How do you keep your diet on track?

[Tomer]

I have been logging on to fitday, entering what I eat.. but I always seem to come up with too many calories. I thought it was 12-14 tmes body weight.. but if I want to LOSE fat, does the 12-14 Xbodyweight still count, or is that to maintain weight

I'm 5'1, 120 pounds, 29 years old.

I run Interval training 4 mornings a week( generally about 1/2 hour)

I lift weights heavy ( well heavy for me.. ha ha!) generally 4 times a week(right now am on a 4x8 program)

1. legs
2.bi/tri
3.back/shoulder
4.abs/chest


My diet is as follows

6:30 oatmeal(half a cup precooked) 3 sliced strawberries and have added 2-3 egg whites( also have a cup of green tea, every couple of days black coffee with milk or black tea with milk)

9:00 about15-20 almonds, 1/4 cup 1%cottage cheese

11:45ish chicken breast(medium.. lightly cooked in canola or oilive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, pepper) cup of broccoli( or similar green veggies, eg spinach) one potato( boiled ) added light salt or seasoning

2:30ish same as above

(now here I should be eating something to give me energy for the gym but am way to full and feel bloated ... I feel the food at the gym from this 2:30 meal)

gym /weights
(between 4:30 and 6:30)

I am starting to eat an eggwhite asap after weights

I get home about 8:00... I usually eat something then too.. this is probably where I have problems..(it varies what I eat). is it becuase I don't eat enough fats.. and this is why i'm hungry late at night and probably eat too many carbs with my evening meal

which is usually chicken or fish with veggies ( mix) and sometimes noodles/rice potato.

this is monday - friday.. I eat on sat and sunday... am trying to keep it to ONE cheat meal...


I take a multi vitamin, green tea cap, vit d, and flax seed oil mon-fri morning. I'm also on yasmin birth control.

I try and drink as much water throughout the day

How can I stop the bad cheats, the eating carbs late at night ?(i'm always too hungry!) ? feeling too full

then it seems we are being told i'm not eating enough..if I add more food then when I add all my calories in to fitday there is more than the 12-14 times bodyweight

I do want to.. just looking for some tips... or what i'm doing wrong...i'm tired of my fatness

sorry for the long post!

 

[Roonytunes]

General consensus is that you eat 10-12 x bodyweight for cutting, aka losing body fat. I’d try to stay at the higher range of that in the beginning stages and remain there as long as you’re continuing to lose and look leaner.

I’ve struggled in the past too with trying to plan out 5-6 meals in the 1300-1500 cal range so I wanted to suggest you look at my log to see if that’s helpful. Currently, I’m doing a 40c/40p/20f ratio, but you can also dig up my 2005 log where I did other ratios with much less carbs. What I do in general is try to eat my complex carbs by mid-afternoon and save my fats for the evening. That seems to work well in keeping me full through the day and spreading my calories out somewhat evenly.

And if you haven’t already, you may want to check the “Getting Started” sticky on the top of this forum. There are other sample diets in there as well.

Ps – you also want to include a post-workout shake right after your weights workout instead of just egg whites.

 

[wlmcrae]

The ranges for calories for cutting are a guideline. If you are getting the results you want, then you are doing fine. If you aren't getting the results you want, figure out (a) what ARE you getting and then (b) what do you need to do to get where you want to go.

Using myself as an example, I weigh 136lbs x 12 = 1632 calories or 136lbs x 13 = 1768 calories. I cut well if I stay to about 1700-1800 calories, good workout regime and about 30:40:30 P/C/F macro split. You may have a different metabolism and need different macros and calorie levels. That is why we have logs and journals, why we track what we are doing and what the results are. One of the ladies has a great saying, "Insanity is continuing to do everything the same and expect a different result."

The possible calories 'zones' you could be in include:

- losing muscle, slight amt. fat = calories too low, you are in starvation mode
- losing fat, keeping muscle = calories in cutting zone (usually 15-20% below - maintenance or a max of 500 below maint, never below 1000 for a woman)
- no fat loss, no muscle loss = calories at maintenance
- slight fat gain, great muscle gain = calories 400-500 above maintenance, - called 'bulking'
- high fat gain/muscle gain = 'dirty bulk' or calories way above maintenance

Probably the best resource for all the calorie/nutrition/training info is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, an e-book by Tom Venuto. It is easy to find and for $35 bucks will pay you dividends in the years to come.

And keep going! - the only way to fail at this game, is TO QUIT!

 

[Tomer]

thanks.. I heard about that book ^^^.

I'm trying to lose fat, so I guess i'm cutting, even though its not for any particular event or competition..

maybe i've always just been used to eating so much thats why I feel hungry in the evenings.

I do find it very hard to keep the fat off..but fear if I cut the calories too much I will do, as you say, put myself in the danger of starvation mode..

Thanks for your comments!