Hi,
I am a bit concerned. I have been working with BI and they have been great, but I know I wont hear from my advisor until mon-tues so I wanted to get help/opionions from you all now. I am competing in 10 weeks- first figure- I have been on the fat loss diet for the past 2 weeks and am doing one more week as advised. Since starting this whole training process for about 6-7 weeks I have lost 9 pounds...yeah, but since feb 7th my weight loss as still been consistent, but the body fat reading on my tanita is stuck (pretty high). feb 7th I read 143.5, feb 14th 140, and today 138.5 but my bodyfat isnt going down. I did weigh first thing in the morning and am prob a bit dehydrated. But wouldnt the scale show some change? PLEASE HELP OR GIVE SUGGESTIONS.

Hey run4fun, its me! Looks like you have been doing well with the weight loss. Good for you!! Keep it up you are on track.

On the Tanita. They are known to be INACCURATE. But there are a few tips to make them more consistent. First, is your Tanita, hand or step on scale ? athletic mode ? If not yours is calibrated for an "average " person. The athletic is calibrated for someone doing a fairly high amount of cardio. I was 14.9% on the athletic mode (step on scale) yesterday and if I had switched to regular mode and it said I was about 24% bodyfat!!! NOT!!

I use the Tanita to gauge progress as it is off +3/-3 when used properly. You have to step on the Tanita when 1. you are hydrated 2. Have not done any of these activities with in the last several hours...tan, any exercise, eat, shower.

So what I found to be the most consistent is doing it in the evening after work because it is the only time I did not just do one of the above.

And last but not least...as you get leaner it becomes more inaccurate because again not calibrated for a BB, or Figure Gal!!

Leslie

John. While you cannot gauge JUST by the numbers I think they are all important, used together in concert. I find no one source reliable. Mirrors can even deceive some one. You have mirror quaily lighting positioning, and it is not 3 D ! I use a digital camera too but unless you are in the best lighting they can mask definition, fatty areas too!! Since I do not have BB friends who see me in the buff I cannot depend on that. And my spouse, who does get the buff view, well, he always says the rearview looks great (of course he would always say that! so I find myself relying on a combo of the scale weight changes, bodyfat scale changes and the good old fashioned measure tape.

Leslie

I also use a body fat analyzer "taylor" step on scale and the darn thing never changes in the body fat mode hardly! I use my measure tape and I look in the mirror! It depends how I feel I guess! I do the calipers but sometimes I even get different readings for that! I was on the BI diet but got off of it because I was getting constipated and was falling asleep at my desk at work during the week!

I was losing energy and that isn't like me so Im doing my comp prep all on my own because I feel I do better by myself!

I also want to beable to do well at my first comp and beable to say "I did this on my own"! That would make me more proud than anything!

With Love

Difficult to help or give suggestions without knowing exactly what you diet consists of, EXACTLY... bodybuilding nutrition is a science, therefore the proper info is necessary to help us provide appropriate feedback.

1. Are yor drinking a least 1 gal H2O daily?
2. What exactly are you eating - need to post ur diet.
3. Are you sprinting, short duration, high-intesity cardio is helpful, not long duration, muscle burning cardio.
4. Find a gym or a place that can use a good $400 set of calipers to test your BF..u'll feel better when you can get a good reading.

And also to Melissa - The BI diets should allow you to have higher energy levels and the constipation can possibly be remedied by inceased water intake, decreased liver tab intake for a bit (if taking), or taking a tbsp. of olive oil a couple times daily until situation improves - but staying on diet up to contest is important.

Anyway - hope my advice is helpful. This is all i can provide - "With the knowledge that I know" (my classic phrase until you tell me more! - Take care ladies.

Tammy Storch
NPC Judge (OH, KY, WV)
National B.Building Competitor

The immortal words of Socrates...."I drank what"?

Melissa, were you on the fat burning diet with the carb up meal? I find that one the most difficult to stay on as far as feeling tired and totally dragged out.

I find , for me, the best diet is the gain muscle / lose fat diet. It calls for a carb at meal 1 & 3. I cycle the carb at the meal 3, having it one day then not the next one or two.

Also, on the constipation...One thing I have done that cures me of that is reduce to one protein drink a day. Sub the one snack with the whole food option. And also replace the meat at meal one with eggs or other protein source like MProvider in Oatmeal.

