Exercise and calories

Lumoco

Hey just finished the book Im trying to setup a plan for the the exercises as I am finding that the book isnt the easiest to follow. I have recently seen Chris Powells workout DVD with people from the show in it, I a wondering if you could do this daily exercise instead of the ones from the book as the video looks like a better overall workout. Has anyone done these and what do you think.

Also what are you doing for shredders, its not possible to go outdoors everyday in the winter wet, cold, snow and ice, so what are you doing indoors daily.

Also I should be taking about 2000 calories a day to loose weight according to most sites on the internet including this (just short of 2500 calories would be normal intake), but from the book it doesnt tell you exatly, it say 2000 for high carb days and 1500 for low carb days. I am wondering that if I end up eating 1000 calories less than I am supposed too on my low carb days could this lead to health and weight loss problems?

babeinthemoon

First of all, Welcome to CTL!!! Some of us, me mostly, are really nutty around here. So, jump on in, the water is fine! :laugh:

I agree the book isn't the easiest to follow. It SERIOUSLY needs a good tech edit. Check out my blog for some helpful hints for getting started with CTL: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/babeinthemoon/view/so-you-want-to-start-choose-to-lose-441366.

A Chris Powel workout DVD? Cool! I don't have "live TV" as my kids call it, because we live in a house with metal siding, and I'm too cheap to pay for cable. So.... I don't find out about these things too fast. Yes, I can imagine that you can substitute any exercise you want for the ones in the book.

The premise behind the exercise in the book is that you increase your time weekly over the course of 90 days to build endurance. Then when you start a new 90 days you increase your intensity and start your time back over at the low end, to build up to a new level. If you are already exercising, I'd say do what is working for you! If not, take another read through chapter 12 and take notes to write out your own personal plan.

I live in the pacific northwest near sea level so I'm lucky that I only have to deal with "cold" and rain rather than snow and ice. Cold was in quotes, because I grew up in Wisconsin, and cold where I live is really quite temperate. I'm currently doing C25K which is outdoors 3x a week, and on nice days I go for an easy walk of 30-40 minutes, or go to Jazzercise class that is 60 min long. I usually forget to do my "shapers" in the morning, so I'm loving the weight & ab work we do at Jazzercise. I also have access to a community fitness center in my neighborhood, so I'm looking for a weight machine routine that would best suit my needs. My house is small, so I tend to not like to do DVDs at home if at all possible. Besides the kids can't stop laughing at mom yelling at my "instructor/drill sergeant/general boob" on the screen.


Okay, so the calories. On page 165 of the book, Chris has a sample Carb Cycle Week listed both for men and women. So, you would follow the "Men" cycle. Believe it or not, if you hit around the calories listed, you will average 1928 calories a day! This is really close to the 2000 number that you keep seeing on other websites.

Your body doesn't see the calories ingested on a midnight to midnight basis. So, what might look like being really low to us (1500) could actually be more like 1750 (ave of HC and LC day). Also, if you bring Sunday into the mix, then your weekly average is up around 1900 calories. For me personally, I started out following Chris's schedule for women. I did really well on this for the first 4+ months, but as I finally started increasing my exercise, I found that I was getting tired. I decided to change up my calories to compensate for my extra exercise. I'm calling it my November Experiment, and I am writing about it on my blog.

If you really would rather eat an average of 2000 calories instead of the 1928 daily average, I would do this:
Funday: 3050
LC days: 1600
HC days: 2050
Daily Average: 2000

Personally, if you are concerned, I'd check out the TDEE and calorie calculations with "In Place of a Roadmap 2.0": http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12. Or, this similar calculator: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm.

It was the second calculator that I used to confirm my estimates from IPoaR. I'm currently eating an average of 1800 cal. I have much more energy, and the nutrition is supporting my current fitness goals! If you get a number that is vastly different from the 2000 average and need help with estimating your high/low calorie counts, let me know! I'll do my best to help you out!


Calorie counts aside, make sure that you are following the eating plan for portion sizes. My first couple of weeks on the plan I didn't use any logging tools. Then, I decided to use a different website and was surprised that I was not hitting 1200 calories on most High Carb days. So, I decided to start logging my food intake using the guidelines in the book. Since Chris does not state actual macros to hit, I figured out my ballpark by trial and error. It took me a couple of weeks, but it worked.

Make sure that you get yourself a copy of the "Smart Foods Guide" that Chris has on his website. I posted a link to it here in the CTL discussion group. That guide is much more extensive than the list in the book, and I personally find it very valuable to help me figure out the foods that are not listed in either location.

