I think I've been doing everything wrong

[dyeimpy19]

Hello everyone. It has taken years to find a site like this, and now that I have, I feel like I can finally get things right. A little about me:

 

age 22

height 6'0"

weight 186

 

I, currently, workout 4 or 5 days a week at the local gym running along with swimming and doing some weight lifting.

20 minutes of running

45 minutes of weight training: legs; arms; chest and back

15 minutes of swimming

 

I have been very good at maintaining an alright diet during the day of fruits and veggies. I will sometimes eat soy meats if I feel like it. At night, when I work, I will eat almost anything to stay awake. Working midnights is killing my progress I think. I am good about taking multivitamins daily including flax seed oil. I also drink two muscle milk shakes a day. But I'm not getting anywhere.

 

Here is my situation. I've been putting this off for too long. I am pursuing a career in law enforcement with either the feds or a local department. I need to make a change to prepare myself for the job and that is why I'm here. I am not looking to get any bigger. I just want to get lean to improve my running and upper body. Lowering my body fat from 17% to something like 13% would be ideal. I would like to know what I might need to change to achieve these results. What should I be doing in my exercises in order to prepare myself? More reps? Additionally, should I lose the muscle milk and try some other stuff? If so, what and where do I get it?

 

Any information will be greatly appreciated. I have a few months to achieve this goal, possibly 3 months.

[Richard]

Yo, not sure what muscle milk is?

 

20 minutes running 4 or 5 times a week is an excellent way to drop fat definitely. More important, in my opinion, is your diet, maybe you could give your precise daily diet, and people could give you advice.

 

One piece of advice that I'm fairly sure of is that you ideally shouldn't train the same muscle two days in a row. So you could continue as you're doing, training basically the whole body in a work out, but don't do that two days in a row. Or you could split your routine so that you are doing some of your body one day, and some another day, then you can hit the gym as much as you like.

[nails]

Muscle milk is way too expensive.I make my own drink.In a blender use 2 cups soy milk,1 scoop protein powder,1 tbs.olive oil,2tbs.natural peanut butter,1 cup oatmeal,1 banana.Of course I'm trying to gain weight tho,and this drink comes to 1,100 cals.

[Gaia]

Muscle Milk powder (I picked the chocolate) contains whey isolates and bovine colostrum. Not vegan, and not even vegetarian:

 

Other Ingredients: Cocoa Powder, Gum Arabic, Sucralose, Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Digestive resistant maltodextrin, Maltodextrin, Cytovite 1™ (Vitamin A Acetate, Cholecalciferol, d-alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Ascorbic Acid, Folate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine HCl, Cyanocobalamin, Biotin, Pantothenic Acid, Di-Calcium Phosphate, Potassium Iodide, Potassium Chloride, Ferrous Fumarate, Magnesium Oxide, Copper Gluconate, Zinc Oxide, Chromium Nicotinate), Evopro - Our custom evolution based protein, peptide and amino acid matrix (Micellar alpha and beta caseins and caseinates, Whey protein concentrates rich in Alpha-Lactalburrin, whey isolates, Whey Peptides, purified bovine colostrum extract rich in secretory IgA and IGF-1, Glutamine Peptides, L-Taurine, Lactoferrin), Lean Lipids™ (sunflower and/or safflower oil, MCT's, Canola Oil, L-Carnitine), Creatine GCC, our proprietary, endogenous creatine precursor (Glutamine, Betaine anhydrous, SAMe)

 

The prepackaged drinks are at least vegan (again I picked the chocolate malt):

 

Other Ingredients: Water, Blend of Vegetable Oils, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Microcrystalline Cellulose, sodium hexametaphosphate, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Monosodium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Citrate, Fructose, Calcium and Sodium Caseinate, Milk Protein Isolate

 

Some of the vitamins may be from dairy sources also.

 

So of course we say drop the Muscle Milk!

 

Why did you single out the Muscle Milk?

[RawVgn]

Diet has always been the key to weight loss and getting ripped for me. Eat nothing but raw fruit and greens for a few weeks; you'll loose the extra pounds without breaking a sweat while catching up on much needed rest or sleep; don't work hard, work smart.

 

Most of the cops I see aren't in real good shape; I routinely see obese ones! They dominate mostly with superior communications, numbers, fire power, and public confidence (often misplaced.)

