How's My Diet?

Alright, I’m a beginner and i’ve read all of the beginner articles. I’m about 5’5 and 183lbs, medium frame. I want to kill all this fat and build a nice looking mucle… not a huge lump of destruction, but a nice build a definition. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Anyway, I looked at the calorie calculator and i need probably around 1500 calories a day to loose weight. So, I devised this daily meal plan I need to know what you experts think and what I should change. I plan on doing full body workouts atleast 3 times a week if not 4 and cardio every single day.

*Keep in mind all I drink is water or juice, no matter what. Mostly water and probably about 2 liters a day.

Breakfast: Bowl of total w/1% milk, Glass of orange juice (Minute maid, no additives) Bananna sliced up in the total

Snack: Turkey sandwich on whole wheat w/ 2 slices of turkey

Lunch: Grilled chicken breast on whole wheat w/ lettuce and tomato. Along with an apple or something.

Snack: Turkey sandwich on whole wheat w/ 2 slices of turkey.

Dinner: A regular meal, whatever I can find really (any suggestions would be nice)

I also noticed some people do 6 meals a day, I have some rice cakes (50 cal) in case I need anything after dinner.

On days I work out (every other day) I was thinking of substuting my dinner for the protien shake (600 cal) and then working out. Should I drink another shake after Im done working out even though it puts me well over the calories I want to intake (to loose more weight) How does this sound, do I need to change anything?

btw, if it helps the shake im taking is cyto-gainer. the guy at gnc recommended it to me and they have it at golds as well. it has like 56g of protien, 2g creatine, glutamine all that… lmk if you need more info.

Hello fellow guitarist! You need to check out articles by Dr.Berardi. The first thing I noticed is you are using lunch meat for protein and you are eating cereal. I wouldn’t consider those the best choices. I would also consider eating more fruits and veggies. They taste great and are full of nutrients. I have unique dietary needs and have been forced to study this a lot. From all the sources I found, I like Dr.Berardi the best.

Hope I helped.

Oh, sorry. A meal I like is tilapia with pico de gallo (delicious and cheap), caesar salad and fruits (thinking about pineapple and kiwi just makes me hungry). Like I say, I have unique dietary needs, so my diet is tailored (to quote Berardi) to fit me.

yeah, i also got some beef jerky as it has lots of protien and relitavely low fat. the only thing is, i dont really know what is good for me. i’ll search for that article. unless you mean the one with the 7 point diet or whatever, thats how I came up with this one lol. btw, whats wrong with cereal?

You can do much better than cereal. You don’t have to eat breakfast food for breakfast. Instead of filling up on cereal, you could be using the opportunity to eat eggs for protein, brown rice for carbs and fruit (mmm fruits). Or, hell, chow down on buffalo meat or chicken breast. I could get more specific with breakdowns of why i choose what i do, but that would be unnecessary. Some people say that breakfast should be a large meal, and I agree, it should. I only eat cereal when I oversleep (which is more often than I like). Like I say, diets are individualized and need to be modified for each person. For instance, I can’t eat corn, nuts, celery and shellfish. Completely out of the question, so I modify my diet for such. BTW, apples are great! My $0.02.

definetly, i eat apples, banannas, and pears (love them) here and there you know, kind of side items for the meals. the main reason I decided to eat total is so i can get all the vitamins and minerals that it boasts. its also pretty good lol, which is cool with me. ive been thinking of mabye eating an egg with it though, that should probably help, right?

I am not sure what beginner article you have already read but if you are still eating cereal, lunch meat, and rice cakes you have not read any beginner articles here.

Start here: http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459493

The changes are hard at first but after a couple weeks you will feel the difference…after a few months you will see it.

NH-Watts

yeah, thats the one I read. i figured it was a somewhat decent diet. what would you recommend me replacing the lunchmeat with (and why is it so bad?) also, what about the cereal?

I dont think one of your meals follows Dr. John’s recomendations.

  1. Eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.

You MIGHT be doing this but rice cakes are not a meal.

  1. Eat complete (containing all the essential amino acids), lean protein with each meal.

Lunchmeat is usually pretty poor quality unless you are paying for the best stuff. Even then to be safe cook your own chicken breasts and use that. It’s cheaper and you know whats in it.

  1. Eat fruits and/or vegetables with each food meal.

I dont see any vegetables. Lettuce on a sandwich doesnt count.

  1. Ensure that your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables. Exception: workout and post-workout drinks and meals.

Again no veggies. And the mass of your carb intake comes from bread.

  1. Ensure that 25-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).

I see no fat in your diet.

  1. Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.

I assume you are putting milk on your cereal.

  1. Eat mostly whole foods (except workout and post-workout drinks).

It looks like a lot of your meals are processed. Think chicken breasts, brown rice, and a couple cups of brocolli with some olive oil.

Dont eat a food because it has added vitamins find the natural foods that are the source of the vitamins and eat them, and/or find a good multi vitamin.

[quote]dpguitar wrote:
yeah, thats the one I read. i figured it was a somewhat decent diet. what would you recommend me replacing the lunchmeat with (and why is it so bad?) also, what about the cereal?[/quote]

i decided to ditch everything ive ever heard or seen. and go with the T-Dawg 2.0 diet. i think that along with my workout will get the job done

[quote]dpguitar wrote:
i decided to ditch everything ive ever heard or seen. and go with the T-Dawg 2.0 diet. i think that along with my workout will get the job done[/quote]

1500 cals? Are you kidding me? Are you an 11 year old Chinese girl? Eat more, eat clean, and the fat loss will come. I suggest some sprints to help with the fat loss. Find your maintnance amount of calories (the amount of calories you mantain you weight consistantly) and start slowly dropping the cals. I don’t know what your BF % is but dropping to that low of calories is very unhealty.