Protein, Carbs and my Trainer

[cajunthunder]

I have been entering my food into fitday and I keep lacking in protein. So I've ordered some low carb protein powder to try and help up my protein some. http://www.iherb.com/ultilocawhey.html If I lower my fat intake, then my calories drop too low. (BTW, I'm still confused about the BMR thing too - conflicting info on websites about losing weight!)

Today, my trainer told me that I was running out of steam too quickly during our training sessions and that I needed to add more carbs to my diet. She knows I'm on Atkins and doesn't like it. (Yea, I know..)

I am on a modified OWL (was already adding strawberries, more veggies and dairy to my diet when I realized my book was from the 1990s - Pre Rungs), and I generally keep my net carbs around 30g.

I'm still confused about so much, and I want to know I'm getting the most out of my workout and not cannabilizing my own muscles. Should I try the protein powder before working out, or should I try to eat more of my daily carbs in the am before working out? Not going carb wild mind ya, but just adjusting my menu to have more then?

Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated! :nod

[ttdriver]

Monica,

How much protein have you been taking in? Less than 30% a day?

Are you eating eggs? Bacon? Steak? Any other meats? Tofu? All great sources of protein.

I work out rigorously, sometimes running for up to 3 hours at a time and always try and have a good high protein brekkie before going to run. I never seem to run out of steam ...

The protein WILL safeguard your muscles and help repair the tears that happen during training, so its very important that you eat adequate amounts.

Betty

[cajunthunder]

Monica,

How much protein have you been taking in? Less than 30% a day?
Are you eating eggs? Bacon? Steak? Any other meats? Tofu? All great sources of protein.

Yes, my protein levels have been below 30% pretty consistently.

Breakfast is usually eggs and bacon, or when I'm sick of eggs, I'll have bacon with mayo rolled up in romaine lettuce leaves.

I eat all sorts of meats and seafood, but I'm thinking that maybe my fat intake is causing my protein percentages to drop. (Does that make sense?) But if I cut out cream and/or butter, then my blamed calories drop below the BMR. I just have very little appetite these days, so it becomes a chore just to eat at times! Sheesh, I can't have ever imagined saying that before! :yikes

Someone else posted a question on another forum about BMR confusion, which is also a part of my confusion. Some websites say to eat less than your BMR to lose weight and others say not to do that. urplequ:

Ugh, I hate being confused! :sadblinky

[FightingTheFight]

I gotta feelings that the reason you are burning out is because of lack of calories.

[Iapetus999]

You could also go a little higher on the carbs.
30 carbs may not be enough if you work out every day.
You could try 35-40 for a week or two and see if you have a little more energy. If you stall you can just bring it back down.
My guess is if you have a little more workout energy you'll wind up burning more cals which should offset the increase in carbs.
Maybe it's time to go up a rung.

[cajunthunder]

Thanks for the insights! I think I will try adding more carbs to my morning meals on the days I workout with her. See on those days, I do my cardio workout first, then she and I workout, so that's 45 minutes of cardio, then 50 minutes of training with her. I have tried working out with her, then doing my cardio, but I'm too pooped to do much cardio after working out with her. :sadblinky

I guess I've been kind of flying by the seat of my pants with my meals instead of measuring exact amounts, etc. (bad, bad me) I will have to try cutting back on some of my fats, and work towards more protein as well.

My weight loss isn't consistent at all, so I don't know if it's because of my modified OWL, or if it's because of all of the exercise, or if it's just because that's how I lose weight, or if the stars, sun and moon aren't aligned properly! :yikes

[spirittalker]

Maybe you just shouldn't do cardio on your days with her. Definitely don't do it before the trainer. When you are lifting weights you shouldn't do cardio beforehand.

[cajunthunder]

Maybe you just shouldn't do cardio on your days with her. Definitely don't do it before the trainer. When you are lifting weights you shouldn't do cardio beforehand.

I asked her if it made a difference whether I did my cardio before or after and she said 'no'. Also, our training isn't just weights, it's a combination of stuff including weights, resistance, stretching and other stuff, all called 'functional training'.

I don't really have that hard of a time doing cardio and our training, but some days I just seem to run out of steam, which aggravates me. :anger She always gets me through those tough times, but I feel like my body is letting me down some times. :sadblinky Maybe I just expect too much from it too quickly..... I don't know.

[Iapetus999]

I wouldn't do extra carbs right before a workout...maybe the night before.
The problem with right before is that they give you a little boost but then you tend to crash fairly quickly. :nono

[FightingTheFight]

Based on my experience, I want to advise you to stay away from cardio on the same days as you do your "functional" training. The best would be to split your cardio. Do your cardio the days you are not working out with her. Up to 3 times weekly.

I do agree you are pushing yourself to hard to quickly. You need to tone it down just a notch and let your body adjust.

[sadie147]

Some websites say to eat less than your BMR to lose weight and others say not to do that.

Don't eat below your BMR. Your BMR is the BASAL rate..the rate that your body burns calories doing nothing execept breathing and pumping your blood. I'ts your AMR you want to stay below. Your ACTIVE metobolic rate. To lose weight you want to stay between your BMR and AMR. I believe if you go below your BMR you will go into starvation mode.

The issue I have with the AMR and BMR is getting a consistent number. I've tried several websites and get a (very)different number with alot of them. What i did was took a few differnt results and just used an average.

Have you found your CCLL yet? That might be the key here. You're CCLL may be above 30g of carbs per day.