What type of diet? Need some advice from the pros

[dr0832]

Hello everyone. I am not new at browsing the board, but this is one of my first posts. I am looking for a good diet. I wuld like some advice. I am a 20 year old male. I am 5'11 and 165 lbs. I think I am about 11% body fat right now, but that was just an estimate buy someone. I am being tested wed., and I will post the results. Mainly I am dieting to try to get rid of a little excess fat in my abdomen (like everyone else). I have wanted to get a six pack for many years but never put in any effort until recently.

All my teen years I was between 145 lbs and 165 lbs. I played a lot of tennis every day for most of my life (2-3 hours), but I always ate very unhealthy so I never came close to my goal. I injured my achilies tendon 5 years ago, and could not play tennis for about 7 months, and I gain a bunch of weight. I was about 185 and 18-20% body fat. When I realized I was sort of fat, I started to eat a bit more healthy, and I cut down to 175 lbs and probably dropped my body fat to 15%. Over the past 14 months I started going to the gym 5 times a week and playing some tennis. Recently I got a trainer and I have started to eat pretty damn healthy, although I have not been following any diet or routine of any sort. I guess I haven't done to bad since I am now 165lbs and around 11% body fat. I really would like to get down to 7-8 % and get my abs to show, but I am not sure if having no real plan is going to work anymore. Basically I have been eating 5-6 meals a day. I counted calories yesterday for the first time. I had about 1650-1700 I believe. I at least 100g carbs, and a lot of protein, and not much fat.
Today here is what I ate:

1:00 pm - 1 egg, and 3 egg whites scramble. Used fat free spray + 1 oz of milk in the eggs. 2 fish oil tablets 1000 mg each, 16 oz water, 12 oz coffee + 4 oz half and half (usually have notfat creamer or skim milk)

3:30 pm - post-workout = protein shake w/ 4 oz milk/4 oz water

5:00 pm - 1 cup low carb pasta (20gs carbs=28g protein, 1g fat), 3 Tblsp homemade tomato sauce with spices, and tsp romano cheese + 32 oz water

7:30 pm - 2 oz white whine, 10 oz caffein free Green tea + 16 oz water

8:00 pm- 1/2 cub of edamame (soybeans) +1/2 tspn sea salt + 2 fish oil tablets + 16 oz sugar free koolaid with 1 packet of splenda

11:00 pm- 1/3 cup fatt free cottage cheese + 2 small strawberries + 1 packet splends + cinamon spice + 8 ounces of water.

2:30 am - I am about to eat something now. Very light. (no carbs). Not sure what.


I am sure your all wondering why my day starts at 1:00 pm. I have chronic insomnia. I have for 7 years. I have done possiblely everything to solve my problem with no luck. I have taken all natural meds, and prescription shit like ambien and sonata. I have done everything else you could imagine to sleep. Either it doesn't work or the side affects are to much to deal with. I am actually recovering from ambien addiction and I am in withdrawl from that garbage so my sleep schedule is even more fucked up now then it ever was. I have beentrying to sleep at 12:00 pm and falling aleep at 4-5am and waking up every a hour once I do fall asleep. When I do sleep I only dream. I never gget REM sleep stage unless I take drugs, so the following day I feel extremely shitty and tired regardless of whether I have 10+ hours of sleep. The only time I can ever fall asleep like normal people is in the late afternoon (4-5pm), and this is usually for an hour or 2 at most.

Well anyway thats my routine today. Sorry I went off on a tangent explaining my sleep problems. I usually mix things up. I usaully will have some lean chicken grilled or sauteed with pam or table spoon olive oil or steak grilled at some point in the day, but I did not today. I also eat fish like salmon, swordfish, mussels, and other fish) 1-2 times per week. I also usually have a salad (with romaine lettuce, and other vegies and no dressing) sometime during the day. I ABOSULTELY CANNOT EAT CANNED TUNA. It makes me sick to my stomach! Sometimes I eat a bowl of Kashi GO Lean crunch for breakfast with 1/2 cup skim milk, but I am not sure if this is a good idea? I sometimes eat plain instant oatmeal with splenda and cinamon for breakfast as well.

I work out 5 days a weak for 30 minutes with my trainer very intensely, almost no resting. I also either jog a few miles or jump rope for 15 minutes or ride a stationary bike for 20+ minutes. I do this cardio 3-4 days a week, but I am also planning to start playing tennis again as well, and maybe throw in some sprinting.

Can anyone maybe give me some feedback on what I am doing right/wrong and whether its ok? I am not planning to do competitions or anything like that. I really just want to cut down my bodyfat a bit more and fullfill my goal I have always had (six pack), then maybe maintain for a few months, then try to do a super clean bulk and put on some lean body mass. I don't care if it takes a little time. I am not in a rush as most of you body builders are. And then I would like to cut again and drop the excess pounds of fat that I gain when I cut so I can look real good in time for next summer. Sorry for such a long ass thread. I will try never to write something like this again. If only I could concentrate and do my school work like this. Thank you for taking the time to read.

 

[Babyfaced Assassin]

I'm gonna keep this short and simple:

Yoru resting metabolic weight for your height and weight is:
1,783

So if your calorie counting is spot on you're under eating

- your not getting healthy fats in your diet, add a tbsp of flax/fish oil and or a serving of oily fish like salmon in your diet, the caps are not gonna supply you with enough fat IMO

- Post workout you want to spike insulin, mix some glucose or dextrose/maltodextrin wiht whey protein (About 50g glucose,25g whey)

i wouldnt eat soy at your 8pm meal, or soy period but that's just me

- Eat about 200g of quality protein a day broken down evenly in 6 meals

- Eat only low/moderate low carbs during the day except post workout

Try upping your carbs a bit and see if it helps your insomnia, it helped me.

Also your diet isn't *That* bad
you could eat much worse but you want 6 pack abs etc etc

first and foremost have you got your training sorted out? Do you do the right stuff for you?
add some HIIT to your Cardio
5 weight sessions a week seems on the high end imo

Also try cutting out the dairy and see how you do, maybe that's stopping u from getting cut
also lower the sodium

Get your trianing in gear first then worry about your diet

Also drink TONNES of fresh water

 

[dr0832]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I unfortunately don't think carbs have anything to do with my insomnia, because I have had it for along time and only started to lower carbs in the past month. Is it a bad idea to eat oatmeal for breakfast 2 hours before I workout or should I have it a few hours after I workout? I will try to add a little more healthy fat. You say I should get rid of dairy, so what could I substitute in place of cottage cheese for a night time sweet food craving? ANybody elses input would be great unless of course you think that mostly everything I need to know was already covered above.

 

[serbyte]

Im not exactly a pro, but from my experience, i would have only moderate carbs with 2 meals, breakfast and post workout (30-50g with ALA). the rest of your meals can have moderate low fat, a decent ammount of protein and just enough carbs for you body to absorb the protein (1 carb for every 2-4g of protien). You should not workout with a stomach full of carbs or when your insulin and blood sugar are high. IMO this works best to keep muscle and lose fat.

 

[dr0832]

Alright thanks for the advice. I had my body fat checked. I am at 10.2 % right now which is a surprise to me.

 

[dr0832]

well my training I feel is definitely set. I lift for 30 intense minutes with my trainer. I usually do a different body part each day during the 5 days I go to the gym. I also do abs about 4 days a week spread out. Sometimes I'll do biceps and triceps together, and sometimes I will do and upper body part and legs on the same day. Is it a bad idea to do my cardio while I am at the gym, or should I do it in the morning or the evening, at a different time than when I lift instead?