Meal help and stuff

[pirouette]

Ok, schools out and I'm back in the swing of things. I'm always active since I'm a dance teacher but I don't get to lift as much or pay as much attention to my diet during the school year because all my time is spent with or about the kids. Here's my w/o plan:

every other day I lift:
day 1 chest/back/shoulders- bench(alternate flat and incline with bar) dumbell flys, push ups, single arm rows, dead lifts, overhead dumbell press, lateral raises,
day 2 bis/tris (I think I should do shoulders here instead)- skull crushers, dumbell tri extentions, dumbell curls, bar curls
day 3 legs (if they hold up,I'm coming off a minor knee injurie so I'm babying it) straight leg dead lifts, squats, gonna try lunges but I tend to be more unstable so I might wait until I know i'm strong enough to support my knee.
I do cardio every day for 30-45min on the treadmill. I do abs on a non-lifting day.

this is most days:
Breakfast- 2 eggs(dropping to one whole, one egg white) and whole wheat tst w/natural pb or protein pancake with blueberries in it...yummy
snack 1- shake- 2 scoops ON Whey with 8oz skim milk
snack 2- banana and 1oz natural almonds
lunch- sandwich- roasted chicken on whole wheat bread 1 tsp miracle whip, raw veggies with hummus
snack 3-raw veggies with hummus
dinner- grilled chicken, baked sweet potato, salad w/ light dressing
dessert- nonfat greek yogurt with sugar free strawberry jam or sugar free jello
I'm pretty sure I need to add in more protein. I'd like to add in some steel cut oatmeal too.

Any advice is welcome.... I need some extra motivation and fresh perspective because my routine feels old.

[pirouette]

anyone, anyone....bueller, bueller.

[Amanda76]

What kind of equipment do you have access to? What are your goals? This is all pretty generalized but...

Workouts:

Day 1: Start with exercises with the most muscle involvment. That means, start with back and if you're doing deads, start with those. Add a back width exercise (pullups, lat pulldowns). Do chest after back, shoulders after chest...would probably be nice to get an exercise specific to rear delts in there (rows to chest, reverse flyes).

Day 2: Agreed this would probably be a better place for shoulders because it's a much easier day than Day 1. Do them before triceps as tired tris will effect how much you can OH press. For tris, consider adding a tricep press (close grip or reverse grip bench/dips or bench dips) instead of just extension exercises. Vary your grip on both tricep and bicep exercises.

Day 3: Do squats first since you can use more weight there and probably don't want your hams and glutes worn out prior to doing them. Do sumo squats/leg press to hit outer hams and inner quads more. Not sure how safe extension exercises will be on your knee at this point, but I'd add them when you can.

Get at least one full rest day a week (no cardio)...

Diet (more protein would be good, for sure):

Breakfast- 2 eggs(dropping to one whole, one egg white) and whole wheat tst w/natural pb or protein pancake with blueberries in it...yummy

More protein = more eggs (about 5-6 large whites is generally a good amount of protein for a meal). Choose between the peanut butter and egg yolk. And, of course, this is a good place for oats if you replace one of the other carbs represented with it.

snack 1- shake- 2 scoops ON Whey with 8oz skim milk

1 scoop of protein should be plenty. Add veggies or fruit maybe?

snack 2- banana and 1oz natural almonds

Need more protein. Egg whites, can of tuna, etc

lunch- sandwich- roasted chicken on whole wheat bread 1 tsp miracle whip, raw veggies with hummus

Looks good

snack 3-raw veggies with hummus

Add protein

dinner- grilled chicken, baked sweet potato, salad w/ light dressing

Looks good

dessert- nonfat greek yogurt with sugar free strawberry jam or sugar free jello

Sure, why not (I'm a little anti-fake sugar...and would prefer to see your blueberries here as a personal preference)? LOL Depending on how much you're eating, this makes your last meal really high in calories compared to your others. This would make an okay bedtime snack if you go to sleep more than a couple of hours past dinner. Would also be a good snack anywhere in the day (especially if you eat it with real fruit ).

From there, you'd need to tweak your macros with fitday or something.

