Sport Need nutrition advice please!

[molly0325]

Hello,

First off let me tell you my stats so you guys can have a clearer picture. I'm 6'0 female, weigh 153, and I'm trying to slim down. I have been eating fairly clean for around a month, but havent been seeing as much progress as I would like.

I do around 35 mins. of cardio 5 days a week, and lift weights 3 days a week. I eat around 1300 cals. of pretty clean food- grilled chicken and fish, whole grains, natural PB, protein shakes with whey protein and skim milk, etc. I am only losing about .4 lbs a week. I eat around 5 meals a day, every 3 hrs.

Do you think I need to up my calories? I do have weight to lose, and would like to cut some before I start toning up. Thank you for all your advice!

 

[Short Fuse]

Your current weight of 153lbs at 6ft sounds fine to me, and you arent going to be shedding it fast as you're at a standard, healthy weight.

From what I read, I'm astonished that you're only losing 0.4lbs a week. Either you aren't counting your calories and not watching what your eating, or your current workout isn't as tough as it needs to be.

I say up the cardio to an hour a day 3-4 days a week, with weight 1-2 a week.

Whats your weights routine?
Do you rest?

 

[molly0325]

Thanks for the quick response. I don't expect to shed it fast, but want to lose more than .4 lbs a week. I count my cals pretty closely, I'm almost positive I don't eat over 1400 a day, if not below.

I rest on Thursdays. And my weights routine isn't heavy lifting. It's MWF, doing 7 weight machines, mostly focused on arms. However, usually on Wednesdays I'll do all free weights mostly focused on arms with a couple of weight machines focusing on my legs.

I heard that it isn't healthy to do cardio for more than around 35 mins because then you start to burn muscle instead of fat. Also, for cardio I do the Arc Trainer, which is similar to the elliptical. Thanks again for the help.

 

[Short Fuse]

Thanks for the quick response. I don't expect to shed it fast, but want to lose more than .4 lbs a week. I count my cals pretty closely, I'm almost positive I don't eat over 1400 a day, if not below.

I rest on Thursdays. And my weights routine isn't heavy lifting. It's MWF, doing 7 weight machines, mostly focused on arms. However, usually on Wednesdays I'll do all free weights mostly focused on arms with a couple of weight machines focusing on my legs.

I heard that it isn't healthy to do cardio for more than around 35 mins because then you start to burn muscle instead of fat. Also, for cardio I do the Arc Trainer, which is similar to the elliptical. Thanks again for the help.

You have to keep on doing what you're doing, I dont see the nutritional advice your looking for, is it whether you should up your caloric intake? If you want to lose weight, you have to be in caloric deficit, simple as.

As to "35 minutes you start to burn muscle instead of fat", that is complete nonsense, I don't know where you heard that from.

I don't suggest you continue trying to lose weight though, I suggest you bulk then cut later.

 

[stangelj]

Hi Molly, welcome to the forum. I also think your weight is about right. Are you small, medium or big boned? That will of course make a difference for what the right weight is to aim for.

I think you may not be eating enough based on the info you've given us. It looks like lots of good proteins and grains along with some dairy. Fruits and veggies are missing though, unless you just didn't list them. The question is do you feel energized for your workouts and during the day in general, or are you dragging. If dragging then your metabolism may be taking a hit due to the low food intake.

For the weight lifting, is there any reason you are focusing mainly on your arms? You're missing much larger muscle groups such as chest, back and legs. You will make gains in lean muscle in the larger muscle groups faster than in smaller muscle groups, and the added muscle will increase your metabolism so you'll burn more calories all the time, even while at rest. Given you're female I'm sure you don't want to add too much muscle, so focus in the medium to higher rep ranges, but make sure by the last rep of the last set of a particular exercise that you're taking yourself to failure or close to it. Also mix up the weight exercises every few weeks or your body will adjust and you'll start to plateau.

I too suggest working on adding some muscle, hitting all the major muscle groups, before then going back to cut more of the fat. While you're doing this I expect you'll see some of the fat go too in any case.

Finally, you could try high intensity interval training for some of your cardio. You'll burn more calories post-workout from HIIT than the same amount of regular steady-paced cardio.

Hopefully some of these suggestions are helpful.

 

[Waitwhat?]

Hi Molly, welcome to the forum. I also think your weight is about right. Are you small, medium or big boned? That will of course make a difference for what the right weight is to aim for.

I think you may not be eating enough based on the info you've given us. It looks like lots of good proteins and grains along with some dairy. Fruits and veggies are missing though, unless you just didn't list them. The question is do you feel energized for your workouts and during the day in general, or are you dragging. If dragging then your metabolism may be taking a hit due to the low food intake.

For the weight lifting, is there any reason you are focusing mainly on your arms? You're missing much larger muscle groups such as chest, back and legs. You will make gains in lean muscle in the larger muscle groups faster than in smaller muscle groups, and the added muscle will increase your metabolism so you'll burn more calories all the time, even while at rest. Given you're female I'm sure you don't want to add too much muscle, so focus in the medium to higher rep ranges, but make sure by the last rep of the last set of a particular exercise that you're taking yourself to failure or close to it. Also mix up the weight exercises every few weeks or your body will adjust and you'll start to plateau.

I too suggest working on adding some muscle, hitting all the major muscle groups, before then going back to cut more of the fat. While you're doing this I expect you'll see some of the fat go too in any case.

Finally, you could try high intensity interval training for some of your cardio. You'll burn more calories post-workout from HIIT than the same amount of regular steady-paced cardio.

Hopefully some of these suggestions are helpful.

I agree. And there's no reason to do anymore than 35-40 min of cardio a day. Switch it up Stangelj suggested or your going to plateau. In your 35 min. maybe do eliptical and bike or incline walk and jumprope. Keep it interesting. And yeah, work your whole body with weights it'll keep your metabolism up.