Getting Back into shape - please review diet

[dvj81]

Hey Guys,

This is my first post, I've always read and learned from this site over the years dating back to my athletic days in college. Over the last 2 years i unfortunately had 4 ACL surgery's which has pretty much kept me out of shape. (never injured played 4 years of college football and baseball yet a flag football game caused all these problems lol)

At any rate before my injuries i was ripped at being 165 lbs. I was never a big diet guy, i was always a workout junky but my diet was never spot on but never needed to be.

After the two years of pretty much limited works and absolute disgust over not being ableto do anything I'm now 5'9" and 176 lbs and 28 years old. It's only 11 lbs but i'm in no wear near the physical shape i was in. My legs are finally healthy and i've been lifting hard again for the last 3 weeks. Im going to begin doing hard cardio again as well and start my two a day workouts like i use to.

I've come up with a diet plan and done my calculations of my TDEE and tried to get a 40/40/20 split. I'm a little high on my proteins but i think this diet plan is ok. If any of you guys have any suggestions please let me know, looking forward to getting my body back pre-injury. I went with about 700 less calories than my TDEE because i want to get back to my weight of 165 and then readjust my diet from there to get back to where i was.





7:00 – 8:00 A.M – Insanity Cardio (High Intense Cardio) Workout


8:00 A.M – 5 egg whites, 1 whole egg. Protein Shake 1 scoop whey protein/ 1 cup oats

Calories- 563 Carbs-55 Protein- 54 Fats – 7


11:00 A.M (pre workout meal) 6 oz lean burger, 1/4lb baked potato, ½ tbsp. olive oil

Calories -416 Carbs – 22 Protein – 36 Fats - 19


12:30-1:30 – Lifting Session


1:30 PM – Protein Shake With 1 cup Oats and 1 scoop whey protein –

Calories -408 Carbs- 55 Protein – 32 Fats - 2


3:30 P.M – 6 oz chicken, 2 cups veggie, 1 tbsp olive oil

Calories - 340 Carbs – 8 Protein - 35 Fats - 17


6:30 P.M – 6 oz grilled filet 2 cups veggies, 1 tbsp olive oil

Calories - 508 Carbs - 8 Protein - 48 Fats - 40


9 P.M. – 1 Scoop Protein Shake

Calories - 108 Carbs - 1 Protein - 22 Fats – 2


Total Calories – 2,343 - TDEE = 3,188

Carbs – 149

Protein – 227

Fats – 77

[gbrice75]

Hey Guys,

This is my first post, I've always read and learned from this site over the years dating back to my athletic days in college. Over the last 2 years i unfortunately had 4 ACL surgery's which has pretty much kept me out of shape. (never injured played 4 years of college football and baseball yet a flag football game caused all these problems lol)

At any rate before my injuries i was ripped at being 165 lbs. I was never a big diet guy, i was always a workout junky but my diet was never spot on but never needed to be.

After the two years of pretty much limited works and absolute disgust over not being ableto do anything I'm now 5'9" and 176 lbs and 28 years old. It's only 11 lbs but i'm in no wear near the physical shape i was in. My legs are finally healthy and i've been lifting hard again for the last 3 weeks. Im going to begin doing hard cardio again as well and start my two a day workouts like i use to.

I've come up with a diet plan and done my calculations of my TDEE and tried to get a 40/40/20 split. I'm a little high on my proteins but i think this diet plan is ok. If any of you guys have any suggestions please let me know, looking forward to getting my body back pre-injury. I went with about 700 less calories than my TDEE because i want to get back to my weight of 165 and then readjust my diet from there to get back to where i was.





7:00 – 8:00 A.M – Insanity Cardio (High Intense Cardio) Workout


8:00 A.M – 5 egg whites, 1 whole egg. Protein Shake 1 scoop whey protein/ 1 cup oats

Calories- 563 Carbs-55 Protein- 54 Fats – 7

I'd move the protein shake to be before cardio, as soon as you wake up. I don't like am cardio on an empty stomach; you're already probably catabolic after sleeping all night. A quick whey shake won't screw up your cardio, just don't eat any carbs/fats. Rest of the meal looks great


11:00 A.M (pre workout meal) 6 oz lean burger, 1/4lb baked potato, ½ tbsp. olive oil

Calories -416 Carbs – 22 Protein – 36 Fats - 19

I'd probably go with a quicker digesting protein this early in the day, like chicken or fish - but the burger is fine. Make the potato a sweet potato, and drop the olive oil - you'll already be getting enough fat from whatever meat you eat here and you want to try and keep carb/fat meals separate as much as possible


12:30-1:30 – Lifting Session


1:30 PM – Protein Shake With 1 cup Oats and 1 scoop whey protein –

Calories -408 Carbs- 55 Protein – 32 Fats - 2


3:30 P.M – 6 oz chicken, 2 cups veggie, 1 tbsp olive oil

Calories - 340 Carbs – 8 Protein - 35 Fats - 17

It's still early enough in the day and your PPWO meal - I would drop the olive oil and add a complex carb here. Brown rice, lentils, beans, sweet potato/yam, etc


6:30 P.M – 6 oz grilled filet 2 cups veggies, 1 tbsp olive oil

Calories - 508 Carbs - 8 Protein - 48 Fats - 40

Great!


