New Member, intermediate lifter, diet advice welcome :)

[Tx89]

Hi guys,
I've been a long time reader, but never posted actively. I'll turn 23 in a month and been lifting for 5 years. As probably most of you guys know the first 2-3 years been the usual trial and error and -as I know now- I didnt do too much the way it needs to be done. Still got some newb gains and worked my way up from a skinny fat 69kg to a solid 80kg at 1,83m height. Sorry, I'm German so I dont know what that is in lbs and ft and am too lazy to look that up now :P
Then, through hours and hours of research, I got my training in line and since then train very solid, pretty heavy, based on compound movements and trying to improve either in weight or reps every week. This got me up to 90-92Kg with 15-18%bf measured with a skinfold caliper. Then, luckily for me, the last year I often trained with a competitive BB who I could learn a ton from! I learned some essentials about nutrition, which always was the field where I struggled most. I learned that I needed to eat big (and clean and thats the fkin hard part) in order to grow further. I got pretty amazing results this way and got up to 105Kg with 19%bf. All lifts increased (dead 170, squat 140, bench 120 and military 75 to name the major ones) and I am a pretty big and buff guy by now. BUT, it kind of got out of control I think. It might sound stupid to many, but right now I feel "too big". I mean most of my clothes dont fit anymore and for my other passion, Tennis, I am way too bulky right now. Actually I am totally into aesthetics and symmetry over sheer mass and power, I look up to people like Greg Plitt, Zyzz or Rob Riches. So that's why I thought hey, I have a very solid base by now and it might be time to diet down I guess with 90-95Kg in the 10%bf range I would look a lot better, or at least better as to my taste. Problem is I never was really lean, I never really did a real powerful cutting diet with knowledge. Sure, I know loads of theory about it, but never actually did it. Thats why I'm here folks, as I said I'm reading threads on here all the time and thats why I feel like there are a lot of 1)very knowledgable and 2)nice people on here.
I'm gonna post what I did the last 4 weeks and what got me down to 101,5Kg and 16 or 17%bf, so it obviously worked, but I'm sure it is not perfect and tweaks can be made.

Weights:
4 Days a week (Mo:Chest and Bis / Tue: Legs / Thur: Back / Fri: Shoulders and Tris) As I said I base every session on cmpounds where I try to go as hevay as I can and shoot for 3x5 reps. Then, I add some accessory work in the higher rep and volume range and really focus on mind-muscle connection, squeezing the muscle and vary the tempo.

Cardio:
Bought myself a nice little treadmill, where I do early morning fasted cardio 4 times a week being Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I do moderate intensity for 20-30minutes. Oh and Wednesday evening I got Tennis train for 1,5hours pretty damn intense During the summer this is twice per week and every 2-3 weeks games on sunday, but as its winter and damn cold here: once a week on Wed as of now.

Current Diet:

Meal 1 (After cardio or after waking up if non cardio day)
100ml low fat milk + 30g Protein Powder + 50g frozen berries + 10g rapeseed oil + 500g low fat curd
= 611kcal (91P / 30C / 14F)

Meal 2:
6 whole hard boiled eggs + 50g gouda cheese + 60g camembert cheese + 50g chicken mortadella
= 878 kcal (69P / 5c / 65 F)

Meal 3:
150g canned tuna plus some spices
= 178kcal (40P / 2C / 1F)

Meal 4:
Protein Pudding Selfmade
= 114kcal (13P / 5C / 3F)

Meal 5:
150g chicken breast + 100g Salmon + frozen veggies (ca. 150g)
= 345 kcal ( 53P / 11C / 10F)

Meal 6:
Shake with 100ml low fat milk + 40G Protein Powder
=212kcal (40P /6C / 3F)

My workout nutrition contains:

Pre: 10g BCAA, 10g Whey in water (used to have 30g Dexto on here) (40kcal/10P/1C/0F)
During: 10gBcaa, 10g Whey in water (same with the Dextro) (40kcal/10P/1C/0F)
After: 50g Protein Powder blend, 5-10g Glutamine and a Banana (264kcal/50P/28C/1F)

Other supps I use: Multi Vitamin, Fish Oil, Zinc, Vit. C and Taurine. Oh and caffeine pre workout 300mg.


