43 Year Old - Help Cutting from 20% BF to 15% - Please Review Diet

[Input55]

I’ve read a lot on this forum and this is my first post here.

Current Stats: 6’, 221 lbs, 43 yo, have a desk job. On TRT. 100 mG/week (split 3 doses) which puts my free test near the top of the range.

My goal is to live in the 12-15% body fat range. Set goal 6 months ago and have made progress but it’s taking a long time, I’m losing too much lean mass and not converging on my goal.

Hydrostatic body fat test history:
Baseline Test
5/19/15 – 242 lbs, 188.2 lean mass, 54.2 lbs fat, 22.4% fat

4 months of no special diet. Normally ate 2300 calories a day per My Fitness pal.
9/8/15 – 241.1 lbs, 189.75 lean mass, 51.354 lbs fat, 21.3% fat

4 months of cutting calories down to 1800/day. Paid little attention to micro nutrients but protein was normally 100 grams/day.
1/6/16 – 227 lbs, 182 lean mass, 45.05 lbs fat, 19.9% fat.

So last test, I lost 14 lbs but lost only 1.4% body fat. Lost way too much lean mass.
I figured that my protein intake was too low so made the following changes:

Non-workout days – goal of 1800 calories/day, Actuals from last week carbs/fat/protein 29%/29%/44% or 126/56/193 grams. Total calories per non-workout day = 1750.

Workout Days – Goal of 2200 calories/day. Same as above but with more carbs around workout. Actuals from last week carbs/fat/protein: 37%/19%/40% or 198/45/213 grams. Total calories per workout day = 2126.

Here’s an example of a workout day:
Pre-Workout: 1 Cup life cereal with 1 cup 2% milk, 335 calories, 46/7/12 carbs/fat/protein

Drive home from gym: Whey Protein – 54 grams protein, 240 calories, 6/5/54 carbs/fat/protein
Post Workout: 1 Cup life cereal with 1 cut 2% milk, 335 calories, 46/7/12 carbs/fat/protein

Lunch: Roast beef with provolone cheese: 520 calories 4/11/42 carbs/fat/protein

Snack: Greek yogurt and 1 cup berries: 350 calories 37/1/49 carbs/fat/protein

Dinner: 2% cottage cheese (1 cup) and 1 cup berries: 250 calories 29/6/23 carbs/fat/protein

Late Night Snack: Casein Protein, 120 calories, 3/1/24 carbs/fat/protein

Non-workout day is basically the same but replacing the cereal and milk with 10 egg whites and 1 oz cheese.

I workout 3-4 days per week. Cardio only for warm up due to time (~15 minutes). After that weights.

I was very disappointed when my 14 lbs weight loss resulted in barely below 20% body fat. Please comment if you think I’m on the right path or if there is something to modify. I’m down another 6 lbs from my last body fat test on January 6th. I’ll retest in a month or so and I don’t want to continue to loose lean mass.

[MIKE_XXL]

Glad to hear you are on a path to healthier life. Good job and starting point.
For one i feel you use to much milk.
Snack, how do you get 49gm of protein from cottage cheese, it looks like you would have to eat a ton of it. and that comes with carbs and fat.
I lke no carbs for breakfast to stay in a fat burning zone upon wakening.
I am not huge on roast beef for fat lose, i like cleaner sources of protein.
Your cardio should be HIIT and weights should be intense, with perhaps some circuit training to supplement your fat burning efforts.

[MIKE_XXL]

Also should implement come anti-catabolic supplements such l-glutamine, BCAA, EAA, creatine, CLA etc.

[SlimmerMe]

Welcome. Try a few baby steps. Instead of 2% milk, go 1% then 0%. Instead of 2% cottage cheese, go 1%. instead of roast beef, maybe steak or fish or chicken.

And what kind of berries are these berries? Strawberries? Raspberries? Blueberries? What?

And perhaps start a daily log. It will help you reach your goals sooner than later. I'll wage my bets on that.

SM

[Input55]

Thanks for the feedback. I recently switched from oatmeal to cold cerial and milk. I felt the oatmeal didn't give me enough energy before my workout. I could switch back or maybe just do cerial without milk.

The yogurt is 2 cups fat free so 20/0/48 carbs/fat/protien. 2 cups is alot.

My main morning carbs are on workout days as i hit the gym before work. Non workout days I'll have egg white with 1 oz cheese and half a canalope which has 23 grams carbs. Would you recommend that I cut both workout and non workout days down?

Thanks for the roast beef comment. I've been rotating between chicken, turkey, roast beef, and lean ham. I can drop the roast beef from the rotation.

[Input55]

I didn't mention that I'm a supplement junky. I take most of the stuff that webmd says is likely to aid in weight loss. Going from memory: creatine, omega 3, fish oil, green tea extract, cla, ala, c, d, e, multi, coq10, and about 10 more. Fish oil and omega 3 seem to lower my appetite which is great.

