Looking for some diet advice...

[AnEnigma]

Hello all,

Appologies in advance - this is going to be long. Bear with me, it's my first post.

I am looking for some advice, but just for the background...here's my story. After letting myself go for quite some time, I started back at the gym last December. I am just over 6'1, and weighed about 215 lbs..I am 28 years old. I am guessing that I am around 15-16% bf right now, but that is just an educated guess. I was in some pretty bad shape a few months back. Over the last few months, I've worked my way down to about 185 lbs...and MUCH better shape overall. (On my first workout, running a mile felt like it was going to kill me. Progress is great!) I still have a little bit of extra flab around the midsection that needs to go (I have bad genetics for flab on the sides, etc.)...and I from what I read, getting the nice flat stomach is mostly a matter of diet. Once I get to where I am fairly lean, I'll start back with trying to add bulk (bulking is easier than losing with my metabolism, so leaning out should hopefully be the harder part.) My weight loss and changes seem to have plateaued right now...so I am looking to change things up now. It's really needed anyways, from what I have read.

My diet over the last few months has been very low calorie, with a hard workout 3x a week. I alternate between legs/back/bicep and chest/shoulder/tricep along with a little cardio each night. Generally around 20 minutes, occasionally over 30. My workouts tend to be later in the evening...I go from as early as 8:30 PM and leave as late as 11 PM, so I am often unsure about what I should be eating post-workout. Carbs, or not...it's post workout, but also not long before it's time to sleep.

A typical day for me has been something like this - I have been doing some reading, and I KNOW this isn't very good, which is why I am hitting you all up for some advice!

Breakfast - pack of oatmeal.
Lunch - 6 inch chicken breast sub on wheat from Subway (There is one within walking distance of my job.)
Dinner - either a chicken breast or piece of salmon with about 2 cups of veggies. Sometimes a hardboiled egg as a snack while I am cooking.
Evening Snack - usually some low fat cottage cheese with flax oil and a little fruit or apple butter to mask the taste.

I'd occasionally sneak a small piece of dark chocolate or two in there while at work, but that only has been a regular thing in the last week or two. Saturday I'd cheat a little, but nothing extreme.

I know this doesn't sound like much, but I am not sure how many calories I burn, especially during my non-workout days. My job is very sedentary (I sit at a computer all day), and unfortunately, in the winter time especially, my home life isn't too active either.

I've been doing some reading of old posts on here lately looking for ideas, and I always seem to feel a little more confused than when I started. I know that I need some major changes, but change to what? ANPB? Something more balanced? I have some pretty good willpower about all of this, and I am willing to work hard at it...I just could really use some good advice from someone knowledgable on how I can drop the rest of the fat (just till the abs are showing...no need to be more extreme than that in the short term), and later, pack on some more LBM.

I have alot of good food around here, and I know where to get most of the things I have read about. (Flax oil, ANPB, good organic oatmeal, egg beaters, whey isolate, etc. ) I know the sandwich from Subway is less than ideal (their wheat bread isn't whole wheat, for starters...it's the painted molases crap), so I am probably going to start packing lunches again soon. I just basically need to know what to eat, how much, and when. I am going with the assumption that I should change to a 6 small meal per day diet plan.

I am also increasing my running to 4 days per week instead of just 3...I am going to do a 4th day with a longer duration and higher intensity than my regular days.

Breakfast - 7:30 AM
Pack of oatmeal
(How can I add a little protein here? A little whey? Hardboiled egg w/o yolk?)

Mid Morning Snack - 9:45 AM
Small Protein Shake?

Lunch - 12:00
I do need some advice here since I have just been doing the subway thing every day at work. Chicken Breast and Salad? Sandwich on whole wheat?

Mid Day Snack - 3:00 PM
Small Protein Shake?

Dinner - 6:30 PM
Chicken Breast or Salmon
2 cups vegetables

Workout: 9 PM - most workouts are around this time. 3 nights per week right now.

Evening Snack 11:30 (This will be post workout 3 days per week.)
Cottage Cheese? Can of tuna? Protein shake? What is going to be the best in this situation? I know I should probably have some carbs post workout, but it's so close to my bedtime...

