30 WEEKS OF CUTTING - What is wrong with me?

[FromFleshtoSteel]

no need for the clen quite yet corey

just have to get your diet in check and really stay strict. I can't say I agree with the 3-4 meals a day, skipping dinner occasionally, but different strokes for different folks I guess. In my personal experience, when I cut back my intake that much I either eat very large meals 2-3x per day (typical american diet) and I feel like crap or I don't eat enough and feel like crap. Either way, I lost muscle mass and did not get good results. Eating 5-6 times per day, while a pain in the ass, allows you to precisely time your nutrient intake specific to your activity level and specific demands. i.e. pre and post workout nutrition

usualsuspect: nothing against your ideas...you seem to have very well formulated arguments and a good amount of experience, but I think that for the novice dieter, a streamlined and specific approach helps because it is easier to follow. It takes more discipline and a better understanding of nutritional foundations to be able to make wise choices based around a freely floating meal schedule. I am sure once he plays around a bit and begins to understand his body and how food effects it, he will become more comfortable making subsitutes on the fly and following his own plan.

[CoreyTampa09]

hey guys maybe this can solve my biggest problem at the moment. Considering most of my protein comes from egg whites and the remainder whey for pre-work and PWO i feel full bloated and down right disgusting for the entire day. its almost strange my stomach is so oval and hard it almost looks like its pregnabt but not all soft from fat. Do you think by taking beano (im pretty sure its a digestive enzyme) would help me break down alot of my food that is giving me this problem and discomfort?

[FromFleshtoSteel]

i don't know but egg whites always give me wicked gas so I usually don't eat them too often. are you lactose intolerant? maybe the whey is causing bloat? have you ever tried whey isolate?

[CoreyTampa09]

Well egg whites is pretty much the only clean source of protein at my school i can obtain. There is turkey and ham but I dont know the grade and the sodium for 30grams of protein would be astronomical. The protein I currently take is On's Whey and occasionally Cytogainer for PWO twice a week.Im not lactose intolerant, I drink milk eat cheese and scarf down cottage cheese(no salt added). Which brand of isolate would you reccomend for quality and price. As im learning more and more in nutrition im starting to be able to put two and two together on alot of things, especially beano for this case.

[IBdmfkr]

Corey, seems your body has hit a plateau. First if you are doing the same thing day-in and day-out your body will adapt to that and the progess will come to a halt. This being said, you want to constantly change meals/macros/meal frequency etc as USuspect suggested..
Do I suggest 3meals/day, personally No I don't but it may be what your body responds to. For myself and my metabolism I would turn catabolic very quickly and my bloodsugar levels wouldn't remain constant throughout the day. Others take longer to process/utilize nutrients and distribute carbs/fats/protein so this approach might work wonders. Obviously after over 6months of this diet you should've realized something isn't working and changed it.. At this point I'd suggest scrapping everything and boosting calories for a few weeks to regain control of your metabolism, then when you decide to go back into dieting to lose fat you want to pick and choose your meal choices more wisely and give yourself a wider variety of foods and nutrients.
Pretty basic stuff but you deff need to change what you've been doing as it's getting you nowhere.

[CoreyTampa09]

Well what do you suggest as im 186,5'11, 14-16% bf with traces of bf on lovehandles lower but and lower back. My only options as healthy food on campus is egg whites, oatmeal and B grade deli meats. What do you suggest at total cals and macro split to compliment my training routine?

[IBdmfkr]

Well what do you suggest as im 186,5'11, 14-16% bf with traces of bf on lovehandles lower but and lower back. My only options as healthy food on campus is egg whites, oatmeal and B grade deli meats. What do you suggest at total cals and macro split to compliment my training routine?

At this point your metabolic rate is screwed up or slowed quite a bit IMO because of your constant dieting and staying calorie deficient.. Also as I said before, if they only offer certain foods then bring your own.. How bad do you want this? Very simple to pack meals, if you can't do that then don't plan on making progress..

As far as how many calories you should consume, it's not quite that simple. You must figure out your bodies maintainance first and then adjust it accordingly.. Start by cleaning up your meals, giving yourself more selection in your meal for added nutrients which you're obviously lacking and take a step back and remotivate yourself to achieve your goals..
I lost over 20lbs of fat Precontest within 8wks.. No reason why you should be spending 30wks to do what you're doing.

[CoreyTampa09]

Its not a matter of pre-packing, I like on campus and can utilize the all-you-eat cafeteria as many times a day as I want. Im saying the only source of clean carbs I can get is Oatmeal. Sweet potatoes are out considering they dont offer them and I dont have a stove or anything in my dorm. I Thought I ate relatively clean calories from my oatmeal,eggs,natural peanutbutter and occasional chicken breast. Do you suggest me to eat whatever for a week at maintence of around 3000 cals to restart my metab and then drop back down to 2,200 a day or what.

Also the bloating is killing me from the egg whites. I Take sugar-free metamucil 2-3 times a day with my 3 serving of oatmeal which puts me in the 30-40g fiber range.

Eggs consitute as 120 grams of my protein for the day while the other 80 is from pre and post workout.
My carbs right now constite of 120 from oatmeal and 30 from fruit which is utilizes 1/2 in pre and 1/2 in post workout.
My fats are from natural peanut butter,cottage cheese and a slice or 2 of swiss cheese. I need to pick up flax when I get some cash.

Utilizing 7 meals a day in this fashion would put me at 2,100 cals for the day when I begin to cut again:
1)30pro 30carb
2)30pro 30carb
Workout
3)50 pro 80 carb
4) 30 pro 30 carb
5)30 pro 15 fat
6) 30 pro 15 fat
7 30 pro 15 fat.

Again this is all from the foods I listed I can utilize. The only reason why I eat all the eggs is because there always available and I figured much better than shakes. Is there any place online where I can buy insane amts of bulk tuna,chicken or salmon. I mean 79 cents a can is just to pricey when Id need 2 cans a day to make up for eggs. 14 dollars a week for tuna is just something I cant afford at the moment. Cottage cheese at 1.50 for a serving of 4 is also something that gets pricey but I make 2 containers last a week. And natural PB at 4.00 lasts me a good 2 weeks.

Anything you guys can think of whether its restarting my metab, continuing with what im doing or changing everything entirely would help. I wish I had pictures to post for you to see where I can use improvement. At times it just feels my strength doesnt match up to my size.

[IBdmfkr]

I suggest you hire a dietician.. if that's not within your finances then I suggest you research more on a bodybuilders diet as it will fall right within your goals it seems.

You totally missed my point about packing your food, you can't weigh your portions at the cafeteria, nor can you control what they are adding into the food for flavoring etc. Ever heard of precooking food? Even yams can be cooked and then stored. BB'ing isn't a cheap sport, nor is eating a healthy diet.. but from all the money you've wasted on supplements and fat burners from your first post you could've utilized the money towards good foods etc.. Plus you're wasting money on the marked up prices of food at the cafeteria everyday. Seems like you make excuses more than the appropriate time and effort to do the correct things.

Goodluck Corey.

[CoreyTampa09]

I dont think your getting my point though. Cafeteria is included in tuition. I only eat the things I can count and weigh out in the cafe (1 hardboiled egg 4 grams of proteinx8=32 or 1 slice of turkey or 1 slice of swiss) I believe my diet does follow the body building sticky atop with the cutting. Just my food choice are that expandable. If anyone else can also chime in if what im doing is completely inhibiting any gains and fat loss please to so.

[usualsuspect]

IB said everything that needs to be said here.