# Break the Plateau



## jfrance (Aug 29, 2004)

Over the last 9 months, I have lost 50 lbs of bf, and gained 10-15 lbs of muscle, but I haven't really lost more than a couple of pounds for the last few months of that.   I know that it's because I have relaxed my diet and eat too many snacks.

This is what I'm trying to do:
meal 1: 6 egg whites ( or protein shake)   & 1 C oatmeal (old fashioned)
meal 2: trio-o-plex bar
meal 3: lean meat & vegetable or fruit & brown rice or sweet potato (or some equiv combo of this)
meal 4: protein shake
meal 5: same as meal 3
meal 6: protein shake

I'm trying to have 2400 calories a day, with about 250grams protein.   I try to keep the fat down very low & keep sodium down low.  

I take 750 chondroitin & glocosamine, 1000mg vit C, multi vitamin, & vegetable based digestive enzymes.    

I've gotten as far as I have with the help of my personal trainer, Shari, who has been very very helpful.  

The exercise:   I go to the gym 5 days a week.   Each work out consists of 10 min cardio, 1/2 hour weights with abs at the end, 20 min of cardio.  
The 5 diff weight days I do are:   back & bi,  legs, shoulders,  bi & tri, chest.

I need to pay more attention when I'm with the trainer, because she has been varying the weights & reps for me on the 2 days I'm with her.    I thought that we have varied mostly from high reps/low weights, to low reps high weights, but when I showed her P/RR/S, she said that's pretty much the same thing that we were doing.  
   Unfortunately, I messed my shoulders up a month ago, doing flys, and while  they are healing,  I am going light weights on all my upper body stuff.   That's  actually not too bad, because we are staying very heavy on legs, because upper was starting to out pace legs.   


I'm going to post diet in here & try to put my work outs, but it's hard to put the trainer ones, b/c I don't always remember the weights & reps.   

My office is a land mine of bad food.   The front desk has gummy bears, jelly beans, hard candy & often cookies.   It's very easy to take a few jelly beans and say that that's not much, but they add up.   The snack machine is easier to avoid, but the snackwell cookies do make a sweet treat from there, which I don't need.   
   Eating out is tempting too.    It's easy to say that I did a great work out and burned lots of calories & have more muscle burning calories, so I can have that pasta from Olive Garden....

    Time to get that all back on track.


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## gwcaton (Aug 29, 2004)

> I'm trying to have 2400 calories a day, with about 250grams protein. I try to keep the fat down very low & keep sodium down low.


Just don't forget the EFA's.  Natural peanut butter , fish oil caps or something like that .


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## atherjen (Aug 29, 2004)

What Gaary said  

Best of luck!


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## fantasma62 (Aug 29, 2004)

atherjen said:
			
		

> What Gaary said
> 
> Best of luck!


Ditto on that too....

Have a great day buddy!!!!!!!!


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## jfrance (Aug 29, 2004)

Gary & Jen - How much natural PB should I have to get enough EFAs?

I think I will just get a bottle of fish oil pills, but how many mgs should I have of those?

Tony - Thanks.    You have a great day too.


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## jfrance (Aug 29, 2004)

Had a pretty good work out today...  did  shoulders.

10 min - eliptical with HR at 150 bpm

side raises on machine  3 x 30 x 20lb
shoulder presses on machine  3 x 30 x 20 lb
5 lb dumbells:
   front raises  3 x 20
   standing rows 3 x 20
   side raises 3 x 20

abs

Threw in 50 reps on seated row at 15lb, b/c sports dr. wants me to do extremely light work on rhomboids every day


Stair master at 150-160 bpm for 10 min
Eliptical for 5 at 140-150bmpm to loose up legs.


Annoying to go back to lower weights, but need to make that shoulder healthy, and you still get a nice burn if you do 30 reps...


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## P-funk (Aug 29, 2004)

> I think I will just get a bottle of fish oil pills, but how many mgs should I have of those?



Depending on the ones you buy you can take anywhere from 5-10 in a sitting and 10-20 in a day, depending on your fat needs for the day and for the given meal.

good luck with your fitness goals.

-patrick


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## gwcaton (Aug 29, 2004)

Jamie,

Here's the code for making a link in your sig for your journal
[post= 269302]Click Me![/post] 
You need to change the 269302 to whatever your journals # is and make sure you take the space out from between the = and the first number of your journal.

I think your number is 35856  
Also you can change the "Click Me!"  to anything you want it to say


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## gwcaton (Aug 29, 2004)

Oh and on the fish oil/nat pb. The bottle should tell you how many to take .

I get my EFA's by eating salmon about 3 times a week and i eat 1 tbsp nat pb two time a day. Don't know if thats enough but no one has ever called me out on it


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## jfrance (Aug 29, 2004)

Patrick + Gary -
  Thank for your help and support.