[dyeimpy19]

The muscle milk was a result of some advice I received from a couple different places. I hate the stuff and it hasn't helped. Expensive? You bet. It costs $85 for a months supply. I'm definitely throwing that stuff out if doesn't work with my diet.

 

Here is just what I've eaten today:

 

Breakfast 7am:

 

Banana

natural peanut butter on wheat

couple handfuls of walnuts

 

 

Sleep til 3:30

 

about 24 ounces of water

veggie burger

2 x fruit smoothie

[Zack]

More food in general, but also more complex carbs and protein.

[Gaia]

Yep, throw away the little wheat bread thing. Put the banana, peanut butter, and walnuts into a big bowl of oatmeal! And add a scoop of your choice of veg. protein powder! (Pure Advantage's pea protein vanilla is pretty tasty!).

[dyeimpy19]

Yea I'm going out tomorrow to find some more stuff. Pay Day ya know.

 

Any other suggestions?

[salatheel]

It's all about protein intake. It will keep your metabolism high and keep you burning the fat. Take in 25-40 grams of protein 4-5 times a day every 3 hours or so.

 

I have 3-4 shakes a day mixing various sources. Brown rice,some soy, and pea protein if you want to stay vegan. Whey if not.

 

Without upping your protein intake it will be hard unless your vey blessed genetically.

 

I have experimented over the years and for me protein intake makes all the difference.

 

Right now I try to eat nothing but fresh fruits and veggies and the shakes.

 

I keep my protein intake above 175 grams a day minimum. I shoot for 200-225 grams.

[RawVgn]

Sounds like a recipe for kidney failure, arthritis, and osteoporosis! The body uses very little protein-it's a building block, not an energy source. It has been confirmed many times in studies that the body uses very little protein-you just piss the excess down the drain after overloading your kidneys and leeching calcium off your bones to neutralize all the acidic minerals in the protein. I put on muscle easily just by uping my protein to about 15 g a day-and I'm 6-1 and 168 pounds. 2 or 3 ounces of raw nuts a day is all you need; I put on a pound a week with just that, and I'm also 47 yrs old. I often limit myself to an ounce a day of nuts and all the rest fruit and greens because I don't want to get much bigger. Remember, if muscle was primarily put on by food, bodybuilders would be in the kitchen instead of the gym. Lift as heavy as you can to failure, get lots of rest and recover fully, and don't consume more than 15% of total calories from protein or fat-it'll just undermine your health and waste your money.

[Im Your Man]

yeah man, about 30 grams of quality raw proteins like nuts, or 200-500 grams of processed protein isolates, you choose.

[CheshireCat]

Cardio, diet, and some 2-3 full body splits per week IMO, is great for some body looking for a conditioned look.

 

Diet is the key here however. Another thign to look at is green tea, great health benefits and is good for cutting away fat IME

[dyeimpy19]

Just an update.

 

I went out and bought some soy, rice, and hemp protein powders along with some creatine. I try to have two shakes a day when I'm working out along with 1 mix of the creatine. I have found it is a hard thing to get down. I have maintained my diet eating every 3-4 hours: cereal in the morning with some fruit and several vitamins. Then, fruits and vegetables along with some nuts as snacks throughout the day. I also add in the shake when it's appropriate. By dinner time, I'm usually hungry enough to eat a couple burritos or bagels, maybe even some soy meat products. My work schedule changed on me so I basically sit in my car drinking tons of water and a protein bar for lunch. That's my day, no variation.

 

I have noticed a bit of a difference in my ability to workout longer and leave sorer than a sailor home on leave. Unfortunately, my swimming routine has caused a pinched nerve in my neck that has affected my routine. I am only going 3 days a week instead of the 5 days I originally set up. Work has also prevented me from feeling alright to lift, 12am-8am 7 days a week. Results? I am not to happy about this but for some reason I've gained 5-6 lbs. It looks like muscle because I don't see any difference in my body fat. I don't know why I am gaining but I'm hoping after a while I will start to shed some of this.

 

Thank you all for the great information. I feel so good about what I'm doing now. Maybe I'll post up some before and afters soon.

[Gaia]

Just wanted to remind you that rest is important to gaining muscle mass. If you had to slow down for a little while now, and THEN noticed that you have gained the poundages, but see no change in bodyfat, that is probably muscle mass. You gave your body time to heal and make more muscle instead of it being broken down time and time again with your workout schedule. On my off season, I just eat and workout intensely every other day (with no cardio!) to build muscle mass!