A Great Question About My Article

Ok I read yout Are We Eating too Much or Not Enough article and you really seem to know what your talking about, that is why I have a question for you and I hope you can help.

My names Caitlin Im almost 18 and I have come along way with weight loss. I have currently lost 69 pounds. I hope one day to become a Nutritionist and a Personal Trainer. I have spent so much of my time researching and learning about the body and the way it works. Including different things about metabolism and leptin levels, you name it :)

My family looks up to me and sees me as an insperation for all that Ive done for myself, being almost 18 and losing 69 pounds. I have actually helped many of them and friends of the family get on the right tracks. Theres one problem. Im sucessful with helping them but I cant seem to help myself and I have hit a rut.

As I have said Im almost 18, 5'4 and 130 pounds. I am so close to where I want to be my goal weight being 120 pounds.

I am currently doing the P90x, I dont know if you have heard of that program but it is pretty intense. I have already noticed a great deal of muscle definition and I have lost some weight while doing this program.

The problem is I have been around 130 pounds for 2 months now. I know its going to be harder because Im so close to my goal weight but I feel like Im working so hard and not moving any where.

I think I may know the problem but I am looking for a second opinion and like I said you seem to know what your talking about.

I am currently taking around 1500 calories a day. The videos for the P90x say that every workout you burn about 600 calories. My heart rate moniter says for only two of the exercises im burning about 600 and for the rest its closer to 300. Like I said these workouts are intense, plyometrics, core synergistics, chest back and biceps, legs and back, ab ripper x, and many more.
I also find I i get bored I may even do more like go out for a jog!

I believe the problem is that Im not taking in enough calories and its slowing my progress. I wanted to know by the information I have given, age, height, weight, calories burned for most exercises, and calories I am eating a day, if you have any solutions.

Also, my nutrition is pretty well. I do give myself a cheat day which is sundays but I find that those actually help me lose weight! Probably because the increase of leptin levels. I eat alot of good foods and try to go for whole wheat breads to get my fiber also know as "the good carbs." I eat fat free yogurt, alot of fruits, im not a big fan of veggies but I try to get them in, I eat nutri grain waffles for breakfast with sugar free syrup and a banana or on other days I may have oatmeal with a banana and for dinner I eat veggie patties, or try to find things low in fat but high in protein! I love subway turkey grinders! No cheese or dressings but tons of lettuce, pickles, and banana peppers. I also take a protein shake every day from body fortress, 26 grams of protein right there. I also find it helps me recover after work outs and gives me energy.

What could the problem be? Is it like I said, I need more calories?

I would really apreciate the help and your time!

Caitlin


First thanks for the email. I’ll answer it the best I can. Simple answer yes you need to add more calories to you daily intake. I’ve personally seen clients who have been eating 1200 calories for over 5 years! I can’t imagine that! I mentioned this in my article but it may take a bit of time for you hormone levels and metabolism in general to catch back up to “normal levels”. So keep that in the front of your mind.

P90x I have mixed feelings about but with someone in your situation where mobility issues probably aren’t an issue you probably will be just fine with it. I’ve never personally seen a video but I find myself saying all the time “it depends”. What I mean by that is 90% of the people in the world shouldn’t be following a video for their training. Most people have mobility issues that need to fixed or keep mobility up to help alleive or help alleive pain that could arise down the road. But that’s kind a whole other issue!

As far as what you are burning off during the workout sure it’s nice to know but there’s something called EPOC. Simply is means its what you burn off after your workout. This is why I think getting in the weight room is important in it’s efforts to create a bigger muscle breakdown and in turn create a higher EPOC and build more metabolically active muscle. So I would tell you to not worry so much about what your burning off during the workout and eating according to what you burnt off.

