Diet for weight loss + muscle gain -- please critique

[4dpp77]

Hi all, I've been reading this forum for ages but just recently decided to try a cycle of Clen, so I joined so I could post and discuss with you guys. This forum is amazingly informative.

I'm 29 years old, 6'1, 243lbs, and have stuggled with controlling my weight for the last couple years mainly due to athletic injury and "married life". I tore an ACL a few years ago which severely impacted my ability to train and then also had an inguinal hernia which required surgical repair, so I was sidelined for almost 4 months from lifting. I sit on my butt doing IT work in a corporate office all day, and then have two kids at home under the age of 2 that I love dearly. I wouldn't trade them for the world, but they definitely make getting into a training routine much more challenging than it was when I was younger!

In 2001 I weighed 264lbs. I saw a nutrionist and a trainer and in 8 months I got my weight down to 178lbs and had lots of lean muscle. I kept the weight off and worked out religiously for almost 4 years. However, since 2007, I've managed to put back on almost 70lbs. A combination of married life, having kids at home, and just flat out being LAZY and making excuses for myself... and the end result isn't hard to believe.

Anyway, about 6 weeks ago I got my shit together and got back on track. I've lost 14lbs through diet and cardio/weights. I signed up at the gym at my office and work out every day at lunch, which lets me get my workout in without sacrificing time with my family at night. If you guys could take a quick look at my diet and workout routine, and let me know if you think I'm an OK candidate for CLEN, I'd appreciate it! I'm using the diet my nutritionist gave me to start off back in 2001.

Breakfast:
Whey protein shake w/one lid full of flaxseed oil, 3 frozen strawberries (no sugar added)
1 multi-vitamin pack
20mcgs Clen

Snack:
Non-sugar yogurt or cottage cheese
20mcgsClen

Lunch:
Turkey/Chicken sandwich
Whole wheat bread
Low fat cheese
1/2 potato or baked chips
20 oz water
20mcgs Clen
Snack:
Non-sugar yogurt or cottage cheese

Dinner:
10-12 oz chicken or turkey or 8-10 oz lean beef
1 potato
Green vegetable
20 oz water

Weights 4 days a week, cardio 5 days 45-60 minutes.


Thanks!!
-4dpp

[gbrice75]

Hi all, I've been reading this forum for ages but just recently decided to try a cycle of Clen, so I joined so I could post and discuss with you guys. This forum is amazingly informative.

I'm 29 years old, 6'1, 243lbs, and have stuggled with controlling my weight for the last couple years mainly due to athletic injury and "married life". I tore an ACL a few years ago which severely impacted my ability to train and then also had an inguinal hernia which required surgical repair, so I was sidelined for almost 4 months from lifting. I sit on my butt doing IT work in a corporate office all day, and then have two kids at home under the age of 2 that I love dearly. I wouldn't trade them for the world, but they definitely make getting into a training routine much more challenging than it was when I was younger!

In 2001 I weighed 264lbs. I saw a nutrionist and a trainer and in 8 months I got my weight down to 178lbs and had lots of lean muscle. I kept the weight off and worked out religiously for almost 4 years. However, since 2007, I've managed to put back on almost 70lbs. A combination of married life, having kids at home, and just flat out being LAZY and making excuses for myself... and the end result isn't hard to believe.

Anyway, about 6 weeks ago I got my shit together and got back on track. I've lost 14lbs through diet and cardio/weights. I signed up at the gym at my office and work out every day at lunch, which lets me get my workout in without sacrificing time with my family at night. If you guys could take a quick look at my diet and workout routine, and let me know if you think I'm an OK candidate for CLEN, I'd appreciate it! I'm using the diet my nutritionist gave me to start off back in 2001.