I just put some bcaa and eaa in my amazon cart - will add them in the mix. I got the powder version to start. I have some l-glutamine but haven't taken it in a while. I'll mix it in my post workout shake.

Great feedback!

[Input55]

The berries are the frozen triple berry mix -Raspberry, Blueberry, Marionberry (Blackberry). I already log everything in myfitnesspal app. It might be beneficial to post it.

[t.m.s.flyers88]

Hey buddy. first off congrats on your progress. I'm turning 41(where did the last 20 years go?)next month and a little smaller than you 5'9" 205. I'm mostly an endomorph so I know about stubborn body fat. Anyway, I like your diet, but would possibly implement a few healthier choices. First I would go back to oatmeal. I use my Keurig machine with one cup of oatmeal, add some no sugar syrup and cinnamon. Great source of carbs and fiber and cuts out the processed cereal and milk. You could always add some skim milk to cream it up a bit. Also I read you feel less energy, I have an apple or half an orange and some black tea in the morning just a thought..
I agree that roast beef is probably not the best protein source for fat loss. I use a 4 oz chix. breast. If you don't have prep time, I would recommend pre cooking and storing a few days worth. Zap it a few seconds and bang good lean protein. If you follow the circulars, you can find family packs around two bucks a pound. I cut them into 4 oz. portions cook some and store some. Last I see a lot of dairy, I love my no fat Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. I only use a tablespoon of each maybe mix it up with powdered peanut butter and slice up an apple and dip it in: pretty tasty treat IMHO..
Props on your organization, note taking, and your plan. Documenting everything really helps. My fitness pal app is an awesome tool. Also for your gradual fat loss. Unfortunately fat and muscle take time and alot of effort to cut and gain. You are doing really well..

[Input55]

Thanks for the feedback. Good call on the chicken! I used to do something similar in collage and it was great as long as you don’t dry it out. I guess that I just forgot about it. I added chicken back in this week and it’s great. Chicken and some beans really satisfy the appetite. Also, plain chicken in the crock pot allows you to control the salt. I was getting really sick of the overly salty sandwich meat.
I read up on the dairy via Google – I agree that I was relying a little too heavily on it. My assumption is that the dairy isn’t a problem as long as I can hit my macro goals. That being said, both yogurt and cottage cheese are not exactly solid food (like chicken breast). Solid food seems better for my appetite.

[Input55]

I hate reading threads without a conclusion so here’s an update. Thanks all for your suggestions. By implementing the suggested changes I seem to have control over my body. Overall I lost 27.5 lbs of fat while staying within a pound of my lean mass (~188 lbs) which puts me at 12.5% body fat. It took about 9 months. My cardio endurance is through the roof now and overall much healthier and better energy. With the lower bodyfat I was able to drop Adex from my TRT protocol while still keeping estrogen in the high 20’s.

My basic meal plan that I follow now is below. I have my base meals that I eat most every day and mix in other food to change it up. If I want to lose more I keep it strict and keep additions to lean protein.

Base Meals:
Breakfast: ¾ Cut Oatmeal, 1 TBL Chi Seeds, 10 Egg Whites, 2 Oz Avocado

Snack: Greek yogurt and 1 cup berries: 350 calories 37/1/49 carbs/fat/protein

Lunch: 8 Oz Rotisserie Chick Breast. 4 Oz Brown Rice

Snack: Greek yogurt and 1 cup berries: 350 calories 37/1/49 carbs/fat/protein

Dinner: 8 Oz Turkey Burger.

I mix other food in depending on what is going on. i.e. when at a restaurant I’ll get a double chicken Cesar salad with the dressing on the side.

Normally have an apple or granola bar pre workout and Whey Protein post workout.

[SlimmerMe]

....By implementing the suggested changes I seem to have control over my body.

Wonderful to hear.

[BeeStung]

Good afternoon,
I'm 23 and I'm 5'6 @ 180lbs (down from 200 from about 6 months ago). I hop on every now and then to see if I can find some answers to questions that either I come up with or answers that I can't provide to others. I'm thankful that I came across your thread because I can't help but feel like I've learned something. Knowing that it only took 9 months to drop the body fat you wanted is so inspiring. I would almost recommend that you put some before and after pictures on up here. I'm currently in the same situation where I'm around 20% BF and would like to be at or below 15%.

[Marsoc]

As long as your burning more fuel then ur putting in there should be no reason not to lose weight. The key is preserving muscle mass so you have some actualy form after you lose all that weight. Keep carbs to only before and after workouts. Only protein in the mornings to stay lean and up your healthy fat intake since fat is more efficient fuel source then carbs. So the less carbs you have the more fat you burn and the healthy fat you intake will burn more efficiently therefor burning more fat. I know people,that compete and when it's cutting phase they actually have like 70% of their totally caloric intake from healthy fats. Beyond that. Do HIIT like my guy above said. Do super sets or drop sets etc. (no rest Inbetween moves) and that will be one set. Little rest Inbetween Sets (30seconds). Look up drop sets or super sets.. I personally like triple super sets.