Beginners Diet. please help!!!

[breakerkid86]

Heres the deal! I am turning my life around, mainly my health and appearance. I have always bee the fat kid, the kid who was cute but not in shape to get the girls. The kid who was confident,but let his overweightness(probably not a word lol) get in the way of life. Now I am changing all that and very serious about it. I have been lifting for a few months now,and I am starting my cardio this upcoming monday(aaaaaaaah lol) I am going to post how I have been eating the past week and someone please guide me. I read the threads already posted but I have zero knowledge so a lot of it is confusing to me, especially when people start using abbreviations and stuff

24 yrs old
5'7 Height
225 pounds
Not sure about BF% but obviously high


I wake up, have a protein shake with 2 scoops, tbsp of flax seed, half a banana, and 12 ounces of milk. Also, 2 hard boiled eggs. Bottle of water

For lunch I usually have a can of tuna with a little mustard and pepper,bottle of water, and some fruit,or veggies if there are any left over from supper

For supper I have whatever my mom makes, just a regular portion. If its something bad like fried food,i make a tuna sandwhich on whole grain wheat bread,wit some fruit or a salad,and bottled water

Protein drink before bed with 1 scoop and water instead of milk

I drink water all day,once in a great while I will have one small cup of OJ, literally maybe once or twice a week.

If I get hungry during the day I eat fruit, snack on some type of nuts, and always drink water.


I was told to get my diet in check so I come here to you all looking for help. I dont know many foods out there,and im unemployed so its hard for me to go shopping. I can sometimes give my mom $20 to grab me a few things,$50 at the max if I have no bills that week. I lift 4-5 days a week,and come monday will do cardio 3 times a week(is that enough)

My goal is to get to 170-175 and be lean and somewhat ripped. I want the adonis type body,and i am not looking for it over night, but obviously the quicker the better as long as its healthy.


I love meats, all seafood except scallops, almost all veggies except a few, i like oatmeal and most cereal,i like most nuts,and just about every fruit except pears. Something about cottage cheese grosses me out.

With this info, can someone please help me reach my goals. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to help me out

[gbrice75]

Welcome to the board! Good for you, taking the bull by the horns and changing your life! We have a lot of work to do here. I will help you out the best I can right now, but I'll require alot more info from you to really get into it. Here are a few things you need to do to get started:

1) you need to know your TDEE. This stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure - in layman's terms, it's your maintenance calories - that is - the amount of calories you'd need to consume in a day to neither gain or lose weight. Once we know that number, we will adjust daily calories for maximum results.

There are formulas to get a fairly accurate number, but I don't have the info handy. For now, you can google it - there are online calculators that will get you a pretty close figure. Post back up with that number once you have it, and BE SURE you are answering the questions the best you can.

2) Need to know what time of day you workout. We have to be sure you are getting a proper pre and post workout meal. And btw, cardio 3 days a week is not enough for somebody wanting to lose bodyfat, especially as high as yours is now.

3) speaking of bodyfat, do you belong to a gym? Have somebody measure it with calipers; knowing that number will help to get you more accurate results when we actually plug numbers into the formulas to find your true TDEE

You'll need to repost your diet in the following format:

Meal 1 - 7am
1/2 cup oats (dry) - 5/27/3 - 150 (format is protein/carbs/fat - total calories)
3 large eggs - 18/0/13.5 - 210

Total - 23/27/16.5 - 360

This is the preferred format and you will get the most help posting this way. Yes, this does mean you have to spend ALOT of time gathering ALL macro information from everything you eat, and be meticulous!