Leslie

Tammy,
I have been working with rita, she is awesome, just is so busy she doesnt get back to me promptly. Anyway I might need to tell you I had a baby 9 weeks ago, I was lean before having her and only gained 30 pounds. rita had me following the fat/loss w.carbup meal 2 weeks then follow the gain lean/fat loss 2 weeks and repeat. But wanted me to add one more week of fat loss diet into this week 3 weeks in a row. Here is my fat loss diet: ( I weigh and measure everything and record it in my nutrition software)
1: 1/2 grapefruit, 2-3 whites + 1 egg, 3 oz. chicken or turkey, 1 tbsp. salsa, and 1T light cream in my coffee (measured)

2: 1 1/2-2 scoops choc muscle provider sometimes I add 2-3 strawberries if I had a hard workout that morning.

3: 5 oz. chicken breast, large bowl of lettuce greens, 4-5 cherry tomatos, a couple of mushrooms, 1/2 skinned cucumber, 2 T paul newmans light redwine and vinegar dressing.

4: same as meal 2, sometimes 4 oz. chicken with 3-4 strawberries instead

5: 5 oz. chicken breast or turkey, about 2 cups broccoli steamed or 2 cups steamed spinach or leafy greens sometimes 1 T paul newmans dresssing or I take 1 capsul of CLA or Flaxx.
On mon/thurs: 3/4 cup oatmeal, 31/2 oz. banana, 5-6 oz. yam, 1 T butter.

I have been training each muscle 2 times a week, but this week I tapered back to 1 time except legs- I am feeling too fatigued. I am a runner by heart (marathons and shorter races)however since having my daughter I have cut back to achieve a new goal.
I do usually 2-3 days HITT for 30 minutes on treadmill or bike 1:1 intervals, 1 day of spinning 45-60 minute class, and 1-2 days moderate pace 45 minutes running on treadmill or splitting up between treadmill and eliptical. Yesterday I added a step class for 30 minutes really light(wanted something fun), Iwear my heart rate monitor during all cardio sessions. I am a certified trainer and instructor, so I am knowledgable about my exercise selections, intesity etc...And I have a B.S degree in Dietetics, so I am knowledgeable about diet, Rita is an RD also, and agrees BB nutrition is a whole different science than what we learn in school, actually it goes completly opposite of what we learned in school.....
I had my body fat done by infrared two weeks ago, it read 14%, the same day a caliper reading read 21%, and my step on tanita scale read 23%. the trainer said that it's ALL in my ab region which is no suprise since having a baby. However, shouldnt the tanita scale still drop and reflect fat loss? In the mirror I am seeing tons of lines, and hardness forming, but my abs are still feeling soft (skin/fat??) I take leanout, keto, energy reserve, before training, glutatamine during lifting, I train on an empty stomach during weekdays. I take mass aminos during meals 1,3,5. And muscularity after training before cardio. I guess I just have to be patient, however I am doing my first competition May 1 (10 weeks) and want to hold my own against the other girls. what other info do you need? I am waiting on a response from Rita. I dont want to cut calories any more,right now I am under 1400, and my carbs are less than 75 each day according to my tallys. I have energy, except for the day of my carb up- I am so depleated. I feel great otherwise!!

Tammy& Leslie, What My diet plan consists of right now:
Meal 1: 7:15 am
2 Oz. Turkey
1/2 Grapefruit/any fruit
Meal 2: 10:00 am
mp shake
Meal 3: 12:00 pm
6 oz Tuna or 5 oz Extra Lean beef
lettuce, Onions, cuc's, 2 Tbs dressing
Meal 4: 3:30 pm
mp shake
Meal 5: 6:00/6:30 pm
5 oz Extra Lean Beef or 6 oz. Tuna
1 cup veggies (Usually String Bean or
sweet potatos
I Take 2 Muscularities with Each meal
I take 1 LeanOut with each meal and 1/2 hour before workout.
I take 1 Flax Seed Tab with 2 meals

I Weight train my stomach 2x/week, Legs 2x/week (Light/heavy day), arms shoulders 2x/week.

I run 1.5 miles 2x/week amd try to do Tae-Bo 2x/week!

Thanks!

One more thing to my last post.

