Hi Guys-I have now been doing cardio 6 days a week for 50m min with modeate intensity(running 6 miles/hr) burning aroung 550-600 calories per session.Before that I lift heavy weights.I also reduced my portion sizes and incorporated a fifth meal as suggested by Chris.You can see my meal plan below
meal 1 at 9:20AM-Yoplait shake(has protein in it) and some oatmeal cereal for(~500 calories)
Meal 2 at 12:15PM-some white rice and yogurt or apple with veggies or subway veggie sub(~700 calories)
Meal 3 at 3:00PM -Pitted dates and some nuts(Planters)(~250 calories)
Meal 4 at 5:45 PM-one scoop of Whey protein and one small yopliat yogurt(~250 calories).This is before my work out session.
Meal 5 at 9:30-Riced or bread with veggies.(600-700 calories)
Total calories----2200-2500 calories
I will incorporate a sixth meal once I get used to this meal plan.Inspite eating more and with all the weight lifting and cardio for the past two weeks ,I don't think I have even lost 1/2 lb of fat acutally not lost any fat for the last 2 months..This is getting a bit frustrating now though my motivation level is still very high..Any further advise on improvements in the meal or workout routine wouls be appreciated.Sholud i reduce my cardio to just five days?
Pls see my workout plan below-(also I dont eat seafood/eggs)
Mon--Biceps/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Tue--Triceps/35 min followed by 50 min cardio
Wed-Chest/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Thur-Lats/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Fri-Shoulders/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Sat-Rest day
Sun--50 min cardio

Height-5'11"
Weight-177lbs
Bodyfat-13.2%

You need more protein and healthy fats :)

M1: Keep the Oatmeal, but add in a better source of protein, either meat (chicken, steak etc) or egg whites
M2: Keep the veggies, add in some protein and some healthy fats (olive oil, flax oil, natty peanut butter)
M3: Have some brown rice and some chicken here, also some veggies
M4: Have a proper meal here, protein and complex carbs I'd say.
M5: Move you Whey Protein to immediately after your workout, and maybe have some bananas or dextrose.
M6: Yes, M6 :) Have this one hour after your Whey Protein. Protein and complex carbs.
M7: Surely you can fit in another meal between YOUR M4 and M5. In this meal, have some protein and healthy fats to take your through the night

About the cardio, do it 3x a week max to begin with. For your workouts, you should give yourself more time away from the gym to begin with, for recovery. ONE WHOLE DAY FOR BICEPS!!!! NO LEGS!!!

Here is a good split, that you could start with:
Monday - Back and Biceps
Tuesday - Chest and Triceps
Wednesday - Shoulders and Calves
Thursday - Quads and Hams

Obviously you can change these two around, I wouldn't do calves the day before legs etc.

Hope this helps :)

Hi Guys-I have now been doing cardio 6 days a week for 50m min with modeate intensity(running 6 miles/hr) burning aroung 550-600 calories per session.Before that I lift heavy weights.I also reduced my portion sizes and incorporated a fifth meal as suggested by Chris.You can see my meal plan below
meal 1 at 9:20AM-Yoplait shake(has protein in it) and some oatmeal cereal for(~500 calories)
Meal 2 at 12:15PM-some white rice and yogurt or apple with veggies or subway veggie sub(~700 calories)
Meal 3 at 3:00PM -Pitted dates and some nuts(Planters)(~250 calories)
Meal 4 at 5:45 PM-one scoop of Whey protein and one small yopliat yogurt(~250 calories).This is before my work out session.
Meal 5 at 9:30-Riced or bread with veggies.(600-700 calories)
Total calories----2200-2500 calories
I will incorporate a sixth meal once I get used to this meal plan.Inspite eating more and with all the weight lifting and cardio for the past two weeks ,I don't think I have even lost 1/2 lb of fat acutally not lost any fat for the last 2 months..This is getting a bit frustrating now though my motivation level is still very high..Any further advise on improvements in the meal or workout routine wouls be appreciated.Sholud i reduce my cardio to just five days?
Pls see my workout plan below-(also I dont eat seafood/eggs)
Mon--Biceps/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Tue--Triceps/35 min followed by 50 min cardio
Wed-Chest/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Thur-Lats/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Fri-Shoulders/35-40 min followed by 50 min cardio
Sat-Rest day
Sun--50 min cardio

Height-5'11"
Weight-177lbs
Bodyfat-13.2%

First of all, welcome to the JSF forums and congrats on making the attempt to improve your health and fitness level. On initial glance, your plan seems to have many flaws. I'll let the other members chime in with suggestions, but just off the top of my head you are consuming too many simple sugars as carb sources, and too many carbs in general with no meat or sufficient protein and healthy fats. Additionally, your training needs to be revised - too much cardio, I see no leg or posterior chain training (a mistake if body recomp/fat loss is your goal) and you are stressing the arms too much. My humble input would be to invest in some time to study up on the stickies at the top of the forums. Good luck to you, and again, welcome! :tucool:

Hi Nikc6 :)

I'm afraid I can't help you out with your diet -- I don't know enough about nutrition -- but I can try with exercise.

