A decent representation of my diet, looking for tips/suggestions.

[zivot]

I'm 19 years old, 6'0, and 260 pounds and I'm looking into making a transition from Olympic lifting to Strongman training, but I would like to start out at a lighter leaner weight, or at least a lower bf% (which I currently don't know) so I can grow more lean muscle (and for personal aesthetic reasons).

Wake up: immediately drink a serving of Optimum Nutrition Whey protein.

Breakfast (meal 1):
- Either Nature's Path Blueberry Cinnamon Cereal (1 bowl with skin milk) or a bowl of oatmeal
- Either a piece of chicken breast (grilled, usually about 3-5 ounces) or two pieces of chicken thighs (baked, about 3-5 ounces)
- A cup of green vegetables (green beans, kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, etc.)
- Either a banana or an apple

Lunch (meal 2)
- Grilled chicken breast or baked chicken thighs (about 8 ounces)
- A cup of green vegetables (green beans, kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, etc.)
- Chobani 0% Greek yogurt
- About a tablespoon or soynuts (mixed into yogurt)

- Recently a cup of pinto beans goes with this meal

Pre-workout (meal 3)
- Grilled chicken breast or baked chicken thighs (about 6 ounces)
- A cup of green vegetables (green beans, kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, etc.)

After workout (meal 4)
- A little under 2 scoops/servings of Optimum Nutrition Whey protein
- A banana or apple

Dinner (meal 5)
- Grilled chicken breast or baked chicken thighs (ranges from roughly 6-11 ounces)
- A cup of green vegetables (green beans, kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, etc.)
- Not everyday but regularly some form of pasta (macaroni and cheese, lasagna, etc.). I don't have an assumptive measurement for this, but this will most likely always screw up my day since I always have large portions of this as well as seconds.

- Recently a cup of pinto beans goes with this meal

Night (Meal 6)
- Grilled chicken breast or baked chicken thighs (about 4-6 ounces)
- A cup of green vegetables (green beans, kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, etc.)

Right before bead
- Recently I've been taking a scoop/serving of Optimum Nutrition Casein Protein before going to bed. Blended into 8 ounces of skim milk, occasionally 8 ounces of water.

Current Supplements:
Optimum Nutrition Fish Oil (amount varies per day)
Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein
Optimum Nutrition Casein Protein
Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men
Optimum Nutrition creatine Powder (used to be Beast Creature creatine)

Now like I said, it's a "decent" representation. Some of the measurements may be to high or little seeing how I'm mainly just guessing (and days change), some days other foods are added in that either complement the day or screw it up, many days the meat is eaten at very large levels (chicken, steak, and pork are the only meats you'll really find in my house other then ground beef and turkey), but again, this is a "trying" representation.

Now while looking at it, since I've never put too much thought into that I could right it down, it looks like I need to eat more frequently. Also eat some snacks. I've read that peanuts are very good for cutting fat. Anyways if you don't mind I would love any advice, tips, criticism you can give to help me set up a diet to lose fat.

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

zivot welcome to the forum man. looks like ur first prob is ur not counting macros and/or total cals. this is a MUST! ur diet has very little organization. also id lose the chicken thighs rite off the rip. they have way too much fat. (i love chikn thighs bt the way )

read stickies:
1. dieting 101: cutting
2. tdee
3. how to bulk

get ur bf% chekd and post some pics so we can see what were working with. seems the nature of powerlifting/strongman lifting will require a difft approach to diet than bodybuilding. depending on ur stats and goals i can help u cut or bulk. a powerlifting diet is out of my area.

[zivot]

Thank you for the welcome and answer. I know, my diet is a big time mess, and like I said, it's a decent representation, my days don't always look like that either.

How would I go getting my BF%? Personally checking or going to a professional?

Here are some basic mirror shots, I don't think they are that good of a representation, but it defiantly shows the stomach and love handles I want smaller. I'm not bodybuilding so a six pack isn't necessarily on my mind, especially since currently I'm training natural, but I defiantly don't want to see them sticking out so much. So currently, my goal is to cut fat without losing any of my strength. I wouldn't mind adding in some muscle as well, like you see the lack of hypertrophy in the Olympic lifts can show in my lack of large muscles, but it seems like both bulking and cutting is a very hard task, especially for a moderate beginner who has very little experience with nutrition.

[zivot]

I've removed soy nuts from my eating habits. I've replaced the soy nuts in my house with peanuts, besides the fact they are cheaper, I read soy nuts can raise estrogen levels (slightly).

