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Nutrition In desperate need of nutrition advice

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catladylifts3

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Hi all,

I am really hoping someone can help me out in regards to eating for my lifting and physique goals. First and foremost, I desire to lose body fat and gain strength. Once this pandemic is over I really aspire to train for powerlifting comps or strongman, whichever works out best first. I really have fun lifting and want this to be a lasting feature in my life, but nutrition is a huge part of it and I am really struggling in that sense. I started lifting back in october 2018, and was seeing excellent results gaining strength for the following year and half. I started out as a couch potato and unhappy with how I looked; I really just wanted to lose weight but ended up changing my goals to be more strength oriented. And this is mostly still true; I have no desire to be a ripped, size 0, model type. But i do need to lose at least 5 inches off of my waistline in order to be considered "healthy", and in order to become more well rounded athletically. (I currently boast a thicc 35in waist) So I need to lose fat and build muscle.

At the moment, I struggle with body weight exercises even though I was DL'ing ~300lbs. I weigh in at about 185lbs. I am a woman in my late 20's, and grew up without any true nutritional or fitness habits. I ate pretty healthy growing up, lots of vegetables and clean organic proteins. I do not gravitate towards fast food or unhealthy snacks, so recognizing what kinds of foods are healthy is not my problem. However, issues with eating included: no one cooking for most of the day, so a lot of times while I was growing up, and as an adult, I would only eat 1 meal a day, or a small breakfast and a larger lunch/dinner combo. Making myself eat at least 3x a day has been a struggle (hence the habits emphasis). I was never encouraged to workout and didn't have access to working out facilities etc (if this sounds surprising, it's because I grew up outside of the US). My family is too quick to jump into fads like paleo, keto, etc and I am sick of that because I am sure it messed up my metabolism. And I really want something simple, that I can follow for the rest of my life. I also really miss being able to have simple treats without getting a panic attack about weigh gain. I simply do not know where to begin when it comes to eating for my goals. How do I know what my macro intake should be? Caloric intake? How often is it recommended I eat a day? How does this change with the kind of workouts I do?

Another issue is that I live with my family (mom and sibling), and food prepping is hard because of this. I try really hard to set boundaries around my food but it doesn't always work out. If I purchase certain foods for myself, or expecting them to last because of portioning, they usually end up gone in 2-3days. A part of me is concerned that I just might not be able to afford the amount or type of food I need for my goals, and to feed my family. I know it seems silly but I clearly need to factor them into the cost of my meal prep. Yes, I am the main contributor to household expenses.

Has anyone dealt with the issue of family not respecting food boundaries, and if yes, what advice could you give me for this? If you live in the US, and are a female who lifts, how much do you regularly spend on groceries per week/month? I feel like expecting costs is important to meal prep.

What are people's thoughts on the RP method/app? Is it recommended for someone like me, who struggles with scheduling in meals? It is really popular amongst the lifters I know but I am afraid of failing at it - I have failed to reach my goals in the past.

well.....not really. When I was dating my ex, I gained weight - up to 220lbs. That was the most unhealthy and miserable I had ever been in my life. And I managed to lose most of it (from a size 16 to a 12), but I am not done yet.

some more questions: when weighing out food to calculate macros/calories, do you usually measure it out before, or after it's been cooked?

I know this is already really long and rambly, but if there are any questions anyone has, in order to give me better curated advice, please ask. I am really desperate to see what my abs look like before I turn 30. And advice like this seems really hard to come by.

Also, if anyone has simple, affordable recipes for meal prep, please share, I will be eternally grateful. The hardest meal of the day is breakfast so any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Something else: I do not have access to a doctor currently.

Thank you so much for reading.
 
Hi @catladylifts3! Welcome to the forum! You'll find a warm welcome and tons of good advice here.

First of all, the most difficult part is getting strong, and you already have that covered! It will be a lot easier to improve body composition being strong. Keep lifting!

