Any thoughts or feedback, please?

[Romedoggy]

I want to lean out more, before putting on any muscle. Here is what I have started doing and would like any feedback, please. I'm currently 145lbs, and I'm 5'5. I've been up and down with the macros, but on avarage I eat around 1800-2000 calories a day. My issue is I try to eat to my macros instead of planning more. I have more information, but I think I'm stalling on eating the same thing everyday. In order to see real progress I think I'm going to have to do that to figure out what my body actually needs. I put what I think I should eat daily into Fitday, but the calories seemed really high. I'm not sure I will lose weight. Should I reduce my calories? My ultimate goal would be to lose 20 lbs in 12 weeks (I'm not so hung up on the weight, but I would really like to lean out as much as possible in that time) Is this realistic? Are my calories too high?


Meal 1 (Pre work-out)
Body Fortress PP (one serving of 2 scoops)
220 3 2 46
Milk, cow's, fluid, skim or nonfat, 0.5% or less butterfat
86 0 12 8
Oatmeal, cooked, regular, fat not added in cooking
145 2 25 6
3 Fish Oil tabs

Meal 2 (Post work-out)
4 Egg, whole, boiled
309 21 2 25
Oatmeal, cooked, regular, fat not added in cooking
145 2 25 6

Meal 3
4 Egg, whole, boiled
309 21 2 25
Blueberries, raw
81 1 20 1
3 Fish Oil tabs

Meal 4
Chicken, breast, with or without bone, broiled, skin not eaten
183 4 0 34
Spinach, cooked, from canned, fat not added in cooking
49 1 7 6

Meal 5
Body Fortress PP
220 3 2 46
Milk, cow's, fluid, skim or nonfat, 0.5% or less butterfat
86 0 12 8
3 Fish Oil tabs
Fish Oil Supplement (total for all 9 tabs)
90 9 0 0
Totals 1923 69 111 212

This is what it gave me for macros:
Calories Eaten Today
grams cals %total
Total: 1923
Fat: 69 617 33%
Sat: 20 178 10%
Poly: 13 121 7%
Mono: 19 175 10%
Carbs: 111 375 20%
Fiber: 17 0 0%
Protein: 212 850 46%

Then I'm doing Leah's 3 day workout that I found in the stickys:
(I'm also not still working onthe rest periods. I sometimes take more time than I should)
Day 1
Full Squats
Flat Bench Press
RDLs
Barbell Rows
My version of a HIIT done for 20 minutes
1 minute run as hard as my lazy bum can go, then walk fast for 2minutes. I keep rotating that until I pull a George Jetson. Just kidding, but it really isn't a true HIIT yet. My runs get shorter and my walks get longer through my fake HIIT.
All done for 3-4x6 w/ 120s rest

Day 2
Pull Throughs
Lunges
Flat Dumbbell Press
Seated Cable Rows
Incline Hammer Curls
Lying Triceps Extensions
(I struggle with rest periods on this day)
All done for 2-3x12 w/ 30s rest

Day 3
Incline Dumbbell Press
Incline Dumbbell Rows
Dumbbell Split Squats
SHELC
Lat Pulldowns (underhand)
(I struggle with rest periods on this day)
All done for 3x8 w/ 60s rest

I will probably post this in my journal, so ignore it if you read it here first. I'm just trying to get as much feedback as possible.
Thanks

[Blondell]

How are you progressing?

[Romedoggy]

Well...when I started I was 151, but I also got some funky food poisoning thing, so it's kinda hard to say where the weight loss came from after the first few weeks. I think I was doing pretty good about 2 lbs a week, but then I got the funk, so ...not 100% sure. Seems like I'm my weight is staying about the same for the past two weeks, but I just started doing this workout too.

I'm not very patient, and I don't want to waste time and spin my wheels (which I have done a ton of in my lifetime).

[Audrey]

As mentioned before, I would create a plan that you can stick to, or at least figure out in advance your macros for your meals so that you know how much you are eating during the day.

Set some calorie and macros goals and then stick to those - i.e. create meals that will have you meet those calorie/macro goals at the end of the day.

And there IS a difference between getting 1,800 and 2,000 calories a day... which is another reason you want to track your calories/macros. One number could be right for you (i.e. put you in a caloric deficit so that you lose weight) while the other could be maintenance calories for you (making you keep our weight the same without losing).

Unless you start planning more, it is going to be hard to know exactly how much you eat in a day and if you meet your target calories/macros - and how to adjust your nutrition if this doesn't work.

Also, you have to realize that if you want to lose weight, you are going to have to learn to be patient. You didn't gain the weight overnight - and it will take some time to take it off as well. Your goal should be to lose 1-2lbs per week, so 20 lbs in 12 weeks is doable... although it may take longer especially if you are not really tracking/planning your meals in advance.

It is hard to say whether your calories are too high since you are also unsure whether you have lost weight or not. Give it 2 weeks - and really make your best effort to plan your meals in advance... i.e. give it your best shot for 2 weeks. If you are not losing weight, decrease the calories by 10-20% below what they are now.

Also, I would decrease your protein a bit for meals #1 and 5. You don't need that much protein in one meal, especially if you add milk to it (which also contains protein). So 1 scoop instead of 2 should be enough.

Post-workout, I would keep the oats (or you can substitute for another carb source of you get bored with oats), but would have something lower in fat that whole eggs. Either some egg whites, some chicken breast, another protein shake (in this case, I would have egg whites with meal #1 and the protein shake post-workout - just so that you don't end up with the majority of your meals being protein shakes).

[Romedoggy]

Yeah...after I wrote it I realized I kinda sounded like a jack a$$. I know where my sticking points are, and I just need to focus on my macros and planning my meals better. I'm not even sure I would get sick of eating the same things, since I haven't actually tried it consistently. I guess I don't want to wait it out and adjust etc..I just want to magically know my macros. I probably shouldn't admit that.

I think I will stop adding info questions until I've tried to hit what I think my macros should be for a few weeks. Then I'll talk about tweeking what I have set-up.

Good point about the meals. My only issue is I work out at 4:00am, so I'm just getting used to eating before a workout. Sometimes it's hard for me to get it down, so I have aprotein shake and blend the oats in. I can stomach that much better. Then I'm usually ready to eat after the workout.

[Noel Clark]

I agree with Audrey...your protein seems a bit high. With that being said you are eating about 13.2 X BW....That could be around maintenance for you (or just under). You're going to have to stick with it and see what your body does.

Also if you are worried about eating the same thing everyday...make sure your day has some variety in it...do you eat other forms of protein besides PP eggs and chicken? You can always add in lean ground beef, fish, tenderloin, steak...you can make it more interesting.

[Romedoggy]

yeah...I think I'm just nervous and need to suck it up until I have better data to ask questions instead of hypothetical ones. I think I need to get into a routine and then I can tweek. I just haven't been planning well, and that's not good enough. I'll ask more question in another week or so.

[Noel Clark]

yeah...I think I'm just nervous and need to suck it up until I have better data to ask questions instead of hypothetical ones. I think I need to get into a routine and then I can tweek. I just haven't been planning well, and that's not good enough. I'll ask more question in another week or so.

Keep at it. :thumb: