help with my diet!

[novice1]

i eat protein/fat all day and protein/carb for dinner after my work-out. for example for breakfast i eat egg-whites with a few yolks for fat. sometimes i just eat some cottage-cheese. snack an apple or a couple of spoons of peanut-butter or a big handfull of unsalted peanuts. lunch i eat a salad with grilled chicken in it (a little ranch and no crutons or bread) or sometimes i eat about 10 fried chicken stripes with nothing else. i eat another snack of fruit or unsalted peanuts and for dinner i eat egg-whites(no yolks) and some plain oatmeal or grilled chicken and brown rice. basically i eat no salt or sugar all day and drink a gallon of water a day. i'm 25,6'5, 210, 13%bf, no AS and don't ever want to, i do take a NYC stack (syntrax adipokenetix). my question is this. i want to lean up some more because i have a little fat everywhere but really around the gut i work out 4 times a week and am fairly muscular. is there anything wrong with this diet. am i in ketosis or hypoglycemia? i don't really understand all that. i have tons of energy all day and feel fine. i've been reading about ALA and wondered what this would do for me on this diet. oh and i also try to get around 200g of protein a day. i'm not on a bodybuilding diet so that's enough i think. please help me. thanks.

[beenie]

There are a couple tings I would change. First, you are not in ketosis. If you are going to eat carbs, you should eat them in the early part of your day. Otherwise you will not have a chance to burn them and they will turn to fat. Eating carbs anywhere near bed time is really counterproduuctive for bf% decreases.

Also, how much cardio are you doing? What is your salt intake?

[novice1]

i don't do any cardio in the winter. as soon as it warms up i will start probably 2 or 3 times a week for 20 to 30 min. i eat low to no sodium. i don't add any and try to avoid it the best i can but i know you can't help taking in some but it is low. i thought i needed the carbs right after a work-out to re-fuel and help my protein go to my muscles and not be used for energy. i work out in the evenings.

[beenie]

Need for carbs after a workout is very controversial. A lot of people on this board believe its necessary, although I do not share thier belief.

The main purpose of carbs (and I am NOT speaking authoritatively here) is for energy. I think protien after a workout would serve you much better. Protien is what the body uses to build muscle. Unburnt carbs add fat.

In the very recent past I beleived that all carbs were bad carbs, and after a lot of experimentation I find that I can eat them and not blow up like a Macy's Day ballon. I have also noticed that when I go too high, it adds a layer of water, so that it renders all of those ab muscles that i have worked so hard for invisible. If you can't burn them off that's what happens (at least to me).

[novice1]

well should i continue with a low carb high fat high protein diet or maybe use a moderate carb/moderate fat high protein diet. i know everybody is different so thats a hard question to answer. how about if i just eat protein and veggies after a workout and keep my fat and carbs during the day. also how about this ALA. could this be a supplement that could help things.

[beenie]

That's your choice, and you have to go with something that works for you that you know you can live with.

My observation has been that excess carbs add weight and excess fat (on a low carb diet) makes you retain weight. So if you want to loose VERY fast you can cut both way back. A word of cation with this plan: when I did it I lost a lot of everything, fat and muscle. Low carb by itself the loss is more gradual and at least I retained more muscle.

To adress your question specifically, I don't know much about ALA soI cannot help you there. I still say that if you are going to stick with your current diet, I would move the carbs up earlier in the day. So have your oatmeal for breakfast, not dinnrer. Your fruit with or after lunch, brown rice with lunch. At least you will have an opprtunity to burn them off when you do your workout at night.