I have 1 cup oatmeal, 1 banana, 1 cup veggies and no supps on Wednesday/Saturday.

Your diet looks fine to me, very similar in ways to mine. except for the carb up meal) Are you seeing results on the diet ?? At 4 weeks out how far are you from your goal?

Leslie

MELISSA:

I dont think 2oz of protein at breakfast is doing a whole lot - heck, 2oz of anything is just about nothing at all. Are you a really tiny person? I was just curious. I know your cutting, but it seemed like such a small meal to being your day and no eggs in your first meal - best protein on the planet.

I also think your meals are too close together - all bunched up during the day leaving you nothing before you go to bed. Move ur 10am to 1030 then if you can, lunch at 1:00 - 4th meal at 430 then train..last meal at 830 or 900. If u really wanna burn some fat - take some mass & livers & go to the gym & train, then eat immediately after (shake) - then eat dinner 930-10pm right before bed. Meals spaced 4hrs apart allows body time to burn some BF prior to feeding it again.

Training looks okay i guess, but when do u train ur back? Extremely important bodypart in figure. Try high intensity cardio now instead of long duration, muscle eating type - think sprinter rather than marathon runner. You dont have enough Cals to sustain long duration either. Burn some fat in 15mins - then ur outta there. Well - hope that helps for now. Take care.

Tammy Storch
NPC Judge (OH, KY, WV)
National B.Building Competitor

The immortal words of Socrates...."I drank what"?

Run4Fun:

Yes - glad to hear your working with Rita. She and i are very close..I'm not gonna say much about your diet as you are working with her. Maybe talk with her about all that cardio though - especially the long duration. As i said to Melissa - watch out about eating away all the muscle your trying to maintain. And trust me - at this level of your diet you can pretty much only hope to do that - Maintain, not build, so be careful not to burn that up too. I may change a few things - but as Rita is working with you I'll leave it at that.

Tammy Storch
NPC Judge (OH, KY, WV)
National B.Building Competitor

The immortal words of Socrates...."I drank what"?

Tammy, You are a GREAT help! I am by NO means a TINY person! I am 5'10" and weight 145 now with 17% BF!? Not tiny at all! I will add the eggs in the morning with 3 oz. turkey......

I will move my 2nd meal up to 1030 and then have lunch at 1:00 like you said and 4th at 430 maybe this will help!

I always thought you shouldnt eat right before bed thats why I was planning supper at 6:30 and done for the night? Not true?

I train my back with my light day of legs! Sorry forgot to add that in!

So is Tae-bo good or not for 20 minutes? What do you do for cardio for 15 minutes!?

You can email me direct if you want to so everyone doesn't have to read our emails...

hey melissa,
when I do my HITT for 15-25 minutes I use the treadmill or bike or eliptical and I warmup for 5-10 minutes then hit it really hard for 1 minute recover 1 minute and repeat that 8-10 times. I am slowly adding interval till I get to 15 total interval (7-8 sprints.) sometimes I shorten my rest period and do 30 sec work 30-45 sec rest...then cool down. you think 15 minutes is a walk in the park, but done this way it isn't!!

Thank You so much run4fun! I will try running for 1 minute and then walk for 1 and see how that goes! Would you do Tae-Bo at all or not? Your Opinion!

Hey Gang, Im so proud of myself.....Last night I did my HIIT for 8 intervals run/rest 1 minute each..........Felt GREAT! Thanks for the info run4fun.......I started my diet again this morning and I feel great except Im very shaky and very sweaty (more than normal) I have had 3-7 keto's, 1 lean-out, 2 muscularites, 1 DHEA, 1 flas seed tablet and 3 muscle synergy's so far today! In advise! Is this normal again or not? I dont like to feel shaky like this! very irritating!

With Love
Melissa!

Melissa.. maybe cut back on the 7-Keto.. I don't think the other supps you took would make your shaky or jittery.. I'm used to taking 7-keto and at the most I take 2 first thing in the a.m. and then only 1 at a time from there. Try to back down the 7-Keto to 1 with LO/GH and ER if you have it... Great on the HIIT.. I love cardio that way.. it's the way I do most of my cardio sessions.. Good luck !!!!

Thanks so much for the tip with 7-Keto! I will try that and let you know what happens! Hopefully this shakin' bit stops because Im getting a work/out just from that. Tee Hee

Melis