Diet and Exercise Recommendations
wassup every1 ?? i am starting to train my girl this week .. she wants to start working out with me only prob is she can't afford a gym membership to workout with me so i decided to make her workout in my basement and ill just stay there and watch and help her with what she is doing more or less just train her .... i don't really know all that much stuff to help her b/ce she is looking for fatloss and not to gain muscle yanno ..
well the equipment i have down there is an adjustable bench (incline flat decline) with a place for preacher curls and leg extensions if u lie down and leg lifts if u are sitting up, 5,10,15,20 lbs dumbells, a treadmill, and a punching bag ( shes got nails no way she hitting that l0l )
well let me start with the worst of all which is her eating habits... she DOESN'T EAT AT ALL !!!!! I AM DEAD SERIOUS SHE EATS ONCE A WEEK !!!!! b/ce she is sacred she is gonna gain weight she has been doing this for a yr now ... and now she is gonna start b/ce she is working out ... she is already very very thin .. has a completely flat stomach just no definition .. not really any fat at ALL .. she just has thick legs which i have no prob with at all i actually like them =) but she doesnt !!!! she wants like toothpick legs seriously ... oh well
i would like someone to please tell me what i should do training wise ( within the equipment i have ) and diet wise .. i am sacred to start making her eat everyday b/ce her metabolism is def REAAALLLLY SLOW from not eating all this time so if u can help me on that .. and also what to do should i have her lifting or just running all the time with doing some sets of situps and legs lifts .. i would like to know some workouts to tone up the legs b/ce thats her main concern here ..
i would really really really appreciate some help thank you very much
will award rep points if u can help :thumbsup:
Reading that, I would suggest that your girlfriend sees someone to sort out any psychological issues that she has FIRST, as it sounds like she is anorexic (apologies if I am wrong in this assumption, but it is said more out of concern than anything). Anything that she does on top of that will just exacerbate the issue, if that is the case...
If she is looking for fatloss, but has little fat OR muscle to start with, then I wouldn't recommend trying to lose MORE fat (but that's just my opinion)...
DIET
Just to help get you started in the right direction, here are some tips for her diet for fat loss. (These are the general guidelines that I give to my clients who are looking to lose BF (and they can be adjusted to suit muscle and strength gain, since the only difference in the two is the AMOUNT of calories that needs to be consumed); otherwise I write them a personalized diet plan (that takes into account personal preferences, allergies, etc.) to meet their needs):
1. First, she needs to work out what her MAINTENANCE calories are (There are various methods and equations that you can use to calculate this; most take into account current body mass, height, and activity level). Then, to lose fat, she needs to make sure that she's having up to 500 calories LESS than maintenance. Depending on how fast or slow she loses the fat, she can adjust and tweak her calorie intake each week.
2. Eat every 2-3 hours after waking. This helps keep the metabolism going throughout the day, as well as keeping insulin levels stable (so, you can see that 3 meals is simply NOT enough, even small portions).
3. EVERY meal should have complex carbohydrates [CHO] (i.e. kumara, rice, oats, etc.), QUALITY LEAN protein (chicken breast, fish, tuna, salmon, lean beef, egg whites, etc.), and FIBROUS CHO (i.e. vegetables, green ones in particular).
4. Drink 4.5 litres of water per day. This will help keep the system clean.
5. It has been proven that TWO servings of DAIRY per day helps lose MORE fat than if one avoids it altogether.
6. Do NOT avoid fat (The only fat she should be avoiding is Saturated fat and Trans fats). You NEED fat in your diet, as fat plays major roles in energy metabolism and other parts of your body (Wardlaw & Hampl, 2007). Make sure to have at least 30 grams of GOOD fats (i.e. flaxseeds or flaxseed oil, fish oils, peanut butter, nuts - especially almonds and walnuts, hempseed oil, olive oil, etc.) per day (i.e. this is ~2 tbsp of flaxseed oil or peanut butter).
7. Don't drink tea or coffee. Try drinking GREEN tea instead; it helps with thermogenesis, and is especially good if you take it one hour before doing cardio first thing in the morning.
8. Don't drink alcohol. Alcohol has NO nutritional value and is full of calories.
9. Minimize adding salt to food. Instead, flavour a meal with herbs and spices (i.e. ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper, curry powder, chilli powder, and garlic all help thermogenesis a bit).
10. The only sugar needed on a regular basis is the NATURAL sugars found in food; these are mostly found in fruit. Too much sugar plays havoc with insulin levels and these should be as stable as possible throughout the day. The best time to be having sugar is straight AFTER a RESISTANCE workout, when the body is trying to replenish muscle glycogen stores (Burke, 2006).
