The Zone/ 40-30-30
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2009-06-24 5:32 PM |
Veteran 331 Roxborough Park | Subject: The Zone/ 40-30-30 For what it's worth, I've searched the forums for 2 days on this and while I've found some answers, I haven't really found the answers I'm looking for. I've hit a plateau which is partially due to bad food choices over the last weekend but is partially a week + plateau after some nice loss while doing the same things. I started poking around a local CrossFit site and they heartily recommend The Zone for athletes who are into CF and I decided that maybe I should give it a shot to see if my energy improves and if my weight loss resumes as my fat intake currently surpasses everything else (not butter and lard, mostly just fat from dairy and meat and my beloved peanut butter). Here's the CF PDF that gives the Zone overview I'm working from http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/cfjissue21_May04.pdf: Here's the thing- I'm a small to medium female so they're saying I should eat 10-11 blocks per day. Which comes down to 910-1000 calories a day roughly as far as I can tell. Based on height and weight and a Tanita scale, my BMR is around 1450 and I train 3.5-4.5 hours a week. The crossfit people say they calculated based on an active person and the other calculator I came up with said something similar as far as my block requirements. SO here are my questions: Have you done The Zone? Did you restrict your calories this severely? Has it worked for you? Do you follow 40/30/30 (carbs/protein/fat) in general but not specifically the Zone? Has it helped your performance? If you do 40/30/30 but don't restrict like the Zone seems to be asking, how did you arrive at the calorie # you shoot for? |
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2009-06-24 5:50 PM in reply to: #2241031 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 In an amazing coincidence, my trainers at my Crossfit gym gave me this article just this morning and so I have just read it, but not done anything with it. I have lost some weight, but not body fat percentage, and they tell me that I will see a real difference with the Zone. And I really believe that I should have lost more weight than I have, given that I think I make pretty good food choices (I don't eat snacky things) and I exercise a whole lot more than the average person on the street. |
2009-06-24 5:59 PM in reply to: #2241031 |
Expert 821 Golden, CO | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 Crossfitters love the Zone but I think there are some real issues if you follow it to the letter. First, it is an extremely restricted calorie diet. I don't have issues with the 40-30-30 but I am a 225 lb male and according to the zone I should be doing blocks which equal about 1200 calories. Also, remember that most crossfit workouts are no longer than 30 minutes with the majority less than 15 in duration. Anyone training for endurance needs more calories in my opinion. Just my 2 cents.
Edited by jdbadger 2009-06-24 6:03 PM |
2009-06-24 6:16 PM in reply to: #2241056 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 jdbadger - 2009-06-24 3:59 PM Crossfitters love the Zone but I think there are some real issues if you follow it to the letter. First, it is an extremely restricted calorie diet. I don't have issues with the 40-30-30 but I am a 225 lb male and according to the zone I should be doing blocks which equal about 1200 calories. Also, remember that most crossfit workouts are no longer than 30 minutes with the majority less than 15 in duration. Anyone training for endurance needs more calories in my opinion. Just my 2 cents.
