Diet critique

[lestat85]

I'm trying to cut my bf% to around 10. I have a naturally high metabolism and have always used it as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted and am finally smartening up after having around 20% bf. So far I've dropped my bf% to 12.7 (according to the scale at the gym).

My stats are:
Age 27
Height 6'
Weight 181

My typical day's diet is:

Pre workout - protein shake
Post workout - double protein shake
Meal 1 - instant oatmeal
Meal 2 - chicken sandwich (just chicken & 100% whole wheat bread)
Meal 3 - double protein shake
Meal 4 - chicken/steak/fish & mixed veg
Before bed - protein shake

Calories = about 2000
Protein = 200-250g
Carbs = about 150g
Fat = about 30g
Sat. fat = about 3g

[lestat85]

Advice please. Thinking carbs might be too high, but would really appreciate some advice from more experienced people. Measured my bf% on my gym's scale today and got 15.2%. My diet is very consistent as listed above. I am also currently running an EC cycle (24mg E 200mg C twice per day)

I don't want to make any changes without some advice, incase I'm wrong.

My workouts are:
Day 1 - whole body workout 4x8
Day 2 - moderate cardio
Day 3 - whole body workout 5x5
Day 4 - moderate cardio
Day 5 - whole body workout 3x12

[HCL]

Keep protein at 200 g max
(reasons: you are natural, you are not on a lowcarb regime -> carbs are protein sparing...)

That being said, up your carbs to 200 g/day and start from there. (reason: to support your strength, you will cut these more as time goes without cutting protein and fats, thus keeping everything in check )

Up your fat to 45. (inc fat a little and reducing prot a bit will give you more choices for the protein sources (less lean meat cuts, larger variety of fish you can choose from), that will keep you full, even though ef is a great apetite supressant)

So there it is, and after 4 weeks come back and report, so we can tweak it further.
(tell us how much you lost, how is strength affected...)

[Papiriqui]

I'm trying to cut my bf% to around 10. I have a naturally high metabolism and have always used it as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted and am finally smartening up after having around 20% bf. So far I've dropped my bf% to 12.7 (according to the scale at the gym).

My stats are:
Age 27
Height 6'
Weight 181

My typical day's diet is:

Pre workout - protein shake Add some carbs here for energy and if you can change protein shake for food!!!
Post workout - double protein shake 1 shake is enough, again add some carbs here as well
Meal 1 - instant oatmeal replace instant oatmeal with regular old fashion, instant has to many by products and SUGAR
Meal 2 - chicken sandwich (just chicken & 100% whole wheat bread)
Meal 3 - double protein shake You will see far better results with whole foods than so many protein shakes
Meal 4 - chicken/steak/fish & mixed veg do you eat all at the same time?? chicken steak and fish????
Before bed - protein shake Dude seriously???

Calories = about 2000
Protein = 200-250g
Carbs = about 150g
Fat = about 30g
Sat. fat = about 3g

First thing i would recommend is to get the diet done to what has been suggested, protein 200-250 is fine IMO, carbs around 160 should be sufficient and fats will come from the foods you are already ingesting.

Remove excessive amount of shakes and add whole foods, make a diet which gives you weight of chicken or whatnot, proteins, carbs, calories, fats, to the T. You need to be very thorough and strict constructing your diet and afterwards is down hill from there. You need to be precise and know exactly what you are eating.

[HCL]

First thing i would recommend is to get the diet done to what has been suggested, protein 200-250 is fine IMO

I still say 200 max - based on: it is not a low carb regime and no empirical data to ever go above 2.4 g/kg.

Your opinion -> based on what?

[jg2243]

Way to many shakes ... Chicken,lean beef,egg whites ..that's just my opinion ..I would keep
The protein shake after working out what about 3 whole eggs and 3 egg whites in the morning along with 1/4 of oatmeal ( not instant to
Much sugar) protein shake post ..

[lestat85]

I did not mean that I eat chicken, steak and fish for supper. What I meant was that I have one of the three options.

The reason for the instant oatmeal is that I drive a truck at work and don't have access to cook regular oatmeal at work. What would be a better option that doesn't require cooking? The pre workout shake instead of a regular breakfast is because of how early I leave the house, I try to avoid waking up my kids by moving around too much and making noise, they're light sleepers.

Thank you for all the advise, I will cut out the mid day shake and before bed to replace with solid food. I will also try to add some carbs pre workout.

[lestat85]

I'm trying to use the advise I've so far been given. Can you please provide some feed back on today's diet so far?

Today's diet so far has been:

Pre and post workout - 1 scoop protein powder with 1/4 oatmeal

Meal 1 - 5.5 oz chicken breast, 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup cut green beans and 1 large egg

Meal 2 - chicken sandwich on 100% whole wheat with no condiments

Meal 3 is planned as chicken and mixed veg

I have been eating mostly because I know I have to, as I haven't been feeling hungry. I'm assuming this is from the EC stack.

