Nutrition + muscle gain + weight loss: what type of professional to see

jmorgannz
jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
edited November 24 in Food and Nutrition
Hi all!

New to My Fitness Pal, 8 days into my first streak!
Also 10 weeks into a workout plan (after not exercising for 8 years O.O)
Burning ~300 kcal pre-weight cardio, 60 minutes weights, ~300 kcal post-weights cardio
Although i'm going to drop the pre-weight down so it doesn't sap my energy for weighs.

I've been trying to get more control over my eating to get better nutrition & support muscle gain and weight loss.

I've never really managed my food before, just ate whatever, whenever. Having trouble on lower calories - get brain fog - my thinking is I need to move to slower carbs on a lower carb diet.

I've been trying different foods to try and help balance my macros out; but honestly it's getting exhausting - the constant research on which foods I can use to supplement in the right direction, in combination with brain fog / feeling yuck.

Also worrying that my calorie / carb reduction, whilst helping weight loss, might be retarding my muscle gains.

Being I've never really cared too much about what I ate, and never learned to cook, it's quite a learning curve.
High GI, Low GI, fast carbs, slow carbs, etc etc.

I want to see a professional to help with this - but not sure who to see. I can see a nutritionist; surely they will help with the 'good food' part; but not sure they will be that well versed in pre/post workout plans etc

People I can think of is Nutritionist, Dietician, some kind of sports coach.
Who would be best?
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Any help much welcomed!

Thanks,
Jesse

Replies

  • Katiebear_81
    Katiebear_81 Posts: 719 Member
    I use remote nutrition coaching through Black Iron Nutrition. There's no "magic" involved, just good old calorie and macro counting... but it's worth the cost to me to pay someone to help me navigate my weight loss. I'm losing weight while still increasing (slowly) my strength, so I would say that it's working for me. :)
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
    edited February 2018
    You are burning 600 calories plus calories during lifting...and you are having brain fog.

    Are you using the tools in mfp to determine how many calories you should be eating? Have you set the weight loss option in mfp? Are you being more aggressive with your weight loss than mfp recommends? Are you weighing your food to accurately determine your caloric intake?
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    edited February 2018
    Hi thanks for the info Katiebear. I'm in New Zealand; I'm guessing that's a US company?

    Deputy_randolf, yeah having brain fog.
    I'm 35, 179cm (5' 10"), and 83kg (183lb), and mfp set me at 1750 cals on a rest day.

    Yep I'm being super accurate with my caloric intake. Been weighing all sorts of things. I even weighed a pickle!
    And yep am following mfp's kcal directions

    Anyway - one of the things I did last Friday was brought a bunch of pumpkin seeds, as apparently they are a super food in terms of good fats and some protein.

    I'm wondering if maybe my brain fog is a reaction to eating those.
    I've not had any today; see how I go.

    I was recording my cals prior to using mfp or dieting, just to see what I was eating, and was ranging from 2350 - 2590 cals a day.

    I never really gained weight at a huge rate on that intake. I'd say over 8 years I probably put on 10kg.

    I used to not eat from about 1am at night to 3pm the next day, except for 2 coffee's with sugar in the morning.
    I figured the first thing to cut was refined sugar, so have cut that in all but 1 or 2 coffee's a day.

    Since I started changing my diet I am trying to eat some good carbs in the morning (rolled oats), but honestly I felt quite happy not eating till 3pm. I guess the sugar in the coffee plus a bit of milk kept me going.

    I don't get this 'fog' while working out.
    It usually comes on later in the day, and gets worse as the evening goes on.

    I got fed up with it the other night at about 11pm and gave in and ate an apple and had a coffee with sugar.
    I certainly felt that sugar rush almost immediately, which I would never normally notice. Felt high for a second, then started to sweat and feel weird.
    Seems to me maybe being on lower sugar then slamming a bunch of it triggered an insulin spike so my blood sugar went up, then crashed even worse.

    After that I bumped my cals manually in mfp from 1750 to 1900
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    Also, in mfp my goal is to drop 0.5kg / week, going from 83kg to 80kg
    If I re-enter my goals into mfp so it recalculates my daily kcals, it tells me 1670 now. That seems low.

    The main reason I want to gain muscle is to aid in ongoing fat burn.
    Having a more muscular body is a nice side effect!

    I'm not terribly overweight; but I'd love to lose the spare tyre :)
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Are you hitting your fat macros? Fat is digested the slowest and also prevents the insulin dip/spike. The next time you feel that fog coming on, eat a walnut. See if it takes the fog away.

    For diet advice, try a dietitian.

    For a progressive lifting routine, see a fitness instructor.

    Don’t mix up the two. Different disciplines, different strengths.
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    edited February 2018
    Macros: Yeah I am trying to go 40/30/30
    As I mentioned, yep I was specifically trying to do that with fat.

    That's why I got the pumpkin seeds to snack on - a 15g serving has 1g carbs, 6.5g fat, 4g protein, and minimal sodium
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,464 Member
    edited February 2018
    If about 2350 was your TDEE before mfp and new exercise routine, and you want to lose about 1 pound a week, if you kept your exercise the same, you would start with 1850 calories a day. Since you've bumped up your exercise a lot, you will need to bump up your calories, too.
    Brain fog might be hunger (not appetite) or dehydration?
    Just thinking out loud.
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    Yeah on exercise days i'm logging my cals burned so that mfp ups my daily cal intake.

    Thanks for all the input everyone, by the way.
  • PowerliftingMom
    PowerliftingMom Posts: 430 Member
    I'm a competitive powerlifter and my coach also helps me with my diet. He's done an amazing job! I'm the strongest I've ever been. I went through 6 other personal trainers and got so much crappy nutrition info before hiring my current coach. It got so overwhelming because there is so much conflicting info out there
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    edited February 2018
    Hi PowerliftingMom

    Yeah that's basically where I am.
    I paid for a trainer to make me a workout plan - but that didn't cover anything about nutrition.
    Trying to find info online is a minefield - makes the whole experience more stressful and time consuming.

    I wonder where I can find a trainer like yours.
    I was even wondering if there was someone who does a service over Skype or some other online app.
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    No pumpkin seeds today and so far so good, feeling good - other than the effects of a good workout.

    I've already maxxed out my carbs and protein for the day and behind on fat, so I had 3 crackers with a load of oliviani butter on them for fat D:

    Obviously something with some other nutrition in it would be good - but its what I have right now and I'm going shopping tomorow!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    jmorgannz wrote: »
    No pumpkin seeds today and so far so good, feeling good - other than the effects of a good workout.

    I've already maxxed out my carbs and protein for the day and behind on fat, so I had 3 crackers with a load of oliviani butter on them for fat D:

    Obviously something with some other nutrition in it would be good - but its what I have right now and I'm going shopping tomorow!

    pre logging your food might help...
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    edited February 2018
    Yeah I do but I made a mistake at lunch!

    Still feeling good. I reckon it was the pumpkin seeds making me feel bad.

    I often have issues with types of nut. Peanuts give me issues too
  • jmorgannz
    jmorgannz Posts: 15 Member
    Well I'm on day 2 pretty much the same plan I was on when I posted the above, and feeling great.
    It's midnight and I'm only on 1700 cals and not feeling any fog or hungry really. I had my limit set to 1900 cals, but since mfp had suggested 1700 and I wasn't really feeling the need to eat more for dinner, I didn't! :)

    The only thing I have changed is not eating the pumpkin seeds.
    Guess I have a bad reaction to one of the fatty acids in them.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    ....and seed/nut allergies are pretty common. If I were you I’d stay away from peanuts and pumpkin seeds.
This discussion has been closed.

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