Sport New w/diet question

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drseuss

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New here and noticed some of you all pay pretty strict attention to the timing of your "meals". I'm a 39 y/o, 5'11'', 190 (or so) pound guy that quit smoking last New Year's eve.

So...fast forward to today. I've put on roughly 15 pounds and know that some of it is diet. Wife and I just went back to the healthy eating we were doing (coming off a wicked binge of quick meals and little time...and too much drink).

I basically bring a sack of food to work that consists of:

  • 4 boiled eggs (I eat the whites only)
  • 1 8oz low fat or fat free yogurt
  • 1 apple
  • 1 banana
  • 3 cups cantelope
  • 1 cup (rougly) blueberries
  • Green salad (romaine lettuce, red/yellow/orange peppers, onion)
  • 2 cups seasoned beans (black/kidney/black-eyed peas/northern beans) with fresh salsa
  • or
  • 1 small can of tuna or salmon
  • 2 oz (rougly) low fat dressing

Plus I drink around 2-3 cups of black coffee (morning only) and rougly 5L water throughout the work day.

Now to my question: how important is it to space the "meals" every 3 hours or so? I'll typically start around 8:30 and keep eating every couple hours until around 5:00 (or when the food runs out). I try to eat the eggs in the AM and the beans/fish with the salad around 1:00, but otherwise, just kind of graze off and on.

Does the diet look okay and should I be more strict with the timing?

Thanks--
 
Do you also have dinner, and deserts at home, later in the evening?

you paint a nice picture, but come on now!!

and on the eggs,,, those yokes have almost as much protein in them from what i hear.

FF
 
On a work out night (such as tonight), I don't actually have dinner.

I do have water (about a liter), a cup of herbal tea (currently either pomagranite or blueberry/green tea), and a bowl of fruit (banana, blueberries, blackberries, green grapes, and some cantelope) with 8oz of non-fat yogurt on top.

Having now read the fruit thread, I may be overdoing the evening fruit, but it is a couple hours (at least) before I actually go to bed.

On off nights I have some baked chicken and a veggie of some sort (wife makes dinner).

Now effer-- I have elevated cholesterol so I skip the yolks on the eggs, but do occasionally "cheat" and have one. The whites are actually kind of tasty all on their own.

-doc
 
Derwyddon said:
i'm sorry i'm not really answering the question you're asking, but you need A LOT more protien
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Okay-- I've been tracking everything I've eaten since 5/25. Is this starting to look a little bit better to meet my goal of shedding fat without losing LBM (and maybe even gaining a bit)?
 
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benelson101 said:
Sorry, but why do you not have dinner after a work out night???? if anything, its the time when you most need to eat.
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Good question-- and actually, since posting this, I've taken a hard look at my diet and not just what I've been eating, but when. I've tried to cut back on the fruits in the evening a bit and have started adding some protein (usually cottage cheese) and veggies in the evening after working out.

Tracking everything in a diet journal has opened my eyes as to what I'm putting in my body and what it's doing to me.

That said, I'm still pretty sure I'm in need of help on the ratios-- and how critical is it to make the projected calorie number? I'm having a hard time with that most days.
 
You need to add more complete lean proteins. Add some chicken breast in, cheap and easy to make. You really only have eggs(not that high in protein) and salmon/tuna. The way I try to look at it, you NEED to have a complete protein and veggie in each meal, everything else is optional.

I don't think you need to cut back on fruits, your veggies looks ok (more the better though).

Are you going under or over your calorie goal?

What ratio are you shooting for?
 
C-MayheM said:
You need to add more complete lean proteins. Add some chicken breast in, cheap and easy to make. You really only have eggs(not that high in protein) and salmon/tuna. The way I try to look at it, you NEED to have a complete protein and veggie in each meal, everything else is optional.
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We (wife and I) have started adding more ground turkey, lean hamburger, and chicken breast in many of the meals which I think is helping quite a bit. When you say a complete protein and veggie in each meal do you mean main meal or the "snack" meal since I try to eat about every 2-3 hours?

C-MayheM said:
Are you going under or over your calorie goal?
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I've been ending up under the calorite goal that FitDay has (sometimes by 1/2 the total). It just seems high, but maybe that's because I'm not used to eating like I should...and maybe that's contributed to why it's been so difficult for me to drop the fat and gain muscle.

C-MayheM said:
What ratio are you shooting for?
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I guess what I've been shooting for is about 1/3+ protein, 1/3+ carbs, 1/4 fat. The goal was to burn fat/lose weight without losing lean mass and preferably gaining in my arms/shoulders.
 
I don't really like the idea of main meals and snacks. I like all meals to be equal. Try this, Take your calorie goal, divide it by the number of meals you eat in a day, and whatever that number is is how many calories you should shoot for in each meal. Then you can fit in your proteins and veggies and fruits. That may help you out some.
 
drseuss said:
I've been ending up under the calorite goal that FitDay has (sometimes by 1/2 the total). It just seems high, but maybe that's because I'm not used to eating like I should...and maybe that's contributed to why it's been so difficult for me to drop the fat and gain muscle.



I guess what I've been shooting for is about 1/3+ protein, 1/3+ carbs, 1/4 fat. The goal was to burn fat/lose weight without losing lean mass and preferably gaining in my arms/shoulders.
Click to expand...

What is your workout regimen like ?

