T Nation

Help with a Diet

Beginners
#1

Alright so you guys probably have heard this plenty of times before but I want to loose fat while gaining muscle. I know it’s hard work but i know it’s not impossible.

My goal is to reach single digit body fat percentage. Last time I checked I was 5’7 around 150 pounds 16.9% body fat, this was like 3 weeks ago. Soccer season started about 2 weeks ago so I get atleast a good 2 hours of excersise from monday to friday and I lift every monday-chest and back, tuesday-legs, thrusdays-arms, and saturday-shoulders. I usually lift about an hour after my soccer practice ends.

Alright so heres where I need help, I want to improve my diet. I’ve been eating somewhat healthy but I want to know excactly how much of calories, carbs, fats, and protein I should eat. I haven’t been keeping track of what I eat and I’m about to start but I’ve been trying to eat about 150g of protein throughout the day in 5-6 meals and with every meal i’ve been eating vegetables and sometimes rice or pasta or something like that.

I know I could eat better but I just need a plan or something that tells me how and what I should eat in the 5-6 meals i eat throughout the day. I know that everyone is different in terms of how much of calories, carbs, fats and protein so if anyone can give me an estimate of how much of everything I should eat and i’ll modify it so it fits me better.

Also I have Low-carb Metabolic Drive, Surge, and Flameout that I can use. I’ve been lifting for some time now but I haven’t really been focusing on my diet and I realized thats exactly whats holding me back.

Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks to anyone that helps

#2

Paragraphs motherfucker! Do you use them?

Alright, slight misquote but come ON! It makes the chances of a reply so much better if people can read your post.

In answer to your question, check out the diet articles here on T-Nation. They have everything you need to know.

[Edit] looks like someone did some work on your paragraphs! Much better.

#3

[quote]Renton wrote:
Paragraphs motherfucker! Do you use them?

Alright, slight misquote but come ON! It makes the chances of a reply so much better if people can read your post.

In answer to your question, check out the diet articles here on T-Nation. They have everything you need to know.[/quote]

Sorry for the no paragraphs. I’ve read some of the articles on nutrition here but if you could link me to some more or tell me where I could find them that would be awesome also I just need someone to show me an outline of how I should be eating or a plan or something like that and how much of everything I should be eating like how many grams of carbs, fats, etc.

#4
#5

[quote]ManS1aughter wrote:
Renton wrote:
Paragraphs motherfucker! Do you use them?

Alright, slight misquote but come ON! It makes the chances of a reply so much better if people can read your post.

In answer to your question, check out the diet articles here on T-Nation. They have everything you need to know.

Sorry for the no paragraphs. I’ve read some of the articles on nutrition here but if you could link me to some more or tell me where I could find them that would be awesome also I just need someone to show me an outline of how I should be eating or a plan or something like that and how much of everything I should be eating like how many grams of carbs, fats, etc. [/quote]

No problem mate - just yanking your chain a bit.

B Rock’s thread is good even if he does like Hannah Montana. :wink:

Also take a look at

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_diet_nutrition_bodybuilding/the_tdawg_diet_version_20

And for lots more links, the top 30 T-Nation diet articles…

Sounds like you are on your way anyhow but just need to tweak things up. Keep reading and put what you learn into practice.

Good luck!

#6

[quote]Renton wrote:
ManS1aughter wrote:
Renton wrote:
Paragraphs motherfucker! Do you use them?

Alright, slight misquote but come ON! It makes the chances of a reply so much better if people can read your post.

In answer to your question, check out the diet articles here on T-Nation. They have everything you need to know.

Sorry for the no paragraphs. I’ve read some of the articles on nutrition here but if you could link me to some more or tell me where I could find them that would be awesome also I just need someone to show me an outline of how I should be eating or a plan or something like that and how much of everything I should be eating like how many grams of carbs, fats, etc.

No problem mate - just yanking your chain a bit.

B Rock’s thread is good even if he does like Hannah Montana. :wink:

Also take a look at

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_diet_nutrition_bodybuilding/the_tdawg_diet_version_20

And for lots more links, the top 30 T-Nation diet articles…

Sounds like you are on your way anyhow but just need to tweak things up. Keep reading and put what you learn into practice.

Good luck![/quote]

Thanks a lot man. I checked out some of the links in the top 30 one and some of them don’t work but thanks anyways. Also how am I supposed to see how many grams of something I’m eating? am I supposed to weigh everything I eat because that seems very time consuming.

#7

For my last post I meant for like vegetables and stuff like that not stuff that I can see the nutrition information in the back

#8

Nothing wrong with waiting for a girl to turn 18.

As long as it doesn’t take forever!!

#9

[quote]ManS1aughter wrote:
Thanks a lot man. I checked out some of the links in the top 30 one and some of them don’t work but thanks anyways. Also how am I supposed to see how many grams of something I’m eating? am I supposed to weigh everything I eat because that seems very time consuming.
[/quote]

It is time consuming to a degree - at least at first. You’ll soon get used to quantites though and not have to measure too much if you don’t want.

I’m diabetic so measuring food weight and balancing carb intake has become second nature to me now. Just part of life.

Do you cook much yourself? Just get yourself some good recipes and an easy to use set of scales and off you go.

I’d recommend having a cooking day. This way you can prepare in bulk and cut down on weighing things out. Make a big pan of beef curry for example - beef, tomatoes, onions, spices etc - easy to weigh out and work out nutritional values. Freeze it in portions and you are good to go.

Then all you need is to measure out how much rice (or whatever) you want to consume with it and cook that while you reheat your curry.