[aportinastorm]

Dont really know anything about a power lifters diet, however if your looking to lose fat i have a few suggestions. Many members with far more knowledge than me can probably help you further but first carculate the nutrient breakdown for your average day calories, protein, carbs, fats and see where that compares to your tde(if you dont know it theres a sticky with how to calculate it). that will give us something to go on. By looking at your day there i would dump the breakfast cereal and just do the oatmeal or oatmeal and a side of egg whites. Dump most of the fats ( chicken theighs, yogurt, some of the milk). Get rid of the frequent pasta, oats and brown rice are great carbs howver the mac and cheese and lasagna is definitely not. Scale way back on the protein shakes or get rid of them all together. I know this part sounds crazy but hear me out. Your eating chicken breasts five meals a day plus all the other food so your protein intake is already sky high without the shakes. Those 6 scoops a day are just adding plobably 800-900 un-needed calories which is probably 25-30% of your allowed callories per day for your desired weight. Personally i love a couple shakes a day but then again im not eating 5 chicken breast a day so for you something has to go. Anyways those are a few helpful hints to get you started until one of the experts has a chance to get you straightened away. Also remember cardio is your best friend for losing weight, if your one of the many people that despise cardio then find a way to incorpoate it into your day to day life. For example if you watch an hour of tv a day there are twenty minutes of commercials. Each break pick an exercise(run in place, jumping jacks, suicides, etc) and do it the whole commercial break as hard as you can then rest until the next break. Bam, theres your 20 minutes of cardio a day and to start that type of cardio will be sufficient to start seeing some visual results rather quickly(not a few days but probably after a month and a half or so).

[zivot]

Dont really know anything about a power lifters diet, however if your looking to lose fat i have a few suggestions. Many members with far more knowledge than me can probably help you further but first carculate the nutrient breakdown for your average day calories, protein, carbs, fats and see where that compares to your tde(if you dont know it theres a sticky with how to calculate it). that will give us something to go on. By looking at your day there i would dump the breakfast cereal and just do the oatmeal or oatmeal and a side of egg whites. Dump most of the fats ( chicken theighs, yogurt, some of the milk). Get rid of the frequent pasta, oats and brown rice are great carbs howver the mac and cheese and lasagna is definitely not. Scale way back on the protein shakes or get rid of them all together. I know this part sounds crazy but hear me out. Your eating chicken breasts five meals a day plus all the other food so your protein intake is already sky high without the shakes. Those 6 scoops a day are just adding plobably 800-900 un-needed calories which is probably 25-30% of your allowed callories per day for your desired weight. Personally i love a couple shakes a day but then again im not eating 5 chicken breast a day so for you something has to go. Anyways those are a few helpful hints to get you started until one of the experts has a chance to get you straightened away. Also remember cardio is your best friend for losing weight, if your one of the many people that despise cardio then find a way to incorpoate it into your day to day life. For example if you watch an hour of tv a day there are twenty minutes of commercials. Each break pick an exercise(run in place, jumping jacks, suicides, etc) and do it the whole commercial break as hard as you can then rest until the next break. Bam, theres your 20 minutes of cardio a day and to start that type of cardio will be sufficient to start seeing some visual results rather quickly(not a few days but probably after a month and a half or so).

Thank you for the tips, I'm going to try to calculate my TDEE within the next couple of minutes. How accurate is it though.

Anyways, I never thought about the protein. I guess I should defiantly take a look at how much calories I'm consuming from the whey+casein, since I'm really only taking them for the benefit of the added protein, not calories or bcaa's. I've been eating more oatmeal instead of the breakfast cereal lately, but sometimes it's easier just to digest seeing how depending on the oatmeal that is in the house, I can't stand the taste of certain brands (more like I can't keep it down as easy). I'll cut the yogurt if need be, but the yogurt I eat is 0% fat Greek yogurt. Should that be ditched.

I am one of those people that don't like cardio (I do enjoy swimming though, so I can always do that), but if needed to assist in losing fat I would be willing to do so. The problem I've had with cardio is that my weightlifting coach when I first met him told me to do no cardio for fat loss since he said it would take away strength. I've been lazy, but he recently told me to do sprints since supposedly they burn fat while maintaining muscle (also said it would improve explosiveness in my lifting, that had more to do with hill sprints though). He also said it's also great for the core. So last week I started doing it twice a week and I thought I'd bump it up to 3 times a week. Any advice on that?

