Sport New! Someone please advise me on calorie/fat intake

Sport Fitness
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calcium

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Ok, I have no idea what I should be eating or how much to maintain my weight or to lose weight. Let me give you my stats really quick:

I'm a girl (20 years) and I'm 5'6'' and weigh about 142. I go to the gym about twice a week (would like to go more but that would sacrifice riding) where I do 30-40 minutes cardio on either elliptical or treadmill. I also do crunches every time and then maybe some legs or arms. I'm not exactly on a schedule or anything. I waitress full time so I am on my feet all day. I also ride horses every day too which is where I get the majority of any kind of work out. So here is my problem:

I weigh more than I ever have before but I know it's due to mostly muscle which I can see in my legs and arms! However, I am and always have been unhappy with my thighs and butt :eek: It has always been the largest and flabbiest part of me and it really annoys me. I really want to lose my big thighs without accidently losing any muscle by eating too little.

I just did a quickie calorie/fat record and it seems like on average I intake well over 2000 calories and over 60 grams of fat. I know that seems a little vague. What amount of calories/fat per day should I go down to so that I can lose weight but not freak out my body? Someone please give me some advice!

~Nicole
 
Nicole,
Welcome! If you can send what you eat on a typical day someone will surely be able to help you.

I have the same problem with my legs and butt. That's where many women collect fat. Most likely if you're like me you'll have to lose a lot of bodyfat to get your legs the way you want them or just accept them for what they are!

I would also start a more stringent weight lifting plan instead of just doing whatever. Planning ahead of time really helps to make sure you hit all of the major muscle groups and get a good, efficient workout if you're short on time.

Horseback riding and waitressing are great workouts as well!
 
First off, welcome Nicole. I agree with teresa, you should have a plan in the gym. You say you go a couple of days a week, maybe you can devote those days to strictly weight training and let your waitressing and horseback riding be your "cardio".
 
Can't I do both cardio and weight lifting at the gym on the same day? What I usually do is sometime of cardio, then crunches/abs, and then if I want something with weights. Is that a bad way to do it?

I can tell you exactly what I usually eat! Yesterday for example:

Morning - Instant cappucino, special k bar, beef jerky
noon - Lean cuisine orange chicken
1-2:30 - capri sun, slim fast bar, small portion pretzel and cheese snack, special k bar
7:20pm - granola cereal with skim, tuna, small portion of pretzels, hot tea
9:30 - chx stir-fry

On this day was 2360 calories and 60 grams of fat. To tell you the truth I was holding back on this day too! I usually drink pop :eek: Which as of now I'm swearing off. I really can't believe how much all those things add up to at the end of the day. Anywho, any suggestions?

~Nicole
 
Hi, Nicole. I agree with what the others posted. There is a lot of room for improvement in your menu. You will want to get more clean foods in there. I would also get on a regular and consistant program with strength training/cardio.

BUT it has to work with your riding schedule and not against it. There are 5 tips to fat loss that I often post on this board. Here they are for you...

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.
 
calcium said:
Can't I do both cardio and weight lifting at the gym on the same day? What I usually do is sometime of cardio, then crunches/abs, and then if I want something with weights. Is that a bad way to do it?

I can tell you exactly what I usually eat! Yesterday for example:

Morning - Instant cappucino, special k bar, beef jerky
noon - Lean cuisine orange chicken
1-2:30 - capri sun, slim fast bar, small portion pretzel and cheese snack, special k bar
7:20pm - granola cereal with skim, tuna, small portion of pretzels, hot tea
9:30 - chx stir-fry

On this day was 2360 calories and 60 grams of fat. To tell you the truth I was holding back on this day too! I usually drink pop :eek: Which as of now I'm swearing off. I really can't believe how much all those things add up to at the end of the day. Anywho, any suggestions?

~Nicole
Click to expand...

Yes Nicole, you can do cardio and weight training the same day. I was under the impression that you only had 30-40 minutes at the gym and I thought that would be best served weight training. I would weight train before cardio, therefore more of your energy can be directed to your weight training. Of course warmup breifly prior to weight training, 5 mins or so on treadmill or whatever you prefer. So I would do it this way, Weight train, then abs/cardio. AS far as your diet, yes it is wise to refrain from the pop as much as you can, drink lots of water instead. I feel you can also improve the quality of what you eat also. Do you like cottage cheese or yogurt ? I think they would be better than the slim fast or Special K bars you are eating. Also I believe you should add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. It appears as though you are eating a carb and protein at each meal, which is what you should do, you just need to improve the quality of those carbs and protein. Okay I don't want to bore you any longer :) I hope that helps a bit. Any more questions, please post and I'll try to help out and I'm sure other knowledgable folks will be willing to advise also. Good luck :)
 
Trainer Lynn said:
Hi, Nicole. I agree with what the others posted. There is a lot of room for improvement in your menu. You will want to get more clean foods in there. I would also get on a regular and consistant program with strength training/cardio.

BUT it has to work with your riding schedule and not against it. There are 5 tips to fat loss that I often post on this board. Here they are for you...

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.
Click to expand...

Didn't realize you were posting also Lynn. We must have been doing it at the same time. :)
 
Thanks for all the great advice!

Lynn - I will continue to eat small meals. I like the idea of a glass of water with every meal.

jpc - I love yogurt! I get organic non/low fat yogurt from Trader Joe's. I only didn't have any yesterday because I was out :( I just went shopping today though and got some along with carrots, apples and some frozen chicken. Seems like a good start to me.

Now what about how much calories and fat I should be intaking? Is there a number I should go down to? I was thinking 2000 calories a day would be a good start to losing weight, then I was thinking about making it a little less after a while. What do you think? Also, how about grams of fat. How much of that should I limit myself to?

~Nicole
 
Try to maintain a healthy balance of protein/fats/carbs. Something like 40/30/30 or 40/35/25 isnt bad. 2000 calories is a good start, just dont go lower than 1500.

You can count them at
 
busyman said:
Try to maintain a healthy balance of protein/fats/carbs. Something like 40/30/30 or 40/35/25 isnt bad. 2000 calories is a good start, just dont go lower than 1500.

You can count them at
Click to expand...

Are you serious about the 40/30/30? Are those percentages? I started doing the fit day thing and so far I'm at 21/14/66......it seems like it would be impossible to get more protein than carbs like you would have to eat meat all day? How do I do this?

~Nicole
 
Are you serious about the 40/30/30? Are those percentages? I started doing the fit day thing and so far I'm at 21/14/66......it seems like it would be impossible to get more protein than carbs like you would have to eat meat all day? How do I do this?
Click to expand...

Its all about what you choose really. Just one can of tuna has 34 grams of protein. So you put that tuna between to high protein whole grain pieces of bread (mine has 7 grams of protein per slice) and with that meal you have somewhere around 48 grams of protein and 20 grams of good carbs. PLus add in some shakes here and there. There are lots of beans and veggies full of protein, just find a way to even it out with that protein intake winning just a little.
 
I like slimfast shakes, but now that I read the can I can see that there are more carbs than protein. Any suggestions on some good tasting shakes that have more protein than carbs?

~Nicole
 
busyman said:
Try to maintain a healthy balance of protein/fats/carbs. Something like 40/30/30 or 40/35/25 isnt bad. 2000 calories is a good start, just dont go lower than 1500.

You can count them at
Click to expand...


I would have said something like carb/protein/fat of 40/40/20 or 40/35/25 (carb first).

Dont worry about weight, just use the measuring tape. As long as those numbers are correct then your fine - muscle weighs more than fat as you know so weight becomes subjective.
 
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