite being thin, the weight I do have is still fat weight, not muscle weight. "Skinny fat" as you call it. Ever since I had my son 11 years ago, I've have an ample rear end, and jiggly thighs. There is nothing "toned" or "firm" about my body. At all. (I'd like to keep my breasts but I suppose that won't happen, huh.) I want to start exercising slowly. (This was okay'd by my doctor.) I figure I'll start with 15 minutes of cardio (trying the elliptical) and work my way up to 30 min. Then do 30 min of weights to tone the muscle. I will do this 3 days per week, since I get enough cardio at work the other 3 days per week, and I'd like rest on Sundays. I understand that I need an increase of protein to feed my muscles, but how much carbs should I be getting?

I found this info:

"The United States Department of Agriculture suggests that approximately 50 percent of your calories come from carbohydrates, about 30 percent from fats, and approximately 20 percent from protein sources. One gram of protein has about four calories, one gram of fat has about nine calories, and one gram of carbohydrate has about four calories."

But 50% of my calories coming from carbs?? Doesn't that seem like a lot? I would like to eat a low carb/high protein diet. I want to burn off the "skinny fat" areas, and strengthen/tone muscle all over. I suppose I would need to BUILD some muscle first, as I seem to have none. I just don't want to look "muscular." I like to look feminine and soft. :)

Any suggestions on how many grams of carbs and proteins I would need per day to reach my goal? I guess I don't really have a "goal weight" anymore -- I just want to look healthy. I could look healthy at any weight up to 120 pounds, so the numbers on the scale don't really matter. I just want to look toned, no jiggly stuff anywhere!

Sorry for the long post!!! You know I'm sorta long-winded, forgive me. :eek:
 
OK, so now I found this article that says you really can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

I want you to know THIS IS REALLY FRUSTRATING, and this is the biggest reason why I always give up. It seems like nothing I do is right. I don't want to get skinnier. I just want to lose a little bit of fat in a few areas, and I know I can't spot reduce, so I have to just do cardio to burn generalized fat all over... but I want to have some muscles too. I really can't do this at the same time??

Grrrr, it's making me crazy!

OK, then. If it's counterproductive to do both at the same time, then what first? Work on gaining weight and building muscle, then lose weight once I have muscles? What if I don't gain muscle... and I just get fatter. I don't know how you all do it. It's too difficult!!!!!!
 
NeuroRN76 said:
It might help to see what I look like compared to other women who are at healthy weights. (Mind you, these women are 10 years my junior!!) I'm second from the left in the grey corset-style shirt.
Click to expand...

:yelrotflmao:
I saw the picture first, thought 'I hope she's the fit one in the corset' and then read the text.
I'm probably not the right person to give you advice about losing the couple of pounds but I thought I'd reply just to let you know that you have a killer body and shouldn't be worried about losing a couple of pounds. You look the thinnest of the women in that picture so maybe you just have a problem seeing what's really there?
 
CCR said:
:yelrotflmao:
I saw the picture first, thought 'I hope she's the fit one in the corset' and then read the text.
I'm probably not the right person to give you advice about losing the couple of pounds but I thought I'd reply just to let you know that you have a killer body and shouldn't be worried about losing a couple of pounds. You look the thinnest of the women in that picture so maybe you just have a problem seeing what's really there?
Click to expand...

LOL, you're not helping! ;)

I AM the thinnest, but not the fittest. They all have killer bodies, but like I said, they're all 21 and never had children. I don't expect to regain my youth, but some muscles would be nice! I can see that I don't need to lose weight, but I bet if I posted pics of my butt (not happening) you'd probably feel differently. It's like the weight I do have, (butt/thighs) is all mushy weight. Thin, but flabby. I want to be soft, yet have some muscles too. I am, by far, a huge advocate for curvy women. I love curves, I am NOT into the waif look whatsoever. I just wish my curves were a bit more muscular, and the few problem areas would just melt away. Wishful thinking.
 
Ah, OK, I mis-understood your post a little. VERY glad to hear you prefer curves to the waif look.

With regards to the whole 'can't lose weight and build muscle at the same time debate'. While I agree that optimal muscle gains require a calorie surplus, most people can gradually change their body composition by eating at around their maintenance level of calories and lifting properly.
Start hitting your squats and deadlifts and you'll see improvement
 
OK, so most calorie calculators that I've come across say I need 1800 cal/day to maintain this weight. So you're saying if I eat 1800 cal per day (with lots of protein), I should be able to build some muscle and lose some fat too? I understand I couldn't do that if I was grossly overweight, but we're talking minor areas that just need a little work.

Then my next question is... do I count my job as exercise or not? This has always gotten conflicting opinions. Someone told me that my body is so used to it, that it doesn't count anymore.. that I have to work above and beyond that to make it count. But walking for 6 hours per night, 3x per week seems like too much to discount entirely. (Actually it's more like 8 hours on my feet, but since a lot of it is "stop and go" I just average it out to 6 hrs.) If I count it as exercise, that changes the number of calories I need drastically. I've been doing this type of work for 6-7 years, so yes, I'm "used to it" but it's still expending energy and burning calories, yes? Or can your body really "plateau" and stop burning calories once you've been in the same routine for so long?

Sorry I've gotten off track from "nutrition." I would still like an answer on the carb/protein content of my diet!

Edited to add: I tried squats/lunges ONE time...sprained my muscle so bad, I was limping for 3 days. Not sure if I wanna try that again! lol
 
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Walking around for 6 hours certainly needs to be taken into account with your calories. I personally wouldn't count it as exercise either but you'll be using up far more calories than if you'd been sat down all day.

In my opinion (and it just an opinion :)) someone like you who's happy with their weight but wants a little more muscle, can achieve their goals without increasing or decreasing calories. Just stick to your heavy compounds and force your body to adapt.
 