That leaves me with the following macros:

Workout Days: 2682 kcal (376 P / 87C / 97F) = 67% Protein / 15% Carbs / 18% Fat

Non Workout Days: 2338kcal (306 P / 57C / 96F) = 66% Protein / 12% Carbs / 22% Fat


Well that's my current diet. I know that my food choices might not be the best and I am open and thankful for criticism and tweaks! I follow this strictly from tuesday thru saturday. Sunday is my cheat day, where I try to replenish glycogen stores by eating a good amount of carbs. I will enjoy some foods I like, but in general take care that I keep fats at bay this day and dont go too overboard. I lack the cutting experience to judge whether this is a big harm to my diet? I just feel its good for my mind and keeps me from becoming a psycho :-) On Mondays I do a complete fasting day, a strategy I picked up from John Romaniello and that I actually like a lot. I Dont have problems doing this 36hour fast at all, I even feel it helps my digestive system handle all the stuff that came in on the cheat day. Also my cardio and lifting session on monday should deplete some of the gylcogen I just stored and set the base for an effective week of dieting. Feel free to bash away, if it makes no sense in your opinion, but I kinda like it.
Maybe its important to say that I've been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid 6months ago, which is why I take L-Thyroxine. But to be honest, I dont feel the slightest difference. Still feel like I have kind of a sluggish metabolism and a very low tolerance towards carbs, which is why I kept them very low and placed in meal1 and around my workout mostly. I certainly can handle low carbs as I dont feel much of a difference concerning power. I might even say that I feel better and more energetic this way than when I eat plenty of carbs. Also I try to balance my calorie intake throughout the day. Tried IF once and actually like the idea, but I felt this wasnt for me.

Well, thats all. Now my fingers hurt haha Sorry for writing so much and thanks a lot if you sticked with me till now. I just think its important to know as many variables as possible to offer sound advice to a foreign person and I thought I better give 1 or 2 pieces of information too much than to say "hey I'm 5,5 and 300lbs with 40%bf and wanna get ripped for summer, make me a diet!" lmfao
So any help, tweaks, advice is greatly appreciated, thank you very much

[--->>405<<---]

Hey tx welcome man ur rite that was alot to read but it wasnt boring so i made it all the way thru good work so far on wat uve done so ur 72.05" = basically 6feet tall 101.5kg = 223.77lbs

101.5 kg @ 17%bf = 84.25kg LBM
(84.25 x 21.6) + 370 = 2190 BMR
2190 x 1.55 = 3395 TDEE

if i were u id cut at 2500cals/day.. This gives u a 900 calorie deficit from ur tdee which ive found to be pretty effective.. It also happens to be fairly in between wat ur currently eating.. Because tdee assesses cals required based on a weekly need theres no need to eat more on one day and less on others.. Currently i am on a carb cycle but ive gotten bf% pretty low (@11%) using the method im suggesting u use.. Once u get closer to 10% if u feel so inclined u could try it but i dont have enuff experience in carb cycling to offer u much advice at this point..

That being said i like u also do well on low carbs.. Heres a split i think u may find productive.. Alot of the effectiveness i believe comes from not only low carbs/high protein but also individual food choices.. Esp carb choices

370g pro
120g carbs
60g fat

Have ur carbs in meal 1, preworkout, postworkout only.. Carb choices: oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice .. Thats it except green veggies ( broccoli, asparagus, spinach, etc..)

I def think ur eatn too much fat and u need to lose the milk, cheese, and all fruit.. We could get into ur posted diet if ud like .. I can show u wat i think u need to change..

