Fitness Catch-All

I’m not sure how to progress at this point.  My original plan was to stop with Stronglifts 5x5 and move over to Mad Cow, but looking at the upper limits I’m hitting on SL5x5 makes me think that this is actually where I’m kind-of going to be stuck, permanently.  The idea behind Mad Cow seems interesting, but really, it’s very similar in that it just progresses upwards once again, just in a different way from SL5x5.  Would that honestly make that much of a difference?  I don’t think so.

What’s the root of my problems?  I’m thinking it’s perhaps a combination of diet and rest.  My diet is rather veggie-heavy, and there aren’t a lot of carbs or fats in it.  Are carbs really that essential?  I don’t know.  I don’t feel like I’m running out of ENERGY during my lifts, exactly, and if I understand correctly, that’s the main use of carbs before a workout, providing quickly usable energy.  Does that actually translate to slowing muscle fatigue during lifts? 

My diet consists of the following, and it’s rare that I vary from this (except maybe a little on the weekends, which I try to curtail):

Lunch: A salad, usually consisting of iceberg lettuce, almonds, and chicken, with various seasoning and roughly a tablespoon of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, each, as a dressing.  I may follow up with a cup of tea sweetened with regular sugar, probably about 1.5-2 tbsp.  Sometimes I’ll add half an avocado, but it takes extra, precious morning-routine-minutes to add that step, so I haven’t done that for a while.

Dinner: Chipotle burrito bowl (so no tortilla), with Steak or Chicken, the three types of salsa that do not contain corn, lettuce and guacamole.  On lifting days, I also have a roughly 300 calorie protein recovery drink after the workout.

So yeah, my diet is pretty light.  My problem is, I’m trying to lose fat at the same time, and I am VERY wary of adding calories to my daily diet.  Plus, my work schedule and commute makes it virtually impossible for me to prepare my own food and have time for the rest of my life.  Even adding that protein shake makes me a little upset. 

I get maybe 6-6.5 hours of sleep a night, and there are times when I clearly feel like that’s not enough. 

MWF are my lift days.  Tues/Thurs I do cardio, and I have been resting on Saturday and Sunday, but I’ve been thinking about doing cardio on those days, too.

Am I pushing myself too much in the direction of trying to lose weight to conceivably make bigger lifting gains?  Is it insane if I perhaps just try to maintain this level of lifting and hope to continue to lose fat, instead of push through these upper limits and make bigger lifting gains?  Will I actually lose MORE fat if I modify my diet to better accommodate lifting rather than fat loss?

For the record, these are the maxes that I can achieve, and for the most part, not without difficulty:

Note: 5x5 means 5 sets of 5 reps, if that wasn’t clear.  Most of my lifts follow that structure, unless otherwise noted.

Squats – 5x5 – 275 lbs
Bench Press – 5x5 – 160 lbs
Pendlay Rows – 5x5 – 165 lbs
Overhead Press – 5x5 – 115 lbs
Deadlift – 1x5 – 310 lbs

What are you doing for breakfast Mike?

Since you're concerned about adding calories one area to investigate is your overall macronutrient ratio, stick your approximate portions for a day into one of the many free tools (eg www.nutritiondata.com ) and see where your carb/fat/protein balance stands. If you could somehow wing it with your tight schedule you could also consider more smaller meals (or healthy snacks with reduced main meal size) to help keep your metabolism and energy levels more constant but I appreciate that's rather rough to pull off in real life.

I don't have breakfast. I would have to get up even earlier than I already do to make time for it. Plus I usually don't have it anyway. I'm not a breakfast person, except on rare occasions.

But I will look into the macronutrient stuff.

How long have you been plateaued?

1. Eat breakfast.
2. Eat more protein. A couple of pieces of chicken are not enough.
3. Refer to rules 1 and 2.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

1. Eat breakfast.
2. Eat more protein. A couple of pieces of chicken are not enough.
3. Refer to rules 1 and 2.

This, and also,

4: Sleep more. A lot more.

My suspicion is that at this point, you've gotta choose between strength and leanness. If you want to tackle both, maybe consider a periodized bulk-and-cut approach? I haven't done that myself, so I can't speak to it in detail.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

@NSMike,
I was under the impression that you should be consuming at least a 3:4 ratio of grams of protein to weight in pounds. So if you weigh 200lbs it should be 150g of protein a day. A chicken breast will probably have 25g of protein. I'm guessing you're around 60-70g of protein with your stated diet.

