I can't Eat as Much as My Plan Says To- Help!

[missgisellem]

Hi Gals,

I'm new to this forum, (and site) and I'm starting on Jamie Eason's 12-week plan.

Looking over the meals however, it calls for a TON of food, and I can't eat that much. For example, she says to eat 5 egg whites, veggies and starch for breakfast, then a protein snack, then a full lunch with a protein (6g), veggies and starch, and then another protein snack, then dinner. Also in there I need to fit in two servings of fruit, and my protein shake!

I'm only 5'0" tall and 120 pounds, and when I try to eat as much as she says to eat, I feel sick and lethargic. I don't think it's healthy to force myself to eat more than my body wants. I understand the idea of 5 meals instead of 3, but this seems like it isn't planned out for smaller people. Does anyone else have this problem or have any advice? I had a huge breakfast, and it's already time for lunch and I couldn't bring myself to eat my snack, and I'm dreading eating more. I feel sick.

Any help is much appreciated!

[MaliaBot]

Eat more fats. It's calorically more dense. Less egg whites, more egg yolks for example. Eat some nuts which are high in fats with some protein.

[lotusdeva]

Your body will adjust, give it some time. Peanut butter and nuts have lots of calories and fats! 1/4 cup of mixed nuts has like ~200 calories, 5g protein and 15g fat. Eat 1/2 cup and you got yourself 400 calories And do what works for you. I joined this site back in November and was stuck on eating 6 meals and also was on here asking - how am I going to eat all that? Then heavy lifting started and trust me, I ate all that and more I am eating 3 normal big meals now too Go to nutritional section and figure out your macros and eat them however you like

[oregonchick76]

Start slowly and gradually add more cals. And screw egg whites. Eat the whole egg, it has more cals.

[sbhf]

The first rule of exercise and diet is the "Law of Individuality". I'm sure I don't have to explain that to you. But don't ever follow anyone else's diet mate. Here is a basic set up for you.

Find your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and add your daily energy expenditure to that. This is the amount of calories YOU need on a daily basis. Charts can be found on line for this or if you want to private message me I will help you do all the math.

If your looking to increase your muscle mass then you want to add 300 - 500 calories a day to this number on your workout days and approx 300 less on your non workout days.

Then you want to divide this number by 6 which equates to 3 parts carbs, 2 parts protein and 1 part fats.

e.g. a 3000 calorie nutritional requirement would be 3000/6 = 500 so 3 parts carbs would be 1500 calories, 2 parts protein would be 1000 calories and 1 part fats would be 500 calories.

Then to make things a little more complicated... you want to eat mostly carbs and some protein for breakfast, like a 60/40 split , mostly protein for mid morn,70/30 split, carbs and protein for lunch, 50/50, mostly carbs and a little protein pre exercise,70/30, mostly protein and little carb post workout 80/20 and all protein before bed 100%. These are all estimates that you will need to fine tune to your own metabolism and daily energy requirements.

Keep in mind that there are 9 calories in a gram of fat and carbohydrate and 4 calories in a gram of protein. eat the majority of your carbohydrate up until and including your pre workout meal and then only a minute amount after and 90 % protein post workout and at bed time 100%. I'm sure your aware that the majority of your recovery and repair work is done during sleep. So your protein intake is vitally important post workout.

Don't ever be fooled by any of the diets out there. None of them work in the long term. ALWAYS remember that the body prefers carbohydrate for energy, can only use protein for tissue repair and needs some fat for vital organs, and other various physiological goings on in the body. The brain can only operate on Carbohydrate. One last thing here... the food in your stomach is ALWAYS providing energy, it is NEVER replacing energy. So ALWAYS look forward as far as your energy requirements are concerned. A healthy digestive system will fully evacuate approximately every 3 hours, hence the 5 -6 smaller meals a day.


I am assuming that your working out in the evening.

Weight gain or loss is a 3 part process... exercise, rest and nutrition. And to be perfectly honest the nutritional aspect is by far the hardest. But never do yourself the injustice of following someone else's nutritional program. There are so many variables that you can never do well with them, or those cookie cutter exercise and diet programs.

Like I said earlier I am happy to help you out if you want more information and help in formulating your own program both exercise and nutritional. This whole adventure is a discovery of the self and you should only ever seek information from others, and design your own plan. Only YOU know how your body responds to all the variables so get to know yourself and your own personal physiology...

Hope this helps some

Micheal

[sermosmiles6]

Hi Micheal,

I don't know if you are still using bodybuilding, but I have the same body type as this lady and could really use some help. I am so discouraged right now. I was 5ft 120. Now I am 124lb! I don't know what to do.

Serena

[sermosmiles6]

Did you ever get your answer? I am new to the program, and love the eating regularly, but I am gaining weight. Please help.

[kimm4]

Did you ever get your answer? I am new to the program, and love the eating regularly, but I am gaining weight. Please help.

You can figure out your calories needed here:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121703921

Make sure to weigh, measure and track everything accordingly.

[sermosmiles6]

I appreciate your help. I am going to attempt the math now!

[rockangel]

i cant figure out what being small has to do with eating a lot of cals??? Im small but i can put away some cals!! (in refrence to the original post)

[wakechica]

i cant figure out what being small has to do with eating a lot of cals??? Im small but i can put away some cals!! (in refrence to the original post)

People either eating a lot of calories dense non-filling foods going onto a less calorie dense meals requiring more food (small stomach)
People not used to eating a lot of food and have undereaten for a long time (small stomach)

If I go to mickey d's a large does NOT fill me up! Yet 25g lettuce, salmon fillet, 2 slices of ham, 1 bell pepper and 2 tomatoes fills me up. Go figure. It simples OP if you can't phsycially eat what Jamie Eason wants you to, eat more calorie dense food.

EDIT: Old thread, whoops.

[jessicajlin]

forget the protein shakes, they are useless