[hex]

ya milk cheese whole eggs should go, maybe switch to 6 whites and 1 whole egg. and as 405 said get some carbs in your first meal

[Tx89]

Hey guys, first thank you very much for taking the time to read my little post and then replying and helping, I really appreciate this a lot :-)

Basically you guys pointed out what I expected as of my diet approach: Basics mostly covered, tweaks especially concerning food choices def possible! My actual post was written last thursday and I needed to wait for my activation on the board to post it, so my weekly wheigh in gave me 99,5Kg today, yay. -2Kg :-) I def do see changes in the mirror and more veins when training. I think the transformation process of getting in real good shape its much harder than actually staying in shape, so I try to see the big picture and see that I am moving in the right direction and will ultimately get there!! 10% would be nice! So since my posted diet works right now and gives me a weekly minus of 1-2Kg per Week, should I even change it yet? I def wanna take all your advice and implement it as good as I can, the question just is: When? From now on or as soon as my progress stops and I hit a plateau?

405, I'd love to have you get into my diet and tweak it the way you think it needs to be done!!

Couple other questions:
-Really completely drop the low fat curl in my first meal? Sure I know it has something like 20-25g of simple carbs, but also has 62g Protein in 500g...
-If I cut out the whole eggs and all the cheese my fat intake will sure be lower: How am I to compensate for the energy? Carbs in meal 1 and PWO instead of Berries, Banana and curl? Since I loooove Oats that wouldnt be a prob at all, but I probably wouldnt hit my protein numbers then...
-Do I get you right that you think its better to eat the same 7 days a week than e.g. have one cheat day in moderation followed by a fast day?

Well thanks again for your input so far, please continue helping guys I really wanna start getting that bf down to show of the muscle in spring/summer

[--->>405<<---]

Hey man.. Whats curl? If its milk then yes for cutting u want to drop milk.. As well as fruit (except maybe in meal 1) but i dont eat it at all ( even though i like it ill save it for bulking)..

If ur droppn 1-2kg/ week keep rolling man thats good.. In the meantime we could go over improvements u could make when progression slows

[Back In Black]

OP, check your calculations, 97g of fat against 2700 cals is closer to 30%!!!!!!!

[Tx89]

Alright, then I'll keep rolling and hopefully keep going for a bit and then shed the rest with an educated and intelligent meal plan, sounds like a plan man

Sorry damn typo, I meant curd not curl. I don't know the English word so I had to look it up, never heard it before actually.
What I eat contains (100g =68kcal/12,2gProtein/4gCarbs/0,3gFat). Tried to post a link but since i'm new here I'm not allowed to.

As for the tweaks in my diet:
-Replace all milk with water
-ditch out the banana post workout und berries in meal 1, instead add oats to both
-ditch out all that cheese in meal 2 / Ditch the whole eggs too completely? Or just reduce?
That basically kills almost all of meal 2 Alternative suggestions welcome

Anything else? Overall that would reduce fats and put carbs a little higher, though make them cleaner. What about Cheat and Fast Day? Is my way of doing this a big harm to my goal? Kind of helps me stay on track...would suck if I had to let that go, but well. If thats what it takes Im gonna fkin do it!!

Stem, thanks for the heads up! Forgot about higher calorie density

[Back In Black]

Is curds really cottage cheese?

[hex]

no cheese curds like for poutine, mmmmmm how i miss that cheesy gravy goodness

[--->>405<<---]

