??'s On training a woman

[funniirishman]

Okay I have perused this section to gather up as much info as I can..(and have copied down a great deal of it) so I wouldn't ask something that has already been answered..And if I end up doing it anyway I apologize.

My g/f has asked me to start helping her to train. She currently does cardio and weight training 4 times a week and is on a carb depleted diet. She has plateaued in terms of weight loss and is not happy with muscle tone or body fat % ( I dont have the numbers) She is in good shape but as is everyone is her own worst critic:) I have never trained a woman and I know they respond differently to training. I am concerned that perhaps her complete elimination of carbs may be retarding muscle growth or fat loss...you need them in your diet. My training focuses on speed, and strength..I need them for my job so this is what I do..I eat accordingly..high protien, good carbs not a whole lot of fat...sooo the question at the end of this diatribe is will this type of diet she is on (carb depletion) continue to be successful and we should look at some different training aspects instead? Additionally do woman need specific supplements or vitamins when training (aside from the normal things protein ect)...again if this has been covered I apologize I for one hate being redundant. She currently isn't taking anything supplements, vitamins, or otherwise.

[shiko24]

just my .02cts your very last statement maybe part of the reason she is not seeing the results she is lookinf for I train with my girl friend and she does everything I do in the gym rep for rep (at her level) and she eats what I eat good clean foods in healthy portions and she takes the same supplements I do mostly whey protein in the form of shakes if your friend is not getting enough protein then she will never see what she is looking for

shiko24

[Puddles]

I can't function, let alone grow without carbs. You can still loose fat if you eat carbs, just keep them reasonable. Is your girl eating 6 times a day? Post up a sample of her diet so we can get a better idea of how she's eating. Redsquirrel knows a lot more about diet than I do so hopefully she'll be able to give you some advice. Drinking water is important too...I will start putting on weight when my water intake is not what it should be.

As for the training, women can train just like men, no need to do things differently. Typically I train 5 days a week with weights hitting each bodypart once a week, doing 4 exercises per bodypart, 3 or 4 sets per exercise and I aim for 12 rep sets. For me this has worked well for building muscle and increasing strength. She needs to push herself and the reps should be difficult near the end of each set or she will not gain muscle. Training to failure around the 10th rep and doing some drop sets is good too.

Your girl should at the very least be taking a multi vitamin and calcium. I vary my supplements but there are about 10 I rotate including a multi, zinc, cal/mag, vit e and c, amino acids, iron, and some others. Flax and fish oil are beneficial too.

[funniirishman]

Hey great this is just the info I was looking for..She is taking no more than 30 grams of carbs per day and about 1700 calories...her diet (what she eats typically differs) flucuates so much it is difficult to narrow down but I am having her write down her diet for a day..shes not eating often enough...about 3-4 times a day..She is frustrated in terms of fat loss...cant seem to lose the rest so she has started the above in an effort to get rid of it..so more protein and more carbs? I think her lack of carbs is a problem..her energy level is lower..but she is pissed and going to try this diet...

[Puddles]

If she wants to go with little or no carbs, look into a CKD diet. I've heard a lot of people have good results with it. It'll still have her eating 6 meals a day though.

[funniirishman]

I checked out that CKD diet. That might be the ticket..she is primarily concerned with fat loss but I think if she can get some definition/strength while she is doing all this training it will help boost her confidence that it is working..and for that you need stuff on board to promote growth...I even thought about clen but I dont think we are there yet..although it would make her diet a little more flexible:) Thanks again for the advice Puddles, if I have any other questions I'll drop you a line if its okay..FI

[Puddles]

I would hold off on clen use until she's truly reached a plateau. Get her to find out her bf% and then she'll be able to figure out how many callories she needs to take in to loose weight. Keep in mind that insufficient calloric intake will actually hinder fat loss. Her body will go into starvation mode and hold onto the fat instead of loosing it. Eating small meals every few hours (at least 6 times a day) will help to keep her metabolism running efficiently instead of shutting down. Also, increased muscle mass will increase her metabolism and her weight, so don't rely on the scale as much as bf%.

[redsquirrel]

Originally posted by funniirishman
Hey great this is just the info I was looking for..She is taking no more than 30 grams of carbs per day and about 1700 calories...her diet (what she eats typically differs) flucuates so much it is difficult to narrow down but I am having her write down her diet for a day..shes not eating often enough...about 3-4 times a day..She is frustrated in terms of fat loss...cant seem to lose the rest so she has started the above in an effort to get rid of it..so more protein and more carbs? I think her lack of carbs is a problem..her energy level is lower..but she is pissed and going to try this diet...

First off, how long has she been doing her current carb depleted diet? If you deprive the body of carbs for too long, the body will not change and will go to muscle stores for energy....not the fat stores. Which leads me to my next question- is she eating any healthy fats? i.e.: flax oil, fish oil, etc. If she is eating healthy fats, the body uses those for energy instead of muscle.

Secondly, eating 3-4 times a day will not help jump start her metabolism. Our bodies become complacent, sometimes quickly, which leads to plateaus. If you continue to change your habits, your body has less chance of no changing. They usually are small changes; i.e.: 5 more min. of cardio, cardio in the AM, etc.

