Diet question for my wife

[kisaj]

My wife has shared my fitness mindset for many years and has always been really active. Right now she is training 3 days a week and doing sculpt yoga 2 days a week. My question is regarding diet because she is very frustrated. She wants to drop 5-10lbs and maintain muscle mass, but currently is just in a plateau. I am trying to see what would be the best diet to try and be sustainable. She owns a hair salon and typically goes in from 12noon until 8, so she can't be eating in the day with her clientele load.

I was thinking IF, but wasn't sure how well that worked for women. Possibly carb backloading? Looking for suggestions and success stories from any of you ladies.

Thank you!

[Magdalena]

My wife has shared my fitness mindset for many years and has always been really active. Right now she is training 3 days a week and doing sculpt yoga 2 days a week. My question is regarding diet because she is very frustrated. She wants to drop 5-10lbs and maintain muscle mass, but currently is just in a plateau. I am trying to see what would be the best diet to try and be sustainable. She owns a hair salon and typically goes in from 12noon until 8, so she can't be eating in the day with her clientele load. I was thinking IF, but wasn't sure how well that worked for women. Possibly carb backloading? Looking for suggestions and success stories from any of you ladies. Thank you!

I'm just wondering... She doesn't eat from 1200-2000?
Could u provide some details about ur wife's current diet?
Thank u...

[kisaj]

Thank you for getting back to me. A typical day looks like this for training days and non:

Training:
7:30am- coffee
9:00ish- 1 cup egg whites, 1 cup of oats, salsa
1:30-2:30pm- chicken breast, a big salad w/ vinegar and oil, avacados
4-5pm - usually a handful of almonds or nuts
trains from 7:15-8:30pm
8:30- dinner that usually consists of whatever me and the kids are having. Usually protein heavy and carb light.

Non training days look the same other than skipping the training.

See,, on paper it looks very good and I see no reason that it would not be working. Don't get me wrong, she looks great and is very healthy, but I know she is frustrated because she works so hard and just can't get where she wants.

Btw- she is 5'5" and about 132lbs. Athletic build.

[KrisL]

If she's happy with the diet, I don't see how it could improve much.

She sleeping?

Why not just add in another training session or swap a yoga day for a training day? I guarantee more time under the bar will burn more calories than standing around holding a pink neoprene paperweight. Heck, hill sprints even. If she's not already sleeping plenty, even swapping a yoga session for a nap would be relaxing and aid in fatloss.

[kisaj]

She sleeps plenty and her workouts are pretty hardcore. She does a military style boot camp with 30 min of kickboxing. The yoga is for her mind and makes her feel calmer, so that will stay.

Just wanted to see if I was missing anything from a female perspective because I have been doing this for so long, I didn't want this to be a "forest for the trees" situation.

[mtinsideout]

Thank you for getting back to me. A typical day looks like this for training days and non:

Training:
7:30am- coffee
9:00ish- 1 cup egg whites, 1 cup of oats, salsa
1:30-2:30pm- chicken breast, a big salad w/ vinegar and oil, avacados
4-5pm - usually a handful of almonds or nuts
trains from 7:15-8:30pm
8:30- dinner that usually consists of whatever me and the kids are having. Usually protein heavy and carb light.

Non training days look the same other than skipping the training.

See,, on paper it looks very good and I see no reason that it would not be working. Don't get me wrong, she looks great and is very healthy, but I know she is frustrated because she works so hard and just can't get where she wants.

Btw- she is 5'5" and about 132lbs. Athletic build.

You can go about it 2 ways, either cut cals or increase workouts. Easiest suggestion might just be to cut out the cup of oats in the AM and see how goes for a week or 2.

[kisaj]

Funny you mention that because that is the first thing I suggested she try and this started yesterday. My main concern is that I want to make sure she is taking in carbs after the workouts because everyone in these classes apparently has been telling her not to eat them. Drives me crazy and I didn't realize it until we started talking about tweaks.

[Magdalena]

Let's make a few slight changes
I will send u a detailed PM...

[KrisL]

Hard to beat kickboxing for conditioning.
Her setup seems solid for long-term improvements. I would be surprised to see her not lose a couple pounds of bodyfat in a year at the current state.
If she's not interested in changing her training, a small modification of her diet, such as protein-sparing modified fast (psmf) one day a week might be easier than switching the whole thing altogether. If it's comfortable enough, doing it on both her off-days easch week would get even faster results.

[kisaj]

Let's make a few slight changes
I will send u a detailed PM...

Nice! Thank you very much.

[Magdalena]

Nice! Thank you very much.

PM sent

[kisaj]

Update:

We cut carbs out of the first meal and kept it to high protein and fats, which she is liking. First meal is usually around 10am and is lighter in calories. Lunch around 1-2pm has remained the same and then instead of snacking, she holds out and has a nice hearty dinner with us. So, cutting back from 5-6 little meals and having 3 better sized ones with carbs focused at dinner.

Just doing this has dropped 4lbs in the last 2 weeks.

Also, found out that in her boot camp, they are not using resistance training and I am changing that. I built out 2 full body resistance days for her and her friends to use and each day ends with HIIT. I have a feeling this is going to kickstart things more.

[mtinsideout]

Glad to hear it man, sounds like things are going good

[buenamorena]

How are her energy levels? How often does she have a break from the diet, and/or a cheat meal?

Maintaining low-carb is a lot harder for women. Metabolic slowdown comes much easier.

[kisaj]

Energy levels are through the roof. She gets up a little after I do (I am usually up at 5:30-6) and ends up staying up doing things around the house until 11-midnight. This isn't a diet, but rather just a new way to eat. We love to do brunch on the weekends with friends and always take the kids out to dinner on Friday. So, "breaks" are always thrown in.

All it took was a slight adjustment and a new 2 day weight routine I built out to add in to really get things kicked in. We removed a day of "bootcamp" (variation on CF/circuit training) and added in a heavy weight day instead.

Weight has dropped about 2lbs, but more importantly, muscle is really starting to be defined and that is getting her mind off of caring about the scale. I almost threw it away several times. LOL

[jonson789]

Hi .. !
Breakfast is very important for good health and fitness. You should replace coffee with breakfast . And drink plenty of water early in the morning .