Moving Forward Questions (Working out and Job)

[Jigsaw]

Hey everybody, I know I have not posted in a while.  I just wanted to take a break from everything really and take a look at my life now.  I have taken several steps to help leave my former life so to speak behind.  With my documents/IDs changed I was still missing myself I felt.   So I got back to the basics of what I enjoy and things seem to be getting better.

I workout 6 days a week now and hope that in 3-6-months I will have a great story I can share here to help others who were like me...I am about 3 weeks away from finishing my first bout with P90x and it has been a challenge.  I know that being FtM, I won't get the perfect results with one round, so will start over again soon after.  On the flip side I am shedding body fat and looking more like the me I want to see in the mirror.  It is slow, but I know that it will happen in time.   I am a Coach for Beachbody now, so that is great because I can help others and share our success together but there has been some things really nagging me I have been wanting to ask, but did not want to just ask on the Beachbody website or other coaches.  For anybody who is tracking their nutrition, when you figure out calories do you base it on male or female or average of the two?  I know the hormones are helping to build the male body for me, but they only can go so far.  So I want to make sure I am getting my own nutrition right.  I really feel that if I could ever get this part down pat, I will have a great transformation in short time.

Secondly, I have one last hurdle I need to take....the job.  I am putting in applications to government jobs since I have an advantage in the hiring process, however I am kinda worried about a job I just applied for.  It says and I fully expect many random drug test.  My only experience with this is having somebody standing 3 feet away watching you pee in a cup.... does the civilian side of drug testing do this too?  I have no problem giving samples....heck, I will do it 3x a day if they want...I just don't want somebody watching me when I have not had lower surgery.  Any advice or help on this would be great because if I am lucky enough to be considered. I REALLY want this job.

Thanks for any input or advice I can get!

[Jeatyn]

If you invest in some body fat calipers - accumeasure make some that are only around £10 and they work well for me. Then you can calculate your body fat percentage and work out your calories based on your lean body mass using the Katch-McArdle formula. That formula works for both males and females so no need to worry about it.

Easy calculator to use once you have the percentage:
http://www.calculatorpro.com/calculator/katch-mcardle-bmr-calculator/

[Jigsaw]

Thanks for the link.  I have a few calipers and do my measurements every week.  I am loosing bodyfat with my workout, but I just feel it is not ideal.  I just don't know if I should increase or decrease calories.   I will take a look at the link and use it with my measurements tomorrow morning since that is my weekly weigh in.

[Jeatyn]

So you're losing body fat but you feel like the progress could be faster?

Working out your ideal calories is a huge pain in the ass I will admit. So many factors can affect a persons metabolism. It's all trial and error after doing the basic math. A lot of the time you need to eat MORE than you think you do. Just not junk

Have you tried carb/calorie cycling? Where you go up to maintenance calories for a day or two a week and then go back down again. Sometimes this can kick start your metabolism and stops your body adapting to the lower calories.

I'm a huge nutrition nerd so if you have any questions you can feel free to PM me any time and I'll help the best I can

[Jigsaw]

I did fat shredder for 30 days, then energy booster from that point on, but the I think I am going to go back on a fat shredder diet and raise my protein and lower my carbs again.  The folks I am working with are trying to help me pinpoint the calories needed, but I feel maybe it would make a difference being FtM since they are trying to base it on male.  I don't know them well enough to tell them, so that is why I decided to try here.

I can say for all the classes I have taken in the way of health, biology, etc.  I hate trying to figure out nutrition, especially since I am such as picky eater.  I was half tempted to try a month of Atkins induction phase just to really push things a bit then go back to my normal energy booster ratios.   I have never tried Atkins, but I know a lot of people who love it.  Not sure if I love eating nothing but protein for a month.   A month of almost no other proteins but turkey was annoying, but it kept my protein ratio where I wanted it so I could eat a few extra veggies.  I am not a big lover of veggies, but it amazed me how hard it was to find any with almost no carbs.

[Jeatyn]

Going high protein low carb can do wonders for stripping fat but I would only recommend it in the short term because your body assumes you're in some sort of famine if you do it for too long - lowering your metabolism. You also need to be careful to re-introduce the carbs slowly, especially simple sugars, or they will all immediately be stored up. This is especially important on a plan like atkins, where the fat content is also very high. simple carbs + fat is a fat storing nightmare.

A really good read I highly recommend is Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto - a highly respected body builder and fitness coach. That e-book is by far the best thing on nutrition I've ever read.

If it helps at all the ratios I use for every day eating is 1400 calories, 40% carbs, 35% protein, 25% fat. I'm not on T yet though - and find it really hard to gain muscle, as well as being very short Someone with more muscle mass would need a lot more calories. I'm actually dreading when I get to a point I have to increase my calories, because I find it a huge chore getting in all the protein I need as it is. I'm not a big meat eater and I can't stand eggs xD not to mention buying truckloads of chicken breasts aint exactly cheap.

[Jigsaw]

I will have to look into that book, thanks for the info.   I am currently on 2000 calories because 2400 just seemed to not work for me.  I almost find the high protein easier to plan for.  I just go to Sams and buy a ton of ground turkey.  Pretty cheap and versatile as long as I tell myself it is actually ground beef haha.  I am currently in a 40 carb, 30 fat/protein regiment, but think I will return back to the 50% protein next week....or do atkins induction.   I just need to find the atkins book I bought at one point and never read.  My only problem with atkins is I don't want to ignore my pre and post workout drinks.  I really rely on them right now since i am trying to build muscle.

After saying that, I guess atkins is a no go...   I really like my Skakeology in the morning and with the pre-post workout drinks, my carbs would be too high for atkins.    So guess I will stick with my previous fat burning and read that book in my down time to see if I can find a way to improve what I am doing.  I am sure there is plenty of room for improvements, I just need a better direction.