Just to add to this. From examine.com's "How much protein do I need every day?" FAQ (Surprise!):

High protein diets have been found to preserve lean body mass when dieting in both obese people[11] and athletes [12] and has also been shown to improve overall body composition[13]. A doubling of protein intake from 0.9g/kg (near the daily recommended intake for the general population) to 1.8g/kg is able to preserve lean muscle mass during short-term and relatively drastic drops in calories.[14]

(references are linked on the actual page)

@NSMike,
I was under the impression that you should be consuming at least a 3:4 ratio of grams of protein to weight in pounds. So if you weigh 200lbs it should be 150g of protein a day. A chicken breast will probably have 25g of protein. I'm guessing you're around 60-70g of protein with your stated diet.

According to Chipotle's website, your burrito bowl tops out at 38g of protein. So I'm readjusting to guess you're at 73-83g of protein a day.

I also discovered that my typical Chipotle meal is about 960 calories! 61 grams of protein vs only 30.5 grams of fat, but still 960 Calories!

Thanks Nossid. Looks like my recollection was pretty accurate. I need to tally up my typical diet. I'm probably not getting the 110g of protein a day that I need.

So basically it's a minor miracle I'm able to lift what I do already, based on my protein intake.

I'll have to figure out how to up that.

Greek yogurt for breakfast? Lots of protein, not much friction for the morning routine if you buy the individual cups.

NSMike wrote:

So basically it's a minor miracle I'm able to lift what I do already, based on my protein intake.

I'll have to figure out how to up that.

IDK if Trader Joe's is out in Akron, but they have something called California Protein Bread and it has 5g of protein a slice, toast it with peanut butter and then you've got an easy 15g boost in the morning. Your protein drank could be 10g per serving to 25g per serving too. Whey protein drank is probably the most protein relative to calories (since you seem to be just as concerned with dropping weight).

The closest Trader Joe's is almost 2 hours away in Columbus. And I don't think I want to introduce bread back into my regular diet.

Greek yogurt is a great choice. The plain is the best choice as it has fewer cals and more protein than the flavored. Chobani plain has 18 grams of protein and 100 calories. Cottage cheese is another good option. Add some fresh fruit and you can have a 200 calorie meal that is fairly filling and has 18 grams of protein. Special K and milk is a good choice. The original special K has 4 grams of protein and the milk has 8. Between the two it's 200 calories and 12 grams of protein. Kashi items generally have fairly low sugar and high protein compared to the general food industry. They are more calorie dense than Special K but are less processed and have more fiber and protein. The best Kashi cereal is Kashi Go Lean (from a nutritional standpoint).

There are tons of recipes for making your own granola bars but Kashi makes pretty good stuff. Most haf 7-8 grams of protein. In a pinch South Beach Diet bars are okay. They are over processed and taste like salt, though. Still, they're better than most store bought junk (though that doesn't actually make them good).

Soldarity mentioned it and indeed something like whey protein isolate at breakfast could also work well. It's a complete protein and if you get unflavoured and unsweetened the protein:calorie ratio is as good as it gets with the quality isolates hitting 27 grams of protein/30 gram serving and virtually no fat or carbs except for the fluid you mix it with. Since you already have protein in your lunch and dinner getting some in at breakfast time would be a nice way to round things off and shouldn't require too much more out of you time wise. If all else fails you can premeasure a serving into a dry shaker cup the night before and then add your fluid and shake to mix and drink on the go in the morning.

Which reminds me; something else to consider examining is your general hydration. You don't want to be running to the bathroom all day but, particularly as you up those protein levels, you want to make sure you're not dehydrated either.

NSMike wrote:

So basically it's a minor miracle I'm able to lift what I do already, based on my protein intake.

I'll have to figure out how to up that.

Yeah, your diet is terrible. Fixing it is way beyond just a couple of posts, I'd recommend a nutritionist. You'll feel WAY better and stronger in the gym with a better diet and more sleep.

Reason I recommend an expert is, you can waste years trying to learn enough about nutrition on your own.

A simple boost to your workout would be some oatmeal 30-45 minutes before the workout, and take a thermos or something to carry 1liter of ice cold water and drink that throughout your workout. Also, as mentioned, eat some goddamned breakfast, what is wrong with you. Oatmeal is amazing in my opinion.
edit: They also sell egg whites in packs, you can buy those for a quick morning breakfast. Cook them and eat up.

It's very hard to get stronger while on a bad diet. Losing fat while gaining muscle is hard enough on its own.