OK. I just really found out about this today and so I don't know much, but my Crossfit trainers do follow this program, but I don't know how religiously. Most of them are into endurance sports and several do Ironman races. They all do things other than Crossfit. Collectively they have very little body fat on them and are very fit. The two women trainers are very small (short and thin, but not skinny), but very strong. Anyway, I am going to get the book tonight and at least make an attempt at a two-week trial. If I have questions about the low number of calories or whatever, I can find out if they modify the program or what. I will report back as I am very interested in losing weight, losing body fat, yet not being fatigued, which is a current problem. Thanks for the input. |
2009-06-24 7:30 PM in reply to: #2241044 |
Veteran 331 Roxborough Park | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 LeahDD - 2009-06-24 4:50 PM I'm definitely up for a 2 week trial with you. I followed it today and am looking forward to dinner. Let me know if your trainers do change the calorie totals, that was my main question/concern in the first place. For now, there's only a sprint in my future this season, so I'm up for testing this with you. Also let me know if the book is good. For now I feel pretty good following the advice I've found online but may pick it up if you love it. In an amazing coincidence, my trainers at my Crossfit gym gave me this article just this morning and so I have just read it, but not done anything with it. I have lost some weight, but not body fat percentage, and they tell me that I will see a real difference with the Zone. And I really believe that I should have lost more weight than I have, given that I think I make pretty good food choices (I don't eat snacky things) and I exercise a whole lot more than the average person on the street. |
2009-06-24 9:11 PM in reply to: #2241182 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 Well, my local bookstore didn't have the book, so I will just have to go off the info in the article. I did buy two "supplemental" Zone books, which were probably a waste of money, but that was all they had. I have decided that I am a medium-sized female and entitled to 11 blocks. I'm ready to give a two-week trial and see what happens. |
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2009-06-25 10:21 AM in reply to: #2241031 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 So I had my first breakfast in The Zone. Normally for breakfast I have fat-free yogurt and cereal. My yogurt would be my protein and has 9 grams of protein, so that works for one protein block and so I had two cartons of yogurtto get two blocks. |
2009-06-25 11:16 AM in reply to: #2241031 |
Expert 821 Golden, CO | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 Hello Ladies - let me know how the Zone works for you. Lauren - are you doing crossfit? I see that you are in the Denver area. I just wanted to know what you thought. I started going about 5 weeks ago. How about you Leah? Are you enjoying it and seeing results? |
2009-06-25 11:25 AM in reply to: #2242538 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 jdbadger - 2009-06-25 9:16 AM Hello Ladies - let me know how the Zone works for you. Lauren - are you doing crossfit? I see that you are in the Denver area. I just wanted to know what you thought. I started going about 5 weeks ago. How about you Leah? Are you enjoying it and seeing results? I love my Crossfit gym and I see lots of results, just not weight loss results. But I have biceps that I never had before and I can bicycle up hills that I couldn't before and that sort of thing. I have been doing Crossfit since the beginning of the year and was starting from a position of no upper body strength (or much lower body strength, for that matter) and being a bit older (53) woman. Even though I haven't lost much weight since the first of the year, I can certainly get into clothes that I couldn't before so I know that there really are physical changes. The classes at my Crossfit gym tend to be small and some days it is like personal training. It is more expensive than a general gym, but well worth it for me. If The Zone helps me drop the last 15 pounds and get rid of about 10-15% body fat, I will be one happy lady. And if Crossfit gets me able to do one full pull-up, I will be even happier. |
2009-06-25 2:31 PM in reply to: #2242364 |
Veteran 331 Roxborough Park | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 LeahDD - 2009-06-25 9:21 AM So I had my first breakfast in The Zone. Normally for breakfast I have fat-free yogurt and cereal. My yogurt would be my protein and has 9 grams of protein, so that works for one protein block and so I had two cartons of yogurtto get two blocks. Yesterday was great, I had planned breakfast and lunch in the zone and after talking to you had dinner in the zone too (mmmm, shrimp!). I felt full all day yesterday- I'm with you in that my lunch and dinner were definitely more filling than usual. I did wake up just over half a pound lighter (for what it's worth- the scale hasn't been budging much at all lately, so I was excited for that). I also had a really good workout this morning, I busted up a bike route that busted me up last time so that tells me that I'm getting enough nutrition, I think. Today I'm hungrier. My breakfast didn't cut it. I had 1/2 c cottage cheese (2 blocks) and 1/2 c cantaloupe (2 blocks). I didn't add an extra fat because the cottage cheese had more fat than it was supposed to so I wound up about right. I also had a cup of milk (1 carb and one protein block) before my bike ride and I don't know that that did much. I'm going to the store for some eggs tonight because they tend to fill me up much better than cottage cheese so hopefully tomorrow is better! JD- As for Crossfit, I don't yet. I'm moving to Roxborough in about a month so didn't want to start anything here just to move. I'd like to go but as Leah mentioned- cha ching! I'm a serious budget triathlete right now and have only been training for a couple months, so I think Crossfit will have to wait. I do have a series of bodyweight workouts compiled from the BrandX website, so once we get to the new house the plan is to install a pullup bar and see how far I can get alone until there's a little more moolah to be spent on my sports endeavors. |
