What do you eat?

RhondaOnAJourney

Okay, I posted a while back, asking about Shakeology. I wanted to know if people had had success with ChaLean Extreme WITHOUT doing Shakeolgy, and I heard from lots of people who had been successful.

I'm almost finished with the first two phases (Burn and Push), and I've upped my weights during Push and feel like I'm really pushing myself. However, I've hardly lost any inches I have one more week of Push then I move on to phase three, and I'm disappointed with my results

Can someone who did CLX who DIDN'T use Shakeology but had (or is having) success please please please email me and tell me how you ate effectively? When I bought the DVDs from Amazon, they were used, so they didn't come with the bands or the meal guide...nothing. So I don't have the book that supposedly came with the dvds, and maybe that book tells you how to eat...

I need guidance. I don't want to quit, but it's disheartening to almost be finished with the second phase and barely have lost any inches or pounds

I am not looking for Beachbody coaches to convince me to use Shakeology--that is only one meal of the day. I need guidance on how to structure my meals throughout the day because apparently I am doing something really wrong.

Alioops831

I didn't do Shakeology. I didn't do anything special, really. I just stayed under my calorie total for the day. I started losing before I restarted CLX. I lost about 12 lbs doing the program, but I gained lots of muscle too.

twinmomtwice4

I just messaged you back but the Lean phase is where I saw the major difference...that's the last phase, where everything you've learned seems to be tied together and the focus is more upper body and core. That is where I really leaned out and began to lose inches.

You also have to make sure you're eating enough to fuel your body. If you're seriously under-eating while doing this program, your body will just hang on to everything in an attempt to have enough energy. Really focus on protein and carbs on your lifting days....on your non-lifting days, focus on protein and healthy fats. Drink plenty of water too!!!

Oh and ETA that I didn't do Shakeology! I did drink a protein shake every day immediately after my workouts but it was just your average basic protein shake, nothing special.

LisaGirlfriend

As said above, you need to make sure you're eating enough. You don't have your diary open so I can't see. You need to figure out your daily calorie expenditure (TDEE) and then eat 15-20% below that. For me, my average daily TDEE is between 2000-2100 a day, so I eat about 17% below that (gross calories) and I don't eat exercise calories as that's already factored in. I've had success doing this and I am 1/2 way through Push and seeing results. I'm excited to get through the program. I don't use the food guide that came with CLX. I typically eat protein at breakfast (omelette with veg and protein), I eat every 2-3 hours (shake in the moring, or fruit). For lunch I have salad with protein, then I eat again mid afternoon (usually a protein bar and fruit), for dinner I have healthy carbs with protein... Protein, Protein, Protein!! They say to eat a gram of protein per your lean body mass weight. For me that's around 100g of protein a day. I eat what I want but count everything and try to stay within my calorie goal and macros each day.

Here's a couple of good online calculators to figure out your BMR and TDEE (note that they are guesses. if you want an accurate TDEE you should buy a Fitbit - best thing I ever bought)!:

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

PM me if you have questions. I don't do Shakeology but I've heard a lot of good things about it and I have a great BeachBody Coach if you want her name.

Lisa

RhondaOnAJourney

As said above, you need to make sure you're eating enough. You don't have your diary open so I can't see. You need to figure out your daily calorie expenditure (TDEE) and then eat 15-20% below that. For me, my average daily TDEE is between 2000-2100 a day, so I eat about 17% below that (gross calories) and I don't eat exercise calories as that's already factored in. I've had success doing this and I am 1/2 way through Push and seeing results. I'm excited to get through the program. I don't use the food guide that came with CLX. I typically eat protein at breakfast (omelette with veg and protein), I eat every 2-3 hours (shake in the moring, or fruit). For lunch I have salad with protein, then I eat again mid afternoon (usually a protein bar and fruit), for dinner I have healthy carbs with protein... Protein, Protein, Protein!! They say to eat a gram of protein per your lean body mass weight. For me that's around 100g of protein a day. I eat what I want but count everything and try to stay within my calorie goal and macros each day.

Here's a couple of good online calculators to figure out your BMR and TDEE (note that they are guesses. if you want an accurate TDEE you should buy a Fitbit - best thing I ever bought)!:

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

PM me if you have questions. I don't do Shakeology but I've heard a lot of good things about it and I have a great BeachBody Coach if you want her name.

Lisa

I closed my diary because I had some people being a little too critical. I will indulge in a sweet treat...I allow for it in my calories. 90-95% of my eating is healthful choices. I do not believe in deprivation.

I have my MFP calories set at 1880 a day. My macros are 30 (fat)/30 (carbs)/40 (protein).

Here is a typical day for me:
I drink 8-16 ounces of cold water as soon as I wake up.

