T Nation

SHoe me where I'm screwing up my diet

Bodybuilding
#1

Help me get things fixed before I start with the hot-rox next week.

I started T-dawg II on Feb 25th. I’ve been pretty strict with it so far - getting my surge after workouts, only having on cheat meal on Saturday nights. Started out right about 2100 cals which I know is too low I gain fat REALLY easily and 2100 seems to be maintenance for me.

Started out 245 pounds - down to 240 the first week but seemingly no fat loss. My strength has increased slightly but my bodyfat% seemingly hasn’t moved from the 20-25% range.

Exercise - full body german body comp style (short rest periods) 3 times a week with 3 sets each of:
Bench, squat, dead, bent-over row, lat pulldown, decline tricep extension, bicep curl, crunch on swiss ball.

Also I train in Aikido 2x/wk and golf 1x/week.

Lately I’d been ill and lucky to get 1800 cals/day in. This week has been more like 2200. Average daily diet is like this:

1: 1 serving LC grow with .25 cup oats, .25 cup cottage cheese, a few strawberries.
2: Scrambled eggs with a little ham and jalapeno or some nuts
3: Roasted 1/4 chicken with a cup of green beans/cauliflower/broccoli
4: 1 serving low carb grow
5: Surge
6: 7 ounces steak/1 roasted carrot/1 roasted parsnip, 1 cup lowfat milk.

That gives:
Total: 2267kcal %of diet
Fat: 105 44%
Carbs: 119 20%
Protein: 199 37%

Anything glaringly obvious going on? My only other supplements are md-6 and a multivit. Any tips are appreciated.

#2

Nothing really obvious except that you say 2100 calories is maintenance. If that is maintenance then you may need to cut calories even further. Also maybe you’ve been eating too few calories for too long so your body has just become accustomed to it…perhaps a week or so at around 2500-3000 calories will get your metabolism cranking again.

#3

Maybe try further reducing the Fat and uping the protein…

Fat 30%

Carb 20%

Pro 50%

Switching to “fat free” C.Cheese and switching the milk for another low carb Grow should do it…

Good Luck!

“I never diet. I smoke. I drink now and then. I never work out. I work very hard, and I am worth every cent”

~ Naomi Campbell

#4

Probably not what you wanted to hear but i would suggest bumping up the cardio. if you keep dropping the cals you will get to the point were you cant go any lower and that will become your maintence cal intake due to you cripple RMR/thyroid out put etc.
even if you add a couple of cardio sessions as small as 15 mins (HIIT or HOC) you will notice the difference.
hope this helps…

#5

Actually, I was going to suggest upping your fat and lowering your carbs…20% carbs seems pretty high to me. If you remember, this diet is based on the Anabolic diet (see Eat Like a Man’ articles), and in the articles, it suggests to keep carbs at 5% (roughly 30g) for at least a week, and that’s when your body will go into fat burning mode…After that, you may try upping the carbs slowly if you find you don’t do well on the extremely low carb intake…How long you been on T-Dawg?

#6

Ok, so you’ve been on the diet for a month now - didn’t see your Feb 25th start date first time 'round. I’m pretty sure you should have at least seen some results by now if your body had switched over to a fat burning metabolism…I also forgot to mention the higher fat intake is also just as important as reducing your carb intake - the ratio described in the article says 60%F, 35%P and 5%C.
I realize everyone is different, but I did the diet this way while eating above my daily requirements, and I still managed to lose in the area around my stomach area (I felt the additional mass was spread out more evenly over my body)…

#7

Lose the milk and swap the carrot and parsnip for some salad greens or broccoli. Your last meal is way too carby. Add some nuts or a couple tbs of peanut butter for a night snack. I would stick to protein and carbs in the AM and protein and fat in the PM. If you can’t pull off any cardio at least power walk for a half hour a day when you first wake-up. Drink tons of water.