2009-06-25 3:33 PM in reply to: #2241031 |
Master 1572 PA | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 Prior to endurance training, I did a women's boot camp (mostly strength training and high intensity interval training), lots of similarities to CrossFit. I did it 5x week for 45 mins each time. I followed an approx 1200 calorie diet that was 40/30/30 but the 40% was protein. I worked out at 5:45am and had a protein shake 30-60 mins after my workout. No additional post workout carbs. Next meal was approx. 4.5 hours after the post-workout shake. Basically looked like this |
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2009-06-25 5:15 PM in reply to: #2243413 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 Wow. I am not sure what to do with that information. I am about 145 (now a size 8, sometimes 6) and I sure would like to be a size 2 and would love to achieve that in the next 8-12 weeks - with the loss coming from body fat with no loss of hard-earned muscle. Sounds like a fantasy to me. |
2009-06-25 6:56 PM in reply to: #2243643 |
Master 1572 PA | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 LeahDD - 2009-06-25 6:15 PM Wow. I am not sure what to do with that information. I am about 145 (now a size 8, sometimes 6) and I sure would like to be a size 2 and would love to achieve that in the next 8-12 weeks - with the loss coming from body fat with no loss of hard-earned muscle. Sounds like a fantasy to me. As for 35:35:30, try it! Different things work for different people. And it's really all about prioritizing your goals first and foremost, and secondly figuring out how you're going to meet them. And you have to figure out specifically what works for you. One of the girls above did a slightly different nutrition plan that I did. Same number of calories, but more of her carbs were early in the day and none at dinner. When I tried that plan (for the first 5 weeks), I lost nothing. Switching mine to no post-workout carbs is when I started dropping like crazy. I don't get it, I just get that one size does not fit all. When I say I followed it to the letter, I can't stress it enough. Even substituting a bar...lara bar, odwalla, south beach diet, didn't matter, for a meal...I'd plateau. I don't know if it's cuz I would not get the veggies in, or what, but that's how tight it was. Obviously I experimented here and there to learn that subbing a bar would make me plateau. I don't know why, but all i can think is it was adding in something processed, which threw things out of whack chemically. Obviously this goes against that it is specifically calories in/cals out. I would like to get my nutrition for endurance sports dialed in, such that I can maintain 130 lbs and eat higher carbs that i think are needed for the demands of this sport, but i haven't figured it out yet. And at this point, having the energy for the workouts is more important than the extra 10 lbs. i put back on. But I'll be the first to admit I cannot wait to going back to eating in a way that I know works for me to be a little leaner. |
2009-06-26 5:07 PM in reply to: #2241031 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 First, I still have not read the book yet, so am not completely informed, but it seems to me that the basic premise behind the 40-30-30 thing is the avoid insulin spikes and such. I am not diabetic nor pre-diabetic. So, I wonder if I need to be that strict with the ratios. I finished the day with about 35% fat, 30% carbohydrate and 35% protein, so way wrong, according to the Zone. I definitely had more protein and fat (good fats) than I usually do. I had slightly fewer than 1400 calories, which isn't much, but probably enough. So today, I went to Crossfit at 6am and that was fine, like about always, and then I rode my bike to work. Riding my bike to work is not something I do regularly, but I did ride last Friday and so can compare. I felt like it was a much better ride today than last week. Whether that had anything to do with yesterday's diet or whether I am one-week better conditioned, I don't know. I suspect the nutritional changes. I think I am not going to worry that much about the ratios. I will try to stay within a reasonable calorie count for the day and get a small amount of the good fat, a little more protein than I am used to and good carbohydrates at every meal, even "snack" meals and see how that goes. That kind of program is in keeping with Prevention Magazine's recommended diet as they also emphasize getting mono unsaturated fatty acid foods (MUFA) at every meal, but they don't get into ratios or anything like that. Lauren - how is it going for you? |
2009-06-27 7:05 PM in reply to: #2241031 |
