Dropping my Bodyfat % (with pics)- Repost for Gbrice75

[vdom32011]

His workout regiment is like this now.

6:30 A.M he does "insanity cardo" on an empty stomach (mon-sat) 45 min to 90 min depending on the video

Not sure what this consists of, but it sounds very intense. I would not be doing anything other then low intensity cardio on an empty...

12:30 P.M. he has a lifting session (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday Friday) 1 hour

8 P.M. (He has an ab workout he does with this abcoaster piece of equipment) only about a 20 min workout.


Here is what his diet look likes, again this worked for me but any changes please post back that could help him. His trainer keeps saying it's way to many calories for what his goal is but with his workout i think he needs the calories or he's going to wither away.

TDEE = 3050. His current weight is 170 so ideally he'd like to get to 165.

Are you SURE his TDEE is 3050? How did you arrive at that? What is his/your current bodyfat at 5'9 170lbs?

So i have him consuming the followng.

7:30am Meal 1 - After Cardio Workout
1 Cup Oats, 2 Scoops Whey, 1 TBSP natural peanut butter
616 calories, 59 carbs, 55 proteins, 2 fats

Drop the peanut butter. The fat will slow protein absorption, definitely not what we want FASTED after cardio. Based on the reply about cardio, I will recommend adding a pre-cardio meal. Also, how many days/week is the cardio? For the record - the fat macro is WAY off. 1 cup of oats alone has 5g fat. Add 1tbsp of natty PB we're looking at 8g more. This meal has 13g fat plus whatever is in the whey

9:45am Meal 2 - 3 Egg Whites, 1 Whole Egg, 1/2 grapefuit (this probably has to go)
173 calories, 7 Carbs, 16 proteins, 8 Sugars

Yep, drop the grapefruit. This meal is nearly useless. Not enough protein, hardly any carbs, and the carbs you do have are all sugar. Replace with 4-6oz lean protein (keep the egg whites if you want, just add more) and 30-40g complex carbs or 10-15g healthy fats. Not both.

12pm Meal 3 (Pre Lifting Workout Meal)
8OZ super lean burger (95/5) 1 cup whole grain cheerios, 1 cup veggies
505 Calories, 20 Carbs, 52 proteins, 16 fats

Bad bad preworkout meal IMO. Firstly, although the beef is lean, i'd go with a faster protein here - chicken, white fish, etc. I might even do chicken in meal 2 and do the egg/whites here. Either way, drop the cheerios and go with a quality complex carb to fuel the workout - sweet potato, oats, yam, quinoa, lentils, beans, even brown rice. Nice with the veggies - green veggies?

2pm Meal 4 (Post Workout Meal)
1 Cup Oats, 2 Scoops Whey, 1 TBSP natural peanut butter
616 calories, 59 carbs, 55 proteins, 2 fats

Good, but drop the PB again here. We want fast absorption PWO, not slowed by fats. Also, fat macro is off again

4:30pm Meal 5 - 8oz grilled chicken salad (2TBSP light dressing - i think this has to go too)
330 Calories, 4 Carbs, 47 proteins, 12 fats.
(the dressing has 90 cals, 8 fats, 4 carbs)

PPWO i'd do carbs, but I don't want to overload the diet with carbs. If you want to keep this a pro/fat meal, drop the dressing and use olive oil and some vinegar or something. Olive oil and lemon juice is nice too.

6:45pm Meal 6 - sometimes he'll eat the salad again or just do grilled chicken with 2 cups veggies and olive oil so it's about the same cal intake.
330 Calories, 4 Carbs, 47 proteins, 12 fats.
(the dressing has 90 cals, 8 fats, 4 carbs)

I like this meal pro/fat but without the dressing. Do carbs at 4:30 then make this one pro/fat

9pm Meal 7 (about 9pm an hour before bed and an hour after his ab workout)
1 scoop casein protein
150 cals, 10 carbs, 25 proteins.

This is fine, but i'd do it closer to 10pm/bedtime. 3 hours after your last meal is acceptable. HERE is where you can add back in a tbsp of natty PB, or a serving of nuts, etc - some healthy fats to slow protein absorption overnight while you sleep.

Totals - 2720 Calories
163 Carbs
297 proteins
44 Fats
10 Sugars

Protein is high for your weight IMO. Otherwise, macros are decent. I really can't advise on totals until I know the BF% though. If you don't know, post up some pics for a decent estimate.

