Restarting my workout programme

[nixium]

A while ago, I'd started up a workout program based on 'Starting Strength.', since I was a newbie to the weight room... unfortunately, a lot of travel and other commitments meant I didn't follow through with it regularly. I gave up a while ago.

Now, I want to restart my workout program, this time, with a definite goal in mind. I want to have a so called beach body by June 21st. That is, =< 10% BF. I would estimate my current BF % to be aroun 16-18%. I have to lose roughly 8% BF in about 6 months.

My current weight is 176; but I guess I'm what would be termed a 'skinny fat' guy. I want my end weight to be around 176, with around 10% bf. Generally, this would mean a bulking/cutting regimen, but since I'm a beginner, I'm hoping for the first few months at least I'll put on muscle while getting rid of fat quickly. (if I understand right from what I've read in these forums and the sticky)

My workouts are going to center around starting strength, and cardio on the off days. I'm going to go with low weights, good technique and mild cardio to start with. My program is pretty basic, mainly -

Day A: SS + 10 min HIIT
Day B: 60 min cardio, around 150 bpm heartrate.
With one rest day per week.

I still have to workout the particulars of my diet, and I'll probably update it here after I'm done.

Just wondering if you had any comments about this workout? I've read on these forums that SS is not the best workout for a 'beach body', but my primary interest is to gain strength.

Comments? is what I'm doing realistic? anything I can do to improve upon it?

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Update 1/12: Meal plan blueprint.

I've been looking at the web for vegetarian bodybuilding, and there's a ton of stuff. I anticipate the diet to be the hardest to structure. For now, I'm going to concentrate on getting the 170-180g of protein required; I'll add in the fat and carb amounts later.

The question marks are dishes I'll need to figure out. They contain grean/yellow veggies and a vegetarian protein source, like beans/soy/lentils, etc. At minimum, a serving will contain 25 g of protein.

here's a skeleton structure I'll need to adhere to:

Meal 1: Breakfast: 1 Scoop whey + 1 serving milk + 1 serving cereal.
~ 36 g protein ~ 450 cals
Meal 2: 1 serving <???> + 1 serving complex carbs
~ 25g protein ~ ??? cals
Meal 3: High protein granola bar/wheat bread + peanut butter
~ 10 g protein ~ 200 cals
Meal 4: 1 scoop whey + water (pre workout)
~24g protein ~100 cals
Meal 5: (post workout) 2 scoops whey + 1 serving milk
~ 56g protein ~350 cals
Meal 6: 1 serving <???> + 1 serving cmplx carbs + 1 serving yogurt
~ 35g pr ~ ??? cals

Total - 186g pr; 1100 cals minimum (need another 1100 cals for month 1, i.e., January). From Feb, March and April, the target is 2700 cals, for bulking. I'll revert back to 2200 cals for May and June.

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Week 1 - The week just past -

During my last SS workout, I'd gone from empty bar to about 100 pounds on the squat, deadlift, bench press and the barbell row. However, I'm not sure I had the technique right. After a very sore week (this is probably the first structured exercise I'm doing in a month or so), I'm starting at the following bar weights (don't laugh - well openly at least

Squat - 60
Bench Press - 65
Deadlift - 55
Overhead Press - 50
Barbell row - 60

I *think* I can push myself to do more without form degradation, but I want to take it easy for the first few weeks until I get technique down pat. I'm a little paranoid about my lower back, (in some ways, thanks to SC's thread ) To make up for the relatively light weights, I did some HIIT which really knocked me out.

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[BeauJangles]

Don't worry about the weight. You've checked your ego at the door, which is a HUGE mistake most people seem unable to do. Trust me, in three months it won't matter that you were conservative with your additions. Your body will thank you for taking it easy and getting comfortable with the movements.

As for your programming, you aren't following SS (which is fine). The idea behind SS is to build muscle mass and establish a base of functional strength. By training 6x per week, you're taxing your muscles heavily and probably retarding the weight and muscle mass gains you'd otherwise have. If you intend to do Starting Strength, then DO Starting Strength. That means only workout 3x per week, don't substitute exercises, and make sure to eat.

 

[nixium]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Don't worry about the weight. You've checked your ego at the door, which is a HUGE mistake most people seem unable to do. Trust me, in three months it won't matter that you were conservative with your additions. Your body will thank you for taking it easy and getting comfortable with the movements.

