Please Critique My Diet And Workout Asap
 

Hey everybody i'm new please give me your opinions. Just started

workout
Cardio- mwf 15 min hiit treadmill evening & 20 min eliptical
tues, thurs fri 30 min run 6am, pm 20 min treadmill

Weight training
mon & wed
lower body
3x12 quads, calves hamstrings, and hip adductions
tues & thurs
upper body
3x12 chest, triceps, biceps, shoulders, chest and back
fri 3x10 triceps shoulders quads and hamstrings

abs
mon-fri
3x15 knee ups, weighted crunch machine
3x20 bicycle, reverse crunch.

meal plan
breakfast- 1/2 cup oatmeal/w 1 scoop whey protein 2 cups water
snack low carb protein shake 2 cups water
lunch- boneless skinless chicken/ broc 2 cups water
snack- low carb protein shake/ 3 egg whites 1 cup water
dinner- turger burger no bread/broc or chicken/broc 2 cups water

female 5'9 185 bf% 21-24? looking to lose 10-12% bf and 20lbs in two months
is that a reasonable goal?

If your goal is to lose fat and gain a little muscle (which will aid in fat loss greatly) then I would suggest sticking with the HIIT or ohter interval training and try to improve on that. Forget the "run" unless it's interval running or something. I know people will look at all the different research protocols and suggest different but the bulk of the evidence, imo, suggests that higher intensity stop and go type activity is the better way to go. BTW, if someone tells you more fat is oxididized during steady state lower intensity activities keep in mind that this means a greater percentage of fat on necessarily more actual fat.

IMHO there's no use of mixing steady state "aerobic" work with interval work unless your looking to improve cardiovascular efficeincy, which by the way could also mean you are improving fat burning effiecency. That's bad despite how it sounds. If your body burns fat more "efficiently" that means it'll use less of it. HIIT is your best bet for keeping muscle and losing fat.

Sleazy posted this HIIT Overview you should look at.

You'll need to post the specific exercises you are doing. I can't really tell but it reads as if your are doing one of those "girl" routines. Meaning leg extensions, leg curls, etc. Not the way to go at all.

Your diet will need work I think. I'll let the others tackle that since I'm on a perpetual "see food" diet. As far as your goals I think their realistic but "slow and steady wins the race" is probably the most successful philosophy to adopt.

My diet and workout
 

Thanks for the advice Eric3237. As far as my weight training I guess i'am doing "girl" routines, but i'am one. Do you have any routines in mind that would help?

Ok, the first thing that catches my eye is the lack of a set post workout shake. To me this means your hitting the weights, then your muscles are most likely going catabolic ... especially since your carbs are so low.

Now if losing muscle mass is not a concern for you then check out PFSM.
http://www.bodybuilding.net/nutritio...ties-1988.html

But be careful, PFSM is designed as a crash diet. You will drop fat quickly, but you need to know what your getting into more info can be found at www.bodyrecomposition.com/forums

If you are concerned we need to increase your real food intake, and place the shakes around your workouts. The post workout shake should have high GI carbs (dextrose, malto, waxy maize) to replace your glycogen stores. This will up your carb intake, but i would only do this on weight training days, so it wont effect your fat burning. I would aslo up your fat intake, fish oil, nuts, seeds will give you good sources of healthy fats.

The other thing I would suggest, if your not doing it already. Is plan in cheat meals once or twice a week. This will keep you mentally stable, and give you something to look forward to. When you plan your cheats, you will be less likely to binge.

That's my point exactly and the reason I put girl in quotes. There is no reason for a female to be doing only single joint movements other than that is what misguided personal trianers have them doing and being scared of "bulking up" if they use anything but the lightest weights.

As for routines you still haven't posted the specific exercises do. It may be a simple matter of tweaking what you already do.

In terms of ready made routines I can't thing of anything better then HST if you are aiming at fat loss. Centered around compound (multi-joint) movements. Starting at a 12-15 rep range which is similar to what you are doing.

