I am trying to loose unwanted fat but keep some bulk muscle
Ah- well thats a tricky one: for weight loss you need to have a calorie deficit, (ie, eat fewer calories then you use each day) for muscle gain you need extra calories. Just the same as for weight gain, you need extra calories. When gaining weight, it doesn't matter where you get your extra calories, the body doesn't mind, as long as there is a surplus of fuel you'll gain weight.
The best thing you can do is to eigher work on bulking up or losing weight, doing both at the same time is very tricky as your basicly losing weight for a bit then gaining back weight another time shortly after and working hard to build muscle at the same time.
Fat and muscle are two different things. You cannot turn fat into muscle as I am sure you know. Fat lies on top of muscle and sits below the skin. To have any muscle showing you need to reduce the layer of fat you have and to get rid of that fat you need to lose weight. If you gain weight your likely to gain fat. You can build muscle from training and your body may well obtain the energy required to do that through the calorie stores in your fat but it will only do this if its in a deficit. And your right- you will need protein for your body to build muscle, but if your in a deficit as your trying to lose weight, your body is going to use those calories to keep you going rather then to build any muscle.
Its a tricky one and no one really has any conclusive answers but personally? I'd work on losing the weight first, your likely to obtain some muscle and definetly get stronger as you exercise and do this, but for serious bulking up I'd save that for later. Its alot harder to bulk up and work out if your gaining muscle or fat if your layers of fat are too thick to see it!
Extremely busy to be honest, but that doesn't mean i can't eat right so what would you suggest
What would I suggest? well it would be eating what you like but within reason. Most meals are actually quite balanced, its just a matter of making it lower in fat or boosting the good fats and adding in healthy vegetables, complex carbs for simple carbs and reducing salt.
Work out what you want to eat and see if you can make it healthy. Rough rules of thumb are:
Protein; eat 1.5-2 grams of protein per 1kg of your body weight.
Carbs: eat complex carbs, things like brown rice, wholegrain pasta, multigrain bread (brown bread is not the same, brown bread is just white bread but dyed brown in most cases). Whole oats (not the powdered stuff you get in packets). Try to steer clear of refined carbs as they can boost your blood sugar levels and leave you with a crash which then leaves you hungrier then normal.
Fresh fruit and vegetables: eat 5 different types a day, more if you can but just remember to calorie count it.
Drink plenty of water, plain if possible and drink 500mls per hour of workout in addition to the recommended 1.5 L per day. If its hard to get to that number don't worry, your body will ask for what it needs and may be used to working on a reduced amount. You may find you need and want more as time goes by.
I'd say eat 3-6 meals a day every day. This is all personal taste, some people prefer to eat little and often others prefer main meals and nothing else. Both have their benefits.
If your struggling to find time, protein shakes can be useful but relying on them too often is concerning as they are there as a back up and if you lose touch with real food and portion control it can lead to alot of other problems namely weight gain. Learn what volumes of food you do need via weighing and measuring and calorie counting. Its annoying to do at first but you get into the scheme of it and its either easier or you get so used to it you end up not having to weigh and measure everything.
I thought if i consume more protein powder as opposed to real food i would trim some of that unwanted fat
Basically i am trying to cut down on my carbs intake for a while... i also drink about 2l of water a day
I thought you should not consume any carbs after 7pm
Thanks again for your help...
Unfortunelty it doesn't matter what you eat, a surplus of any calories, even if its all from vegetables will result in weight gain, just because it says "will shred" on the packet doesn't mean you will gain muscle from consuming it The only real way to gain muscle is to eat extra calories and work out in the gym with weights. But you wont lose fat this way- not if your eating extra calories.
Cutting down on carbs becomes a personal choice I think. Some swear by it others say it makes no difference. From a science point of view it doesn't matter when or where or how you get your carbs, as long as you stick to your limit you could eat all your calories from carbs at 9pm and you'd still lose weight as long as you were sticking to a calorie deficit diet.
Eat whenever makes you happy! Its your body and I think you will find that if it doesn't get what it wants, it sends out messages to your brain to find that food and can eat everything along the way... allow yourself treats, allow yourself a little of what you fancy, just keep to the calories you set yourself and you will lose weight.
For muscle building, when your done losing weight there are loads of stickies on this and the volume of training you decide to do will also impact this.
