Yet Another Diet Critique Request

Diet and Nutrition
1

Would appreciate comments on my diet that I’m about to start tomorrow. Was inspired by bartl et al on the physique clinic. FYI, I’m 26, 6’2" and 260 lbs @ 27% body fat. I was always overweight, and in high school dieted the wrong way but still achieved to cut down to ~12% body fat @ 178 lbs. Since then I’ve gained a lot of fat but also some quality muscle.

My goal is to lose as much fat as possible while preserving muscle with similar results as Bartl had on the physique clinic. My diet is as follows:

6:45am: coffee or tea

7:00: 60 minutes low-intensity cardio

8:15: . 3 omega-3 eggs (cooked in EVOO or coconut oil)
. 1 cup celery
. multivitamin, 2 omega3-6-9 caps, 2 CLA caps
. 1 scoop Isopure 0 carb protein shake

10:00: . 1 scoop Isopure protein shake

12:00: . 5 oz. chicken breast (cooked in EVOO or coconut oil)
. 1 cup broccoli
. 2 omega3-6-9 caps, 2 CLA
. 1 scoop Isopure shake

2:00: . 1 scoop Isopure shake

4:00: . 5 oz. top sirloin (cooked in EVOO or coconut oil)
. 1 cup lettuce
. 2 omega3-6-9 caps, 2 CLA caps
. 1 scoop Isopure shake

6:30: . 1 scoop Isopure
. 7 BCAAs

7:00: Weight-training for 60 mins followed by 30 min. moderate cardio

8:45: . 1 scoop Isopure
. 7 BCAAs
. Glutamine

10:30: . 1 1/2 scoop Isopure shake
. 1/2 tablespoon EVOO

Total calories: ~2400
Protein: ~270g
Fat: ~95g
Carbs: ~18g

And I might switch up the chicken and sirloin for turkey or tuna,salmon etc. but at similar portions.

And after about 4-6 weeks will alternate every other day low fat/high fat by replacing the fats with more green veggies on the low fat days.

I want to cut down to around 10% body fat before doing any more mass gains.

What do you guys think?

2

Forgot to mention that after about 4 weeks I plan to start having 1 cheat day every 10 days (replenish cortisol and my sanity).

How does this all sound?

3

Oops, just realized I doubled up on my isopure shakes. With each meal (at 8, 12, & 4) there is no isopure shakes.

4

looks good, kinda of like the Anabolic Diet. I don’t think that have an entire day devoted to cheating is a great idea, especially for someone at 27% bf. I did this for some time and had some bad results. Maybe try having 1 or 2 cheat MEALS every 7 to 10 days until you get closer to your fat-loss goal.

The other thing i might change is the addition of omega-6 & omega 9 to your diet. Most foods are packed with these two types of fat and the addition of them through supplements seems like a bad idea to me. I would go with just the omega-3’s and have a handful of mixed nuts at a few places throughout the day instead of the added omega-6 & omega-9’s to balance out the calories and add some fiber. 3 cups of veggies isn’t really enough fiber for one day.

Also, 90 minutes of cardio per day seems like overkill to me if you are concerned with preserving some of that quality muscle while losing fat. 2.5 hours of exercise per day is alot, i’m a college athlete who approaches this amount of activity only 3 days a week(the other 4 days being somewhere around 1.5 to 2 hours) and I lose weight @ 4,500 cal per day. Just remember to take it slow and keep your goal in mind at all times.

Best of luck Anthony.

5

Ya the omega 3-6-9 and CLA caps I’m going to stop using once I finish the bottles and switch to Flameout and plain old fish oil.

Also, I think you’re right about the cheat days and will probably just do a cheat breakfast every 10 days.

I also re-calculated my calories and added 1 cup skim milk to the PWO shake and it comes out to about 30g carbs, not 18g, and about 2250 cals, not 2400, more or less.