hi guys,
i've been a long time reader, but never posted actively. I'll turn 23 in a month and been lifting for 5 years. As probably most of you guys know the first 2-3 years been the usual trial and error and -as i know now- i didnt do too much the way it needs to be done. Still got some newb gains and worked my way up from a skinny fat 69kg to a solid 80kg at 1,83m height. Sorry, i'm german so i dont know what that is in lbs and ft and am too lazy to look that up now
then, through hours and hours of research, i got my training in line and since then train very solid, pretty heavy, based on compound movements and trying to improve either in weight or reps every week. This got me up to 90-92kg with 15-18%bf measured with a skinfold caliper. Then, luckily for me, the last year i often trained with a competitive bb who i could learn a ton from! I learned some essentials about nutrition, which always was the field where i struggled most. I learned that i needed to eat big (and clean and thats the fkin hard part) in order to grow further. I got pretty amazing results this way and got up to 105kg with 19%bf. All lifts increased (dead 170, squat 140, bench 120 and military 75 to name the major ones) and i am a pretty big and buff guy by now. But, it kind of got out of control i think. It might sound stupid to many, but right now i feel "too big". I mean most of my clothes dont fit anymore and for my other passion, tennis, i am way too bulky right now. Actually i am totally into aesthetics and symmetry over sheer mass and power, i look up to people like greg plitt, zyzz or rob riches. So that's why i thought hey, i have a very solid base by now and it might be time to diet down :d i guess with 90-95kg in the 10%bf range i would look a lot better, or at least better as to my taste. Problem is i never was really lean, i never really did a real powerful cutting diet with knowledge. Sure, i know loads of theory about it, but never actually did it. Thats why i'm here folks, as i said i'm reading threads on here all the time and thats why i feel like there are a lot of 1)very knowledgable and 2)nice people on here.
I'm gonna post what i did the last 4 weeks and what got me down to 101,5kg and 16 or 17%bf, so it obviously worked, but i'm sure it is not perfect and tweaks can be made.

Weights:
4 days a week (mo:chest and bis / tue: Legs / thur: Back / fri: Shoulders and tris) as i said i base every session on cmpounds where i try to go as hevay as i can and shoot for 3x5 reps. Then, i add some accessory work in the higher rep and volume range and really focus on mind-muscle connection, squeezing the muscle and vary the tempo.

Cardio:
Bought myself a nice little treadmill, where i do early morning fasted cardio 4 times a week being monday, wednesday, friday and saturday. I do moderate intensity for 20-30minutes. Oh and wednesday evening i got tennis train for 1,5hours pretty damn intense:d during the summer this is twice per week and every 2-3 weeks games on sunday, but as its winter and damn cold here: Once a week on wed as of now.

Current diet:

Meal 1 (after cardio or after waking up if non cardio day)
100ml low fat milk + 30g protein powder + 50g frozen berries + 10g rapeseed oil + 500g low fat curd
= 611kcal (91p / 30c / 14f)i prefer 1whole egg, 5egg whites 1/2cup oatmeal here, u could also add some meat to bump up protein

meal 2:
6 whole hard boiled eggs + 50g gouda cheese + 60g camembert cheese + 50g chicken mortadella
= 878 kcal (69p / 5c / 65 f) id have chicken and green veggies here

meal 3:
150g canned tuna plus some spices tuna is good id add veggies and a carb(sweet potato or oatmeal depending when ur workout falls)
= 178kcal (40p / 2c / 1f)

meal 4:
Protein pudding selfmade doesnt offer a lot in the way of nutrition.. But it must taste good?
= 114kcal (13p / 5c / 3f)

meal 5:
150g chicken breast + 100g salmon + frozen veggies (ca. 150g)
= 345 kcal ( 53p / 11c / 10f)

meal 6:
Shake with 100ml low fat milk + 40g protein powder drop the milk.. If this is postworkout add carb here
=212kcal (40p /6c / 3f)

my workout nutrition contains:

Pre: 10g bcaa, 10g whey in water (used to have 30g dexto on here) (40kcal/10p/1c/0f)
during: 10gbcaa, 10g whey in water (same with the dextro) (40kcal/10p/1c/0f)
after: 50g protein powder blend, 5-10g glutamine and a banana (264kcal/50p/28c/1f)

other supps i use: Multi vitamin, fish oil, zinc, vit. C and taurine. Oh and caffeine pre workout 300mg.


