Eating Plans..."Diet" etc. - need input!! (Please and t...

[olexa17]

Hello Everyone,

I would love to hear advice and input from you on eats. I hate to say "diet" and imply some trendy plan, I simply mean what is the most effective ongoing food program etc.

I've been working out for quite a while, just now transitioning to Cathe workouts (already an addict and I am just starting. Good Lord, I need a second job to fuel the DVD addiction!!). I have in some ways hit that dreaded plateau. I am 5'4.5 and about 129-130 with 20.9% body fat. I know that the scale weight is not the ideal to go by, but I am looking to go down one more size (currently at an 8) and about 10 more pounds...those last 10 pounds we all talk about.

I am seeing really good muscle definition from my workouts but still have fat left to lose; mostly in upper thighs and hips. Ugh.

Currently I work out 6x a week, alternation "weight days" with cardio days. I am pretty much following the BFFM lifestyle, eating 5 meals a day such as:

meal one: 3 protein pancakes
meal 2: protein shake + fruit
meal 3: tuna salad or egg salad (mostly whites with one egg) with green beans and/or sweet potato
meal 4: protein shake or small protein/carb serving
meal 5: shrimp cocktail (6oz) or grilled chicken and a green vegie

Prior to this I was eating only about 1200 calories..then started reading that I could be starving (you know what I mean..!) because I work out as much as I do. So I started reading, stumbled across BFFM and others that had upped their calories and started leaning out.

SO.....all this to say, what type of suggestions do you have for me? I want to be successful in making changes and am very worried that I will eat too much or too little....don't want to gain weight and ruin my hard work thus far. And I refuse to go on some whacky diet or take pills.

WOULD LOVE to hear anyone's input that has seen weight loss success after a plateau...feel free to suggest different workouts also since I am a newbie.

THANKS!!!

Kelly
:7

 

[Mckmain]

RE: Eating Plans...

Hi Kelly...I changed my diet to a "way of eating" which was Vegan for me. I was not really interested in even going vegetarian until a post in Ask Cathe led me to the book "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman. I got my best results from eating Vegan and 2 P90X rotations plus a few Cathe workouts in 2004. I was 45 at the time and didn't think I could get results...I am 47 now and still Vegan abd feel better than ever......Carole

 

[gidget1978]

RE: Eating Plans...

Kelly, how long have you been following this eating pattern? Now, grant it, I am no expert in this area and I have been lucky enough (at most times) to maintain my weight without any strict eating regimen.
I am a little shorter then you and I weigh 130 lbs but my body fat is 13.5%
It is early in the morning so forgive me if I am wrong;-) but if you haven't been doing this kind of diet for very long, then maybe you could continue for another while.I think that at this stage in the game, you are going to see slower progress then you would like.But by doing Cathe and eating lots of protein, you should be able to drop another 5 lbs and lose BF, without resricting yourself to much.
I also did the BFL plan for a while and I saw nice results with that but the cheat day always threw me off and I could never hop back on the wagon.
Oh...and add more cardio! Do you like to run??? That should also help.

Good Luck!!!
Lori

 

[olexa17]

RE: Eating Plans...

Lori,

Thanks so much for the reply (and Carole too thank you -both of you look fantastic btw! great inspiration). I see I am not the only early bird out there (its 4am right now)

Your pictures look great; you obviously know what you are doing! How long have you been doing Cathe and working out etc/

I know you are right, that I should stick w/my program for a period of time, see if it works and then make adjustments say 4-6 weeks from now.

It's weird because I have become MORE obsessive compulsive as I get closer to my goal. I mean, I am harder on myself and more critical of my body now than years ago when I weighed 155!! I guess that I have leaned out in so many areas, that the areas that are left to me are SCREAMING - FIX ME!! LOL



The cheat thing doesn't tend to throw me off luckily but zig zagging this early in my new, higher calorie program IS throwing me off mentally, I feel like I am stuffing myself, not ready for that yet.

So you encourage a bit more protein - I am trying to aim for a 40/40/20 ratio??

To answer your question, I transitioned to the BFFM/revised BFL WOE around January 8th or so....It's been like a transitionary month for me from that moment until about last week while I really read the BFFM book and did research online about fueling my workouts etc. So this week was in a way my first 100% week on the new plan. Again, I don't consider myself on a diet, this is a way of eating for me. I am journaling my workouts and diet so I can track what works.

How much do you workout and what do you eat per day calorie-wise or do you not even count etc>

Thanks again for the input.

I am NUTS!!

 

[gidget1978]

RE: Eating Plans...

Nope, your not nuts! You just want what you want and you want to know how to get there, right?

I seriously do not follow anything.But after reading your post today, I hopped on my threadmill and I started thinking that maybe I should follow something.So I am going to give BFL another go.I just have a hard time getting back on track after cheat days, but we will try!

Im just gonna pm you..cause this could get long!!!! hahaha
Lori

 

[honeybunch1]

RE: Eating Plans...

If you are interested in going down a size, and would be happy to do so without your weight changing, since you're new to Cathe, you may want to give her workouts a couple of months. Her workouts alone may allow you to come down a size.

One thing that helped me lose weight was merely increasing my fiber intake.

Just Do It!