As for your programming, you aren't following SS (which is fine). The idea behind SS is to build muscle mass and establish a base of functional strength. By training 6x per week, you're taxing your muscles heavily and probably retarding the weight and muscle mass gains you'd otherwise have. If you intend to do Starting Strength, then DO Starting Strength. That means only workout 3x per week, don't substitute exercises, and make sure to eat.

Well I'm only weight training 3x a week. The only deviations I notice are the HIIT on the weight training days, and the cardio on the off days... according to the bb forums, it's OK to do mild cardio on the off-days. My lifestyle is very sedentary, and I need *some* sort of daily exercise.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Don't worry about the weight. You've checked your ego at the door, which is a HUGE mistake most people seem unable to do. Trust me, in three months it won't matter that you were conservative with your additions. Your body will thank you for taking it easy and getting comfortable with the movements.

As for your programming, you aren't following SS (which is fine). The idea behind SS is to build muscle mass and establish a base of functional strength. By training 6x per week, you're taxing your muscles heavily and probably retarding the weight and muscle mass gains you'd otherwise have. If you intend to do Starting Strength, then DO Starting Strength. That means only workout 3x per week, don't substitute exercises, and make sure to eat.

Well I'm only weight training 3x a week. The only deviations I notice are the HIIT on the weight training days, and the cardio on the off days... according to the bb forums, it's OK to do mild cardio on the off-days. My lifestyle is very sedentary, and I need *some* sort of daily exercise.

Gotcha, I misunderstood from your original post. If your goal is to drop BF, I think you're on the right road, but it'll be interesting to see what Brikis, Deeko, or SC have to say.

 

[brikis98]

The most important thing to mention here is that all the exercise in the world won't get you a "beach body" without a proper diet to match. The fat loss sticky goes over many of the basics, but the key for you will be to start tracking what you eat on a site like fitday.com or thedailyplate.com. You could try to eat maintenance calories and as a beginner, you probably will see an increase in muscle mass and a decrease in fat. However, this won't last very long and I would guess (although it completely depends on genetics) that you'd have better results by doing actual bulk/cut cycles. To maximize strength gains and gains in muscle mass, you'd probably want to bulk the first 3-4 months and then burn away the extra fat by doing a cut cycle the last couple of months. For example, do SS + GOMAD (gallon of milk a day) the first 4 months and then SS + calorie deficit + really high protein intake the last 2 months.

Otherwise, it looks like you have a decent exercise plan in mind, but I'd recommend working your way up to it gradually and not all at once. Exercising 6 days per week is an awful lot for anyone and suddenly jumping into that from a pretty sedentary lifestyle may lead to overtraining symptoms, tons of soreness, slower progress and just flat out burn you out. Consistency is the key to getting in shape and it'll probably be a lot easier for you to remain consistent if you start easy than if you jump into something pretty hardcore right away.

One idea would be to start with just Starting Strength for the first ~8-12 weeks. Lifting heavy 3 times per week - especially squatting 3 times per week - is going to tax your body plenty, so it's a good idea to give yourself plenty of time to adapt. And if your body is not getting taxed that much, you're not lifting heavy enough )). Doing just SS at first will work especially well if you are bulking at the same time as it'll help maximize your strength/mass gains. While cardio has many health benefits, such as increased endurance, better heart function, etc, its only relevance towards having a "beach body" is that it's an efficient way to burn calories. In other words, it helps the "calories out" part of the equation, but if you're bulking anyway, it's not terribly necessary. After 2-3 months of pure SS, your body should be pretty used to it, and if you want, you can add in a bit of cardio - either for its health benefits or if you are starting to cut - on the off days.

Finally, the "true" SS program has the power clean instead of the barbell row. The barbell row is the addition of the online community and is NOT a proper substitute for the power clean, at all (according to Rippetoe himself). If you haven't already, you'll probably want to buy the actual book - after all, if you're going to devote 6+ months to the program, shouldn't you spend a couple hours reading to make sure you're doing it right?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

First of all, I don't want you to be paranoid You want good form, yes. However, you also wanna challenge your body and keep a solid intensity. I suggest to people the first time or two that they do SS, they should take it really easy and get a feel for the different exercises and not really add much weight; but as you start to know the motion, I strongly suggest challenging yourself You started squatting with 60 pounds. I know for a fact you can add 5 pounds a session at this point and still maintain solid form. So do it, have fun, keep your lumbar arch, but don't hyperextend. Keep your heels on the ground and don't shift weight to your toes. If you shift your weight to your toes automatically, then you gotta stretch your hip flexors (a good dynamic warmup for these are simple lunges).

