Diet review

[slimmackeral]

Take a look at this meal plan and let me know what you think.

Aug 1st stats: 6ft 260 25% bf(guessing maybe higher)
Nov 15th stats: 225 18%(again guessing gone from 40 pants size to 34/36 depending on brand)

I think I got a little too caught up in what the scale said and have burned up some hard earned muscle mass. Strength is way down.... I kept decreasing the cals and upping the cardio. I am rethinking my whole diet and goals in general. I want to keep taking off the fat but, maintain as much muscle as possible. Over these last 3 months I have been keeping calories at about 1800 with pretty much no carbs(pretty stupid i know). Here is what i will be adjusting my diet to look like.....

4:40 AM 4 BCAA caps
5:00 AM Weights/Cardio
6:30 AM Whey Blend
small gatorade
8:00 AM 1 cup oatmeal
2 whole eggs
1 cup egg whites
10:00 AM Whey Blend
1 tsb natural pb
12:30 PM 5 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
3:00 PM Whey Blend
1 tsb natural pb
6:00 PM 5 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
Salad w/olive oil vinagerette
1 medium sweet potatoe
8:30 PM Whey Blend
1 tsb natural pb

Totals 2700cals 330pro 64fat 140carbs

How does this look? Any suggestions?

[coffee-guy]

Take a look at this meal plan and let me know what you think.

Aug 1st stats: 6ft 260 25% bf(guessing maybe higher)
Nov 15th stats: 225 18%(again guessing gone from 40 pants size to 34/36 depending on brand)

I think I got a little too caught up in what the scale said and have burned up some hard earned muscle mass. Strength is way down.... I kept decreasing the cals and upping the cardio. I am rethinking my whole diet and goals in general. I want to keep taking off the fat but, maintain as much muscle as possible. Over these last 3 months I have been keeping calories at about 1800 with pretty much no carbs(pretty stupid i know). Here is what i will be adjusting my diet to look like.....

How does this look? Any suggestions?

First of all - congratulations on the progress - keep it up.

Now - with the numbers you posted for your diet I only come up with 2456 calories but I'm sure there are some "hidden" in there etc. Anyways - you're running your protein at 55%, carbs at 25%, and fats at 20% which is a little odd to me - this may be the biggest reason you're losing strength etc (lack of energy and so on). I would drop it to a 40/40/20 split and see what happens - you can adjust things from there...

Make sure you're doing your morning cardio session after your workout and not before. Also, if you can manage to do another small bit of cardio between the 6pm and 8:30pm meal that would really help IMO....

As for the diet itself......

4:40 AM 4 BCAA caps

I'm not a fan of this route - go with a quick shot of 20 to 40 grams of whey with water if possible

5:00 AM Weights/Cardio

6:30 AM Whey Blend
small gatorade

8:00 AM 1 cup oatmeal
2 whole eggs
1 cup egg whites

10:00 AM Whey Blend
1 tsb natural pb

Drop this and move your chicken meal up (maybe to 11am) - just make sure to add good carbs

12:30 PM 5 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli

Move this back to 2pm

3:00 PM Whey Blend
1 tsb natural pb

Make this another whole meal with carbs and push it to 4pm or so

6:00 PM 5 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
Salad w/olive oil vinagerette
1 medium sweet potatoe

8:30 PM Whey Blend
1 tsb natural pb

Change this to a casein blend and you're good to go...

Totals 2700cals 330pro 64fat 140carbs

How does this look? Any suggestions?

Keep your total calories the same overall (just tweak the portions to accommodate the new numbers - and the fact that you're cutting out one or two whey "meals") - and keep upping the cardio etc - once things start to slow down again then you can tweak the p/c/f ratio....

[slimmackeral]

That was exactly what I was looking for.... Thanks for the help. I really haven't paid much attention to the split. I was just trying to alternate pro/fat meals with pro/carb meals. I will up the carbs a bit. Trying to get 40/40/20 is harder than I thought. I lowered chicken size by an ounce to get closer. Here is the new game plan....


4:40 AM 1 1/2 scoops whey w/water
5:00 AM Weights/Cardio
6:30 AM Whey Blend
gatorade
8:00 AM 1 cup oatmeal
2 whole eggs
1 cup egg whites
11:00 AM 4 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
1 cup brown rice
2:00 PM 4 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
1 cup brown rice
4:00 PM 4 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
1 cup brown rice
7:00 PM 4 oz chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
Salad w/olive oil vinagerette
1 medium sweet potatoe
9:30 PM 2 scoops casein blend

2650 cals, 290pro, 275 carbs, 41 fat

[slimmackeral]

Just wanted to post a quick update. With the exception of turkey day.... i have been going strong. I have been staying pretty close to this meal plan. I feel full 24/7. It seems like the time between meals is about 10 minutes. Big difference going from shakes to real food. Weight is about 219 now. Still dropping fast but, I am pretty sure it is all fat. The biggest difference I have noticed is workout recovery. No lingering soreness like I had before. Strength is holding steady....

[coffee-guy]

Good stuff bro - just stay at it - let us know when you stagnate and I'm sure some readjusting can be done...

[YellowJacket]

I shed a tear reading fog's response... its like, Im not even needed anymore... :)

god work my man.... your advice is spot on.... print this out slim...

[Ashop]

First of all - congratulations on the progress - keep it up.

Now - with the numbers you posted for your diet I only come up with 2456 calories but I'm sure there are some "hidden" in there etc. Anyways - you're running your protein at 55%, carbs at 25%, and fats at 20% which is a little odd to me - this may be the biggest reason you're losing strength etc (lack of energy and so on). I would drop it to a 40/40/20 split and see what happens - you can adjust things from there...

Make sure you're doing your morning cardio session after your workout and not before. Also, if you can manage to do another small bit of cardio between the 6pm and 8:30pm meal that would really help IMO....

As for the diet itself......



Keep your total calories the same overall (just tweak the portions to accommodate the new numbers - and the fact that you're cutting out one or two whey "meals") - and keep upping the cardio etc - once things start to slow down again then you can tweak the p/c/f ratio....

I agree,,,i would definitley bump the complex carbs up a bit.

[coffee-guy]

I shed a tear reading fog's response... its like, Im not even needed anymore... :)

god work my man.... your advice is spot on.... print this out slim...

Wow - thanks bro...

I learned from the best but I'm still "NOT WORTHY" :D....

[slimmackeral]

Just wanted to give a quick update..... I slacked a bit at the start of the year. Basically, dieting M-F and eating like crap on the weekends. I got back on the plan around the first of March. Weight is currently 210.... I am keeping cals about the same. Depending on how I feel I am tweaking carbs up or down a bit. I am doing cardio about 45 minutes/5 days a week. No clue on current BF% but, I am not anywhere close to where I want to be. I assume I under estimated my starting BF by 5% or so. Since Nov I have put about 1/2 an inch on my arms. That is pretty sweet considering the loss of mass from fat loss. I have been keeping training as intense as possible. Doing a combination of low volume/high volume sets depending on the exercise. My plan is too keep this up through the end of summer summer. Hopefully, around Sept I will be in a position to do a clean bulk. I have it marked it my calender to update this thread a month from today. Every little bit of motivation helps.....