Diet advice needed please

[harry907]

hi,

I need some advice about losing weight, at present I weigh 18 stone and 5ft 7 so I have alot fo weught to lose.

I used the tools on here to see what I should be eating and it said

all per day

protein = 242
Carbs = 363
fat 77
cals 3116

I did this for the two weeks and had my target for protein but fat was around 40 per day, carbs was around 300 per day and cals was around 2300 per day.

also went to the gym three times a week for 1.5 each time and a was an hour of weights and 30 mins cardo

the first week lost 3 pounds but the second week lost nothing...

if anyone can see where I'm going wrong I would be grateful for any advice

Thanks

Harry

[admin]

Here is some info we have posted on losing weight previously, hope this helps.

Let me give you a little bit of background in nutrition so that you understand what you are doing.

There are 2 parts of your body (composition) that you are in control of in nutrition, muscle and body fat. You need to lose weight (to make the weight) and if you cut back equally on your macronutrients (protein, carbs and fats) you will cannibalise (burn off) muscle and body fat. Muscle is stored protein and body fat is stored energy normally from carbs and fats. What you need to do is eat enough protein so that your body has no need to cannibalise muscle but be deficient in energy foods (carbs and fats) so that your body has to cannibalise body fat for its shortfall in energy. In other words, less energy in (burn body fat) more energy out (training).

What is a Kcalorie?
A Kcalorie is not a nutrient, it is just a measurement of energy within a nutrient.
Macronutrients are proteins, carbs and fats and these are measured in Kcals.
1 gram protein = 4 Kcals
1 gram carbs = 4 Kcals
1 gram fat = 9 Kcals
1 gram of alcohol = 7 Kcals although we would term these as “empty” Kcals because they have no nutritional value.
There are examples of obese people that are malnutritioned because they have put gained weight eating or drinking high Kcal, low nutrient foods. Some examples of these are

Alcohol
Sugars
Processed Foods
High Fat foods etc.

Some examples of these high Kcal/low nutrition meals are
A KFC meal – 3 pieces chicken, chips and a cola is 1500 Kcalories.
A McDonalds average meal – 1500 Kcalories
A large Pizza can be 3000 Kcalories

The key is to eat low Kcal(lose body fat) high nutrition meals (get adequate nutrient for the recovery from the trauma of training)

Some examples of low Kcal/high nutrition meals/food/supplements are
A chicken breast, baked potato and veg is about 450Kcals
A Salmon steak, pasta and veg is about 550 Kcals
A grilled piece of white cod, rice & veg is about 400Kcals
2 boiled or scrambled eggs on 2 pieces of brown toast is 300kcals
A very big (250g) of green veg is only 60Kcals
I piece of fruit 60Kcal
A Pro MR (42g of protein) is 270Kcals
A Pro Recover is 300Kcals

Everyone has got a metabolism (metabolic rate) which is the speed that you burn Kcals (energy). Your metabolism is not how many kcals you need (use) a day, it is how many you can use per meal and you can metabolise these kcals about every 3 hours.
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that are responsible for all metabolic reactions in the human body so eat your 5 fruit and veg a day or take a good vitamin and mineral formula such as Pro Vital which is an advanced multivitamin & mineral with antioxidants.

Water is the solvent that all metabolic reactions take place in, in other words, if you are deficient in water, your metabolism will slow down. I would suggest as you train hard that you drink at least 4 litres of water per day. Do not think that water will affect your body composition, yes, it can make you heavy on the scales if have drank and not urinated or sweated but the correct time to weigh yourself is first thing in the morning, after you have been to the toilet, on an empty stomach, this is your true body mass. all other times during the day , your weight because of hydration can vary. A pint of water (568ml) is about 1lb in weight, so you can fluctuate during the day quite easily. Water will not put mass on , it will only put water weight on and the morning of a weigh in, you will not be drinking water.

Macronutrients, as I said earlier (Protein 4 Kcals, Carbs 4 Kcals, Fats 9Kcals per gram) are measured in Kcals, and a Kcal is not a nutrient, it is the amount of energy in that gram of protein, carbs or fat. If you eat more kcals than you need per day or per meal, you will put weight on. If you eat fewer kcals per day or meal, you will lose weight.There are also kcals in alcohol, one gram of alcohol is 7 kcals, although these kcals we would term as empty because there is no nutritional value in them and your body can put fat on for alcohol.
If you eat too many kcals from carbohydrates and fats, the body will store those extra kcals for future use as body fat. If you train and eat too many kcals from protein, your body can store that extra protein as muscle, so very simplistically put, body fat is stored carbohydrates and fats (although in certain circumstances it can use protein) and muscle is stored protein.
If you cut back equally on protein, carbs, fats and alcohol (and you do it properly) your body will lose weight on the scales but may not look any better as it will cannibalise muscle AND fat, in effect photocopying yourself smaller but you don’t look any better at 12 stone than you did at 14.
You must keep your protein moderate to high, I suggest 1 gram of very clean protein (boiled or grilled fish, chicken, turkey) or egg whites or Pro MR or Pro MS (for women), per pound of body weight (2.2 per kilo) This way your body has no reason to cannibalise muscle for its shortfall in protein that you eat. Also, your metabolism will be faster, with the more muscle you have.