[Dpyle]

Any advice on foods that can be eaten either raw or cold? I work in a truck and cannot heat up food during the day. My mornings are pretty rushed and I avoid cooking so as to not wake my kids up at 5am, since I workout at 6am before work.

I just changed my plan after guys here pointed out I was taking way too many shakes.

A sample day currently is:

Pre and post gym - 1 scoop protein with 1/4 cup oatmeal

Meal 1 rice, chicken and veg

Meal 2 chicken sandwich on 100% whole wheat

Meal 3 chicken, mixed veg

Still needs a lot of tweaking, but it's a start. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Quoted this over here to avoid hijacking the thread you posted it in.

It all depends on how bad you want. I eat almost everything cols or at room temp. Cook in bulk on sunday and every meal but breakfast comes straight from the fridge or lunch bag when at work. After a while hot meals don't taste right anymore, at least not for me.

Chicken, oats, baked sweet potatoes, broccoli,spinach, the list goes on. These are all things that I have eaten cold with no issues. With the oats plain rolled are the best. As stated above you should avoid the sugary packaged ones. The plain oats only take a minute in the micro and they're ready to go.

[lestat85]

Thanks. I've cut out the instant oats. Today's oatmeal was plain oats, ground and mixed into my shake.

Today's was the first day of this adjusted diet. Still working on it. Thanks for the advice.

I'll try and post my days diet regularly for critique.

[dogtags]

Aside from shakes, which are OKAY, just not optimal try to have more compete meals that include Carbs, Protein and Fats..

Oatmeal isn't a meal... 4 eggs, 1/2 cup oats is a meal.

6 oz chicken breast, 3/4 cup brown rice with 2 cups of steamed veggies and a little flax is a meal

4 oz sirloin with lightly seasoned Asian vegetables with 1 lightly buttered sweet potato is a meal..

When you cut, you don't need to starve yourself eating boring crap, 99% of people fail trying to start with that mindset. everything i just listed fit in your macros. and 2000 calories is too low IMO

your TDEE is about 2900 calories, and you ate talking about cutting out 900 calories AND exercising..Going to lose a good chunk of muscle doing this which means you will lose POUNDS but your BF% will drop slower since you are losing muscle as well.

shoot for around 2400 Calories daily, 45 mins of light cardio 120-135 BPM fasted in the AM and a good workout routine.

Im sure someone will pick this apart, but for the most part that should be a good amount of info to get you away from that "i don't know much about food so i will just eat chicken, bread and protein shakes for a few weeks" diet.

[lestat85]

Thanks for the advise. I'll try to up the calories and precook some better meals ahead of time.

As mentioned, I'll try to post my days diet for continued feedback.

My diet has always been the weakest part of my routine. It just took me a long time to wake up and realize it. Again, thank you for the advice.

[dogtags]

Thanks for the advise. I'll try to up the calories and precook some better meals ahead of time.

As mentioned, I'll try to post my days diet for continued feedback.

My diet has always been the weakest part of my routine. It just took me a long time to wake up and realize it. Again, thank you for the advice.

Diet is very much the most difficult part of anything..IMO

some good apps that might help:

FoodScanner
MyNetDiary <----this one is great! scan barcodes on stuff you eat and it will add i to your daily calories consumed.

Good luck!

[lestat85]

I use an app called calorie count. It has a barcode scanner as well, but it never works (maybe no Canada barcode support, I don't know).

[lestat85]

Hoping this looks a lot better. Thank you guys for all the advice so far. Please give me some feedback on today's diet, so I can make sure it's on the right track.

Pre and post workout - protein shake (1 scoop protein and 1/4cup oats) -> I know this is not the best, but is the easiest for me, as I'm out of the house very early

Meal 1 - 7oz pork chop, 1/2 cup rice and 1/2 cup mixed veg

Meal 2 - 6oz chicken, 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup mixed veg

Meal 3 is planned as 4 eggs an 1/2 cup oatmeal

I feel I should have 1 more meal today, but don't think I'll have enough time. I'll add another meal tomorrow very similar to meal 1&2.

I've really had to force myself to eat today, a I have felt absolutely no hunger at all. I'm not sure if this is the EC stack or the heat (35C/95F)

Again, thank you guys for all the advice so far, I hope this looks a lot better.

[lestat85]

Any advice? Is this on the right track?

[lestat85]

Today's diet is:

Pre/post workout - 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats

Meal 1 - 5oz sirloin, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 2 - 6oz chicken, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 3 - same as meal 1

Meal 4 - haddock, 1 cup mixed veg

Any feedback is really appreciated.

[dogtags]

Looks good so far, how many calories?

