Nutrition and Building

[crissygirl]

I have been working out religiously since June (prior to, I was a marathon runner, and worked out 2-3 times a week and have for several years) and have seen little or no visible gains (at least to my eye...). I do cardio 3x per week, work a crossfit program with a trainer 2x per week, teach a fitness bootcamp 1x per week.

Also, I find it difficult to get in 160 g of protein a day without going over my caloric goal of 1600 per day. My goal is to build, but also to trim -just a little. I am at 18% BF and want to drop it just a little. My idea is that if I build muscle it will burn the fat. Am I way off base on this?

I take protein shakes 3 x per day
fish oil
L-Tyrosine
Chromium
Creatine Ethyl
Ultra Mega Women Vitamins

Any guidance?

Oh, also, I struggle with complex carbs. I eat steel cut oats for breakfast and the rest of the day I waiver with simple carbs...

Help?!

Weight 135, height 5'7", 18% BF --and still jiggly...

[MsFit]

I have been working out religiously since June (prior to, I was a marathon runner, and worked out 2-3 times a week and have for several years) and have seen little or no visible gains (at least to my eye...). I do cardio 3x per week, work a crossfit program with a trainer 2x per week, teach a fitness bootcamp 1x per week.

Also, I find it difficult to get in 160 g of protein a day without going over my caloric goal of 1600 per day. My goal is to build, but also to trim -just a little. I am at 18% BF and want to drop it just a little. My idea is that if I build muscle it will burn the fat. Am I way off base on this?

I take protein shakes 3 x per day
fish oil
L-Tyrosine
Chromium
Creatine Ethyl
Ultra Mega Women Vitamins

Oh, also, I struggle with complex carbs. I eat steel cut oats for breakfast and the rest of the day I waiver with simple carbs...

Weight 135, height 5'7", 18% BF --and still jiggly...

You should be able to get 160 protein at 1600 calories pretty easily, if your fat intake is low to moderate. You might try more of a mucle building (http://tepks.irondoll.hop.**************/) training program.

[kitebean]

I have been working out religiously since June (prior to, I was a marathon runner, and worked out 2-3 times a week and have for several years) and have seen little or no visible gains (at least to my eye...). I do cardio 3x per week, work a crossfit program with a trainer 2x per week, teach a fitness bootcamp 1x per week.



hmmm I worked out religiously for 20 years (along similar lines to you but with some light lifting) and saw no visible gains.....

LIFTING HEAVY and eating REAL FOOD (3 x shakes a day is not real food) CHANGED my body beyond my wildest imagination.

[imperfectly_lou]

You're unlikely to see much in the way of muscle gain while you are doing so much cardio and consuming such a low calories level. I learnt this the hard way as I wasted years trying to gain muscle and keep up a high level of cardio. It just does not work for the average person.

[Amanda76]

You're unlikely to see much in the way of muscle gain while you are doing so much cardio and consuming such a low calories level. I learnt this the hard way as I wasted years trying to gain muscle and keep up a high level of cardio. It just does not work for the average person.

x2

I've been active all my life and have been lifting off and on since I was 11 and didn't start to look at all muscular until I approached my 30's because I had spent all the time prior not eating correctly, lifting too light and expending too much energy through cardio-type activities.

I'm not sure why it would be difficult to eat 160 grams of protein on 1600 calories. That's only 640 calories...but it would be even easier if you bumped your cals up a bit to allow a bit of a surplus to gain muscle as Lou implied.

[FittGrrl27]

I have been working out religiously since June (prior to, I was a marathon runner, and worked out 2-3 times a week and have for several years) and have seen little or no visible gains (at least to my eye...). I do cardio 3x per week, work a crossfit program with a trainer 2x per week, teach a fitness bootcamp 1x per week.

Also, I find it difficult to get in 160 g of protein a day without going over my caloric goal of 1600 per day. My goal is to build, but also to trim -just a little. I am at 18% BF and want to drop it just a little. My idea is that if I build muscle it will burn the fat. Am I way off base on this?

I take protein shakes 3 x per day
fish oil
L-Tyrosine
Chromium
Creatine Ethyl
Ultra Mega Women Vitamins

Any guidance?

Oh, also, I struggle with complex carbs. I eat steel cut oats for breakfast and the rest of the day I waiver with simple carbs...

Help?!

Weight 135, height 5'7", 18% BF --and still jiggly...

You cant ask your body to do competing things. Your goal is to BUILD and also to TRIM. In order to build you need to be in a calorie surplus, while in order to trim you need to be in a calorie deficit. You need to decide what you want to do. Eating 160g of protein should be your first priority if you want to gain muscle, regardless of what your calorie goal is. Building more muscle will increase your metabolism, but you cannot ask you body to build muscle when youre not taking in enough calories- and obviously youre not b/c if you were then you'd be seeing results in the gym. It is possible to gain muscle while remaining lean, but if you want to get leaner, forget about adding muscle right now.

[crissygirl]

I appreciate all of the input. After reading your posts, I realized that it is hard to overcome the surplus eating barrier. You know, the whole issue of eating a lot and being "okay" with it. Thanks. I have decided to work harding in the gym at heavy lifting and attempting to stick to a clean diet.

Any suggestions for complex carbs I can eat on the fly?