Diet Criticism Please

Would love some feedback on my current eating plan.

Just coming off a somewhat low cal/carb cut. Current values are maintenance as calculated using Romaniellos formula (I’m a fatass… slightly less of a fatass but a fatass none the less.)

Will be eating at maintenance for 1-2 weeks before finishing things off cut wise.

Diet is paleo inspired… with exception to some protein powder/workout nutrition.

The two shakes are due to a hectic schedule at present. Not ideal but I did try to include a wide range of nutrients.

Meals 1 and 2: (values for each meal)
45g Chocolate protein blend (Whey/casien/egg)
80g Frozen raspberries
35g Hazelnuts
6 fish oil caps

466.1 Calories
41.9g Protein
29.8g Fat
7.7g Carbs
4.4g Fiber

Meals 3 and 4: (values for each meal)
250g Lean steak mince (under 12% fat)
280g Mixed frozen vegetables (carrots, brocolli, cauliflower)
Spice/seasoning of some kind

529.1 Calories
54.0g Protein
31.1g Fat
8.0g Carbs
9.4g Fiber

Totals:

1990.5 Calories
191.8g Protein
121.9g Fat
31.5g Carbs
27.6g Fiber

On workout days there will be additional Pro/Carbs in the form of workout nutrition. A whey/malto mix with a roughly 1:2 ratio. Will be between 300-400 calories.

36% pro, 55% fat, NINE PERCENT carb.

You told us you’re coming OFF a low carb diet, and you’re now on a low-carb diet.

I’m confused.

The food choices are fine. Who’s gonna say no to lean protein, healthy fats, veggies, and fruits?

Are you posting this for reassurance or to strike up conversation?

if this is really what your daily diet looks like, then you are doing great. if this is REALLY all that you are eating each day, then you should start losing weight relatively quickly. If you are not dropping fat, you should look at your training program, and HOW you are executing it. Just because a program is designed for fat loss, that doesn’t mean you will lose fat using it unless you own it, and progressively push your intensity levels each training session. It’s impossible to criticize this diet though. Are you sure there’s not more carbs in 80g of raspberries?

i’d also stop counting these things and worrying about fitting into the right mathematical formula. you will lose sight of why you’re eating well in the first place. on any given day, there is no way i could break down my meals the way you have

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
if this is really what your daily diet looks like, then you are doing great. if this is REALLY all that you are eating each day, then you should start losing weight relatively quickly. If you are not dropping fat, you should look at your training program, and HOW you are executing it. Just because a program is designed for fat loss, that doesn’t mean you will lose fat using it unless you own it, and progressively push your intensity levels each training session. It’s impossible to criticize this diet though. Are you sure there’s not more carbs in 80g of raspberries?
[/quote]

AGREE. You should absolutely lose fat eating this way.
FWIW 80g raspberries is 9.6 carbs, 35 grams hazelnuts is 6 carbs so whatever program or counter you’re using is slightly off. Try fitday.com

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

i’d also stop counting these things and worrying about fitting into the right mathematical formula. you will lose sight of why you’re eating well in the first place. on any given day, there is no way i could break down my meals the way you have [/quote]

On this part I disagree. Keep tracking. There is a psychological benefit to tracking like this for SOME dieters. Also if you hit a stall later it will be easy to pinpoint areas to tweak because you will have such a clear picture of your eating history.

Anyways, looks good to me re-check your macros on a better tracker though. And hey keep us posted I bet you can have some awesome fat loss sticking to the food program you outlined.

[quote]Hallowed wrote:

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

i’d also stop counting these things and worrying about fitting into the right mathematical formula. you will lose sight of why you’re eating well in the first place. on any given day, there is no way i could break down my meals the way you have [/quote]

On this part I disagree. Keep tracking. There is a psychological benefit to tracking like this for SOME dieters. Also if you hit a stall later it will be easy to pinpoint areas to tweak because you will have such a clear picture of your eating history.

