Djeclipse's Intermediate 5x5 take 2.

[djeclipse]

Wow, I think you've done pretty damned well on the 5x5 with a diet like that! You must be snacking on a lot in the evening, because it seems like you're not taking in many calories during the day. If I ate like that, I'd have my hands round the neck of the nearest small furry animal my noon, for want of something to eat.

I have actually added to my diet from morning till 5:00, when I first started the 5x5 I wasn't even eating breakfast.

I was getting all my calories from crap. Instead of eating a few doritos I'd sit and eat a whole big bag while watching the "Tv", then after I was sick of eating doritos I'd eat a donut (in the same sitting), the one donut would turn into 3-5, and then i’d eat some chocolate. For awhile I was spending $5-$10per day on junk food. I estimate my diet was like 5000 calories.

I will look into kiwi, don't think I've ever had one of those before. And see about maybe having another protein shake during the day, maybe before my workout, like 1hr?

 

[djeclipse]

What I meant by "animal protein" includes but isn't limited to animal flesh, so dairy products, including protein powders, would count.

You can get oats (without tons of sugar or other crap added) at pretty much any grocery store. Look for rolled oats or steel-cut oats.

A quick way to significantly improve your diet would just be to take those fruit meals and replace them with oats and protein powder in shaker bottles. You can grind up rolled oats in a blender or coffee grinder for this. Once you get in the habit of eating more frequent real meals (i.e. more than just a piece of fruit), you can start doing other stuff depending on what you want to take the time to prepare/store.
EDIT: If you want to keep some fruit, maybe have oats and protein powder with one meal, then fruit as your carbs in the next.

For the protein powder drinks, do you add milk? I was having 2 a day but I was feeling bloated, maybe it was because I was adding in yogurt and milk to it.

For my post w/o shake I do add one thing of flavoured yogurt. So maybe I can add in a protein shake (mixed with just water) before or after lunch. Or pre workout?

And then try to get some oats to much on as I am working? I hope they taste good, lol

Again as mentioned before, lurking on the diet forum a bit might be a good idea. Also check out xblitz's journal for his very solid diet. He's bulking, but the quantity, not the type, of food is the primary difference between bulking and cutting diets.

I will have to go look for his journal.

Thanks to everyone for the replies, I see now that my diet is something I really need to work on.

 

[Cynical Simian]

For the protein powder drinks, do you add milk? I was having 2 a day but I was feeling bloated, maybe it was because I was adding in yogurt and milk to it.

For my post w/o shake I do add one thing of flavoured yogurt. So maybe I can add in a protein shake (mixed with just water) before or after lunch. Or pre workout?

And then try to get some oats to much on as I am working? I hope they taste good, lol

The only shakes I have are before and after my workout, and I just use water for them. Adding milk would be an easy way to add calories, but since you're trying to cut a bit and already getting protein from the powder, water would probably be a better bet for now.

Ditch the flavored yogurt and pretty much anything else that can be termed "flavored", since that flavoring often comes from added sugar.

If you have access to a microwave, preparing the oats that way and adding some fruit and/or artificial sweetener should give you something pretty tasty. You can even mix the protein powder into a bowl of cooked oats if you want.

Oats or another non-fructose carb (fructose replenishes liver rather than muscle glycogen) before your workout would be a good way to go.

 

[xblitz44x]

For the protein powder drinks, do you add milk? I was having 2 a day but I was feeling bloated, maybe it was because I was adding in yogurt and milk to it.

I drink 3 protein shakes per day. The first shake is at noon, mixed with water. I eat a few scoops of peanut butter along with it. The second shake is PWO mixed with dextrose and water. The 3rd shake is before bed - I only use one scoop of whey and mix it with about 16 oz of milk.

 

[anotherbutters]

Nuts! I forgot about nuts! If you really want to snack on something in the evening, nuts would be a good choice - plenty of good fats.

CS - artificial sweetener in your oats? Bleh! Use honey, man! Lots of natural goodness!

 

[BiggT]

I didn't know you wanted to start cutting.....actually, instead of 'cutting' lets call it improving body composition, that way you don't start worrying about losing strength.

First of all, and don't take this the wrong way because I always liked you, you eat like a 12 year old girl.

Raisin Bran is crap, you might as well eat a Snickers bar with some Metamusel on the side. If you're not a breakfast person, you need to become one, anything and everything you do with respect to physical performance is all dependant on how you start the day.....You need to protein, not 3 egg whites either, that wouldn't satisfy my 115 lb sister, don't be afraid of whole eggs.....forget about cereal and eat oatmeal or whole wheat toast (real ww toast, not sugary crap with 0.1 g of Fiber that calls itself whole wheat).....

I think your main problem was lack of calories all day and then binging at night.....now it is going to be lack of overall calories.....if I ate like that all day, I'd sure as hell eat a bag of Dorritos at night, hell, I'd eat anything in the kitchen that would fit into my mouth I'd be so miserable and hungry.

To lose bodyfat, eat as much lean meat and green vegetables as you can stomach.....when looking at fish, chicken, lean beef, turkey, start thinking in terms of pounds eaten per day. Eat enough green veggies and salads for a small family....you can control your weight through carb intake.....

Alright, lol, bashing of your eating habbits is now over.....

What I would do for your goals is this.....eat a huge breakfast of eggs, some type of meat, oatmeal, and milk. Eat a lot of lean meats and fish, eat a lot of complex carbs like sweet potatoes, oats, brown rice, whole wheat pasta. Eat as many green veggies as you possibly can. Drink a gallon of water a day. Get a decent protein powder for a quick fix. Eliminate sugars from the diet (except for milk and fruit of course). Then systematically increase your training load, think about doing conditioning work or light olympic lifting complexes at the ass crack of dawn if it is possible......

Do you have access to a fridge at work?? Bring stuff.....bring protein shakes, tuna sandwhiches, chicken and rice, beef and whole wheat pasta, etc. If you go out, I recommend either tuna, or turkey, or roast beef club sandwhiches, lots of protein, plus the bacon, and get it on whole wheat or rye.

To kill cravings, try vanilla whey with milk, PB, and a banana, it is sweet, good for body comp. and kills the taste for something sweet.

 

[Cynical Simian]

CS - artificial sweetener in your oats? Bleh! Use honey, man! Lots of natural goodness!

Hey, I never said that's how I eat my oats. I'm somewhere between honey and artificial sweetener: sugar-free syrup.

 

[djeclipse]

Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate them.

BiggT, I realize now that my diet is pitiful so no offence taken

I see now that I really have to make an effort and start preparing actual meals. It will be a challenge for me especially in the morning as time is always something I am short of.

Friday I went out and bought some kiwi and oats to bring to work. the oats look like they aren't going to be tasting good so maybe I will go out at lunch and get honey to put on them.

I will have to go through BiggT's post and pick through it and make a shopping list sometime in the near future. And I have a few questions.

Unfortunately I fund out that my dad is in need of heart surgery ASAP so this weekend I hardly ate a thing, I tried to force myself to eat but It just wasn't going down. I will try to eat as much as I can today, go in to the gym and attempt the 225 x 5 for bench that I'm sure I'll miss and take the rest of the week off as the surgery will most likely be Wed. Eating enough food will be a challenge.

 

[djeclipse]

Week 9 Day 3 (Fri)

Squat
110 x 5
140 x 5
170 x 5
195 x 5
225 x 3
170 x 8

Bench
110 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 5
190 x 5
225 x 3
165 x 8

Rows
100 x 5
125 x 5
145 x 5
170 x 5
197.5 x 3
145 x 5

Dips
20 x 10
20 x 10
20 x 8

Seated tri extensions
70 x 9
70 x 9
70 x 9

berbll curl strict form
75 x 9
75 x 9
75 x 7

bad day, mind was elsewhere.

 

[BiggT]

I always say personal/family issues come first. I'd tend to them before even thinking about training. Some people can use the gym as an outlet to keep them sane in stressful times though. I wish you well with your dad and I hope everything workds out well.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Great post BiggT, even your diet posts make me want to lift lol

DJ: Sorry to hear about your father Best wishes to you and your fam.

 

[djeclipse]

I always say personal/family issues come first. I'd tend to them before even thinking about training. Some people can use the gym as an outlet to keep them sane in stressful times though. I wish you well with your dad and I hope everything workds out well.

Thanks, I do hope that the time in the gym today will help releave some stress, we'll see. Maybe it will help give me an appetite after.

DJ: Sorry to hear about your father Best wishes to you and your fam.

Thanks.

 

[anotherbutters]

Best wishes for your father, DJ.

 

[djeclipse]

I forgot my journal at home but I failed at my 225 x 5 for bench (no surprise there), I got it 3 times and said forget it. I should have done a forced rep but just didn't feel like it. I am happy with my 220 x 5 I got to this run, it is more then I expected. It's up form 197.5 x 5 which is 22.5lb gain in 11 weeks.

230 x 5 for squats felt good, I am more comfortable coming out of the hole, when I start again i will be ready to start making PR's for squat.

197.5 x 5 was a new PR for rows.

I am still having trouble eating, too nervous. I tried to eat last night but had like 3 bites chicken. I hope I am able to eat more and don't loose too much hard gained muscle. I will take the rest of the week off and see how things go form there.

Cheers.

 

[blut wump]

I hope all goes well with your dad. Don't forget he'll be nervous as hell, too.

Congrats on your 225 triple. Five would have been great but some days it's not happening. Congrats, too, on your rows.

Take the time to chill from the lifting and get your head together and spend time with the family. Good luck.

 

[anotherbutters]

I don't want to sound callous when you're obviously thinking of your dad, but if you can stomach eating, throw some milk, oats, ANPB, a banana and some whey into a blender. It makes a good shake with plenty of calories that you can prepare and eat in less than 3 mins, which is about as quick and convenient as it gets.

 

[djeclipse]

What a long week.

Thanks to all that expressed concern for my dad, the last week or so has been pretty stressful and at some points I had to force myself to eat even one meal a day.

The surgery was last wednesday at 8:00am. It was supposed to only be 4hrs but lets just say it was the longest day of my life. The surgery went fine but after there were some problems, I won't go into them now but it was pretty hectic for awhile there. Also if you smoke send me a PM if you want a good incentive for stopping.

He is out of ICU now which makes me feel much better and hopefully will be coming home soon.

So now back to lifting.

 

[djeclipse]

I have decided to do another run of the 5x5 instead of switching rep ranges or another program. It's just been working so well for me and I really want to get that 225 x 5 for bench and add on pounds to my squat and dead.

Here is a recap of the last run's progress in the 5 rep range.

Squat... didn't really make any gains on these as far as weight goes but my depth s much better and I am now doing a full ATF squat. 230 to 242.5lbs = 12.5lbs

Bench 197.5 to 220 = 22.5lbs

Rows... I switched my grip from underhand to overhand so again it was more of a form thing. 180 to 195 =15lbs

Military press 127.5 to 140 = 12.5lbs

Deadlift 335 to 370 = 35lbs

If you look at the bigger picture back to my first run I started in on jan 17th I the gains are as follows (in the 5 rep range).

Body Weight 190-195lbs (wasn't looking to gain wight).

Squat +62.5lbs

Bench +37.5lbs

Rows +45lbs

Military press +25lbs

Deadlift + 65lbs

Not bad for 4.5-5 month's

I will set my weights pretty conservatively as I haven’t been eating much in the last week or so. I will hit most of my current PR's in week 5 instead of week 4.

3rd time's a charm right?

 

[djeclipse]

And finally Diet.

I have read and re-read everything posted here about my diet, thank you to everyone posting and bare with me as I try to improve it and eat properly.

I went out and bought some oats, kiwi, whole wheat bread and will add in a protein shake sometime before my 5:30 workout.

My first question is how many calories should I be looking to get. I am 195 and would like to loose the gut I established form eating so much crap for so long.

I have put my typical days food into that fitday website and without the shakes I am at

2300calories
68 grams of fat
289 grams fo carbs
143 grams of protein

I assume with the extra protein shake and the PWO shake the protein will be up to 180 or so grams. Once I go home and look at the nutrient facts on the shake I will know for sure.

Breakfast for me is very hard, time is limited so I have 3 hard boiled eggs usually only eat the whites.
1 slice of toasted whole wheat bread
1 cup raisin bran (is there a better cereal to eat instead of raisin bran? I know BiggT is not a fan)
1 apple

It is consumed between the time I leave for work 8:30 or so and 10:00

Then through out the day I have with me
1/3cup oats (I add in honey for flavour)
1/3 cupAlmonds
1 protein shake mixed with water
3 apples
1 pear
1 plum
1 kiwi

For lunch I have a chicken pita with salad including 2 carrots I cut up.

My question is when is the best time to consume the protein shake, have the oats and when to eat the almonds? So far it's 2:00 lunch was at 1:00 and I still have the oats, almonds and protein shake to eat.

When I get home I'll have 2 pieces of chicken (one on a bun) seamed veggies, some sort of salad.

Then later on I'll have t find some kind of snack. I hope this is enough to still allow me to build muscle.

I will also be going to get some brown rice after the gym today, not sure where to eat that either,

Any other advice is much appreciated.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Great to hear that the surgery went well and that your dad is making progress on his recovery.

I know it's difficult to change habits, but you really need to cut out some of that fruit. It's better than junk food, but you're not leaving much room for other stuff with ~200 grams (just a guess) of fructose per day. If you need a convenient, fast food for during the day, like I said before, go with milk. As for breakfast, your best bet is going to be a hot cereal, since most cold cereals are sugar-loaded crap. The rolled oats you bought would work well, but there are plenty of other choices as well (oat bran, steel-cut, mixed grain, etc.). Also, you need more protein in your breakfast...as you might've noticed when you put them into fitday, there's not much in 3 egg whites.

As far as overall numbers go, a 20-40-40 breakdown of fat, carbs and protein, respectively, is a decent general range to shoot for.

 

[djeclipse]

Great to hear that the surgery went well and that your dad is making progress on his recovery.

I know it's difficult to change habits, but you really need to cut out some of that fruit. It's better than junk food, but you're not leaving much room for other stuff with ~200 grams (just a guess) of fructose per day. If you need a convenient, fast food for during the day, like I said before, go with milk. As for breakfast, your best bet is going to be a hot cereal, since most cold cereals are sugar-loaded crap. The rolled oats you bought would work well, but there are plenty of other choices as well (oat bran, steel-cut, mixed grain, etc.). Also, you need more protein in your breakfast...as you might've noticed when you put them into fitday, there's not much in 3 egg whites.

As far as overall numbers go, a 20-40-40 breakdown of fat, carbs and protein, respectively, is a decent general range to shoot for.

Thanks for the reply.

On fitday the 3 egg whites say 10grams of protein, the whole wheat bread has 3, raisin bran has 6 = 19grams. I need more then that? If so, how?

I will add some oat bran cereal to the shopping list and maybe cut out a few of the apples, though I don't mind eating them though.

I think after I add in the protien shake i wil be pretty close to the 20-40-40 you're talking about. Justnot sure exactly how many carbs/cals etc. I should be looking to get daily.

 

[blut wump]

I'm glad to hear that your dad is out of intensive care. All the best for him.


The general guide is around 15x bodyweight in pounds cals. 18+ to bulk, 12- to cut.

at 195, 2925 cals.

 

[Cynical Simian]

The Harris Benedict Equation is one pretty well-known calculator. Obviously, it's not going to be perfectly accurate, but it'll give you a general idea of where to set your calories (and then figure out how many grams of protein, etc. you should aim for). Then you can adjust total calories based on how your weight changes.

If time is a factor, you can bump up the protein in your breakfast with a shake or a glass of milk.

 

[xblitz44x]

Thanks for the reply.

On fitday the 3 egg whites say 10grams of protein, the whole wheat bread has 3, raisin bran has 6 = 19grams. I need more then that? If so, how?

I will add some oat bran cereal to the shopping list and maybe cut out a few of the apples, though I don't mind eating them though.

I think after I add in the protien shake i wil be pretty close to the 20-40-40 you're talking about. Justnot sure exactly how many carbs/cals etc. I should be looking to get daily.

I think you should try to pack in about 25-30 grams of protein per meal; plus, I usually don't count the protein that is in bread, pasta, rice, etc. The protein I count comes from meat, eggs, milk, or protein powder.