Gary - I had to use a different number.    The link work for me - does it work for you?


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## gwcaton (Aug 29, 2004)

jfrance said:
			
		

> Patrick + Gary -
> Thank for your help and support.
> 
> 
> Gary - I had to use a different number. The link work for me - does it work for you?


Worked !


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## jfrance (Aug 29, 2004)

Food for the day (calories, protein)

meal 1: protein shake (390,64) + 1 cup oatmeal (150,5)
meal 2: trioplex bar (360,33)
meal 3: turkey sandwich (260,19) & 1 slice bread w/ natural PB (180,6) + 1/2 salad w/vinegar (35,2)
meal 4: protein shake (390,64)
meal 5: chili (360,23) & 1 slice bread w/butter (120,3)
meal 6: pure pro drink (180,40)

bad for me snacks: 4 oreos (200,2)


total (2625,257)   according to Fit day, my fat was 57 and carbs 257.

I need to cut back on the bread and oreo, I know...


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## jfrance (Aug 29, 2004)

Thanks Gary - 

   The signature works much better this way.

-Jamie


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## ncgirl21 (Aug 30, 2004)

Hey!!     I completly missed your journal!! Silly me! Anyways, just wanted to pop in and say GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!


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## jfrance (Aug 30, 2004)

ncgirl21 said:
			
		

> Hey!!     I completly missed your journal!! Silly me! Anyways, just wanted to pop in and say GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!




Thanks NC Girl!    I really appreciate the support on here.


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## jfrance (Aug 30, 2004)

Had a session with the trainer today.   

Did back and bi's, but I really don't know how much of everything.  I can re-create it while doing it, but I don't remember  everything I did, or know what they are called.

5 min eliptical - high resist & fast

Standing cable bicep curls   (cables at top, and arms out to sides, curling hands in toward ears)     -  3 x 10
preacher curls - 3x20
seated hammer curls - 1x10 
standing hammer curls - 2 x 10
bent over rows - 3x10
seated rows - 3 x 10
lat pull down - 3 x15
2 more rowing macines - 3 x10 each

15 min - running - running very quickly for me, 6 mph.


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## jfrance (Aug 30, 2004)

food for today - 
 (cal, protein)
meal 1: 1 C oatmeal (150,5) & protein shake (230,41)
meal 2: trioplex bar (360,33)
meal 3: chili (350,23) & pear (100,1) & mix veggies (150,3)
meal 4: protein shake (230,41)
meal 5: wendy's grilled chix sand (360,31) & salad (100,5)
meal 6: 2 slices bread w/ natural PB (280,10)

another cookie cheat - 4 oreos (200,2)  - can't let this become a habit
Fortunately, we're running out of cookies.


total (2510,195)    
according to fit day  62 fat, 282 carb

Not as good as yesterday, but I'll do better tomorrow.


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## P-funk (Aug 30, 2004)

> Fortunately, we're running out of cookies.



that is why I only buy small four packs of cookies


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## jfrance (Aug 31, 2004)

good plan, Patrick.     I think I will by NO packs of cookies...



Work out was legs today:

eliptical 10 min

leg press -   5 x 10 x 500lb
stationary lunges 1 x 15
SL deads - 3 x 10 x 110lb  
leg extensions - 3 x 10 x 165
leg curl - 1 x 100
leg aductors - 3 x 15 x 150
leg abductor - 3 x 15 x 100
standing calf raises - 3 x 20 x 135

running 20 min


I'll do abs tonight at home.   I had to get back to work.


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## P-funk (Aug 31, 2004)

looks good....some advice:

1) rely more on the mulit joint exercises, esp. for the legs.  this will really up your metabolism as you can add more muscle in your legs than you can anywhere else.

2) do you squat?

3) careful running after a leg workout.  all that overload on the hammies can lead to a tear which would not be fun.

4) i say skip abs on leg day.  to much overload on the lumbar spine.

5) You can mail the coookies to me.


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## jfrance (Aug 31, 2004)

P-funk said:
			
		

> looks good....some advice:
> 
> 1) rely more on the mulit joint exercises, esp. for the legs.  this will really up your metabolism as you can add more muscle in your legs than you can anywhere else.
> 
> ...




for 1)  which exercises would you recommend?
2) I do squat, but not every leg day
3) I'm not running that hard, and I just want to loosen up the legs
4) never heard that before...
5) almost all gone.   I'd hate to just send you crumbs...


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## P-funk (Aug 31, 2004)

1) squats, deadlifts, lunges
2) I would (but I am biased towards the squat)
3) bike is a little ligher on the legs to loosen them up since there is no impact
4) don't know what to say here
5) send me crumbs and you will be banned (LOL)


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## fantasma62 (Aug 31, 2004)

Hey Jamie,


So what's the day like today?

