Cutting the last few pounds - Am I being effective or being a jackass?

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Hazenst

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I'm going to have an amateur fight in ~4 1/2 weeks. I wrestled in high school at 160 and never had a problem making weight. I ate like shit, just whatever I wanted, lost the water weight, and made weight no problem. I'm fighting at 155, so I actually need to burn off the fat. I'm currently about 7 pounds over after a workout, so with some water lost, but I'm sure I could get out more.

I'm actually working on a degree in exercise physiology, so it's kind of pathetic that I'm stuck asking, but so far all my classes haven't done anything as far as actual weight loss. Seems like everything they want to teach people is about 'feeling better, not watching a scale'.

What I've been eating is roughly the same everyday, so I'll just post what I ate yesterday. The fruits/veggies change, but I don't like tuna.

Breakfast - Orange, Oatmeal

snack - fruit, graham cracker (?)

Lunch - Grilled chicken, Grapes, carrots

Dinner - Chicken, raw red peppers, brown rice

snack - slice of cheese

Lots of water and gatorade (relatively high in sugar, 2/3 that of Juice)

I know if I just eat healthier in general I'll lose some weight. I definitely feel better having been eating this way, I'm just not sure if I'm eating right to actually lose weight. I've been looking at a lot of info here and it just seems like most the diets are a little to radical for my situation. Is what I am doing reasonable, or am I not going to get anywhere with this?

I also have a question about pork - It's a little lower in protein than chicken, and a little higher in cholesterol, but is it still ok, or should I just stick to the chicken? (since don't like tuna).

Any help is appreciated!
 
cut out the refined, processed crap (graham crackers, gatorade, the oatmeal if its one of those super sugary packed ones), and eat more protein and fat.. Your diet contains little to no fat. Guess what? Fat can actually be good for you...

An easy way to lose weight is to cut out the carbs for a short period of time but you should up the protein and fat.
 
I wouldn't drop out the carbs until closer to the actual event. Maybe the last few days or so to go.
 
EndoGlo said:
I wouldn't drop out the carbs until closer to the actual event. Maybe the last few days or so to go.
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He's asking for help on losing weight, not on cutting. If its just a matter of cutting 7 lbs its a very easy cut.

Lowering the carb intake is an easy, simple and effective way of losing weight quickly.
 
What's the purpose of just lowering carb intake, if you're just trying to lose weight and you're not just cutting?

You say quick and easy to lose weight. That would imply making a fast cut, that won't be permanent. Otherwise, there's no purpose to simply cut carbs, just to lose body fat. Just cutting carbs out of your diet won't do shit for weight-loss unless that happens to put you in a deficit. Unless you're simply cutting water weight down, which is not a permanent solution.

I feel like you know this, so I hope this isn't another pre-game to some sort of paleo war about carbs, again.
 
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I would replace the oatmeal, brown rice and grahham cracker with veggies, also you could eat like 2 boiled eggs a day. Pork is absolutely fine if it's not too fatty, any other fish is great if you don't like tuna. Gatorade is water with lot's of corn sirup and artificial sweeteners, not a fan altough it's supposed to be very cool since GSP is in the commercial. You could replace it with a selfmade lemonade for after training, lemons + water + honey and a banana.
 
EndoGlo said:
What's the purpose of just lowering carb intake, if you're just trying to lose weight and you're not just cutting?

You say quick and easy to lose weight. That would imply making a fast cut, that won't be permanent. Otherwise, there's no purpose to simply cut carbs, just to lose body fat. Just cutting carbs out of your diet won't do shit for weight-loss unless that happens to put you in a deficit. Unless you're simply cutting water weight down, which is not a permanent solution.

I feel like you know this, so I hope this isn't another pre-game to some sort of paleo war about carbs, again.
Click to expand...

I could care less about all the paleo shit going on, and I don't see how paleo has anything to do with low carb eating.

If you want to lose weight in the fastest way possible, while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible, you are going to need two things - a calorie deficit and an adequate protein intake.

In my opinion there is no easier and simpler way to do this than to do a low carb diet since it can cut down on hunger (making it easier to get into a proper deficit) and by design you will be eating a ton of protein. Also, by reducing carbs you are already lowering your calorie intake.

He could also do the same thing while eating moderate amounts of carbs every day, but this will probably make it more difficult to stay in a deficit due to increased hunger.

Honestly the most important thing for OP to do is increase his protein intake, stop drinking the gatorade and eating the graham crackers, and see how he feels from there.
 
The hunger bit is not universal, anaconda.
 
Grains make me feel lethargic, true story. Since I don't eat them I feel better.

Veggies, meat, fish or eggs for 3 main meals and some diary, nuts and fruits for snacks, I like it.

Oatmeal has like 60% carbs, even the carbiest veggies don't have more then 20%, that carb load is not the healthiest option in my opinion.
 
I thought you were a carb-nazi, there for a minute.
 
Monger said:
The hunger bit is not universal, anaconda.
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Fair enough. I guess I was just posting what works for me. I'm hungry all the freaking time. In fact, I'm pretty damn hungry right now :(
 
EndoGlo said:
I thought you were a carb-nazi, there for a minute.
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No, not at all. I do espouse a very low carb diet if you want to lose weight quickly and simply though. I also do think a lot of people would do better by cutting grains out of their diet. Its not universal by any means, and there are plenty of people who feel terrible when they cut grains and/or carbs from their diet.
 
I don't necessarily recommend low carb directly itself. But low calorie diets + high protein diets end up being low carb because there isn't much room for a higher intake. Granted we're talking pretty low calorie.

Although I don't assign percentages or anything, I just shoot for the highest amount of protein I can get in 1500 calories or less. Normally it comes out to be 60% protein and 15-20 for carbs or fat in either direction.
 
anaconda said:
Fair enough. I guess I was just posting what works for me. I'm hungry all the freaking time. In fact, I'm pretty damn hungry right now :(
Click to expand...

High pro/low carb will probably work for most if hunger is an issue. So it wasn't bad advice but research has definitely found exceptions to the rule.
 
Thanks for all the help. I am trying to cut down on my body fat and remain at a lower level so future cuts only require minimal effort. I have the body fat % to drop a few pounds, I'm just looking for a diet which I can sustain. Gatorade and graham crackers are gone. I don't know what I was thinking with the graham crackers, someone doing the p90x diet said they were ok.

RE: the oatmeal, it's out of the big ass quaker canister, it isn't little sugary packet garbage.

As far as increasing protein intake, obviously I could just get protein shakes, but what's the best way to do that with food? As far as healthy fats - I grill chicken with lemon pepper and olive oil, so there's a little bit. Peanut butter also has healthy fats, but I see there's a whole thread about peanut butter, and how most peanut butter has added oils/sugar/trans fats/omega-6. Is there a certain brand of peanut butter that is the best? I see a lot of brands that say 'natural', but ingredient wise it seems very similar to normal pb, just with less sugar. I'm very interested in a good peanut butter since it has good fats, proteins, and is great with apples. What else are people eating for additional fats?
 
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that cutting your carb intake directly influences fluid retention. Carbs hold water and cutting them out for two days or so will usually result in some pretty noticeable water loss. Not to mention the fact that insulin is released when you eat many types of carbs and insulin causes sodium and water retention to occur. This is why cutting carbs will provide better results in the short-term than a low-fat diet, speaking strictly in terms of the number on the scale.
 
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