Figure out which is more important to you right now, building muscle or *losing the gut. You can't expect to do both since to burn that gut you're going to have to stay below your maintenance calories. To build you'll have to stay above.

If you're trying to build, add milk. A quart provides 400 calories and 32 grams of protein - drink one with breakfast and you've met your protein quota for the meal. Also, switch to whole eggs. Peanut butter packs a nice punch of protein and healthy fats and is convenient to eat.

2300 calories seems low for a guy who is 195. If you want to bulk I'd up it to 3500 calories and monitor your progress in the mirror. If you're getting a little too "puffy", knock it down to 3200 and go from there.

 

[mm107]

I think you should try to pack in about 25-30 grams of protein per meal; plus, I usually don't count the protein that is in bread, pasta, rice, etc. The protein I count comes from meat, eggs, milk, or protein powder.

Figure out which is more important to you right now, building muscle or *losing the gut. You can't expect to do both since to burn that gut you're going to have to stay below your maintenance calories. To build you'll have to stay above.

If you're trying to build, add milk. A quart provides 400 calories and 32 grams of protein - drink one with breakfast and you've met your protein quota for the meal. Also, switch to whole eggs. Peanut butter packs a nice punch of protein and healthy fats and is convenient to eat.

2300 calories seems low for a guy who is 195. If you want to bulk I'd up it to 3500 calories and monitor your progress in the mirror. If you're getting a little too "puffy", knock it down to 3200 and go from there.

yea DJ, hes right its one or the other. I mean you can CLEAN bulk like me and you wont have to worry too much in the future to cut down. If you are cutting, still eat very clean, i seemed to put on some, not alot, muscle size during cutting just from eating clean.

3500 is a good start for a bulker, i used to hit 3500+. My bench skyrocketed, Sqaut flew up and the deadlift got heavy! Now i dont want to really cut because of the strenght i really have gotten. Im doing a "super clean bulk" right now. My abs came through. Eating around 3000cals/day. BUT CLEAN. Im 6'0. Was 193, now 185. So im technically "cutting" if you look at the numbers.

 

[djeclipse]

I'm glad to hear that your dad is out of intensive care. All the best for him.

The general guide is around 15x bodyweight in pounds cals. 18+ to bulk, 12- to cut.

at 195, 2925 cals.

Thanks, for both.

I for sure don't want to do any bulking, I want to get rid of this gut. I know you can't have your cake and eat it too, it's not ideal to cut and gain muscle at the same time. Right now my waist is 36" and my guy is 39.5" I want to get the gut to waste/hips ratio a little closer together before bulking.

I don't want to go on a huge cutting phase, I want to still train while maintaing a good diet with all the proper portions, carbs, fat, cals etc. to loose the fat. I know the last place it will go is around the waist so i guess i’ll have to be patient. I don't really care much about actual body weight. If I loose a few lbs or stay the same it's all the same, as long as the gut goes away, lol.

I also want to stay away from milk as it's not the best thing for my stomach right now. Which is fine since I'm not bulking

 

[xblitz44x]

Thanks, for both.

I for sure don't want to do any bulking, I want to get rid of this gut.

Sounds good. You still have to eat enough of the right foods though. The 11 pm snack binges will ensure that you'll never reach the goal of eliminating that gut. If you're cutting I suggest monitoring your carbs a bit. Nothing extreme but keep the pasta away from bedtime and make sure the carbs you are getting aren't from sugar or enriched flour.

PS: It's "lose"

 

[djeclipse]

Sounds good. You still have to eat enough of the right foods though. The 11 pm snack binges will ensure that you'll never reach the goal of eliminating that gut. If you're cutting I suggest monitoring your carbs a bit. Nothing extreme but keep the pasta away from bedtime and make sure the carbs you are getting aren't from sugar or enriched flour.

PS: It's "lose"

That's why I'm asking here, you guys have been a great help with suggesting the right foods for me to be eating.

I have cut out all of the crap snack food, and will try and get rid of the late night shacks alltogether.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Right now my waist is 36" and my guy is 39.5"

Sounds like what you want to try is a recomp, so just use one of the formulae BW and I gave you to figure out how many calories you need for maintenance. Then put together and post a diet (meal time, food type/amount) using that number and the foods you have or will have and the guidelines mentioned. We'll almost certainly recommend some changes, but progress will probably be quicker if you give us something with which to work.

 

[Tweakle]

a 40" gut is going to take some serious work to strip off, but trust me you will look 100% better for it

3 months of catabolism will SUCK but if you care about aesthetics then thats what you gotta take.. the longer you leave it the harder it'll be to get it down. How tall/heavy are you BTW? (sorry if you posted that already)

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3398

a great diet approach, although I lost a lot of strength on it and needed to switch to a half day TCD

 

[djeclipse]

Round 3
Week1 Day 1 (mon)

It felt good to get back to the gym, as usual I had a headache, I think it may be form the monitor at work and stairing at the computer all day. Everything else felt good.

Squats
110 x 5
135 x 5
160 x 5
190 x 5
215 x 5

Bench
100 x 5
125 x 5
150 x 5
175 x 5
200 x 5

Rows
90 x 5
110 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5

My head was pounding so I skipped the hypers and abs, I shouldn't have....

I'm not that sore today.

 

[djeclipse]

a 40" gut is going to take some serious work to strip off, but trust me you will look 100% better for it

3 months of catabolism will SUCK but if you care about aesthetics then thats what you gotta take.. the longer you leave it the harder it'll be to get it down. How tall/heavy are you BTW? (sorry if you posted that already)

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3398

a great diet approach, although I lost a lot of strength on it and needed to switch to a half day TCD

I am currently 5'-6" 195lbs. I realize now that it will take a little more work then I initially expected to loose this gut. I shouldn't have let it go for so long.

I will have to spend lunch and really read that link you sent.

 

[djeclipse]

Sounds like what you want to try is a recomp, so just use one of the formulae BW and I gave you to figure out how many calories you need for maintenance. Then put together and post a diet (meal time, food type/amount) using that number and the foods you have or will have and the guidelines mentioned. We'll almost certainly recommend some changes, but progress will probably be quicker if you give us something with which to work.

I went to the site and it said my BMR is 1921.85. I wasn’t sur what activity level to pick as lifting 3x a week probably doesn’t burn that many calories. So I used the activity factor of 1.365 =

2642.54 cals to maintain where I'm at now.

Luckily Soccer season starts so I will be able to play once per week and burn some cal's there.

I used fitday and figured out my total cals consumed yesterday was roughly

Total carbs: 2525
Fat: 26%
Sat: 4%
Poly: 7%
Mono 12% Can't remember what is the good fat.

Carbs: 41%

Protein: 34%

It was probably a little more cals as my Gf came over and we made this chicken veggie thing that I had a little too much of... but it was so good. lots of potatoes though.

Here is my rough draft of my daily diet.

Breakfast 8:30-9:30
3 eggs hard boiled only whites eaten
1 slice 100% whole wheat toast
Cereal (either oat bran or raisin bran)
1 tablespoon honey if I have the oat bran
1 apple

Cals = 383
Fat = 4g
Carbs = 72g
Prot. = 18

I think I'm going to stick with the raisin bran as the carbs, fat, cals etc. work out to be the same and I just can't eat that oat bran before I leave for work.


Meal 2 11:30
Protein shake
Apple (or some other fruit)

Cals = 211
Fat = 2g
Carbs = 32g
Prot. = 28g

Lunch 1:30
Chicken pita
Salad with 2 carrots

Cals = 572
Fat = 11g
Carbs = 62g
Prot. = 41g

Meal 4 4:30
1/3 cup oats
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup almonds
(some kind of fruit)

Cals = 513
Fat = 26g
Carbs = 64g
Prot. = 15g

Total before I leave work =
Cals = 1679
Fat = 43g
Carbs = 230g
Prot. = 102g

If I work out I will have a Post work out shake usually with a yogurt in it for flavour.

Gym usually 6:00 - 7:30 or so

Dinner 8:00
2 pieces chicken brest (boneless no skin)
1 cup brown rice
Steamed vegetables

Cals = 802
Fat = 23g
Carbs = 590g
Prot. = 89g

Total =
Cals = 2505
Fat = 66g
Carbs = 310g
Prot. = 189g


For work out days adding in my post work out shake =
Cals = 2635
Fat = 62g
Carbs = 312g
Prot. = 217g

I would still like some kind of snack to eat at roughly 10:30-11:00 or so while I'm winding down watching all the great TV shows like Prison break, Sopranos, Trailer park boys....