Ok, now let's go back to the beginning of the post. In 6 months, I think it's possible for you to reach your goal. However, I don't think it would be very easy. I'm not sure exactly how much muscle you can gain while losing fat, but I don't expect it to be 12 pounds of fat lost with 12 pounds of muscle gained. You MAY have to do a bulking/cutting phase. With the goals you have in mind, however, I would suggest a cutting phase first, followed by a slow bulk. The cutting phase would get your weight down and improve your self confidence, but like brikis said that's going to be 100% diet. Those websites are extremely valuable to this process. I say you should follow with a slow bulk because it will (hopefully) minimize fat gain, allow for easy adaptability to your maintenance calories once you're done (going from low calories to high calories makes it hard to go back to maintenance calories IMHO), and because I think overall it'll be less of a strain on your body.

I also wanted to mention that I am a fan of taking one step at a time, meaning that I don't suggest going from couch potato to lifting, dieting, doing cardio all at once. I'm unsure if you're looking to do cardio specifically for extra calorie burn or if you're doing it for general health, but I would pick something to do first. My suggestion would be as follows: start with SS for the first month, then start including the diet aspect of your life (track calories, learn what's good and what's bad, start to lose weight) for another month, and then hop in with some cardio/HIIT intermittently if you feel so inclined. I know that you're excited, but I don't want you to burn yourself out like SO many people do. Once you start lifting, you're going to feel better about yourself. As you get into that habit, you're gonna start eating better, which is going to make your body feel better. Once you start eating better, you'll have the energy to do extra activities (ie cardio training). That's my logic behind it, but feel free to disagree if you're willing to tackle it all at once.

On top of all this, I'm just looking to have your body adapt gradually and not have you overtrain. Going from nothing to 6 days a week will tax your muscles and your central nervous system (CNS). Going from nothing to 3 days a week at caloric maintenance is much more doable. I just wanted to mention that as an important side note.

Overall, I just wanna say good luck and thanks for doing your homework. If you have any questions, feel free to post in the sticky, here, or send me a PM. I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress. Maybe we can be journal buddies

EDIT: Oh, I also wanted to mention that if you have qualms about your form still, get a video of it and post it here. It'll be beneficial since you'll have at least 5 well-trained people giving you advice and potentially many more. It may help you feel better and worry less.

EDIT2: I forgot perhaps the most important thing of all. What I wanted to say is that I don't want you to worry about the numbers on the scale for the first bit of working out. People get so obsessed with the number that they lose the enjoyment. You're going to start looking and feeling better and that's what's going to keep you going. However, when you try to quantify something as variable as weight, it can start to let you down. Weight can vary based on what you ate, how much you ate, hydration levels, stress levels, carbs, etc. I find people that I help ALWAYS have a weight goal. I suggest having an aesthetic and lifestyle goal, especially at first. This will prevent you from getting down in the dumps when you don't decrease weight every day. When you do start to get to the point that you can handle quantifying your progress, I suggest doing a 5-day average for weight. That will help take into account fluctuations and you will get a better overall picture.

 

[nixium]

The most important thing to mention here is that all the exercise in the world won't get you a "beach body" without a proper diet to match

Gotcha, and I'm going to shamelessly rip of some of this Dave (Kaido's) methods. IMO, he structured a pretty good diet routine. I'm vegetarian, so this is going to take a bit of work.

Frankly, the exercise program is the easy part. Diet will be very tricky, given my lifestyle. I'm hoping I can start with 5 days of clean eating and 2 off days, to begin with, and slowly extend that to all 7 days (or 6 with one cheat day.) It'll probably be centered around a lot of milk. Maybe I'll try a gallon a day for a week and see how I take it.

