Advice? (Calorie Cycling + Workouts)

JenniCH

So I've been at the dreaded plateau for awhile... decided I needed to obviously mix things up (exercise wise & nutrition wise)... here's some info & what I plan to do... thoughts? I'm not necessarily looking for personal opinions but rather some facts that can be somewhat backed up... so I guess I'm looking for feedback from people who are somewhat knowledgeable in this area.

I am 5'7" and weigh 165lbs... so not overweight but looking to shed the last 10-20lbs (not really a slave to the numbers just going to go by how I feel).
I have a desk job so I am primarily sitting 8 hours out of my day but I also get 7-8 hours of good sleep and am moderately active when I'm not at work. I exercise, I clean, running errands etc.

I was eating 1,200 cals for a long time... then I upped to 1,400 and didn't seen any real improvement - I was slacking in the exercise department but I have corrected that...

So here's my new plan (it involves Calorie Cycling or Zig-Zagging)

Mondays / Wednesdays / Fridays:
*Calories: 1410 (Low Days)
*Exercise: ChaLEAN Extreme + JM 30DS - LVL 3-

Tuesdays / Saturdays:
*Calories: 1810 (High Days)
*Exercise: ChaLEAN Extreme + Run (30-45 minutes)

Thursdays / Sundays:
*Calories: 1610 (Moderate days)
*Exercise: ChaLEAN Extreme + JM 30DS - LVL 3-

My goal is to do ChaLEAN Extreme (I'm actually on Day 21 of this program already) 6-7 days/week, Jillian Michaels 30DS 3-4 days/week and Run 3-4 days/week...

Some other info:

I am vegetarian, I eat clean... I try very hard to stay away from processed foods... my diet consists mainly of...

Greek yogurt
Eggs
CousCous
LOTS of Veggies (Broccoli, Carrots, etc.)
LOTS of fruits (Apples, strawberries, bananas etc.)
Almonds
Rice Cakes
Plain Oatmeal
Tilapia (some other fish)
Almond Milk
Kashi Go Lean (2 different kinds)


As well I work to keep my daily sodium intake under 1,800 mg daily and I drink anywhere from 40oz (on a bad day) to 80oz of water a day.

Sorry this is long - just wanting some good feedback telling me I'm either on the right track or telling me what I need to change (I'm open to positive criticism).

MarieNevada

you need to add some strenght training. find a good program such as The New Rules Of Lifting For Women and build some muscle. it'll increase your metabolism and you'll drop the weight. also try some different cardio. the body adapts very easily. if you've been running for a while, try some interval running. basically sprint for one minute, then jog easy for 2, cycle that for 15 minutes to start (after a 5 min warm up). it sounds like you're in an exercise rut and you need to shake your body up.

also, from the list,it looks like you might not be getting enough protein. MFP only sets it at 15% which is way too low. retool your diet so at least 30% of your calories are protein.

Egger29

You're doing double workouts 7 days a week. That's got Over-training written all over it.

What about rest and recovery to allow yourself to get stronger between workouts?

How do you replenish your energy stores and muscle glycogen when you're continually breaking it down every day?

How ‘extra’ training sabotages your success…
1.Your circulating hormone levels change as you exercise. Growth hormone is what you want when you are training because it promotes – you guessed it GROWTH! Cortisol is a stress hormone, which has its place – and that place is not with you in the gym. As your intense workout gets into the 45-60+ minute range the growth hormone will start to decrease and the cortisol will increase.

2.A good program has specific sets, repetitions and recovery intervals to stimulate specific adaptations – kind of like the way your doctor prescribes a specific dose of a medication. When your doctor prescribes a drug and it makes your stomach ache go away, you don’t figure ‘Gee the one pill made my stomach ache better, I think I will just take three more to make sure’. Same with your training – programs are designed for specific volumes – doing twice the work will not double your benefit.

3.Adding more than your prescribed volume of training will cause more of the micro trauma we discussed early plus it depletes your energy further, giving you fewer resources to rebuild and repair even more damage. Which will not only stunt your gains, but could even lead to injury.

I find that the vast majority of people on here follow the "more is better" mentality and then wonder why they plateau or fail to see results.

lauristewart

That looks so close to my current zig zag approach!! This is what I have been doing for 2 weeks:

Mon/Tues 1600
Wed 1900 cal
Thurs 1400
Fri 1450
Sat 1900 cal
Sun 1400

I work out 6 days a week.....I am about where I want to be.....your food looks great.....I think it should work! Good luck!

MarieNevada

You're doing double workouts 7 days a week. That's got Over-training written all over it.

What about rest and recovery to allow yourself to get stronger between workouts?

How do you replenish your energy stores and muscle glycogen when you're continually breaking it down every day?

and totally what he said. i didnt see you were working out 7 days a week

JenniCH

Hmmm I didn't notice that I was having myself doing double-workouts 7 days a week... suppose I should cut it down to 5-6/days a week... I think I just doubled because I'm so paranoid about the days where I'm eating 1,800 calories... I haven't consumed more than 1,800 calories in a day for over a year (when I used to be very overweight) - then again back then I know I was eating over 2,000 calories a day and not exercising at all...

As well - the ChaLEAN Extreme program is all about building muscle & weight lifting

Thanks for the replies!!

I do need to figure out how to get less carbs & more protein -- it's hard since I don't eat meat... any suggestions on good & easy sources of protein are welcome

Egger29

Check out the articles at www.precisionnutrition.com and www.johnberardi.com

Precision Nutrition is a top Performance Nutrition resource and Dr John Berardi is a consultant to about 20 National Sport Organizations and Professional teams.

My own coach who I'm training with pointed me there and I've been eating it up (pun intended)

JenniCH

Awesome! Thanks for the resources, checking them out now!