[pirouette]

Originally Posted by Amanda76

What kind of equipment do you have access to? What are your goals? This is all pretty generalized but...

Workouts:

Day 1: Start with exercises with the most muscle involvment. That means, start with back and if you're doing deads, start with those. Add a back width exercise (pullups, lat pulldowns). Do chest after back, shoulders after chest...would probably be nice to get an exercise specific to rear delts in there (rows to chest, reverse flyes).

Day 2: Agreed this would probably be a better place for shoulders because it's a much easier day than Day 1. Do them before triceps as tired tris will effect how much you can OH press. For tris, consider adding a tricep press (close grip or reverse grip bench/dips or bench dips) instead of just extension exercises. Vary your grip on both tricep and bicep exercises.

Day 3: Do squats first since you can use more weight there and probably don't want your hams and glutes worn out prior to doing them. Do sumo squats/leg press to hit outer hams and inner quads more. Not sure how safe extension exercises will be on your knee at this point, but I'd add them when you can.

Get at least one full rest day a week (no cardio)...

Diet (more protein would be good, for sure):

Breakfast- 2 eggs(dropping to one whole, one egg white) and whole wheat tst w/natural pb or protein pancake with blueberries in it...yummy

More protein = more eggs (about 5-6 large whites is generally a good amount of protein for a meal). Choose between the peanut butter and egg yolk. And, of course, this is a good place for oats if you replace one of the other carbs represented with it.

snack 1- shake- 2 scoops ON Whey with 8oz skim milk

1 scoop of protein should be plenty. Add veggies or fruit maybe?

snack 2- banana and 1oz natural almonds

Need more protein. Egg whites, can of tuna, etc

lunch- sandwich- roasted chicken on whole wheat bread 1 tsp miracle whip, raw veggies with hummus

Looks good

snack 3-raw veggies with hummus

Add protein

dinner- grilled chicken, baked sweet potato, salad w/ light dressing

Looks good

dessert- nonfat greek yogurt with sugar free strawberry jam or sugar free jello

Sure, why not (I'm a little anti-fake sugar...and would prefer to see your blueberries here as a personal preference)? LOL Depending on how much you're eating, this makes your last meal really high in calories compared to your others. This would make an okay bedtime snack if you go to sleep more than a couple of hours past dinner. Would also be a good snack anywhere in the day (especially if you eat it with real fruit ).

From there, you'd need to tweak your macros with fitday or something.

Thanks for your help. My goal is really just to firm up...burn more fat since the muscle comes pretty easy for me. I do close grip bench for tris from time to time and I like reverse flyes...i forget about them. thanks. and thanks for giving me an order. I usually just pick a random order. We don't have a lat pull down machine but I'll add in some pull ups.
I'll take your advice on the food as well. I actually do use blueberries in my yogurt sometimes....mmmm.
thanks for your help!!

[Amanda76]

Originally Posted by pirouette

Thanks for your help. My goal is really just to firm up...burn more fat since the muscle comes pretty easy for me. I do close grip bench for tris from time to time and I like reverse flyes...i forget about them. thanks. and thanks for giving me an order. I usually just pick a random order. We don't have a lat pull down machine but I'll add in some pull ups.
I'll take your advice on the food as well. I actually do use blueberries in my yogurt sometimes....mmmm.
thanks for your help!!

Since you're leaning up, you may find you'll need to drop your calories a little (maybe, maybe not...you're pretty active). When I start eating more for function because calories are a concern, I get rid of "unnecessary" carbs (milk and hummus...banana could be replaced with a lower cal fruit or veggie) and then look at fat servings. That's the order I'd go with you since it doesn't look like you regularly get a lot of fat (looks like some days you may get 2-3 servings of something that's mostly fat and some days you may only get one). Start off eating as much (amount AND variety) as you can, though...and trim things up from there.

Your pics always look good so you've gotta be doing something right! Little changes will probably do ya.

[pirouette]

Originally Posted by Amanda76

Since you're leaning up, you may find you'll need to drop your calories a little (maybe, maybe not...you're pretty active). When I start eating more for function because calories are a concern, I get rid of "unnecessary" carbs (milk and hummus...banana could be replaced with a lower cal fruit or veggie) and then look at fat servings. Start off eating as much (amount AND variety) as you can, though...and trim things up from there.

