Cleaning up diet / trying to get definition

[danielsan4610]

A quick background as there will be a bit of newbie questions in here. I've worked out for a few years and while I've put on quite a bit of muscle, I've never had the cut or ripped look. It's my understanding to get the cut look you pretty much need to get your body fat % as low as possible so that means cutting the carbs and eating as clean as possible.

Right now I lift 3 days a week usually doing supersets and then alternate 2 days of cardio. I know I should increase my cardio which is why I'm asking for advice.

I'm currently 5'10" and a little over 200lbs and want to clean up my "diet" and develop more definition.

Here is what I eat currently. This is by no means perfect, just what I typically eat on a daily basis and obviously isn't the best for wanting to get more definition.

Breakfast - Uncrustable (junk food peanut butter/jelly frozen sandwich)
Snack - Low cal yogurt or a South Beach protein bar
Lunch - Lean meat + small salad + apple
Snack - Low cal yogurt or a South Beach protein bar
Snack - Banana
Dinner - Low cal/sodium chicken soup or lean meat + brown rice or veggies

I do not currently supplement my diet with any protein shakes. I went from working out at a gym to buying a weight set and equipment for home and cut the shakes out when I did that. I didn't seem to lose any muscle mass dropping the protein but it may have been attributed to switching from machines to dumbbells. I also wanted to drop any extra calories the shakes added that I didn't need.

Obviously you need protein to maintain muscle mass and it doesn't appear that I'm getting enough but at the same time I don't seem to be losing any muscle mass. It may just be that I'm not noticing but I'm a little confused on that. It seems I'm hitting a wall with my current diet/workout routine so I want to change things up.

I'm considering adding protein shakes back in and want to clean up my diet and add more cardio. I'm going to up my cardio to 30 minutes on weight lifting days (from 0) and then do probably 60 minutes on the non-lifting days.

Here is my proposed diet:

Breakfast - Protein shake with banana and whole oats
Snack - Low cal yogurt
Lunch - Turkey, Tuna or Chicken with small salad or rice + banana or apple
Snack - Low cal yogurt
Snack - Protein shake with banana
Dinner - Turkey, Tuna or Chicken with small salad or rice

How does that sound? I'm open for suggestions on the yogurt and protein shake placement. Do I need more? Less? I will be working out around 1 hour after the last protein shake. Should I keep the shake before the workout or after?

I've read that carbs are a good idea right after a workout. I will be eating dinner within an hour of my workout so I'll be getting some rice. Too late? Should I snack again after a workout and just eat dinner later?

Any advice would be welcome. I really want to clean everything up and get a defined look. Thanks for any responses.

 

[MillerTime720]

Drink the protein shake with your dinner. Eating some kind of fruit immediately after a work out helps, but really you just need to replace your lost electrolytes as soon as possible. Keep the carbs low, and the calories under control. depending on the intensity and duration of your workouts you may need to eat as many as 2500-3000 a day to give your body enough energy to burn. But the key to fat loss is taking in just enough calories to sustain your body through workouts and routine activities, over time your body will almost completely stop storing fat in your body, but you must stay active.