You got a bunch of good posts already, but seems to me you need to read up on nutrition and a couple of pages on the internet are just not going to do it : p

Go for it, it's fun and entertaining : )

Back on the horse after 3 months of stress, depression, overeating, and no exercise. Felt good to get out running again, even if my fitness is shot to hell.

Also, trail running on hard-packed ice in sub zero pre dawn temperatures makes you feel a bit of a badass.

I do a banana about a half hour before my workout, drink about 20oz of water by the end of it, and have a recovery shake with about 35g of protein immediately after, plus some oatmeal at my desk. Since I get to the gym for a 6am workout, the banana is a no-prep thing I can have that doesn't cause me any workout stomach problems, and gives me enough energy for the workout. The recovery shake fixes me up for the ride to work afterward. Plus it is delicious.

Anyone use a C25K app (android) that works while you are listening to podcasts?

Two questions today:

1. Anyone have a protein shake/supplement that they recommend? I bought a 3lb bag of chocolate Muscle Milk powder and I'm okay with it, but it ends up being close to $2 each recommended serving.

2. The lumbar region of my back has been bothering me during planks lately. I can only go 30 seconds before I feel like my back gives out. Two weeks ago I was doing repeated 60-90 second sets without this problem. Do I need to do some funky stretch or pick up a different exercise?

S0LIDARITY wrote:

I bought a 3lb bag of chocolate Muscle Milk powder and I'm okay with it, but it ends up being close to $2 each recommended serving.

On cost; consider how much getting the equivalent amount of protein from other sources would end up costing.

On muscle milk specifically; You just bought 3 pounds of the stuff but as a heads up for the future;

Spoiler:

In 2010 consumer reports found this
The makers of the product responded .
Yet this consumer report 2012 still shows high levels though it isn't clear whether they measured again or used the 2010 data.
Of course either way this is 2013 and the product may well be fine by now.

You can make your own decision as to whether any of that matters to you.

As for alternatives I'm very partial to whey protein isolate, I buy in bulk and spend about $2 CAD a day to help meet my 100g protein requirement, your needs may be far lower than that and so plausible cheaper.

@Krev82, I'm currently taking two servings a day which tops me out around 120g of protein daily. I'm typically aiming for 110+ or more. Two servings put me under the recommended daily dosage of nasty-metal-substances. I also found it funny that Consumer Reports found people getting 300g of protein a day, maybe that's the target market but that sounds crazy to me.

Muscle Milk's response seemed reasonable, and it looks like Consumer Reports used the same numbers from the previous study. I find it suspect that they didn't vary after two years, and after Muscle Milk's response stating that CR doubled down on the serving sizes for their tests.

I'll look into the supplement offerings at Trader Joe's next, they seem to a do a good job of screening their foods for terrifying substances.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

Two questions today:

1. Anyone have a protein shake/supplement that they recommend? I bought a 3lb bag of chocolate Muscle Milk powder and I'm okay with it, but it ends up being close to $2 each recommended serving.

2. The lumbar region of my back has been bothering me during planks lately. I can only go 30 seconds before I feel like my back gives out. Two weeks ago I was doing repeated 60-90 second sets without this problem. Do I need to do some funky stretch or pick up a different exercise?

I just picked up biochem whey protein. It gets very good reviews on amazon and runs about $1.30 per serving.

For number 2 I would look at doing some bridges. Your back needs strengthening as well as your stomach. Many people neglect the back when doing core exercises. Your back does a lot of work when doing planks so don't overlook it. I work my back as much as I work my legs, chest, and arms (probably more). Make sure to keep your body in proper alignment. You shouldn't drop your hips so that you lose the natural curve in your lower back.

Hey all, I wanted to add myself into the mix a little on this Fitness Catch-All. I have skimmed over the first few pages and also the last posts on this page. I figured I would go ahead and tell my shin dig and see if it gets any responses or helpful tips! So here goes:

Me and my wife have been "dieting" in a "casual" way for the past 2 years. The first year was the "cleaning our act up" year. We were pretty obese, the both of us (we were both hovering around 250+ lbs). And it was my wife's idea to get into shape. I count my blessings everyday for her willpower ^.^

After that first year, she lost over 100lbs and is now around 175 lbs. I am not quite as awesome as her and am hovering around 200 lbs.

She started out just fixing our diet and watching what we ate. And then added a calorie counting app on her phone (My Fitness Pal a handy little app) and then started exercising. We both started out dabbling with just walking around a little league baseball complex by our house. And then we had bumped up to jogging.