About diet: given your situation, you could try eating 2 times a day instead of 4, skipping breakfast and snacks. This solves the food preparation issue with your family at least for one meal and it's a method that has helped lots of people lose weight.

You could try something like this:

- lunch: lean meat and broccoli.
- dinner: protein shake as appetizer. Whole grain rice with vegetables as main course.

If you eat like this you will lose a lot of weight. The protein shake you can keep in your room if you desire to avoid the family issues. Rice and vegetables should be affordable.

This only leaves you with a single expensive food to deal with per day. This should make it easier, maybe you can buy every day before cooking?

These are just ideas trying to fit your specific situation. Forget about variety, you dont need it and it will complicate your life. If you get bored, change the vegetables that go with each meal.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. And stay strong!
 
Welcome, @catladylifts3 !

I can relate to a LOT of what you describe.

Eating healthy food as you do, tracking macros, and using easy and inexpensive energy sources like potatoes and chicken (sorry, Pavel ;) ... or lean beef) are good ways to support your goals. Cleanest/easiest/healthiest breakfast IMO is eggs and oatmeal. I weigh the food after cooking to calculate macros. I'll ball-park estimate that 130-150g/protein/day is a good target for you. Other than that, split carbs and fat to get about the right amount of calories. Again I'll ball-park estimate that 1,800-2,000kcal/day is about right if you're training regularly. You could try that for a few weeks and see how the scale and waist measurement responds. Disclaimer: I'm not a nutrition expert. This is just from what I've learned over years of training.

You're welcome to PM me if you want to chat more! (Envelope icon above, and "Start a new conversation").
 
Welcome @catladylifts3 -you certainly have your plate full, so to speak. It sounds like your goals are somewhat contradictory, being you want to be a powerlifter/strongman competitor and also lose 5 inches off your waist. It's admirable that you have taken responsibility for providing meals for your mother and sibling. Perhaps start a log on here, so the certified trainers can offer advice; also provide ideas about a two-meals/day plan, that sounds like it fits with 12 hours fasts. Good luck with everything.
 
+1 to fasting. Curbs appetite AND lets you pack in calories at once (or twice). How are you with eating the same thing every day? Keeping my food intake minimalist and utilitarian I’ve settled on steak and eggs. Most bang for my buck with what I’m going for and willing to do. It’s nice to know I only get two choices every day. And the answer is usually both of them.

-1 @Anna C... chicken? That’ll be the day...
 
@catladylifts3
"The hardest meal of the day is breakfast so any recommendations are greatly appreciated." - Skip it. Eat enough at dinner to not feel hungry in the morning.

Best nutrition advice I've ever heard is from Dan John - "Eat like an adult. Drink clear water, eat protein and veggies." If you want to move the needle, for most people it really is that simple. It may take you 2 years to achieve your goal, but you have to start somewhere. Always look for ways to make this process as simple as possible by chipping away at the unnecessary food and drink that is not in support of your goal.

Resource that may be helpful:

‘What should I eat?!’ Our 3-step guide for choosing the best foods for your body. [Infographic]
 
Hey all! Thank you for all the supportive advice and great encouragement! I really appreciate it all!

I think I should clarify something: because meals were really inconsistent throughout my life, being hangry was the norm, I would get awfully hangry, foggy brain etc. I carried this habit well into my first year and half of lifting, and there were times I could barely get through sets because of the low energy. Couple that with working a stressful job... I was really burning out and falling behind on my program until the pandemic forced things to change.
I know a lot of people are proponents of fasting in order to lose weight, but for the past 3-4 weeks I have been doing the opposite by eating 3x a day, forcefully at times. Today was the first day in a really long time I had a cup of tea in the morning, followed by a good lunch 7 hours later ( chicken, quinoa, tomato onion salad) and I just had dinner (green peas and chicken). And I was okay though I could really feel some fatigue starting to set in right before lunch. So I do want to stick to at least 2 meals, and a snack, or three meals per day; I wouldn't mind throwing in a day of fasting every now and then. My only option seems to consistently food prep for at least 1 main meal of 1 main ingredient I can share across meals. I know lots of people who eat about 6x a day and they swear by it, but that just seems too cumbersome imo.

