Any Suggestions?

[yoyoyoshi777]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and thought i'd post what i'm planning on doing in the next six weeks to see if the more experienced have any suggestions on changes for maximum benefits.

About me: I'm a 23 year old male, 5'11, 155 lbs, 15.2% body fat.

Previous 2 months: I was focusing strictly on upper body weight training every second day with 15 minute HIIT cycling in between weight training days (6 day workout week). My goals for the two months were to gain strength and get my heart in better shape. I've had hyperthyroidism since the start of the year (makes you have really low energy - sleepy all the time) and after the medication started to work in September I immediately wanted to feel stronger and get back into decent shape. Both my goals were met.

My fitness goal for the next 6 weeks (possibly longer, but most likely i'll be starting a bulking phase right after): Lose as much body fat as possible in a healthy way. My goal is to get down to 13% but I would be happy with high 13's, low 14's. My secondary goal is to not lose the muscle/strength I've gained in the last two months.

Diet: I'm a vegetarian. I was eating a higher calorie diet in the past two months (gained 10 pounds, but a good amount of it is muscle) simply because I was lifting weights. For the next six weeks my diet will mainly consist of protein shakes (protein powder, light soy milk, flaxseed, yogurt, fibre) which is roughly 200 calories 2-3 times a day, ceasar salads, cereals, rice, yogurt and that's probably about it. As i'm typing this it seems like very little, but i've had this diet in the past (around 1500 calories a day) and have been able to exercise 6 days a week and have energy to work, go out, etc...

Supplements:
Morning – GNC mega men’s multivitamin (1/2), 100mg co-Q10, 500mg L-Carnitine, 200mg green tea extract
Afternoon – GNC mega men’s multivitamin (2/2), 500mg L-carnitine, 200mg green tea extract
Pre-workout – 200mg green tea extract, Amino Vital Endurance fruit juice (loaded with amino acids for sustained energy)

Workout:
Tuesday: Run @ 7 miles per hour for 60 minutes or play floor hockey (sometimes it gets cancelled)
Wednesday: HIIT on the bike @ 15 minutes, then pullups, pushups, and ab sets (I would do the sets, probably 3 of each, before the HIIT)
Thursday: Run @ 8.5 miles for 30 minutes (up to 60 minutes if I have the energy)
Friday: Rowing @ 30 minutes at medium intensity, then 15 minutes of HIIT rowing
Saturday: Carb load all day and run in the late afternoon @ 7 miles per hour for as long as possible to a maximum of 3 hours
Sunday: Full body muscle workout (this is for maintenance – I don’t want to lose muscle during this phase - I might limit this to upperbody depending on how the legs feel)
Monday: Off


As extra motivation I have a friendly bet going with a buddy who's also trying to lose weight (albeit he has around 30% body fat) on who can lose the most % body fat in the next 6 weeks.

In the past i've averaged around 1% of body fat loss per month. I did that without any supplements and mostly with cycling and a little bit of running. I'm hoping to lose around 2.5% of body fat; I don't want to use any fat burners (at least this time around - if I find I don't get where I want to be in six weeks, then the next time I do a cutting phase i'll try one).

Any suggestions to the workout schedule, diet, or supplements I have listed there?

 

[joebedford]

I am sure I sound like a broken record at this point.

1) I advise eating real food, not supplements. Supplements are unregulated, ineffective, and can even be dangerous. The idea of isolating nutrients in a pill or a powder has been shown in study after study to be ineffective. Nutrients are designed to work in combination with each other, and even in combination with nutrients we don't even know about yet. The best way to get the right combination is to eat real food. Fat burners? God no!

2. For a vegetarian, you don't seem to eat many vegetables! It sounds like Caesar salad is about it. Five to thrive! (Did I just make that up?)

3. Carb loading has been shown to be minimally effective, if at all. Unless you are competing for a gold medal in the Olympics, I wouldn't even consider it. Carb intake is kind of like the radiator reservoir in your car. You want to keep enough in there, but not too much.

4. Eat more beans and nuts.

5. I would do more weight training than that, at least once more per week, and I would definitely include lower body. Running is not a substitute for that, as I think you are thinking.

6. I eat almost twice as many calories than that. Though I am twenty years older than you, I am similar to you in height and weight, but my body fat percentage is 11%, so I'm not just talking out of my @$$ here. :-D

Hope this helps!

 

[yoyoyoshi777]

I am sure I sound like a broken record at this point.

1) I advise eating real food, not supplements. Supplements are unregulated, ineffective, and can even be dangerous. The idea of isolating nutrients in a pill or a powder has been shown in study after study to be ineffective. Nutrients are designed to work in combination with each other, and even in combination with nutrients we don't even know about yet. The best way to get the right combination is to eat real food. Fat burners? God no!

Grr. I know. I keep hearing this from everyone! I try - and i'm better when I'm doing more weight training than cardio; I'll get protein from pasta, breads, cheese, etc..

2. For a vegetarian, you don't seem to eat many vegetables! It sounds like Caesar salad is about it. Five to thrive! (Did I just make that up?)

Haha, very funny. I've heard that one too. Well, I do like carrots and celery is alright. Okay, I'll fit this into my diet.

3. Carb loading has been shown to be minimally effective, if at all. Unless you are competing for a gold medal in the Olympics, I wouldn't even consider it. Carb intake is kind of like the radiator reservoir in your car. You want to keep enough in there, but not too much.

I live in Vancouver, so the 2010 winter olympics will be coming here in February next year; I'll be watching someone compete for a gold medal. Does that count? Seriously though, I've always in the past capped myself off at one hour. 7 miles/hour is a comfortable speed for me on a treadmill. The purpose of this day is to see how long I can go for (since I don't know this). Do you have any recommendations on how I should prepare for this?

4. Eat more beans and nuts.

In addition to being a vegetarian, I've also been a picky eater for most of my life. It's a really bad combo. It's funny because meat was one of the things I liked which I gave up! I'll try and add beans in my diet too; I think I remember trying them in the past and not liking them - but I'll try again! Aren't nuts pretty high cal? I had them during my last phase when I was lifting more, but don't I need a calorie deficit to lose fat?

5. I would do more weight training than that, at least once more per week, and I would definitely include lower body. Running is not a substitute for that, as I think you are thinking.

Actually I'm not thinking running is a substitute for lower body (even though me not doing it the last couple of months and thinking of not doing it this time may sound like that!). The last two months I didn't do it because I was alternating between HIIT and weight training (so I felt I had little room for legs). This time I do want to do it... but I've setup the schedule to do my weight training day the day after I run as long as I can! So if i'm up for it, i'll be doing it.

Next phase (starting December 20th) I'm going to be doing 4 days of bulking with one day of HIIT (so schedule will look like Back/Biceps day 1, Lower body day 2, Chest/Triceps day 3, HIIT day 4, Shoulders/Abs day 5, Off day 6 - then repeat). So the weight training will come... just not in these six weeks. Do you still think I should incorporate another weight training day?

6. I eat almost twice as many calories than that. Though I am twenty years older than you, I am similar to you in height and weight, but my body fat percentage is 11%, so I'm not just talking out of my @$$ here. :-D

Hope this helps!

But isn't losing fat a lot about calorie deficit? Aside from the fact that i'm missing basic food groups (which i'll work on fixing!) if I can live and exercise on fewer calories, isn't that better for fat burning?

Thank you Joe for your detailed responses; it's really appreciated.

I'm highly motivated and anything that can give me an edge (in a healthy way) i'll give it a try.

 

[blindside]

it's been shown in a study (i forgot what it was) that cycling reguarly has the same effect as lower body weight training, or at least in strength.