this meal a good start to the day when trying to loose b,f

[hillbill78]

first meal of the day today i tried.
.1 cup of oats
.1 scoop USN pure protein (25g)
.1 table spoon peanut butter
chucked in the blender mixed with skimmed milk came out to be exactly a pints worth. is that a good start to the day for my goal which is to drop my b,f levels ??
cheers

[musclestack]

Couple of things. Overall, it's not bad as far as food choices. Whether or not it's good for your goals, I don't know because you haven't listed stats, TDEE, and the rest of your diet. So, we're basically just assuming that the quantities of the foods you listed fit into your daily macro allotment with respect to your goals. The only problem I see as far as this being a full 'meal' is that the protein in the shake is going to be in and out of your system in less than an hour and will not sustain you until your next meal. If you want to keep this, fine. But add some egg whites to your breakfast. A convenient way to do this would be to add them to your shake, but there are studies that show the bio-availability of the protein in a raw egg is inferior to a cooked egg (something like 60% as opposed to 90%....don't quite remember). So, I would play it safe and cook them. Cheers!

[Fit N Fun]

My breakfast is as above, but I use 8 powdered egg whites that have undergone pasturisation which, from the research I have done, appears to be enough cooking to make all of the protein available to your body.

I do not use peanut butter, but often blend in a low calorie ( 10 cals) Jelly to improve the flavour.

Egg whites take 4 hours to digest and are the gold standard in protein.

Am gonna try your Peanut Butter idea one morning though, sounds like a reasonable option.

[thebiggerpicture]

120g oatmeal and 40g usn whey 4 my 1st meal/ pre workout meal ,,,, cant go wrong

[FireGuy]

If your goal is to drop bodyfat, take out the peanut butter and replace the milk with water.

[LatissimusaurousRex]

....

[musclestack]

If your goal is to drop bodyfat, take out the peanut butter and replace the milk with water.

Good call on the milk, fireguy; I must've overlooked it. But do you think he needs to drop the pb from this meal even if it fits into his daily fat allotment? Would this not be, more or less, like adding a whole egg or two? Or are you suggesting he keeps carbs and fats separate? Just curious as to why you'd like to see the pb dropped.

[Damienm05]

Good call on the milk, fireguy; I must've overlooked it. But do you think he needs to drop the pb from this meal even if it fits into his daily fat allotment? Would this not be, more or less, like adding a whole egg or two? Or are you suggesting he keeps carbs and fats separate? Just curious as to why you'd like to see the pb dropped.

Because fat loss can be optimized by ensuring that we never consume excess energy. While the PB will slow digestion of the protein powder and "round-out" the meal to some extent, he's already getting a nice portion of complex carbs - the body's preferred short-term energy solution. Yes, provided macros/cals are on-point, he won't gain fat eating some PB with his breakfast, it's simply more efficient to use fats as an energy source when carbs aren't needed (sedentary periods - not breakfast). Sure we're knit-picking but it all adds up to a big time differentiator when we're talking about:

- separating energy sources based on the body's needs at any given time of day
- cutting all forms of sugar and simple carbs to control insulin release and ensure fat-burning is never comprimised
- Doing cardio when glycogen stores are depleted and maintaining this state post-cardio for some time
- Eating foods that have a beneficial effect on metabolic rate/fat lipolysis (DHA, Green tea, etc)
- Tailoring workouts/rest days around diet schedule
- Feel free to keep the list going - all the little things we do beyond just the right macro set-up/deficit.

[Kawigirl]

Couple of things. Overall, it's not bad as far as food choices. Whether or not it's good for your goals, I don't know because you haven't listed stats, TDEE, and the rest of your diet. So, we're basically just assuming that the quantities of the foods you listed fit into your daily macro allotment with respect to your goals. The only problem I see as far as this being a full 'meal' is that the protein in the shake is going to be in and out of your system in less than an hour and will not sustain you until your next meal. If you want to keep this, fine. But add some egg whites to your breakfast. A convenient way to do this would be to add them to your shake, but there are studies that show the bio-availability of the protein in a raw egg is inferior to a cooked egg (something like 60% as opposed to 90%....don't quite remember). So, I would play it safe and cook them. Cheers!

Nothing can replace a protein shake as well as actual "substance" protein.

Good Suggestion musclestack. I think shakes are only good pwo and when you have no other options. Other than that....substance will benefit more in the end both for nutrients and for that feeling of being full

[FireGuy]

Good call on the milk, fireguy; I must've overlooked it. But do you think he needs to drop the pb from this meal even if it fits into his daily fat allotment? Would this not be, more or less, like adding a whole egg or two? Or are you suggesting he keeps carbs and fats separate? Just curious as to why you'd like to see the pb dropped.

Damien pretty much hit the nail on the head, when cutting bodyfat you need to choose the most nutrient dense foods available. Peanut butter is rarely going to fit into that category. For a guy looking to go from 18% to 15%, yeah he can get away with some PB here and there but as you get leaner and leaner your margin for error shrinks dramatically.

