When and what to eat before/after cardio to lose fat?

[Ice That Jaw]

I spent a while doing only lifting and eating like a bodybuilder but I put on way too much fat along with the muscle mass. And the shitty thing is that I gained it in the 2 worst places. My lower belly and under my chin. :icon_cry2

So I've decided to limit my lifting to twice a week to maintain most of my muscle and do cardio on the other days to lose all this fat.

I am obviously also reducing my calories significantly and I am trying to focus on lots of veggies, a good amount of lean meats, and little bit of fuits and whole grains.

The problem is I'm not sure when or what I should eat before and after my workouts or does it even matter? I do mainly HIIT and sustained high intensity stuff so I do need to eat at least something before to keep me from passing out but what are good choices?

Oh and here is my weekly schedule:

Mon - full body lifting (deads, squats, overhead, rows, bench, curls, calf raises)

Tues - run 3min intervals at 8.5mph with 3min walking pace in between

Wed - run at 6.8mph as long as possible

Thurs - Abs day (oblique machine, weighted side bends, captains chair, crunches) If I still have energy
I'll do some light running afterwards.

Fri - Elliptical HIIT

Sat - Elliptical HIIT

Sun - rest

 

[ssjmawson]

Weights vs cardio for losing weight is a bit of a misnomer, you should do both and limit your food intake. What was your routine before? There's nothing to really stop you adding some sprint work or something similar after a normal session. You could always add some LSD runs on a rest day as well.

 

[Origins]

This question should probably be in the D&S.

Also, what is up with your routine? If you are only lifting twice a week, I don't get why you would make one of those days just an "abs" day. Your abs will get plenty of work from heavy, full-body lifting.

 

[grrthetree]

Maybe you would do better with 2 days of lifting a week, and one of the days have core work as a finisher, and do cardio 2-3 times a week.

And as far as what to eat before/after to lose fat, I would say have a piece of fruit and a protein shake before, and a protein carb mix post workout. It matters more what you eat for the rest of the day than before/after, as far as losing weight. I'm not an expert though, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[ssdd]

An hour before you start your cardio take a scoop of whey protein with water and some fish oil. The whey is supposed to help you maintain muscle and the fish oil is supposed to prime your body to burn fat while you're doing cardio. Do this when you first wake up, or at a time when you haven't eaten anything for many hours that would have caused your body to release insulin. Insulin will prevent your body from using fat as an energy. My source for this info is bodybuilding.com, so I can't really say with any authority if its accurate or works.

 

[facedancer]

You don't mention anything about carbohydrates in your new diet or what your bodybuilder diet consisted of...

You have to be careful not to cut back too much on your new diet or you'll lose muscle mass as well.

 

[DrBdan]

If you find that you are often hungry you might want to cut back (or cut out completely) the protein shakes and replace them with solid food. Protein shakes are convenient but they don't fill you up like a small, protein-rich meal of solid food does (at least for most people).

 

[Ice That Jaw]

If you find that you are often hungry you might want to cut back (or cut out completely) the protein shakes and replace them with solid food. Protein shakes are convenient but they don't fill you up like a small, protein-rich meal of solid food does (at least for most people).

Well I definitely have a shake after my workouts but what should I mix into it? Right now Im still using whole milk and whey protein.

And about the abs day, I just don't feel my abs being worked after squats and deads. When I dedicate an entire lifting session to it I really get the burn in.

And I'm not worried about losing some muscle mass. I just want to lose at least 10lbs of fat so I can be shredded, which is what I wanted in the first place. Then I can go back to lifting steadily and just cut back on my calories a bit so I don't gain any fat. I was eating way to much fat and carbs along with all the protein. My metabolism isn't as fast as I thought it would be. Damn genes!

 

[ssjmawson]

If you think that you can put deadlifts, squats and bench on the same day but have to devote an entire day to your core to 'feel the burn' then you might want to re-read the FAQ.
As far PWO shakes just mix with water, although DrBdan's suggestion of good, solid food won't hurt!

 

[Prokofievian]

Well I definitely have a shake after my workouts but what should I mix into it? Right now Im still using whole milk and whey protein.

And about the abs day, I just don't feel my abs being worked after squats and deads. When I dedicate an entire lifting session to it I really get the burn in.

And I'm not worried about losing some muscle mass. I just want to lose at least 10lbs of fat so I can be shredded, which is what I wanted in the first place. Then I can go back to lifting steadily and just cut back on my calories a bit so I don't gain any fat. I was eating way to much fat and carbs along with all the protein. My metabolism isn't as fast as I thought it would be. Damn genes!

Get creative with it. There's all kinds of fruit that's already chopped up and stuff in the frozen food aisle. I usually pick up cranberries, and a medley of peaches/strawberries and stuff like that. I like the sour twinge the cranberries give to the shake. Really brightens it up.