Critique My Diet - Weight Loss

[skid_ofshame]

35yrs old
6'1
220lbs
21% BF

Other than the gym, my life is COMPLETELY sedentary. I sit at a desk all day and then sit on a couch all night. Weekends are equally sedentary, barring some play time with the kids (which doesn't involve much on account of their young age.)

TDEE says I should be around 2800cals for maintenance, but I bet it's more like 2500.

6am Breakfast:
- 1 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop protein, 1 small apple, 5 egg whites, 1 whole egg
- 2000mg fish oil, garlic, CoQ10, 1000IU Vit D

8am Smoothie (PWO):
- 1 banana, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1 cup spinach, 2 scoops protein, 1.5 cups almond milk (organic, sugar-free)

11am Lunch:
- 6oz Chicken Breast, 1 cup basmati rice, 1 cup frozen veggies (typically broccoli)
- 2000mg fish oil, 1000IU Vit D

2pm Snack:
- 2 scoops protein, 4 rice cakes, handful of nuts

5pm Supper:
- 6oz beef, 1 medium potato, handful of veggies
- 2000mg fish oil, garlic, 1000IU Vit D

8pm Snack (only if my wife is snacking):
- 1 scoop protein

MACROS:
Fats: 43.75 (18%)
Carbs: 206.5 (38%)
Protein: 243.5 (44%) (more, if you include the evening snack)
TOTAL: 2194 cals

Just started TRT and want to make the most of it. Hoping for a little re-comp. Training 4 days a week right now, but I need help there too:
https://forums.steroid.com/workout-t...ml#post7434311

[kelkel]

I'm not a diet guy but without question TRT (optimized hormones) can make a world of difference for you when it comes to making progress. Work hard and it will be a new you in 6 months.

[Windex]

35yrs old
6'1
220lbs
21% BF

Other than the gym, my life is COMPLETELY sedentary. I sit at a desk all day and then sit on a couch all night. Weekends are equally sedentary, barring some play time with the kids (which doesn't involve much on account of their young age.)

TDEE says I should be around 2800cals for maintenance, but I bet it's more like 2500.

6am Breakfast:
- 1 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop protein, 1 small apple, 5 egg whites, 1 whole egg
- 2000mg fish oil, garlic, CoQ10, 1000IU Vit D

8am Smoothie (PWO):
- 1 banana, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1 cup spinach, 2 scoops protein, 1.5 cups almond milk (organic, sugar-free)

11am Lunch:
- 6oz Chicken Breast, 1 cup basmati rice, 1 cup frozen veggies (typically broccoli)
- 2000mg fish oil, 1000IU Vit D

2pm Snack:
- 2 scoops protein, 4 rice cakes, handful of nuts

5pm Supper:
- 6oz beef, 1 medium potato, handful of veggies
- 2000mg fish oil, garlic, 1000IU Vit D

8pm Snack (only if my wife is snacking):
- 1 scoop protein

MACROS:
Fats: 43.75 (18%)
Carbs: 206.5 (38%)
Protein: 243.5 (44%) (more, if you include the evening snack)
TOTAL: 2194 cals

Just started TRT and want to make the most of it. Hoping for a little re-comp. Training 4 days a week right now, but I need help there too:
https://forums.steroid.com/workout-t...ml#post7434311

When your net calories is less than TDEE, your body goes out homeostasis which it doesn't like. One of the ways to fight this is from Ghrellin, the hunger hormone. Your body thinks it's smarter than you so it tries to tell you to eat more to get back to matainance.

With your meal plan, you have meals that are more or less empty calories that don't provide satiety (the feeling of being full).

Rice cakes and protein powder are empty calories and often leave a lot to be desired. I would at the very least replace it with real food. Depending on the density of your smoothie it may also be the case.

The second potential roadblock is a lot of your calories are coming from liquid between the smoothies, shakes and almond milk. When it comes time to add muscle and transition from cut/recomp to bulk, you may find yourself struggling to get food down as you've conditioned your body to drink calories.

Next, your fat intake is too low and not diversified. The 3 beneficial (ie not trans) types of fat are saturated, monounsatured, and polyunsaturated. You want atleast one source of each

I would also start around 60-70g if fat. Fat is useful for a lot of hormones and good cholesterol. It's also more calorically dense at 9calories per gram whereas carbs and protein are 4calories per gram.

Lastly you want to trim down on the protein powder. I personally believe it's a crutch and not needed even in the busiest of lifestyle. It's heavily processed to boot and completely devoid of nutrition beyond the protein content compared to meat.

[skid_ofshame]

Thanks for the responses!

When your net calories is less than TDEE, your body goes out homeostasis which it doesn't like.

I assumed I should be a little below maintenance. Should I be at maintenance instead?

With your meal plan, you have meals that are more or less empty calories that don't provide satiety (the feeling of being full).

Rice cakes and protein powder are empty calories and often leave a lot to be desired. I would at the very least replace it with real food. Depending on the density of your smoothie it may also be the case.

So far, I feel full all the time and pretty much have to force feed some of the food. Maybe that will change as I continue to train and my TRT gets dialed in better.

The second potential roadblock is a lot of your calories are coming from liquid between the smoothies, shakes and almond milk. When it comes time to add muscle and transition from cut/recomp to bulk, you may find yourself struggling to get food down as you've conditioned your body to drink calories.

Other than lunch, I don't have time to eat full meals during the day. Some of them will need to be liquid. The PWO smoothie absolutely needs to be a liquid meal.

Next, your fat intake is too low and not diversified. The 3 beneficial (ie not trans) types of fat are saturated, monounsatured, and polyunsaturated. You want atleast one source of each

I would also start around 60-70g if fat. Fat is useful for a lot of hormones and good cholesterol. It's also more calorically dense at 9calories per gram whereas carbs and protein are 4calories per gram.

Actually, I made an error in my calculation. I forgot to include the handful of nuts. That puts my fats upwards of 60g a day, total cals closer to 2300.

As far as it not being diversified enough, could you be more specific? I'm getting saturated fats from the eggs, beef, and chicken, monounsaturated from the nuts and almond milk, and polyunsaturated from the fish oils (Omega 3 in particular; high in EPA/DHA). What more should I be doing to diversify?

Lastly you want to trim down on the protein powder. I personally believe it's a crutch and not needed even in the busiest of lifestyle. It's heavily processed to boot and completely devoid of nutrition beyond the protein content compared to meat.

Not sure what else I could throw in there... I only have about 5 minutes to scarf something down (if that.) Suggestions?

[HoldMyBeer]

Be careful w "hand full of" stuff that are calorically dense (nuts in this case). The difference in 28g and 42g of nuts are hard to tell just by grabbing some from the container by hand, but 50% more nuts = 50% more calories = 20% of your daily calorie deficit. Weight it out or at least count the pieces.
Things like veges it's not really a big deal

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