What could he cut out or add to lower his BF and keep his weight. i tried to keep him at about 2700 calories to slowly bring him down to 165 and his TDEE to maintain weight of 165 is like 2750 so it should slowly get there. I mean should we just tweak this or go his trainers route which i think we'll tire him out so bad and not give him the cals he needs.

What does his trainer want to do? Lower calories? Again, I can answer better once I have all the pieces of the puzzle. Lowering calories might actually be an option. 2700 calories is generally a bit high for a cutting diet TBH. One change i'd make is eating before that cardio - i'm SURE it's very intense, and you're going to burn LBM that way.

[vdom32011]

Hey Gbrice, really just wanted to thank you for even taking the time to look at my diet and help me out. I just wanna run through some of your questions so you can give me the best help possible.

Insanity is a high intensity cardio workout (lots of plyometrics, sprints, etc. i actually enjoy it, reminds me of my college days playing ball with the drills)

I calculated my TDEE with the following formula Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) – (6.8 X age in years) - i figured a 1.70 factor was fair for my activity level. I'm 169LBs (76.66kg) and 5'9" (175cm) and 29 years old.

With this formula i calculate my TDEE to be 3050. At my gym they have a scale which they've said is pretty accurate measure of body fat % and it estimated me at 23% which im not sure if you can judge by my pics but i'm guessing that accuarate?

I will go back and redo my diet with the suggested change in foods but i guess what i'm struggling with is how many calories should i be eating and like what type of split for proteins, carbs, fats?

Again i really want to thank you for all the help - i had been fortunate enough for years before my accident to just workout and have a good body but never truly understood a proper diet. Thanks Again for taking the time to help me (now i know why they call you the diet expert)

Trainer wants to lower me to like 2200 calories, but he's telling me very little carbs which i would think is going to wipe me out.

What would you eat before my morning cardio?

[gbrice75]

bold =)

Hey Gbrice, really just wanted to thank you for even taking the time to look at my diet and help me out. I just wanna run through some of your questions so you can give me the best help possible.

My pleasure!

Insanity is a high intensity cardio workout (lots of plyometrics, sprints, etc. i actually enjoy it, reminds me of my college days playing ball with the drills)

Ok, so we're talking about 45 mins or so of high intensity cardio (or at least intervals of high intensity) - and how many days/week did you say, 6? We will DEFINITELY want to add a meal before this. I realize your goal is to burn fat with the cardio, but at a higher intensity you'll be burning glycogen. Do this fasted, and you're torching LBM. I'll address the food question below

I calculated my TDEE with the following formula Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) – (6.8 X age in years) - i figured a 1.70 factor was fair for my activity level. I'm 169LBs (76.66kg) and 5'9" (175cm) and 29 years old.

With this formula i calculate my TDEE to be 3050. At my gym they have a scale which they've said is pretty accurate measure of body fat % and it estimated me at 23% which im not sure if you can judge by my pics but i'm guessing that accuarate?

I find the formulas to always wind up coming out too high. The activity multiplyers aren't specific enough, and people always wind up overestimating. A much more simple approach is LBM x 15 = TDEE. It's a starting point and far from scientific, but I find it to be much more accurate 9 times out of 10. Based on your stats, you have a LBM of 135lbs (I used 20% bodyfat to calculate your LBM as I think you're right around there). 135 x 15 = 2025. Now, that's pretty low so here is where we start using common sense. We know you're doing that intense ass cardio, so we have to up this right away. I would guesstimate your TDEE at around 2500 (no way are you at 3000 unless you have a very intense hard labor job as well). However, i'm a big believer of eating close, at, or in some cases ABOVE TDEE (yes on a cut diet) and relying on cardio to create the deficit. You're eating 2700 calories right now, which is 200 above your new estimated TDEE. If you're happy with your results so far, then we stay at 2700 and just move some things around to make the diet more efficient. If you haven't been happy so far, then we drop it to 2500 and make the cardio right.

I will go back and redo my diet with the suggested change in foods but i guess what i'm struggling with is how many calories should i be eating and like what type of split for proteins, carbs, fats?

Answered above about calories. Assuming you want to stick with 2700 calories, i'd start you at:

290g protein = 1160 calories
240g carbs = 960 calories
65g fat = 585 calories

Feel free to play with the numbers a bit, but i'd stay somewhere in that neighborhood. Enough carbs to fuel that cardio and your workout, plenty of (healthy) fats, and protein is definitely up there for your weight.


