How is my diet?

Beast13

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Yo guys, gonna try and keep this short.

I'm 21 yrs old and 5'8", trying to cut from 210 lbs ~20% bf to under 165 lbs ~10% bf while staying fairly strong (1400 PL total), which leaves me room to allow some muscle loss.

My basic diet has been like this for the past several days:

12pm: Wake
1pm: Hot green tea (2 tea bags)
3pm: A fist size of meat (chicken, beef, pork), 1 sweet potato or cup of brown rice
5pm: 2 scoops of whey in water and 1 banana
6-8pm: MMA
8:30pm: 2 scoops of whey in water and 1 apple or orange
9pm: A fist size of meat (chicken, beef, pork), 2 cups of vegetables (mixed or broccoli)
2am: Sleep

That is the Mon-Thurs schedule. I lift weights on Friday and Saturdays and have Sundays as a rest. The diet will for those days will be similar, just moved around due to lifting times or lack of. I'm also taking my multis daily.

Basically my idea behind this is to get my 200g of protein in, have a lot of protein built around my training (the whey), eat high GI carbs only before a workout, and get some fruits and veggies in.

Thanks for the future input.
 
I think you are on the right track, what I suggest is you figure out how many calories your body needs to take in daily to maintain your current weight. Use this calculator http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

You are already getting 1g Protein ler pound of body weight which is great. Now you should figure out the other 2 Macros, Fats and Carbs. To lose the least amount of Muscle possible, you are going to want to lose weight slowly by eating at a caloric deficit of around 500 calories. You can drop it down to 600-700 as you go along but don't starve yourself! Focus on Strength training, mainly doing 6-10 reps of compound movements (deadlift, bench, squat, shoulder press).

In addition to your Multivitamin, I recommend Creatine, Beta Alanine, Fish Oil, and Caffeine if you aren't sensitive to stimulants.
 
Back before I started training and was only lifting I maintained 215 lbs with 3,000 cals. I'd say I'm probably burning around 800-1000 cals during training and only eating about 1500-2000 daily I'd guess. So it's a pretty big deficit. I'm thinking ill keep the deficit this big for the first half or so of weight loss as. Have more fat and once I get closer to my goal ill make it less severe.

Also, my goal was originally 155, but I think I'd be better at 170 for now. I think I'll just cut to 170, and if I still feel like I have too much fat ill cut lower.
 
Back before I started training and was only lifting I maintained 215 lbs with 3,000 cals. I'd say I'm probably burning around 800-1000 cals during training and only eating about 1500-2000 daily I'd guess. So it's a pretty big deficit. I'm thinking ill keep the deficit this big for the first half or so of weight loss as. Have more fat and once I get closer to my goal ill make it less severe.

Also, my goal was originally 155, but I think I'd be better at 170 for now. I think I'll just cut to 170, and if I still feel like I have too much fat ill cut lower.

Given your height 5'8", weight 210lbs, and age 21, I would bump your cals up to 2,500 per day and don't go below 2,000cals. 1,500cals is 50% of your daily required calories, that is anextreme deficit and there is no way your body is going to preserve most of your hard earned muscle!

Go for slow and steady Fat Loss combined with High Intensity Training.
 
Yo guys, gonna try and keep this short.

I'm 21 yrs old and 5'8", trying to cut from 210 lbs ~20% bf to under 165 lbs ~10% bf while staying fairly strong (1400 PL total), which leaves me room to allow some muscle loss.

My basic diet has been like this for the past several days:

12pm: Wake
1pm: Hot green tea (2 tea bags)
3pm: A fist size of meat (chicken, beef, pork), 1 sweet potato or cup of brown rice
5pm: 2 scoops of whey in water and 1 banana
6-8pm: MMA
8:30pm: 2 scoops of whey in water and 1 apple or orange
9pm: A fist size of meat (chicken, beef, pork), 2 cups of vegetables (mixed or broccoli)
2am: Sleep

That is the Mon-Thurs schedule. I lift weights on Friday and Saturdays and have Sundays as a rest. The diet will for those days will be similar, just moved around due to lifting times or lack of. I'm also taking my multis daily.

