Diet for fat loss without losing muscle?

[miss_carrie]

Hey everyone, I'm new here! I've been lifting weights regularly for about 3 years now but didn't seriously get into it until maybe about a year ago. It seems that whenever I get close to my "goal weight" my abs are so close to showing, but they never do. I can feel that they are there, but there's always this thin layer of fat covering them. Also generally when I diet to lose fat I consume around 1500 calories per day and about 80-120g of protein depending on the day. I'm not sure if this is enough calories for me though because after about 4 months of dieting pretty strictly every day I started to get really light headed all the time to the point where one day I actually fainted. Anyway long story short, I'm fairly certain that my body went into starvation mode which basically triggered a month long binge and I gained 23 pounds. I want to lose it SLOWLY so my body doesn't rebound again. Anyone have any suggestions as to how many calories to eat per day to lose the weight in about 6 months? I've searched on the internet for those calorie calculators but those seem more for sedentary people. I'm 5'3, 136 lbs, and I do 4 40 min weight training sessions and 5 20 minute cardio sessions per week. Any advice would be appreciated!!

[gymjunkee01]

I would up your calories, since you said yourself you don't think you are currently getting enough. Make sure you've got adequate amounts of fat, carbs and protein in each meal. Drink lots of water! And get LOTS OF SLEEP!

It is an experiment to find out what works best for you - it took me about a year of trying this and that, and going up and down 10lbs back and forth. Try something for a few weeks, and if you see the progress you want, don't change anything. If you dont, then do some tweaking.

What is your diet by the way? Posting will be helpful, as others will be able to give you pointers on how to better your goal of fatloss in terms of your diet.

[miss_carrie]

Lately my diet has basically been this:

6am- oatmeal & 1c milk
9am- 8oz of yogurt
12pm- turkey&cheese sandwich, apple
3pm- protein bar (20g protein for 170 calories)
6pm- chicken, sweet potato, broccoli
8pm- 1c eggbeaters as an omlette usually with ff cheese & tomatoes & carrots

I think I'm eating too much at night and not enough in the mornings. Also it seems like most of my protein is at night and in the morning it's mostly carbs (at 6am its 12g protein and at 9am its 8g protein). Also is it bad to have a protein bar? It seems like some people use them but others think that they don't work and aren't really that good for you. Also according to fitday.com I'm only getting 8% of my calories per day from fat--is this too low? I'm thinking that maybe if I spread my protein out more evenly, aim for 1600-1700 calories per day, and aim for a higher fat percentage of calories from fat (is 20% too much), that I might be better off. Does this sound about right?

[golfergirl08]

8% fats is way too low! As many people on this board have said, you need fat to burn fat. I was eating too little fat before too, and once I started eating more I actually noticed a difference in the way I looked and felt. 20% is not too high, in fact I think it's a good number to shoot for. Just make sure that you're getting healthy fats (unsaturated), such as from nuts, avocados, etc. Natural peanut butter is a fave of mine, I highly recommend that. I also take fish oil pills, 2 or 3 a day. And yeah I think you're right that you're not getting enough protein in the morning; you should spread it out evenly throughout that day. My diet is 45% protein, 35% carbs, 20% fats and I try and make each meal have those percentages. Sometimes that doesn't happen, but it's usually close. Plus adding more protein (and fats) in the morning will keep you fuller longer and you won't get as many cravings. As for protein bars, I eat them occasionally when I can't get anything else but they are highly processed and do contain sugar... so if you eat them, eat in moderation... and try not to have one every day (maybe every other day at the most). I hope that helps!