Need a new direction

[Ross86]

Originally Posted by Buddybot111

Under the links to each exercise, 80% of them are compound movements no? If it isn't good can u suggest a workout that will tone me, but not bulk me. Remember I still want to lose weight, but also be toned. For this reason, the Rippetoe 3x5 doesn't seem ideal for me as all the descriptions of it talk about "a begginers way to BULK up" or something along those lines.

When you see the term "bulking" in that situation, it's adding lean muscle mass that's being referred to. I assume you want to add lean muscle mass. Try a program that has you doing squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows. Those are really the only movements you need. The one that you posted talked about all kinds of concentration curls, leg press, smith machine exercises, etc. These compound movements will put on muscle the fastest. And they will make you stronger than doing isolation exercises.

A program can't make you gain muscle. A program and good diet together will. What you can do is choose the best program that will help you to reach your goals the quickest and follow it. Then adjust your diet based on what's acceptable as far as fat/muscle gain is concerned. Whatever you're planning on doing, the diet is the most important part. You actually have a good base as far as food selection goes. Your macros are decent. Just get your pre and post workout nutrition right and increase your calories some.

[widdoes2504]

Ross is absolutely right. Emphasize the compound movements to build lean muscle mass and tweak your diet a little bit and you will achieve your goals provided you diligently put the work in. Good luck.

[Buddybot111]

My fitday, http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...?Owner=mcFreid, is now updated to reflect my current changes on my diet according to your suggestions. Please let me know how it looks, also most of my concerns/comments are put in the journal section. Thanks for everyones who helped so far and those continuing to help!

[Ross86]

As much as you're running, you might want to try upping your carb intake just a little bit. Aim for 50/30/20 instead of 50/25/25. Or 50/35/15...something like that. As long as they're clean carbs then you shouldn't have a problem. Carbs will replenish muscle glycogen which is how you'll recover from cardio. I don't know when you did your cardio, but you only took in 120 calories from carbs yesterday. And 18g was in the form of sugar.

Carrots are high GI. I know, I know...they have a low glycemic load. But you ate 3/4 of a lb of them which is kind of a lot.

You probably feel like you're overeating just because you're not used to it. No worries..you'll get used to it. It used to be hard for me to take in 3500 calories a day. Now it's just normal.

[Buddybot111]

I looked at carrots in the GI list, there in the low catagory are they not? Or did I misread the info? Eitherway, I've been trying to eat more whole grain flax bread to up the carb intake and lower amount of fat. Also when you say 50/30/20 or something, what order is that in? I'll let you know when my fitday is updated for additional review. Thanks so much for the help so far!

[Buddybot111]

Well it looks like I got my diet down to a science. My fitday profile shows that I'm not eating around 2000-2200 calories a day with a ratio of about 25%fat/50%prot/25%carb give or take some. As for exercise, cardio is going well I'm slowly trying to learn the proper form for weight lifting on compound moves. I don't have a lot of extra time though to learn this, so it's going slowly.

Thanks for everyone who has helped. I've learned tons and though I haven't noticed a change in myself yet (its only been a few days!) I think this new direction for me is a definite improvement thanks to you. Please let me know after reviewing my fitday if you see any weakpoints or just in general anything that needs a tweak or even a major change.

[Eric3237]

The glycemic index of raw carrots is 47. Kind of on the medium low side.

To calculate the glycemic load you divide the glycemic index by 100. Then you multiply the answer by the carbohydrate content in grams of the portion.

So say you eat about 10 mediumish carrots and thats about 65 grams of carbohydrate. That gives you a glycemic load of 30. Pretty low.

I think people may get the values for raw carrots and cooked carrots mixed up. For low glycemic raw carrots are good. Cooked carrots the number can go way higher. Say about 85...so that's quite a change.

One thing I think happens when people publish "diets" and give lists of exceptable and unexceptable foods based on GI values is that some of the foods of the 'bad' list are put there as much based on other prejudices against the food rather than the purported GI value. For instance grapes are low GI but they are always finding their way onto the "bad" list based on assumptions about sugar content and fruit making you fat...

[Buddybot111]

I'm in the good then cause I despise cooked carrots but love raw carrots :P

[Eric3237]

Same here, I really can't stand cooked carrots.

[Eric3237]

Edit* Ahhhhh! I keep forgetting the numbers are different for glycemic load. BTW, for GLYCEMIC LOAD, high is anything over 20. GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low. And to determine it you take the glycemic index of the food, divide by 100 and multiply it by carbohydrate amount.

So that gl of 30 I used as an example is really high. Doh, stupid mistake. Gotta remember that!


A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low. All this according to Mendosa.