Breakfast (I have this almost every day): Smoothie (1/2 cup of frozen strawberries, 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries, 1/4 cup of frozen blackberries, one-third of a frozen banana....to that I add 3/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 6 oz container of nonfat plain Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed, teaspoon of cinnamon, and a cup of fresh kale). I have this 5 or 6 days a week for breakfast. It's 355 calories and altogether has about 27 grams of protein.

That's at around 6:45 - 7:00 a.m.
At 10:00 a.m., I have a protein snack...sometimes it's an ounce of 2% fat Kraft block cheddar cheese...sometimes it's turkey spinach meatballs I make from scratch...sometimes it's a Light Babybel cheese.

I eat lunch around 12:30...this varies, but it's always something pretty healthful...like today I had a Joseph's brand pita pocket (small) that has flax and protein added in, with low-sodium turkey lunch meat, a teaspoon of Bolthouse farms salsa yogurt dressing (15 calories), and lettuce and onion. No cheese (which kills me because a sandwich NEEDS cheese...lol. I had 8 Lay's potato chips. I also had a Skinny Cow candy bar (110 cals). I do splurge on little treats when the mood strikes me, but I don't go over my calories for the day.

I drink 40 ounces of fresh brewed green tea from 7 a.m up to lunch (finish the rest at lunch). I never drink soda or fruity beverages or sports drinks.

Afternoon snack is usually around 3 to 3:30...this varies, too. Today it is a Gala apple with the PB2 & yogurt dip I make (nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt, PB2, touch of honey, dash of cinnamon). Somedays, like yesterday, it was organic blue corn tortilla chips and hummus. Somedays it's turkey spinach meatballs. And so on. Something with a lot of protein if I can help it.

Somedays I will go to Starbucks after school and get a tall skinny ice chai....but again, I don't go over in calories hardly ever on any given day.

Dinner is usually around 7 or 8. I try to eat light but a lot of times, I have a LOT of calories and protein left because I teach school and it is HARD to eat during the day. Those times I listed above are pretty set...the 10 snack is between two classes-I'm scarfing down my protein snack while the kids are entering the room. Lunch is at 12:30. Other than that, it's difficult to eat a lot...so when I leave school around 4 or 5, I have to get home and try to find energy to work out...it's hard to consume a lot of food right before I am going to work out. But then I'm left with a lot of calories at night. So sometimes, I'll eat 6 or 7 ounces of chicken breast just to take up some of the calories I have left and to get in more protein.

I drink water and 100% cranberry juice (not the cocktail, but real organic 100% juice) at night. I almost always get in at least 10-11 glasses of water/green tea every day.

I just don't know how to eat I guess. I don't know how to fit it all in in a day. I really thought I'd see better results by now. But maybe the Lean phase will be where it happens...?

eileenmetz

msscout. i agree that its not good to totally deprive yourself of something you enjoy. i was an awful greasy eater (burgers and fries, pizza and so on) before i started my journey a little over a month ago. Ill still allow myself to have something mildly greasy once a week because if i dont, ill binge. ill have a turkey burger or a slice of pizza one day for lunch. I did notice once i started eating super clean its not as enjoyable ha! but i also crave chocolate now and i never enjoyed chocolate before. go figure!

LisaGirlfriend

your food sounds great and all that protein is fabulous! Do you know what your daily TDEE (burn) is? 1880 may be a little too high (not much though) depending on what you typically burn in a day. Sounds like you definitely know how to eat to me, and all that water is great. You made me hungry reading your food intake. I have heard that LEAN is where the magic happens.

ebowen79

I didn't want to start a new thread on eating but I need some support/advice...

I am in Week 2 of Burn Phase and am really struggling to eat enough! A little background...I am 5'11 and weigh in at 154 (at the moment). I am not looking to drop more than another 10 pounds but I really want get tone and tighter.

I have set my calories to 1400 at 40-30-30 but cannot seem to reach that and then when I exercise, it makes it more difficult. In addition to Chalean Extreme, I do ballroom dancing for 40 minutes, 3 times a week and walk at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. I try to stick with the recipes in the guide book, but I don't care for a lot of them. Also, on average, I am consuming very little added sugars. Should I introduce some Whey Protein? Am I worrying too much about it?

erindh87

I'm three weeks through the Burn phase now, and I also haven't seen my weight or inches drop where I measured. I do know that I'm making progress with strength though. I started out with 5-12 lb weights, and I'm now up to 8-20 lbs weights. I've also noticed that my body looks different in odd places where I didn't originally measure...like my knees, armpits, and feet. Just keep with it! Like the others have said, I've heard that the Lean phase is where the most progress is made.

Another thing to do would be start measuring your bodyfat %. It'll be a different way to tell if you're losing fat.

erindh87

I didn't want to start a new thread on eating but I need some support/advice...

I am in Week 2 of Burn Phase and am really struggling to eat enough! A little background...I am 5'11 and weigh in at 154 (at the moment). I am not looking to drop more than another 10 pounds but I really want get tone and tighter.