Don't send funk crumbs, I recommend that you go buy him some cookies and send them.....he'll ban you you know ? 

I hope you are having a good day....Let it continue...


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## jfrance (Aug 31, 2004)

Patrick - I really like doing legs with my trainer, b/c she is really tough on me for legs, and I usually end up doing a LOT of squats and lunges and deadlifts with her.    I've really become a pet project for her.   With other clients, she sometimes finishes a couple minutes early or takes it a little easy on them.   With me, we go full bore for the entire 1/2 hour, often running late.   Some times, she has to go to her next client and just assigns me my ab work, so as not to cut into lifting time at all.   

Any cookies I have left after tonight, I'll be sure to send you.     


Tony -  
     Thanks for the good will!    Day is good so far.


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## jfrance (Aug 31, 2004)

food for the day:
(cal,pro)
meal 1: 1 C oatmeal (150,5) & protein shake (390,64)
meal 2: trioplex bar (360,33)
meal 3:healthy choice beef tips (280,23) & apple (60,0) & carrots (190,5)
meal 4: protein shake (230,41)
meal 5: sweet potato (180,3)
meal 6: campbells roast chicken  bake (600,54)

total (2440,228)      &  42Fat  & 284 carb


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## jfrance (Sep 1, 2004)

Had a good workout today....

I realized that my office is only 1 mile from the gym, so I just ran to the gym, did weights, and ran back to the office.    Very cool.


assisted dips  3x10   (my relative weight was about 150)
tricep press down with bar 3 x 10 on #3   very slowly
tricep press down with rope 3 x10 on #2   very slowly
french curl 3 x 10 w/ 30lb ez bar
bicep curl  3 x 10 w 50lb ex bar
bicep side cable curls 3 x 10 on #3
seated hammer curls 2 x 10 w 12lb
seated supination curls 2 x 10 w 12 lb
standing hammer curls 2 x 10 w 12lb

+ abs

Shoulders didn't hurt at all today.   They must be healing nicely.   Going to keep things light for a while, so that they can get fully healed.


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## Rocco32 (Sep 1, 2004)

Hey Jamie, catching up on journals here! How's it going. Journal looks great so far. Here's my take on your diet- Make sure you get a good quantity of protein at EVERY meal! Skip the protein bar. Make sure your getting fat when you drink your protein shake (provided it's not right after your w/o) and make sure your getting fat in the last meal of the day. Cut out Carbs before bed, replace that with protein (talking about the 2 slices of bread w/PB) and fat. Looking great though buddy!


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## jfrance (Sep 1, 2004)

rock4832 said:
			
		

> Hey Jamie, catching up on journals here! How's it going. Journal looks great so far. Here's my take on your diet- Make sure you get a good quantity of protein at EVERY meal! Skip the protein bar. Make sure your getting fat when you drink your protein shake (provided it's not right after your w/o) and make sure your getting fat in the last meal of the day. Cut out Carbs before bed, replace that with protein (talking about the 2 slices of bread w/PB) and fat. Looking great though buddy!




 aggree with the no carbs late.    I would like to have a protein shake as meal 6.   

What's wrong with the protein bar?   The  Tri-o-plex bars are essensially soy & whey protein, and whole grain rolled oats.    

Why have the fat post work out and last meal?


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## Rocco32 (Sep 1, 2004)

I'm sorry. I wanted to emphasize NOT to have fat postworkout  Look at the ingredients for your protein bars. I'm sure it has sugar alcohols in it and when your trying to lose weight (or any other time) that's a no-no. Plus all the other "chemicals" put into those bars.

Now you DO want fat in your last meal of the day with protein. This is because your going to go 6-9hours without any food in your body and the fat (make it a good fat ) slows the digestion down throughout the night, making the protein more anabolic. Does all this make sense? LOL


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## Rocco32 (Sep 1, 2004)

Oh, and Cary, NC is by far the best place in the world to live  I love it there.


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## jfrance (Sep 1, 2004)

rock4832 said:
			
		

> I'm sorry. I wanted to emphasize NOT to have fat postworkout  Look at the ingredients for your protein bars. I'm sure it has sugar alcohols in it and when your trying to lose weight (or any other time) that's a no-no. Plus all the other "chemicals" put into those bars.
> 
> Now you DO want fat in your last meal of the day with protein. This is because your going to go 6-9hours without any food in your body and the fat (make it a good fat ) slows the digestion down throughout the night, making the protein more anabolic. Does all this make sense? LOL





the flavor Tri-o-plex bar I had today has:
CJ Protein blend (soy protein isolate, whey protein isolate), whole grain rolled oats, oat flour, water, fruit juice, natural grain dextrin, shredded coconut, cocoa processes with alkali, natural flavors, canola oil, vegetable glycerin.   Contains 2% or less of the following: glucose syrup, dextrose, fiber, salt, sucralose, citric acit, ascorbic acid, potassium sorbate, potassium benzoate.   

