Q & A with Skiman 2009/10/03

[Skiman]

Hey I was just looking at your signature and wanted to get the scoop on your diet and routine. Sounds like you really know what you are doing and to be honest, your goals are similar. I started at 210 and I am down to 202. I want to hit those 180's (old high school weight), but I seem to slow down so much when I get to 200.

I started off charting all of my cals/protein/fat. I have a routine of:

Monday: Biceps & Back & Abs, 15 min cardio
Tues: Chest and Tri's - 15 min cardio
Wed: Shoudlers & Abs & Heavier 25 min Cardio
Thurs: Biceps & Back - 15 min cardio
Fri: Chest & Tris & Abs- 15 min Cardio

Any suggestions and help is appreciated. I eat roughtly 2000-2200 cals a day.

Routine looks very good, I would up the cardio that's where I noticed a lot of my differences with 45-60 minutes of a steady walking pace to get my heart rate around 130 bpm.

Also I got my carbs from fibrous veggies and lowered my fat to moderate around 5-10 grams per meal.

Ski

Well I've been really good (well I think I have) with my meals. I eat egg white omelets with turkey and light cheese for breakfast or Whole wheat english muffins. For lunch, its either chicken w/a cup of rice or a deli chicken sandwich with nothing on it, a fat free yogurt, and orange. Dinner is about the only meal I mix up, but 3-4 days a week, it is 12oz of grilled chicken and veggies. Occasionally I'll eat a steak, but very rare.

Occasionally I snack on almonds or walnuts, but I have been avoiding them as of late due to fat content. I only drink water during the day and skim milk with my 2 protein shakes which are taken for breakfast and post-workout.

I usually have a cheat meal on the weekend, but I try not to get out of hand. I am a thick kid with a lot of muscle, but should definitely be in the 180 range with my build rather than 200+.

I supplement with MyoFusion protein and Superpump 250 for energy.

With my macros in tact, should I lighten up on lifting? I really enjoy it, but I dont want it to hinder my weight loss. I dont particularly love running but thought it was the best way to burn cals. Do you suggest walking on the incline? Or is that something you just prefer over running?

I hope I am not bothering. Just looking for some advice. Thanks in advance.

No not at all, this is what I do with a cut and it's gonna seem drastic but it works,1) I eliminate, diary number , 2) I eliminate breads (starchy carbs), maybe just keep oats in the morning but I soon eliminate that as well and sub for a grape fruit. The rest if protein from chicken, fish or egg whites with a 10 grams of fat from almonds or peanut butter and a cup or half of cup of broccoli, green beans, asparagus or mix'd bag of stir fry veggies. Shakes if any I mix with water, I try to stay with whole foods mostly though better for the thermogenetics. (So in short I stay away from mostly breads, chesses, yogurts, milk, fruits (exception of half a grapefruit in the mornings), etc... and I eat this 6-8 times a day every 2-3 hours).

There is a difference in eating healthy and eating to cut up, I think that's where most ppl get lost. Bodybuilding in general or in my opinion is not healthy LOL, believe it or not.

I lift the same year wrong and I go heavy on most push or pull exercises and then usually super set them with push ups to failure, I go fast and about 30 seconds rest to none on each set. I keep it fast in order to reach my burning heart rate, so it's like a mix of weights with cardio if you think about it. If I'm bulking I'll rest lots more and not try to burn as much and I'll add most of the foods that we eliminate at the top paragraph LOL.

Hope that helps to clarify,

Ski

Very good! One last question and I will do my best to leave you alone LoL

Do you monitor the amount of protein you get in or just try to get some in at every meal? It sounds like you more so just look to make healthy food decisions rather than monitor every single macro. At the end of the day, it sounds like you do a really good job of keeping fats/cals/carbs low.

I find it so difficult to ditch the pasta and rice. Thats my biggest weakness. While its whole grain, its still a ton of carbs. The other thing is taking the woman out to eat. Its tough finding the healthiest meal when you arent sure about how things are cooked. Are you usually just a grilled chicken with a side of veggies guy or do you occasionally get a burger or something? I try to give myself a cheat meal, but Im starting to wonder if this is a stupid strategy.

I promise..no more messages after this. Just trying to gain all the knowledge possible from someone who clearly has had success doing what they are doing. It's much appreciated

U don't have to apologize it's cool to pass on what I've learn and to eliminate guess work is the hardest thing to figure out with this...

I do keep my calories pretty low and I pretty much now what I'm getting everyday because each meal is about the same calories or less with my shakes.

I try to get at least 30+ grams of protein with each meal, I believe that this is crucial to keeping my size while cutting down that and I take BCAA's (branch chain amino acids) all day long. I use a lot of Xtend which is about 6 scoops per gallon and I drink about 2.5 gallons max a day. I love Scivation products as they just came out with a complete meal replacement for their shakes (Solution 5) so there's no guess work as to add veggies for minerals or healthy fats such as peanut butter or almonds.

As for going out, you guessed it, usually grill chicken and some veggies or even a bake potato even though I don't do the starch carbs during the cut. A cheat is ok just depends what you goals are, if you cheat of course it might take 3 days to get back where you were at or reduce the sodium back down after water retention but it's just a choice to either keep you sane. If you can stand without I usually try not to but we are all human I and understand whenever that craving comes.

I think it all has to do with the insulin spikes that we give our bodies, so such a high insulin spike causes the cravens and a sugar rush like diet soda which contains 50 grams of sugar causes us to crave other bad foods is the main reason people don't do so well with staying strict. That's why the veggies and fat are so important to the protein meal it's to keep us sane, full and not to binge.

Also I run very effeciently with low carbs, almost more efficient than complex starchy carbs which most proclaim would be the way to put on mass and recover. It took a while to get use to. I just remember tapering them down to the point that I really didn't need a starchy carb to be efficiently thoughout the day and before I knew it eliminating them one at a time from each meal I only use it sparily and time my meals for morning carbs and sometimes post workout carbs.

Refeeds are also important as to where you don't wanna go completely flat and it's sort of a bump in the middle of the week so you don't go crazy. Every Wednesday/Sunday or 18th meal I like to call it I do a refeed on the last meal of the day during the night time before bed. I watch the water intake because this meal is only fats and carbs. Something like this for example would be my carb refeed meal:

1 cup of veggies
10 almonds
1 bake potato
1 taplespoon of honey
1/2 cup of oats
4 teaspoon of natural peanut butter


That will tie me over in the middle of week so I don't feel the urge for carbs or the urge to cheat.

Hope it helps and feel free to ask anymore,

Ski