I have been keeping a strict diet log for two weeks now, but have been eating the same for four weeks (Not much variation at school). I am 6 feet 243 pounds with 19 percent body fat. I eat, on average, 2750 calories per day (Goes up or down by about 100 a day, depending on timing and what I had to do that day. 50 percent of those calories comes from protien, with 25/25 split evenly between carbs and fat. I am attempting to lose fat while maintaining/gaining strength. I do a HIIT training two days a week that consists of a 65 meter spring, and 100 yards of jogging 15 times (I play football and the Running Man programs didn’t fit the need for explosive sprinting). I am currently using protien powder, Hot Rox, Flax Oil, Fish Oil, and your everyday multivitamin. I have one cheat day, usually on Sundays. Those days have averaged out to about 3000 calories. On Saturdays I stay at the 2700 calorie mark, but much of the protien and fat shifts to carbohydrates, as these are the days I compete in track and we are gone all day, so a combination of needing more carbs and not having protien readily available makes me do this. Any suggestions? Again, I am trying to lose fat as the main goal, but maintain strength at the same time. Thanks.
TheTank,
We could make a plethora of suggestions to change things up and tweak this or that. (not saying what you are doing is bad, just that their are many options out there) Befor I personally make any suggestions it would be helpfull to know how the progress is right now? How much are you losing on a weekly basis? What are you doing for training?
One simple blanket suggestion with your goals in mid would be to give the Tdawg 2.0 diet a try. I know that this statement is posted over and over, but the fact is the diet works. Most people who do it experince fat loss, along with, either maintenence of or gains in muscle mass. The Tdawg is a diet that is also easy to adapt to individuals, and to overcome stalls in progress.
Phill
Tank, I replied on your other thread, so when I found this one, I had to add my 2 cents’ worth to Phill’s good advice.
T-Dawg is the way to go. Protein requirements based on your LBM would be 295g per day, and fat requirements would be 80g per day. Lowering carbs to T-Dawg levels would help with fat loss. T-Dawg’s numbers are looking more like 2300 kcal per day, which is a good bit lower than your numbers.
Stick with your program if it’s working, but if it ain’t, switch over to T-Dawg.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!!!
Terry,
I’ve read through T-dawg and attempted to use that as a basis. The problem is that I throw the shot, and I need energy for that as I am an in sport athlete. Im worried that droipping my carbs down to 100 or below will have a very negative effect on my throwing. Is 2800 cals a day too much? I used Berardi’s calculater and according to that I am supposed to have about 5000 calories a day. I don’t want any miracles, just slow, steady fat loss. Oh, I also got my BF checked… 14.7 percent. Down from 21.4 from the beginning of summer. YES!
Hey Tank, there was a similar post about TDawg calculations a while back, I think it was called TDawg math. Some other people noticed their high calorie count, myself included, and asked how to modify it. Chris Shugart got on and told the person to multiply their BW by 12 instead of 16-18. He said the best thing is just to manipulate the calories yourself until you hit a good weekly weightloss. Hope this helps.
Tank:
Nice progress!
Some information on T-Dawgish dieting. The idea behind the diet is to maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle catabolism, and also optimizing energy levels when hypocaloric. I have been doing this for a month now (at least something based on the same principles), and I do not find that I have problems in the gym for very intense workouts. The key for me was finally getting the PWO nutrition dialed in. I find that the PWO shake with another clean high-carb meal following it was the key to replenish glycogen and maximize effectiveness in the gym without feeling sluggish or tired. I am also losing fat.
Clearly you are making progress and aren’t in a hurry to lose fat. It sounds like you are doing the correct things; if it isn’t broken don’t fix it but since you posted maybe you think it needs fixing in some regard? If you are happy with your rate of progress and your performance in sports, you might want to wait for a plataeu before modifying a good thing. If you want to speed up fat loss, T-Dawg is awesome. My T-Dawgish diet on training days starts out with cardio, there are 4 P+F meals, my weights, then PWO shake (Surge) and another PWO meal with clean carbs and protein. The only time I feel like I’m dieting is on “off” days where my carbs are almost non-existant. If you are having to perform intensely on “off” days (from weights), you might benefit from the PWO nutrition on those days as well; perhaps not having such a caloric shake and minimizing carbs on the second meal to some degree. On training days, my carb intake is probably in the 125g range, on off days, probably 50-70.
Good luck!
Whoops!! I mean on training days my carb intake is in the 250g range! Slight miscalculation there.
Thanks for the replies. Lucid, I’m not necessarily looking for an addition or a change, but I am new to all of the dieting stuff. I used to be in the world of “Low Fat, High Carbs”, then switched to “No Carbs, High Fat.” I always knew protien was important, but I am now making a concerted effort to get those goals. This post isn’t is as much of a look for suggestions, nor is it to stroke my ego, it’s mostly to make sure that what I have been doing makes sense for the kind of athlete/weight/BF/workout intensity I have. It is quite hard to get an accurate reading on my weight, as the only scale I can find is in the weight room, and its all out of wack calibration wise and I can’t seem to get it to the same calibration every time. It has worked well so far, but it’s only been 3 weeks, and I don’t know if that’s enough time to fully be able to tell what’s going on. but I’d rather not have wasted 3 weeks, or continue it for another 3 just to realize I wasted it all.
Tank, you can use T-Dawg if you’re willing to experiment a bit and adjust the carbs.
A few questions:
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How often do you throw shot?
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How long are your shot throwing training sessions? I imagine they’re “intense.”
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What sort of weight lifting program do you follow? How often?
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How active are you other than shot throwing, cardio, weights?
I’ll get more precise after you get me the answers to your questions, but I’m inclined to treat your shot throwing sessions like a weight lifting session; i.e., a day you would take in higher carbs.
One approach you could take to find out the bare minimum number of carbs you need to maintain performance is to start out with high(er) carbs, say 150g, on WO or shot throwing days and lower that number once a week by 25g. If you start to feel “weak” during a session, you’ll know that you need to go back up the higher number of carbs.
My recommendation would be that you use Surge PWO and take in the majority of your carb allotment for the day in the whole-food P+C meal after your Surge. That’s a time when your body is PRIMED to take in carbs.
The trick here is to take in all of what you need, but no more than what you need.
I’d still go with the 70g of carbs on non-workout days. We’re only talking about optimizing the number of carbs you need to maintain performance.
What do you think?
how have you found Hot Rox to work?
Another option you may consider is Tdawg’s included cheat day/meal. This is a varied day for individuals, some use a single all out meal others use a day of more moderate cheating.
This could be a good option for you on you saturday shoot sessions. Eating moderate meals that contain the carbs and other junk you want up to the meet to give you that energy spike you are looking for on those day. You had also said it is a tough day to get in good clean foods anyhow. Might as well use this time.
Then after the meet you could go for another moderate cheat or two or just go all out for a meal.
One other mention on the cheat. I have had success with both approaches. 1 being an all out gorging on pizza, doughnut, beer, ice cream what have you in one sitting until you simply cant move. 2 being the day long cheat. For this method my diet consist of a much cleaner/longer cheat. I limited the total junk food like pizza and such and stuck with more of a day long P+C type of meals without the kcal and carb restrictions.
This cheat day will also aid in various mental and physical ways while on the more hypocaloric restrictions than your current approach. “read up on cheat meals”
With that said, it still burns down to your progress on your current plan. If you are making slow and steady gains toward your goal, and not sacrificing performance @ your meets, etc. stick with it.
These are all just suggestion that we have tested and found to work on US. All you can do is try things out and see what works.
Good luck, and keep us informed,
Phill