Help Needed - Squeezing in another 100 Calories.

[Windex]

Been dieting strong for ~(3-3.5?) months now. Been tweaking my cals on a weekly basis and thanks to fireguy & Gbrice and others cut the milk out of my diet. Last two weeks I dropped down to 2020 total cals and I don't feel I have enough energy or endurance. I'd like to possibly add another 100ish calories. Considered a banana to add PWO rather than just increasing the quantity of one of the foods I'm currently eating to add some diversity. My TDEE is 2650. (Going to post new pics and update my log in a month to re-assess my Bodyfat% so I can re-calculate my TDEE)

Sidenote: Doing cardio 30mins/day (sometimes 45 if I feel I have the energy and school semester is over so I have more time too). Lifting 6 days a week for an hour. Sunday is day off for everything. Saturday is always 45 mins (sometimes an hour) of cardio.

Sidenote #2: Some days I feel like I'm on 1000mgs of EQ/wk so I eat celery like a fiend in between meals to curb my appetite. Also drinking ~6-8L of water/day spread out throughout the day.

Diet is posted below, thoughts on adding a Banana or something else close to 100 cals?

(Forgot to mention, I'm allergic to all nuts and fish).

Protein / Carbs / Fat / Total Calories:

Meal 1: 8:00am

4 Cups Spinach
1 Tbsp EVOO 0/0/14/120
1 AnimalPak 3/2/0/20
1 Tsp Balsamic Vinegar 0/4/0/16
100g Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast 24/0/1/100

Totals: 30/6/15/256

Meal 2: 10:00am

7 Oz Yam 3/35/0/150
225g Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast 54/0/2.25/225
1 Tbsp EVOO 0/0/14/120

Total: 57/35/16.25/495

Meal 3: 1:00pm

125g Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast 30/0/1.25/125
1 Tbsp EVOO 0/0/14/120

Total: 30/0/15.25/245

Meal 4: 4:00pm

1 AnimalPak 3/2/0/20
3 Oz 100% Lean Ground Beef 26.5/0/0/103
1/4 Cup Brown Rice: 4/34/1.5/160
1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce/Juice

Total: 33.5/36/1.5/283

Meal 5: 7:00pm (Pre-Workout)

1 Scoops Myofusion 25/5/3/147
1/4 Cup Organic Rolled Oats 8/33.5/3.2/192

Total: 33/38.5/6.2/339

8:00 - 9:00 Workout, 9:00 - 9:30 CARDIO

Meal 6: 9:30pm (Post Workout)

1 Scoops ON 100% Whey 24/4/1/120
1/4 Cup Organic Rolled Oats 8/33.5/3.2/192
5g of Creatine mixed into shake

Total: 32/37.5/4.2/312

Meal 7: 10:30pm

1 Scoop MuscleMilk 100% Casein [Mixed with Water] : 25/2/0.5/110

Total: 25/2/0.5/110

Grand Totals: 240.5/155/58/2040
53% Protein, 34% Carbs, 13% Fat.

[Windex]

Bump... ? ^_^

[Nephets]

Try adding something to your last meal of the day. You shouldn't eat a protein only meal.

[Christopher_UK]

Try adding something to your last meal of the day. You shouldn't eat a protein only meal.

I've seen people say that before, just wondering, what is wrong with protein only meals?

[baseline_9]

What are your stats buddy

[gthom47]

that before bed meal of only casein protein seems good IMO. you said adding a banana so why not add that in the morning since that is fairly low on carbs?

[Windex]

What are your stats buddy

TDEE ~ 2650
Age: 20
Weight 176 lbs
Height 5"10.5
BF ~ 22% (Gotta post up new pics to get assessed)

[baseline_9]

If I was to put you on a cutting diet it would be 2060 cals....

Your about where I would put you bro... Your diet is not too bad (scanned over)

206 p
206 c
45 f


Get your carbs around your training and at breakfast.... Not too many carbs PWO IMO... Keep the majority of them for pre-workout...

On non training days drop your carbs down to 50g and add the extra 150g back into the diet on a training day... That way you keep the carbs there when you need them most...

Cycling your carbs should make you feel better...

[baseline_9]

As for the diet I see 3 protein powder meals on the trott...

Really u only need ur PWO meal to be whey... Some will argue... I just much prefer to see real foods...

Switch it around if u wana keep the powder in there as meals... Swap with a meal from in the day....

The PPWO meal should be swapped with a real food meal from earlier in the day IMO

[baseline_9]

As for your training...

I advise you to drop your weight training sessions down to 4 sessions per week...

As for cardio.... Increase it! Make all of your sessions 45 mins from now on...

Is your cardio fasted?

Do you do cardio PWO?

What form of cardio are you doing, and what is the intensity?

[baseline_9]

Ok, I'm on my iPod and it is crap for going in with bold and making changes...

I will come back later...

One thing I do recommend is that you make a meal a protein/fat meal or a protein/carb meal....


Pro/carb... Breakfast, pre WO, Intra WO, PWO

Pro/fat... All other meals....

So basically I am saying drop the EVOO if there are carbs in the meal and add it to other meals where there are no carbs.... B4 be for example...

[Gaspari1255]

Throw in a tbsp of natty PB before bed. It'll give you 8 more grams of slow digesting fat, and will tack on another 95 calories.

[Gaspari1255]

As for the diet I see 3 protein powder meals on the trott...Really u only need ur PWO meal to be whey... Some will argue... I just much prefer to see real foods...

Switch it around if u wana keep the powder in there as meals... Swap with a meal from in the day....

The PPWO meal should be swapped with a real food meal from earlier in the day IMO

Thats the biggest issue I saw, too. Throw in some Egg Whites and Tilapia in place of the shake. Eggs are pretty cheap, but Tilapia can be exspensive. I don't know what your budget it, so it's hard to offer other alternatives.

[Windex]

Lots of information to digest so I will answer as best as I can, thank you for the help guys.

(1) I'm allergic to all Fish & Nuts, it sucks hardcore so I can't do the PB or Tilipia route otherwise I would in a heartbeat.

(2) The casein shake is due to my inability to digest cottage cheese (a few spoonfuls puts me in the washroom for hours)

(3) So Pre-workout I should drop my 1scoop of Myofusion and replace with the equivalent in Egg Whites?

(4) I started this week @ 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes, and Saturday is an hour now. So I will keep that up and do 45 mins minimum now

(5) I had a bad typo, I only lift weights Mon-Fri (so 5 days) but do Cardio 6 days/week.

(6) Should I switch up my Meal #1 with Meal #2 then to get some carbs first thing in the morning ?

(7) I always do cardio PWO. In a perfect world I'd like to do fasted AM cardio but just have a tight schedule so doing 1 trip to the gym is easiest for me.

(8) For my cardio I aim for 65-75% of Max Heart Rate (although I'm not entirely sure how accurate the elliptical machines are)

(9) For Saturday & Sunday (The days I don't weight train) what do I replace the 150g of carbs with ?

(10) I have the 1 Tbsp of EVOO with my chicken in Meal #2 because I marinate my chicken then BBQ it. how much of the EVOO actually stays with the chicken or should I just drop it all together and just do a dry rub for example?

(11) What are advantages / disadvantages of carb cycling ?

(12) I will get an improved diet posted tonight when I get home so hopefully I'll be good to go from there.


Thanks again for all the help guys - sorry for the many questions.