One idea would be to start with just Starting Strength for the first ~8-12 weeks. Lifting heavy 3 times per week - especially squatting 3 times per week - is going to tax your body plenty, so it's a good idea to give yourself plenty of time to adapt. And if your body is not getting taxed that much, you're not lifting heavy enough (). Doing just SS at first will work especially well if you are bulking at the same time as it'll help maximize your strength/mass gains. While cardio has many health benefits, such as increased endurance, better heart function, etc, its only relevance towards having a "beach body" is that it's an efficient way to burn calories. In other words, it helps the "calories out" part of the equation, but if you're bulking anyway, it's not terribly necessary. After 2-3 months of pure SS, your body should be pretty used to it, and if you want, you can add in a bit of cardio - either for its health benefits or if you are starting to cut - on the off days.

The reason I'm doing cardio is that the BB forums actually mention some mild cardio on the off days may be beneficial for my body type (I'm a chubby.) I'm also doing it for general health and blood flow, but I'll be sure to tone it down initially, and make sure I don't overwork myself.

Finally, the "true" SS program has the power clean instead of the barbell row. The barbell row is the addition of the online community and is NOT a proper substitute for the power clean, at all (according to Rippetoe himself). If you haven't already, you'll probably want to buy the actual book - after all, if you're going to devote 6+ months to the program, shouldn't you spend a couple hours reading to make sure you're doing it right?

I do have the book, actually. I haven't read it end-to-end though. I want to do the power clean, but it looks complicated, and I'm afraid of getting the wrong form. Further, the instructor in my gym (I get a free hour every month) who 'taught' me the squat and the other SS exercises seems to have a different idea of the correct form as compared to the book (i.e., not going below parallel, high bar placement, etc) so I'd really rather learn it by myself.

My plan is to work on the modified SS for a while till I generally get comfortable with the barbell and weights. Once I'm used to the movements of my body and the way the weight feels, I believe It'll be easier to learn the mechanics of the power clean.

That being said, I read somewhere that the barbell row is supposed to be complementary to the bench press; otherwise, development of your chest muscles will be one-sided. Is this true?

Thanks a lot for the extremely helpful feedback

 

[nixium]

First of all, I don't want you to be paranoid You want good form, yes. However, you also wanna challenge your body and keep a solid intensity. I suggest to people the first time or two that they do SS, they should take it really easy and get a feel for the different exercises and not really add much weight; but as you start to know the motion, I strongly suggest challenging yourself You started squatting with 60 pounds. I know for a fact you can add 5 pounds a session at this point and still maintain solid form. So do it, have fun, keep your lumbar arch, but don't hyperextend. Keep your heels on the ground and don't shift weight to your toes. If you shift your weight to your toes automatically, then you gotta stretch your hip flexors (a good dynamic warmup for these are simple lunges).

5 -10 pounds per workout is my plan. I've noticed something about these relatively light weights. If i do something wrong, my body protests the next day. For example, I usually have problems with my knee or lower back. If I get something incorrect, those areas are sore the next day. My plan is to only go up in weight if my body feels fine (apart from mild DOMS) after a given workout. Since I'm so unused to weight training, it appears that my body sends out alert signals whenever I do something wrong. Plus, Ripptoe's book has a very comprehensive section on all the things that you can do wrong, and is very helpful.

I also wanted to mention that I am a fan of taking one step at a time, meaning that I don't suggest going from couch potato to lifting, dieting, doing cardio all at once. I'm unsure if you're looking to do cardio specifically for extra calorie burn or if you're doing it for general health, but I would pick something to do first. My suggestion would be as follows: start with SS for the first month, then start including the diet aspect of your life (track calories, learn what's good and what's bad, start to lose weight) for another month, and then hop in with some cardio/HIIT intermittently if you feel so inclined. I know that you're excited, but I don't want you to burn yourself out like SO many people do. Once you start lifting, you're going to feel better about yourself. As you get into that habit, you're gonna start eating better, which is going to make your body feel better. Once you start eating better, you'll have the energy to do extra activities (ie cardio training). That's my logic behind it, but feel free to disagree if you're willing to tackle it all at once.

Point about the cardio noted, since both you and briskis have stressed the importance of not overtraining. Again, my main requirement with cardio was for over all circulatory health and endurance. However, I do very little physical work in a given day, and I need at least a half hour of some activity.

I'm going to continue with the cardio plan, but probably restrict it to 140 bpm, and drop the HITT.

