Protein Diet, Carbs Working Out and those 6 Damn meals!

[Mo-Better]

Since I've been on a protein diet which seems to be working well (I'm down 36) my questions are, what is the right amount of carbs to take? What carb sources are best and which ones should be avoided at all cost?

Over the past several months I've been focused on intaking high amounts of proteins especially on the days I workout at the gym. When I head to the gym I've usually loaded up with a whey protein shake and 6 egg whites. My typical workouts consist of resistance training and an hour of cardio - water aerobics and sometimes the stationary bike. (because of a permanent leg injury I cannot run on a treadmill or handle the ellipticals)

After the workout is the problem. Since I love tuna that is usually my choice sandwich. Natural whole wheat roll with lettuce, tomato, onions, green peppers, pickels, peppers, black pepper and oregano. I don't ever use salt, didn't forget it. So aside from fruits what other options are there? There's all kinds protein drinks, recovery drinks with labels that get more confusing the more you read, so even with the variety available its easy to make a poor decision.

[gene cisco]

I am one of those low carb nuts so I say 100-150 grams AT MOST when trying to shed the weight, depending on size. This is of course if you are not in an hurry.

Complex carbs are what you want, but post workout some simple ones are good.

What kind of protein diet you been following?

[Mo-Better]

I am one of those low carb nuts so I say 100-150 grams AT MOST when trying to shed the weight, depending on size. This is of course if you are not in an hurry.

Complex carbs are what you want, but post workout some simple ones are good.

What kind of protein diet you been following?

Well it consist mainly of chicken, turkey, fish and beef for my main meal. I always eat whole grain or 12 grain breads, oatmeal a few times a week and peanut butter.

Then when I hit the gym I'm loaded up with 6 egg whites, 50 gram protein shake and various suppliments like multi-vitamins. Also I'm trying to get that gallon of water in everyday. Lately I've also added green tea to my diet. So its not what you would call a structured diet I'm just looking to keep the protein count high and carbs low. It has definately helped.

A trainer told me I needed to increase my carb intake. I took the advice seriously after a few workouts whereas I was pretty spent after I was done.

[gene cisco]

Try more of the NON-DECAF green tea during the day, that will give you the energy boost you need.

100-150 grams of carbs should do you fine.

Lets say you had a protein shake for breakfast(or a real breakfast), for lunch chicken breasts or steak and a light salad(10 grams of carbs at most leafy type).

Just eat a protein bar if you MUST(its in your mind) have something right b4 working out, in reality if you are trying to lose fat, water/green tea should be the only thing you need right b4 and during your workout. Assuming you already have eaten a few times in the day already, you got plenty of energy to make it through a workout, after all FAT is nothing but STORED ENERGY. If this workout were for muscle building and/or athletic performance a few protein bars or a protein drink would be beneficial, but fat loss??? You want to burn up stored energy, not what you just took in.

You workout sometime in the evening and right after you have protein shake and 50 grams of fast acting carbs.

About 1.5 hours after that you eat a meal with complex carbs like brown rice(or whatever you choose 50-75 grams) and chicken breasts.(I prefer to cap at 50 grams of complex for this, but 75 wont kill ya)

This way you keep blood sugar stable throughout the day getting the most from your diet, and after your workouts you refeed the muscle the carbs it needs and it soaks them up.

When you dont have a workout day just eliminate the fast acting(simple) carbs and replace it with a another protein meal.

This gives you 4 meals a day and will keep the weight coming off.

[Izayoi]

Good post Gene. I've been doing pretty much that, but need to tighten up on my off days. Its a delicate balance and I have to keep my calories high enough not to lose the good weight I gained, but still try to lean down a little.

Thanks.

[gene cisco]

Good post Gene. I've been doing pretty much that, but need to tighten up on my off days. Its a delicate balance and I have to keep my calories high enough not to lose the good weight I gained, but still try to lean down a little.

Thanks.

Yeah, that comes from adjusting your 2 post workout meals...CARB WISE. If you are dropping too much weight adjust them up a bit.

[Mo-Better]

Try more of the NON-DECAF green tea during the day, that will give you the energy boost you need.

100-150 grams of carbs should do you fine.