I have set my calories to 1400 at 40-30-30 but cannot seem to reach that and then when I exercise, it makes it more difficult. In addition to Chalean Extreme, I do ballroom dancing for 40 minutes, 3 times a week and walk at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. I try to stick with the recipes in the guide book, but I don't care for a lot of them. Also, on average, I am consuming very little added sugars. Should I introduce some Whey Protein? Am I worrying too much about it?

1400 calories seems really low for you considering your height and activitiy. Have you calculated your TDEE? http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ If you are eating too much of a deficit, you'll hurt your progress. For reference, I'm 5'6" 160 lbs, and I work out 5-6 times a week. My calories are set at 1850.

If you're struggling to get to 1400 calories, an easy way to add both calories and protein is nuts and seeds. My current favorites are pumpkin seeds (190 cals for 1/3 cup with shells) and flavored almonds. I drink protein shakes after my Chalean workouts, but they aren't necessary if you're getting enough protein elsewhere. I just like the taste of the shakes and use them to satisfy my evening sweets cravings. My shake concoctions add up to ~250 calories, so it's an easy way to help reach my target. I also love eating scrambled eggs with salsa as a snack (150 cals with 12 g of protein).

I don't like the recipe book, so I just browse the internet for healthy, tasty recipes. Skinnytaste.com and Ayearofslowcooking.com are my go-to favorites.

Edit: Spelling is hard.

LisaGirlfriend

I agree about your calories being too low. I would up them for sure to build muscle and see change. You can always eat high protein foods like raw almonds, peanut butter with an apple, protein smoothies (delicious), greek yogurt, eggs, etc. to get in the calories. Eat every 2-3 hours for a week whether you're hungry or not. Then you're body will start signalling you to eat because it will be revving better. Set a timer if you have to. Drink tons of water too and EAT. ;-)

belle7xo

Hi ladies, jumping in for a second here. All of you who have your tdees and calories figured out, do you just set your MFP calories to that number and then aim for zero every day? So in other words are you eating back your exercise calories, is your tdee your net cals on mfp? Hope that makes sense

For example I ate 1900 calories today, but my mfp net was 1500ish

ebowen79

Thanks Ladies!

I went to the suggested site and I am operating at 400+ lower than what I should be, YIKES. I too feel like I need a little something after the workouts so maybe I will look into the Whey. It certainly won't hurt me at this point! Everything else that was mentioned, eggs, greek yogurt, peanut/almond butter, I am consuming daily, but not enough I guess.

I will start forcing myself to eat every couple of hours...I have to! It has always been a bad habit of mine to leave 5-6 hours between eating just because of being busy or not hungry. I know this change has to be made along with all of the others I have already made!

I have definitely upped the water intake and am drinking raw juice at least once a day most days, but try to be careful about the sugar.

Okay, going to adjust my numbers and check out some new recipes!

LisaGirlfriend

Hi ladies, jumping in for a second here. All of you who have your tdees and calories figured out, do you just set your MFP calories to that number and then aim for zero every day? So in other words are you eating back your exercise calories, is your tdee your net cals on mfp? Hope that makes sense

For example I ate 1900 calories today, but my mfp net was 1500ish

Belle, I don't eat my exercise calories back. I have my MFP goal set for 1700 cals a day and I eat up to that point. If I work out that day, I do log it but I ignore the net. Some people log their exercise as 1 calorie so it doesn't touch their net. I just ignore it. Your TDEE calculation should factor in the exercise you do already. I aim to eat 17% below TDEE (2050) on average per week. Hope this helps.

belle7xo

Lisa, thanks! That totally helps. Have you been losing inches or pounds consistently this way? That would make things so much easier for me. The calorie thing is always such a headache for me

sum1serin

I work at a call center and would love to try and incorporate more small healthy snacks that don't require a fridges or heating up....are nuts and seeds still the best suggestion or any other ideas?

LisaGirlfriend

Lisa, thanks! That totally helps. Have you been losing inches or pounds consistently this way? That would make things so much easier for me. The calorie thing is always such a headache for me

I started eating TDEE minus 17% at the beginning of January. I've lost 8-9 1bs and 8-9 inches since then. I stall out for a week or two, then drop again. Usually little drops. With the PUSH month I've lost nothing, but I haven't gained either... so that's good. I'm expecting good things with LEAN. I figure if I'm averaging 1/2 a pound a week and the inches are coming off, it's ALL good!! Plus I get to eat lots and not be hungry all the time. ;-)

LisaGirlfriend

I work at a call center and would love to try and incorporate more small healthy snacks that don't require a fridges or heating up....are nuts and seeds still the best suggestion or any other ideas?

I always have almonds in a bag in my purse. I also carry a protein bar, usually an apple, I always have greek yogurt in my cooler pack, sometimes I pack all natural peanut butter for my apple (yum)! I have lots of go-to snacks to keep me going. Plus a ton of water all day long.