Basically, January is going to be a throwaway experimental month; the only objective is to get used to the exercises and formulate a proper diet plan.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions and feedback, by the way. I really appreciate it

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: nixium
5 -10 pounds per workout is my plan. I've noticed something about these relatively light weights. If i do something wrong, my body protests the next day. For example, I usually have problems with my knee or lower back. If I get something incorrect, those areas are sore the next day. My plan is to only go up in weight if my body feels fine (apart from mild DOMS) after a given workout. Since I'm so unused to weight training, it appears that my body sends out alert signals whenever I do something wrong. Plus, Ripptoe's book has a very comprehensive section on all the things that you can do wrong, and is very helpful.

Listen to your body - that's good. Just make sure not to get caught up being anal about each and every ache; but definitely listen to the joints, back, and neck. These are places you don't want pain.

Originally posted by: nixium
Point about the cardio noted, since both you and briskis have stressed the importance of not overtraining. Again, my main requirement with cardio was for over all circulatory health and endurance. However, I do very little physical work in a given day, and I need at least a half hour of some activity.

I'm going to continue with the cardio plan, but probably restrict it to 140 bpm, and drop the HITT.

Basically, January is going to be a throwaway experimental month; the only objective is to get used to the exercises and formulate a proper diet plan.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions and feedback, by the way. I really appreciate it

Yeah, that will be fine IMHO. HIIT would definitely up your CNS burden, but the long slow, steady cardio will help build up your endurance and be good for your lung/heart function. Glad to hear you'll ease into it. If you start to feel overwhelmed, don't hesitate to drop one of the things out and focus in on one or two.

Also, I didn't know you were a vegetarian. Do you get a lot of your protein from soy or mainly beans and such? Or even eggs, milk, etc?

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: nixium
I want to do the power clean, but it looks complicated, and I'm afraid of getting the wrong form.

It is complicated. But then again, so is the squat and deadlift. However, you definitely can learn them by yourself and they are well worth the effort.

Originally posted by: nixium
Further, the instructor in my gym (I get a free hour every month) who 'taught' me the squat and the other SS exercises seems to have a different idea of the correct form as compared to the book (i.e., not going below parallel, high bar placement, etc) so I'd really rather learn it by myself.

Be VERY wary of gym instructors. Obviously, some will be good, but in my experience, the vast majority are NOT qualified to give any advice on weight lifting. Now, technically neither am I, which is why I always try to reference credible sources, such as Starting Strength and Stronglifts. If your instructor "taught" you to squat above parallel, then his/her advice isn't worth sh*t, so yea, definitely focus on learning this stuff yourself.

Originally posted by: nixium
My plan is to work on the modified SS for a while till I generally get comfortable with the barbell and weights. Once I'm used to the movements of my body and the way the weight feels, I believe It'll be easier to learn the mechanics of the power clean.

That's a fair plan, but I must defer to Rippetoe: he said himself that if you couldn't learn the power clean by yourself, it wouldn't be in the book. Still, I can definitely see an argument in favor of learning the squat and deadlift first and building up a base of strength + technique before attempting the more complicated power clean.

Originally posted by: nixium
That being said, I read somewhere that the barbell row is supposed to be complementary to the bench press; otherwise, development of your chest muscles will be one-sided. Is this true?

Yes, but it has nothing to do with your chest muscles, but rather your rotator cuff. In order to keep this joint healthy, you need to develop the musculature equally on all sides of it. Every time you do an exercise where you push forward (bench press, push-ups) you are working the front of the shoulder. This should be balanced with an equal amount of pulling backwards (rows, pull-ups), which works the back of the shoulder. Moreover, exercises where you push upwards (OH press) are very good for the shoulder as they work the front and back equally.

If one part of the shoulder gets stronger than the other, the result is very often a rotator cuff injury. This is something you see with people who do a ton of bench press, but very little pulling or overhead exercises to balance.

 

[nixium]

Also, I didn't know you were a vegetarian. Do you get a lot of your protein from soy or mainly beans and such? Or even eggs, milk, etc?

At the moment, my plan is to mainly rely on whey protein upto a 100 of the 180 grams I need. This is till I figure out my diet plan. Eventually, I will try to wean off the whey protein and rely more on natural sources.