Here’s what I suggest to help you introduce more calories into your diet:

First , these were in my article as well but here is a starting point:

Eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.
Eat complete lean protein (described below) with EACH meal.
Eat fruits and/or vegetables with EACH meal.
Ensure that most of your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables.
Ensure that 20-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).
Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.
Eat whole foods whenever possible (except workout per/peri/post-workout drinks).
Water: You shouldn’t wait until you are thirsty to start drinking. Take your bodyweight in pounds, divide by two and drink this in ounces.
Protein: The bulk of the protein that you consume should be from complete sources- sources that contain the entire amino acid chain. These include chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, lean pork, lean red meat, fresh ham, roast beef, eggs, milk, cottage cheese, and milk protein powders (whey and casein). One gram per pound of bodyweight is ideal for most.
Protein foods to avoid: fatty meats, fatty dairy foods, some lunch meat (ones high in sodium and fat), whole milk.
Carbohydrates: The bulk of carbohydrates in your diet should be from fibrous, unrefined sources. These include oatmeal, oat bran, lentils, beans, 100% whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, yams, greens, most other vegetables (salsa), and fruit. Simple sugars should be limited to special circumstances (pre/peri/post-workout)
Carbohydrate foods to avoid: sugar added foods, white breads and pastas, most cereals, soda, fruit bars, candy.
Fats: The bulk of fat in your diet should be primarily unsaturated and in the form of essential fatty acids (EFAs). These include flax seeds and/or flax seed oil, sunflower seeds and/or sunflower seed oil, fish oil, hemp oil, olive oil, raw nuts, all natural peanut butter, and avocados, cheese, red meat, and whole eggs.
Fat foods to avoid: margarine, vegetable oil, corn oil, heated or fried oils in general.
Pre, Peri, and Post Workout Nutrition: In short, the research shows that the body tolerates carbohydrate very well immediately after exercise. So it’s a good idea to consume your carbohydrates during the pre/peri/post-workout period. Reserve foods with high glycemic loads for pre/peri/post workout
These foods include sugary type foods, most cereals, potatoes, liquid calories, and flour products such as white breads and white pastas.

Maybe you follow these to a T but in most cases something needs to be changed. Weather it’s adding a little protein to every meal or starting to eat every 2-3 hours.

Next thing I suggest is after you implement these steps see if you are putting in more calories. I don’t think every situation needs to track what they are taking in calorie wise, but it may be helpful to make sure you are putting enough food down. If the intake isn’t high enough I suggest adding a bit more dietary fat which I’ll explain a bit later.

Give this new intake 2-3 weeks (maybe a bit longer 3-4 with your metabolism “catching up”) and see if things change both on the scale and take a look how your clothes fit. This is where it may be a bit of a guessing game on your end. You may need to add more calories if you didn’t see a difference or wait for your metabolism to return to normal staying at the same intake. If I have to guess with someone at your age you metabolism and such will catch back up pretty quickly but each situation is a bit different. I would even suggest a couple “refeeds” a couple times a week after a workout to help return your levels back to normal. And with this refeed a 50-100 extra grams of carbohydrates will do the trick.

Carbohyrate intake is something that may be taken a look at also. Most “whole wheat” products aren’t that at all. Here’s a great article worth reading:
Most people don’t handle carbs all that well so I suggest with someone trying to lose weight to only get their carbs from veggies and fruits other than right after wakening and after your workouts. Here’s another great article explaining why:
It’s a complex article but hopefully make a bit of sense!

Lastly I’ll finish my book with post workout nutrition. Check out my blog post for more info on this:
Supplements can help you meet your goals by being easy to drink on the go and taking advantage of “the window of opportunity” after a training session. There are other choices out there as far as supplements but the big difference is how the products are made. They can be denatured while processed and in the end leading to you absorbing less of the product. Compared to a quality supplement that wasn’t denatured under high temperatures while processed, leading to your body absorbing more of the product.

Getting In Shape First?!

I hear this on the weekly basis:

"I want to get in shape before I work with a trainer."

