Pick Holes In This Routine

Soldato
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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.
 
Soldato
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As others have said, eat more.

Your muscles need fuel to operate properly. When your muscles grow, so does the amount of fuel needed.

I tend to count callories each day, and deduct those I burn off during training. I try to consume around 2500 a day, including deductions.

So I eat a meal, 600 cals, I run 3 miles, deduct 200 cals... 400 cals total so far.

Probably a stupid way of doing things, but it seems to work for me :)
 
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Soldato
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As others have said, eat more.

Your muscles need fuel to operate properly. When your muscles grow, so does the amount of fuel needed.

I tend to count callories each day, and deduct those I burn off during training. I try to consume around 2500 a day, including deductions.

So I eat a meal, 600 cals, I run 3 miles, deduct 200 cals... 400 cals total so far.

Probably a stupid way of doing things, but it seems to work for me :)

If you had a surplus of 2500 kcals per day... you would seriously put on weight and fast!

I think your forgetting your body burns around 100 Kcals per hour on it's own just to "plog along" as I say. 24 hours in the day... that's 2400 Kcals burned... perhaps why it seems to work for you :)
 
Soldato
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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 :p
 
Soldato
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Your diet is awful (sorry) read the sticky at the top!

Change your Breakfast to Porridge.
Your Lunch to what your Dinner is.
Then I'd probably recommend based on your diet, a reasonably high carb, and very high protein dinner, with plenty of veg

kd
 
Soldato
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Your diet is awful (sorry) read the sticky at the top!

Change your Breakfast to Porridge.
Your Lunch to what your Dinner is.
Then I'd probably recommend based on your diet, a reasonably high carb, and very high protein dinner, with plenty of veg

kd

Why change breakfast for an equally low protein, low fat carb-fest. Get some protein and fat in there! Eggs would be ideal. Also a high carb evening meal would only be advised if working out afterwards to actually make use of the carbs. If it's post-workout keep carbs relatively low-medium and preferably in veg form.
 
Man of Honour
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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.
 

kai

kai

Soldato
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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
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
19 Feb 2009
Posts
3,371
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 :p

Lol @ The treadmill. :D

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. ;)
 
Soldato
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•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

Isn't that more of a bulking diet? Not knocking it, it's a very good diet, but I'd have thought for a beginner a lower meal frequency (i.e. 3 a day) would be more convenient, and the extra carbs won't be doing his already low insulin sensitivity any favours. Also why not leave the yokes in in the morning?
 

kai

kai

Soldato
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Location
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Isn't that more of a bulking diet? Not knocking it, it's a very good diet, but I'd have thought for a beginner a lower meal frequency (i.e. 3 a day) would be more convenient, and the extra carbs won't be doing his already low insulin sensitivity any favours. Also why not leave the yokes in in the morning?

Apologies, did not read in enough detail with regard to insulin sensitivity as i was in work. The diet i would not consider a bulking diet. The yolks in the morning yes, they fine to leave it depends really on the goals. The macro here is around 2700. e.g the sample above Protein Shake (45g of protein, 30g of carbs) this can be reduced drastically anyway dependant on the shake in question. 40g protein, 0 - 5g of carbs possible
 
Soldato
OP
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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. :)
 
Man of Honour
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Apologies, did not read in enough detail with regard to insulin sensitivity as i was in work. The diet i would not consider a bulking diet. The yolks in the morning yes, they fine to leave it depends really on the goals. The macro here is around 2700. e.g the sample above Protein Shake (45g of protein, 30g of carbs) this can be reduced drastically anyway dependant on the shake in question. 40g protein, 0 - 5g of carbs possible

I would also question the need for the shakes on a cutting diet, assuming the OP gets it rearranged into something that will be less likely to wind him up with Type 2 diabetes in a couple of decades...
 
Soldato
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Location
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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.
 
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