This female is in need advise! :)

[iheartprotein]

So to start off, I'm 23 years old, I've been working out/dieting for about 3 years (gone through a lot of trail and error as do many of us). This journey began at 20 years old...I was a border line diabetic, 230 lbs and my mom just passed away from complications of diabetes.
...Long story short, I wanted to change. I signed up at my local gym (YMCA) and quickly became addicted

Anyways, I am now at 163 lbs and I should be around 125lbs for a 5'3 female. (endomorph/ mesomorph)
I eat pretty clean, chicken breast, tons of fresh spinach, balsamic vin, egg whites, veggies(broccoli, green beans), whey protein (Myofusion), salmon, tuna

I'm confused about fats, like when, how much and where to add them. I cut out fruits, eat about 6-7x a day, keep the calories between 1100-1600 cal per day.

I work out like a maniac, been getting 45-60 min of cardio (elliptical) 6 days/week with HR between 145-165
Plus I lift 5-6 days a week before cardio.
Should I do split training? Am and Pm?
I've tried the splits before but end up getting burned out.
How much protien should I be taking in? (1g per pound of body weight?)

Supplements I take,
Digestive enzymes with every meal if it includes protein
Dandelion root. 3 caps 3x a day
Vit C 1000, 3 caps in morning.
Bcaas
Vit E
ECA stack before workouts
Asia black sometimes I incorporate it for extra boost
Fish oil 3,6,9

I want to lose bf, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong...please voice your opinion
I appreciate it!!

 

[Torobestia]

First, congratulations on your progress thus far! It's always great to hear about people getting up and getting out there to make a change in their health.

Here's how it is now: You are 5'3 and 163 lbs. You are also eating 1100-1600 calories a day. If I read correctly, you also work out approximately 6x/week plus cardio (I think you're saying you do this at the same time, but if you do that at different times in the day then that would be working out about 11x/week). Regardless, you do a lot in a week.

I think it's important, too, to understand that what matters is not a number on the scale but your body composition. From your post it seems that you're not as obsessed with the weight scale since you do identify that you're mostly interested in dropping bf%. But then you did compare your weight with the "ideal" weight for your height. Remember, as you work out you'll gain some muscle, especially at first, and this will offset some of the weight you'll lose, weight-wise. At some point of course this will stop since girls can only get so muscular unless they're supplementing hormones and eating huge.

SO, with that said, I believe you may be falling into a very common mindset that many girls who first start to take an interest in dropping weight. That is, you think the less you eat, the faster you'll drop weight. That's only true to a certain point, after which your body's metabolism will actually just about come to a complete halt and you'll simply be in fat storage mode. So I don't know who gave you the advice to eat 1100-1600, or if that was something you got at through trial and error, or what. I went on to a calculator that calculates BMR (approximates your maintenance calories), put your stats in, and then I adjusted it based on your activity level. According to this, your maintenance is about 2400-2600, so you are undereating about 1000 calories.

So, my recommendation would be to actually increase your calories by at least 500 and see how things go for a while. Since you're cutting, try eating 1.5 protein/lb for now. Stick with this and unless you gain 6lbs in a week or something drastic, give it a month and then reassess. If you have either lost weight, or if you've maintained the same weight, my bet is that you were undereating before. If you maintain weight after upping your calories that's a good sign, meaning you're likely at a midpoint where you're burning fat and building muscle. If you stay there long enough you'll be in great shape.

That is my opinion.

 

[napalm]

So to start off, I'm 23 years old, I've been working out/dieting for about 3 years (gone through a lot of trail and error as do many of us). This journey began at 20 years old...I was a border line diabetic, 230 lbs and my mom just passed away from complications of diabetes.
...Long story short, I wanted to change. I signed up at my local gym (YMCA) and quickly became addicted

Anyways, I am now at 163 lbs and I should be around 125lbs for a 5'3 female. (endomorph/ mesomorph)
I eat pretty clean, chicken breast, tons of fresh spinach, balsamic vin, egg whites, veggies(broccoli, green beans), whey protein (Myofusion), salmon, tuna

I'm confused about fats, like when, how much and where to add them. I cut out fruits, eat about 6-7x a day, keep the calories between 1100-1600 cal per day.

I work out like a maniac, been getting 45-60 min of cardio (elliptical) 6 days/week with HR between 145-165
Plus I lift 5-6 days a week before cardio.
Should I do split training? Am and Pm?
I've tried the splits before but end up getting burned out.
How much protien should I be taking in? (1g per pound of body weight?)