Anyways, looks good to me re-check your macros on a better tracker though. And hey keep us posted I bet you can have some awesome fat loss sticking to the food program you outlined.
[/quote]

Truth. You bring up good points I didn’t think of…it’s kinda the same principle behind keeping a training log. Counting calories drives me insane…but some can do it…some need it. It’s a good check on not overeating. But I do believe there’s a big difference between knowing hey I got between 1800-2100 cal today and around 50/35/15 macro split, and I got 1900.9 cal and my split was 54.4/35.5/10.1. Your body’s metabolic demands fluctuate within a given range from day to day and we really have no way of mapping it out down to a decimal of a unit of energy. Eating as healthy as the OP will allow one’s body to become better adapted to “telling” him when he’s had enough, since there’s nothing processed.

On the subject of the raspberries - two things that might explain the low looking carb count:

  1. They are frozen - might this have an affect?
  2. Carb counts in the UK don’t often include the fiber from what I can tell (or maybe just the soluble fiber?)

Regardless I think the difference comes to about 4-5g carbs per 80g serving that rate 30-40 on the GI scale.

Of course the data was what I found on the fact of the product - might simply be wrong!

I’m having to restart my program… I got ill (freshers flu) and stupidly had a couple of days of binge eating, etc.

I’ll be eating higher calories for a week before I knock them back down again but will start the program again on Monday to allow my immune system to pick up again!

Training is the Spring program from Nate Greens Built For Show (Not having results anything like jskrabac though!). Had to switch up DB hang snatch for a DB swing snatch due to shoulder pains.

[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
36% pro, 55% fat, NINE PERCENT carb.

You told us you’re coming OFF a low carb diet, and you’re now on a low-carb diet.

I’m confused.

The food choices are fine. Who’s gonna say no to lean protein, healthy fats, veggies, and fruits?

Are you posting this for reassurance or to strike up conversation? [/quote]

Sorry I wasn’t clear at all!

Using Romaniellos formula for intake it put me at roughly 2000 cal maintenance and an additional 400 cal roughly on training days.

For fat loss it put me at roughly 1700 cals a day with 300 cal exrta on training days.

It’s all done off LBM rather than total mass - I started out at a flabby 210lbs so there wasn’t a MASSIVE amount of LBM there to give me a high intake.

So I was coming off the 1700/2000 diet and shifting up to 2000/2400 - low carbs throughout mind.

I’ve always ballsed up nutrition in the past so I just wanted some reassurance I have it down ok. I would say that based on the responses the rough structure/food choices are pretty sound… although I am concerned about the calories a little (feel somewhat low!).

  • Done several weeks at the lower cal end… dropped a tonne of weight but still have a LOT of fat to shift (sadly it looks like I’m going to end up a little skinny-fat).
  • Got ill - cheated a couple of days and dropped training for a week.
  • Currently upping cals to maintenance and starting training again next week.
  • After a week or two of this I will re calculate and see how much lower I need to go calorie wise.
  • If I end up too small (anything approaching 170lbs) then I will knock up cals and shift to gaining some mass again.

Starting the new uni year though has wreaked havoc with meal timing/sleep patterns… Can’t help but worry I’ve lost a tonne of LBM!

I think that is a better summary of things… I didn’t want to bore people with such details!

[quote]benmoore wrote:
Training is the Spring program from Nate Greens Built For Show (Not having results anything like jskrabac though!). Had to switch up DB hang snatch for a DB swing snatch due to shoulder pains.[/quote]

My results were spread out over 6 months. Starting with spring, I was actually a little discouraged and wondering if I’d ever start seeing any changes. I’d recommend taking pictures. Many times you’ll think you’ll have made no progress, but all you need is to compare yourself to a two week old photo to see otherwise. With your diet, you’ll do great. Another thing, I’d recommend is taking a week off after each 6 week cycle. Take that week to focus on soft-tissue work, mobility work, and eating more clean than usual.