Breakfast:
Whey protein shake w/one lid full of flaxseed oil, 3 frozen strawberries (no sugar added)
1 multi-vitamin pack
20mcgs Clen

The whey shake is ok here for some quick protein to break your fast (sleep), but it's certainly not enough to constitute a complete meal. Drop the flax (it's crappy for BBing), add 1-2 whole eggs, 4-6 whites, and 1/2 cup oats (real oats, not the packets of sugar with a little bit of oats in there). Mix with water and use splenda/stevia and cinnamon to sweeten. Add your berries to the oats if you want to keep them - fresh, not frozen. Any type of berry is fine

Snack:
Non-sugar yogurt or cottage cheese
20mcgsClen

Make this a real meal. Again, this is lacking in important macros. Do 4oz of a lean meat here - turkey breast, chicken breast, lean beef (93/7 or better), fish, bison, etc. Add about 30g complex carbs in the form of sweet potato, yam, brown rice, quinoa, lentils, beans, etc

Lunch:
Turkey/Chicken sandwich
Whole wheat bread
Low fat cheese
1/2 potato or baked chips
20 oz water
20mcgs Clen
Snack:
Non-sugar yogurt or cottage cheese

This is no meal for somebody looking to change their body, especially adding muscle while dropping bodyfat. Make this meal look more like what I did with the previous one. Potato chips? forget it!

Dinner:
10-12 oz chicken or turkey or 8-10 oz lean beef
1 potato
Green vegetable
20 oz water

Good - make sure potato is a sweet potato, not white

Weights 4 days a week, cardio 5 days 45-60 minutes.


Thanks!!
-4dpp

First, congrats on the decision to get yourself back in shape. Having said that, the diet is seriously lacking. I have no doubt you lost tons of weight on this diet a few years back, because there isn't much food. You didn't list macros so I don't know what the totals are, but I can almost guarantee it comes in under 2000 calories, probably too low for a 6'1 200+ lb. man. You may actually be slowing your metabolism and hurting yourself in the long run. You say you got down to 178lbs and had lots of lean muscle; at 6'1 178lbs, it sounds to me like you were very skinny and had very little LBM, actually. Do you have any pics from this time? Current pics would help us to establish where you're at as well. You say you got the diet from a nutritionist - generally speaking, nutritionists have no clue when it comes to the diet needs of a bodybuilder. Granted you're not that, but it sounds like you're trying to go in that direction vs. just somebody looking to live a healthy lifestyle. You want to lean out as well as add muscle.

See the bold above for diet critique. Also, use the info below to educate yourself on diet and nutrition. Finally, you need more meals. Get at least 6 meals in each day, more if possible, spaced 2-3 hours apart. No more then 3 hours. This will ensure your metabolism is constantly working, and also that your body has a constant supply of nutrients.

You need a post workout meal, I don't see one at all. After re-doing your diet, post it up here and include time of day for each meal, where your workout fits into the day, and macros for each meal in the form of P/C/F/total calories. We will help you sort it out further. Good luck!

Here's the info I wanted to share with you. Thanks to Damienm05 for compiling:

BMR/TDEE formula:

Let’s start with BMR. This is your Basal Metabolic Rate. AKA – how many calories you burn each day by just sitting on your ass. In order to figure out your BMR, you need to know what your lean body mass is. In turn, you need to know what your body fat percentage is.

If you don’t know your body fat percentage, go to your gym and get tested (please don’t use electronic scales to get your bf % checked, they're horrible). If you don’t have a gym that offers this service; ask me and I’ll give you a pretty good estimate.

With your bf % in hand, here’s the formula:

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Total weight x bf % in decimal form = total bf weight

Total weight - total bf weight = total lean body mass

For example:

I am 6'1 210 lbs at 10% body fat... so I would multiply 210 by .10 (converted from percent to decimal) = 21 lbs
210 – 21 = 189 lbs lean body weight

189 / 2.2 = 86.0 lean mass in kg

370 + (21.6 x 86) = 2227.6 BMR (this is high for the average person)

Now that we have a BMR figure, we can move on to TDEE. Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is how many calories we actually use during the day via our BMR and activities such as work, exercise and various tasks. We can figure this number out with simple math but be honest because this figure is to be the cornerstone of your diet and healthy lifestyle. We need to determine your activity level. We’ll choose from a few levels:

§ If you are sedentary (little or no exercise): Calorie - Calculation = BMR x 1.2
§ If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
§ If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
§ If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
§ If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

For example:

I train with weights 5 days for 90 minutes per week. I play hockey three times per week
for 90 minutes. I do 60 minutes of cardio training 5 times per week as well. I also practice my sport 3 times per week for 90 minutes. Either via skating or puck/shooting drills. All are high-intensity. I am between very and extra active. Let’s say BMR x 1.8. My TDEE is 4010.