As for the cardio, I know my body and it won’t give me rapid fat loss without a lot of cardio, so your point taken I’ll stick with it and adjust if necessary. I hate being fat and will tolerate the possibility of higher muscle loss if it sheds the fat off quicker. 10-12% bf is my goal. Will not do any mass gains till I reach that level of bf. I’d rather be skinny than fat any day (FFBs should all relate to this).

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, I greatly appreciate it.

6

Well as someone who is a FFB I completely understand your desire to be skinny over fat any day of the week. I’m at about 195 now after being as high as 220 and as low as 172 in the last 2 years.

With regard to the PWO shake, i think you’d be better off adding some simple sugars instead of Milk. Something like two or three tablespoons of Gatorade powder because the Casein in Milk may slow digestion slightly and I have read in a few articles around here that milk is not something that a person who is trying to lose weight should be eating regularly.

You know your body better than anyone else and if that amount of cardio is good for you then go for it.

Also, I’ve never tried the V-Diet before but after seeing some of the results that people around here achieve that might be a good option for you to jump start this process and see some fast results.

~Mike~

7

Omega 6-9 are actually beginning to be harmful in peoples diets. Mens Health did an article about a year ago about how it causes inflammation in the heart. Omega 3 is all you want.
In regards to milk, the calcium in dairy is said to help release storage of fat in your mid section. So a small amount of Milk (fat-free, 1%)early on, will most likely help ween you onto a more intense diet. I would suggest you eliminate it as you approach the Mid to low teens in Body fat.

I also counted 5-3 Shakes to Solid Meals, I could see you maybe in the future eliminating one of those, as it will give you a V-Diet lite effect.
I do agree with mike on his theory with your cardio. Im fine with you wanting a higher amount, but the morning fasted workout is a huge resounding NO. You already are sleeping 6-8 hours without eating or drinking anything.

In a state where you are trying to preserve Muscle and lose fat, your body is going to start breaking down muscle to energize that run. I would perform Intervals in 30 minute sessions to start, if you aren’t losing fat (which is impossible if this nutrition is spot on and you are lifting with quality) Then I would add an additional interval session on off days.

All in all. The information you receive through this site is more than what you will need to achieve your goals. Staying focused and motivated throughout is up to you and conversely is the hardest part. Go strong and work hard. I’ll see you at 10% BF

8

[quote]woohitter wrote:
I would perform Intervals in 30 minute sessions to start, if you aren’t losing fat (which is impossible if this nutrition is spot on and you are lifting with quality) Then I would add an additional interval session on off days.

The interval is to be completed after your weight workout.

9

Thanks for the replies guys.

So I’m definitely going to switch off the omega3-6-9 and cla for Flameout and regular fish oil caps.

As for HIIT cardio, i’ve heard that doing any intense cardio on a low-carb diet is catabolic and will eat at your muscle quicker than a low or moderate steady state. I just got back from my 60 min. cardio where I walked on the treadmill at an incline of 8.0-10.0 and a speed of 3.0-3.3. I was dripping with sweat when it was done and my average heart rate was 125. I think I’ll stick with that for now.

And for PWO I’m going to start off with 1 cup skim milk (nonfat) and as I get leaner replace it with maybe Surge or some other supp.

I can’t f-in wait to get my lean body!

10

Ok, you have a plan. It isn’t a bad one and should work. You have gotten some good feed back.

Now get it done, don’t rationalize bad choices. Keep reevaluating based on progress every two weeks. Update in 2 weeks.

11

If walking is your 1 hour workout thats fine, as it will have a limited effect. Sprinting or High intensity work will drain your ATP storages and can actully increase muscle mass depensing on your development. Slow steady state running will tap into muscle and thats not what you want.

Good luck. PM me whenever you reach a new goal.

(which brings up the point you should set smaller more easily attainable goals on the course of the BIG picture goal)

12

So I just finished my first evening weight training + 30 minute cardio session. No problems with energy/strength. I did what I guess could be called a MIIT (moderate intensity interval training) cardio on the elliptical.

So total cardio every day is 90 minutes, 60 min. low steady state on the treadmill in the mornings and 30 minutes moderate interval on the elliptical after weights in the evenings.