Basically my idea behind this is to get my 200g of protein in, have a lot of protein built around my training (the whey), eat high GI carbs only before a workout, and get some fruits and veggies in.

Thanks for the future input.

Unless convenience is a large factor, I would drop the banana/shake meal and replace it slower digesting protein and carbs as you don't need or want anything that insulinogenic. Fructose goes towards liver glycogen and not muscle glycogen anyway, so you aren't getting the intended effects out of it. Even if you do want "fast" carbs and proteins, they're generally better placed after a workout to refill glycogen and maintain muscle. Again, fruit is great but it isn't a great post workout food.


Which of course ignores the fact that cutting comes down to calories. I know some people really hate the idea of tracking calories, but it's the easiest way to control your fat loss while mitigating muscle loss. Consider it this way; you've already done the hard work of cleaning up your diet, what's another 5 minutes of work a day to zero it in?


Something else you may want to incorporate is a moderate cycling of carbs and calories on rest and work days. Your basal metabolic rate is in the ballpark of 2900-3000 cal/day; a ballpark estimate would be for you to reduce that by about 30% on rest days (2000-2100 cal) and around 10% on work days (2700-2800), which would vary with the intensity of your training sessions. Keep protein high on all days, eat less percentage of calories from carbs on rest days and more on work days. Give that a shot, track it, let us know how it goes. Good luck.
 
Do you already have a 1400 PL total?

I'm just being honest but that is going to be very difficult to maintain with that much weight loss.
 
+1 to anaconda and some of what synapse said.

My only input (redundant) is to suggest adding a large handful of spinach(you need more veggies) and a large scoop of almond butter (optional since it's calorically dense), and remove the banana, to each whey shake & move the rice/sweet potato to your 9pm meal.
 
I would also have some form of breakfast. Just to start your metabolism and to stabalise sugar levels. I don't think skipping breakfast is a good plan as people always end up hungry throughout the day and find a diet harder to stick to
 
Given your height 5'8", weight 210lbs, and age 21, I would bump your cals up to 2,500 per day and don't go below 2,000cals. 1,500cals is 50% of your daily required calories, that is anextreme deficit and there is no way your body is going to preserve most of your hard earned muscle!

Go for slow and steady Fat Loss combined with High Intensity Training.

Do you already have a 1400 PL total?

I'm just being honest but that is going to be very difficult to maintain with that much weight loss.

Yes, I already have totaled 1400+ Raw. I know it is going to be hard (mostly impossible) to keep up the muscle and strength, but that isn't my priority right now. My goal currently is to be 155lbs by April 21st if possible, that's a loss of 45lbs in 13 weeks an average of 3.5 lbs loss a week. I am also aware, that I will need to lose muscle in order to even hit 155.

Unless convenience is a large factor, I would drop the banana/shake meal and replace it slower digesting protein and carbs as you don't need or want anything that insulinogenic. Fructose goes towards liver glycogen and not muscle glycogen anyway, so you aren't getting the intended effects out of it. Even if you do want "fast" carbs and proteins, they're generally better placed after a workout to refill glycogen and maintain muscle. Again, fruit is great but it isn't a great post workout food.


Which of course ignores the fact that cutting comes down to calories. I know some people really hate the idea of tracking calories, but it's the easiest way to control your fat loss while mitigating muscle loss. Consider it this way; you've already done the hard work of cleaning up your diet, what's another 5 minutes of work a day to zero it in?


Something else you may want to incorporate is a moderate cycling of carbs and calories on rest and work days. Your basal metabolic rate is in the ballpark of 2900-3000 cal/day; a ballpark estimate would be for you to reduce that by about 30% on rest days (2000-2100 cal) and around 10% on work days (2700-2800), which would vary with the intensity of your training sessions. Keep protein high on all days, eat less percentage of calories from carbs on rest days and more on work days. Give that a shot, track it, let us know how it goes. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I'll consider it all. Much appreciated.

+1 to anaconda and some of what synapse said.

My only input (redundant) is to suggest adding a large handful of spinach(you need more veggies) and a large scoop of almond butter (optional since it's calorically dense), and remove the banana, to each whey shake & move the rice/sweet potato to your 9pm meal.