Try not to get too hung up on counting every single calorie and precise carb/protein/fat ratios. You’ll never really manage it exactly anyway but a minor discrepancy in calories isn’t going to make all that much difference.

#10

[quote]ManS1aughter wrote:
Alright so you guys probably have heard this plenty of times before but I want to loose fat while gaining muscle. I know it’s hard work but i know it’s not impossible.
[/quote]

You’re right, it is very hard work and it’s not impossible to do both. BUT, I’ve been doing this for over a year and although I’ve had decent success, I still feel I should have concentrated on one goal at a time. I’ve added some muscle, and reduced my bf%, but slowly. I’m still at around 14%bf (my goal is 10%).

I’m now giving the fat loss 100% of my attention. Then I’m going to bulk. I think if I’d done this a year ago I would have seen much better results. It’s also far easier to adjust workouts/diets & monitor progress when you’re aiming for a single goal.

Just giving you advice based on my experience. Feel free to ignore. Good luck. :slight_smile:

#11

[quote]Renton wrote:
ManS1aughter wrote:
Thanks a lot man. I checked out some of the links in the top 30 one and some of them don’t work but thanks anyways. Also how am I supposed to see how many grams of something I’m eating? am I supposed to weigh everything I eat because that seems very time consuming.

It is time consuming to a degree - at least at first. You’ll soon get used to quantites though and not have to measure too much if you don’t want.

I’m diabetic so measuring food weight and balancing carb intake has become second nature to me now. Just part of life.

Do you cook much yourself? Just get yourself some good recipes and an easy to use set of scales and off you go.

I’d recommend having a cooking day. This way you can prepare in bulk and cut down on weighing things out. Make a big pan of beef curry for example - beef, tomatoes, onions, spices etc - easy to weigh out and work out nutritional values. Freeze it in portions and you are good to go.

Then all you need is to measure out how much rice (or whatever) you want to consume with it and cook that while you reheat your curry.

Try not to get too hung up on counting every single calorie and precise carb/protein/fat ratios. You’ll never really manage it exactly anyway but a minor discrepancy in calories isn’t going to make all that much difference.
[/quote]

Well I’m only 16 so I’m not used of cooking myself. I’m used to eating the food my mom makes. Also I don’t eat beef or pork. My parents don’t eat it and I was raised without it. I’ve tried to eat it before but it tastes gross to me so I usually eat chicken, tuna, eggs and stuff like that for protein. Also I ckecked out B rocks thread and the most recent nutrition article here and that was what made me realize that I need to start eating better. Also how do I Know how may grams of carbs and fats I need? I did the formula for calories (bodyweight x 16 + 20%) and I got that I need 2880 calories on workout days but I still don’t know how many grams of carbs and fats I need. I know that fats should make up 25-30% of my diet. If someone could help me figure this out it would be awesome.

#12

[quote]appro wrote:
ManS1aughter wrote:
Alright so you guys probably have heard this plenty of times before but I want to loose fat while gaining muscle. I know it’s hard work but i know it’s not impossible.

You’re right, it is very hard work and it’s not impossible to do both. BUT, I’ve been doing this for over a year and although I’ve had decent success, I still feel I should have concentrated on one goal at a time. I’ve added some muscle, and reduced my bf%, but slowly. I’m still at around 14%bf (my goal is 10%).

I’m now giving the fat loss 100% of my attention. Then I’m going to bulk. I think if I’d done this a year ago I would have seen much better results. It’s also far easier to adjust workouts/diets & monitor progress when you’re aiming for a single goal.

Just giving you advice based on my experience. Feel free to ignore. Good luck. :)[/quote]

I’ve thought of concentrating on one at a time but I would rather do both at the same time. I know I can do it I just need a plan or guidelines or something to follow. I don’t really care that it takes a longer amount of time because it’ll probably be better for me in the long run. Thanks for your advice man

#13

Also can someone help me with carb cycling. I read about it and it seems like it would be good for me so if someone can explain to me how many high, medium, and low carb days would be good for me (I’m 5’7 150 pounds 16.9% bf, I get atleast 2 hours of running everyday on soccer practice and lift every monday, tuesday, thrusday, and saturday Just for anyone that didn’t read my previous posts) and how many grams of carbs I should eat on high, medium, and low carb days. Thanks for all the help guys

#14

Here is a link to an article written by shelby starnes of troponin nutrition that does pretty good job of explaining how to set up your carb cycling diet.

www.troponinnutrition.com/Shelby.pdf

This one is by CT

Those should help you.

#15

[quote]laroyal wrote:
Here is a link to an article written by shelby starnes of troponin nutrition that does pretty good job of explaining how to set up your carb cycling diet.

www.troponinnutrition.com/Shelby.pdf

This one is by CT

Those should help you.[/quote]

Thanks a lot man those helped me out a lot. I really appreciate it.

#16

[quote]laroyal wrote:
Here is a link to an article written by shelby starnes of troponin nutrition that does pretty good job of explaining how to set up your carb cycling diet.

www.troponinnutrition.com/Shelby.pdf

This one is by CT

Those should help you.[/quote]

Alright so I checked out the links and I got that on high carb days I should eat 244g of carbs, on moderate days I should eat 195 grams of carbs and on low days I should eat 146g of carbs and everyday I should eat 195g of protein and on my high carb days I should eat as little fat as possible, on low days like 45g of fat and on moderate days 60g of fat. Does this sound right to you guys?

#17

Excellent work! Now go to it! Seriously, good job of doing the calculations and homework on your own, happy to help anytime! Keep us posted!