[Damienm05]

Damien pretty much hit the nail on the head, when cutting bodyfat you need to choose the most nutrient dense foods available. Peanut butter is rarely going to fit into that category. For a guy looking to go from 18% to 15%, yeah he can get away with some PB here and there but as you get leaner and leaner your margin for error shrinks dramatically.

Yes. Think about a diet of 2500 calories for a guy cutting down to sub 10% from ~12 with 180 lbs lean. He should be getting 1.5g/#lbm of protein (300g) and no less than 1g/#lbm carbs (200g) in order to maintain muscle - that's 2000 calories and leaves room for 60g of fat. Now, let's assume that his complete protein and carb sources yield 35g and he's taking 10 fish oil/omega-3 capsules for another 10g - he's only got 15g of fat left - probably used for some extra virgin olive oil on the veggies in the last meal or 2. PB isn't a complete protein and it contains some carbs, that 15g of fat, coming from PB, is gonna be 170 calories - not 130 in the case of pure oil. Now, sure it's a healthy food and all but we're already getting fiber from carbs/veggies/supplements and protein from meat - the lipid profile for peanuts is almost identical to that of evoo - it's just hard to justify when being really strict and having to take all measures to preserve muscle.

[FireGuy]

^^EXACTLY!! Getting foods to fall within your macro totals is the key, but.....when you are macro totals are where they need to be to get super lean there isnt room for anything but necessities. The scenario you just put out above is pretty much what I am going through except I have a bit more than 180lbs lean and I am doing it on 1900-2200 cals. Trust me, no room for peanut butter.

[Damienm05]

1900-2200 at over 180 lean? Jesus man! I suppose I can see that though, I've never been able to below 8-9% and I guess you've gotta cut that number in half to step on stage. Crazy.

You must be cycling the carbs, yes? Sorry OP, always very interested in this man's insight.

[FireGuy]

Yep, just over 3 weeks out from my next contest, pretty much living on spinach and tilapia with an every 4th day carb cycle.

[Damienm05]

Got it. I'm living off tilapia as well having cut out meat - it never gets old actually.

Good luck though man, home stretch!

[FireGuy]

^^Thank You, I will have pics and results up afterwards.

[gbrice75]

I have a bit more than 180lbs lean and I am doing it on 1900-2200 cals

Don't want to hijack further, but wow FG! This helps me rest a bit easier with regards to caloric deficits being too high.

Great, solid info given here overall. People post complete diets daily here; who would have thought a post about a single meal would create all of this! =)

[musclestack]

First of all, to the OP: by all rights, we should start a new thread about this, but as long as we're already here, I would like to carry on just as long as your question has been answered. If you're not satisfied, please chime in again, and we will gladly help! I suppose this is my fault for deviating from the original topic, but I hope you're still around and still learning from this thread.

To the rest of you, specifically GF: I understand your reasons for keeping foods as nutrient dense as possible while cutting. Since we're in a calorie deficit and muscle loss is at stake here, we need to stay away from all non-necessities, including incomplete proteins from peanut butter and other nuts. In your opinion, what would be the absolute best fat source when trying to get extremely lean?

[Damienm05]

First of all, to the OP: by all rights, we should start a new thread about this, but as long as we're already here, I would like to carry on just as long as your question has been answered. If you're not satisfied, please chime in again, and we will gladly help! I suppose this is my fault for deviating from the original topic, but I hope you're still around and still learning from this thread.

To the rest of you, specifically GF: I understand your reasons for keeping foods as nutrient dense as possible while cutting. Since we're in a calorie deficit and muscle loss is at stake here, we need to stay away from all non-necessities, including incomplete proteins from peanut butter and other nuts. In your opinion, what would be the absolute best fat source when trying to get extremely lean?

Hopefully FG will provide you his insight but for me, it's very important to treat fat intake like amino acids. Meaning, getting a plethora of sources/varieties. Saturated and Monounsaturated fats will increase test production naturally when taken sufficiently/consistently and for these, the best sources are going to be coconut oil MCFAs, red meat in moderation, EVOO, macadamia nuts/oil, sprouted almonds - peanuts, cashews, brazil nuts (natural source of glutethion) are all good for monos too. Polyunsaturated fats and omega-3/6/9 should come from DHA/EPA fish oil, walnuts/oil, flax, borage, 3/6/9 supps - these fats are key in decreasing inflammation, heart health, optimizing digestion, fat burning, and muscle recovery. Plenty of other sources but those are going to be the most efficient in terms of your body's ability to convert energy.

I always keep a relatively high fat diet (at least 100g) and divide it like this:

15g fat via fish oil - appoximately 10g total omega-3
15g fat via coconut oil
~45g fat via protein/carbs - mostly from salmon skin since becoming pescatarian, no longer steaks.
10g of each: walnut, mac nut, EVO oil.
15g via sprouted almonds or sometimes organic PB with casein (if I had to lower fat intake, these would be removed).