Sport Critique my diet please!!!

[gunning]

First off i just want say I have been getting back into a work out routine after about a 5 year break. I'm really trying to pay a lot more attention to what I'm putting in my body. I started working out around the 1st of Sept I'm 33, 6'2 and weighed 226lbs when I started, right now I weigh 215lbs. My goal is to trim and tone up first I was thinking of getting down to around 210-205 or to the point where I feel I have lost enough fat. From there I was thinking of changing my workouts from high reps circuit training to more weight and lower reps to add more bulk. Maybe that’s a bad idea? I’m seeing results I can tell I’m losing weight and fat but I feel maybe I was losing too much weight at first and losing muscle with it. I’m still losing weight but its more like 1-3lbs a week now.

I do cardio 3 days a week, running or HIIT bike work and I have been doing upper body circuit training 3 days a week on the days I don't do cardio. I stay fairly active during the day I drive for Fed-ex its not hard work IMO but I keep moving lifting boxes and walking ext.

So here is a sample of my daily diet:

8:00am 2 scoops whey protein with skim milk.

10:30am apple or banana and some granola.

12:30 6" chicken breast sandwich with veggies cheese and light mayo 2 hard boiled eggs.

3:00pm apple or banana handful of peanuts

5:00pm chicken sandwich or chicken roll-up

7:00pm workout

8:00pm 2 scoops whey protein with skim milk.

I figured the other day that this should be around 2300-2500 cals. Is this enough cals? I did a calculation and with how level of activity I could be taking in way more cals like high 3000's. That seems high to me right now I feel like I need to make my self eat during the day as it is. I want to lose fat but I don't want to lose muscle just to lose weight. I was thinking of maybe going to 3 protein shakes a day. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me, Steve.

 

[RyanW]

Hey Steve -

Losing weight in general is such a complex task - it can often be really really confusing. There are some general ideas that can help you along the right path...

-- It's probably a better/more efficient idea to not only track the number of calories, but where exactly all those calories are coming from. For example, how many grams of carbs? How many total grams of protein? How many grams of fat? In general, as cardio increases, carbs should increase. As muscle building increases, protein should increase. To lose weight without compromising muscle mass, it's generally accepted to have a higher than normal amount of carbohydrates without a huge increase in protein. Three protein shakes/day seems like a lot for weight loss, as this amount may actually hinder weight loss (excess protein is converted to fat for storage when it isn't used for muscle building - and, since you're not trying to build bulk at the moment, the extra protein may be doing more harm than good).

-- For weight loss, 1-3 lbs/week is the safest goal. Losing weight too fast may mean you're losing lots of muscle mass and/or water weight along with fat. As far as the number of calories, it seems you should be on the right track with around 2400-2600, with only considering your height and weight.

-- Make sure you're getting enough carbs! The main idea here is that fat is NOT burned during exercise, but rather, it's mostly burned while you're resting. Carbs and proteins are your main source of workout fuel - it's most useful to tip the scales towards carbs to avoid protein wasting (aka negative nitrogen balance).

-- One other thing to remember is that it's nearly impossible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time - you have to pick one or the other. What I'm getting at is, if you're going to lift weights, definitely stick to the endurance side of things until you're ready to add some bulk. I see too many people making this mistake, and it just causes them to plateau really quickly.

Hope this helps! good luck with your goals

Ryan

 

[Ride_On]

I don't have time to read into this whole thing, but just based on the above answer, I have to comment on two things right away. 3lbs a week at 6'2" 215 is probably too much to be losing. Generally, 3+ lbs is for someone extremely overweight or obese. Secondly, losing weight is not or complex and at all, and I strongly disagree with professing that to someone who is new to this. Losing weight is very easy, and it's very simple. Eat clean, eat less, exercise, and rest well. That's all there is to it.

 

[Ride_On]

If you're doing cardio 3 days a week, here are my thoughts. Number one, if it's HIIT 3x a week, that should change. You're overworking yourself. ELITE ATHLETES (take note of that) don't do HIIT that often. And the benefits that you get from HIIT over steady state cardio tend to taper off, whereas SS will continue in a steady (no pun intended) fashion. Point being, mix it up. Also, you may want to consider switching to high weight low reps now. You can still lose fat doing that. Fat loss is all about diet. And you need to work your muscles hard for them to stay there.

On to the diet. It's not fine. You definitely shouldn't go with 3 shakes a day. Whole food is always better. Even 4 scoops of whey is way overkill. That's about 100 grams of protein just from powder in one day, which is about half of your total intake. Totally unnecessary and you're not getting a lot of the other benefits you get from whole food. You also need variety. Mix up the fruits and protein sources. Instead of just apples and bananas, have some grapes, berries, whatever. Eat some lean beef, pork, ham, fish, etc. You need to add a ton of veggies since you have, well, almost none. You also need healthy fats - olive oil, avocado, more nuts, dairy, salmon/tuna etc.

What is the "granola" made of? What is a "chicken roll up"?

Your maintenance is probably around 3000, so if you're looking to lose fat, you're right on if the caloric estimate you made is correct (the 2300-2500) value. That's a positive sign.

 

[sunless tanning]

I find your diet pretty cool for gaining weight. I guess be more on fruits and vegetables, I wonder why you love chicken breast. I think it has a lot of fats. But regular work out would be the thing for you.