Posts by nikebowler

Original Post by misskady:

Thank you for your input. My daughter has read your posts and now realizes that she does need a more balanced diet and it isn't just her mother nagging her.  She has decided to drink a protein shake daily, add fruit and eggs and oatmeal to her diet. She is willing to eat more calories from healthy foods.  Thank you for your input.

Great!!! Make sure she doesn't let her calorie deficit go lower than 500 under her maintenance level. And let her know it will probably take 1-2 months for her metabolism to speed up again. But it will let her burn more calories for the rest of her life!

Original Post by misskady:

To clear up a few things..

My concern is not her weightloss as it may have sounded. My concern is her health and trying to get her to understand that she needs to broaden her food selections. She doesn't want to hear it from me. I've been telling her that she needs more protein, but when I suggest a food, she won't eat it.  After I asked the question in this forum, she ate an egg and half a grapefruit, first time in years.  That's a beginning.

Your main concern should be upping her calories to at least somewhat of a healthy level. Teens ESPECIALLY need more calories because their bodies are still growing and changing!

Well first off, what is her maintenance calorie level? Use this:

http://www.nriol.net/calorie-calculator

And if she eats that few of calories every day, the math says she should lose weight. But obviously her metabolism is suffering. She needs to up her caloric intake to get her body going again!

Some healthy foods with higher caloric levels that shouldn't make her feel gross are things like peanut butter, almonds, olive oil, etc.

Also, if she doesn't like vegetables make sure she eats plenty of fruit! Bananas, apples, blueberries, strawberries, and things like that.

She is not getting any "real" or "natural" foods. It seems like all pre-packaged stuff with not much nutritional value. It is better to eat MORE healthy food than LESS food that doesn't have many benefits.

Make sure to keep her eating more healthy stuff! The less packaging the better! Oatmeal, chicken breasts, eggs, nuts, yogurt, etc.

And a really good snack that she can feel good about is a protein shake with two scoops of whey protein, her favorite fruits, some skim milk, and a few ice cubes. A healthy and filling snack !

If she has been eating this way for 6 months, her metabolism must have greatly slowed down. This is why she's not losing weight any more. She needs to know that not eating enough for that long of a time will let her body get USED to that amount of calories and her metabolism will adjust (slow down!) thusly.

Use this site's burn meter to determine her maintenance calorie level and subtract 500 calories from that to determine how many calories she should be eating. This way she will lose 1 lb. per week once her metabolism gets going again and she wont be starving herself.

If she wont up her daily calories to the needed level, she should at least allow herself 1-2 days a week where she gives herself a cheat meal or two (and at least one day a week she should go over her maintenance calorie level). This will surprise her metabolism and actually allow it to speed back up somewhat. She might gain a pound or two at first, but her body will adjust and it will come off quickly.

And make sure she eats breakfast so her metabolism gets going first thing in the morning. Good luck!

Original Post by warriormorals:

I weigh in naked, right after waking up and performing bodily functions, only once a week (Sat. morning). It seems to me that anybody wearing clothes or weighing in more than once a week is introducing unnecessary variability and, for the obsessive, unnecessary headaches.

Me too! Exactly!

It sounds like you want some of the Blizzard too. Go get it, eat only half, and enjoy yourself !

Just incase you were wondering, losing 2% body fat for you would only be a loss of 3.16 lbs. of fat :). Good luck!

Original Post by samantha81:

Whey protein shake...?

Bingo! The great thing about whey protein powders is that over 80% of the calories come from protein (when mixed with water of course). The kind I use has 24 grams of protein and 120 calories per scoop! Can't beat that protein to calorie ratio!

And omelets made of eggs plus added egg whites is great too... as is Greek Yogurt!

Original Post by hollywoodhunny91:

You are eating over on protein, but your grain is good. According to the food pyramid you are eating just the right servings of grain:6. But you are having 5 servings of protein. You only need two. I don't know if that is necessarily bad for you though. If the calories are good, I don't think that's exactly harmful. How are those Boca burgers, by the way? I bought some, but I haven't tried them yet. I also bought some nature's promise soy burgers and Jennie O Turkey Burgers. The turkey burgers were delicious! :)

But if he's in the gym lifting and trying to gain muscle mass, that extra protein is essential to him. The standard "2 servings" (or 50 grams) of protein is not nearly enough for anyone who is in the gym and trying to gain muscle mass.

If you're trying to gain/bulk, don't stress all too much about ratios. Just make sure to keep your protein high (150+ grams per day as you are currently in-taking) and your complex carbs high as well.

In order to make maximum gains at the gym, you might want to add one scoop of whey protein (20-25 grams) as well as about 20-40 grams of a complex carb (wheat bread, fruit with a low glycemic index, etc.). Post workout you might want to add about 40 grams of a fast acting carb (like Gatorade or a similar sports drink) along with your protein in order to refuel and replenish your body.

When trying to gain mass, as long as you get enough protein don't worry so much about your fat/carb levels (just try and make sure that they are mostly healthy fats and complex carbs). Just try and aim for at LEAST 2500-3000 calories and the macronutrients will balance themselves out :)!

Original Post by soupcanx:

It's been a week, what's the progress so far?

I was out of town for the weekend, so I did the best that I could. The two week mark will be on the 6th, so I'll weigh again then :).

I've tried several, but my favorite by far is Optimum Nutrition's Gold Standard 100% Whey. It's got 24 grams of protein per 110-130 calories (depending on the flavor). Double Rich Chocolate is my favorite out of all the flavors I've tried with Vanilla Ice Cream coming in second (both have 120 calories per scoop).

I get mine from bodybuilding.com because it's the cheapest and most reliable site I've found, but you can also get it from other sites or stores like GNC (although it'll probably be a little more expensive) :).

Original Post by soupcanx:

You plan to do more of what? More muscles? You already look buffer than a UFC fighter :P

If I could drop maybe 15 lbs. of fat and pick up 5 more lbs. of muscle I'd be very happy!

6 days in and I've lost 4.5 lbs! I wasn't gonna be able to weigh tomorrow so I figured I'd post my results today :).

Original Post by re_newed:

Today so far, I have used up all my carb, protein and fat grams but I'm about 300 calories short of my minimum.  Is it okay since to eat 300 more calories, even though I will most likely go over my grams of carbs, protein and fat?

This doesn't make sense to me. Calories themselves come from your macronutrients (4 cals per gram of protein/carb and 9 cals per gram of fat). Unless you've consumed a lot of alcohol (7 cals per gram), this doesn't add up.