Firstly, like Foley and Mastover have said, you're doing too much cardio here, (imo) a 5 day split for lifting is too much when you are first starting, and the routine is unbalanced. I know you're motivated now, but I have an inkling that what your doing now may lead to burnout pretty quickly.

I would suggest that a 3 day lifting routine, and 2-3 days cardio is a good bet. The below split is based on something I suggested to another chap in a thread a while ago, but I think it could work well for you too. How does this look?

Mon: Upper Push - Chest/Sholders/Tris
Bench press
Dips
Shoulder Press
Close grip press
Decline DB extensions

Tue: Cardio - Jogging
Run 30-40 mins at moderate intensity

Wed: Lower - Quads/Hams/Calves/Abs
Squats
Good Mornings
Lunges
Calf raises
Weighted crunches

Thurs: Rest day

Fri: Upper Pull - Back/Traps/Bis
Deadlifts
Chin-ups
Bent Over Row
DB Shrugs
Alt DB curls

Sat: Cardio - Interval Training
Sprint for 30s then slow jog for 1-2 minutes.
Repeat 10 times (and then collapse in a heap on the floor :))

Sun: Rest day
Or if you feel you must do more cardio, stick in another 30-40mins jogging on Sunday.

Hi Guys-Firstly I would like to thank everyone for the response.I forgot to add some more info..I am not a beginner actually in the sense that I have been working out for about 4 months now.Last month I did only HIIT(heat rate>170bpm) but didn't see any drastic changes in my body fat level so switched to moderate cardio..5 years back i was a weightlifter for 2 yrs but had to stop because of my work involving much travel.However I have never been able to reach the elusive 10% body fat goal..When I started 4 months back I was around 20% bodyfat which I have brought down to to 13.2%.Also I am a vegetarian to veggies would be the way to go for me..I will try incorporating brown rice since I am big rice eater!I will also stop doing the additional sixth day cardio..I was thinking maybe if i came down to around 10% i would reduce my cardio to 3x week.Hope to include flaxeed oil in my diet now...

Save the cardio for later on, check out John's 2007 cutting program, to see what I mean.

To achieve your goal, you need to remember that diet is 80% of it. :)

Foley suggested to drop cardio a bit. I say keep it. Since you have been doing all this cardio for now, your body is used to it. If you drop the cardio, it'll be harder for you to lose the fat. Can you be more specific with your meals? If you can add macros for each meal, food, and for the whole day, that'll be great.

Foley suggested to drop cardio a bit. I say keep it. Since you have been doing all this cardio for now, your body is used to it. If you drop the cardio, it'll be harder for you to lose the fat. Can you be more specific with your meals? If you can add macros for each meal, food, and for the whole day, that'll be great.
Point taken :) But it is really too much..... Maybe he could ease it out slowly?

Point taken :) But it is really too much..... Maybe he could ease it out slowly?

There's an argument that that much cardio is unnecessary, which I completely agree with. But the guy's already been doing that much cardio so dropping them will just make his goal more difficult to reach... unless he wants to maintain for a bit and start over once his body readjusts. But I really doubt he wants to maintain and would rather go for it all the way. He only had 3% body fat to lose anyways. The main problem I see is nutrition. If he can clean up his diet, I think he can reach his goal before summer starts, which is only like six weeks. I think he'll survive from the cardio until then. After he reaches it, he can either reduce cardio or drop it completely. BTW, mentioning summer, ONLY 1 MORE MONTH TO GO UNTIL I GRADUATE!!!!!!!!!! YEA~~~~. Haha kinda off-topic but I had to say it.:D

Foley suggested to drop cardio a bit. I say keep it. Since you have been doing all this cardio for now, your body is used to it. If you drop the cardio, it'll be harder for you to lose the fat. Can you be more specific with your meals? If you can add macros for each meal, food, and for the whole day, that'll be great.

Reducing cardio doesn't always stall fat loss--especially when there's a lot of room for training and dietary improvement such as here. I personally think he could get away with a week or two of no cardio before reintroducing it, and see results. At any rate, he says he's not losing any fat right now, so things can only improve from here.

I'm just thinking, he can probably drop 1 or 2% just by cleaning up his diet. It doesn't look too good from what he wrote.

IMO cardio should be used as a last resort, when everything else is perfect and you are stalling.

If he does too much now, he won't have it in his toolbox to use later, so to speak.

Hi Guys-Thanks much for your response.On sseing the response from Mastover,Foley,edster and Chris ,I am think of dropping the cardio for this week or maybe reduce it to just 3 days a week for this week only.From next week continue with 5 day a week cardio routine.
Chris--In regards to my meal details ,pls see below
meal 1 at 9:20AM-Yoplait shake(fat free -260 calories) and some oatmeal cereal+fat free milk (1 cup~220 calories) total-500cal
Meal 2 at 12:15PM-some white rice(1 cup~200 calories) and yogurt(fat free for 200 calories) with veggies(200 calories) and apple or subway veggie sub(~600 calories) and apple total~650 cal
Meal 3 at 3:00PM -Pitted dates(100 calories) and some nuts(Planters-150 calories) total-(~250 calories)
Meal 4 at 5:45 PM-one scoop of Whey protein(150 cal) and one small yopliat yogurt(100 calories) total--250 cal.This is before my work out session.
Meal 5 at 9:30-some white rice(1 cup~200 calories) and yogurt(fat free for 200 calories) with veggies(200 calories) or 3 slices of bread+veggie patty(+baked potatoes.total--600 cal
I also have 1 glass of fresh orange juice at ~12am.I am not sure if this could be considered as meal6.