[zivot]

Also, I wouldn't consider this cardio, but my job requires me to walk on my feet outside all day. I only do this part time since I'm a part/full (it chances from semester to semester) time student, but for about 5-8 hours 4 days a week I'm outside all day walking back and fourth from spot to spot. Again, I'm not saying that's cardio.

[zivot]

Tdee = 3603.905

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

Tdee = 3603.905

Have u got ur bf% yet?

[zivot]

How do I get that information? The only thing I have at my disposal is a myotape measuring tape.

[zivot]

Looked it up using Google, are the bf% calculator moderately accurate?

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/

Or should I spring for something like these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_sc...1a47663014c33b

?

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

google bod pod in ur area and go have it chekd in one of those or google local gyms around ur area the use CALIPERS and get it dun there.. or google body composition analysis in ur area.. u either want it done with a bod pod or calipers.. no other form would i use..

[zivot]

Would I be able to use calipers at my home or should I still go see someone professional to do it? I saw some local facilities/clinics that offer body fay assessments using the bod pod and the cheapest is $70, in which they don't have an open slot until around the end of July because they have limited hours.

[zivot]

Would I be able to use calipers at my home or should I still go see someone professional to do it? I saw some local facilities/clinics that offer body fay assessments using the bod pod and the cheapest is $70, in which they don't have an open slot until around the end of July because they have limited hours.

I may still look around for moderately cheap place to get a bod pod bf% assessment done, but for now I just ordered this:

http://www.amazon.com/Accu-Measure-F...odyfat+caliper which should be arriving next week.

[zivot]

Also, let's say I was opening to the idea of doing regular cardio to shed some fat, is there anyway to hinder any loss to my strength? Should I stick with sprints instead of elliptical trainers, stair climbers, etc.?

[zivot]

I may still look around for moderately cheap place to get a bod pod bf% assessment done, but for now I just ordered this:

http://www.amazon.com/Accu-Measure-F...odyfat+caliper which should be arriving next week.

It'll be here on Friday, so if that's an accurate way to get bf%, I'll have a general idea of what my bf% is by Friday evening.

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

good work zivot. if u can i suggest u go to bod pod at least once to get an accurate reading so u can compare it to what u get on the calipers. this will show how far off u are with them

[zivot]

Thank you. I called them yesterday and I have a full diagnosis (which includes the bod pod, not sure about the other stuff) in the second week of August.

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

Also, let's say I was opening to the idea of doing regular cardio to shed some fat, is there anyway to hinder any loss to my strength? Should I stick with sprints instead of elliptical trainers, stair climbers, etc.?

cardio in itself should not cause u to lose strength. cutting diet may but once u jump back to a reg diet ur strength should return.. i think its good to mix up difft cardio.. such as: moderate, hIIT, elliptical, running, stairs... etc..

[zivot]

Okay thanks. Should this be done before lifting or after (after taking some protein or before)? Workout to itself? Etc.? I've read on here that some people do it once waking up on an empty stomach.

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

am fasted or pwo is good.. i prefer am fasted..

[zivot]

Much appreciated, I'll probably do A.M. fasted. Any suggestions for post cardio meal?

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

Much appreciated, I'll probably do A.M. fasted. Any suggestions for post cardio meal?

Good meal 1 = 1whole egg and 5egg whites (scrambled); 1/2 cup oats (sugar free strawberry preserves stirred in- smuckers)

[zivot]

Thank you.

[zivot]

It came in early today, and if I did it right, which I think I didn't, I'm at 27%. I'm going to ask a family member who's a little better at this type of stuff to help me out later.

[Back In Black]

It came in early today, and if I did it right, which I think I didn't, I'm at 27%. I'm going to ask a family member who's a little better at this type of stuff to help me out later.

Above 20% and you won't get a very accurate reading with calipers especially if that person doesn't do it on a regular basis. But you'll get a ballpark and that's much better than not knowing at this stage!

[zivot]

Thank you. I assumed that might be the case since the chart only goes up to 23% or something around that, and then says add x% for every millimeter to get %. I ended up getting someone to help me out, and seeing how how there was a 2% (lower) difference between the two, I assume it's a ballpark reading but not accurate one.

[zivot]

Well for the last 2 days I have done cardio waking up, but I haven't been fasting since I have taken protein before leaving on both days. Since I'm currently at this point concerned about cutting, which I've been moving some numbers around on myfitnesspal as well, should I continue to take a scoop of whey immediately upon waking up and then do cardio, or should I go 100% empty? Speaking of that, should I also keep taking the casein shake (1-2 scoop of casein blended with 2 cups of water) before bed?

