Diet critique

[Mrharoto]

Hello all! Been a long to lurker on here, trying to learn as much as I can. Recently decided what I was doing hasn't been working for me this past year. So my diet would consist of five meals a day. Meal 4 will not be there everyday varies if I actually have protein powder.

stats
20yrs old
Weight 202
Bf% 16-20%
Lifting experience 4 years on and off.

Here they are:
Meal 1: 1/2 cup of oats, 2 whole eggs 1 egg white. 1 med banana

Meal 2: 8oz of chicken, 1 cup of broccoli raw

Meal 3 pre workout: 110g of whole wheat pasta with parkay spray butter and a varying amount of parmesan cheese.

Meal 4 pwo: 1/2 cup of oats shredded into a protein shake approx 40g of protein in protein powder.

Meal 5: 8oz of Talapia, 1 1/2 cup of lettuce and broccoli raw

Now my trouble is sticking with this for more than a few days. I try to add some small sweet snacks in to help; but I can never stick to the eating unless I'm taking a supplement or a protein powder. If anyone can help offer tips or tricks to keep the motivation to eat the same I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you all for your time!


Breakdown of all protein, carbs, and fats at the end of the day

[Back In Black]

Im a Bit lost with the attachment. Can you tell us the macro's you are aiming for and your actual goals?

Also 16-20% is a big difference! please take a better guesstimate based on this or post a pic



Motivation to eat the same meals all the time is seen in the mirror. But you don't have to. Just have foods and pre determined amounts that allow you interchange foods for each meals.

And why are you measuring in cups, oz's and grams?

[Mrharoto]

Sorry running on only a few hours of sleep.

Goals: weight loss
Macros: was trying the 40/40/20 but I was thinking closer to 50/35/15. However I am limited to financial restrictions to being in college. The attachment is the total of the diet I laid out. I think my TDEE is around 2562 and the total of the diet was 2092.

Bf%: is a bit harder, I can see two to almost four abs depending on what I eat. But if I were to guess it would be 18%

And the measurement is really just out of habit when it came to veggies and carbs and proteins I had always measured in ounces. No clue, but I can track it better for some reason.

[Back In Black]

I guess you haven't tried to eat at maintenance to work out what it is?

How many times a week do you lift/do cardio?

Id guess you are probably estimating under your actual maintenance calories but I'd steer clear of actual exact splits if I were you. I'd look at 1.2-1.5g protein per lb LBM and about 0.4-0.5g fat per lb LBM. The rest of your cals can be made up of carbs.

[Mrharoto]

I think it has a lot to do with my insomnia and family stress here recently. But more so to do with the lack of sleep.

As far as working out goes its about four to five days a week and playing racquetball on my off days for an hour to two hours a day.

even though my lbm is 169.6 pounds at 1.5g of protein is only 254g of protein a day. 202g of carbs a day. 76g of fats a day. My calorie breakdown would be:

P: 1016 cals
C: 808 cals
F: 684 cals
Total:2499 cals a day I would need based on the estimate of 1.5g of protein, 1g of carbs, and .9 of fats pear pound of lean body mass.

If I were to do cardio at least three times a week would it suffice if each session I burned 300 calories each time.

So new to this so please forgive me if I confuse any of you.

[Back In Black]

If I were you I would try and find out somewhere close to your maintenance calories first. I suspect you might even lose weight with this but I would start with

Pro 240g
Carbs 225g
Fat 60-70g

See what happens to your weigh/composition after a couple of weeks and make changes if necessary. If you aren't losing you can either up your cardio or drop some cals from carbs. Or a little of both. Try and keep your weight loss to around 1-1.5lb a week to try and ensure you maintain as much LBM as you can.

[Mrharoto]

Thanks for your help! I will definitely try that and let you know how it's going. If I knew how or could boost your rep power I would but sadly I do not. Thanks again.

[Back In Black]

Thanks for your help! I will definitely try that and let you know how it's going. If I knew how or could boost your rep power I would but sadly I do not. Thanks again.

I don't need boosting, I'm already a Mod

Nap buddy, please come back and let me know so we can make any relevant adjustments to keep you progressing

[Mrharoto]

Ha oh okay, still haven't figured everything out on the site yet.

I sure will, I feel better about since I posted made it seem more realistic since I was able to talk to someone about it.