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Najakcharmer -> RE: who works out (11/14/2007 11:34:29 PM)
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ORIGINAL: TwistedLady
This is exactly how I have my calorie intake set. I use the Benedict Formula to start:
The Benedict formula is only as accurate as your estimate of your own lean body mass. Fat is not very metabolically active tissue, so your body fat percentage will markedly affect the accuracy of the calculation. Your calorie range isn't bad and should not be causing metabolic deficit at your activity level.
Get some more protein at breakfast, and eat more and smaller meals. Three meals a day is a rotten prescription for weight loss. You need more like five at a minimum.
Fructose preferentially refills liver glycogen rather than muscle glycogen, but that probably won't be an issue for you as a cardio person rather than a lifter. Though if you really want to kick start the weight loss AND up your ability to eat sweet stuff, I'd highly recommend switching up some of the cardio for resistance training. You can indulge in the sweet stuff by eating it immediately post-workout (after muscle glycogen depletion), keeping it low fat, and keeping it reasonably within your normal calorie intake range. I don't personally like sweet stuff, so I just slam down dextrose or maltodextrin in my post workout protein shake, because it's actually needed at that time to refill muscle glycogen stores and promote rapid recovery. There's nothing really stopping me from downing a portion of something like an Enteman's fat free pastry along with my PWO protein shake and getting similarly good results, except that I generally can't be bothered.
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Also, would anyone happen to know how much sodium, protein, fats, and carbs I need to consume daily? Or, is there an equation that includes height/weight figures to calculate it?
Depends on your goals. Protein is what you start with - aim for a minimum of .8 grams per lb of bodyweight daily. Some people will have you go as low as .8 grams per pound of lean body mass, and lifters go as high as 1.5 to 2g or more. The ones on the high end of that spectrum are usually drug assisted.
The rest needs to be mostly complex carbs, except immediately pre and post workout when you can take in some simple carbs (sugars), and fats from healthy sources. How you partition between carbs and fat depends on your insulin sensitivity. Some people respond very well to a lower carb, higher fat diet. Others respond better to the reverse. The only set number is protein. You need to tweak between carbs and fats as works for you. Fat slows gastric uptake and reduces glycemic index, which makes it good for increased fullness and satiety, but bad immediately pre and post workout as it interferes with really efficient muscle fuel uptake.
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Edit: I've tried to eat 5 to 6 small meals during the day but can't do it. I like to feel "full" from my meals. If I eat 3 meals I generally get full that way while staying within my calorie deficit. If I do the 5 to 6 small meals, I never feel full. It feels like I never really eat!
You may have issues with insulin sensitivity, ghrelin and/or leptin.....or you may just like to eat and feel full. Either way, moving to a lower carb, higher fat, higher protein diet probably has the best chance of fixing this and making sure you feel full and satiated.
Try this on for size. Adjust portions to your caloric needs. Your drinks are water, unsweetened tea and no-calorie beverages. Hood's Calorie Countdown is what you'll be using instead of skim milk, if you need milk.
Breakfast: On workout days, full fat cottage cheese and either a small portion of berries or a small portion of whole wheat cereal or oats (try sprinkling this on top of the cottage cheese with Splenda, it's tasty). On nonworkout days, have a cheese and veggie omelette, or grilled tomatoes and a ham steak. You want to intake enough fat to feel full and satisfied. Right around a workout fat will slow nutrient uptake too much, so drop the fat and raise the carbs at those times.
Midmorning: Natural (no sugar added) peanut butter or full fat cheese or cream cheese on a slice of whole grain bread on workout days, a bran cracker on non workout days. Low carb protein shake of some kind - a scoop of whey in water or Hood's low carb milk substitute works well.
Lunch: Meat with a little fat (chicken breast or fish drizzled with olive oil, or some trimmed red meat), all the green salad type veggies you want. On workout days add a small portion of whole wheat pasta or 1/4 a small sweet potato with a pat of butter. Nonworkout days, no more starch after midmorning.
Midafternoon: Unsalted walnuts, almonds or macadamia nuts, or a small piece of full fat cheese. If you're hungry after this snack, have a hardboiled egg.
Dinner: Meat and all the cooked veggies you want. No starches.
What you're aiming for on a ketogenic diet is 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight and around 50-60 carbs a day on workout days, 30 carbs or less on nonworkout days, the rest of your calories come from fat (preferably from healthy sources of fat). The South Beach Diet has a lot going for it, as does the Paleolithic Diet and Body For Life. You may not need to go truly ketogenic, in which case you can revise your carbs upward and your fat downward. There is no one size fits all formula, and you'll need to figure out what works with your metabolism.
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