11. Do NOT avoid CHO. You NEED at least 50-100 grams of CHO per day for your body to burn fat effectively. A good guideline is to have at least 1 gram of CHO per kg of body mass per day as a MINIMUM (Burke, 2006).
12. Eat most food as 'natural' as possible. This means fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, grains, etc. Try not to eat too much packaged food, as it is full of extra calories and sugar.
13. Most importantly, remember that it IS OK TO CHEAT every now and then. Actually the body NEEDS cheat meals and days (1-2 a week will get results; I have 3-4 x 8000 calorie days, and I am only 110 pounds right now!). By throwing all the guidelines I have just mentioned above out of the way and having a day where she eats what she wants, it helps ; and it will also help prevent her body from going into starvation mode (if it does this (someone mentioned in a previous post that hers may already be like this), the body will battle her to hold onto the fat as much as it can; and that's the last thing wanted). If she prefers NOT to 'cheat', then adding in 1-2 higher CALORIE days (i.e. go up to Maintenance, or even Bulking, or even slightly higher), with the extra calories coming from quality COMPLEX CHO, she should be ok.
Supplements should NOT be a big deal, as most fat loss can be done through simply eating the right food at the right time. And unless everything that she's doing is already done to ensure the maximum results in the timeframe that she want to achieve it in, and then supplementation should not be the focus. However, there ARE a few supplements that I think are important to any regime:
1. A multivitamin. (Although she should be eating as much of a variety of food as possible, in order to meet the RDI/AI of most nutrients from actual food).
2. Creatine monohydrate. Creatine helps the body to recover faster, as well as aiding in increasing strength levels and lean body mass [LBM].
3. Flaxseed/Hempseed/Fish Oil. This is the GOOD fats. Flaxseed or Hempseed oil is great with breakfast or in protein shakes.
4. Protein Powder. This just helps for the in-between meals, or after the gym, and to make sure that she gets enough protein in (She should be having 1-1.5 grams of protein per kg of body mass per day; this is so that muscle loss is prevented, and can even assist in small gains in LBM).
Apart from these 4 'base' supplements, she doesn?t need a lot, especially since sh'es just starting out. And forget about using fat-burners or thermogenics; they are a waste of time unless she's ALREADY lean (say 12-15% BF) and wants that 'extra edge' to lose the last few% bodyfat (i.e. like a fitness competitor, etc.)
EXERCISE
Fat loss can be achieved by dieting alone, but not as effectively as it would be when using a calorie controlled diet AND exercise plan. If you just dieted, you would end up as a smaller version of yourself right now. Exercise helps you to build muscle (which helps you to burn more calories and lose more fat in the process), as well as helping you feel good about yourself, and providing a way to distress.
The best exercise programme for losing fat is one that includes weights, cardio (mostly in the form of high intensity stuff), and some flexibility (just to help your joints).
To 'tone' the legs, she needs to HAVE MUSCLE there. If you only have dumbbells to work with, get her doing dumbbell squats (narrow stance - focus more on quadriceps; wide stance - focus more on glutes, hamstrings, and adductors; and sumo stance - focus more on adductors), alternate lunges (forward and backward; narrow strides - focus more on quadriceps, and long strides - focus more on hamstrings and glutes), and calf raises (single leg or double leg). Also add in some bridging (hamstrings), leg extensions (for quadriceps), hip extensions (glutes), hip abductions (abductors), and hip adductors (adductors). Since she's a beginner, 2-3 days of resistance work will be enough (i.e. one day using weighted exercises, and a second using non-weighted exercises); and make sure that she has a day's rest between each session for recovery! Start with a general 'conditioning' programme of 3-4 exercises of 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps per exercise (i.e. a total of 12-16 sets per session), with 60-90 seconds rest between each set.
I would recommend staying AWAY from doing cardio, unless it was very short and explosive, like sprinting (i.e. 4-8 minutes (starting with 4 minutes, and gradually increasing each week by a minute) of 20 seconds sprinting/10 seconds rest/easy jogging), since that would help 'tone' (man, I hate that word! 'Toning' is either a) losing fat, b) gaining muscle, or c) gaining muscle whilst simultaneously losing fat) the legs. Do this 3 x a week, with at least a day in between each session (and preferably on days when NOT doing resistance trainng).
Make sure that she has 1-2 days off ALL TRAINING per week, to let her body recover! This is ESSENTIAL.
Hope all this helps you out some.