Bodyfat Reduction Diet: Please Critique

Sex: Male
Age: 23
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 175 lbs

I have been trying to drop bodyfat (with minimum muscle loss) for around a month now with some moderate success. As a lot of this is trial & error, I seem to be contiously adjusting my diet & workouts.

My training consists of:

Monday: Upper Body Weights & 30 mins Cardio (Treadmill)
Wednesday: Legs Weights & 30 mins Cardio (Bike)
Friday: Upper Body Weights & 30 mins Cardio (Treadmill)
Saturday: 45 mins Cardio (Treadmill & Bike)
(Please give any opinions on my training plan also)

After checking out this forum on a pretty regular basis I have come up with the following eating plan. Please check it out and give me your opinions.

Typical Days Diet:

Meal 1 (7.30am):
Whey Protein w/ 400ml Skimmed Milk
(300 kcals/47g Protein/22g Carbs/3g Fat)

Meal 2 (10.00am):
1 Tin of Tuna, 2 Whole Eggs
(350 kcals/49g Protein/3g Carbs/15g Fat)

Meal 3 (1.00pm):
Beef Pastrami & 100g Cottage Cheese
(235 kcals/40.5g Protein/7.5g Carbs/4.5g Fat)

Meal 4 (3.30pm):
1 Tin of Tuna, 2 Whole Eggs
(350 kcals/49g Protein/3g Carbs/15g Fat)

Meal 5 (6.00pm Post Workout):
2 Shredded Wheat, Whey Protein & 400ml Skimmed Milk
(450 kcals/52g Protein/52g Carbs/4g Fat)
***Note that on Non-Workout days (Tues,Thurs,Sun) I would have the above meal without the 2 Shredded Wheat (as per Meal 1)***

Meal 6 (9.00pm):
Turkey/Chicken/Beef Pastrami
(135 kcals/27.5g Protein/3g Carbs/1.5g Fat)

Total Nutritional Intake (per Day):

Energy = 1815 kcals
Protein = 265g
Carbs = 90g
Fats = 43g

:unsure:

Your post workout meal I would drop the shredded wheat and skim milk and go with just whey and some simple sugars (dextrose). That is better post workout. I would move that shreaded wheat to early in the morning with breakfast and drop the skim milk, carbs in shreaded wheat are better than skim milk IMO, sugar vs fiber. I would also add some veggies in your diet, you need the nutrition of these and the carbs are very low and it is mostly fiber, veggies fill you up and make staying on the diet easier. I know you are 175 but what is your BF if it is high I would drop the protein down a little and up the fats a little more, Healthy fats, flax oil, nuts, olives...... Also I would rather see you eat some lean steak or very lean hamburger rather than that pastrami, I am not a fan of lunchen meats, esp when cutting, they have been processed and are not that good. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

Pain

hm, you need to drop your carbs to about 20 - 50g per day if you're wanting to cut your body fat. if you cut out your carbs to 0g per day, the fat will melt off you. keep your Protein Intake high and keep working out and you shouldn't loose any muscle mass.

or you can do what i'm doing, don't worry about loosing muscle mass and shred off all the body fat that you want, then put the muscle mass back on. :afro:

I couldn't handle losing any more muscle as I'm fairly scrawny to start with. I've been injured for a while so I've dropped about 7-10 lbs muscle and gained fat. I am looking to drop by BF% before attempting to bulk up as you suggest though. The thing is, I've only got about 4-5 weeks of cutting left before I plan to start my Bulking Phase (in time for the new Rugby season). Do you think I will achieve much BF% reduction in 4-5 weeks. I'm sticking to my eating/training plan pretty strictly & I've just invested in some 'Hydroxycut' ($$$ invested being the operative word $$$) so this should help.:lift: