Am I doing this whole thing right/

[pandee]

I just wanted some feedback on my diet and exercise program.
My diet consists of 6 meals:
#1 2/3 cup of egg substitute
2 /3 cup of oatmeal

#2 1 scoop pro-blend 55 protein powder
either 1/2 of banana or strawberries
1 tbsp. natural peanut butter

#3 4oz. Chicken breast
4-5oz. yam
1-1/2 cups of green veggie(usually broccoli)

#4 4oz. Chicken
2 cups of green veggie

#5 Protein shake

#6 2/3 cup of egg substitute
Sometimes I may add some extra fat to a meal using flax seeds, flax seed oil, walnuts. Not an extreme amount though. My calorie intake is about 1500-1700 calories a day. My workout is:
Monday
Chest, abs, cardio
Tuesday
Bi's, tri's, cardio
Wednesday
Back,abs, cardio
Thursday
Shoulders, calves, cardio
Friday
Quads, Glutes, Hams, usually cardio (depending on if legs are sore)
Saturday
cardio
Sunday
rest
My cardio sessions were usually 35minutes, now I have been increasing them to 45-60 minute sessions. I do HIIT at least 3 times a week. I do cardio after my weights. I just try to do one long session to get it over with. Before I would do 30min. earlier in the day and 30min. at night. Sometimes by nightime I wouldn't have the energy for the second session. I am basically trying to "cut". The process is just going a little slower than I expected. That's why I am wondering if I'm doing something wrong? By doing that long of a cardio session after lifting weights, is this affecting my muscle? Anyone's suggestions/comments would be appreciated.

[hausgrl]

everything looks fine to me.

are you doing HIIT as cardio? or in addition to cardio?

i think 45 - 60 minutes of cardio immediately following a workout (which assumably is 45 - 60 minutes in length?) might cause some muscle loss. its great to do cardio after weights but perhaps you should limit it to 30 - 45 minutes.

sometimes the lack of progress is something as simple as not enough water consumption or too few calories. if you have been following this diet and weight/exercise routine for awhile, your body may have adapted and might be in need of a l'il shock.

what type of progress are you having now, that is leaving you disappointed?

[pandee]

Thanx for your opinion hausgrl. Before I increased my cardio I was doing sessions of 35 minutes of either HIIT or regular cardio. Since my increase, I start out with HIIT for the first 30min. doing 2min. intervals or 1min. intervals, then I'll just do regular for the rest of the time. I think you may be right that my body might need a little shock, thats why i started to add in extra fat here and there. I've been trying things out(trial and error). I feel that I am not seeing enough muscle definition, that I've worked hard to get. That's why I felt that an increase in cardio may help. I was doing lower weight high reps with my weight training, but I have gotten a lot stronger so even with resistance low weight doesn't seem to be working great for me. I think I gonna try to do moderate to heavier weight , doing approx. 12 reps and maybe keep up the longer cardio sessions. What type of shock to change my diet might you suggest?

[Lizzee]

Pandee,
I've been going through the same thing you have too.
I've added the whole egg, flaxseed oil, I've started doing HIIT, lifting heavier, and while I've seen a difference in muscle growth, I've come to a body fat standstill where my bodyfat % isn't getting better or worse.

Please let me know if you come across something that works because I don't know what else to do with myself.

Lizzee

[hausgrl]

Originally posted by pandee
Before I increased my cardio I was doing sessions of 35 minutes of either HIIT or regular cardio. Since my increase, I start out with HIIT for the first 30min. doing 2min. intervals or 1min. intervals, then I'll just do regular for the rest of the time. I think you may be right that my body might need a little shock, thats why i started to add in extra fat here and there.

it has been researched to find that lower interval times will increase your results much faster. for reference - here (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=interval+group:misc.fitness.weights&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&scoring=d&selm=6cbf4ab2.0211190854.579443a5%40posting.google .com&rnum=6) is an article that briefly explains that for you. i don't think its necessary for you to be extending your HIIT sessions for so long. at most - keep it to 20 minutes. anything after that may mean you are not pushing yourself hard enough. when you are done your HIIT routine, you should not have enough energy left over to be doing cardio, so i would suggest uppin' your intensity during HIIT and shortening your time. try a combination of 30s/60s for a maximum of 20 minutes (not including warm-up) and see how that works for you.

also, HIIT should only be preformed for no more than 4 days a week. i think 3 is a good place to keep it. try doing it monday, wednesday and thursday or saturday. don't do it on leg day. if you want to keep your cardio - do it on the alternate days of HIIT.


Originally posted by pandee
I've been trying things out(trial and error). I feel that I am not seeing enough muscle definition, that I've worked hard to get. That's why I felt that an increase in cardio may help. I was doing lower weight high reps with my weight training, but I have gotten a lot stronger so even with resistance low weight doesn't seem to be working great for me. I think I gonna try to do moderate to heavier weight , doing approx. 12 reps and maybe keep up the longer cardio sessions. What type of shock to change my diet might you suggest?

the lack of muscle definition may be because you are overdoing your HIIT and cardio sessions. you might be losing muscle because of it. how long have you been doing this for? you might just need to be patient and wait it out.

the type of shock may be diet related. maybe you need to increase your caloric intake considerably, and then lower it back down again. you might not be consuming enough calories for the training you are doing, and thus be in starvation mode. try upping your calories for a week or two and see what happens. if no progress, go back down and see what happens.