I generally get my protein primarily from Milk, beans and off late, cottage cheese. To a lesser extent, I use tofu and egg whites. Once I have my diet plan figured out, I'll probably include all these sources in more or less equal terms. One factor on deciding what sources to use will be the carb/fat calculations - which I'm not taking up at the moment to simplify things.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: nixium

Also, I didn't know you were a vegetarian. Do you get a lot of your protein from soy or mainly beans and such? Or even eggs, milk, etc?

At the moment, my plan is to mainly rely on whey protein upto a 100 of the 180 grams I need. This is till I figure out my diet plan. Eventually, I will try to wean off the whey protein and rely more on natural sources.

I generally get my protein primarily from Milk, beans and off late, cottage cheese. To a lesser extent, I use tofu and egg whites. Once I have my diet plan figured out, I'll probably include all these sources in more or less equal terms. One factor on deciding what sources to use will be the carb/fat calculations - which I'm not taking up at the moment to simplify things.

Cool, yeah. Those are good protein sources, but it's definitely hard to get enough protein in without chicken or something. I asked because I've been reading a lot about how soy affects the thyroid gland. I have friends that rely almost solely on soy for their protein and it has a detrimental effect on their health. They get sick often, their metabolism is wacky - they feel tired, fatigued often. Honestly, I'd suggest with you to start SOME soy 'cause in moderation it's actually quite good for you and is a good protein source. Other than that, your sources look pretty pristine. Those are almost exactly what I would suggest except I'd tell you to eat the whole stinking egg. It's not bad for you. I promise. You can PM me if you want the justification on that.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
I asked because I've been reading a lot about how soy affects the thyroid gland. I have friends that rely almost solely on soy for their protein and it has a detrimental effect on their health. They get sick often, their metabolism is wacky - they feel tired, fatigued often.

Sorry to sidetrack the thread, but have you read actual studies on this? I have a friend who eats soy all day long and is often sick and tired. But I did a quick search and keep coming up with actual studies and reviews like this.

With only one exception, either no effects or only very modest changes were noted in these trials. Thus, collectively the findings provide little evidence that in euthyroid, iodine-replete individuals, soy foods, or isoflavones adversely affect thyroid function.

So, what evidence do you have? I'd love for there to be anti-soy evidence, I just haven't seen it yet in actual studies.

 

[dealmaster00]

Also consider cottage cheese for protein. It is mostly casein, eg, slower digesting than whey.

One other thing: peanuts and whole wheat products, when eaten together, make a complete protein.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
I asked because I've been reading a lot about how soy affects the thyroid gland. I have friends that rely almost solely on soy for their protein and it has a detrimental effect on their health. They get sick often, their metabolism is wacky - they feel tired, fatigued often.

Sorry to sidetrack the thread, but have you read actual studies on this? I have a friend who eats soy all day long and is often sick and tired. But I did a quick search and keep coming up with actual studies and reviews like this.

With only one exception, either no effects or only very modest changes were noted in these trials. Thus, collectively the findings provide little evidence that in euthyroid, iodine-replete individuals, soy foods, or isoflavones adversely affect thyroid function.

So, what evidence do you have? I'd love for there to be anti-soy evidence, I just haven't seen it yet in actual studies.

Here's some of the FDA's wariness on soy. I'm aware it's dated from 2000. I would be much more inclined if I could actually read the research article. Everything really depends on amounts of soy incorporated into one's diet and activity. If they gave them something like 25g of soy protein per day, then that would be beneficial to their diet. However, I know vegetarians that are taking in probably 85% of their protein as soy. I think that's a bad decision no matter how you look at it. If I ate all peanut butter or drank all milk for 85% of my protein, I can imagine problems would also begin to occur - and they don't have much resembling human hormones in them (rbh is not bioactive in humans). If you can get me a full research article, I'd be thankful. Lemme search my school's journal database.

EDIT: I found two published, peer-reviewed journals. One mentions no change in postmenopausal women's serum thyroxine levels after treatment with an average of 140mg of isoflavones with 67.5g of protein. However, they were only given this for one week.

The next one mentions that when proper amounts of iodine are present, there are no ill effects to the thyroid of thyroxine levels. However I cannot access this article for further details due to some problem with the transition page from the abstract to the article.

It seems I can't find an actual research article to find the details that is conclusive either way. I have been reading in many abstracts that mention "there is still some debate" or "further research must be completed" for a sure answer.