T Nation

Just Became Single, Time to Get Ripped

#1

Hello.
I train pretty hard. Crossfit style. But my diet is all wrong. I’m 6’2 and have usually weigh around 100 kgs. I have a wide soft waistline (43") and thinner upper body. I look like an upside down V.

I just experienced an emotional break up and was unable to eat (nor sleep) but the occasional banana and berry. I am now 91kgs and my waistline is 40". I am pretty happy with the mass weight loss.

I still carry a lot of lose skin/fat around the waist that i want to burn. I plan to get my diet and fitness in order but i need a plan.

I can only really train at 6:45am. I wake up around 5:30 with anxiety anyway, so i am okay to eat SOMETHING at 5:30. Go to gym and lift some shit. Come back eat something again quick and then go to work.

Can someone please help me with a basic meal plan? The idea being to burn fat whilst building a chest and back.

#2
  1. Sorry about the emotional BS. Sucks. Maybe talk to someone if you’re literally losing sleep and not eating. That’s bad.
  2. Good work on the accidental fat loss. A win is a win, might as well take it.

The general goal of guys who want to look better naked is two pronged: You need to preserve muscle while you lose fat. You need to control calories, macros, training and sleep consistently over time.

Calories: Start at 14x body weight in pounds and adjust every month up or down based on results you want. So for you that’s 14 x (91x2.2046) = 2,809 calories per day as a start.

Macros:
Protein: 1g/lb of bodyweight is a good rule of thumb. This (along with resistance training and sleep) will help you hold muscle in a caloric deficit. So for you 1x(91x2.2046) = 201g protein/day.

Fat: .2g/lb of body weight per day for hormone support, joints and flavor in your food. .2×(91x2.2046)= 40g fat/day

Carbs: This is the balance of calories. The calorie content of macros p/f/c is 4/9/4. So solving for X.
2809= (201x4)+(40x9)+4X
1645=4X
411=X therefore 411g carbs/day

Eat this way for 1 month and assess whether you’ve lost, gained or maintained fat. Leave the protein amount alone and adjust carbs and fat based on your results. Make small adjustments… say 10% at a time.

Training. If crossfit is your deal then keep that up and remember to work hard while you’re there. Alternatively there are 500 workout programs here. Just find one you’ll actually do and stick to it.

Sleep as much and as well as you can.

Good luck.

#3

Read what @Basement_Gainz said and drill that into your mind @jarge.
If you don’t understand something read it again, still don’t get it? Quote the part you confused on and ask questions, that is a very well put response and I’m sure Basement has no problem clarifying anything you’re stumped on.

Welcome to the site and may the Gains be ever in your favor.

#4

I am also “cursed” with the larger waist line. I sit a lot at work also which makes it worse.

I had great results when I was squatting and going HARD on deadlifts. Cycling helped too.

#5

it will be helpful if you give us a basic rundown of how you eat now. Like what types of foods does your diet generally consist of. do you snack. do you cook. do you get uncontrollable hunger. stuff like that. anything you think might be helpful in assess what changes should be made and what sort of diet you would be likely to stick to.

#6

Carb intake should be based on activity levels and I am willing to bet he is not training enough or hard enough to need over 400g of carbs a day. 40g of fat is too low.

#7

I like to say the opposite. I enjoy the idea of the keto diet even if it is difficult to implement for some people. 20 g carbs (simple carbs)/day, 201 g protein, and the rest fat with vitamins every morning.

Carbs are the devil but I love them so much! >.<

It is easiest if you find a workout partner that will prep meals with you or cook with you at lunch or dinner.

#8

@maverick88 @tickletackletock

I actually prefer lower carb for myself, but that’s because I’m messed up from stupid crash diets and I’m working to fix that this year.

If you’re weight training, carbs are not the devil or the enemy. The NSCA and a bunch of other groups recommend about c/p/f: 55/25/20 or there abouts. If you meet the minimum amount of fat per day (.2g/lb) more fat doesn’t help your joints more or give you more test.

Notice how I told the OP he could adjust the carbs and fats per HIS results. Maybe he’ll do better on 200g/day of carbs, maybe 300. He won’t know until he tries. Also remember he seems brand new to nutrition, so all this counting stuff will suck at first anyway. He did say he was doing crossfit workouts, those certainly burn through glycogen at a rapid clip.

#9

I have a question about this. 14x your body weight, shouldn’t that be corrected if you are over fat? For example, I’m 210 right now but at my level of lean mass, I really should weight about 190. 14x my bw is almost 3,000 kcal per day. I’m thinking I should be eating about 2,500 while working out as much as I can and adjust from there.

OP, hope you feel better. Sorry about your situation.

#10

14 is the ballpark WAG for maintenance. If you eat 14xbw for 1 month and then adjust from there. Nobody can predict how much you burn. There’s way too many variables. I was maintaining 235lbs on 2000 calories absolutely no problem (sedentary, lifting 3x/week, no cardio). Some guys START cutting at >3k cals.

#11

good things start after a breakup ! good luck man, you can do it

#12

You will have a very difficult time getting into Keto with protein that high. Needs to be closer to 25-30% of calories. Otherwise, your body will convert protein to glucose.

#13

Well well… I didn’t know that!

#14

From Dr. Attia, who you should definitely read up more on. https://peterattiamd.com/ketosis-advantaged-or-misunderstood-state-part-i/

#15

Thank you!

#16

I’m going to throw something in here for you to research and consider:
Intermittant Fasting.
Eliminate sugar
Low Carb
Train fasted, early morning seems to fit your preference.
Use My Fitness Pall to track food.

I realize this flies in the face of most of the “experts” on this forum.

#17

@Basement_Gainz @cruusial @alphagunner @flipcollar @maverick88 @tickletackletock @Elias_J @bigmax @dchris @imbubber

I just wanted to say thank you very much. I may be a touch emotional right now, but the feeling of support was very welcoming!

I am going to prep a plan and run it by you soon!

#18

Are you keto expert? So sometimes, when my carbs are low and my training sessions run long/are higher volume, i start to smell ammonia. Just seems to generate inside my nose. Does this ever happen to you? Or could that be from my protein being too high for ketosis and it’s excess protein metabolism waste? Or am I dying? :sweat_smile:

#19

This is harder than i thought it would be. I am trying to plan a meal plan that suits my very busy fast paced lifestyle. I have access to a supermarket near my office.

I feel like that is already a lot of carbs for me and i am still trying to find more! Can someone please provide some feedback?

Here is my plan
https://1drv.ms/x/s!AqqBhASrnaRyqB54xerwEfRDuIC8

#20

Forget crossift and get on a Tnation program. Something like this is kind of similar but far more effective…

Personally i would forget ‘dieting’ until feeling settled just eat to support training and work and just avoid junk food/sugary crap etc

Get in plenty of good fats and fermented foods also…