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2005/04/12, 02:13 PM
hi all, this is my first post. so happy to have found this site w/ all its wonderful information.
i'm 5'6" and weigh 126.5 after doing a week of a modified south beachy type diet (i weighed 130.5 a week ago). on the up side, south beach taught me to cut out bread, sugar, and all processed foods, but on the down side, cutting out all this stuff left me at a calorie range of around 1000-1100 calories a day, which i know is not enough to lose fat.
i also know that a lot of my weight loss was water, but it's wonderful to have my clothes fitting so much better. i eat every 2 1/2 - 3 hours; here are my typical meals:
breakfast
scrambled egg w/ broccoli and brown rice OR
oatmeal or yogurt w/ blueberries, walnuts, wheat germ, ground flax
snack
apple or orange
lunch
2-3 oz. lean meat or chicken or tuna
broccoli, cauliflower, chard, collards or green beans
brown rice
snack
apple or orange
dinner
same as lunch, but different meat and veggie
this very clean diet leaves me very FULL; my very sensitive stomach fills up very quickly now, especially w/ all the fiber at each meal, and i couldn't imagine eating more food than this. that so little food fills me up still strikes me as crazy and baffling -- when i was eating more refined, bready things 2 weeks ago, i could eat much more b/c it wouldn't fill me up.
my goal is to maintain muscle mass, increase strength and endurance, and lose more fat. some questions:
will it be possible to continue losing fat w/o regaining the water weight?
should i add protein shakes to my 2 snacks? will this be enough?
should i switch out 1 of my fruit snacks for a veggie? or is 2 fruits a day okay?
is it okay to calorie cycle right away? i'd like to build up to 1200-1500 clean calories and keep that number in flux depending on my activity level and mood. will this work for muscle maintenance/fat loss?
also, i would think it's best to add clean calories GRADUALLY, say 50-100 additional calories per day in increments, letting my body adjust to the additional food before adding more, until i get to the 1200-1500 range. is this right?
my concern is that my body is currently not getting enough for fat loss even though i feel sated, but i don't want to start stuffing myself, even w/ clean stuff, and dealing w/ the discomfort of that.
any suggestions?
oh, in terms of exercise, i alternate weight training and cardio days, 3x/week for both.
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2005/04/12, 05:05 PM
Hey, I'm new as well to this forum, but I have been reading a fair amount on this stuff. By no means do I know everything, but this is my suggestion--
First of all, when people say you should eat every 2.5 to 3 hours they mean a fairly full meal, i.e. you should make your main meals smaller and your snacks closer to their size. An apple or orange really doesn't count, since they only contain about 70 calories a piece. If you're already about 1000 calories behind per day, I suggest keeping your regular meals the size they are and making the snacks bigger. I would say a shake would be in good order (not just protien in them, but good carbs too). However, those tend to fill me up as well, so another way to go is to get some good cereal (soy cereal is a good choice and fairly good tasting) and just munch on the dry stuff in between meals as you would with chips or something.
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