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

1. whey before am cardio = NO
2. casein and water before bed = yes or lowfat cottage cheese
3. i suggest posting ur complete diet including total cals and macros (the one above sucks and needs redone and i dont think thats been accomplished on here and it needs to be.. otherwise u could be wasting a lot of time and effort..

[1tuffmudder]

Good meal 1 = 1whole egg and 5egg whites (scrambled); 1/2 cup oats (sugar free strawberry preserves stirred in- smuckers)

fan of the strawberry preserves. Actually pretty okay

[zivot]

1. whey before am cardio = NO
2. casein and water before bed = yes or lowfat cottage cheese
3. i suggest posting ur complete diet including total cals and macros (the one above sucks and needs redone and i dont think thats been accomplished on here and it needs to be.. otherwise u could be wasting a lot of time and effort..

Thanks 405. I messed up last night by going to bed to late, but I'll make sure to start posting my diet properly tomorrow.

You mentioned the eggs and oats earlier, could the oats be substituted with a 1/2 - 1 cups of oatmeal (or is that what you were talking about)? Also, reading some of your post in your accountability thread, you seem not to eat any meat with your first meal. On a cutting diet, should that be done or is the preference? Does the protein come from the eggs and oats in this case?

[zivot]

Also, when it comes down to fat, do you have any recommendations on how much of my fat intake should come from fish oil (ON Fish Oil) to make sure I'm not going over when cutting?

[zivot]

Sorry to flood you with questions.

[zivot]

Went to bed at 12a.m., woke up at 8a.m. (5 minutes ago). Trying to get to 11-7 sleep schedule. I'm going to gym to do fasted cardio, bumping it up to 60 minutes, and will post today's eating on here.

[zivot]

Just did 60 minutes elliptical machine, first 30 minutes was at a heart rate of 142-146, last 30 minutes was at a heart rate of 152-160.

Breakfest:

- 3 whole scrambled eggs (I was trying to separate the yolk from the egg, but kept having trouble so I had 3 whole eggs; will buy or get someone to buy egg whites in the container later on today for tomorrow)
- 1 Active Lifestyle Instant Oatmeal Weight Control Chai Apple pouch
- 2 Optimum Nutrition Fish Oil Capsules
- 1 Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men vitamin

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

oats is short for oatmeal

i keep fat around 20% total cals.. i take 5000mg fish oil daily.. (dont knwo how many g fat that is.. maybe i should check but i never have and havent had any probs)

[zivot]

Whoah, maybe I've been doing it wrong. I read that for people with high bf% to lower the carbs and up the fats, so currently I have on myfitnesspal a split of 50/35/15 (fat/protein/carb), which after looking at it, I don't even get my body weight in protein. Any suggestions of split? 20% fat, XX% carbs, XX% protein?

And if your fish oil is similar to mine, it's 5 grams of fat per 5000mg.

[zivot]

09:45 a.m. (Breakfest)
- 3 whole scrambled eggs (I was trying to separate the yolk from the egg, but kept having trouble so I had 3 whole eggs; will buy or get someone to buy egg whites in the container later on today for tomorrow)
- 1 Active Lifestyle Instant Oatmeal Weight Control Chai Apple pouch
- 2 Optimum Nutrition Fish Oil Capsules
- 1 Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men vitamin

11:30 a.m. (Snack)
- Planters - Unsalted Dry Roasted Peanuts - Heart Healthy, 28 grams (1 ounce)

01:45 p.m. (Lunch/Preworkout meal)
- 4 ounces of grilled chicken breast
- 1 1/2 cup of steamed cabbage
- 1 Optimum Nutrition Fish Oil Capsules
- 1 Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men vitamin


After eating I will wait 15 minutes to take 1 scoop of Labrada Nutration Super Charge Extreme NO (Pre-Workout)


Edit: More specific current break down:

2020 calories: 76 grams (carbs)/177 grams (protein; needs to be more)/112 (fat)

[zivot]

03:20 p.m. (Post Workourt)
2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein

[jasc]

03:20 p.m. (Post Workourt)
2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein

If it fits in to your macros you may try adding some ground up oats to your protein shake. I use about 3/4 of a cup in mine. Doesn't affect taste much n if ground fine enough makes your shake a bit thicker.. it's a great way to get some good carbs in, plus after a workout carbs are very beneficial.