New here - seeking advice

[Shorty007]

I have been working out for years. After going catabolic last year – I started my year off right with new goals. Since the beginning of Feb. 05’ I lost 5 lbs. & 5%bf.

But now I’m in another rut. I think I am going catabolic again… I gained 3lbs & 4% bf back in the matter of 2 weeks.

My problem seems to be I am a rawist/vegetarian (I do eat fish). 85% of the food I eat is raw. So I’m thinking my calorie intake maybe isn’t high enough? I intake on average 1500 – but my workouts burn off anywhere from 600-800 a day Monday – Friday. I work 2 jobs so I’m on the go all day. My current routine is cardio 5 days a week – 2 days of hard cardio. I was 3 days weight train

But within the last few weeks I went to 2 days weights and more cardio to trick my body. But in this time is when I noticed the fat coming back… it feels pretty crappy /forum/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I really need some <font color="red"> </font> GOOD advice on what I should do/try to strip this dang fat. I want to lean out. I am tome already but my body fat is 20% and so it looks a little too bulky for me.
So with that said… do I take a break, slow down on cardio, up cardio, more weight train, less weight train… more/less carbs, more/less protein...you get the picture.

I notice it is soooo easy for men to just cut and strip… but it takes triple the time for women… unless I’m missing something here?

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif---Shorty


Female
Blonde
Blue eyes
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 130lbs. (except the past few weeks I went up to 134)
BF%: 19-20% (except the past few weeks I went up to 23)

[mrExtreme]

Check out the "How do I jumpstart my metabolism?" thread by SusieQ in the nutrition forum. She has a similar problem and I offered her some advice which I think may benefit you in that post. I would post a link to it here, but I can't figure out how. /forum/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Shorty007]

Thanks. I did read it and got some usefull info.

I did wanna know the food % breakdown which sounds good.
I currently am 40/30/30. I want to be more 40/40/20 or 50/30/20. But being a veggie/rawist most of my proteins come from fats (good ones of course) so its hard for me to reduce my fat, but Im trying.

I think I will try the split routine. When I started I did circuit 3x week and saw great results. So I thought I should stick with it for a minute but maybe my body needs to do the splits at this point?

Still open for anyones input. Thanks!!!

[G o r t]

[ QUOTE ]
But being a veggie/rawist most of my proteins come from fats (good ones of course) so its hard for me to reduce my fat, but Im trying.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, I don't get that. Protein does not come from fat although both are sometimes found in one food.

There is protein in many veggies. Beans are lowfat. Grains are lowfat. Some legumes are higher in fat but are needed for adequate lysine intake. Nuts are highfat. Most fish is lowfat.

Get a good list of the Carb/Protein/Fat content of raw foods and use it as your guide.

[CraZy-T!]

I think you might be going a little heavy on the cardio... 3 days should be plenty. 30-60 minutes of 65% MHR is optimal for fat burning. Take a look at the 13 weeks diet and exercise programs.