losing body fat - increasing muscle strength & balance

[Misiu2]

hello! this is my first post, and I hope you can help me out...


I'm a soccer Goalkeeper and I am looking to burn excess body fat while adding muscle strength, not neccessarily muscle bulk, but definetely strength...


the most important part of being a keeper is being agile.


can anyone point me in the direction of a particular diet regime?
I'll list my training as well.


anaerobic -

plyometrics

I train around 15-20 hours a week a feel that I am going nowhere...hopefully you all can suggest some dieting solutions to my problem...


at present my typical meal structure is

Breakfast: Coco Pops + 800mls-1 litre of full-cream milk

lunch: more coco pops or scrambled eggs (6 eggs + 100 mls full cream milk)

dinner: Either 500 grams of red meat - or similar pportioning of chicken.


late night snack: small bowl of Coco Pops...



1. how badly is this diet affecting my chances of improving my athletic ability, and the chances of losing body fat?


please reccomend a diet for me...remember that when I train, it i at a high anaerobic intensity...ie - plyometrics etc...full-stretch diving routines...



what is the best way to lose those love handles???



also...I do not have many visible veins on my arms etc...is this due to me not drinking a lot of water??? i almost never drink water by itself...


how much water should I drink???

[Leonie]

Are you addicted to Coco Pops? You might as well be eating sugar straight from the bowl. There is no way you will lose weight eating that crap even if you are exercising as much as you are.

This site is all about low carb eating. Get yourself a copy of Dr Atkins Diet Revolution and check out his principles. You would probably need more carbs than he recommends due to your activity level, but definitely NOT in the form you are eating them now. Low G.I. carbs like wholemeal bread will give you the energy you need.

I think you will find this site really informative and helpful- spend some time searching and you will find all the answers.

Welcome to the board .

[kegs]

I agree with Leonie! Give away the processed foods and concentrate on whole "clean" foods.

Are you having any vegies at all? You need them for fibre. Also you must be drinking at least 2 litres of water a day, it's THE most important thing.

Regarding your workouts etc, Jesper and Rossana are more knowlegable in that area, they can set you straight with how many carbs etc to have.

Welcome Misiu2, I hope we can help you!

Kegs

[Sherrie]

Yes get rid of the coco pops. There is no nutritional value in cocopops whatsoever, much cheaper to just eat sugar!.
I won't even let my son have crap like coco pops for breakfast, he eats cereals like oatmeal and vitabits for example. He mainly eats oatmeal with some honey to sweeten.

For you I would say things like Oatmeal or eggs for breakfast.

You don't have many visible veins because you eat too much coco pops!

Also I would'nt drink a litre of milk with breakfast either.

500g is too much meat for one sitting, I would halve that and add heaps of vegies with it. Mainly go for green vegies.
(you could always have the other half at lunch with some brown rice)

You really need to look at Low GI foods, try doing a search in Google for Glycemic Index.

[sanuk]

Hi Misiu2,

I am doing a similar amount of training to you (but for outrigger canoeing) and my goals have been the same as yours - reduce body fat while at the same time building strength.
From what reading I have done (here and elsewhere) I have come to realise that it is pretty hard to do both, particularly if you want fast results.

One advantage you have is that a lot of your training seems to be anaerobic (mine is an endurance sport but we train and compete at pretty high heart rates).

Jesper and Rossana are more qualified to pass comment on this but I would suggest that at the level, type and frequency of exercise you are doing perhaps the ketogenic diet followed by most of the members on this site is not for you. You can still follow a low carb diet and you WILL see benefits in fat loss, and increases in energy levels.

I generally aim for between 55 and 75g carbs a day, and between 1800 - 2400 calories per day, depending on my level of activity for the day. I find that at that level I am able to drop about quarter to a half a kilo a week and still build strength. Not as fast a result as others achieve on 20g carbs a week but I cannot afford to drop any strength or muscle mass. Alternatively, you could look at a cyclical keto diet - try searching this site for more information on this variation of the ketogenic diet. It is more suited to those that want to build muscle mass.

You seem to eat a lot of cocopops - these are a great recovery food if you have done at least 90 minutes of aerobic activity and you are planning to compete again with 48 hours. But they are a high glycaemic index carbohydrate so they will cause a quick rise in blood sugar, then the insulin released will cause a corresponding drop in blood sugar, leading to feelings of hunger and tiredness. Save them for recovery only, and try and replace them in your daily diet with a low GI carb or even better a combination meal of protein, fat and vegetables. We can all help you out with some menu suggestions.

You seem to eat a heap of protein for dinner - is it possible to more evenly distribute your protein intake throughout the day?
How about replacing the cocopops you have as a snack with a chocolate protein shake instead?

Hope this all helps,

Sanuk

[Misiu2]

I finished my last box of coco pops yesterday...now to the future...

the people on this site seems to be real go-getters in terms of hunting the net for dieting tips etc...well, that's not me...


what is your diet outline Sanuk???

if I have eggs for breakfast, how should I have them??? can I have them on toast??? can I fry them???


and what about lunch??? what can I eat for lunch...???


I'm seriously lost without my coco pops!!!


and what is Kesotsis???

[Jesper]

Go out and by Atkins's "The New Diet Revolution".

[sanuk]

Hi Misiu2,

As Jesper says, try reading the Atkins book (New Diet Revolution) for starters. Then everything that people are talking about on this website will make a lot more sense.

When I first started, I had a fair bit of trouble working out a daily diet because I still had a bit of a fat-phobia (I'm over that now). But I have worked out a range of alternatives for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and I alternate them according to my level of exercise for the day and how I am feeling.

Breakfast:
"Training days" (1.5 - 2 hours of outrigger training pre-breakfast) - bacon and eggs or bacon and mushrooms. Black coffee (only have one per day). Can't stomach bacon & eggs if I haven't done a lot of exercise before hand.
Other days: low carb breakfast cereal with rhubarb, sunflower seeds and greek yoghurt or cream. Black coffee

Mid-morning: chocolate protein shake or raspberry smoothie made with cottage cheese and greek yoghurt

Lunch: Mostly meat and salad. I try and cook more than we need at dinner so that there are interesting left-overs good the next day. Sometimes we will have sausages or an ommelette if the weather is cool. I just try and mix up the meats as much as possible so we get lots of variety. I also throw some nuts or seeds into the salads and use different (low carb) dressings to keep changing the flavours. I also find on my level of carbs (55g-75g) I can have a slice of bread (which I SO look forward to!). I eat Burgen Soy-Lin because it is really low GI, really high in fibre and not that high in carbs. Tastes good too.

Afternoon: either of the shakes if for some reason I did not have one in the morning. Or sometimes I might have some mixed nuts (not cashews), or beef jerky, or diet jelly, or low carb cheesecake. I'm not a big cheese eater but you could have some cheese as well for a snack. A few strawberries with a tablespoon of cream fraiche is also a really nice snack if you have a sweet craving.

Dinner: Usually a huge serving of lean meat and low carb vegetables. We find we can eat quite a large meal (and boy do we need it!) as long as we keep the carbs under control. Sometimes we will have large ommelettes or fritatas. And I really enjoy one small (120mL) glass of red wine with dinner. Some low carb cheesecake or diet jelly or a square of Lindt 70% dark chocolate if I need some desert.

The trick is to not let yourself get really hungry. Don't skip meals and don't get caught out without food (I always have a protein bar or some nuts in my handbag). Don't shop on an empty stomack either.

Have your eggs anyway you like them - I prefer mine fried, but you can poach, scramble etc. If you have them on toast remember you gotta count the carbs in the toast and bread has a lot of carbs.

Hope this helps get you started,

Sanuk