Originally Posted by Mystery9785

Mike: I have to say something in defense of oats. I know you want a strong, athletic body. I have spent many years in gyms with personal trainers and I have read so many books on sports nutrition that you'd think I was crazy if I told you how many! In the world of bodybuilding and sports-nutrition there are really only a handful of foods that are superior and oats happens to be one of the super foods of all the athletes because of the wonderful amount of amino acids and nutrients etc. I know they are a carb but not all carbs are in the same catagory. Your body gets a whole lot more from oats than you think. Cutting carbs only makes sense if you are eating junk-food carbs. Oatmeal (the real stuff, not the envelops) is processed differently in your body and will not spike your insulin the way other sugary junk-food carbs do (such as candy, crackers etc.) This is why dieticians and doctors recommend oatmeal even for diabetics. Any food that is encouraged for diabetics and for heart patients is the general direction bodybuilders and performance athletes such as runners aim for. Another benefit of oatmeal is that it can help your body fight cholestrol and that is so important. I'm concerned that you are eliminating something like oatmeal and replacing it with foods that are high in saturated fat. (bacon, cheese etc) There is a very big difference in what is considered a "quality" protein and what is a food that contains protein. Of course you should be able to eat your favorites in moderation but please know that these should be considered "treats" and are not going to get you closer to your goal of a strong athletic body any faster than eating icecream would. Your body doesn't know the difference between the two since they are both saturated fats. Try to select better quality proteins whether they are meats, fish or poultry or vegetarian sources. There is a reason why wild salmon, chicken and eggwhites are leading protein choices in the bodybuilding world and in the medical world. You said that your goal is to lower you bodyfat. You will have a hard time doing that if your intake of saturated fats is high and that is a terribly problem with "low carb" diets. I am all for giving up crappy carbs but you'd do better to actually INCREASE the good carbs if you are trying to change your body composition. Also, you probably already know that your body will store excess protein as fat every chance it can because it can process that easily so too much protein is usually worse for your goal than not quite enough would be.

Good luck with the plyometrics! I have done them with my personal trainers for years and believe me they are tough but like any other modality they are beneficial to balance out a workout. They are not aerobic since most people can only do a limited amount so you'll still need to make sure you get some good cardio in your workouts too to lower your bodyfat %. They WILL get your heart-rate up but they are anerobic..also important but that type of exercise uses carbs as fuel so you burn less fat while doing them but they are really good for your heart and muscles and they do burn serious calories..just not coming from the fat stores in the body. They will make you stronger faster and that means you can go like crazy doing cardio so that is a good benefit too! I have no idea what you already do for cardio but maybe you have that covered already. I noticed the P90X but maybe you run or cycle too. Cardio lowers bodyfat the fastest of all exercises. I hope you aren't put off by my long winded comment but it sounded like you were looking for opinions of all kinds so I thought I'd throw in mine.

Originally Posted by Jennybeeb

Mike - you mentioning P90X plyometrics reminded me that I wanted to ask you some questions regarding the P90X workouts. I purchased everything (P90X DVDs, Pullup Bar, Resistance Bands, Yoga Mat) back in September/October, and was going to start the workouts then...But right around that time, I somehow injured my knee and have been doing physical therapy ever since. It's not quite 100% yet, and I'm wondering if it's possible for me to start the workouts and just make modifications where I need to if I can't do the workouts or if it'd be better for me to wait until my knee is closer to 100% (I'm probably around 80% now). I figured since you've done at least a couple (maybe a few?) rounds of the workouts you could give me a good idea on whether or not I can do it