Can someone give me some advice on filling in these blanks? I just need to know some things that would be good in which time slots, and how much I should give myself. I think I should run at a little deficit right now, but not nearly as much as I have been (way too much!)...just to finish dropping this bodyfat until I can see my abs again.

I really appriciate anyone taking the time to give me some help...many thanks in advance.

Jeremy

 

[Omegasox]

I'm currently tweaking my diet as well, but here's the basic layout I'm working with, and I weigh 192 so we're shooting for typically the same amount of calories. I'm sure you'll get more information, but here's a basic idea of what it may look like.

10am
-1/2 Cup of Oats
-1/2 Cup of Natural Applesauce
-1 Whole Egg, 4 Egg Whites

2pm
-5 Slices of Turkey
-High Fiber Wheat Wrap
-1 Tbsp of Hummus

4:30pm
-6 oz Chicken breast
-6 large stalks of asparagus
-Tsp A1

-----Workout------

6pm
-2 srv Whey Protein in Water
-50g Dextrose

8:30pm
-Tuna
-Black Beans
-Hot Sauce

11:00pm
-Tuna
-Hot Sauce
-1/4 Cup Cottage Cheese
-Tbsp Flax Oil

Remember to drink lots of water. 1 to 1 1/2 gallons a day. www.fitday.com is a great site to monitor your caloric intake as well as your PFC %. Good luck with the diet.

 

[pintoca]

I will give you a couple of pointers:

1. Eat more: You have to eat more calories and you have to eat more meals: About 5-6 times/day (every 3 hours is optimal). You don't want to increase cals all of a sudden, since you have been on a very restrictive diet, this has to be done gradually.

2. Don't be afraid of good fats: I see you already have Flax in your diet. Good start.

3. Stay away from biased diets (My VERY personal opinion): A balanced diet, one that includes all three Macronutrients, is easier to follow than a hardcore (CKD; ANPB, etc) diet

4: As mentioned already, DRINK lots of water: about 1.5 all the way to 2 gallons per day.

5. If we go on the assumption you are about 18% BF (looks are deceiving), you should go with some 2300 cals on low carb days and about 2800 on high carb days. (give this calculator a try, it might be worthy: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=374938 )

My diet is also posted here, for you it will be a little too low. You need to add some 200 cals/day to work for you (a little bit more of chicken or an extra tbsp of flax oil will do that).

The diet is here:

http://www.ccfiles.de/ef/Pintoca_CTSApr05_Diet_v1.0.jpg

you have to adjust your training program to match the diet....

As for your cardio, you may need to increas that to 4-5 times/week to 45 min. If you don't have a heart rate monitor, it is a good idea to get one. Training at 75 - 80% MHR has worked wonders for me.

All in all, there are tons of things that can be discussed, but give yourself some time toput together a new diet and training plan, repost it here and then we can go from that point.

Pintoca

 

[AnEnigma]

I really appriciate the input from both of you thus far. Sorry it's taken me so long to update things here...my job is keeping life a bit hectic these days. Between that and actually going to the gym, my free time is hard to come by.

I think I am going to go with a balanced and calculated diet like pintoca recommended...I've started to get myself organized to really plan it out. I am going to lay things out on a spreadsheet so that I can tweak it and keep my calculations accurate.

I did find something interesting though, for those of you who might want to try something similar - there are diet sites out there that have nutritional information for various foods, BUT you'd be much better off just doing the research and hand entering your own data off the actual product labels. The generic entry that one diet website gave for whole wheat bread was off by more than 50 calories per slice versus what the label on my whole wheat bread lists. Just an FYI if anyone else out there is doing something like this.

Between Flax seed oil and natural peanut butter (natty pb is a good snack on whole wheat, btw.), I think I should have my fats pretty well taken care of.

I am currently drinking a little over a gallon per day in water...might try to aim a little higher on that. What is everyone's take on the zero calorie artificially sweetened carbonated drinks they sell? They are usually sweetened with aspartame, but the things actually taste really good considering there are no calories. Kind of addictive.

I've also upped the cardio to 40-45 minutes...I am going to try to do it 4 times per week, but I should be able to get at least 3 times done.

I'll post an update here in the not too distant future...just have to free up some time to put a proper diet together to post.

 

[pintoca]

good to hear you are on your way Bro... you will see results in no time.I have seen people change a lot with only minimal changes in their lifestyle.