My Diet, any help appreciated!!!!!!

[boarder034]

OKay i stepped away from the board for a little while and i finally reached some of my goals. Figured less time on the computer more in the gym was better. Now i have some new goals. I need to cut from about 13 to 8 percent body fat. I think its achievable because i want it by next summer. Im looking to get my diet in order starting in september. Heres a couple questions.

Ill be working out in the morning, whens the best time to take in my carbs.
How many servings of fruit do you take in a day while cutting, heard different opinions on this.
How many servings of vegitables do you take a day while cutting.

Also last but not least how many times can you have pasta a week?

[boarder034]

OH sorry for another question but, is salt THAT bad, besides bloat, does it hurt your diet? Cause salt can make anything taiste good

[NCNPC29]

As far as your carbs, as long as they are low glycemic and you are rotating them then it really doesn't matter what meals you have them with throughout the day... stick to brown rice, sweet Pot....I wouldn't recommend fruit at all if you are cutting...you don't need that sugar... As far as your veggies I would put in a serving with each meal that you don't have a carb with.. spinach or broccoli... you can also use a little extra virgin olive oil to cook your spinach to get in some good fat... how much do you weigh now? why do you have to work out in the morning? IF you have to in the morning I would hit 30 minutes of cardio after training and then hit 45 at night.. stay away from the pasta unless it's wheat

[NCNPC29]

dont' worry about the salt..not like you are getting ready for a show...

[boarder034]

OKay salt, good..

Are green onions alright? When i eat pasta or bread it usually is Wheat, came across some good recipes..
As far as the glycemic stuff, i dont know much about it, can u elaborate on it. and thanks for all the responses to my questions before!!!

[NCNPC29]

everything you ever wanted to know and more..lolol

http://www.glycemicindex.com/

[TR'05]

I would disagree on the timing of carb meals. I would suggest that you definately want your PWO shake followed up by another protein/carb meal.

Also, if you are working out earlier on in the day- I'm assuming you mean mornings- you would probably want to have a protein/carb meal for breakfast prior to hitting the weights. I find AM workouts to be very sluggish if I haven't consumed any carbs prior to it.

As for fruit, I would say that a small amount of low glycemic berries at breakfast in a PRO/CARB meal would not be too detrimental. In my experience, though, I cut out fruits altogether other than cheat meals. Go to town on the veggies. Take them in anytime and any meal you feel like them in. They should be a staple of any diet.

You've got try things out to see what works best for you. I can tell you that for me keeping carbs in MEAL #1 and PWO & PPWO meals has worked wonders. Also, gotta hit up the AM cardio. If you have to hit weights in the morning- get the first meal in, wait an hour, go hit the iron and follow it up with 25 minutes of cardio.

Good luck, bro. If you post a complete diet it would help out a lot (ie allow for much easier criticism).

[boarder034]

wow thanks alot for the help, ill put together what my diets been lately tomorrow, thanks!

[boarder034]

Okay this is what my diet looked like and i had some very good success dropping weight, except i got bored.

Morning6am)
Oats (skim milk)
Piece of Fruit
Kashi Cereal
8 egg whites.

Snack9am)
Protein Shake
Grapes

Lunch:12
Protein Shake
Whole Wheat Cereal

Dinner: 6
Egg Whites
Some Sort of Fruit
Low Carb

Workout was mostly am workout

[TR'05]

what are your stats, bro? height, weight?

check out the cutting sticky, as well.

[boarder034]

Im 6 foot 2, 190 pounds...
About 13% body fat i assume, last i checked.

I have checked out the cutting sticky most of the times, and heres a link to a picture for other stat stuff yea lol...

[TR'05]

Alright bro, lookin' pretty lean as it is. To be honest, if it were me, I would starve to death only eating that much. I'm 6'2 and just under 180 lbs right now...I consume about 3200-3500 cals a day when I cut. Bulking is a different story alltogther.

I would suggest breaking up your meals into about 6 a day, excluding your PWO nutrition. You say you work out in the mornings so I would set it up something like this:

MEAL 1 6 AM

12 egg whites
2/3 cup of oats
half cup of blueberries- if you're feeling like some fruit.

Wait an hour then hit the gym
Train weights followed up by 25 minutes of cardio

Right when you finish your cardio hit up a post-workout shake:
- 50 grams whey protein (2 scoops by most measures)
- half a cup of dextrose is what I use for glycogen replenishment, but feel free to use oats, a bagel, sweet tarts, nerds, whatever carb source you feel like really. The key is to keep a 2:1 carb to protein ratio in the PWO shake.

45 minutes - 1 hour later you want to have your post workout meal.
- Hit up some chicken titties and oats if you feel like it. Other options could include brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta, grits. Just try to keep it a protein/carb meal. No fat in the meal following a post-workout shake is my rule of thumb.

Meal #3 you can start having some protein fat meals. Examples include, tuna and mayo/steak/lean ground beef burgers/chicken tits and natural peanut butter/casein shake with flax oil or olive oil/ turkey breast with almonds....tons of different meals you can choose from.

If you want you could have carbs at other meals also. I would say, though, that since you are training in the morning try to limit carbs to before 7pm ish. Finish the day off (ie, before you go to bed) with a solid prot/fat meal. For me it's half a dozen egg whites, scoop of casein protein, and tbsp of flax oil.

Anyways bro, I would say you definately should be eating more if you want to keep your muscle. If you don't get enough kcals in, eventually your body will turn to the muscle as fuel.

On one final thought, I would consider bulking. You're lean as it is and I'm not sure how much more you would want to cut.

[boarder034]

WOW, thank you for that very in depth response, i definitly learned alot from this post, thank you...

Bulking would be a nice change of pace, seems like im constantly cutting... its just ive gotten so used to cardio i end up hating lifting weights ill need some insperation in that category.

Ill get back to you on how it goes, thanks for all the help man!

[jef]

you seem very lean to be starting a cutting diet in september. you look like you're already at 8-9%. bump for more info for carb cycling days for you throughout the week. I'm gonna have to start my own thread about that too.