Where are the eggs? :P

[dogtags]

I would also adding some fats to your diet, avocado, olive oil, flax etc. some will say about 43grams a day, more is fine, just adjust your macros. Heres what i have for today.

Meal 1: 4 Eggs(scrambled), 1 Cup Old fashioned Oats

Meal 2: Protein Shake w/2 tbsp Flax

Meal 3: 8 oz Sirloin Steak cooked in 1tbsp olive oil, 1 cup mixed vegitables, 1 cup brown rice

Meal 4: Protein Shake(should have added oats here but ran out) PWO

Meal 5: 6 oz Chicken Breast, 2 cups of steamed broccoli, 1 cup brown rice

Meal 6: Casein/whey protein shake, 1 tbsp flax


~2335 calories
79g fat (21 saturated)
175g carbs
225g protein
~2000mg of sodium(fuuuuuuuuuuuu...need to bring this down :P)

also did 45 mins of cardio fasted this morning, and one hell of a workout between meal 3 and 4

[lestat85]

Today's totals are:

Calories 2065 (was aiming for higher)
Protein 214g
Carbs 240g
Fat 27g (1g saturated)

I'd much rather start my days with eggs and oats, but I don't cook in the morning because I leave the house at 5:30 am and don't want to risk waking up my kids. I would have eggs for supper, haven't had fish in a while.

Thanks for the feedback.

[dogtags]

Make hard boiled eggs the night prior :P.

More Fats Definately. Gonna start
Feeling like crap with that low good fats. Fats are essential

[mockery]

there is no way hes hitting 200g protein on this. especially ur chicken is under 200g (7oz) a serve. when u buy food , keep copies of all teh nutrition info in a plastic ziplock for easy reference.

ur carbs are a bit iffy, u need 3/4 cooked rice minimum to = 1/2 uncooked nutrition value on back of teh bag.

look into your micros more

[lestat85]

These values are taken from an app called calorie count that I use to keep track of my foods. My protein shakes are 30g protein each, so 60g comes from there.

[dogtags]

All of my weights are done post-cooking

Perdue boneless skinless individually packaged chicken breasts cook down to 3oz, I eat 2 of em

[lestat85]

All of my weights are done post-cooking

Perdue boneless skinless individually packaged chicken breasts cook down to 3oz, I eat 2 of em

Thank you for the tip. I have always been of the understanding the weights were done pre-cooking. I'll keep this in mind when preparing my meals for the future. I don't notice this severe of shrinking in the meats I cook, but will certainly try to be more conscious of this.

[mockery]

ur missing the point that drinking 3-4 shakes a day will not help u.

never mind.

[lestat85]

ur missing the point that drinking 3-4 shakes a day will not help u.

never mind.

I have 2 shakes. One before and one after my workout. Other than that, everything comes from real food. If you look back at the beginning of this thread, you'll see that my diet is dramatically different from the start and most of my shakes have been cut out and replaced with more real food.
As I have explained, I take the morning shake, because I have very little time in the morning and do not want to chance waking up my kids at 5:30am by moving around and making more noise than I have to.
I realize this still needs some work and improving, that's why I am trying to keep this updated daily. I am trying to take everyone's advice. Not all suggestions can be implemented right away. Money just isn't there to be grocery shopping daily, when I don't have some of the foods suggested.

[sharmabrah]

Could some of the people in here possibly have a look at the thread I made called "my first proper bulking diet", I would appreciate it. I've done my research and calculated everything so any help would be great. No one has given me advice or helped me out as of yet, so completely left in the dark.

[dogtags]

ur missing the point that drinking 3-4 shakes a day will not help u.

never mind.

Bad information.

It will help you. Is it optimal? No.

That "I do it this way, so every other way is wrong" isn't so great.

[lestat85]

Today's diet as planned:

Meal 1 (Preworkout) - 4 eggs (hard boiled night before), 1/2 cup oatmeal

Post workout - protein shake (1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats)

Meal 2 - 8oz haddock, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 3 - 7oz sirloin, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 4 - 6oz chicken, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 5 - 6oz chicken, 1 cup mixed veg

Calories 2352
Protein 266
Carbs 216
Fats 46 (8 saturated)

All feedback is appreciated. I feel like this is a lot better than when I started this thread. Thank you to everyone who gave advice. Please let me know how this is looking and any other tips to continue improving on this.

[mockery]

Bad information.

It will help you. Is it optimal? No.

That "I do it this way, so every other way is wrong" isn't so great.

nutrients from "whole foods" , please don't mislead him saying that drinking 3-4 shakes is ok. it has nothing to do with what i do at all. Its common knowledge from members on this board that have the experience, Go ask Lyle McDonald about the topic of drinking that many shakes in a day instead of eating properly.