For example, how frequent, how intense and how long are your cardio and weight training sessions ?
 
drseuss said:
I've been tracking that in a journal: http://training.fitness.com/journal/seuss-hop-pop-shape-shifting-40ish-25178.html

I've probably done more cardio than weights-- but am wide open to suggestions. The pics are scary-- hoping to have some progress within the next couple months (enough to really see a difference).
Click to expand...

Judging from your link, it seems as though you are currently doing mostly anaerobic training ( i.e Boot Camp ) a couple of times a week - " I have almost exclusively stuck to cardio type workouts (rowing, running, and most recently "boot camp " - Weight training isn't part of your regimen.

That said, in terms of putting ratios together, I don't think you need to have A LOT of protein in your diet. At 188 lbs, you could easily get away with 15% of your total daily caloires coming from protien. If you assume you need about 16 calories per pound of bodyweight just to maintain your weight, that's somewhere around 3,000 calories. At 15%, that's 450 calories or 112 protein grams. And even on the basis of grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, since you don't weight train, you could probably easily get more than enough at 0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight or 150 grams of ptoein a day. So, even if you err on the high side of protein at 150 grams a day, based on 3,000 calories a day, that still only about 20% of your total daily calories coming from protien. And, this 20% is much less that the 33% protein you were contemplating - " 1/3+ protein, 1/3+ carbs, 1/4 fat ".

So, you could do protein @ 20%, fat @ 25% and the remaining 55% to come from carbs. Remember, all this Boot Camp stuff is hard anaerobic training and the primary fuel to get you thru these types workouts is glycogen - and glycogen comes from carbs. Actually, if it were me, I would keep the protein closer to 15% and bump my carbs above and closer to 60% to ensure I was refueling my glycogen stores as effectively as I could. I think that in light of the hard sort of anearobic training you're doing , only getting 33 % from carbs is much too low.

Now, all that aside - the " optimal " approach to sustained fat loss is to be very clear about the how's and why's of your diet in terms of calores, protein, fat & carbs etc. depending on what your goals are - something you are already doing. That is priority #1 and the most important factor to control IMO. Then, once that's nailed down, priority # 2 is some form of resistance training to build muscle. If you can, you want to try and introduce some resistance ( i.e weight ) training 3X a week and fit it in along with your Boot Camp cardio regimen each week - if you can. As you've probably read countless times on this thread, the more you weight train, you more muscle mass you can add, and the more muscle mass you add, the higher your resting metabolism will be and the higher your resting metabolism, the more calories you burn and the more calories you burn the more fat you will lose. Then, cardio becomes priority # 3 - something you are already doing.
 
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Wrangell said:
So, you could do protein @ 20%, fat @ 25% and the remaining 55% to come from carbs. Remember, all this Boot Camp stuff is hard anaerobic training and the primary fuel to get you thru these types workouts is glycogen - and glycogen comes from carbs. Actually, if it were me, I would keep the protein closer to 15% and bump my carbs above and closer to 60% to ensure I was refueling my glycogen stores as effectively as I could. I think that in light of the hard sort of anearobic training you're doing , only getting 33 % from carbs is much too low.
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So if I add three days of weights to my training (alternating with boot camp days), should I go ahead and try to tailor my diet to more carbs on BC days and more protein on weight days?

Weight days will probably consist of a dumbbell routine I can do at home versus any machines or other free weights at the gym and possibly some jump rope thrown in at the end for good measure.

Appreciate you all being so patient with me-- I'm learning, but sometimes it takes a bit to sink in.
 
drseuss said:
So if I add three days of weights to my training (alternating with boot camp days), should I go ahead and try to tailor my diet to more carbs on BC days and more protein on weight days?

Weight days will probably consist of a dumbbell routine I can do at home versus any machines or other free weights at the gym and possibly some jump rope thrown in at the end for good measure.

Appreciate you all being so patient with me-- I'm learning, but sometimes it takes a bit to sink in.
Click to expand...

Once you determine your goals, you want to stick with one basic overall ratio for your overall training to get to those goals - IMO. But obviously, as your goals change, you may wish to revist your ratios and caloric intake as needed. But as a general rule, there is no need to change the ratios of your overall daily nutrients ' day to day ' as you wondered about.

There is still a lot of debate about this, but if you look the literature, the upper limit cited most often by academics for protein ( for those athletes seeking to add muscle mass ) is 0.8 grams of protien per pound of bodyweight. So, even if you go above that 0.8 grams - i.e. 1 gram of protien per pound of bodyweight - you'll be fine even with the introduction of a dumbbell weight routine 3X aweek. At 1 gram of protien per pound of bodyweight, that puts your ratio for protien at 20% of your daily calories from protein. So, a consisent ratio of fat @ 25% and carbs @ 55% along with protien at 20% will cover off most of your cardio fuel and muscle building needs.

Again, there is no need to change overall nutrient ratios day to day as you wondered about, but you can fine tune things on a day to day basis in terms of the timing of these ' ratio-ed ' nutrients. Just remember to try and spread out your total calories throughout the day with meals being timed / spread out every 2.5 - 3 hours if you can. Also, try and have a light pre-workout snack an hour or so before every workout and a post-workout snack as soon as possible after after a cardio / weight workout. Both of these snacks should contain modest amounts of carbs and protein.
 
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