Drank my PWO shake after that session and I’m good to go.

Will post in 2 weeks my updated weight and bf%.

13

I still say the morning cardio will shed some muscle from you. If its what you need to do to stay motivated though. Go for it

14

1 week update:

Went down from 262 lbs. to 252.5 pounds.

Went down from 27.7% bf to 25.3% bf.

That comes out to about 8.6 lbs of fat loss and 0.8 lbs. of muscle (or water) loss if my math was correct.

Week 2 starts today.

15

Good on you bro! Thats a hell of a first week keep it up! How are you finding the training, diet, cardio? It seems to be working but 8.6 lbs of fat cant be right I would say you shed maby 3-4 pounds of fat max and the rest was water, glycogen and the such! Still very good first week none the less!

Good luck and lift heavy!

16

The first couple of days, I was enjoying the food and had plenty of energy. That all went south by the end of the third day when I was just exhausted and couldn’t stomach any more dried up chicken breast and raw green veggies. But I pressed on.

The worst meal by far is the chicken + broccoli. I close my nose and swallow the food with water. The egg breakfast and the sirloin dinners are awesome. I think I’m going to switch out the chicken for some tuna or shrimp this coming week.

The lifting has remained consistent. I’m lifting as heavy or in some instances a little heavier than before the diet.

The cardio is a pain in the ass. Walking for 60 mins. every morning at 7:00am is very boring. And the cardio right after my lifting is exhausting. But I’ve stuck to it and haven’t felt like skipping any sessions.

My sleep is inconsistent too. The first couple of days I knocked right out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Since then, its been hit and miss, some nights falling right asleep, others not being able to sleep with hunger pains and headaches.

I was also drinking skim milk as PWO shake, but I took that out because it made me feel bloated and Thib recommends eliminating dairy. So peri workout is isopure and BCAAs when they finally get delivered.

Onwards and upwards.

17

Over 50% of your calories are from protein…sounds a little high. I’d add more green veggies too, broccoli is solid but I’d drop the celery and lettuce for some more nutrient dense veggies.

18

Week 2 update (2 days late, sorry, been busy):

As of this morning, I weigh 246.5 lbs @ 24.7% body fat.
That is a loss of about 15 lbs. and ~2.5 % body fat in 2 weeks.

I messed up on my diet over the weekend by having a night out with sushi and kirin, but got right back on it the next morning. I’m going to try and not do any more cheat meals for another 10-14 days from today.

I’m really burned out by the end of my exercises. For the first time I almost puked at the end of a heavy session this morning. For the most part, I’m maintaining my lifts as before, but it’s taking a lot more effort to keep that up. Where before I’d squat 305 for 10 reps without a problem, now I’m grunting and feel like I’m going to pass out after.

Next week I’ll start alternating high fat / low fat every other day since I’ll be pretty much fat adapted. We’ll see how the low-fat days go; I have a feeling I’m going to be starving on those days.

Will post again in 2 more weeks!

19

week 4 update:

240 pounds @ 23% body fat.

Total loss is 22 pounds of fat and what looks like no muscle loss. I’m maintaining or slightly increasing my lifts each session.

If I keep maintaining my lean muscle mass, my goal of ~10% body fat should be at around 205 pounds. So I have another 35 pounds of pure fat to lose. Hopefully I’ll get there in another 8 weeks.

The first 2 weeks were brutal. Dropping all those carbs at once made me sluggish, gave me headaches, insomnia, and horrible cravings for all types of junk food. But by the middle of the 3rd week I felt like I got a 2nd wind, maybe I was finally fat adapted, because I no longer had energy problems, headaches went away, (still had trouble sleeping on low-calories), but all in all felt good.

Though by the sixth day of the week I start to drop in energy levels. So I realized I have to have a cheat meal once every 7 days or else I just can’t function. But I get right back on the ball immediately after. And I try to keep my cheat meals healthy… high carbs, moderate to high protein, low fat.

I also ordered greens+multi+ as a supplement so I’m going to start taking that every morning.

Update in another 2 weeks.