Paige Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Here is my struggle that I could use some help with. I am doing a fitness comp in three weeks. My energy has been very low and therefore my training is not what I need it to be. I think it is my nutrition. I eat about 1200 cals a day. Mostly fruits and veggies with some oatmeal post training in the AM and pumpkin at lunch. I also use a protein powder from Lifetime. I am reluctant to increase cals because on that my weight has stayed nearly exactly the same for three months (between 142-147) and I still would like to drop 5 lbs before comp in three weeks. I am 5' 7" and 145. I have stayed at the same weight since July. (between April and July I dropped 20 lbs.) I train 5-6 days a week. Three days a week I train my fitness routine for a 75-90 min session. The other two to three days I do 60-75 mins of cardio, either spin, or rotating stairs. Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForwardConcern Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 You need to eat plain and simple. Your body weight needs around 2000 Calories a day pre-exercise then you have to replace each calorie you burn in order to keep the training from being detrimental. Don't be afraid of food. If your worried about weight gain watch your macronutrient levels. I eat 4000 calories on heavy training days without any effect. You have to eat if not your already relying on the calories your body needs just to function not including training. Just my humhle opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Forward: Wow, those numbers seem huge to me. When you say "watch your macronutrient levels" can you explain to me what you mean by that? Do you mean that carbs/prot/fats should be at a certain balance, if so what is that? thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForwardConcern Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Well your tired simply because your not eating enough. Macronutrients are your ratio of carbs, protein and fat. Try playing around with different levels and see which yield the results you want. Also the type of foods you eat are important. You should buy a copy or Thrive Diet off of Amazon. Trust me you need to eat wether it's weight training cross-training or cardio. You need to eat or you won't get the results you require let alone the energy needed to obtain them. Do you have an iPhone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 I have Thrive and have spoken with Brendan a few times. I pulled out the book again and I tend to eat very in line with that list of foods, although mostly fruits and veggies. But I get your point, I just get scared it will put on weight but I will work on this. No I do not have an iphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas_Weir Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Just remember that weight doesn't suddenly appear in one day (you won't go from lean to fat overnight). Just eat a bit more and a bit more after that each day until you notice good energy levels and a stable bodyfat level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForwardConcern Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 There's some good apps for the iPhone for keeping track of your weight, calories and macronutrient levels. I use Lean Me. Maybe there's something similar you can find? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 So I ate yesterday. 2000 cals. It ended up being mostly oatmeal, plain pumpkin, 2 pcs of fruit and lettuce and broccoli with flax oil. It was quite heavy on the oatmeal and pumpkin but solid routine training this morning. The first I have had since the last time I ate alot. I have to admit my stomach was killing me yesterday and I stopped eating at 4pm. I also only had an apple before training. So training was solid but still not quite as strong as I would like it. I think it had to do with the no food after 4 and so little before workout. I have to admit that it still scares me to eat so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForwardConcern Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Well you've gotta eat an hour or so before you work out.... 2000 Calories is not that much don't stress. Take your time though gradually increasing your food intake, you should also eat after you workout to in order to assist recovery. You sound afraid of food when Diet is just as an important as the training. Space your meals out. Eat smallers meals 5 times a day if that helps. I don't know what other advice to give but the fact that eating healthy and well especially with the training will not make you gain bad weight. And the training means you really need to eat well or else it won't be benificial. I'm glad to hear it made a difference today eating more. Don't be scared and above all don't stress! Enjoy yourself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Pollock Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Hello everyone. I have also energy issue. I feel lot of weakness. I can't work more with my hands due to weakness. I have low energy. Kindly give me some tips to increase my energy level so that i can increase my energy and health. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fallen_Horse Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Did you read the thread? How much are you eating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForwardConcern Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Simply put eat more. And eat things like fruits and juices nuts and seeds. Add more veggies. I can't stress this enough most people don't eat for nutrition let alone eat enough especially if they're training. Eat enough to sustain yourself. It also has nothing to do with the size of your plate as most people think. It has to do with the nutritional value of the food you put on it. Make sure you get enough protein, you get enough healthy fat lighter on the saturates (fat is important your body needs it, it is a great source of energy, your brain needs it to function). And get enough healthy carbs from unprocessed grains, fruits, seeds nuts and vegetables. If you don't eat enough in any diet it's detrimental. (this is why Angelina Jolie is a moron, she went on a vegan diet and probably didn't pay any attention to nutrition when with her wealth it would have been a thousand times easier for her to do than it would be for any of us, yet I'm capable as are others). EAT! EAT! EAT! TRAIN & EAT! Diet is more important than any other factor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awaken375 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I didn't read through this thread very carefully so I don't know if I'm being redundant or stabbing in the dark. I've had energy issues as a vegan, and I'd recommend focussing less on calories in general and more on the requirements. From vegan nutrition: plain and simple: Protein, Carbohydrates, Enzymes, Vitamins, Minerals, Fats. Make sure you're getting enough of each of these every day. A multivitamin like vitamineral green, or the Vega whole food meal replacement will cover your vitamins and minerals. Fats include omega 3/6, and whatever is in avocadoes. Another high fat fruit is coconut. Don't forget nuts. Protein: get a protein powder if you aren't eating fake meats at every meal or if you're bodybuilding you probably need both. A 6' male needs 200g-220g protein a day to gain muscle without slowdown. Trueprotein.com lets you make your own mix with a vegan flavoring for ~$5/lb. Gemma protein isolate blends nicely with hemp and rice.. I use a ratio respectively of 60:30:10. Enzymes: once again, in vitamineral green or vega. Carbohydrates: You're going to need complex and simple carbs. Complex carbs are slow burning for when you plan on going hiking, or cardio exercise. It's also required for basic body heat, and simple things like getting out of bed. Simple carbohydrates on the other hand are 'explosive' and burn quickly for things like rapid muscle movements, and weight lifting. Without both, you're likely to feel very low on energy all the time. Complex carbs come from things like noodles, rice, whole wheat, quinoa. Grains/pasta. Simple carbs are provided by medjool dates, and other high-sugar fruits. Make sure before you go to the gym to get an energy bar with dates near the top of the ingredients list. Much of this information is found in the book thrive diet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awaken375 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 thrive diet and thrive are two different books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 awaken: that is a good breakdown of a balanced approach. I forget the importance of having all of the macronutrients in and making sure that I have a balanced intake. I see that True Protein reduced there sodium a bit on the gemma so it may be worth ordering from them again. Although a straight gemma is still too high in sodium from them. I am going to try a 40/30/30. They are the cheapest thing around for powders. I also need some more good fats in my program as I tend to eat a very low fat diet. I think good nutrition is even more important for vegans as we do end up with serious energy issues if our nutrition is off. After I finish my comp season I am going to do alot of experimentation with my macros and intake. I think Forward is right, nutrition is just as important as the training, if not more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kira Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 For me, low energy = whack myself with more carbs. Since most ppls staple food over here in rice, I eat like 4 plates of that stuff a day o.O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 I have found that lots of oatmeal seems to help lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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