I'm only pressing the issue, because my trainer has highly recommended these bars and encouraged me to get them.    She's not in favor of most bars, like the Snickers marathon bar, or avid bars, but she has said that these are good.    Of course, she can make mistakes, but she has proven to be very knowledgeable for the most part.  

would a handful of almonds be a good fat to have before bed?   what are some other ideas?   Maybe, put natural PB in the protein shake?  How about just having fish oil, or does EFAs not count as fat in this case?


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## Jodi (Sep 1, 2004)

I agree wholeheartedly with Rock's comments.

Bars are bad and any trainer that says they are good needs to re-read about sugar alcohols and glycerols.  I would never tell my clients to eat bars.  Stick with the shakes for a convenience meal.

Fish oil or Natty PB with your shake at bedtime is perfect


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## Rocco32 (Sep 1, 2004)

Ahhhh, here's the woman! Jamie, anything I say I've learned from Jodi. So listen to her, LOL  She's awesome!!


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## Rocco32 (Sep 1, 2004)

Another good nighttime fat and protein is Cottage Cheese!


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## jfrance (Sep 1, 2004)

ok, ok you win.   They're not good.   However, given that 9 months ago, I was eating pizza, fast food, and candy bars, I'm not quite ready to be completely perfect.   For now, I'm going to keep my 1 bar, which is one of the better bars.    I do need to pick up some fish oil, though.    AJ told me that I can just take that before a meal and I won't be burping up nasty fish taste all day.
    Back to GNC I go...


Thank to both of you for your advice!      


food for today:
(cal, pro)
meal 1: 1 C oatmeal (150,5) & protein shake (390,64)
meal 2: trioplex bar (360,33)
meal 3: sweet potato (180,3),campbells roast chicken  bake (600,54)
meal 4: protein shake (230,41)
meal 5: sweet potato (180,3)
meal 6: chili (350,23) + small piece of bread w/butter (120,3)

total (2560,229)  fat (49)  carb (304)


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## Rocco32 (Sep 1, 2004)

Your meal 4, is that post workout? And you need protein in your meal 5. NEVER have a meal w/out protein!!! Your going to hate me soon


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## jfrance (Sep 2, 2004)

rock4832 said:
			
		

> Your meal 4, is that post workout? And you need protein in your meal 5. NEVER have a meal w/out protein!!! Your going to hate me soon




  I won't hate you.    I also might not do what you recommend.   It doesn't mean that I don't think you are correct, though.    Please keep commenting, because I do value your opinion, though.

I was eating total junk for many years.    9 months ago, I started fixing that and up until a few months ago, was getting really clean.   Over the last couple of months, I started to slide a little bit, but no where near what I was before.    This journal is an attempt to get me back to what I was at a few months ago, and to maintain that.      Am I going to be as good as a competitive body-builder, who has been doing this for 10 years, and is at 5% bf and cutting for competition?   No, probably not.   

But, please keep commenting on things that you see which could help.   I'll improve things very slowly, but surely.

Thanks
-jamie


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## fantasma62 (Sep 4, 2004)

Hey Jamie,


I am just passing by to say hi.

Been kinda' busy working out (shutters) and haven't been able to catch up with your juounal.
I will do so as soon as this blows over (literally)...

Take care...


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## jfrance (Sep 7, 2004)

fantasma62 said:
			
		

> Hey Jamie,
> 
> 
> I am just passing by to say hi.
> ...




Thanks Tony!

     It's always a pleasure to have people stop by.     I'm getting myself back to posting again, now.


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## jfrance (Sep 7, 2004)

Worked with my trainer today to do shoulders.
We did shoulder press, seated shrugs, upright rows, front raises, and lateral raises  & abs.    
I didn't have a lot of time for cardio, so I went hard for what I had. 
I ran 5 min before weights, then ran 12 minutes afterwards.    
I can do 10 min at 6 mph with some difficulty, but didn't feel quit up to it today, so I did 5 min at 6, then walked for 1 min, jogged for 1 min, ran for 1 min, and did the last 2 at 7mph.   

Is it better to do sprint intervals of walking/running fast, or to just go a long time at a slower speed?   I just try to mix it up.


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## jfrance (Sep 9, 2004)

Legs today with the trainer.   I'll be really precise:
lots of weight and lots of reps & lots of exercises....

squats, SLDLs, lunges, leg press, leg extensions, calf raises.   

I can't wait until tomorrow and the next day when the soreness sets in...


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