Got a few questions about a diet I have currently started. I have never ever written down everything I eat and counted the calories and macronutrient ratios but I have finally got around to it. At the moment I’m a little under 6’3", around 101kgs/224lbs, not sure on the BF%. At the moment I’m trying to find a baseline for calorie intake with low carbs and high protein and moderate fats to keep the muscle that I have and lose some bodyfat.
So far I have been doing it for around 2 weeks and I feel and look leaner but I can’t be sure if it’s just fat that I am losing or possibly muscle as well.
Anyways here is what the diet looks like.
6:30am shake 50g Pro 2g Carbs 205 Cals
Muesli 10g Pro 74g Carbs 400 Cals
Milk 13g Pro 20g Carbs 252 Cals
9:30 Shake 50g pro 2g Carbs 205 Cals
Tuna 48g pro 0g carbs 200Cals
12:00 Chicken 30g pro 0g Carbs 140cals
Vegies 2.5g pro 5g carbs 34cals
pasta/Rice 15g pro 68gcarbs 378 cals
3:00 Shake 50g pro 2g carbs 205 cals
Tuna 48g pro 0g carbs 200 cals
6:00 PWO Shake 50g pro 2g carbs 205 cals
7:00 steak 30g pro 0g carbs 200cals
vegies 2,5g pro 8g carbs 34 cals
Total cals is around 2658
Total Protein 400g
Total carbs 160g
I currently work out 3 days weights and do 4-5 cardio sessions mostly steady state.
Does that look like enough food to achieve what I’m after?
Any reason why you don’t count fat? 400g of protein is way too high during a cut I think. You don’t want your body to be dependent on protein for energy.
Get 1x to 1.5x your bodyweight in protein, get your carbs in around workouts and for breakfast, and get the rest from healthy fats.
As for muscle maintenance, make sure you lift hard and heavy, make sure you have good pre/peri/post workout nutrition, and keep the cardio under 30 minutes. I like to eat bcaas at night before bed and first thing in the morning for that 7-8 hours I’m not eatting.
What I’d use to cut:
http://www.T-Nation.com/article/bodybuilding/refined_physique_transformation&cr=
This article will basically give you a step by step guide on nutrition.
evilmage has it right. I’d do more cardio than he says, though (ex. HIT + 30 min of slow intensity cardio)
I am trying to go low carb cause I have a feeling that i may be pretty sensitive the stuff but if that the case how can I get enough calories without eating heaps of protein. Just how much fat would you take in if I was to get it through fats rather than protein?
As far as not counting fats I just didnt break them out but they are included in the calories. Will have a read of thibs article and make a better choice based on that.
From my way of thinking I wanted carbs in the morning to give me some energy and carbs around lunch so I would still have some energy for my workouts. Would it be useful to have a PWO shake that contained carbs and simple sugars??? The only protein shake I am having at the moment is
http://www.horleys.com/ViewProduct.aspx?id=15
Its a bloody minefield trying to get this diet thing right and I’m in the headspace to do it properly but with so much info flying around it’s all very confusing.
If i was to eat more fats instead of protein what would be the best sources to keep my cals at around 2700 based on what I have written above?
The absolute best time to have carbs is around your workout, followed by breakfast. If your progress is stalling and you want to try lower carbs, then you could start by removing carbs from breakfast/lunch. A lot of people still keep the post workout carbs even when low carbing.
Remember that fats have 9 calories per gram as opposed to 4 calories for protein and carbs. So it’s really easy to make it up. Good fat sources include nuts, eggs, fish and fish oil, olive oil, and avocados. Then we have fats from meats and dairy, which are also fine. Fats aren’t really bad for you, you need it, especially when cutting. You want your body to start using fat as fuel. Just stay away from trans fats and fat/carb combos (you know, cakes, cookies…).
Dieting is really that hard if you understand the general basics. Have you read the 7 habits? It was written by the precision nutrition guy, forgot his name already lol.
ok so let me get this right, after reading thibs piece on it. I’m 6’3" or thereabouts. I’m 224lbs, around 15-17%BF I would estimate so if I take the high BF% I have 186lbs of lean mass. That means i should only be taking in about 2800cals a day. 50g carbs which leave me with 2600 cals a day from protein and fats split equally. Holy shit. I think to start I will go 60% or 1560cals from protein and 40% or 1040 cals from fats.
This is going to take some getting used to. 115g of fats a day. I can get 10g from fish oil, 6 eggs = 30grams. I still have 75 grams of fat to get. around 15grams of fat from the steak and chicken in my diet, maybe 20 if you count the cooking process leaves 55grams of fats, I don’t know where to get them from! My protein intake seems pretty good if I use the 60%-40% split for proteins and fats but i’m going to struggle getting the fats!
[quote]Evilmage wrote:
You don’t want your body to be dependent on protein for energy.
[/quote]
I think I know what you mean by this, but do you care to clarify?
Ok I worked out how to get my fats to 980 cals and proteins to 1560 and my carbs to just 270. For some reaon the numbers don’t add up to what my table is showing as 2800 total calories??? there are some from vegies but it doesnt make up the difference. Will just havta see what happens when I change the diet.
Malevolence I think he means that you don’t want your body to start to use proteins as your main source of fuel cause it will adapt and try to always do this. Number one this will cause it not to burn fat and number two if you’re ever in calorie deficit, because your body has been trained to utlitise protein as it’s chief energy source the first thing it will do is breakdown muscle.