That leaves me with the following macros:

Workout days: 2682 kcal (376 p / 87c / 97f) = 67% protein / 15% carbs / 18% fat

non workout days: 2338kcal (306 p / 57c / 96f) = 66% protein / 12% carbs / 22% fat


well that's my current diet. I know that my food choices might not be the best and i am open and thankful for criticism and tweaks! I follow this strictly from tuesday thru saturday. Sunday is my cheat day, where i try to replenish glycogen stores by eating a good amount of carbs. I will enjoy some foods i like, but in general take care that i keep fats at bay this day and dont go too overboard. I lack the cutting experience to judge whether this is a big harm to my diet? I just feel its good for my mind and keeps me from becoming a psycho :-) on mondays i do a complete fasting day, a strategy i picked up from john romaniello and that i actually like a lot. I dont have problems doing this 36hour fast at all, i even feel it helps my digestive system handle all the stuff that came in on the cheat day. Also my cardio and lifting session on monday should deplete some of the gylcogen i just stored and set the base for an effective week of dieting. Feel free to bash away, if it makes no sense in your opinion, but i kinda like it.
Maybe its important to say that i've been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid 6months ago, which is why i take l-thyroxine. But to be honest, i dont feel the slightest difference. Still feel like i have kind of a sluggish metabolism and a very low tolerance towards carbs, which is why i kept them very low and placed in meal1 and around my workout mostly. I certainly can handle low carbs as i dont feel much of a difference concerning power. I might even say that i feel better and more energetic this way than when i eat plenty of carbs. Also i try to balance my calorie intake throughout the day. Tried if once and actually like the idea, but i felt this wasnt for me.

Well, thats all. Now my fingers hurt haha sorry for writing so much and thanks a lot if you sticked with me till now. I just think its important to know as many variables as possible to offer sound advice to a foreign person and i thought i better give 1 or 2 pieces of information too much than to say "hey i'm 5,5 and 300lbs with 40%bf and wanna get ripped for summer, make me a diet!" lmfao
so any help, tweaks, advice is greatly appreciated, thank you very much

basically u want good carbs (oats, sweet potato, brn rice in meal 1, preworkout, postworkout) .. I dont know where that falls in so i just added carbs to 3 meals and got rid of the ones i thought u should lose.. I dont know what curd is so i cant say for sure what u should do with it.. Is it like cottage cheese??

[Tx89]

Thanks man
Hmm funny you guys dont know that damn curd, its a staple in German BB forums! Closest thing to it would be Yogurt, of course not the ones loaded with Sugar etc.
Nutritional values have been posted above. But since I should have some carbs in meal 1 Guess the 20g simple carbs should be Fine considering that shake in meal 1 gives me ~100g Protein and some good fats. I think i'll keep it, just ditch out the milk:-) thx for the meal 2 suggestion, I think some chicken plus broccoli would be good. Haha yes man, that pudding is the sh*t
Like a daily treat that I look forward too and doesnt really do damage
Also im gonna add oats in the pwo shake to compemsate for the missing energy from all the ditched out fat in meal 2. Keep Banana in there or ditch out?

Anybody know how to make a can of tuna a little more....appealing?

Also what you think about Eating this 7 days a week vs. Eating this 5 days a week with one cheat day followed by 36hour fast?

Thank for all the help :-)

[Back In Black]

I think your curd cheese is called quark over here!

[--->>405<<---]

Thanks man
Hmm funny you guys dont know that damn curd, its a staple in German BB forums! Closest thing to it would be Yogurt, of course not the ones loaded with Sugar etc.
Nutritional values have been posted above. But since I should have some carbs in meal 1 Guess the 20g simple carbs should be Fine considering that shake in meal 1 gives me ~100g Protein and some good fats. I think i'll keep it, just ditch out the milk:-) thx for the meal 2 suggestion, I think some chicken plus broccoli would be good. Haha yes man, that pudding is the sh*t
Like a daily treat that I look forward too and doesnt really do damage
Also im gonna add oats in the pwo shake to compemsate for the missing energy from all the ditched out fat in meal 2. Keep Banana in there or ditch out?