I do not mind if all of this takes a while, years even, as long as I get to my goal.
A part of me is just kind of disappointed I haven't seen my abs yet despite all the work haha but I'll just stick to it. I know a huge part of losing weight /gaining strength is stress management so I am trying to manage that as well. Back when I was working I would usually have coffee as a meal, and a light breakfast ( eat - train - go straight to work and drink coffee - come home and crash). I did each of those things without any break in between, because my commute was long too. I was constantly tired, like my body aches because I am so tired, tired, and I hated it. So I am eager to take advantage of this stay at home scenario to rest, build different habits, and really learn about just how much or what it is I need to eat.

in summary: I am really trying to strike a balance between avoiding fatigue, while eating as few times a day as possible.

I also do want to work on losing fat while I am still a beginner at lifting - I don't want to reach peak strength before I decide to lose weight, and then end up losing strength as well. And I am kind of beginning again, because I wasn't able to lift until I got some equipment a few days ago. I have been doing a lot more cardio than pre-pandemic programing as well so I'm hoping that helps.

I'll give a few examples of what I tend to eat, but without listing portions bc I tend to eyeball it (I know, big mistake lol):

Breakfast: 3 boiled eggs or a can of tuna in olive oil, green peas, some sort of fresh vegetable or salad. If there's any toast available, I'll have some with butter. For "toast" it's "be free, sandwich lovers" brand, whole grain. I do not eat gluten, and the macros on it are pretty good. I do not tend to eat toast often either, it's usually a treat about once every two months... it's one of those foods my family tends to finish fast haha. When I was coffee junkie I would have 1-3 12 ounce cup with 3 sugars and cream, but I have quit caffeinated coffee, and sugar in it since March.

Lunch: chicken/meat/fish, rice or potatoes or quinoa, some sort of salad or stir fried veggies. Sometimes it'll be lentil soup, with eggs.

dinner: smaller portion of whatever was left over from lunch, or green peas/chickpeas in salad form.

If there is yogurt, I tend to accompany it with at least 1 of the above meals. I love love love yogurt (I always get greek, 2%, but whole milk greek yogurt is my favorite and kind of hard to find). I do not mind repeating foods for a period of time, like about 3 weeks, then I like to change ingredients up a bit. I tend to tire of eggs pretty quickly so I switch it up with tuna/sardines.
Every now and then we might get one of those pizzas made with a veggie crust, or lentil pasta ~ once a month. I also bake almond flour chocolate chip cookies about 1 a month too. So I do have my treats.

Question: what are the benefits of casein protein, is it something worth spending money on?

I like the suggestion of keeping a food log, I'll be downloading one of those food log/ calorie tracker apps and come back in a couple of days. I've done it manually in the past but it's pretty tedious that way.


@ Anna C: thank you so much for the numbers! What did you mean by "split" carbs and fats?

Again thank you everyone, it's really such a gift to have people willing to listen to me talk about what I eat and then offer advice. Thank you so much. ?
 
@ Anna C: thank you so much for the numbers! What did you mean by "split" carbs and fats?

Your eating habits sound really good!

What I mean by split carbs and fats is to distribute them according to preference to meet the calorie target, after meeting the protein target.

So let's say your protein target is 140g/day. Here's two ways you could split the difference -- 200g/day of carbohydrate and 72g/day of fat in the top example. Or if you prefer lower carbohydrate intake, in the bottom example, 160g/day of carbohydrate and 89g/day of fat would also meet the caloric target of 2,000kcal/day. I think either one would work fine for your activity and goals. It's more a matter of your eating preferences and what helps you comply with the targeted calorie and macro intake. Then you adjust as needed -- if you find that your weight is unchanged and you want it to be decreasing, you leave the protein alone and adjust fat and carb to meet a new calorie total (maybe 1,850kcal/day) and see how that goes.