Also it seems like I would be having too much Protein as 217g’s is more then 1lb per body fat and I’ve read that the body has no problems turning extra protein into calories.

I also didn't add in the odd pear and plum during the day I will eat.

Let me know what you think, if I need to add anything, change anything at all. I've never eaten this much food before lunch before, and even after lunch.

 

[BiggT]

If I were you, I'd force myself to love oats, I'd really swap a nice, generous serving of oatmeal for the Raisin Bran, Raisin bran is loaded with sugary, shit calories, so don't let the high fiber count mask it's true identity, lol.

Protein shake and some fruit is fine for a mid-morning snack.

Try for some lunch-time carbs, like a baked potato or sweet potato, or brown rice or whole wheat pasta, or hell, if you're in a pinch Baked Lays never done hurt nobody, lol.

Meal 4 is fine as long as it gets you through your workout.

That post-workout dinner is gonna leave you STARVING an hour later. I'd suggest a simple carb as the starch, or maybe a more satisfying meat than lean chicken.....or Just have another high protein meal or a shake before bed......whey with milk and peanut butter and some almonds should make you feel full and happy during your TV shows and keep you out of trouble......but you should do one of those things because that dinner will leave you tearing through the kitchen like a madman stuffing your mouth with whatever will fit inside of it as soon as 10 PM hits.

Overall, pretty decent though. And, I am TELLING YOU, a young, active guy like yourself will have absolutely no problems recomping and hardening up by simply eliminating shit snacks and sugary drinks and just using a little common sense. Don't sweat this, it'll be easy for you. If you ate yourself to a 40 inch waist, odds are you probably deserve every inch of it.....just make a smart choice whenever you eat and don't let yourself get too hungry at any one time.

PS,

Just want to restate that Raisin bran is crap fortified with fiber, lol. Also, if you want to go with whites and no whole eggs, you'll need a lot more than 3 of them, I know 125lb women who eat 6-8 egg whites.

 

[BiggT]

One more thing I missed is you'll need some more fats.....maybe in the AM eat 5 egg whites plus one whole egg, or add some PB to the protein shakes.....lowered dietary fat leaves you feeling hungry and miserable, if you want to make a long-term change instead of attaining a temporary, unrealistic state, you'll need to feel satisfied and comfortable.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Looks like BiggT already gave some solid advice while I was messing around with formatting these quotes.

Breakfast 8:30-9:30
3 eggs hard boiled only whites eaten
1 slice 100% whole wheat toast
Cereal (either oat bran or raisin bran)
1 tablespoon honey if I have the oat bran
1 apple

Cals = 383
Fat = 4g
Carbs = 72g
Prot. = 18

I think I'm going to stick with the raisin bran as the carbs, fat, cals etc. work out to be the same and I just can't eat that oat bran before I leave for work.

You still need more protein, and keeping the raisin bran is a bit like claiming a candy bar is identical to oats and some almonds because the macros are the same.

Meal 2 and Lunch look pretty good.

Meal 4 4:30
1/3 cup oats
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup almonds
(some kind of fruit)

Cals = 513
Fat = 26g
Carbs = 64g
Prot. = 15g

You need more protein again. Get rid of the honey and/or fruit and add a meat/dairy protein of some sort. Since this is right before your workout, you might want to go with higher-carb, lower-fat breakdown. Maybe move the almonds and one of the dinner chicken breasts to be your last meal of the day.

If I work out I will have a Post work out shake usually with a yogurt in it for flavour.

Buy a good-tasting whey instead of adding sugary yogurt for flavor.

Dinner 8:00
2 pieces chicken brest (boneless no skin)
1 cup brown rice
Steamed vegetables

Cals = 802
Fat = 23g
Carbs = 590g (lol)
Prot. = 89g

For once, you have too much protein. See the above suggestion about the almonds.

Also it seems like I would be having too much Protein as 217g’s is more then 1lb per body fat and I’ve read that the body has no problems turning extra protein into calories.

Um, the body can store extra calories as fat whether they come from carbs, fat, or protein. Your protein intake certainly doesn't need to be any lower.

I also didn't add in the odd pear and plum during the day I will eat.

I've said it before: I know it might be a difficult change, but you don't need any more fruit.

Let me know what you think, if I need to add anything, change anything at all. I've never eaten this much food before lunch before, and even after lunch.

Like BiggT said, you probably won't feel the need to binge later in the day if you eat more earlier.

 

[BiggT]

Good stuff above too. I was also thinking for dinner, something like Salmon (lots of good fat will leave you more satisfied than plain chicken breasts) with roasted potatoes (simple carb is okay after the workout and roasted in olive oil will give you more good fats) with a salad and a green veggie........then around 10:30 have whey with water and a handful of almonds......the trick is never to feel ravenously hungry, once that happens you're done and you'll eat whatever you can get your hands on.

PS

Raisin Bran is still total shit.

 

[blut wump]

Another vote for oats. Think of the Raisin Bran as chewy sugar.

 

[Tweakle]

Just some random thoughts - Eating monotony is, for me, the key to losing bodyfat - its actually easier once you've disassociated food from pleasure to stick to a diet as 1) you know exactly what you're getting all the time and 2) it becomes a regime and that's key for me to stick to something. I eat pretty much the same thing at the same time every day which makes it very easy to tune my cardio/training or recoup time if I need to make up a deficit.

Once you know every meal has to be exactly 50-60g's protien, 25-30g's fat then the rest falls into place

the key is discipline, and no 'wiggle room', no cheat meals nothing that causes you to lose that fortress mentality.

For breakfast, if you're having carbs try soaking 2/3rds a cup of oats in a thick protien shake for 10 minutes, add a small amount of almonds and you have a perfect start to the day (assuming the protien powder doesnt taste like ass).. that mix is also perfect pre workout, post workout, on carbup days.. pretty much for everything
of course other people have succeeded on different approaches but for me thats what it takes

 

[djeclipse]

Again, thanks to everyone taking the time to help me out here.

If I were you, I'd force myself to love oats, I'd really swap a nice, generous serving of oatmeal for the Raisin Bran, Raisin bran is loaded with sugary, shit calories, so don't let the high fibre count mask it's true identity, lol.

How do you people eat these oats? They taste like nothing and have the consistency of runny diarrhea. Even with the honey added to it, it still doesn't taste good.

Maybe I am making it wrong, 1/3 cup of oat bran, 2/3 cup of water, microwave for 60 seconds... enjoy

If I have to I can make it as soon as I get to work in the morning. But are you guys sure that even with the added honey it's that much better then raisin bran?

Protein shake and some fruit is fine for a mid-morning snack.

At least I got something right, lol

Try for some lunch-time carbs, like a baked potato or sweet potato, or brown rice or whole wheat pasta, or hell, if you're in a pinch Baked Lays never done hurt nobody, lol.

I could bring in some cooked brow rice and microwave it But after lunch I do feel pretty full, I don't want to feel bloated. Are the extra carbs here necessary, the pita bread, salsa, cheese etc not enough?

Meal 4 is fine as long as it gets you through your workout.

We'll see, usually I would just have 2 apples and a pear before workout so the oats and almonds should be an improvement.

That post-workout dinner is gonna leave you STARVING an hour later. I'd suggest a simple carb as the starch,

Please excuse my ignorance, but is a simple carb or starch a potato? What if I eat one of the chicken breasts on a bun, is that enough?

or maybe a more satisfying meat than lean chicken.....or Just have another high protein meal or a shake before bed......whey with milk and peanut butter and some almonds should make you feel full and happy during your TV shows and keep you out of trouble......but you should do one of those things because that dinner will leave you tearing through the kitchen like a madman stuffing your mouth with whatever will fit inside of it as soon as 10 PM hits.

As you can see I'm not a big red meat eater, I have nothing against it I just prefer chicken. You also mentioned samoan as an alternative but I can't stand fish, lol.

So I can have another shake later on with more almonds? how about 2-3 eg whites in there also? my only concern is that I would be having 3 protein shakes per day (on workout days) isn't that too many shakes?