Lets say you had a protein shake for breakfast(or a real breakfast), for lunch chicken breasts or steak and a light salad(10 grams of carbs at most leafy type).

Just eat a protein bar if you MUST(its in your mind) have something right b4 working out, in reality if you are trying to lose fat, water/green tea should be the only thing you need right b4 and during your workout. Assuming you already have eaten a few times in the day already, you got plenty of energy to make it through a workout, after all FAT is nothing but STORED ENERGY. If this workout were for muscle building and/or athletic performance a few protein bars or a protein drink would be beneficial, but fat loss??? You want to burn up stored energy, not what you just took in.

You workout sometime in the evening and right after you have protein shake and 50 grams of fast acting carbs.

About 1.5 hours after that you eat a meal with complex carbs like brown rice(or whatever you choose 50-75 grams) and chicken breasts.(I prefer to cap at 50 grams of complex for this, but 75 wont kill ya)

This way you keep blood sugar stable throughout the day getting the most from your diet, and after your workouts you refeed the muscle the carbs it needs and it soaks them up.

When you dont have a workout day just eliminate the fast acting(simple) carbs and replace it with a another protein meal.

This gives you 4 meals a day and will keep the weight coming off.

I actually get in my workouts during the morning hours. So for me a good breakfast is vital. I will have either 6 egg whites with a whey protein shake, multi-vitamin, and potassium pills. If not the egg whites either a chicken breast, fish filet(s) or a angus burger.

This is usually enough to get me through the water aerobics class and what lifting I plan to do. After that I usually will get a protein shake and a tuna sandwich loaded with lettuce onion and tomato.

However if I'm reading you right your saying cut back on the protein intake and just do water or green tea. Then my body will be forced to burn the fat. I like that idea will implement the change on Monday.

Thanks.

[gene cisco]

I actually get in my workouts during the morning hours. So for me a good breakfast is vital. I will have either 6 egg whites with a whey protein shake, multi-vitamin, and potassium pills. If not the egg whites either a chicken breast, fish filet(s) or a angus burger.

This is usually enough to get me through the water aerobics class and what lifting I plan to do. After that I usually will get a protein shake and a tuna sandwich loaded with lettuce onion and tomato.

However if I'm reading you right your saying cut back on the protein intake and just do water or green tea. Then my body will be forced to burn the fat. I like that idea will implement the change on Monday.

Thanks.

You see I subscribe to the school of thought that FAT should be your energy source as much as possible when trying to lose weight. Trust me, you have enough fat in your body to "get through" water aerobics or whatever you decide to do.

Remember to lose fat you must create a calorie(energy) deficit, right? WHAT IS FAT???????????????? STORED ENERGY.....A SURPLUS if you will!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am saying drop any meal within 2 hours prior to your workout, it may reduce your total calories for the day slightly, but so what.

The POST workout meals will get you back feeling right.

Remember, you are not going for PEAK athletic performance, you are going for fat loss, which is achieved simply by creating an energy deficit in the body.
You must force your body to eat the fat of itself instead of using calories you are consuming. Your body prefers to go for glucose as an energy source, your job is to make it go after fat.

[b]As long as you got more than ESSENTIAL FAT on your body, your body has ENERGY, dont get it twisted. The key is to work your muscles so in a calorie deficit your body burns fat, instead of muscle.

Many people are under the false believe that eating too little and working out will cause MORE muscle to be lost, that is untrue as the body adapts to spare what it is using and "thinks" it needs in dire times.

Not using muscle will cause it to atrophy. If you put your arm in a sling for 2 weeks and maintained normal calories in your diet, guess what? In 2 weeks your arm would be smaller and weaker despite eating normal calories, you would have had muscle loss DESPITE eating normal calories.

So dont have any fear that not drinking a protein shake right before or during your workout will cause your muscles to shrink or your energy to be low. Dont be afraid cause you eliminate one meal a day, thus having fewer calories.

JUST HIT THE GREEN TEA FOR THE "BOOST" YOU MIGHT NEED!!!!!

[MadWun]

This makes sense. Over the summer for some weird reason, I started drinking a ton of water...I mean a lot, and lost 17lbs (no workout or nothing). My ass got lazy and gained that shit all back. As of last December, I started hitting the gym, but I really need to know what to do to shed the pounds.