After that first year and during the winter months, my wife has moved to doing workouts inside and toning. She has gotten a TON of Jillian Michaels DVD's off of Amazon (the one she has used the most, 30 Day Shred ) and has been doing a lot of cardio and toning inside the last couple months.

But, our dilemma the past 6 months to a year has been that dreadful plateau! We are both now hovering and have been slacking on exercising (me more than her :s ). We haven't really been gaining, but just maintaining. And it is kind of getting her down. I have been using the "I work a lot, so don't have time to." excuse for not doing things. We have also not been eating as healthy. We're now to that point where we are about to shape up and get back to basics. Going to our menu and doubling down on the grilled chicken and rice. Trying to be more conscious of our diet again.

I have plenty more I can add, but to wrangle this post in, I just wanted to put ourselves out there and see if anyone else has any stories or helpful tips for getting back on the Fitness Horse (That phrase brings up weird mental images...). I appreciate anyone taking note of my rambling ways and hope to add more to this thread in the future. Thanks!

S0LIDARITY wrote:

Two questions today:

1. Anyone have a protein shake/supplement that they recommend? I bought a 3lb bag of chocolate Muscle Milk powder and I'm okay with it, but it ends up being close to $2 each recommended serving.

2. The lumbar region of my back has been bothering me during planks lately. I can only go 30 seconds before I feel like my back gives out. Two weeks ago I was doing repeated 60-90 second sets without this problem. Do I need to do some funky stretch or pick up a different exercise?

http://www.amazon.com/Optimum-Nutrit...

Can't beat it. It's been my staple for years. Recently after workouts I've been using

http://www.amazon.com/Optimum-Nutrit...

Which is whey protein with a whole lot of extra stuff in it. It's more epensive so I only use it once a day where as with the regular whey protein I may drink it 3-4 time a day to meet my protein goals.

DeThroned wrote:

I've been hitting the gym but not even close to enough. My excuses are very weak that I don't go but I find enough excuses that I only go a couple times a week. That being said, I just picked up Power90. I should have it tomorrow and pretty excited about it. Despite the loss of 25 lbs (currently sitting at 194, 5'9" or so) I am not all that in shape. The Power90 said it was more like a beginner's P90X and a good place to start for someone in my shape. I get fatigued pretty easily so really looking forward to trying this and sticking to it. No excuses as I can do everything right from home!

I've done Power 90 several times over the years. It's effective for beginners but I warn you it will become very VERY dull. Choose the option of no music and use your own. The sh*tty music included is so bad it will make you want to stab rusty forks into your ears.

Le0hart85 wrote:

She started out just fixing our diet and watching what we ate. And then added a calorie counting app on her phone (My Fitness Pal a handy little app) and then started exercising. We both started out dabbling with just walking around a little league baseball complex by our house. And then we had bumped up to jogging.
...

But, our dilemma the past 6 months to a year has been that dreadful plateau! We are both now hovering and have been slacking on exercising (me more than her :s ).

I'd suggest keeping walking as a daily thing. Walking one mile burns nearly as many calories as running one mile. It's a lot easier to duck out on a run due to injury, tiredness, apathy than a walk. Schedule time for it and make it a regular thing, especially if it's something you two can do together.

Also congratulations on your wife dropping 100lbs and on you dropping ~50+lbs.

Le0hart85 wrote:

I have plenty more I can add, but to wrangle this post in, I just wanted to put ourselves out there and see if anyone else has any stories or helpful tips for getting back on the Fitness Horse (That phrase brings up weird mental images...). I appreciate anyone taking note of my rambling ways and hope to add more to this thread in the future. Thanks!

I'm an enormous fan of setting event-goals. Works for my motivation like nothing else. Sign up for a 10K 6 months from now, something like that. Knowing that you have something looming, a hard date to work with, keeps me going.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to protein supplements is to simply find something that doesn't have a bunch of sh!t added to it. Literally, just read the ingredient label. If you really want to get serious about it, find out where the whey is coming from.

As for the back issue, look up the yoga poses that focus on your spine and add them to your stretching routine.

Isopure protein is probably the best I've tried. A bit expensive, but it delivers.

Muscle milk was bad for me, gave me stomach aches, and Myoplex was pure crap, also giving me pimples. ON was mostly ok but after a while it upset my stomach too.

So I'm happy to pay a bit extra for Isopure, either low carb or zero carb.

Leohart: Good job man, just remember the body needs a little rest now and then. Call it your "off-season" and enjoy it without the guilt. As long as you don't go overboard with the burguers, you can take a few months off and return to working out even more motivated than before : )