Again i really want to thank you for all the help - i had been fortunate enough for years before my accident to just workout and have a good body but never truly understood a proper diet. Thanks Again for taking the time to help me (now i know why they call you the diet expert)

Thanks bro! =)

Trainer wants to lower me to like 2200 calories, but he's telling me very little carbs which i would think is going to wipe me out.

What would you eat before my morning cardio?

The trainer might be right about lowering calories, possibly even to 2200 - my TDEE estimate could easily be off. That's why you need to monitor your progress VERY carefully so we can make adjustments as you go along. 2 week periods - if no changes, or changes for the worse, we drop a few hundred calories. We continue to do this until we find your sweet spot for the given goal.

I DO disagree with the trainer on the low carb thing, especially given your cardio routine. You will be wiped out, and you will lose LBM. Generally, carbs first meal of the morning, and around the workout window (pre/post). In your case, i'd probably add carbs after that cardio as well. Honestly, you might consider ditching it all together in favor of fasted lower intensity cardio in the am. Up to you, but it might suit your goals better, for now.

I would eat at least 50g of a good slow burning complex carb - oats would be excellent. I'd also add a shake - if you have a multi-source protein, that would be best (whey, casein, egg albumin, etc) as well as some egg whites with a whole egg throw in. Sounds like alot, but it's practically a workout. That's why i'm suggesting you consider lower intensity cardio. Right now, you'll be doing this intense cardio but it has to be fueled, and it probably won't be the best for fat loss. My .02, hope this helps

[vdom32011]

Hey Gbrice,

Just to answer a couple questions.

Insanity is a high intensity interval training (im going to do it for 60 days just to get ready for baseball season again) but after i feel like i got my speed back and agility def going to do low intensity cardio but it's been awhile for me so i have to get the agility i use to have back which this program will help. its 5 days a week of hard cardio, 1 day is like a low intensity stretch the muscles out type day and sundays off.

I'm going to do some recalculating with eating 2500 calories a day

i'm going to try and hit that split you gave me for carbs, pros and fats. going to repost my diet plan later on today after i get it worked out on paper.

[vdom32011]

Ok so i did some recalculating and i think i found a pretty good diet here. This is the breakdown i'm looking out, if i ever change out turkey for chicken or tuna i'll just have it match up as far as the values go.

But here it is, let me know if this is looking better. i wanted to shoot for around 2350 a day which would fall between the trainers 2200 he suggested and the 2500 you suggested. i figure i can always tweak here and there as i get some results.


Meal 1 - 6:30 A.M - prework out meal before high intensity cardio
1 scoop whey, 1/2 cut oats
270 Calories, 30 Carbs, 26 proteins, 6 Fats

Cardio Workout - 7AM - 8AM

Meal 2 - 8:00 AM - Post Cardio Workout
1 scoop whey, 1/2 cut oats
270 Calories, 30 Carbs, 26 proteins, 6 Fats

Meal 3 - 10:00 AM (i know it's another shake, hope this ok it just kinda fit into the numbers)
1 scoop whey, 1/2 cut oats
270 Calories, 30 Carbs, 26 proteins, 6 Fats

Meal 4 - 12:00 PM - Pre lifting workout
6oz chicken, 2/3 cup brown rice, 1 cup green veggies
355 calories, 34 carbs, 45 proteins, 3 Fats

Lifting Session - 12:30-1:30 PM

Meal 5 - Post Workout - 1:30 PM
1 scoop whey, 1/2 cut oats
270 Calories, 30 Carbs, 26 proteins, 6 Fats

Meal 6 - 3:45 PM
6oz chicken, 2/3 cup brown rice, 1 cup green veggies
355 calories, 34 carbs, 45 proteins, 3 Fats

Meal 7 - 6:30 PM
6oz lean beef, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 cup greens
400 calories, 34 proteins, 26 fats, 4 carbs


Meal 8 - 9:30 PM
1 scoop Casein Protein Shake
150 Calories, 10 carbs, 25 proteins



Totals - 2340 Calories, 202 Carbs, 253 Proteins, 56 Fats


Hows it look?

[vdom32011]

Hey Guys,

just curious if you think there is to many shakes in this diet for cutting body fat.

would you guys drop the 3rd meal shake for something else?