Your body will burn calories by walking around or doing whatever, no matter how long you've done it.

If your weight has been stable, then what you've been eating is your maintenance level at that level of activity. It should be straightforward to calculate the calories in it.

For me, 6 meals a day and low glycemic index carbs does wonders for building muscle with very little fat gain, even if I'm above maintenance calories.
 
Thanks for the clarification on exercise. Nicolasd, as for "what I've been eating" -- I've been eating junk for the last 30 years. It's only now that I'm older that it doesn't just magically burn off. If I continued to eat all that junk, I would definitely have a weight problem. So I have to change my whole lifestyle. The other day I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted, and decided to count the calories later... I was shocked to see that I consumed 2300 calories in one day! :eek: (It was the Frisco Melt that did me in. 1173 calories in that little sandwich!!) So I really do have to watch what I eat, or else I'll go overboard. (I love to eat... especially when I'm bored.) When I count my calories, I usually do a pretty good job, but I'm also thinking about food all day long, and when I'll be able to eat next. It's annoying. That's the biggest reason I'm looking forward to working out, because I get to EAT more.

A lot of the girls at work are on Weight Watchers, and they say they're allowed to eat as many fruits and vegetables as they want. Apparently they "don't count." You gotta be kidding me. I can put away some fruits and veggies, OF COURSE they have to count! There are a lot of calories in some of those, how can they not count? That may be why none of these women are losing weight! I count EVERYTHING that goes in my mouth into my daily intake. Healthy food or not, it counts. Is that what you guys do?
 
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Whatever you've been eating, junk or not, if your weight is stable then your average daily consumption is your maintenance. Don't look at the worst days, or the days when you're dieting, but at the average. If you're on average eating more or less than your maintenance, your weight would have changed.

If you can't get a reliable figure from that, then you have to estimate what your daily activities account for and then factor it into your estimated maintenance, and then adjust it if you're not seeing the results you want.

Weight Watchers and so on use a system that is simpler and easier than weighing everything and calculating the nutrition, but the system is only a soft approximation that for many people turn out to let them keep a stable weight. As far as I know food gets points based not only on nutrition, but also on how full it makes you and so on, so some stuff might be "free" because even though it contains calories, it gets people so full they don't feel like eating pizza afterwards ;) Imo it's a poor system for getting a fit and lean body, but it's fine for overweight people who want to get closer to a normal weight.

Weighing stuff is the right way to go. Everything counts, though many veggies don't have any meaningful amount of calories, especially the fibrous ones which generally don't have anything you can burn.
 
Thanks, all good info. It's starting to sink in, I promise. ;)

I was thinking, with all the walking I do on the job, maybe I don't really NEED any more cardio if I want to build some muscle. I just wanted to try the elliptical because it looks fun. :) Or maybe I'll just "warm up" with a little cardio. (Or cool down with some swimming.) I'll get this figured out eventually.

Also, to build muscle, I will probably need to do this more than 30 min, 3 times per week, huh? What would you suggest for a newbie who's never lifted weights before (except for a few weeks last year)... an hour per session, 5 days per week?

And what do you think of protein bars, good for you? I'm trying to find more sources of protein.

(Again, sorry for getting off the original topic!!)
 
30 minutes 3 times a week isn't ideal but you can build a lot of muscle if you use the time right. I only workout for about 30 minutes 4 times a week and I don't have much trouble gaining muscle.
If you're short on time the key is to stick to your compounds; chins, dips, deads, squats, bench etc...
 
30 minutes 3 times a week lifting weights is good enough, but a bit more wouldn't hurt if you want to get some muscle fast. Most bulking guides I've seen suggest 4 times a week, 45-60 minutes each time, and that's for guys looking to grow as fast as possible. More just means you overtrain and tear down more muslce than you're building.

In your shoes, I'd probably do a month or 2, focusing mostly on weight training, going a bit above maintenance with calories (just a bit 2-300 calories), to build the muscle you want, it should put on a noticeable amount.

Then afterwards, do a more balanced weight/cardio schedule, with less calories, to get lean.
 
You guys are awesome, thank you for all your help!!! I think I will start out with 30 min, 3 days a week and gradually work up to more days/longer sessions as I get stronger. I know when I tried this last year, I quit because it hurt so badly. And it sucked because the demands of my job wouldn't allow me to rest, so I would just have to suffer in pain until I had a day off to let my muscles rest and heal.

And after further review of my body in the mirror, (lol) I guess it's not that bad. Maybe I'm my own worst critic. I guess what bothers me the most is that it shakes. I don't look overweight, I just don't look firm. I'm okay from a distance. LOL

Here's a better example of what I mean:

I'm on the right. You see how fleshy my upper arms look? I know they're pressed against my body, but still. They don't look TONED. That's how my thighs are. No muscle definition anywhere. I want to have a body like this:

I bet nothing jiggles on her.
 
NeuroRN76 said:
I know when I tried this last year, I quit because it hurt so badly. And it sucked because the demands of my job wouldn't allow me to rest, so I would just have to suffer in pain until I had a day off to let my muscles rest and heal.
Click to expand...

I'd shoot for no more than very sore, not suffering in pain. I don't even think you get better results from pushing yourself that far, if anything it's counterproductive. Watch doing many sets with low reps to begin with, or too many sets for the same muscle. Just increase your level of workout gradually so you still get just sore.

If you get really painfully sore, you probably have the mental ability to push yourself, which is very good and will help you shortly, but you should hold it back for a few weeks until your body gets used to the loads.
 
CCR said:
All I'm thinking right now is that if I'm ever in an accident I damn sure hope I'm in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio at the time ;)
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Awww thank you. :eek: Though I would hate to see you hurt!
 
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