Overall, pretty decent though. And, I am TELLING YOU, a young, active guy like yourself will have absolutely no problems recomping and hardening up by simply eliminating shit snacks and sugary drinks and just using a little common sense. Don't sweat this, it'll be easy for you. If you ate yourself to a 40 inch waist, odds are you probably deserve every inch of it.....just make a smart choice whenever you eat and don't let yourself get too hungry at any one time.

I'm not that young 29 and not that active. I sit in front of a computer all day at work, my only calorie burning activities are lifting and soon soccer once a week. You're right though, I did deserve my 40" gut, the way I was eating before I'm surprised it isn't any bigger.

PS,

Just want to restate that Raisin bran is crap fortified with fibre, lol. Also, if you want to go with whites and no whole eggs, you'll need a lot more than 3 of them, I know 125lb women who eat 6-8 egg whites.

How about one hole egg and 2 whites?

 

[Cynical Simian]

I think what he meant by "simple" carb in that case was "high GI"; the carbs in potatoes are starches, which are complex. Regardless, the underlying rationale regarding a potato being good post-workout is correct.

 

[djeclipse]

Just some random thoughts - Eating monotony is, for me, the key to losing bodyfat - its actually easier once you've disassociated food from pleasure to stick to a diet as 1) you know exactly what you're getting all the time and 2) it becomes a regime and that's key for me to stick to something. I eat pretty much the same thing at the same time every day which makes it very easy to tune my cardio/training or recoup time if I need to make up a deficit.

Once you know every meal has to be exactly 50-60g's protien, 25-30g's fat then the rest falls into place

the key is discipline, and no 'wiggle room', no cheat meals nothing that causes you to lose that fortress mentality.

That is what I will have to do. For so long eating has been a pleasure, something to look forward too and the feeling of over eating and being bloated after was just natural. At night it was simply a habit. I think if I can get everything down to a time line like you say and eat the same thing at the same time every day it will be easier.

I need discipline, maybe after work I'll go paint the fence, sand the floor, wax the car... wax on, wax off...

For breakfast, if you're having carbs try soaking 2/3rds a cup of oats in a thick protien shake for 10 minutes, add a small amount of almonds and you have a perfect start to the day (assuming the protien powder doesnt taste like ass).. that mix is also perfect pre workout, post workout, on carbup days.. pretty much for everything
of course other people have succeeded on different approaches but for me thats what it takes

More oats! lol When you make that shake do you drink it or eat it with a straw? Also I may need a better tasting protein shake as the one I have now doesn’t taste that great... not to meniton I think it’s expired.

 

[Tweakle]

I eat it, it has the consistancy of pudding which I like (I sprinkle some rasins into it too when I'm post workout)

for great tasting, super cheap protien try trueprotien.com , you wont find a better source.. I have eaten my way through almost 50lbs of their fruit punch flavored concentrate in the last few months and I'm still not sick of it

 

[djeclipse]

Looks like BiggT already gave some solid advice while I was messing around with formatting these quotes.


You still need more protein, and keeping the raisin bran is a bit like claiming a candy bar is identical to oats and some almonds because the macros are the same.

Where to get more protein? More eggs?

You need more protein again. Get rid of the honey and/or fruit and add a meat/dairy protein of some sort. Since this is right before your workout, you might want to go with higher-carb, lower-fat breakdown. Maybe move the almonds and one of the dinner chicken breasts to be your last meal of the day.

The honey is in there soI can actually eat the oats, lol I could move the almonds and one chicken breast to the last meal of the day, but It may be too much before bed?

Buy a good-tasting whey instead of adding sugary yogurt for flavor.

Good tasting Whey? Isn’t that an oxy-moron?

 

[Tweakle]

It'll be tough at first I wont bullshit you - but stick to it and results will come your way. The thing to remember is the looser you are with your diet, the more you 'just live a little' and have that slice of pizza (or whatever your poision is ) the longer it will take to lose the fat and the more time you will have to spend in a catabolic state.

honestly the hardest thing is getting the other people in your life to not intentionally or unintentionally sabotage your efforts. My GF is an awesome cook and bakes the best cookies and cakes in the world so it's hard to turn them down.. people at work making retarded comments or pestering you to come out to lunch.. its the hardest thing sometimes

 

[BiggT]

ON Whey tastes pretty good and is reasonably priced, however, admittedly, I have only ever mixed it with milk, it may taste like shit with water. I am gonna check out that site Tweakle posted, I am all about taste.

CS explained the potatoes post workout thing for me, so you get the idea.

With breakfast, just more eggs for more protein. 3 egg whites is ridiculously small, it isn't enough for someone literally half your size.

With the oatmeal, just stop being a pansy and eat it. It may not be the most pleasurable thing, but just do it and learn to love it......if you want, Quaker makes instant oatmeal called "weight control" or some such thing. They have Banana Bread and Cinamon, there is virtually no sugar and about 7 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber....it is a little pricey, but an option for the taste department.

 

[Cynical Simian]

if you want, Quaker makes instant oatmeal called "weight control" or some such thing. They have Banana Bread and Cinamon, there is virtually no sugar and about 7 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber....it is a little pricey, but an option for the taste department.

I have to disagree with this; you might as well save a bit of money and eat raisin bran instead of this stuff. They're using one of the oldest "make a crappy product seem nutritious" tricks: sweetening it with maltodextrin, which is technically a complex carb (so it doesn't show up as 'sugar' on the nutrition label) but just like pure sugar (high GI, no fiber or micronutrients, etc.). This is the "malto" in the "dex and malto" some guys like to use in their post-WO shakes.

 

[BiggT]

I have to disagree with this; you might as well save a bit of money and eat raisin bran instead of this stuff. They're using one of the oldest "make a crappy product seem nutritious" tricks: sweetening it with maltodextrin, which is technically a complex carb (so it doesn't show up as 'sugar' on the nutrition label) but just like pure sugar (high GI, no fiber or micronutrients, etc.). This is the "malto" in the "dex and malto" some guys like to use in their post-WO shakes.

Really? I didn't know that, I just noticed the boxes at the store the other day and read the label out of curiosity. I wouldn't bother with it myself because I am one of the rare people who actually like plain old oatmeal with nothing in it, but damn, that is some decption at its finest by the people at Quaker, lol. It was most definitely overpriced from what I recall.

 

[Tweakle]

Quaker are devious bitches eh.

I like their new misdirection tactic with the 'peanut free' angle in those new commerical, like it's suddenly ok to feed their sugar loaded crap-bars to kids because there's no killer nuts lurking in them. And don't get me started on their line of neurotic-fat-chick 'diet foods'

 

[blut wump]

I'm with BiggT, just learn to like oats. I start my day with a bowl of oats, 3 generous scoops of chocolate whey, a scoop of flax powder and lots of milk. I used to add honey but rarely bother even with that.

 

[djeclipse]

I eat it, it has the consistancy of pudding which I like (I sprinkle some rasins into it too when I'm post workout)

for great tasting, super cheap protien try trueprotien.com , you wont find a better source.. I have eaten my way through almost 50lbs of their fruit punch flavored concentrate in the last few months and I'm still not sick of it

I checked out that site and for the fruit punch powder do you just get non flavoured Whey and add the "fruit punch flavor system to it"? It sounds like something I am going to have to try.

 

[Guinness5.0]

I noticed your typed 'oat bran' above - did you mean 'oatmeal' or 'oats'?

Oat bran and oatmeal are not the same thing.

FWIW when I am waiting for my morning coffee to brew, I usually just pour a big glass of milk, dump ~3/4 cup oatmeal in it, stir and 'drink' with the occasional help of the spoon. Raw oats taste pretty good IMO, and the long-term health benefits of a diet high in soluble fiber are hard to argue with.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Glad you dad's doing better DJ. Good to hear, hope his recovery goes well.

And just to chime in, I bought a good blender and have an oats, milk, protein powder, banana and ANPB shake every morning.

for great tasting, super cheap protien try trueprotien.com , you wont find a better source.. I have eaten my way through almost 50lbs of their fruit punch flavored concentrate in the last few months and I'm still not sick of it

I must try this.

Also, great advice from everybody, real helpful for those trying to tweak our diets.