Your pics always look good so you've gotta be doing something right! Little changes will probably do ya.

yeah, I feel like I'm trying to find my magic button. what fruit would you suggest instead of banana(so sad to lose it, I love them)?
I'm really trying to focus on my mid section. The ever popular quest for visible abs...I know it's going to be more about what I eat though....sigh.

[Amanda76]

Originally Posted by pirouette

yeah, I feel like I'm trying to find my magic button. what fruit would you suggest instead of banana(so sad to lose it, I love them)?
I'm really trying to focus on my mid section. The ever popular quest for visible abs...I know it's going to be more about what I eat though....sigh.

Just eat the banana for now and see what happens.

Beyond that, just eat whatever you enjoy will fit into the macros you decide to shoot for. I eat a lot of apples and sweet bell peppers (yellow/orange/red). Berries are also good for adding flavor and nutrition without adding too many extra calories. You can trade two servings of each of those for the calories in one banana (approximate). If you have to get more strict than that, you'll be stuck eating green stuff (maybe not quite, but you will be seeing lots of brocolli, green beans, spinach and asparagus). LOL

Like I said, though, eat as much as you can for as long as you can.

[tawney76]

Tawney here- (the wife)
I went through a similar body struggle as you. I was also about 5'2"- 130, 21% bodyfat. I'm down to 125 and about 12-13% now.

There's 3 factors that you're going to have to get tuned in before you are gonna see your definition, and one of them directly pertains to the leg muscle definition you said that you wanted in your profile goals.

So far your upper body looks to have some muscle that is covered by a small layer of bodyfat, so in reality you don't need to 'gain' any more mass in that area to look stunning if you were 5% less in bodyfat. The fat-loss would melt away to reveal a great upper body. Your legs however, would look a little bit skinny when that fat was taken away. Assuming that your max lifts are accurate, your squat needs to improve. When I was max squatting at 140, my legs were non-existant as far as mass. It took a lot of hard work, but When you can do a set of 8-10 deep reps with 225 (2 45's each side) then you will see the type of legs you are looking for. When a woman's legs are that strong and are at 12% bodyfat, they look GOOD. A lot of women I know who are just getting started working out see the models who are on TV showing off their muscular legs on the infomercials, and they wonder why they can't get their legs to look that way. Well, first off it's bodyfat, but also it's because those women have leg muscles that are pretty massive. This is JMO, but if you see a woman who's legs look big and cut enough for your liking, you should ask her how much she squats and get yourself there too. I'll betcha it's not less than 2 plates each side for reps, probably more. LOL

The other 2 factors you need are diet related. The other poster gave you some good diet advice about protien intake and lowering un-needed carbs... but from what I can see it's not so much your diet that is bad, it's that you are probably taking in too many calories. you should drop them by about 200 per day to start, and see where that leaves you over the next 2-3 weeks. Keep track of how this effects your weight, bodyfat, and LBM ratio. You could do this by having 5 meals per day, not 6. 6 is the man's diet and 5 is the women's diet. Just drop one snack and that should give you the small calorie amount you need to slowly progress. Make sure you keep the meals no more than about 4 hours apart though. I would also keep my cardio at 45-60 minutes if you can. Remember- burning fat is better than starving it, and the extra 15-30 minutes of cardio per day will also kill another 100 calories.

As far as your workouts go, you are already doing pretty well in that department, other than giving bi's and tri's their own day. Bi's and Tri are too small for that. instead, do: day 1: pull day 2: push day 3: legs ...The push and pull thing is obviously self explanatory, and it makes sure that you work the major muscle groups with compound exercises. Stuff like pull-ups, dips, squats and deadlifts are the bread and butter. Crap like tricep cable pressdowns are over rated magazine exercises that should be secondary to the compound movements.

I hope this was helpful and that you can get something from it.