For weight loss, is it god to use whey protein? I also see some stuff in here about green tea. I need to lay off the coffee though :(

Any advise? Thanks in advance.

[jedimasta]

I am one of those low carb nuts so I say 100-150 grams AT MOST when trying to shed the weight, depending on size. This is of course if you are not in an hurry.

Complex carbs are what you want, but post workout some simple ones are good.

What kind of protein diet you been following?

Do you count the carbs in other sources, i.e. meats, mixed nuts, etc., or only those from actual carbs?

[gene cisco]

Do you count the carbs in other sources, i.e. meats, mixed nuts, etc., or only those from actual carbs?

Trace carbs I dont worry about, they never get to be a problem as long as you do your carb meals right and stick to the diet at all other times.

If we hit a bump in the road and the weight loss slows too much, we tweak the carb meals and/or up the exercise intensity. Never fret over trace carbs.

[gene cisco]

This makes sense. Over the summer for some weird reason, I started drinking a ton of water...I mean a lot, and lost 17lbs (no workout or nothing). My ass got lazy and gained that shit all back. As of last December, I started hitting the gym, but I really need to know what to do to shed the pounds.

For weight loss, is it god to use whey protein? I also see some stuff in here about green tea. I need to lay off the coffee though :(

Any advise? Thanks in advance.

Whey is fine, but in reality your food should be giving you all the protein you need. Some people I know do replace a meal with a shake sometimes, in that case whey is good. Sometimes its easier to have a shake for lunch then go through all the preparations for a "real lunch", sometimes its easier for breakfast.

Coffee, nothing wrong with it. Its the shit people put in it that will get them. Tons of sugar, cream and all that other shit, same way they ruin a great cup of green tea. :smh: I mean is it even possible to get a normal cup of coffee in america now. :lol: :lol:

If you can't just pour you a cup of coffee and drink it just like that, ditch it.

[jucurious]

After the workout is the problem. Since I love tuna that is usually my choice sandwich. Natural whole wheat roll with lettuce, tomato, onions, green peppers, pickels, peppers, black pepper and oregano. I don't ever use salt, didn't forget it. So aside from fruits what other options are there? There's all kinds protein drinks, recovery drinks with labels that get more confusing the more you read, so even with the variety available its easy to make a poor decision.


^ you gotta be careful with tuna...especially canned tuna. look at the amount of sodium in a small can of tuna...it will blow your mind. if i remember correctly, its like 250mg's of sodium. sodium helps you retain water.

i started to get low sodium tuna with only i think 25 or 35 mgs of sodium and you can def taste the difference but it is a lot healthier. once you finish adding other stuff to the tuna, the taste difference isn't that big.

[gene cisco]

^ you gotta be careful with tuna...especially canned tuna. look at the amount of sodium in a small can of tuna...it will blow your mind. if i remember correctly, its like 250mg's of sodium. sodium helps you retain water.

i started to get low sodium tuna with only i think 25 or 35 mgs of sodium and you can def taste the difference but it is a lot healthier. once you finish adding other stuff to the tuna, the taste difference isn't that big.

Tuna=mercury, not supposed to eat that much in a week. Its a dam shame what they did to our sea food.

[big-gus]

all I have to say is "Damn rice":smh:

[Mo-Better]

Right!! I don't touch it, i eat homemade chicken salad when i can..lol..try that mo....And gene, i just wanted to tell you that you dropped some real good info. in this post, respect man!

Mo, you still on it huh? Good shit man, keep it up...i just dropped 20 pounds, i'm about to drop 5 more i think! Instead of weighing myself i use my old pants from 4 yrs ago to see my weight lost, i'm fitting everything from 2004 now....holla!

Man I love homemade checken salad. The only thing is I want Miracle Whip in it. :lol: But yeah I'm still at it just looking to try a few new things. I dropped 36 last year. Looking for more the same this year. More chicken and fish less beef.

I've increased my cardio work and cut back on the weights a little. (but just for now) Starting in March I plan to continue increasing the cardio and then hitting the weights again. So we'll see what happens.

Keep at it man.