Somewhere to start:

HST Thread An overview of HST training in general/.

Hardgain's Journal HST circuit

Dave's Journal

You don't have to do as many exercises as they are doing. There is plenty of other stuff you can do.

I have my girl friend doing the HST workout with cardio and she loves it.

you'll have to teach me the secrets of getting a girl into the gym dave :biglaugh:

I remember you saying that. I figured I could lure you over here to help!

You tell her she is fat and run into the gym and have the one of the staff lock the door behind her. :biglaugh:

Erikag, even if you don't want to do a circuit style routine a simple full-body three times a week using mostly compounds and starting with higher reps is the best way to go for your goals.

totally agree. It doesn't have to be a circuit style. It may be a direction you might want to take later down the road but for now, get your feet wet and try it out.

Thanks you guys for all the advice! 2 more questions though
 

I appreciate the advice greatly. I do have two more important questions though. First in response to the HST workouts, can I also keep doing HIIT atleast 4 days/week? And I was reading about the catabolic diet. What are your views on this? Do you really drop FAT that quickly or are you losing alot of muscle? Because alot of it sounds too good to be true, but then again it could really work

I would say to do HIIT three times a week. Remember that it also drains the CNS just like weightlifting does. Too much of either will lead you to overtrain.

Day 1- HST (full body)
Day 2- HIIT
3- HST
4- HIIT
5- HST
6- HIIT
7- OFF

For the HIIT, I recommend starting off small, then build. Maybe beginning with the first two HIIT days doing a 4 minute cycle each day (30 seconds jog, 30 seconds sprint), then next week you'd add another minute (an extra 30 and 30) Progressively increasing the HIIT sessions until you reach 15 minutes straight for a single session.

4 minutes may not sound like a lot for a whole day, but it's an ass-kicker, and it all your body needs to turn the fat burning furnace switch ON.

I would hesitate to say its too good to be true. From my understanding of pfsm, you are taking your body to the brink of starvation. This is no picnick, and yes you will drop fat quickly, but you need to understand the chance for rebounding after such a diet is great. your body wont be used to breaking down carbs, and they will need to be added back very slowly. you will also see a drastic drop in energy levels, endurance, and mental clarity. Its not for everyone, and if you have a decent amount of muscle i dont think its the best choice. But if your severely overweight, and can live with those side effects ... the fat loss is unmistakeable.

muscle supplements for a woman
 

If I do decide to do pfsm and drop fat quickly, will i be able to take some type of muscle supp to preserve the little muscle I do have? Or even use it in aid to firm up. I did a low carb diet last summer and I lost 30 lbs, but I realize that i did lose muscle as well. I really want a diet that's low carb based because It works for me better than a low fat. Thats why I drink low carb pro shakes. Can anyone give me a sample HST workout given my gender and my body description listed above? One more thing what is the difference between the catabolic diet and pfsm? and which one would you all prefer for me?

suppliment wise you can look into Angagen by scivation it has very good user feedback for adding lean mass while in a calorie deficit. I do believe PowerFull by usp labs would help, but I have not tried it yet (package is in the mail). both are ok for female consumption according to companies.

Can you provide a link to the catabolic diet? I'm not sure what your referring to there.

I'm Back
 

You can take a look at catabolic.com and it will tell you about the diet. It seems similar to the psmf as far the low calorie intake, but the menu is the opposite.

Even more simply put, this sounds like bullshit to me. I heard the same argument about the icecream diet. "Since it takes X amount of calories to heat the icecream in your system, you actually lose weight"

I saw no foods list on there so I dont know if the macro break downs are different then pfsm, but I can tell you that personally I think lyle mcdonald is one of the best out there, and i would trust his pfsm over that half assed website. It really looks geared toward selling you some bullshit suppliments you dont need.

Thanks for the advice
 

Thanks alot hrdgain, you really make a lot of sense.

There's also the cold water diet. If you drink x glasses of cold water a day you'll burn calories heating it up and lose weight!

haha.. I've heard of that.