Almost forgot, Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is an e-book that someone suggested to me last year. It was a wopping 300 damn pages (which took me quite a while to read) but it taught me VOLUMES of the information that is used by pro bodybuilders and fitness models to get in contest shape. I would get it if I were you. I'm not stupid- I know that those stars also use AAS along with diet and training to get that cut, but even for people who don't use AAS the book was killer, and all the little details in it helped me tune my fat level down to 12% easily.

[pirouette]

Originally Posted by tawney76

Tawney here- (the wife)
I went through a similar body struggle as you. I was also about 5'2"- 130, 21% bodyfat. I'm down to 125 and about 12-13% now.

There's 3 factors that you're going to have to get tuned in before you are gonna see your definition, and one of them directly pertains to the leg muscle definition you said that you wanted in your profile goals.

So far your upper body looks to have some muscle that is covered by a small layer of bodyfat, so in reality you don't need to 'gain' any more mass in that area to look stunning if you were 5% less in bodyfat. The fat-loss would melt away to reveal a great upper body. Your legs however, would look a little bit skinny when that fat was taken away. Assuming that your max lifts are accurate, your squat needs to improve. When I was max squatting at 140, my legs were non-existant as far as mass. It took a lot of hard work, but When you can do a set of 8-10 deep reps with 225 (2 45's each side) then you will see the type of legs you are looking for. When a woman's legs are that strong and are at 12% bodyfat, they look GOOD. A lot of women I know who are just getting started working out see the models who are on TV showing off their muscular legs on the infomercials, and they wonder why they can't get their legs to look that way. Well, first off it's bodyfat, but also it's because those women have leg muscles that are pretty massive. This is JMO, but if you see a woman who's legs look big and cut enough for your liking, you should ask her how much she squats and get yourself there too. I'll betcha it's not less than 2 plates each side for reps, probably more. LOL

The other 2 factors you need are diet related. The other poster gave you some good diet advice about protien intake and lowering un-needed carbs... but from what I can see it's not so much your diet that is bad, it's that you are probably taking in too many calories. you should drop them by about 200 per day to start, and see where that leaves you over the next 2-3 weeks. Keep track of how this effects your weight, bodyfat, and LBM ratio. You could do this by having 5 meals per day, not 6. 6 is the man's diet and 5 is the women's diet. Just drop one snack and that should give you the small calorie amount you need to slowly progress. Make sure you keep the meals no more than about 4 hours apart though. I would also keep my cardio at 45-60 minutes if you can. Remember- burning fat is better than starving it, and the extra 15-30 minutes of cardio per day will also kill another 100 calories.

As far as your workouts go, you are already doing pretty well in that department, other than giving bi's and tri's their own day. Bi's and Tri are too small for that. instead, do: day 1: pull day 2: push day 3: legs ...The push and pull thing is obviously self explanatory, and it makes sure that you work the major muscle groups with compound exercises. Stuff like pull-ups, dips, squats and deadlifts are the bread and butter. Crap like tricep cable pressdowns are over rated magazine exercises that should be secondary to the compound movements.

I hope this was helpful and that you can get something from it.

Almost forgot, Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is an e-book that someone suggested to me last year. It was a wopping 300 damn pages (which took me quite a while to read) but it taught me VOLUMES of the information that is used by pro bodybuilders and fitness models to get in contest shape. I would get it if I were you. I'm not stupid- I know that those stars also use AAS along with diet and training to get that cut, but even for people who don't use AAS the book was killer, and all the little details in it helped me tune my fat level down to 12% easily.

thanks for the very general advice on an old thread.

[tawney76]

'very' General Advice? Quite a rude little underhanded comment... There were many specifics included in that post. Your abs are not there because of diet & cardio. If you can't even see your arm or leg definition showing through, (as is the case with you) then you can be sure that the ab definition is WORLDS AWAY. Even after the back and arms start showing through, you'll still have about 3-4% bodyfat to shed before the six pack can show. Small changes in diet and cardio, like adding 15-30 minutes per day of cardio and dropping just 1-200 calories can make ALL THE DIFFERENCE in slowly chipping away at the fat. That's not general advice, that's quite specific, dear.

You said you were looking for a magic button? There IS NO MAGIC BUTTON. Maybe the detailed advice you were looking for was- where do you find the lamp and how many times must you rub it to get your wish?