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An app like "My Fitness Pal" can be good for a plan like this. I had good success with it for a few months in 2018 but eventually got tired of all the detailed tracking. However, the lessons stuck with me -- I learned a lot about the macro content of food!
 
@catladylifts3
Welcome to SF. You are in the right place. You have also received some good advice thus far.
You mention fatigue setting in... many of us here train in some form of fasted state, or otherwise restricted caloric intake. All things being equal and with no underlying medical reasons fatigue shouldn’t be an issue. (even the skinniest runners have fat storage of a 100,000 calories or more)
Disclaimer... I have never needed to be concerned about fat loss... but I have been extremely concerned about performance

again... welcome

p.s. I also second the comment about starting a training log here
 
@John Locke
"Objective: To evaluate the effects of 2 low-calorie diets but with different distributions of calories throughout the day on weight loss and other major obesity-related metabolic parameters.
Methods: We randomly assigned 42 nonsmoking homemakers (age = 46.3 ± 2.3 years, body mass index [BMI] = 35.7 ± 0.8 kg/m(2), mean ± SD)"

The issue I have with these types of studies is that all they do is point out the obvious. Yes, if you put a random selection of relatively healthy, middle aged people who are overweight on a low calorie diet with way less processed food and magically they lose weight. They could have eaten all of their calories in 1 meal or 6 and still lost weight, until it all comes to a grinding halt at around 6 weeks. Now what?

This is the danger of only focusing on the number on the scale, never eating another carb again, or eating only "low fat" foods forever more instead of your daily habits that most contribute to overall health and wellness. This will be different for nearly everyone.

@catladylifts3 mentioned how breakfast was "the hardest meal of the day" so instead of continuing to stress about it I suggested to just skip it. More often than not, subtraction is what people need, not addition. Forget about the stressing over breakfast and focus on the rest of the day instead. This is a real solution for this particular person and something they can take control over right away. Feeling like you are in control of your life is a big first step to making changes that last.
 
Your eating habits sound really good!

What I mean by split carbs and fats is to distribute them according to preference to meet the calorie target, after meeting the protein target.

So let's say your protein target is 140g/day. Here's two ways you could split the difference -- 200g/day of carbohydrate and 72g/day of fat in the top example. Or if you prefer lower carbohydrate intake, in the bottom example, 160g/day of carbohydrate and 89g/day of fat would also meet the caloric target of 2,000kcal/day. I think either one would work fine for your activity and goals. It's more a matter of your eating preferences and what helps you comply with the targeted calorie and macro intake. Then you adjust as needed -- if you find that your weight is unchanged and you want it to be decreasing, you leave the protein alone and adjust fat and carb to meet a new calorie total (maybe 1,850kcal/day) and see how that goes.

View attachment 11001

An app like "My Fitness Pal" can be good for a plan like this. I had good success with it for a few months in 2018 but eventually got tired of all the detailed tracking. However, the lessons stuck with me -- I learned a lot about the macro content of food!

Thank you so much!!!!!
 
Actually, when you start the Carnivore Way of Eating, all protein - no carbs, the exact opposite occurs from what you are fearing below......FYI
N=1 but lots of anecdotal evidence online... digestion is fine. Someone people get pretty loose movements for a while due to the fiber usually soaking up the excess water and when the fiber goes away it’s like a firehose for a few days or longer. When your colon relearns and adjusts to the absence of fiber how to process that water properly the symptoms go away and everything goes back to normal.
 
That is what I was referring to, the initial onslaught of loose movements when removing fiber and carbs from your Way of Eating......

N=1 but lots of anecdotal evidence online... digestion is fine. Someone people get pretty loose movements for a while due to the fiber usually soaking up the excess water and when the fiber goes away it’s like a firehose for a few days or longer. When your colon relearns and adjusts to the absence of fiber how to process that water properly the symptoms go away and everything goes back to normal.
 
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