Ok guys, help needed. Was doing ok but kinda let myself go over last month being on holiday. Now gotta get back to it for next holiday in Canada/USA in October.
I love these forums and they are a big help but problem is I can kinda get lost in the intricate details of the posts and lose way. What I need in laymans terms is someone to tell me what to eat when to eat and what exercises to do and when.
I go to gym 5 times a week and usually try to live on 1350 cals per day so if someone can sort out a routine for me id be very grateful. meals tend to be breakfast at 8am lunch at 12pm dinner at 6pm and supper at 9.45pm. I do an hour in gym from 8.30 - 9.30pm every midweek night. I tend to do 20 mins treadmill, 10 mins stationary bike, 10 mins crosstrainer and around 15 mins on various weight machines (lat pull down, leg press, chest press)
meals usually consist of
breakfast...bran flakes and pc of fruit
lunch...boots shapers meal deal 400 cals...a chicken wrap with low fat crisps and diet coke
dinner....quorn steaks with baked potato and salad
supper....sandwich
I get confused when reading posts when someone says bread is good and others say its bad same with bananas!!
So, see what you can come up with and i will constantly post results
many thenks
Paul
diet starts NOW
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
Re: diet starts NOW
Hi Paul 
The easiest, simplest thing you can do is eat meat (incl. eggs) and veggies 4x per day, plus fat. Fat can be olives, olive oil on your veggies or salad, bacon, nut butter, or whatever else you can think of.
Here is a sample meal plan based on what you already listed as your meal outline:
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with chopped peppers/whatever veggies you like
Lunch: Green salad with chicken and whatever salad dressing you like
Dinner: Real steak or beef, with baked potato and salad
Supper: Sandwich meat (no bread if you're trying to lose body fat) with veggies or fruit, and a few nuts
The reason fruit isn't worked in to the above is because, although highly nutritious, most fruit is a high sugar carb, so if you keep it to veggies (which have a lower glycemic index) you'll reduce the amount of weight you store as fat. Don't worry about calories, they don't matter unless you're really going crazy and eating way more than you need to, which you're not. Keep the servings of protein (eggs, steak, chicken, sandwich meat) to around a 30g serving per meal if you want to give your body what it needs to rebuild.
Exercise suggestion based on your routine:
Do cardio 2 days per week, with nothing else, and do weight training the other 3 days.
For cardio make a goal for each session, example: If there is a rower, try to do 2000m as quickly as you can. The next week try to beat your time from the week before. That kind of intensity brings the best physical results because your body has to react to new and differing stimuli. The second cardio session that week should be sprints, example: running sprints of 100 m with a 2 min rest in between, 6 times. You can make up routines like that, just stick to them in the moment so the rules don't change (eg. cut the amount of sets you do because you're tired). If you like swimming, swim a certain number of laps as quickly as you can and try to beat it the next week, then do sprints, same kind of thing... go for a jog in your neighbourhood or drive out somewhere hilly and go to town on a hill.
For weights, try bodyweight exercises: Push Ups, Pull Ups, Sit Ups, Air Squats, and Lunges. Focus on good technique. How many burpees can you do in 7 minutes? That's a good workout. You can play with it a bit, but don't focus on too much in your 1 hour at the gym, go with a specific plan for that session and be intense. Bodyrock.tv has some good workouts, as does crossfit.com, and they're all posted for free. Make sure you warm up before each session, and stretch afterward, not before.
So where are you going on your trip? It sounds like a big one!
The easiest, simplest thing you can do is eat meat (incl. eggs) and veggies 4x per day, plus fat. Fat can be olives, olive oil on your veggies or salad, bacon, nut butter, or whatever else you can think of. Here is a sample meal plan based on what you already listed as your meal outline:
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with chopped peppers/whatever veggies you like
Lunch: Green salad with chicken and whatever salad dressing you like
Dinner: Real steak or beef, with baked potato and salad
Supper: Sandwich meat (no bread if you're trying to lose body fat) with veggies or fruit, and a few nuts
The reason fruit isn't worked in to the above is because, although highly nutritious, most fruit is a high sugar carb, so if you keep it to veggies (which have a lower glycemic index) you'll reduce the amount of weight you store as fat. Don't worry about calories, they don't matter unless you're really going crazy and eating way more than you need to, which you're not. Keep the servings of protein (eggs, steak, chicken, sandwich meat) to around a 30g serving per meal if you want to give your body what it needs to rebuild.
Exercise suggestion based on your routine:
Do cardio 2 days per week, with nothing else, and do weight training the other 3 days.
For cardio make a goal for each session, example: If there is a rower, try to do 2000m as quickly as you can. The next week try to beat your time from the week before. That kind of intensity brings the best physical results because your body has to react to new and differing stimuli. The second cardio session that week should be sprints, example: running sprints of 100 m with a 2 min rest in between, 6 times. You can make up routines like that, just stick to them in the moment so the rules don't change (eg. cut the amount of sets you do because you're tired). If you like swimming, swim a certain number of laps as quickly as you can and try to beat it the next week, then do sprints, same kind of thing... go for a jog in your neighbourhood or drive out somewhere hilly and go to town on a hill.
