need help with a weight loss diet plan

[tphilarkin]

This is my first time with a forum of any kind so please bear with me...

I have been overweight basically my whole life and I'm starting to get really tired of it. I would say I'm an active person (I go to the gym every morning), but I don't seem to be losing the weight like I should be. I think the biggest problem is that I really don't have a diet plan of any sort and I'm not sure where to even start. I try to eat healthy but something's not working... I would really appreciate any help you can give.

Here is some info about me:

Age: 20
Height: 6'2
Weight: ~250

[RaZr]

What types of workouts do you do? this will give people an easier time helping you. What does your daily diet currently consist of?

[gbrice75]

Take a look at the below info and familiarize yourself with proper diet and nutrition. Thanks to Damien for putting this together.

Also, I've posted my current diet at the end as an example for you.

__________________________________________________ __________________-


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)

____________________________________________
Gbrice's Current Diet:

protein/carbs/fat/total calories

5am: MEAL 1 - PRE WORKOUT
1 extra large egg, 4 extra large whites - 27/0/5/160
1/2 cup oats - 5/26/2.5/140
1/4 cup blueberries - 0/5/0/20

TOTAL: 32/31/7.5/320

WORKOUT followed by 1 hour of cardio

8am: MEAL 2 - POST WORKOUT
1 Scoop Myofusion - 25/5/3/160
1 Premier Protein Shake - 30/5/3/160
1 cup oats - 10/52/5/280

TOTAL: 65/60/10/600

10am: MEAL 3
6oz broiled tilapia - 35/0/3/165
3/4 cup brown rice - 3/22/1/110
3/4 cup black and red beans - 5/18/1/105

TOTAL: 43/40/4.5/380

1pm: MEAL 4
5oz chicken breast - 34/0/2/140
1/2 cup oats - 5/26/2.5/140
1/4 cup blueberries - 0/5/0/20
2 cups baby spinach - 1.5/1.5/0/10

TOTAL: 40/33/4/310

4pm: MEAL 5
4oz 93/7 lean ground beef - 23/0/9/180
1oz (dry) Barilla Plus Multigrain Pasta - 5/20/1/105

TOTAL: 30/20/10/285

7pm: MEAL 6
2oz Flank Steak - 15/0/6/120
1 extra large whole egg - 7/0/5/80
3 extra large egg whites - 15/0/0/60
2 cups baby spinach - 1.5/1.5/0/10
2 Fish Oils - 0/2/0/20

39/1.5/13/290

10pm: MEAL 7
1 scoop ON Casein - 24/3/1/120
1 tbsp natty PB - 4/3/8/105
2 Fish Oils - 0/0/2/20

TOTAL: 28/6/11/245


DAILY TOTAL: 271/195/62/2425

[tphilarkin]

Thanks guys for the replies...

Right now my workouts have pretty much just been about an hour of intense cardio every day, nothing really involving weights or lifting.
As for my daily diet I really don't have something I stick with every day I've just been trying to eat things more organic and cook more rather than processed foods and things like that. I've been eating things like nuts, eggs, salad, tuna, and chicken, but again there's really been no order or plan for anything. One thing I have been doing is trying to stay away from the red meats because I've heard that's not really good for weight loss.

I think my overall goal is less about muscle gain and more about losing fat. I want to try to get down to an average weight again and work from there if that's possible.

Gbrice that analogy thing was really interesting it kind of put it in better perspective for me thanks for that. I am still a little unsure on where to start though.

Thanks

[jngymrat]

Intense cardio is not the worst thing to do, depending on how its done, your body will respond much better with a hight or medium intensity interval training routine. So proper cardio is key, otherwise your body will just get use to the same o'l thing.

As far as red meat, there are a ton of health benefits to it and there is no reason to stay away from it completely, however, everything in moderation. Just make them lean choices, most anything with "round" in the title is generally safe, but because meat is so disguised these days, talk to the butcher.

GB, gave you the perfect building blocks to get going, those foods are where you begin. Rather than starting out just eating good foods start eating right, try 6-8 small meals a day and just remember to include a portion of protein and a portion of carbohydrates in every meal and at least three of those meals include green leafy vegetables. (a portion is equal to about the size of your palm) Just start to get in the right frame of mind in eating that often, pick the foods from the list that gbrice included (which are all great sources of protein, carbs, essential fats ect.) and then revisit the forum after a couple weeks with an update.