9 P.M. – 1 Scoop Protein Shake

Calories - 108 Carbs - 1 Protein - 22 Fats – 2

Make sure it's casein, not whey. You can also add back in a tbsp of olive oil here that we removed earlier, OR make it tasty and do a tbsp of natural PB


Total Calories – 2,343 - TDEE = 3,188

That's a pretty big deficit - and with your cardio it's even bigger, over 1000 calorie/day deficit? I would up cals by 500 ASAP by increasing macros slightly across the board, or even better adding another meal somewhere in your day

Carbs – 149

Make this 200g

Protein – 227

Make this closer to 300g

Fats – 77

Plenty of fat although i suspect it's lower now that we removed some olive oil - don't go higher than this number though for now

All in all, not that bad of a diet, you have a pretty good idea of how to eat. Suggestions above in bold, just a few things you can do to make the diet much better IMO. Let's see what others have to say as well.

[Damienm05]

I just want to second having a meal prior to your cardio. High intensity cardio on an empty stomach is great for fat loss but will surely eat up lean tissue just as efficiently. If you're after optimized fat loss, do 45 minutes of low intensity on an empty stomach and save the insanity for a short session PWO between your last set and your shake.

[dvj81]

Damien,

Really appreciate the feed back, i'm going to incorporate those changes. Especially the cardio in the morning deal with a protein shake before hand. I was really feeling gassed when doing the cardio, more gassed than i should feel.

Just a quick question about the sweet potato as opposed to the regular potato. I've heard lots of people always say choose a sweet over your avg potato. Why is that exactly? no one ever seems to know why lol.

Also would you still do a protein shake with the oats after cardio. I'm thinking that can almost be an extra little meal since i wanna up the cals by about 500 like you said.

Also i do the casein protein before bed, however the taste is just killing me. ok to blend in a handful of a blueberries just to get rid of that taste?

Lastly and sorry for asking so many questions. I was going to put chicken down for my 11 oclock meal. and then at 3:30 have the burger instead of the chicken.

It's really amazing the trainers in college didn't really review diet in detail with us like this.

[Damienm05]

Damien,

Really appreciate the feed back, i'm going to incorporate those changes. Especially the cardio in the morning deal with a protein shake before hand. I was really feeling gassed when doing the cardio, more gassed than i should feel.
Thank Gbrice, I was just building upon some solid advice you'd already received.
Just a quick question about the sweet potato as opposed to the regular potato. I've heard lots of people always say choose a sweet over your avg potato. Why is that exactly? no one ever seems to know why lol. The answer is very simple actually. Glycogen is a mixture of glucose and water, and this is what our body creates from carbohydrates and stores in our muscles for fuel during grueling training sessions. A white potato is incredibly starchy and a 90+ on the GI - it is basically already pure glucose. The body has little work to do in breaking it down into glycogen; thus it's a simple carb/fast carb and not complex. It does little to sustain energy as it breaks down like a complex carb, it simply serves to refill glycogen stores and should really only be eating when trying to bulk up or if you're an endurance athlete or on a keto carb-up, etc. Sweet potato is a fantastic, unprocessed complex carb for bodybuilding diets and contains only a small amount of sugar which is all fructose with no real propensity to be stored as fat.

Also would you still do a protein shake with the oats after cardio. I'm thinking that can almost be an extra little meal since i wanna up the cals by about 500 like you said. I'd actually do a protein shake with fat as an extra meal right after. Example: 2 scoops whey, 1 tbsp. natural PB. Then follow with your normal protein/carb meals leading up to your workout. This will yield another 2 hours or so of depleted glycogen which will further increase fat loss.

Also i do the casein protein before bed, however the taste is just killing me. ok to blend in a handful of a blueberries just to get rid of that taste? No, blueberries are low GI, low sugar as fruit goes but it's still gonna be about 10x as much sugar as one should consume right before bed (1-2g if any). Just use splenda, chug it fast, or do cottage cheese, or red meat. I use ON casein, chocolate/vanilla (depending on my mood) and mix it with a packet of splenda and some peanut butter. It's delicious. I was eating steak before bed only for a while but I had to go back to this a few times per week because it's so damn good.

Lastly and sorry for asking so many questions. I was going to put chicken down for my 11 oclock meal. and then at 3:30 have the burger instead of the chicken. It doesn't matter really and I don't feel like going back and looking at the diet. Basically, if you won't be eating again for 3-4 hours, red meat is always the way to go for that meal. If you're eating every 2-3 hours, meat is meat just try to mix it up for variety of aminos.

It's really amazing the trainers in college didn't really review diet in detail with us like this. Yeah, most don't know much. After reading here for a few hours, most people will know more than what I had to when taking the NCFS exam last year.

Bold.

[dvj81]

Thanks again. That helps me out a great deal. i was able to get the macro's right on point like you suggested. Came out absolutely perfect just by adding a couple oz of meat here and there and the sweet potatoes.

Thanks Again for your time and efforts. Greatly appreciated.

