Pick Holes In This Routine

[AiiR]

So basically I've been going to the gym for about a month now, started out at twice a week but have pushed to four days. Right now I'm just trying to slim down and gain fitness, but not much seems to be happening. :/

Today was a typical day;

Breakfast: Coco Pops (feel it's a bad choice but had no time) With a glass of milk.
Lunch: Honey granola yogurt snack, apple, volvic strawberry flavoured water.
Dinner: Chicken Salad with jacket potato and baked beans, and then a banana before the gym.

(As far as drinks go I only drink water and milk)

At the gym I generally do 25 minutes of cardio on the cross trainer followed by 35 minutes of resistance (it's not continuous, 3 sets of 6 reps with a few breaks).

So how could this be improved? I'm starting to feel that my diet is holding me back but have little knowledge about nutrition. I'm trying to get a better idea by using the sources found around here but wouldn't mind some opinions!

Cheers.

 

[AiiR]

coco pops = Seriously? Do we need to tell you this is junk? I think not

Volvic touch of fruit is full of sugar! Read the label, it's ridiculous... get the plain version!

Beans... regardless of their "now low in sugar" message... it's still around 10g of sugar per 100g... that's still pretty high IMO and no good to anyone on a decent diet.

6 reps on resistance is designed for bulking up... if you just want to get fitter, slimmer and tone up, focus more on the middle ground of 10-12 reps... making sure your last reps are difficult and your pushing yourself. It's not very beneficial if you breeze through it.

Get the guy in the gym to make a program for you... that's their job and most of the time in my experience they're pretty good at it, depending on the gym of course.

Visit the BBC's healthy food section. It has a tonne of healthy recipes, full of all the nutrients you need. You don't need to be James Martin to make them either. Very tasty and easy to make. Curries etc. Get stuck in!

P.S. Crosstrainer is for woman! Get on the treadmill

Lol @ The treadmill.

Yeah I know the coco pops are bad, that was pretty much a one off but every other day wasn't much better (until now of course). Thanks for the tip about the volvic, I'll make sure to stick to plain water from now.

I'll take a look at the BBC part and have a chat to some people at the gym, have noted both.

Whilst you might be getting fitter (i.e. heart/lung function is improved), your poor lbody is having to deal with massive rushes of sugar every four hours or so during the day and packing all that sugar away in case it needs it later.

As already outlined, your diet is pretty abysmal for any purpose other than being lazy.

Once you get that sorted, you might start noticing a difference.

And train harder. If it's not hurting, it's not working.

Yeah I'm cutting the sugar, I was pretty ignorant as to how much sugar was actually in these foods.

Keep fats high; almonds, are a great snack through out the day. Drop all the cerial rubbish as they are just huge sugar rushes.

Oats/porridge, Whey with glass of juice
morning snack: chicken, veg and some complex carb
mid day repeat change chicken for tuna, white fish, steak, salad, veg, complex carb
afternoon snack: Whey
evening: repeat change chicken for tuna, white fish, steak and good amount of complex carbs
bed: whey

above is basic as it gets but put you in the mind of what to expect. Will have time later to write up something tidy.

Ideally you want something like this.

•Meal 1: 1 cup of plain Oatmeal & 6 Egg Whites
•Meal 2: Protein Shake (45g of protein, 30g of carbs)
•Meal 3: Quarter Chicken & Rice
•Meal 4: Post workout shake. (45g of protein, 60g of carbs)
•Meal 5: Protein shake (45g of protein, 30g of carbs)
•Meal 6: Grilled Salmon with Rice & Vegetables

Thanks, I really appreciate all that. However just one question, I'm looking to slim down over building muscle for now as I'm assuming I'd gain definition by lowering the flab? would I still need all that protein?

Cheers.

 

[AiiR]

No need to apologise, the OP didn't actually mention anything about insulin sensitivity. I just assumed it judging from his typical diet that's all.

Nah I have no insulin sensitivity, I just didn't appreciate the sugar content in the foods I was eating.

 

[AiiR]

I'd say the shakes are fine, the protein component at least. It's just that level of carbs won't be necessary unless there's a serious amount of daily activity involved.

AiiR, you probably have low insulin sensitivity as a result of bad long-term diet. Don't worry, it's something 95% of the UK population has too. When we eat lots of carbs, these get broken down into glucose and enter the bloodstream, we must then secrete insulin which acts to remove this from our blood as too much can have quite significant consequences. The more often you eat carbs, particularly in high amounts, the more insulin you must secrete to keep your blood sugar levels normal. It's all this excess insulin that causes fat gain.

Reducing carb intake reduces insulin spikes as it's required less to remove glucose from your blood. Furthermore, your body becomes more sensitive to insulin (a good thing) so you have to secrete less of it to remove that glucose from your blood.

So if I'm understanding you correctly, reducing my carb intake 'should' equate to better results than I'm seeing now? Or atleast play a part in helping?

 

[AiiR]

Right guys I feel I made progress today.

Breakfast: Two eggs boiled with one slice of wholemeal granary toast, glass of milk (semi skimmed).
Lunch: Few slices of ham (the proper stuff not the processed slices) and a few spoons of shredded lettuce and a bottle of water, NOT flavoured.

For dinner I'm having a pork chop with roasted potatoes and a heap of steamed veg. Right now I know that probably isn't the most perfect choice, but until I get my shopping done tomorrow I don't have anything better to go with.

Right now all I'm stuck with is, is the breakfast good enough? And for lunch, would a baked potato thrown in there help or should I lay off that to cut down on carbs?

Cheers.

Oh and the point about the shopping applies to the mid morning/afternoon snacks, I will be having almonds and other nuts etc.

 

[AiiR]

The above looks a big improvement - but personally i still would change quite a few items on the "menu"

Breakfast: I would stick to something like Oat's / Porridge, add honey or even cinnamon to add a bit of extra taste.
Get some snack on the go: keep that metabolism high - i keep saying Almonds, i swear by these.

Lunch: Ham i guess is fine for a bit of change, but stick to things like Tuna, white fish, chicken, salmon, turkey, and steak - plenty of choice and some brown rice and broccoli - cook everything nightmare, 2 days advance and just reheat

Dinner: drop the roast potatoes and do roast Yams (sweet potato) any time you want potato replace with these! - treat like any potato, roast, mash, make chips even take just as good.

Bed Time: i would have something again even if its something small your body is going to be deprived of food for a long time while you sleep - i like a slow release protein shake and a spoon of peanut butter in there

*best personal advice i can give you is prepare you meals in advance and TUPERWARE is your best friend.

Thanks again, really appreciate your advice. I'll be trying sweet potatoes when I get my hands on some as I've actually never tried them before. As for breakfast I did used to have porridge oats with honey and banana, but would that be too high in sugar?

Try making a shake out of water (or milk if you want it heavy), skimmed milk powder, almond flour, porridge oats and raisins. No need for sugar, and you'll be full for hours.

Haha I hope it tastes better than how I imagine it to look like. Will give it a try though, thanks.

 

[AiiR]

Right just got back from an hour and a half at the gym, which was pleasantly surprising as usually I feel worn out after an hour so something is working. Only issue is however I feel I'm losing a lot of weight around my shoulders but still have flab around the gut and especially the thighs. I read you can't decide where the fat burns off (feel free to correct me there) but the top quarter looks pretty good then the rest looks like Rick Waller (not literally that big but to paint a picture, lol). Tips?