 

[djeclipse]

I noticed your typed 'oat bran' above - did you mean 'oatmeal' or 'oats'?

Oat bran and oatmeal are not the same thing.

Yesterday I went out and bought the cerial oat bran, not sure who makes it.

And for the second time I have oats (meal 4) they are rolled oats I got at the bulk barn. Maybe I will try eating them without water.

FWIW when I am waiting for my morning coffee to brew, I usually just pour a big glass of milk, dump ~3/4 cup oatmeal in it, stir and 'drink' with the occasional help of the spoon. Raw oats taste pretty good IMO, and the long-term health benefits of a diet high in soluble fiber are hard to argue with.

About the oats and long term health benefits, I 'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I have Ulcerative Colitis so I'm sure adding oats like that would be a good benefit for me in the long run.

I am also back on prednazone, hopefully not for long this time as the constant hunger contrubuted to my last 20lb weight gain, not to mention the bloating and fat face it gives me, lol.

Glad you dad's doing better DJ. Good to hear, hope his recovery goes well.

Thanks, hopefully he'll be home this saturday.

 

[anotherbutters]

Maybe I am making it wrong, 1/3 cup of oat bran, 2/3 cup of water, microwave for 60 seconds... enjoy

lmao! As G5.0 said, oats aren't the same as oat bran. I LOVE oats! You just want a bag of plain oats, nothing added.

What about egg beaters? Isn't that a well known brand of egg whites in the US? Half a cup of egg whites with your breakfast will give you a good dose of protein and they're virtually tasteless.

And what's up with not wanting milk? Even skimmed?

 

[djeclipse]

lmao! As G5.0 said, oats aren't the same as oat bran. I LOVE oats! You just want a bag of plain oats, nothing added.

So maybe I don't have the right oats. I went to a bunch of grocery stores and none of them had oats, just oat meal etc.

The only oats I could find were called roled oats from the bulk barn, they look like this

http://www.foodsubs.com/Photos/quickoats.jpg

What do the oats you're eating look like? And more importantly, where can i get them.

What about egg beaters? Isn't that a well known brand of egg whites in the US? Half a cup of egg whites with your breakfast will give you a good dose of protein and they're virtually tasteless.

Maybe I will look into egg whites, but like the oat bran it's all about the time it would take to actually make them before leavin for work.

And what's up with not wanting milk? Even skimmed?

Never thought of skimmed, maybe I can add it to my breakfast as it would be quick and easy.

Thanks.

 

[Cynical Simian]

I suggested oat bran (and steel-cut oats) as alternatives/additions to the standard rolled oats. They're different but also a good choice.

I swear DJ used to have a UK flag under his karma bar; if that's where he lives, AB, you might throw up that link to the UK egg whites company you and blut wump talked about a couple journals ago. I believe they have a US affiliate as well, although a cheaper pasteurized egg whites choice here is one called All Whites (Egg Beaters are pretty much the same nutritionally but flavored to taste like scrambled eggs, so they're best when cooked).

 

[djeclipse]

I suggested oat bran (and steel-cut oats) as alternatives/additions to the standard rolled oats. They're different but also a good choice.

I swear DJ used to have a UK flag under his karma bar; if that's where he lives, AB, you might throw up that link to the UK egg whites company you and blut wump talked about a couple journals ago. I believe they have a US affiliate as well, although a cheaper pasteurized egg whites choice here is one called All Whites (Egg Beaters are pretty much the same nutritionally but flavored to taste like scrambled eggs, so they're best when cooked).

I live in Ontario Canada.

And this oat thing is annoying, they all look the same and seem to taste the same. Oat bran, the "rolled oats" I got last week. All end up being mush. (I couldn"t find steel-cut oats anywhere.)

I know, I know BiggT is going to say

"just stop being a pansy and eat it."

lol

 

[anotherbutters]

DJ, are you in the UK? I swear you were in the US. Rolled oats, steel cut oats, they're all the same. Look at the ingredients list. It should say oats, lol. Seriously, there should be nothing else in there - no flavourings, sugars, etc, just oats.

For anyone else in the UK, Egg Nation do egg whites. They're mail order, but also sell through sports nutrition shops. They don't require any preparation, unless you call opening the fridge and pouring them into a glass preparation.

 

[djeclipse]

DJ, are you in the UK? I swear you were in the US. Rolled oats, steel cut oats, they're all the same. Look at the ingredients list. It should say oats, lol. Seriously, there should be nothing else in there - no flavourings, sugars, etc, just oats.

For anyone else in the UK, Egg Nation do egg whites. They're mail order, but also sell through sports nutrition shops. They don't require any preparation, unless you call opening the fridge and pouring them into a glass preparation.

I am in canada, and the oats I have are just oats, no sugar, just rolled oats. How can anyone eat them as is, they're so dry...

 

[Cynical Simian]

LOL...proudly display the maple leaf and end this confusion.

CostCo has locations in Canada. In addition to allowing "normal" people to stock up on 10-pound containers of pork rinds, they have a ton of stuff (meat, veggies, oats, even whey) of interest to lifters. If there's one in your area, I'd definitely recommend getting a membership.

 

[Protobuilder]

Wow, a whole page about oats. Do you workout anymore? LoL

 

[anotherbutters]

lol PB.

Oats with milk. Simmer in a pan for 2 mins along with some raisins, almonds and honey for great porridge. Or add to one of Jim's milk, whey, ANPB and banana shakes. Or add them to your PWO shake.

I guess I think like Tweakle - they're a great source of complex carbs and convenient, so I eat them.

 

[Jim Ouini]

LOL...proudly display the maple leaf and end this confusion.

CostCo has locations in Canada. In addition to allowing "normal" people to stock up on 10-pound containers of pork rinds, they have a ton of stuff (meat, veggies, oats, even whey) of interest to lifters. If there's one in your area, I'd definitely recommend getting a membership.

Yep Costco is great - we buy our milk, oats, meat and frozen veggies there. I tried their whey once but it tasted funny to me, kind of metallic for lack of a better word.

 

[djeclipse]

LOL...proudly display the maple leaf and end this confusion.

CostCo has locations in Canada. In addition to allowing "normal" people to stock up on 10-pound containers of pork rinds, they have a ton of stuff (meat, veggies, oats, even whey) of interest to lifters. If there's one in your area, I'd definitely recommend getting a membership.

The canadian flag should be there now...

I never thought of cosco, I used to ahve a membership there, maybe I'll go check it out and look for oats etc.

Wow, a whole page about oats. Do you workout anymore? LoL

Na, I think I'll dedicate the rest of this journal to how much I hate oats, lol.

 

[BiggT]

You'll eventually learn to like the oats. And, 29 is still young, but for some reason i thought you were in your early-20's, lol here I am talking to you like a younger brother and you're a couple years older than me.....I don't know why I thought you were like 21 or 22, maybe it was the ongoing war you had with Ilovetolift, lol.

 

[djeclipse]

You'll eventually learn to like the oats. And, 29 is still young, but for some reason i thought you were in your early-20's, lol here I am talking to you like a younger brother and you're a couple years older than me.....I don't know why I thought you were like 21 or 22, maybe it was the ongoing war you had with Ilovetolift, lol.

That's cool, I may be 29 (or will be on the 30th) but I never claimed to be mature.

And ya, that thing with Ilovetolift was pretty immature of me, but I had fun and it killed time at work. maybe some day I will grow up.

 

[djeclipse]

As per your recomendations I have added to my breakfast and it now looks like this.

Breakfast 8:30-9:30
1 glass skim milk
1 hard boiled egg
2 hard boiled eggs whites only
1 serving oat bran cerial
1 slice of 100% whole wheat toast
1 apple
1 tablespoon honey to amke the oats go down.

According to fitday =
540 cals
10g fat
86g carbs
30g protien

Is that a bettter breakfast?

I will keep meal 2 the same and though it was recommended to add anotehr carb to lunch I will try to leave it as it for now as I don't want t feel bloated afterwords.

Still not sure about meal 4, I was thinking about maybe adding the brown rice there? So it would be

1/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup oats
1 serving brown rice

Not sure if the oats and brown rice are god to have together in one meal though?

Then an apple or somthing 30min before my workout?

