Weight loss and fitness/muscle gain question

KatKat1209

Hi all,
I want to loose weight. What a surprise.. So between finding a healthy diet routine that works for me and upping my activity a lot in the past few weeks I'm now at loss for ideas or better solutions.
Since I want to loose weight I eat at a calorie deficit. I set my net goal for the day at 1300Cal. I'm 1,57m and weight around 73-74kg (5feet 1-2inch and ~162lbs). So far so good.
So now I started Kickboxing Fitness a few months ago which I do twice a week and a bit later I added Circle Training once a week (mostly weight lifting machines - after the Kickboxing Fitness). Last week I also started with a C210K program - so this is 3x a week jogging/walking. Makes 5x active a week in good weeks. Oh and on Saturday I usually walk doggies from a dog shelter for 2-3h - so this is also a bit of exercise I guess. Aside from that - I have an office job and sit all day.

So now my question - how do I sufficiently fuel my body so that I might gain some muscles/strength to improve on those activities and loose weight at the same time? I would like to loose around 0,5kg/1lbs per week if that's possible - though I know this will not be a constant loss per week - but still would like to have it as a goal.
Especially after the Kickboxing/Circle Training workout it's hard to eat a lot more because I go there more or less right after work and only come back at around 9.30pm/10.30pm - eating right that late just before bed is hard to manage and before workout I can't manage time wise.

Eating more for lunch to get more calories is not an easy task either- there are only a few small food courts around here and the food is not so good and eating outside at hawkers means guessing portion size and calories which bugs me a lot in my mind ... I mean I do eat out often for lunch - but it's always with an uneasy feeling of not being sure what and how much I really eat.
I often bring my lunch - but that's ready made soup from a local brand I trust so calories are not that high either but is really filling.

So opinions/ tips please what can I change? or what should I change? Is there anything that I could add to my diet without adding to much on the calorie side?

(Btw - I live in Singapore so food choices are vast but different from western countries)

(And before you think how I gained weight when I can't or better don't want to eat so much - well I mostly ate evenings, fast food or high calorie and was a lot less active - and that's what I want to change and did change the past weeks...)

Thanks,
Kat

KatKat1209

Add: stumbled over Quest Bars in one of the nutrition threads.. would that be an appropriate option to get easy to grab calories and protein?

Cahgetsfit

can you cook batches of food in advance for lunches? I try to have stuff that lasts 2-3 days to carry to work.

As for gaining muscle - you're gonna need to reduce a bit of the cardio and do some lifting of some kind that's how you build the muscle in order to burn the fat too

fruit are good calories to "grab". protein shakes... personally I don't like Quest Bars and prefer to make my own protein bars in general because less added crap.

Good luck!

Enjcg5

My new favorite thing is cooking bone-in chicken breast and thighs in the oven then removing the skin, shredding it, weighing out 4oz and putting it in snack size ziplock bags then a big freezer bag and freezing. Bring them out to use as needed!

capaul42

I love shredded chicken as a snack. I slow cook a package of thighs every week for this. I also throw it in my eggs some mornings, use them for wraps and grilled sandwiches and sometimes throw it in with my pasta or rice.

The container is usually gone by the time I go to slow cook the next batch.

RoxieDawn

"So now my question - how do I sufficiently fuel my body so that I might gain some muscles/strength to improve on those activities and loose weight at the same time? I would like to loose around 0,5kg/1lbs per week if that's possible - though I know this will not be a constant loss per week - but still would like to have it as a goal."

For starters when loosing weight while eating a calorie deficit, you are going to build very min muscle (what is called newbie gainz) and these taper off. You are gonna want to follow a regular strength training program, eat ample protein and not go too aggressive with your calorie deficit. When you have reached your weight goal or amount of leanness you want to be at, you will want to recomp which is build muscle and loose fat, assuming that you are still needing to loose some additional fat but concentrate on body composition. This is eating at maint calories with or without a very small deficit. Usually a person just moves straight to main and does this for a while (it is not a fast process to say the least).

edited to add: I do not like quest at all. I think your best bet is try several ones. I do Fit Crunch bars or Combat bars, I also supplement with protein powder on days I am not reaching protein through food alone.

tillerstouch

RoxieDawn wrote: »

"So now my question - how do I sufficiently fuel my body so that I might gain some muscles/strength to improve on those activities and loose weight at the same time? I would like to loose around 0,5kg/1lbs per week if that's possible - though I know this will not be a constant loss per week - but still would like to have it as a goal."

For starters when loosing weight while eating a calorie deficit, you are going to build very min muscle (what is called newbie gainz) and these taper off. You are gonna want to follow a regular strength training program, eat ample protein and not go too aggressive with your calorie deficit. When you have reached your weight goal or amount of leanness you want to be at, you will want to recomp which is build muscle and loose fat, assuming that you are still needing to loose some additional fat but concentrate on body composition. This is eating at maint calories with or without a very small deficit. Usually a person just moves straight to main and does this for a while (it is not a fast process to say the least).

edited to add: I do not like quest at all. I think your best bet is try several ones. I do Fit Crunch bars or Combat bars, I also supplement with protein powder on days I am not reaching protein through food alone.

I was going to say this as well. ^ muscle gain during a deficit will be very limited. Do strength training to retain muscle mass as you lose. After youre at your desired weight you can either do a recomp or bulk/cut cycle.

Make sure youre getting adequate protien, personally i prescribe to 1 gram of protein per pound of LEAN body weight.

Personally i love quest bars but there is nothing magical about them. I just think they are the best tasting bars. I did recently switch to a kirkland brand (costco) that is very similair to quest.

SueInAz

As others have said you can't really gain muscle while eating at a caloric deficit. You can minimize the loss of your current muscle mass by starting a progressive lifting program that has you lifting weights that get progressively heavier as your strength increases. I'd suggest either replacing some of your cardio workouts with that or adding the strength training 2 or 3 days per week, every other day.

I'll echo making some meals in advance that you can take for your lunches. Home made is cheaper and usually more nutritious than the fast foods you have access to around your workplace. I don't usually do shredded chicken but I will buy or cook a whole chicken and cut it up. I'll then portion out 4 ounce servings to grab for lunch or a snack. I always make extra portions at dinner to use as lunches the next day (or days), too. You might even hit the local markets on a shopping trip specifically to take a good look at the options you have available to you for packed lunches. Things like individually wrapped cheeses, whole fruit, crackers or bread, protein bars, raw vegetables, tinned fish or chicken, etc. are easy and nutritious.

I'm a big fan of protein bars for a quick meal when I'm on the go. If you have them available to you look for brands that are low in carbs and sugar. Or as one person mentioned look for recipes to make your own so you can control what's in them.