Ladies, do you consider this overtraining?

[carljaxx005]

To all the women that take training and diet very seriously, please give me some advice on this.......

I have been playing with the diet and training routines for about 8 months now, and I have seen results as far as leaning out, but I'm not sure I'm building much muscle or losing any more fat. I am a 20 year old female, 5'9, 135 lbs. Here is what my week looks like.

DIET PLAN~1450 calories daily~Monday through Saturday

MEAL 1: 3/4 cup All Bran cereal, 1 medium apple, 1 scoop whey
MEAL 2: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop whey
MEAL 3: 4 oz. chicken, 1 cup broccoli, 1 cup brown rice
MEAL 4: 4 oz. lettuce, 4 oz. chicken, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 cucumber, 2 tbsp. rasberry vinigarette, 5 fish oil caps

As far as training, I train 4 days a week all body parts to failure.
MONDAY~Legs plus 30 min. cardio and abs
TUESDAY~ Back and bi's plus 45 min. cardio
WEDNESDAY~Chest abd tri's plus 45 min. cardio and abs
THURSDAY~Shoulders plus 45 min. cardio
FRIDAY~ 45 min. cardio and abs

It has evenually molded this way because my training partner and I have a blowout cheat day every Sunday, which ends up being around a 4,000 calorie day. I believe the refuel on Sunday helps me to build, but I'm not sure the cardio is really useful. My goal is to lose the most significant amount of body fat possible while maintaining muscle mass. When I jump on the scale and I'm down for the week, Is that muscle loss or fat?

 

[hammer21]

She is stuck at 135 lbs. and we are trying to figure out if upping her cardio is the answer. Are her cals too low? Is she overtraining? Should she cut her cals further? More cardio? Time for some clen or Anavar? Any input would be helpful.

 

[Brat]

She is stuck at 135 lbs. and we are trying to figure out if upping her cardio is the answer. Are her cals too low? Is she overtraining? Should she cut her cals further? More cardio? Time for some clen or Anavar? Any input would be helpful.

What are the goals? To lose body fat or put on muscle?? Definitely not time for clen/var after only six months of training...

 

[hammer21]

She wants to lose more bf. with as little muscle loss as possible.

 

[Brat]

If that's been her diet and training for 8 months straight, she definitely needs to change it...Switch up her split...for example: Monday - chest/shoulders...Tuesday - biceps/triceps...Thursdays - back/traps...Friday - legs...have her do 30-45 minutes of cardio on the days with weights, then maybe 45-60 minutes of cardio two other days (for example, Wednesday/Saturday). Make it of higher intensity. Have her eating 5-6 meals a day instead of just 4. Maybe cut back on the cheat day. Sure, it helps keep cravings under control, but she could be blowing a week's worth of work...instead of a cheat DAY, have it be a cheat MEAL.

 

[polish_P]

I've been a personal trainer for several years now and have had a chance to work with many people. Over the years you see what works best on people and what doesn't. I've noticed that if a female is already at a healthy bodyfat percentage and weight that a fairly strict diet needs to be followed to further drop bodyfat. Six meals a day is going to be a must, any less than that makes lossing fat difficult. Personally when I diet down for a show i am eating 8-9 meals a day every 2 hours. As for the six meals they should consist of higher amounts of lean protein to help retain the muscle mass and the carbs should be very low glycemic carbs. That means ditching the cereal, oatmeal and brown rice. Those will be good souces of carbs to maintain muscle but they will make it very difficult to lose bodyfat. The carbs yu should focus on would ideally be veggies, so for example Meal 1 could be 1 whole egg with 4 egg whites all scambled with 1-2 cups of broccoli. Meal 2 could be a chichen salad consisting of half a chicken breast with 1-2 cups of spinach and broccoli. Meal 3 for example could be 1 can of tuna with a small apple. The only veggies to stay away from would be carrots and corn they are too starchy. Fruits are fine too just make sure they are not tropical frits such as bananas. This is a very strict diet but i guarentee you it will work. Now since see is twenty I would run this diet strictly during the weekdays when you can stick to it and have two cheat days on the weekends. Afterall if you go out to clubs or go party and hang out with friends on the weekends the chances of you being able to eat very strictly are going to be very difficult. So why not make those your high carb cheat days. Those days I would still eat 6 maels a day just add dense carbs to each meal such as oatmeal, gritts, brown rice. As far as the training and cardio goes I think it is fine manybe even cut back a little on the cardio. The diet is going to be the biggest factor in determining bodyfat lose so concentrate on that. Just also make such you lift very heavy, that will help you retain the muscle you have. By heavy I mean your working sets should be no more than 12 reps to failure. If you can put that weight up more than 12 times with good for its too light. Hope that helps

 

[hammer21]

Thanks for the advice. Any idea as to calorie amounts during the week?

 

[supergirl]

When I jump on the scale and I'm down for the week, Is that muscle loss or fat?

alot of times yo yo scale weight is water loss and gain...

as per your plateau:

1) I suggest taking a week off of everything... give your body a rest... rest is a great thing believe it or not... plus a week off allows it to become confused again, thus unadapting to your diet and training program...
Then you take your confused body and get it back on a regimine where it will then continue to make progress... This type system has been working for me for about 10 years now... REST is key to my health, growth, fat loss, maintance etc... I have even at times taken months off.. everytime i come back i am stronger and better...

2) You can try calorie cycling or carb cycling... your diet is stale and again your body has adapted.. 2 high, 2 low or 1 high 1 low.. whatever works with your schedule...

3) Are you eating 135 grams + of protein per day?? I don't think so by looking at your diet.. so that should be a definite change... You may also want to consider using only 1 shake per day and whole foods for your other protein intake...

4) You may want to also cut back the cardio a bit...

good luck and keep us posted
super

 

[carljaxx005]

Thanks for the response Supergirl. When I calculated my diet out, it was equivalent to 142 grams of protein. As far as training, I try to take a week off at least every three months. I just started this diet and training routine. When I got back to the gym after my first week off, I didn't like the feeling I got because it took me a good 2 weeks to regain all my strength back. I do understand however that this is essential. Have any more dieting tips as far as my meal plan goes???