 

[BiggT]

Thats a little better....However, I would seriously consider in the neighborhood of 6-8 whites plus the one whole egg (or even 2).....and switch to plain oats, you'll thank yourself later......unless you want fuel for a marathn workout, just man up and bag the honey, oats are good, lol.

 

[djeclipse]

Thats a little better....However, I would seriously consider in the neighborhood of 6-8 whites plus the one whole egg (or even 2).....and switch to plain oats, you'll thank yourself later......unless you want fuel for a marathn workout, just man up and bag the honey, oats are good, lol.

Why so many eggs? That sould b roughly 40g of protien and 600 cals (total) if I were to eat 5 egg whites and 1 whole egg. Isn't that a little too much for "cutting"?

Also, why do you suggest the whole oats instead of the oat bran cerial? I think I like the Whole oats better anyway so I could easily switch. But the honey has to stay for now as that's the only way they're going down.

 

[xblitz44x]

Why so many eggs? That sould b roughly 40g of protien and 600 cals (total) if I were to eat 5 egg whites and 1 whole egg. Isn't that a little too much for "cutting"?

As long as you're creating a defecit in calories, you're fine. If, after a full day's diet, you're over your maintence (or close), then you'll have to work on knocking some things off of each meal.

And not to laugh but I can actually sense how miserable and frustrated you are about the whole oats thing. heh. In my opinion, if you don't like them, don't eat them. Switch to wheat toast or something instead.

 

[Tweakle]

80-100gs carbs in a meal is a lot for cutting bro, depending on how carb sensitive you are.

I limit carbs to 50g's tops a meal, for breakfast try 80g's oatmeal and 2-3 scoops protien.. imo every meal should be 50gs minimum protien

 

[Cynical Simian]

If you're going to have a lot of carbs in a meal, breakfast is the best time for it, but that's quite a bit relative to the amount of protein and given where you need to be in terms of total calories. Also, to make it clear, this is what I meant by oat bran, not some junk you'd find next to the raisin bran. The only ingredient should be 'oat bran'.

Basically, DJ, the problem is still that you're getting a ton of your calories from sugar (even if it's in fruit/honey), which, especially on a calorie-restricted diet, you can't afford to do.

 

[djeclipse]

This is the oat bran I bought, it seems to be just oar bran...

http://www.quakeroatmeal.com/Products/HOT/HOT-OatBran.cfm

Quaker Oat Bran Hot Cereal: made from a single ingredient, oat bran.

I think I will just smash my head against the wall and when I wake up form my coma 4 month's later I will have lost 20lbs and be a skinny POS, then I can start over.

Thank you all for being patient with me though this mess.

Getting down to 50g or so of carbs per meal looks like it's going to be hard.

For breakfast what should I drop? I can drop the apple and that will get me down to 65 carbs for that meal. For now the honey and oats/oat bran have to go together, maybe in time I will grow to like the without the honey but for now I need it to eat them.

Or should I drop the whole wheat bread in the morning, instead of the apple, or both?

EDIT:

New Breakfast =
1 cup skim milk
6 egg whites (hard boiled) I think I will go buy the egg whites in a container you guys were talking about.
1 whole egg (hard boiled)
1/3 cup oat bran or oats
1 table spon honey

429cals
7g fat
50g carbs
40g protien

Is that better?

 

[BiggT]

I think that looks good, but the honey still should go, lol.....seriously, if you're not trying to get "ripped", but rather tighten up, lose the gut, and improve your body comp, you don't have to get crazy, just cut out shit, and replace it with protein......honestly, I have never counted anything in my life with my diet, I kind of just have a sense of what I need and what I don't need when I am trying to lose weight, this is by no means the best method, I just never had an interest in nutrition science beyond the basic level of what is useful and what is crap.....white sugar is your worst enemy though......and I'm STILL in disbelief about those bastards at Quaker with their weight control oatmeal. How the hell are most people checking a label for sugar ever going to know the kind of stunt they pulled, lol.

 

[Guinness5.0]

If you must have a natural sweetener, honey is the way to go - it is lower on the GI scale than most. Also, you can buy Splenda by the bag nowadays, and that stuff tastes quite good.

 

[Tweakle]

Getting down to 50g or so of carbs per meal looks like it's going to be hard.

x 6 = 300g's carbs, which the USDA suggests as a fine amount for a sedentary, 25%+ bf couch slob to 'stay healthy' on. I would suggest otherwise... 150g's a day is the maximum I would personally have at 225-230 (all taken in the first 3 meals, with an extra 100gs immediately after a workout on WO days)

cutting carbs will have the most dramatic effect on weight loss, and if you can handle going into a full blown CKD the losses should be even greater, but you will lose some strength no two ways about it.

bigT is right about the moderate approach tho, if you're not looking to get sub 12% you don't have to go too crazy... it'll take longer and the results won't be as noticable but you shouldn't lose as much strength

 

[djeclipse]

I think that looks good, but the honey still should go, lol.....seriously, if you're not trying to get "ripped", but rather tighten up, lose the gut, and improve your body comp, you don't have to get crazy, just cut out shit, and replace it with protein......honestly, I have never counted anything in my life with my diet, I kind of just have a sense of what I need and what I don't need when I am trying to lose weight, this is by no means the best method, I just never had an interest in nutrition science beyond the basic level of what is useful and what is crap.....white sugar is your worst enemy though......and I'm STILL in disbelief about those bastards at Quaker with their weight control oatmeal. How the hell are most people checking a label for sugar ever going to know the kind of stunt they pulled, lol.

If I could loose the honey it would get rid of 16g of carbs and 65 calories x2 a day. Maybe I will try and find that spelnda Guinness5.0 was talking about.

Finally I have breakfast worked out, meal 2 and lunch seems to be ok.

Now for meal 4.

How about
1/3 cup oats (with honey possibly splenda in the near future)
1/3 cup almonds
Protein shake (as everyone said it was lacking protein).

557cal
27g fat
47g carbs (29 if I could loose the honey)
37g protein


Then one apple 30min before I hit the gym.

Including the post work out shake that would be 3 shakes per day and I know it's not recommended to have any more then that.

On a side note I found a decent tasting protein shake that tastes good when mixed with only water.

http://www.supplementscanada.com/popeyes/product461.html

EDIT: I also realized that the frutopia I have been drinking at lunch (to replace the can of pop) has a shitload of calories, sugar carbs etc. I think I will drop that and stick with water all day.

Except for the gatorade I usually sip during my workout.

 

[djeclipse]

x 6 = 300g's carbs, which the USDA suggests as a fine amount for a sedentary, 25%+ bf couch slob to 'stay healthy' on. I would suggest otherwise... 150g's a day is the maximum I would personally have at 225-230 (all taken in the first 3 meals, with an extra 100gs immediately after a workout on WO days)

cutting carbs will have the most dramatic effect on weight loss, and if you can handle going into a full blown CKD the losses should be even greater, but you will lose some strength no two ways about it.

bigT is right about the moderate approach tho, if you're not looking to get sub 12% you don't have to go too crazy... it'll take longer and the results won't be as noticable but you shouldn't lose as much strength

How can you possibly get down to under 300g of carbs a day, just about everything you eat has carbs in it. Do you have your typical cutting diet posted somewhere, is it in your journal? EDIT: I found your journal and see that you do not.

For now I am going to take it slow, get use to this complete change of eating and try to develop some good habits. I don't want to loos much strength as there's not much to loose. Maybe after I get use to eating like this I can try and cut out more carbs. For now I will try for 300 or under g's of carbs a day.

One thing is I am getting way more protein then I was before. the thing is I made some reasonable gains on the 5x5, even with the lack of protein and absolute crap I was eating. I wonder if my gains could have been even better if I was at least eating enough protein.

For breakfast I went out and got an egg white product called simply egg whites (canadian made).
Also thanks to Guinness and the suggestion of splenda I am able to get rid of the honey completely and get the carbs down to 34g.

And I finally found large oats, not the quick cook oats i had before.

 

[djeclipse]

And since this is a training journal, not an "I don’t like to eat oats" journal... believe it or not I actually went to the gym.

Week 1 Day 2 (wed)

Squat
110 x 5
135 x 5
160 x 5
160 x 5

Standing overhead press
80 x 5
95 x 5
110 x 5
125 x 5

Deads
210 x 5
250 x 5
290 x 5
335 x 5

Chins
3 sets of 6

Sit ups Decline
40 x 15
40 x 15
40 x 15
40 x 15

One set of hypers, no weight, just because i missed them on monday.