You asked the question, not me. I'm sorry I wasted my time. I stumbled onto the thread by accident and didn't notice the date. Time has passed (as you just said) so I hope that since then you have aquired the exact body you wanted and corrected your deficiencies?

If you didn't, maybe the advice should have been given at least SOME consideration before being dismissed as very general bla bla junk, and laughed at.

You are a very attractive young lady, but apparently not open to criticism. The advice I gave you about your 'leg definition' problem was right on, specific, and also could have been very helpful if you wanted it to be. It was an observation that I doubt you would have gotten otherwise. People don't usually tell someone the truth in these situations. They usually spoon feed them bs, and positive affirmations and compliments.

I notice that you are a teacher... it's a shame you don't enjoy being taught anything that doesn't fit in line with what you want to hear. I hope the kids are better students than you.

[pirouette]

Originally Posted by tawney76

'very' General Advice? Quite a rude little underhanded comment... There were many specifics included in that post. Your abs are not there because of diet & cardio. If you can't even see your arm or leg definition showing through, (as is the case with you) then you can be sure that the ab definition is WORLDS AWAY. Even after the back and arms start showing through, you'll still have about 3-4% bodyfat to shed before the six pack can show. Small changes in diet and cardio, like adding 15-30 minutes per day of cardio and dropping just 1-200 calories can make ALL THE DIFFERENCE in slowly chipping away at the fat. That's not general advice, that's quite specific, dear.

You said you were looking for a magic button? There IS NO MAGIC BUTTON. Maybe the detailed advice you were looking for was- where do you find the lamp and how many times must you rub it to get your wish?

You asked the question, not me. I'm sorry I wasted my time. I stumbled onto the thread by accident and didn't notice the date. Time has passed (as you just said) so I hope that since then you have aquired the exact body you wanted and corrected your deficiencies?

If you didn't, maybe the advice should have been given at least SOME consideration before being dismissed as very general bla bla junk, and laughed at.

You are a very attractive young lady, but apparently not open to criticism. The advice I gave you about your 'leg definition' problem was right on, specific, and also could have been very helpful if you wanted it to be. It was an observation that I doubt you would have gotten otherwise. People don't usually tell someone thr truth in these situations. They usually spoon feed them bs, and positive affirmations and compliments.

I notice that you are a teacher... it's a shame you don't enjoy being taught anything that doesn't fit in line with what you want to hear.

Get over yourself. I LEARNED what I needed to know 3 months ago. Sorry you can't take a little sarcasm. I didn't say it was junk and i didn't laugh but yes, it was general in my opinion and with quite a preachy tone and nobody likes that.....dear. So, forgive me for not falling to my feet to bow at your advice. Get over it. If your feelings are hurt that easily, you're in the wrong place. and yes, when it comes to diet, eveyone is slightly different meaning you have to find the combination that works the best for you thus "the magic button"...... Go preach at someone else.

[tawney76]

puffette said:
***"Get over yourself. I LEARNED what I needed to know 3 months ago. Sorry you can't take a little sarcasm."***


You're the one who needs to get over yourself:

You say that you LEARNED what you needed to know 3 months ago??? You mean it took you that long to realize you were a bitch?

[Reciprocity]

Originally Posted by tawney76

puffette said:
***"Get over yourself. I LEARNED what I needed to know 3 months ago. Sorry you can't take a little sarcasm."***


You're the one who needs to get over yourself:

You say that you LEARNED what you needed to know 3 months ago??? You mean it took you that long to realize you were a bitch?

I am very saddened by the factor that you pollute the AAS section with 90% of your posts. You're a 40 year old individual. Please present yourself in a manor to which it more appropriate. If you bring this name calling and flaming over to the AAS section our fabulous MOD staff will be more then happy to ban you.

Once again, after reviewing your posts... please conduct yourself in a more appropriate mannor to any and all members. Name calling is something that should be put away with like trapper keepers and slap bracelets.

For further help please see the link to "Forum" guidelines in my signature....

