How many calories?

I received an email from a client recently and thought that it would be something that many of you can relate to and may be interested in:

I’ve been using Calorie King to add up my calories and have noticed that because I eat the same thing most days, my calories are usually between 1200-1300 per day, before exercise and not including supplements. Firstly, do I include supplements in my calorie count? (i.e. Glutamine, Durathon, Calcium. I already DO include my protein powder of course).  Also, I read in Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle that a woman should never drop below 1200 calories per day. Does this mean I’m bordering on the line of having too little calories? Using his calculations, I should be having approx 1500-1600. Is this what Ishould be aiming for and if so, how can I increase this?

The supplements you are talking about don’t contain calories.  Glutamine may have a few but it’s negligible.

Tom Venuto is fantastic, but is generalizing.  Ideally it would be nice if we didn’t have to drop that low, but us small girls that don’t carry a ton of muscle often don’t have a choice when we want to lose that last bit of fat that is hanging around.  When I diet for a competition, in the final 4-6 weeks my calories definitely are that low, even lower when I can handle it.  The main thing is, you are on a fat loss diet, so your calories will often be low to get the result (depending how your body responds – everyone is different, some people don’t have to drop that low).   Yes your metabolism will probably slow (it will with any form of caloric restriction), but that can be rectified providing you don’t eat this way for long periods of time.  A day or two with a little more carbs/calories usually does the trice – hence the free choice meal in your program.  If things are going along nicely and you don’t feel you need the free meal then by all means don’t have it, as it can slow progress especially for us little girls.   Another way to do it if you prefer not to have a free meal, is to add some additional clean carbs/calories 1 or 2 times per week. 

If weight loss stalls, then it might be time to add a free meal or additionals calories to spark your body into action again.   If you are still losing weight/fat then your body is still responding so that is a good sign.

Once you get to where you want to be then ideally you would gradually increase your calories over the course of a few weeks (as opposed to pigging out for a week and then putting the fat straight back on) and allow your metabolism to catch up. 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
So, what else has been going on with me let’s see….we had Nadia and her lovely husband for dinner last Friday night, which was a lot of fun.  We cooked some nice eye and scotch fillets, but a little bit overdone!  The blue cheese sauce made up for it though.  Nadia was supposed to be on a diet for an upcoming comp hence us cooking steaks (instead of lasagne), but she decided the day prior not to do the comp.  So we immediately went out and scoured the town for some cakes for dessert   I had a tiramisu.

Training is going well, cardio has improved a little.  Actually, the day that Nadia came around I did some 3/4 sprints on my tready, and low and behold I must have strained my adductors a little as they were quite sore for days.  Then yesterday, while doing a shoulder session I have restrained the left one.  So I have a rather sore groin at present.  It really goes to show the importance of warming up all muscles that will be used in the workout!  I started with DB one arm shoulder presses and because I could lift 15kg for 7 reps with my right shoulder, but could only get 1 or 2 with my left (that sucks!), I decided I would try DB Snatches again to see if this would help me heave the weight up by using a lot more power.  It did of course, what a great exercise, I love it.  And sure gets that heart rate going because it is a FULL BODY exercise!  And me not having warmed up my lower body, by the time I got to my next exercise of BB Clean and Press, also a full body exercise, my groin decided enough!  Ouch.   Anyway, if you don’t know what a DB Snatch is (rather unfortunate name) take a look at the link below.  It’s really quite difficult to perform particularly when learning with a light weight.

DB Snatch - How To

DB Snatch Video

BB Clean and Press

I had an interview for the local paper last week, and yesterday they came here to take a photo of me at my desk!  Will post the article when it’s published, it’s a ‘sport profile’ but talks a lot about the benefits of weight training for women.  Hopefully the locals will take note and I will see a lot more intensity in the ladies gym than I see currently!

Good luck to everyone competing in the INBA All Female this weekend coming.  I almost forgot it was on!

Also, a quick reminder our $100 off special finishes on Friday.  No better time to be starting a program now, just in time for that lovely spring weather!  See our home page for details – www.idealbodiesonline.com