[gbrice75]

x2 on ON Casein - I love the vanilla and mix it with nothing but water. I look forward to it every night, it's like a treat right before bed.

[Damienm05]

I recently mixed a tub of chocolate with a tub of vanilla and it's incredible!

[gbrice75]

I gotta try that! I tried the cookies and cream, it's EH. The Chocolate PB is horrible IMO.

It's funny, ON seems to be the only company that makes pure Casein one of it's biggest products. I don't see anybody else doing it - other than blends containing casein.

[Damienm05]

I've only ever been able to try chocolate supreme and vanilla. Been wanting to get my hands on the chocolate PB - so thank you for that!

[gbrice75]

I've only ever been able to try chocolate supreme and vanilla. Been wanting to get my hands on the chocolate PB - so thank you for that!

Yea bro, obviously we may have different taste, but to me it was very 'chemically' tasting, and didn't taste of peanut butter at all. Rather it tasted like a bad chemical version of the chocolate supreme flavor.

[dvj81]

Hey Gbrice and Damien, i just wanted to thank you guys again for helping me out with the diet.

I got on the scale this morning and im at 169. Im pretty close to the weight i was in college which was 165, granted i still have a ton of work to do. As i get to that 165 mark i realize i'm still going to lose weight since i have more fat on me at 165 then i previously did.

Should i up my calories and macro's to stay at the 165 and just shed body fat? I guess thats my major question, once i get to my "ideal weight" how do i stay at that weight and continue to lose Body Fat.

Thanks Again Guys

[gbrice75]

Hey Gbrice and Damien, i just wanted to thank you guys again for helping me out with the diet.

I got on the scale this morning and im at 169. Im pretty close to the weight i was in college which was 165, granted i still have a ton of work to do. As i get to that 165 mark i realize i'm still going to lose weight since i have more fat on me at 165 then i previously did.

Should i up my calories and macro's to stay at the 165 and just shed body fat? I guess thats my major question, once i get to my "ideal weight" how do i stay at that weight and continue to lose Body Fat.

Thanks Again Guys

No problem bro. So you have a target weight of 165 in mind, but want to change the composition of that weight to be more muscle and less bodyfat. Join the club!!!

I would suggest you eat at or very close to your maintenance calories, and rely heavily on cardio to create a caloric deficit. Understand that this is the slower/straighter path and will definitely take longer to achieve your long term goal, but your other option is a straight cut and you will undoubtedly sacrifice some LBM if you choose to go that route. Hope this helps!

[dvj81]

No problem bro. So you have a target weight of 165 in mind, but want to change the composition of that weight to be more muscle and less bodyfat. Join the club!!!

I would suggest you eat at or very close to your maintenance calories, and rely heavily on cardio to create a caloric deficit. Understand that this is the slower/straighter path and will definitely take longer to achieve your long term goal, but your other option is a straight cut and you will undoubtedly sacrifice some LBM if you choose to go that route. Hope this helps!

Lol thats what i was thinking but was hoping you had a magical answer. I think i'll go with the longer method rather then go to a straight cut, and then have to worry about putting on weight. At this stage im just really happy to be able to run and do all the things i use too so the time doesnt bother me, and if it does i'll just cut down more, and then add the weight back on slowly.

[gbrice75]

Lol thats what i was thinking but was hoping you had a magical answer. I think i'll go with the longer method rather then go to a straight cut, and then have to worry about putting on weight. At this stage im just really happy to be able to run and do all the things i use too so the time doesnt bother me, and if it does i'll just cut down more, and then add the weight back on slowly.

Good idea IMO. I speak from experience, because i'm a guy who hasn't been able to 100% commit to cutting or bulking. I volly back and forth and bail on whatever i'm doing after a few weeks because I freak out over either getting too scrawny when cutting, or putting on too much fat while trying to gain. I've reached a point where it is what it is, i'm just eating healthy around maintenance, lifting heavy to hopefully maintain LBM, and with any luck burn bodyfat.

[Damienm05]

In addition to eating around maintenance and doing cardio/lifting consistently - here's what I did when I was in your boat and it worked great.

1- no sugar at all, ever. I did have cheat meals occasionally but I never ate sweets. No fruit even, all cals should be meat, efas, complex carbs

2- no carbs after 5 PM. Eat plenty of carbs to stay strong/intense, just don't eat any in the evening. You'll burn a ton of fat without starving.

3- Heavy compound movements. The more you can fill out your frame in the early months back in the gym, the more of a fat burning machine you'll be. Focus on flat bench BB with excellent form and no cheating for chest day, with DB presses and flies secondary. If you're strong enough, chest dips too. For back day, do bent over BB rows and deadlifts with good form. Pull-ups if you're strong enough to do them in the 8-12 range, otherwise, pulldowns and cable rows are secondaery. On leg day, squats and leg press. Machines 100% are secondary. Do 5 sets of squats, 3 sets of leg press, 3 sets of step lunges, and then burn out with some extensions and hammy curls, for example. Straight bar curls/ez bar preacher curls and french curl/DB extension for arms. Leave the machines and cable stuff alone at first. Military press with DB/BB, upright rows as your bread/butter for shoulders.