If you can start to incorporate some exercise with weight 2-3 days a week in the meantime. Until then, good luck.

[cerealkiller326]

Thanks guys for the replies...

Right now my workouts have pretty much just been about an hour of intense cardio every day, nothing really involving weights or lifting.
As for my daily diet I really don't have something I stick with every day I've just been trying to eat things more organic and cook more rather than processed foods and things like that. I've been eating things like nuts, eggs, salad, tuna, and chicken, but again there's really been no order or plan for anything. One thing I have been doing is trying to stay away from the red meats because I've heard that's not really good for weight loss.

I think my overall goal is less about muscle gain and more about losing fat. I want to try to get down to an average weight again and work from there if that's possible.

Gbrice that analogy thing was really interesting it kind of put it in better perspective for me thanks for that. I am still a little unsure on where to start though.

Thanks

Once you acknowledge whats good and whats bad its just forcing yourself in getting into that habit. Realize how GB's and many other's diet are measured out. That is also key in a healthy controlled diet, you don't want to over eat, but satisfy your body with necessary portions of protein/carbs/fat. Try to create your own diet like what GB has listed and post it so we can critique and get you started...

[jngymrat]

Well said cereal, get started at least, the first step.

[tphilarkin]

Hi sorry for the late reply I haven't been home or had access to the internet for the past few days. I've given the meal plan a go so tell me what you think. It isn't nearly as detailed as brice's though...

Meal 1
1 Packet of Oatmeal
1 Banana
1 Soya Lecithin pill

1 Hour Cardio Workout

Meal 2
Protein Shake (I don't really know about what to get for this so any suggestions? PS I live in the UK so anything I could locate there would be helpful)

Meal 3
Canned Tuna and Wheat Bread Sandwich
Unsalted Popcorn
1 Soya Lecithin Pill

Meal 4
Mixed nuts
Blueberries

Meal 5
Chicken Breast
Whole Wheat Pasta
1 Soya Lecithin Pill

Meal 6
Pineapple Cottage Cheese

That was my first attempt so please tear it apart and let me know what I need to take away/add/change. Thanks guys for helping me out with this it's much appreciated.

[cerealkiller326]

Hi sorry for the late reply I haven't been home or had access to the internet for the past few days. I've given the meal plan a go so tell me what you think. It isn't nearly as detailed as brice's though...

Meal 1
1 Packet of Oatmeal
1 Banana
1 Soya Lecithin pill
***Toss the Banana, measure your oatmeal, and have some source of protein, eggs white is typical for breakfast. If its too early to eat 3 eggs, and 1 scoop whey protein...

1 Hour Cardio Workout

Meal 2
Protein Shake (I don't really know about what to get for this so any suggestions? PS I live in the UK so anything I could locate there would be helpful)
***Ok PWO (post work out) meal, 40-50g whey protein, with 1/2 cup oats

Meal 3
Canned Tuna and Wheat Bread Sandwich
Unsalted Popcorn
1 Soya Lecithin Pill
Toss popcorn, have that as a cheat snack with your GF or something, canned tuna is good, high in protein and have good fat. Good choice on bread, atleast its not white bread.

Meal 4
Mixed nuts
Blueberries
I see the concept of good fats and carbs, wheres the protein? I would have this with 8oz of chicken...MACRO of 8.oz Chicken Breast (Skinless) 69/0/8 348 cals

Meal 5
Chicken Breast
Whole Wheat Pasta
1 Soya Lecithin Pill
***Good Lean protein and whole wheat past, need macros.

Meal 6
Pineapple Cottage Cheese
Again I see the concept of casein protein before bed, and I am a strong believer in the concept. Have to be careful with flavored products, is that it has sugar, and pineapple probably is loaded with it. Before bed, and cutting with it isn't ideal. Instead get plain cottage cheese, worst comes worse add blueberries, better than pineapple out of the factory...

That was my first attempt so please tear it apart and let me know what I need to take away/add/change. Thanks guys for helping me out with this it's much appreciated.

In bold are some adjustments, realize how in above post GB has his diet listed with macros. (protein/carbs/fat/cals),and the time he eats his meal, that is important so one doesn't over eat certain source. Fitday.com is good, check them out, measure your food out. Your almost there in understanding what a cutting diet looks like. Revise it and post them, lets see what your next diet looks like bro.