Q about achieving low body fat

A

AndreaL

Cathlete
I kept up with interest, Aimee's preparation for her figure competition. As I was reading my M&F Hers this month I started to wonder...When a competitor diets down to a low body fat is it the no carbs and low fat that is helping her get lean, or the decrease in calories?

What I mean is, if someone consumed 1200 calories a day, whether it was protein, carbs, or fat, would they still have a low body fat?

I am in awe of those (competitors) that can stick with such a strict diet for so long. I can't help but wonder how healthy it really is.

Andrea
 
I don't know much to offer on this but wanna hear what the diet experts around here have to say on it. :9

Edith
 
I was doing a diet that is supposed to be based on what fitness competitors do. In required very low fat, actually high carbs--rice & vegis, no breads or pasta, which are high in sugar. My diet was very high calorie--2500 & I was losing body fat. My measurements were getting smaller & I lost 2 lbs. I couldn't hang with the restrictions though.
 
Let me see if I can answer some of your questions. First - most, but not all, competitors have two diet/training phases. The first part, where their calorie consumption is high, but clean calories - a ration of let's say 35/50/15 (in the order of protein/carbs/fats), they train heavier to pack on muscle. In the second phase, they cut slowly and methodically cut calories, mainly carbs and fat and sugars, and the ratio may be more like 45/45/10. The things included in these diets are very healthy - rice, oatmeal, lean meat, veggies, etc. (of course not everyone eat the same, but you get the idea!). Very low sugar, not much refined foods, except for bread products, not much dairy, either. Many find it's hard to lose weight with a lot of dairy in the diet. The training also switches to more cardio (up to 6 per week or more) and more endurance training to get really cut. For the most part it's healthy, but near the end, close to competition time, the calories get pretty low and you know how people feel when they're hungry! It's a very disciplined thing, and a lot of work to plan your meals and then be willing to eat them. Some competitors use theromgenic products, etc, but a lot of them don't have to and don't.

Diet is 75% to 85% percent of how you look. I don't think that consuming consuming 1200 calories of refined, high sodium or higher fat foods is going to give the same result as high quality, clean calories.

I will say - it takes a lot of effort and dedication to eat and train that way. Those women (and men) have way more self-discipline than most of us.
 
I can't answer for Aimee, but I do think she said she had some pretty severe repercussions from her diet before her first competition. I remember her posting that she was at 6% bodyfat and extremely tired all the time. I also remember her saying that after her competition, she put on weight and could not take it off due to a thyroid problem. She was going to compete again, but her dr. gave her the thumbs down. Sounds like it must take a pretty big toll on your body.
Aimee, if you read this, I hope I didn't misquote anything you said.:+

Sherry http://www.gif-seite.de/vorschaubilder/smilies/laola.gif

http://www.picturetrail.com/Peanut7
 
My ? to this is: I eat no flour, sugar, gluten or any pre-packaged foods at all. 95% of the fruit and vegetables I eat are fresh the others frozen. I don't fry anything everything is baked or grilled. I do use 3 TBS of olive oil per day and use whole milk and eat cottage cheese and yogurt so I eat dairy. I also eat beef 2-3 times a week. All grains are whole and brown cooked from scratch.

I've been doing this for about 5 years now. I've lost 80 lbs. But, it took 5 years to do that along with lots of exercise. I do consume probably about 2,500 calories a day of very very clean food.

OK to my question: Could it be partly caloric consumption? I mean if I cut my calories in half I'm sure I"d drop another 80lbs.

Edith
:+
 
Deborah and kotacam

Deborah-Would you mind giving me a day of the diet you're talking about? Where did you get the info?

kotacam-Same question basically. Where did you find the info about what competitors eat?

I do remember Aimee having thyroid problems. Was this caused by the dieting and low body fat?

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful info:)

Andrea
 
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