Good Luck!! Make sure you ask any other questions you come up with! We are here to muddle through this with you! :flowerforyou:

Edited to correct spelling.

babeinthemoon

Oh, and I forgot to add one important thing regarding Macros. On pg 165, Chris has listed sample serving sizes of protein and carbs for men and women. This is important to look at. Also, on page 73 Chris mentions that "a protein powder with approximately 15-20g of protein per serving is best." Using the information on these two pages I would estimate that you would need between 150 - 200g of protein a day from all protein sources (2 servings x protein powder gs x 5 meals a day).

Carbs: From my general logging using the fist size method, I'd estimate that you would be under or around 150 g of carbs on a Low Carb day, and likely will be over 225-250g of carbs on a high carb day. Log for a week or two using the serving sizes in the book and you'll have a better idea as to how they'll play out on a daily basis.

So, for your macros I would try to hit those levels, or at least get close, and then the fat will fall right into place.
My Macro goals are currently as follows:
HC: 1800calories C/P/F 50/30/20 225g/135g/40g
LC: 1500calories C/P/F 30/35/35 113g/131g/58g
Funday: I try to follow the macros for a HC day, for my healthy choices, and then have fun with the rest of the calories depending on how my mood changes for the day.

Lumoco

Thanks for the quick and detailed response. Im gonna read your blog once I am finished typing this.

One of the problems I have with chris and the carb cycle diet is that everytime you see him is doing different exercises etc than the last time you saw him. I wish he would stick to the one tried and tested and explain it better.

I am doing the c10k at the moment, I just finished week 2 day 1 a few minutes ago. I only have 30 - 60 mins to spare so I need to make sure that I am using my time best to lose weight and get fit. I bought insanity and had a look at it but decided I was not fit enough to start it, so after I get the 10k under my belt i will be moving on to insanity. I can just throw in the dvd and get working I dont have to lose time going anywhere.

Calories are something that I am struggling with but I get what you mean by the average, as long as i am eating health and not overeating or loading on calories I will get there. Today is the first day in my life that I listed everything I ate. By doign this it helped me be good and not eat junk. Thanks for your offer to help, ill have a look at those calculators and see what they come up with. I am just someone that likes having a plan laid out and I will follow it. I never was a water person, give me lost of tea, but I have had today 2.5 ltrs and I think that i can manage this much each day without drowning

On recipies I need to go shopping and get the food in the house so I just have to make it. I have also been looking through the insanity book and they have alot of recipes that I can add to the ones in chris book to give a bit of variety as I can see myself getting board with chris' ones very quickly. The protein powder I got has protein:27g, carbs 63g, energy 374kcal so i think this will do as my 1 meal shake.

babeinthemoon

You are so welcome! I tend to be a talker, so feel free to tell me to shut up if you need to. LOL

Honestly I have not watched any of the programs. I've read his book, and looked at his websites. As far as exercise goes, I started with almost none. I just couldn't motivate myself to do it. It was enough to follow the plan, and eat right. After my first 90 days was when I actually started walking, and noticed that my speeds were increasing greatly. So, I started trying to run. It took me 5 weeks to build up to where I could run for the full 60 seconds of week 1 of C25K. Once I hit that milestone, there was no stopping me. I've completed every run/walk since then with very minimal walking during the runs. I'm thrilled. Considering in June I hated walking at a quick clip for more than 20 minutes, and now I can run for 20 minutes, I'll take the improvement.

Pick something and stick with it for a while. I believe that C25k or c210k both fit the bill for increasing intensity and length of time during your first 90 days. Add in the shredders at minimum (sit-ups, pushups & squats) 3x a week if you can. I'm still working on that part. From what I've heard Insanity will fit the bill to cover both cardio and strength training.

Water? Meh. I do really good drinking it (but never the gallon that Chris wants) during the summer. But now that it is fall/winter I've switched to crystal lite and tea. Love it! It is my goal to get at least 8 glasses in a day... but sometimes it's really hard.

Yes, I can see getting bored with the recipes in Chris's book... I used them more of a frame work for how to put together things ahead of time, or the types of quantities I could be eating at one meal. Now I pretty much do my own thing, however I find myself eating the same stuff over and over again. LOL. So maybe I'm okay with being "bored" with what I'm eating. The nice thing is that with switching between healthy carbs and healthy fats, I always feel like I'm eating something new, even though I had it 2 days ago. It's kinda a nice side effect.

Your protein powder looks really really good for macros!
Good Luck with your journey, no matter how you end up traveling!