Basal (basic) Metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy used while resting in a normal temperature environment after fasting so that your digestive system is inactive.
Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is very similar to above.
Your metabolism can fluctuate depending on age, sex, time of day, activity and food intake. You can do nothing about your age and sex but you are in control of your activity (training) and nutritional intake especially late at night when your metabolism is slowing down.

We all require Kcals (units of energy) but our energy requirement should not be measured in a 24 hour cycle ie. How many Kcals a day I need. It should be how many Kcals I need PER meal. To keep your metabolism active (full speed) you should eat or drink approximately every 3 hours.

The Food Standards Agency and other regulatory bodies advise us to have 2000 Kcals a day (for women) and 2500 Kcals a day (for men) but if you only ate 2 meals per day, you would be eating over 1000 Kcals per meal and probably would not metabolise (use) that amount of Kcals.
Imagine a day’s worth of perfect nutrition in a jug (Protein, Carbs, Fats, adequate Veg and plenty of water) but you only put 2 cups (representing 2 meals) on the table and poured that jug of (2000 or 2500 Kcals) into those 2 cups, it would not fit in. The over flow (spilt nutrition) as it is not being used, would be wasted nutrients and as your body wastes nothing, would be converted to body fat for future use. If your metabolism slows down, the cups get smaller, when your metabolism speeds up the cups get bigger.

How many times in the past have you been training extremely hard, eating 1 or 2 meals a day (maybe 800 Kcals) and not losing weight because your metabolism has slowed down to protect itself.

Now put 5 cups on the table (representing 5 meals approximately 3 hours apart) and have the same jug of nutrition. Now pour it in and it would all fit with no waste meaning all the nutrients are used by the body and as there is no over flow (spill) no new body fat.
If you regularly eat 5 small meals a day, your metabolism gets comfortable as it is getting lots of nutrients, it now speeds up. The cups get bigger, then as you cut back slightly with your Kcals, your body keeps its metabolism running fast enabling you to burn more Kcals (and as you have cut back) your fast metabolism now needs that stored energy which is body fat.

There are examples of obese people that have malnutrition because they are eating high Kcal foods but only twice a day which has also slowed down their metabolism.

If you restrict your kcals too much, your metabolism (metabolic rate) will slow down to protect itself from the rapid weight loss. A metabolism is like a fire, it needs to be stoked with a small amount of fuel (nutrients) every 3 hours, this way it will carry on burning and as long as you stoke that fire with a small amount of nutrients (Kcals) it will not go out (your metabolism will not slow down).
Most people lose weight very quickly at the beginning of a kcal restricted diet but they make the mistake of doing too much training and eating too few kcals which leads to a tremendous amount of energy going out with very little energy coming in so their metabolism shuts/slows down to protect the body from this rapid weight loss.
Think about it, when people start to lose 4 lbs per week, the body detects this rapid weight loss, and if they are only eating one or two meals per day, the body knows it will go into malnutrition and at this rate eventually die. If you eat small clean meals either food or Pro Mr/Pro MS (for women) the body gets adequate amounts of nutrients but in a lower kcal environment, is not malnutritioned, therefore doesn’t feel the need to shut/slow it’s metabolism down.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd304/cnpprofessional/diet-1.jpg


The above diet is an average of 2100 Kcals a day, start with this (you do not want your metabolism to slow down). Remember governing bodies tell us you need 2500 Kcals per
day plus you train extremely hard, probably burning 1500Kcals a day, total 4000. You will lose weight. I have not put in Pro Recover, I suggest you have 1 scoop (150 Kcals) after
light training and 2 scoops (300 Kcals) after very heavy training and this will obviously add to your total Kcals.

After 2,3 or 4 weeks you may have to drop 1 of the 6 meals that you are eating on this spreadsheet, if you do, stop taking meal 3, 4 or 5 only.

Supplements (no Kcals) - Take Pro Vital with meal 1. Take Pro Omega with meal 1 or 2 and meal 4 or 5. If you take the fat burners, take them in the morning and early afternoon.
If you take a Pro Slam, take it instead of meal 4, just before you train.

[harry907]

Many thanks,couple of questions should I be weighing the chicken, meat and fish? also at work there is no way to do cooked food so would be difficult to chicken & jacket pototoe?

[admin]

Many thanks,couple of questions should I be weighing the chicken, meat and fish? also at work there is no way to do cooked food so would be difficult to chicken & jacket pototoe?

No an average chicken breast, steak or fillet of fish will be fine.

Do you have a microwave at work? Could you take it cold and reheat? If not you will have to find a way to substitute the balanced meal with something cold, maybe a chicken salad sandwich on wholemeal bread, or something with similar nutrients.

[bigdeadweight]

you can eat chicken and rice cold. not the nicest thing in the world but does the job. that is what i take for packed dinner most days. we do have a microwave at work but it is very weak and there is a queue at dinner, so i just eat it cold.

[pagie]

Hardcore BDW !!

[bigdeadweight]

haha,

i actually dont mind it, have gotten used to it now.