[Roxie]

Originally Posted by tawney76

puffette said:
***"Get over yourself. I LEARNED what I needed to know 3 months ago. Sorry you can't take a little sarcasm."***


You're the one who needs to get over yourself:

You say that you LEARNED what you needed to know 3 months ago??? You mean it took you that long to realize you were a bitch?

You need to be respectful and mature in this section. NEGGED for name calling and disrespectful to another member. This section is run with a tight fist..I suggest you read the rules better or you will get shipped out very quickly.

[tawney76]

she even admitted she was being nasty. That's how it got started.

Yet nothing was said to her. nothing. only me.

My first post to her was a fair little bit of time and work, and it was a thoughtful, detailed, helpful post.

90% of my posts are bad? That's your opinion.

I love internet forums. Classic. I know you love the powerful feeling you get from being able to tell people how they can think, speak, act, write, and believe just because you control a delete button. In the real world, you're the same people that get stepped on and stepped over every day. Out there, crushed... in here, king for a day.

If it makes you feel good to ban people for sticking up for themselves, have at it. I've seen many a post with a "banned" sign next to it, and after reading the post I thought, "God the nerve of that person for banning the speaker... they just TOLD THE TRUTH."

Telling the truth is another internet forum no-no.

I am currently the part owner in the largest songwriter website forum on the internet. The largest on the net. Surprised? We don't limit speech there. We don't delete posts, or members. Since 1998 when we opened it's been that way. Guess what? The world keeps turning. It's just a message board. They are just scrolling posts on an imaginary page that will get burried under another one tomorrow.

Is it offensive that I called her a bitch? she so much as admitted that she was one right before I said it.

[Roxie]

Originally Posted by tawney76

she even admitted she was being nasty. That's how it got started.

Yet nothing was said to her. nothing. only me.

My first post to her was a hell of a lot of time and work, and it was a thoughtful, detailed, helpful post.

90% of my posts are bad? That's your opinion.

I love internet forums. Classic. I know you love the powerful feeling you get from being able to tell people how they can think, speak, act, write, and believe just because you control a delete button. In the real world, you're the same people that get stepped on and stepped over every day. Out there, crushed... in here, king for a day.

If it makes you feel good to ban people for sticking up for themselves, have at it. I've seen many a post with a "banned" sign next to it, and after reading the post I thought, "God the nerve of that person for banning the speaker... they just TOLD THE TRUTH."

Telling the truth is another internet forum no-no.

I am currently the part owner in the largest songwriter website forum on the internet. The largest on the net. Surprised? We don't limit speech there. We don't delete posts, or members. Since 1998 when we opened it's been that way. Guess what? The world keeps turning. It's just a message board. They are just scrolling posts on an imaginary page that will get burried under another one tomorrow.

Is it offensive that I called her a bitch? she so much as admitted that she was one right before I said it.

She admitted to being sarcastic, you came back acting like a teenager and resorted to name calling.

It's funny how you spewed out that I get a kick and feel so powerful telling people how to act, think yada yada yada, and yet you just told me how I am acting...how ironic.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but no, I do not feel all mighty powerful as you stated. There are rules on THIS forum, and signing up to THIS forum, you have agreed to abide by these rules set on THIS forum. I'm very happy for you and your website forum, but this is not your site, not your rules. I'm simply here to enforce the rules set by the owner of this site.

[tawney76]

fair enough.

we obviously have a whole different veiw of what's going on here.

Try to understand though, that I came back in response to being provoked. Everyone in life responds differently to mmm... 'sarcastic' women.

I also found it facinating how it took me the better part of the year to get up to 40,0000 green points, (as of yesterday rep power 4) and suddenly I am 40,000 in the RED after one disagreement with supervisors- very interesting. lol rep power 0 i suppose it's the way of the world.

anyway...

for the record- that b*tch comment came to me the second I saw her nasty response and set herself up to put her foot in her mouth. If the discussion had all happened in person at the gym, you would have probably fallen off your stair stepper laughing and covering your mouth when I nailed her charming little bootie with the joke. but of course if it had all happened in person at the gym, she would have been sweet as apple pie to me, and that's what pisses me off... THAT'S where I'm coming from.

-peace love & flowers-