Total calories----2200-2500 calories

Hope this helps!

Two things man:

1.) About the cardio. I don't think it's a good solution to reduce it for one week and then go right back to five times a week. I think you can kickstart your fat loss again MUCH more efficiently by worrying about your nutrition and forgetting about the cardio for now. Clean up your diet, stop or drastically reduce the cardio, and fat loss will continue. Then, when it stops, reintroduce the cardio.

2.) Cleaning up your diet. You need more protein--do you not eat meat? Most of your meals contain virtually no protein--which is a staple in a fat-burning diet. Also, you look to be eating too many high-GI carbs--the white rice, potatoes, orange juice, bread, etc. could be swapped out for much better choices as far as fat loss is concerned. Definitely, definitely, sit down and read those stickies.

Gosh, so many people are against cardio. But I still suggest keeping your cardio:) . Trust me, I hate cardio too but I do it when it's necessary. Here's my general recommendation for diet. If you could give macros (%carb, % protein, % fat) and amount of food each that would be even better.

meal 1 at 9:20AM-Yoplait shake(fat free -260 calories) and some oatmeal cereal+fat free milk (1 cup~220 calories) total-500cal
I would drop the Yoplait and milk. Replace with protein powder or cottage cheese. If you do protein powder, do not do whey but do a blend or casein protein. You said 1 cup of oatmeal. What oatmeal are you using? 1 cup of oatmeal is 300 calories. I suggest you just get the old fashioned oats if you aren't.
Meal 2 at 12:15PM-some white rice(1 cup~200 calories) and yogurt(fat free for 200 calories) with veggies(200 calories) and apple or subway veggie sub(~600 calories) and apple total~650 cal
I suggest drop the subway for some time and pack your own lunch. First, replace white rice with brown rice. Replace yogurt with cottage cheese. 200 calories of veggies??? How much are you eating man? Or are you frying those veggies up? I suggest eating them fresh or steamed. Remove apple.
Meal 3 at 3:00PM -Pitted dates(100 calories) and some nuts(Planters-150 calories) total-(~250 calories)
Remove pitted dates and replace with fresh fruit. Add cottage cheese.
Meal 4 at 5:45 PM-one scoop of Whey protein(150 cal) and one small yopliat yogurt(100 calories) total--250 cal.This is before my work out session.
You love yogurt don't you???:)
Meal 5 at 9:30-some white rice(1 cup~200 calories) and yogurt(fat free for 200 calories) with veggies(200 calories) or 3 slices of bread+veggie patty(+baked potatoes.total--600 cal
Again, remove yogurt, replace with cottage cheese. Get rid of white rice and get brown rice. Don't do bread. Try to eat as unprocessed food as possible.
I also have 1 glass of fresh orange juice at ~12am.I am not sure if this could be considered as meal6.
Drop the orange juice. Don't drink your calories. I need you to do meal 6 in here. Get some good fats, with veggies, and some protein.

Total calories----2200-2500 calories

Uhh... This has got to be the worst meal plan help I ever gave. I apologize for that. I'm not a vegetarian so it's really hard for me to do this. Maybe Jeremy Likness can chime in if he has the time. The guy knows how to cut with vegetarian diets. The reason I say remove yogurt so much is that the most yogurts I know have ton of carbs and very little protein. The reason I recommend cottage cheese so much is that they're lower in carbs and filled with high quality protein. Again, with a vegetarian diet, there are only few foods I can think of... Sorry.:o

Hi Guys-I did my cardio today and upped the inclination by 1.Maybe upping the intensity might help.I also got some multigrain brown rice today alongwith wheat bread and sesame seed oil.I could not find flaxseed oil.Also I will try to avoid white rice and white bread.In regards to the yoplait shake ,it has 10g protein.However I will purchase some casein protein powder.I hoe incorporating these changes will result in some fat loss.

Thanks everyone for the advise in regards to my diet.

Hi what protein sources do you eat/enjoy or are willing to eat?
tofu?
Beans?
fish?
eggs?
cottage cheese?

you really would find your fat loss helped if you could add some decent protein source to all your meals :)

Hi all,
To Jedi's question-I do like eating beans and also don't mind eating cottage cheese..I will also start having casein protein in the morning for breakfast.I just ordered that on bodybuilding.com website so still waititng for it to arrive.

To Chris's question-I usually cook the vegetables along with one tsp of extra virgin olive oil and hence the 200 calorie figure I mentioned earlier.For fat i just bought sesame seed oil today so will incorporate that into my diet.On the oatmeal cereal ,I usually get the regaular one and not the old fashioned oats.

cool