Wouldn't it be bad to have those carbs after training? I've read to keep the majority of carbs pre-training, and green veggies after.

I would also have some form of breakfast. Just to start your metabolism and to stabalise sugar levels. I don't think skipping breakfast is a good plan as people always end up hungry throughout the day and find a diet harder to stick to

Would a whey shake with a fruit be good? I have very little time to eat in the mornings.
 
Starting school again next week. Any tips on types of meals to eat and when?

Monday: School 11:00-2:00,Training 6:30-8:30
Tuesday: School 1:00-5:15, Training 6:30-8:30
Wednesday: School 11:00-2:00, Training 6:30-8:30
Thursday: School 1:00-5:15, Training 6:30-8:30
Friday: School 11:00-1:00, Upperbody Weight Lifting 2:00-3:30
Saturday: Lowerbody Weight Lifting 12:00-1:30
Sunday: Free

Note: Morning and during-school meals will need to be easily and quickly prepared and able to be eaten in 10 mins or less.

Thanks guys.
 
I'm thinking mon and wed will be a whey shake and a piece of fruit before school, with a bigger meal (1000-1200 kcals) around 3, and a smaller meal (400-600 kcals) after training. On tues and thurs a bigger meal before school, a whey shake and piece of fruit after school, and a smaller meal after training. On Friday a whey shake and 2 pieces of fruit before school, bigger meal after lifting, and smaller meal for dinner. On Saturday a whey shake and piece of fruit an hour before lifting, bigger meal after lifting, and smaller meal for dinner. On Sunday a bigger meal for breakfast, whey shake and fruit for lunch, and a smaller meal for dinner.

Thoughts?
 
Just based on my personal experience, cutting weight will be more dependent on personal characteristics than will building muscle or working cardio. So only you can tell what works for you.

However, I'd say as follows:

1. Your diet seems to be very strict. How much energy do you get every day? 1,500 calories? I'd struggle to keep this up for long. Maybe give yourself some more slack and aim for long-term, sustainable, lifestyle changes instead?

2. Based on the above, I think you should skip weight training for now as it will be very hard to build muscle when on a caloric deficit. MMA training four times a week is tough enough on the body, even when you're eating enough. So I'd reach my target weight first (i.e., cut the fat), and start lifting only after that.

3. Again based on the above, I think I would struggle to keep up with all that MMA training on a constant caloric deficit. So again, maybe you should add some food and aim to reach your target weight a bit slower, in order not to slow down progress in your sport?

4. Not that it's any of my business really, but why do you aim to wake up at mid-day? Even if you train MMA full time and thus don't have to care about going to work at a certain time etc, I'm sure you'll benefit from the morning sunlight. Plus, aligning your day with what others do will probably do good on a psychological level. We humans are herd animals after all, and there is little point denying that.

5. I'm not sure how much you vary your diet, i.e., do you just outline your diet for a typical day in your post, or is this what you eat all the time? In the latter case, you should aim for more variety no matter how many calories you want to take in per day. That will help you maintain healthy levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And btw, I'd skip the multivitamin pills. The only complement you might possibly need is vitamin D, if you happen to live in a northern or cloudy area without much sunshine. All the rest you'll find in balanced food.
 
Short answer: too great of a caloric deficit to perform optimally athletically IMO. Macro-ratios off as well. If 3000kcals maintains, no need to go down so low. Aim for ~2000-2500. Also, youre getting tons of protein but hardly any carbs or fat(depending on what type of meat). When it comes to energy metabolism, glucose>amino acids. Fill out your macros with some carbs/fats, or replace some of the protein with it if you dont want to add any more kcals. Just my .02. Good luck.
 
Im wondering if someone can help me out with my diet too? Im trying to eat really clean but I feel like I do not take in enough calories. I am very skinny and I wanna maintain weight but still eat real healthy. I dont want to consume junk food or alcohol or dairy.


Foods I eat

Grilled Chicken
Grass Feed Beef, Steak, etc
Sometimes Fish

Quinoa
Every kind of fruit and vegetable
Water
Brown Rice
Almonds
Steel Cut Oats


Can someone create a meal plan for me and help me out? I would be forever greatful! I am 24 6'3 and about 160 lbs. Do I need any supplements?
 
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