For the next month I see them working on on of these:





Here are some reasons to work with a trainer before "getting in shape for a trainer":

1. Imbalances - Try a one leg squat to a bench. I haven't seen a case where one leg is equally as strong as the other leg. I've covered this a bit in an earlier blog but these imbalances not only in your legs can lead to not so nice compensation patterns down the road. This is a big reason your lower back or knees hurt, not your lower back or knees.

2. Muscle Mass - Resistance training is the key to fat loss. Plain and simple the more muscle mass you build, the more fat you are going to burn off while not training. Guess what, you burn off most of your calories while not training. Wouldn't it make sense to build incorporate resistance training to your training, instead of losing muscle mass while going for a jog on that treadmill.

3. Program Design - People like to do things that are easy in most cases. Plain and simple. You can also pick up some new movements instead of using the same ones you've used for the "past 20 years".

4. Diet Tips - I see people who start on their quest in "becoming healthy" start off very well. Or so it seems. Short-term diets are just that short-term. Carb tolerance and carb intake in general is something that is overlooked I think in most cases. Look for a lifestyle change not that quick fix.

5. Each Situation is Different - You shouldn't be following a program that you picked up from someone else that seemed to work for them. Each individual is different and has different things to be addressed. This can lead to quicker results.

6. Exercise Technique - I have clients who come to me with the notion that squats hurt their knees. After about 2 minutes of correcting their form they can squat pain free. This example goes to any other exercise that you perform. If it causes pain by all means stop doing it but in most cases I see form is the problem. Faulty movements lead to pain.

7. Education - Ever heard of self myofascial release? Or used a dynamic warm up? Or know what the main cause of knee/low back pain is? If not that's even more reason to find someone who can educate you on not only these areas but YOUR needs as well.

A Random Tuesday

1. Before you stretch your lower back or hamstrings you may want to read this:

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/A+Stretching+Fallacy/

I try to explain this a client weekly if not daily but Robertson does a little better job from a anatomy standpoint!

2. I received a text last night from a friend. "What would be the best supplement for me to gain weight and muscle mass?"

Of course I asked him for his email address because I didn't want to just tell him the answer simply. I know I've told him this before but plain and simple if you are going to put on weight you need to EAT. If you think you are eating and not putting weight you need to eat MORE. Yeah I've been through the same situation you think you are eating but you really aren't. Or you tell yourself my metabolism is to fast, I couldn't put on weight if I tried. Well guess what either you eat enough to put on weight or you don't.

Eat Like A Horse!

Sure supplementation is going to be much easier around workouts and at times in the day when you may not have a whole lot of time to eat a solid meal. It's not going to replace "solid" food though!

3. On the other end of the spectrum it amazes me how when people are looking for fat loss they aren't willing to change their eating habits. I give them a couple habit changes that I like to consider simple such as increasing water intake and eating every 2-3 hours. They come back two days later and admit they haven't done either. I know change may be hard but what you've been doing for the past 10 years hasn't worked what makes you think it's going to start working for the next 10 years?

4. Having a day every week or week and half where I cook all my food was the best thing I've started doing. It allows you to first not waste a lot of time cooking during the week but also helps you make good food choices throughout the week. Leftovers taste better anyway.

5. The more I read and learn the more I feel I haven't touched the surface on training. I also look back to a year ago and think if I've learned this much in a year I can't wait for the next couple years.

6. I think people get fat loss and weight loss mixed up or they don't know the difference. Fat loss is just that a decrease in fat mass. Weight loss on the other hand is fat loss that could be accommodated with muscle loss.

Muscle mass is very metabolically active which in the end means you are going to burn off many more calories throughout a day with more muscle mass then with less. Plain and simple. This is why resistance training is very important to long term fat loss. On the other end slow steady cardio can actually end up burning up that muscle mass that is so metabolically active. Guess what that means. You are going to be burn off less calories throughout the day. Think about that the next time you say "resistance training isn't for me" or the next time you hop on that treadmill for a 30 minute run.

Weight Loss or Fat Loss?