[mockery]

Today's diet as planned:

Meal 1 (Preworkout) - 4 eggs (hard boiled night before), 1/2 cup oatmeal

Post workout - protein shake (1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats)

Meal 2 - 8oz haddock, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 3 - 7oz sirloin, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 4 - 6oz chicken, 1 cup mixed veg

Meal 5 - 6oz chicken, 1 cup mixed veg

Calories 2352
Protein 266
Carbs 216
Fats 46 (8 saturated)

All feedback is appreciated. I feel like this is a lot better than when I started this thread. Thank you to everyone who gave advice. Please let me know how this is looking and any other tips to continue improving on this.

*still say your rice has to be 3/4 cup - 1 cup per serve cooked.

** dont use an app to count your calories, read the values on the actual product them selves.

how many carbs does your shake have? i dont see you being at this many carbs with this diet

[dogtags]

*still say your rice has to be 3/4 cup - 1 cup per serve cooked.

** dont use an app to count your calories, read the values on the actual product them selves.

how many carbs does your shake have? i dont see you being at this many carbs with this diet

What he's saying, and is valid, is that the app he uses scans the barcode and actually uses the nutritional information on the label and you can adjust portions on it if need be..

[lestat85]

*still say your rice has to be 3/4 cup - 1 cup per serve cooked.

** dont use an app to count your calories, read the values on the actual product them selves.

how many carbs does your shake have? i dont see you being at this many carbs with this diet

The shake has 1g from the powder and 14g from the oats.

The rice is 1/2 cup before its cooked. I keep the portion smaller because it's white rice. I know brown would be better, but my kids won't eat it and it gets to be too expensive buying everything twice so I can have brown and still get them to eat it.

I must respectably disagree about the app, as it has many brands preprogrammed as well as the option to custom enter food that's not listed.

I am aware that too many shakes is not good and, as mentioned, I have cut many shakes out of my diet.

Thank you for the advice.

[mockery]

I amtrying to be helpful here, and i really don't care what you think dogtags, apps have errors all the time, physically write this shit down and record it, learn it and understand it.

post the micros break down for each meal , i can be very much wrong in terms of your carbs but they still look way under what you wrote as the daily intake of carbs. looking at this i see no more then 170-180carbs unless yoru veggies are 1 cup carrots then im sure the sugars are a lot higher then green fibrous veggies even with the white rice over brown. and is your oatmeal real oatmeal or instant packed with sugar?

[lestat85]

I amtrying to be helpful here, and i really don't care what you think dogtags, apps have errors all the time, physically write this shit down and record it, learn it and understand it.

post the micros break down for each meal , i can be very much wrong in terms of your carbs but they still look way under what you wrote as the daily intake of carbs. looking at this i see no more then 170-180carbs unless yoru veggies are 1 cup carrots then im sure the sugars are a lot higher then green fibrous veggies even with the white rice over brown. and is your oatmeal real oatmeal or instant packed with sugar?

I appreciate the advice and thank you for it. If I knew everything, I wouldn't have needed to make this thread.
I don't have the full breakdowns off the product labels at the moment. I'll try to remember to post them later.
The veggies are frozen mixed veggies with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. The oatmeal is quick oats. I know there is better options, but it's what I have right now. I have completely cut out the instant oatmeal I was using, however the packages showed a very low sugar content (0 on the regular instant from presidents choice).

[dogtags]

I amtrying to be helpful here, and i really don't care what you think dogtags, apps have errors all the time, physically write this shit down and record it, learn it and understand it.

post the micros break down for each meal , i can be very much wrong in terms of your carbs but they still look way under what you wrote as the daily intake of carbs. looking at this i see no more then 170-180carbs unless yoru veggies are 1 cup carrots then im sure the sugars are a lot higher then green fibrous veggies even with the white rice over brown. and is your oatmeal real oatmeal or instant packed with sugar?

That's what I'm talking about. I read of people about you that said calculators were not accurate when they came out, so they stuck to pen and paper. I'm sure they enjoyed a lifetime of bagging groceries.

I've been weighing things, counting calories etc long enough to be able to understand rouge what's in 6 oz of chicken etc. as far as the ap goes, don't be a dinosaur, it's been around a WHILE, and is accurate. I have compared it manually before and guess what, no errors.

You can continue to use a bean-counter, but don't tell someone using apps is wrong because you think they were inaccurate. If you used the one he is using and had errors I would opt to say it was human error.

Your advice is valued, but people stop listening when you get idealistic and pushy.

[mockery]

if hes coming up short on micros , wouldn't he want to know?

[dogtags]

if hes coming up short on micros , wouldn't he want to know?

It'll take all the nutritional data of what he inputs and show him totals for his protein/carbs/fats(even saturated). I'll post a picture when I get home.

[dogtags]

Also, some great instant oatmeal(if you must) is Active Lifestyle Oatmeal