All in all, she NEEDS to go get her BF done to measure her caloric intake for fat loss. The goal here is to maintain her lean body mass, not lose more. Getting her BF checked on a regular basis is really the only way to gauge her BF loss progress. If you go just by the scale, you never know if the weight you've lost is mucsle or fat. 1700 calories may be too many, I don't know. But 30 carbs??? IMO, that's a little extreme. I'm on a show diet right now, and carb depleted as hell, and i eat more than 30 carbs. It sounds like it's the Atkins diet she is trying. While that diet works for many in the beginning, it's not a good lifestyle to adapt to.

Please post her diet, weight, height, cardio and BF when you get a chance.;)

[funniirishman]

Okay, cool...I for one agree that 30 carbs is nuts...she is on the SouthBeach diet..which after some reading is like atkins only not with the fat and more healthy carbs...As for her diet..I was a little unsure so I just had her write down what she ate for a day to establish what she is typically eating..
Here ya go: Bfast--1/2 cup eggbeaters, string cheese, protein drink-mixed with 2 cups of skim milk. Total 380 cal 9 grams of carbs
Next meal--1/2 Baked chicken breast basted with olive oil and spices
70 calories and 5 grams of carbs.
Next meal was a chicken breast and a whole wheat tortilla with some butter and two string cheeses Total 810 calories and 12 grams of carbs.

Last meal was Buffalo (yes buffalo) patty with some cheese, and veggies stir fried in olive oil Total 660 calories and ) carbs. For a total of.....1470 calories and 12-20 carbs for the day.

She is 5'7 140 and says her body fat is around 23%..Does cardio 4-5 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes, Weight training 4-5 times a week, alternating body parts..There ya have it...Let me know what you think...

[Puddles]

Briefly looking at her diet she's off in counting her carbs. If she's using 2 cups of skim milk in her shake she's getting more like 26 grams of carbs from the milk alone. I looked up skim milk on fitday.com and it listed skim as having 13.68 grams of carbs per cup. Also, they list the whole wheat tortilla at about 30 carbs.

Butter and cheese are not good for trying to lean down, the fats in them are bad fats as opposed to good fats.

She'd be much better off steaming her veggies instead of cooking them in olive oil. Although olive oil is considered a healthy fat, it looses it's nutrients in cooking and she'd be better off not using it to cook with.

I'll look around my files for a diet I had typed out a while ago and if I can find it I'll post it. It will only be an idea of one way to eat but it worked well for me and I still follow the basics of it now.

[funniirishman]

Great! Thanks much....I checked on the carb counting..apparently it was a "a carb reduced milk beverage" whatever the hell that is but the count was accurate on that..same with the tortilla..a carb friendly one as well...Im not sure how much nutritional value all this carb depleted food will have...If you can find that diet it would be great..I appreciate all the good information..Thank you!

[redsquirrel]

Originally posted by Puddles
Briefly looking at her diet she's off in counting her carbs. If she's using 2 cups of skim milk in her shake she's getting more like 26 grams of carbs from the milk alone.

That and the string cheese together put her carbs well over the 30 mark.

However, in order to lean out, CUT ALL DAIRY. Dairy has carbs in it and whether or not the label says so, they turn to sugar when processed in your body. Dairy bloats you as well.

[redsquirrel]

OK.

Here's how it breaks down:

She has 107 lbs. of lean body mass.

She has about 33 lbs of fat.

Her caloric intake to MAINTAIN her current physique is 1260.

Now, in all actuality, your friend is very thin at 5'7" 140. I am 5'4" and 138....and I'm dieting!! LOL. Anyway, what are her true goals? Is she wanting to lose the BF? IMHO, if she loses anymore weight, she may start to look emaciated.

For starters, the diet she is on, she is not eating enough times in the day. I'll be honest, a great program for beginner is Body for Life. It really teaches you to train yourself to eat 5 small meals a day to keep the metabolism going. It also provides different workouts with cardio and weights. I'm sure her training could use a change as well.

Here is a skeleton of a diet for her:

M1- 1/2 c. Egg beaters, 2 egg whites
1/4 c. oatmeal
3oz. chicken or turkey
3 Fish oil tabs
M2- Shake or bar-low carb
M3- 5oz chicken, turkey or fish
3oz. sweet potato or 3oz brown rice
1c. green veggies
3 Fish oil tabs
M4- same as 2
M5- 6oz chicken, turkey or fish
2c green veggies
3 Fish oil tabs
* Red meat 2 x a week

Here's how it breaks down:(minus the fish oil)
M1- 7 fats, 15 carbs, 33 protein
M2- 5 fats, 10 carbs, 40 protein
M3- 8 fats, 16 carbs, 35 protein
M4- 5 fats, 10 carbs, 40 protein
M5- 6 fats, 15 carbs, 40 protein
TOTAL:
31 fats, 66 carbs, 188 protein
1293 calories.
As you can see, the diet still has carbs in it at 2 meals and is not as hard core as South Beach and that she stops seeing results. South Beach is good for those that have a lot to lose, and it is not a good diet to follow as a lifestyle. Your friend DOES NOT have a lot to lose. IMO, she needs to worry about building muscle and losing fat. This diet is designed to help her lose BF. I look at it this way: you have to have kindling to start a fire, right? Well, if you have no kindling (fats or carbs) how are you going to get your own internal fire to start burning?

Have her do cardio at a different time of the day, preferrably in the AM, and for the 30 minutes.....she may even want to increase it to 6 days.

[funniirishman]

Awesome..thanks for all the help..it has definitely given her and I a starting point and some things to focus on..I appreciate all the good advice...