Oatmeal

[pprtgr]

I've never been good with my diet but I'm trying hard to clean it up. Anyway, I try to get around 4000 calories a day and I don't like cooking that much food. I want to make it as simple and I want to eat good healthy food so I decided to eat as much oatmeal as I can. One 42 Oz. box of Quaker oats has 4500 calories. I try to eat about a third of the box each day, 1500 calories worth, plus the milk.... I've been losing some body fat, but...is this too much carbs? One serving is Fat 3G, Carb 27G, and Protein 5G. I can get the Fat and Protein from Peanut Butter. What do you think of my death by oatmeal diet?

[Bouncer]

how many cups of oats are you eating a day, that will make it much easier for everyone to answer you rather then saying "a third of a box".

half cup is 27 grams carbs.

[pprtgr]

Serving Size is 1/2 Cup dry (40G). 150 Calories. I would try to get 10 servings a day...5 Cups total....but that is over the course of the day. It's a lot to eat. Right now, I don't measure it out. I just do it by sight.

[Bouncer]

Serving Size is 1/2 Cup dry (40G). 150 Calories. I would try to get 10 servings a day...5 Cups total....but that is over the course of the day. It's a lot to eat. Right now, I don't measure it out. I just do it by sight.

5 cups total is not insane if that is your only carb source.

like if you are eating 5-7 meals a day and oats serve as your carb source in each meal that is fine.

i have oats twice a day and rice with the rest of the meals.

[Chadd77]

Are you eatting anything else besides oatmeal??

[pprtgr]

Sounds good. I figured that oatmeal was a clean carb with good fiber, so why not eat it for most of my carbs. I just didn't know if that would be nutritionally sound. And it's pretty bland. I agree, brown rice is another good choice. What would you suggest to fill in the gaps for my good fats and protein? I don't want to eat red meat. I've been trying to stick to dairy/cheese, peanut butter, avocados and chicken.

[Bouncer]

Sounds good. I figured that oatmeal was a clean carb with good fiber, so why not eat it for most of my carbs. I just didn't know if that would be nutritionally sound. And it's pretty bland. I agree, brown rice is another good choice. What would you suggest to fill in the gaps for my good fats and protein? I don't want to eat red meat. I've been trying to stick to dairy/cheese, peanut butter, avocados and chicken.

i will just tell you that i eat no dairy, peanut butter etc..

my diet right now is high protein, high carbs, low fat. i dont go out of my way to add fats. that is what works for me.

i eat the same thing every day. rice, oats, chicken, protein shakes, flank steak (every other day), raisins (in my oats) and some fruit.

p.s. my supps are a multi vit, NO xplode, creatine, protein powder, and fish oil.

[pprtgr]

I'm trying to stay away from protein powders. I want to get all the nutrients from real food. Peanut Butter has 9G Protein in 2 tbsp. But I appreciate your posts. Your diet seems to be what I'm looking for. Basic is the only way to do this. I'm going to stick with the oats. Question: Will the oatmeal help me drop body fat? More or less carbs? Ultimately, I want to eat as cleanly as possible to drop some fat and keep the muscle. But of course, I also have to eat a lot of calories too.

[Bouncer]

I'm trying to stay away from protein powders. I want to get all the nutrients from real food. Peanut Butter has 9G Protein in 2 tbsp. But I appreciate your posts. Your diet seems to be what I'm looking for. Basic is the only way to do this. I'm going to stick with the oats. Question: Will the oatmeal help me drop body fat? More or less carbs? Ultimately, I want to eat as cleanly as possible to drop some fat and keep the muscle. But of course, I also have to eat a lot of calories too.

the protein in peanut butter is not a complete protein and thus should not be counted as protein in terms of bodybuilding goals.

chicken, meats, diary, etc.. are all complete proteins.

oats have nothing to do with losing weight. you could eat french fries if you want. as long as the calories eaten are less then what the body is burning you will lose weight.

[dna9488]

There is nothing wrong with eating oatmeal multiple times a day. The days I do eat carbs, i prefer brown rice. Protein shakes have their place so don't bash them, post workout they're important and the casein proteins are good to have at night.

[pprtgr]

Isn't there a difference between clean carbs and junky carbs? Don't they affect the body differently? Why eat oatmeal and rice instead of french fries? My questions is: if I eat 4000 calories a day from healthy food, will I look different than if I eat 4000 calories a day from McDonalds? Will the food change the body fat/composition?

[Bouncer]

Isn't there a difference between clean carbs and junky carbs? Don't they affect the body differently? Why eat oatmeal and rice instead of french fries? My questions is: if I eat 4000 calories a day from healthy food, will I look different than if I eat 4000 calories a day from McDonalds? Will the food change the body fat/composition?

well there are 2 arguments here.

1 side says that no matter what if your body burns 5000 cals a day and you take in 4000 cals of junk food you will lose weight.

while that is true that you will lose weight, you will not look as good as if you were to eat clean foods like oatmeal, chicken, rice, veggies etc..

junk food = oily skin, bloated, sodium issues, general look of being unhealthy etc..

[dna9488]

Isn't there a difference between clean carbs and junky carbs? Don't they affect the body differently? Why eat oatmeal and rice instead of french fries? My questions is: if I eat 4000 calories a day from healthy food, will I look different than if I eat 4000 calories a day from McDonalds? Will the food change the body fat/composition?

There is a huge difference between clean and simple. Complex carbs are long chained polysaccharides that your body spends time on digesting. Simple carbs are just glucose molecules that is digested quickly. They cause a insulin spike and your pancreas works twice as hard to get insulin released to cover the glucose.

Bouncer was making a point that if you ate less than your BMR, you would lose weight no matter what you ate. Whether it be cookies, ice cream, mcdonalds.

If you ate clean and under your BMR. It would be a healthy weight loss and you don't be screwing up your organs with junk food.

[Bouncer]

There is a huge difference between clean and simple. Complex carbs are long chained polysaccharides that your body spends time on digesting. Simple carbs are just glucose molecules that is digested quickly. They cause a insulin spike and your pancreas works twice as hard to get insulin released to cover the glucose.

Bouncer was making a point that if you ate less than your BMR, you would lose weight no matter what you ate. Whether it be cookies, ice cream, mcdonalds.

If you ate clean and under your BMR. It would be a healthy weight loss and you don't be screwing up your organs with junk food.

well said. :agreed:

[pprtgr]

So to recap...there is a major difference if I ate 1500 calories of oatmeal as opposed to 1500 calories of Coca-cola. The soda would just mess up my hormones. If I stick to the oats, then my body will be healthier. Now suppose my BMR was 3500 calories and I did want to lose body fat. If I drop to 3000 calories, what foods would protect the muscle and burn the fat? Should I alter the carbs/proteins/fats? I know that you always lose some muscle, but what I'm really asking is how do I change my body fat%?