Supplements I take,
Digestive enzymes with every meal if it includes protein
Dandelion root. 3 caps 3x a day
Vit C 1000, 3 caps in morning.
Bcaas
Vit E
ECA stack before workouts
Asia black sometimes I incorporate it for extra boost
Fish oil 3,6,9

I want to lose bf, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong...please voice your opinion
I appreciate it!!

wow, first off congrats on the 70 lb weight loss and wanting to make big changes in your life. the thing that jumps out at me is the amount of calories your taking in, vs burning. i don't think you're giving your body the fuel it needs to do the things you want it to.

you're doing a s.hit ton of training, prolly in the range of 500-600 cals per training session, and only taking in on avg 1300. you're at a severe deficit, and your body is working against you, not with you. in my never humble opinion, i think you should up your cals to 1800-2000 to give your body what it needs.

you didn't mention what your glucose levels are at your current weight. with your family history, you should keep a close eye on it.

as far as the fats you're taking in, don't worry about timing, keep them around 25% of total cals. protein - at least 1gm/lb. carbs are what you should be tracking the closest. i'd suggest (not a dietitian) somewhere around a 35/40/25 ratio of protein/carbs/fats. i say this because of the amount of cardio you're doing.

what you also didn't mention is the amount of rest your getting. with the amount of training you're doing, it's extremely important. if your body is telling you to take a day off, do it!

best of luck...

 

[napalm]

did some quick math, a 2k diet would break down like this at your current weight

1gm/lb protein = 652 cals - about 33%

carbs 40% = 200 gms, 800 cals

fat @25% = 500 cals = 55 gms

total = 1952

this is the range in which you should be working

steve

 

[aceroni]

As far as fats maybe add olive oil(~2tbsp) to your spinach or whatever veggies you may be consuming (obv w/ some sorta lean meat, chicken breast, tilapia) as your last 2 or 3 meals of the night..
BUTT
I hear its a myth that morning cardio doesnt burn more fat?
I don't believe it.. It worked for me for my last two contest preps..
If you're bored w/ your cardio or hitting a plateau, maybe try going for a fast paced walk in the MORNING for about 30-40 minutes long. BEFORE you eat anything... drink some water sure but no food. eat breakfast after.

 

[iheartprotein]

Wow thanks guys for the feed back. Thanks Steve for the breakdown! You took the guess work out for me. I get pretty confused when it comes to the whole percentage thing lol, but I understand what you suggested.
I will def increase my cals at around 2000, get in about 1-1.5g of protein and see where I get.

Sorry I left out that I get about 7-8 hours of good sleep. When I do workout, my HR monitor reads 800-1000 cal per lifting/cardio workout. Great point, I am now convinced I'm not giving my body enough food...this plateau I've hit will not break, maybe now I can get somewhere.

 

[aceroni]

i know this is a very simple point too but when i usually do my steady state cardio (post weights) it tends to be 20minutes on the stairs at about 7-8level keeping my heart rate between 120-140 i think yours might be a little high?? I'm not a doctor though.

 

[bigintensions]

Congrats on the weight loss! I am no expert but I think you may be overtraining. If you work out for over 60 min at a time you will put your body in a catabolic state. And for the fats I think some of the best fats come from nuts. They also have many other health benifits

 

[StangBanger]

congrats....

as for protein its 1g per pound of LEAN BODY MASS not total weight like stated. calc your bf% then calc how much your 'fat' weighs, subtract that from your total weight and thats the protein # in grams you should be taking in.

 

[Lukef2000]

Congratulations on your journey thus far I agree with the posts above. Since your exercising a fair bit you have to feed your body. But IMO try to have most if your carbs earlier in the day and just have lean meats fibrous veges and fats for your last two meals of the day. Also post weights session try to keep your heartrate around 130bpm since you utilized most of your body's fuel for weights going above 130bpm will more than likely result in muscle being burned for fuel.

 

[Manko Oyaji]

Congratulations on your weight loss. The people here are really supportive and I wil
Follow along as well. Great advice so far can't wait to see how it goes.

 

[everettsisk]

Highly recommend this supplement that has helped me lose weight with diet and exercise and workouts. You're bound to find something that will help.

 

[Diesel656]

I hear its a myth that morning cardio doesnt burn more fat?
I don't believe it.. It worked for me for my last two contest preps..

I am fairly certain that while training in a fasted state (ie hardly any insulin in your system) causes your body to feed on muscle tissue and fats rather than glycogen. This being the case, especially if you add some BCAAs or EAAs before fasted cardio, the primary burn will be pure fat.