Now i'll repost your diet below and critique in bold, the best I can without macro nutrient info:

I wake up, have a protein shake with 2 scoops, tbsp of flax seed, half a banana, and 12 ounces of milk. Also, 2 hard boiled eggs. Bottle of water Why the shake here? Any reason you can't just go with whole food? Drop the shake, keep the 2 eggs and add 4-6 egg whites. Drop the banana, milk and flax and add 1/2 cup oats. REAL oats, not that crap in the sugar packet

For lunch I usually have a can of tuna with a little mustard and pepper,bottle of water, and some fruit,or veggies if there are any left over from supper tuna is good, but drop the fruit - it really has no place in a cutting diet, it's just sugar that will spike your insulin and we don't want this right now

For supper I have whatever my mom makes, just a regular portion. If its something bad like fried food,i make a tuna sandwhich on whole grain wheat bread,wit some fruit or a salad,and bottled water Don't eat what your mom makes anymore! Time for you to make your own food, food that you can weigh out (buy a food scale, single best tool you can ever buy for dieting) and keep track of every macro. Again, drop the fruit

Protein drink before bed with 1 scoop and water instead of milk What kind of protein is it? Good to drop the milk here.

I can already see that you're not eating enough throughout the day - you need to be eating 5-6 meals a day, no more than 3 hours apart. It's good that you're drinking water all day - continue this! Forget about fruit - it has no place in this diet, for now. Do stock up on fiberous veggies such as broccoli, asparagus, brussell sprouts, spinach, etc. No corn, peas, etc - too much sugar. Proteins should consist of lean beef (sirloin for instance), chicken breast, lean turkey, ground (lean) turkey, fish, eggs, etc. Carbs should be all complex - such as whole oats, whole grain brown rice, sweet potato or yam (no white potato, rice, or pasta), etc. For now, try and stay away from pasta and breads - if you MUST, get as close to natural as possible. Also, get some natural peanut butter.

Hopefully this is enough to get you started. What we really need is that TDEE and a revised diet based on the bit of info I provided above. Post back up and i'll help you further. I'm sure the guys more experienced than myself will also jump in - they helped me a great deal!

Good luck, keep us posted.

[breakerkid86]

thanks...that info is coming soon

[gettingthere]

Best of luck man, stay on this site and try to take pictures every 2weeks to show your progress, even just keep them to yourself!! There are some real good people on here to help so stick with it!!

Just a tip i can give you, if your friends or whoever you hear are talking about how they know it all about what food is good and how you should be doing this, stop listening and come back here because this is the place where you get your knowledge!! besy of luck and look forward to following your plan

[breakerkid86]

to answer gbrice75 questions.here it is



1)Tdee is 3052 (estimated)

2) I usually work out around 11am-12pm. I will be getting on a better schedule very soon,but i work out in my friends basement for now and it goes by his work schedule. Once in a while I have to work out later when he gets out of work. Starting tomorrow (monday may3rd) I will be waking up around 8:30am and doing an hour of cardio (jogging/walking) 5 days a week. The jogging will be consistant to that time, but until I get into an actual gym(within the next 2 to 3 weeks) i will be lifting either around 11:30am or 6:30pm

3)dont belong to a gym yet but signing up within a cpl of weeks when I start my new job. I dont know my BF% but I will find that out soon. I am starting the south beach diet tomorrow for 2 weeks to see how much weight I lose in those 2 weeks. If I like the diet,I will just use that

[gbrice75]

to answer gbrice75 questions.here it is



1)Tdee is 3052 (estimated)

2) I usually work out around 11am-12pm. I will be getting on a better schedule very soon,but i work out in my friends basement for now and it goes by his work schedule. Once in a while I have to work out later when he gets out of work. Starting tomorrow (monday may3rd) I will be waking up around 8:30am and doing an hour of cardio (jogging/walking) 5 days a week. The jogging will be consistant to that time, but until I get into an actual gym(within the next 2 to 3 weeks) i will be lifting either around 11:30am or 6:30pm

3)dont belong to a gym yet but signing up within a cpl of weeks when I start my new job. I dont know my BF% but I will find that out soon. I am starting the south beach diet tomorrow for 2 weeks to see how much weight I lose in those 2 weeks. If I like the diet,I will just use that

Good luck bro - i'm not sure what your goals are - if they are just to lose weight, i'm sure the South Beach Diet will be fine. If they are to build the body of your dreams, don't even waste your time. Either way, good luck in whatever you do, and if you feel like keeping us in the loop, we'll be here!