In terms of food choices, here goes:

I love analogies. Let’s use a good one. Think of your perfect body as a house that you must build. You’ve figured out your BMR and TDEE, so you know the exact specs of the property you have to work with. You know how exercise affects weight loss and how much of a caloric deficit/surplus we must create to lose/gain said weight; so you know how to build - you understand architecture. You also know the pace you intend on losing/gaining weight at based on these other factors, so you know it will be harder to get your house built in weeks as opposed to months. The only thing left is the tools/building material you must use and because you don’t know how to eat, you still can’t build anything. At least, not well. Sure, you can starve yourself for a few months but you’ll just gain all the weight back in a couple weeks of binge drinking and shitty eating on a vacation – you’re house will fall down!

So, let’s talk tools baby. Let’s talk food. First off, there are only 3 types of foods/macronutrients. Protein. Carbohydrates. Fat. That’s it.

Protein – 4 calories per gram - Building material. Bricks. You can’t gain energy from protein, you can only use it to build muscle/skin/hair/nails. It’s basically just amino acids and it’s what our bodies are made of. As such, we need lots of it. 1g of protein per body lb is a good number to shoot for . Go as high as 2g per body lb if you’re lifting weights and trying to build muscle. For example, I am 207 lbs and I eat between 300-400 grams per day. Our body can only break down so much at one time however, so we want to eat 20-40 grams of protein in every meal, several times per day. Protein, being building material only and not energy/labor – the body can rarely find a reason for it to be stored as fat. If you must over-eat – make it lean meat/fish.

Carbs – 4 calories per gram - Think of these as human labor for your house. Think of sugar as dudes you pick up out front of home depot and oatmeal as a skilled carpenter. Both are carbs, both serve very different purposes. Carbs help transport essential nutrients to the muscles, create glycogen stores, and as such, increase protein synthesis but do not build muscle; they are simply an energy source. As such, they should only be eaten/used when we need energy. Any carbs we ingest before bed or before watching a movie, or something sedentary are not used as energy, and as such, are more likely to be stored in the body as glycogen (glucose/water in our muscles that we will use when doing high-intensity exercise). Once our glycogen reserves are full, they will spill over and be stored as fat. Yes, they will make you fat. Carbs can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Fats – 9 calories per gram - Like carbs, fats are an energy source, not a building material like protein. They provide nowhere near as much energy as carbs however. Ask anyone who's on a ketogenic diet. With regard to our house, think of fats as the glue/cement. They provide much needed essential fatty acids, which are great for joint/organ health and increase our protein synthesis. Going back to our analogy, cement/glue increases the effectiveness of bricks! If we give our bodies the right fats, it will be able to burn stored body fat quickly as it won’t see any use in keeping it. Remember, like carbs – not all fat is good and ALL fat is high in calories so watch out. A tablespoon of peanut butter can be a good addition to a meal. Snacking on 5-6 tablespoons, however, means you’ve just eaten over your TDEE for the day.

Acceptable proteins for your healthy lifestyle diet:

The goal is to eat lean protein. Meats/other sources low in fat/carbs.

§ Ground beef (93% lean or better)
§ Lean steak (Flank, flat iron, or top sirloin)
§ Bison sirloin (the highest quality red meat)
§ Chicken breast
§ Turkey breast
§ Tuna (canned or sushi grade)
§ Salmon
§ Tilapia (mostly all white fish)
§ All shellfish
§ Venison
§ Whey protein (post-workout recovery purposes only)
§ Casein/Cottage cheese (before bed only)

Black-List Protein sources. Do not eat these because they are high in fat. And not the
good kind we find in nuts and olive oil – I’m talking about cholesterol raising saturated
fat!