For weights, try bodyweight exercises: Push Ups, Pull Ups, Sit Ups, Air Squats, and Lunges. Focus on good technique. How many burpees can you do in 7 minutes? That's a good workout. You can play with it a bit, but don't focus on too much in your 1 hour at the gym, go with a specific plan for that session and be intense. Bodyrock.tv has some good workouts, as does crossfit.com, and they're all posted for free. Make sure you warm up before each session, and stretch afterward, not before.
So where are you going on your trip? It sounds like a big one!
Re: diet starts NOW
Hey Athene,
Many thanks for the tips, will def take all that on board and let you know how it goes
Yeah big trip in October cant wait
flying in to Toronto where we pick up wifes bro and his wife. Then drive down to the states with stops at Cincinatti, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Dollywood, Cleveland and Detroit then back up for the last week with family in Canada
cheers
Many thanks for the tips, will def take all that on board and let you know how it goes
Yeah big trip in October cant wait
flying in to Toronto where we pick up wifes bro and his wife. Then drive down to the states with stops at Cincinatti, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Dollywood, Cleveland and Detroit then back up for the last week with family in Canada
cheers
Re: diet starts NOW
You need to be aware of some frutis in relation to GI indexes as stated.
Things like Dates and currents are very sugary and vey high GI.
In relation to things like Grapes, Strawberries, and Cherries, which are around 40-45 GI, they have a very low Glycemic load, because of the low Carb content per unit, meaning you'd need a massive amount of them to get big bloodsugar spike.
So for example, 1 Grape is 0.4g Carbs, so even if you consume 40, at GI 40, your bloodsugar would increase by 6.4% which is low , so to even get a 20% increase which is the lowest point on the high scale, you'd need to consume 125 grapes at once, to have what's considered a bad bloodsugar spike, but you could even get away with something like that when you're waking or after exercise, when bloodsugar is much lower than normal, as too many high bloodsugar spikes on a daily basis, affect the acidity of the blood so I believe and can increase type II Diabetes risk, at certain times of the day, when bloodsugar is lower than normal, straying into normally risky territory, is not a big issue as long as the bloodsugar spike after a workout or first thing wasn't something absurd, which I estimate would be like 35-40%+
Subacid Fruits like Apples, Peaches etc are generally okay as are what could be called savoury fruits, like Peppers, Cucumber, Aubergine, (Eggplant), Marrow and Tomato, the kind of fruits you'd eat with things like Salads, Stir-frys chicken dishes etc, as they are fairly low GI and cooking dminishes some carb levels anyway, reducing the impact of fruits on bloodsugar.
Things like Dates and currents are very sugary and vey high GI.
In relation to things like Grapes, Strawberries, and Cherries, which are around 40-45 GI, they have a very low Glycemic load, because of the low Carb content per unit, meaning you'd need a massive amount of them to get big bloodsugar spike.
So for example, 1 Grape is 0.4g Carbs, so even if you consume 40, at GI 40, your bloodsugar would increase by 6.4% which is low , so to even get a 20% increase which is the lowest point on the high scale, you'd need to consume 125 grapes at once, to have what's considered a bad bloodsugar spike, but you could even get away with something like that when you're waking or after exercise, when bloodsugar is much lower than normal, as too many high bloodsugar spikes on a daily basis, affect the acidity of the blood so I believe and can increase type II Diabetes risk, at certain times of the day, when bloodsugar is lower than normal, straying into normally risky territory, is not a big issue as long as the bloodsugar spike after a workout or first thing wasn't something absurd, which I estimate would be like 35-40%+
Subacid Fruits like Apples, Peaches etc are generally okay as are what could be called savoury fruits, like Peppers, Cucumber, Aubergine, (Eggplant), Marrow and Tomato, the kind of fruits you'd eat with things like Salads, Stir-frys chicken dishes etc, as they are fairly low GI and cooking dminishes some carb levels anyway, reducing the impact of fruits on bloodsugar.
Re: diet starts NOW
Sounds like a great trip! Enjoy.
Like Bossman says, not all fruit is high GI, and fruit is very nutritious, but if you're trying to drop weight and keep muscle, meat and green veg is the way, with fruit making only small appearances here and there. That's just experience - the less sugar you eat, the less you crave, the less body fat you have.
If you eat crap for emotional reasons like I do... that's a whole other story!
Good luck with everything.
Like Bossman says, not all fruit is high GI, and fruit is very nutritious, but if you're trying to drop weight and keep muscle, meat and green veg is the way, with fruit making only small appearances here and there. That's just experience - the less sugar you eat, the less you crave, the less body fat you have.
If you eat crap for emotional reasons like I do... that's a whole other story!
Good luck with everything.