Veteran 331 Roxborough Park | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 Well, so far so good. I was really confused about the 40-30-30 thing in conjunction with the food blocks I found online- they weren't adding up for me AT ALL. So I borrowed The Soy Zone and A Week in the Zone from my mom to see if the books made more sense. I skimmed them both and what I came away with was more of an eyeballing approach than a strict chemistry type recipe so I think I'll stick with the guidelines and the blocks. I'm finding that following it keeps me somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 calories which is about right, but I also feel really good (not tired) and my workouts seem to be doing well. It will be interesting to see where my weight is after this trail though. |
2009-06-28 10:23 AM in reply to: #2247609 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 So far so good for me too. I have made sure that I had protein and good fat at every meal, although not necessarily snacks (yet). But my snacks tend to be fruit, so it isn't exactly the worst thing (although right now with all the watermelon and other melons, I am eating a lot of "unfavorable carbohydrate" fruits, but I don't care). To be able to be a little more scrupulous with the ratios and get some consistency will take some thought and specific shopping, which I don't think I will be able to do until after the 4th. So for now, I am just going with my approach of making sure I don't overeat and have protein and good fat at every actual meal. We had company last night and other than too much pita bread with my Mediterranean meal (grilled chicken, hummus, Greek salad), I think my day was pretty much on target. But I didn't count up anything and that usually spells disaster to me because I can be quite delusional. But I feel fine. I feel really good about this approach because it really isn't a whole lot different from the South Beach Diet, Prevention Magazine's recommendations, the Mediterranean Diet, etc. We will see. Good luck to you, Lauren. |
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2009-06-28 6:20 PM in reply to: #2248184 |
Veteran 331 Roxborough Park | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 I went to the grocery store for some specific shopping this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. I had read that this diet is expensive, but I spent a total of $55 to feed Hubby and I for the week- not bad! I guess we'll see if I wind up going to the grocery store during the week for more produce. Good luck to you too Leah! |
2009-06-29 11:28 PM in reply to: #2248736 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 GrilloOriginal - 2009-06-28 4:20 PM I went to the grocery store for some specific shopping this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. I had read that this diet is expensive, but I spent a total of $55 to feed Hubby and I for the week- not bad! I guess we'll see if I wind up going to the grocery store during the week for more produce. Good luck to you too Leah! Well, yesterday was not so good. Not terrible from an overall dietary perspective, but pretty bad Zone-wise. Today I think I did it exactly right, if I am understanding everything. I had three blocks for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a two-block snack. I was pretty hungry all day. I still don't have all the groceries that it will take to do this right, in fact I am not even sure what I will be having tomorrow, so not particularly good planning. I think I will really "get serious" after the 4th and just muddle along before that. I go to Weight Watchers on Wednesday and I have my fingers crossed that there will be a nice little dip. (I just go to WW, but I don't actually count points.) |
2009-06-30 10:07 AM in reply to: #2241031 |
Veteran 331 Roxborough Park | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 Since my trip to the grocery store over the weekend I've been doing really well. I think I'll be sticking with this long term as it's easier for me than straight up counting calories and I've officially broken my plateau. I was stuck at 148 for about a week and a half despite eating the same and exercising the same as when I had been dropping weight in the weeks prior to that. Now I'm down to 145.8 which makes me happy and which I'm willing to attribute to the zone. I'm going to see how close I can stay over the weekend (big 4th of July party this weekend- uh oh!). Hopefully I don't lose the progress I've made. |
2009-06-30 11:38 AM in reply to: #2252920 |
Expert 1773 San Gabriel Valley, California | Subject: RE: The Zone/ 40-30-30 GrilloOriginal - 2009-06-30 8:07 AM Since my trip to the grocery store over the weekend I've been doing really well. I think I'll be sticking with this long term as it's easier for me than straight up counting calories and I've officially broken my plateau. I was stuck at 148 for about a week and a half despite eating the same and exercising the same as when I had been dropping weight in the weeks prior to that. Now I'm down to 145.8 which makes me happy and which I'm willing to attribute to the zone. I'm going to see how close I can stay over the weekend (big 4th of July party this weekend- uh oh!). Hopefully I don't lose the progress I've made. That's very encouraging - to have broken through your plateau. That's my problem - I have been at mid-140's for absolutely forever. I am all for breaking through this plateau and am hopeful that the Zone will do it for me. I also have a big 4th of July party and might just aim for going low-calorie, rather than Zone. That way I can more or less constantly munch on veggies without having to worry about whether I have the right number of fat or protein blocks to balance it. |