§ Bacon
§ Sausage
§ Expensive fat-marbled Steaks (Ribeye, Strip, Filet)
§ Pork and beef ribs
§ Pork/Lamb chops
§ Restaurant ground beef (80/20 fat – most burgers)
§ Duck
§ Chicken legs/thighs
§ Chicken skin
§ Cheese

Acceptable Carbs for your healthy lifestlyle:

Complex carbs are now your creed. These are slower-digesting, natural, low on the glycemic index carbohydrates that digest slowly and provide us with sustained energy. They do not drastically affect our blood sugar and do not cause insulin spikes. Thus our body sees no reason to store them as fat, it would rather burn them for energy. Simple carbs such as enriched white breads/pastas/rice/potatoes/sugars (including most fruit) cause insulin spikes and are high GI foods. They should not be eaten when on a strict diet. Fruit can be consumed early in the day or pre/post-workout because of it’s high nutritional value but should usually be avoided due to being a form of simple sugar. Remember, healthy, low-calorie foods aren’t always the correct foods and such is the case with fruit.

§ Oats/Oatmeal
§ Grits/Cornmeal
§ Unsalted/non-buttered popcorn (great, low-cal snack)
§ Sweet potato (the best choice)
§ Butternut squash
§ Whole wheat pasta (not enriched)
§ Organic whole wheat bread (not enriched wonder bread crap)
§ Brown rice
§ Ezekiel bread
§ Swedish grain bread
§ Gluten free bread
§ Wheat couscous
§ Corn
§ Quinoa
§ Lentils
§ Beans
§ Many more, look up the GI (glycemic index) for healthy choices

Black List:

§ White pasta
§ White bread
§ Baguette
§ Bagels
§ Cookies, cake, muffins, cupcakes, all sweets basically.
§ White couscous
§ White rice
§ You get the idea…

Don’t get discouraged upon reading this list. I still make desserts all the time with whole
grain flour and splenda. I buy bagels and baguettes at the health food store that use
complex carbs as a base. If you’re dedicated, you don’t have to miss out 100%

Acceptable fats for your healthy lifestyle:

We look for fat sources that are high in omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. Also, many are high in protein. We do not want saturated fats such as butter, cream, meat fat. We don’t want test tube fats like trans (the worst). We want mono/polyunsaturated fats that our body can use for something other than calories. Remember, even good fats are high in calories.

§ Natural peanut butter (no sugar added, just roasted peanuts)
§ Natural almond butter
§ Cashews
§ Almonds
§ Peanuts
§ Flax seeds
§ Flax seed oil
§ Salmon and Trout (great fatty proteins)
§ Fish oil
§ Extra virgin olive oil (should be used on all veggies/salads)
§ Chia seeds
§ Grapeseed oil
§ Macadamia nut oil

Acceptable miscellaneous foods:

These foods don’t provide much as far as macronutrients but are great for adding vitamins/minerals and taste. Notice some of these other foods are dairy. Dairy is another animal’s milk. We lack the enzymes to digest it as they do and it’s high in fat/sugar. It should only be eaten early in the day for nutrient purposes with the exception of whey and casein (cottage cheese).

§ Skim milk (Hood brand is only 45 calories and 3g of sugar per cup)
§ Greek yogurt (no sugar added)
§ Berries (all berries are much lower in sugar than other fruits and packed with fiber/nutrients – eat berries)
§ Green Vegetables. These are technically carbs but they are packed with fiber (a type of carb that isn’t used as energy or stored). In bodybuilding/nutrition – we refer to most vegetables as fibrous carbohydrates. While a serving of Broccoli may have 6g of carbs, 5 are from fiber. Meaning that it contains only 1g of storable carbohydrates. In addition, green vegetables are a calorie neutral/negative food (our body uses more calories to digest them than they contain – think celery). Veggies should be eaten with every meal. Every day. If you do this, you can become almost impervious to getting sick. Some vegetables are better than others for healthy diets.
§ Many non-green vegetables. Most are fine – just check labels, some have a good bit of sugar and should be eaten in moderation only (carrots)