Anybody know how to make a can of tuna a little more....appealing?

Also what you think about Eating this 7 days a week vs. Eating this 5 days a week with one cheat day followed by 36hour fast?

Thank for all the help :-)

i dont know how much protein this "curd" offers u but obviously its always better to keep the simple carbs to a bare minimum while cutting.. i have cottage cheese before bed 4 nites a week and it also technically qualifies as a simple sugar i believe so i cant ream u too bad for the curd.. but i wouldnt have any other simple sugars including the banana esp while cutting

the only advice i have for u on the tuna is to do what i did.. switch that meal out to chicken! LOL

[Tx89]

Haha stem, German Word is mager-QUARK and translator gave me curd. I had no idea that Quark could be an english word too

405, yea I get the plan bye bye banana!

[Back In Black]

Haha stem, German Word is mager-QUARK and translator gave me curd. I had no idea that Quark could be an english word too

405, yea I get the plan bye bye banana!

Man I dislike quark like you dislike tuna, any ways to make it taste sehr gut?

[Tx89]

Well its not the best tasting thing in the world man, thats for sure!
When bulking its easy to make it taste sehr gut:
i always first mixed it with milk, then added in various fruits, protein powder, sometimes honey or oats. Really sehr gut :-)
In a cut the options shrink. I always mix it with some water first, i need it to have a certain consistency(is that right?!) to be able to down it. Then of course protein powder and some berries work wonders. Of course not a lot, but a bit of added Color Works wonders what i recently tried was add zero calorie soda, preferably sprite zero. I know that sounds Crazy, but not bad at all! Doesnt taste like quark anymore!

[Tx89]

Hey guys :-)
today was weekly weigh-in and I'm still rollin, but not as fast as last week. -0,9Kg Total meaning I'm 98,5Kg now. Again 0,5cm gone from my waist!

I took your adive and made the following changes to my diet:
-All milk replaced by water
-Banana gone, berries reduced...just for the taste (dont really do much damage at 30g)
-Meal 2, the cheese meal, gone. Replaced by 150gchicken and Broccoli. Eggs reduced from 6 to 2 (maybe ditch them completely...see how I go with this)
-30g oats added to meal 1, also 20g oats added pre and post workout. That leaves me with oats as only real carbsource except the 20g from the quark that I kept due to over 60g of Protein

New macros are:

Workout Days: 2400 kcal (59%Protein/25%Fat/16%Carbs)

Non-Workout Days: 2020 kcal (58%Protein/28%Fat/14%Carbs)


Lookin' okay?



Oh does anybody know why I cant access my profile to upload a pic...? Do I need minimum number of posts for that? Thx guys

[gbrice75]

Tx, you're in good hands here man. If there's anything specifically that I can help you with, let me know. Otherwise, Stem and 405 will get you sorted out.

[Tx89]

Thank you very much GB, I'm sure I will have questions some time. I'm always looking to learn and to improve
If so I'll let you know or just Check your thread, its better than google man

[Tx89]

Weekly Update:
You guys are fkin gods First week with the tweaked diet had me losing 1,5kg and 2,5cm from my waist...I measured 3 times because I couldnt believe it.
I mean, I was rolling pretty good before but now I feel like I 100% got this. Thank you so much
I really hope I can keep rolling like this to 10%bf. My 3 site caliper measurement had me at 15.91%. Concernig the changes on the scale and in the mirror I believe I Probably was more like 18-20 than 16-18 when I started!

[--->>405<<---]

^^ great news man happy for u.. Keep it going!

[Tx89]

Thanks man
From your log i know that you been through the exact same transformation process that I am working on right now..whats your experience, does it get significantly harder the closer you get to 10% or is it possible to keep rolling like I do now till I hit it? How long did it take you bro?