My grip for deads is horrible. As son as I lift the bar rolls in my hand and I am only gripping with my fingers. I think I may add in some grip work on the weekends or something. I would like to do all my dead lift sets with regular grip.

 

[Tweakle]

Let's get back to talking about oats

I use a food scale which may be overkill for some but its a great way to know exactly what your portion sizes really are.

for 150g's carbs, on days when I train upper body - 2 meals with 50g's carbs from oats or rice (very small portions) pre training, then a PWO shake with 50's oats mixed into goo

on 300g carb days (leg day) - 6 x meals with 50g's carbs

on off days, each meal is now rougly 200 cals from protien, 200 cals from fat (2 scoops whey and 2 tablespoons flax for e.g.), 6 of those. Carbs are trace and only come from the broccoli I eat to keep things moving

Its really not hard to get under 300g's especially with a carb cutoff (no carbs after 4th meal)

 

[Protobuilder]

Breakfast 8:30-9:30
1 glass skim milk
1 hard boiled egg
2 hard boiled eggs whites only
1 serving oat bran cerial
1 slice of 100% whole wheat toast
1 apple
1 tablespoon honey to amke the oats go down.

Didn't U know mixing fats wit carbs = t3h F@t?

 

[djeclipse]

Didn't U know mixing fats wit carbs = t3h F@t?

Sorry, you lost me....

This is my new breakfast (hopefully no mroechanges)

1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup oat bran (no more honey)
1 whole egg
200ml simply egg whites

387 cal
8g fat
34g carbs
40g protein

 

[djeclipse]

Let's get back to talking about oats

I use a food scale which may be overkill for some but its a great way to know exactly what your portion sizes really are.

for 150g's carbs, on days when I train upper body - 2 meals with 50g's carbs from oats or rice (very small portions) pre training, then a PWO shake with 50's oats mixed into goo

on 300g carb days (leg day) - 6 x meals with 50g's carbs

on off days, each meal is now rougly 200 cals from protien, 200 cals from fat (2 scoops whey and 2 tablespoons flax for e.g.), 6 of those. Carbs are trace and only come from the broccoli I eat to keep things moving

Its really not hard to get under 300g's especially with a carb cutoff (no carbs after 4th meal)

The funny thing is I was actually thinking about getting some kind of scale for my food. I am anal like that, I measure out exactly one cup of milk, 1/3 cup oats etc. every time.

When you weight stuff like chicken, rice, it's done after cooking right?

No carbs after meal 4, what do you do for dinner to keep you form being so hungry? For me (for now at least0, if I don’t have some kind of bread, rice, potato for dinner I am still hungry.

 

[Protobuilder]

Fiberous veggies + protein = fullness, for me at least.

"t3h f@t" was a joke, of sorts.

 

[Tweakle]

Oh I get crazy hungry sometimes, and you feel like crap sometimes too on such low carbs but who said dieting was fun?

the broccoli keeps me feeling full to a degree and the fats ensure there's plenty of energy , you adapt.

I weigh after cooking - use fitday or another site to get the nutritional values if they're not on the packaging

 

[Cynical Simian]

digital scale = best investment ever

Weigh stuff before cooking (that's usually how it's listed on the package). You can get values for both cooked and raw on fitday, but your "8 oz." cooked chicken might differ from mine (or from that on the site or yours on a different day) depending on cooking method and duration (i.e. how much water evaporates).

 

[djeclipse]

The meat is one thing on fitday that I can't figure out. When it says 1 cup cooked chicken, that means one cup after being cooked or before?

 

[Cynical Simian]

If it says "cooked", that means after cooking. But like I said before, weigh foods raw.

 

[Introspective]

Here is my meal plan if you can get anything from it, it's pretty much maintenance for me
@ 225 pounds


12:00 AM
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
Oats, 80g
Black coffee
(P) 36.2 (C) 49.32 (F) 19.2 (Cals) 604.4

2:00PM
Tuna, can 100g
Whey with water 30g
Omega 3-6-9 Suplement
Multi -Vits
Banana
(P) 59 (C) 41.1 (F) 10.5 (Cals) 489.5

4:00PM
1x Chicken breast
Brown rice 50g
Peas, sweetcorn, carots, green beans 50g
Strawberries 200g
(P) 32.3 (C) 54.3 (F) 3.45 (Cals) 553

6:00PM
Steak average 250g
Brown rice 50g
Peas, sweetcorn, carots, green beans 50g
Apple
(P) 74 (C) 53 (F) 16 (Cals) 567

8:00PM
Whey with water 30g
(P) 27.3 (C) 0 (F) 0 (Cals) 127

10:00PM
Salmon 100g
Red pepper 50g
Coliflower 50g
Broccoli 50g
(P) 28.15 (C) 4.9 (F) 14.1 (Cals) 335.5

12:00PM
Low fat cottage cheese 125g
Whey 30g with 1 pint semi skimmed milk
14g flax seed oil
(P) 43.1 (C) 6.75 (F) 22.95 (Cals) 242

Total.. (P) 308.65 (C) 209.37 (F) 85.59 (cals) 3019

 

[djeclipse]

Thanks for posting your diet.

I am not sure if all this dairy in the morning is agreeing with me, I may have to find another source of protien in the morning. Any suggestions? I was thinking chic peas or something?

i've been a little behind on my journal so here is fridays workout and monday W/O.

Week 1 Day 3 (friday)

Squat
110 x 5
135 x 5
160 x 5
190 x 5
225 x 3
160 x 8

bench
100 x 5
125 x 5
150 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 3
150 x 8

Rows
90 x 5
110 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
180 x 3
135 x 8

Dips
15 x 10
15 x 10
15 x 10

tricept extenson (dumbell, seated)
60 x 9
60 x 9
60 x 9

Curls, standing barbell (strict form)
70 x 9
70 x 9
70 x 9

 

[djeclipse]

Week 2 Day 1 (Mon)

Squat
110 x 5
140 x 5
170 x 5
195 x 5
225 x 5

Bench
100 x 5
130 x 5
155 x 5
180 x 5
205 x 5 Felt way too heavy, I hope I haven't lost strength.

Rows
90 x 5
115 x 5
140 x 5
160 x 5
180 x 5

Hypers
25 x 16
25 x 16
25 x 16

Sit ups
35 x 16
35 x 16
35 x 16
35 x 16

I am feeling pretty crappy lately, I am back on prednazone which sucks ass as it makes your face al bloated, and I feel week, tired and out of it all the time. Not to mention the almost daily headaches... I know, enough whining, lol

I think I may have to get rid of all that dairy in the morning as I'm not sure it agrees with me (U.C.), can anyone suggest what I can do for protein in the morning other then the chicken i’m eating 3x a day.

 

[anotherbutters]

Have you tried egg whites?

 

[djeclipse]

Have you tried egg whites?

Ya, I got those egg whites you suggested. I dropped the glas of milk today and went down to3 servings of egg whites andone full egg. Maybe i'll give it one more day before I try droping all the dairy.

 

[djeclipse]

Week 2 Day 2 (wed)

Felt like crap all day but for some reason when I got to the gym and started lifting I felt much better, seemed to have more energy then I've had in the past few workouts.

While doing the military press I noticed a few people started to watch as I added weight to each set. I must be the only person in the gym that does standing military press, lol

I just realized that I screwed up with the military press, I was only supposed to do 130 x 5 instead of 135 x 5. Not sure if I should just use 135 x 5 next week or move on to 140 x 5....

I decided to go a different rout with the chins and stay in the 5 rep range but add weight. I've been stuck on 3 sets of 7 (body weight) for a while now, wanted to change it up.

Squat
110 x 5
140 x 5
170 x 5
170 x 5

Military press
85 x 5
110 x 5
120 x 5
135 x 5

Deads
220 x 5
260 x 5
310 x 5
350 x 5

Chins
5 x 5
5 x 5
5 x 5

needsize crunches
bw x 5
bw x 5
bw x 5
bw x 5

I need to get a stop watch and hold for a full 5 seconds. I think I was cheating too much before. So I decided to drop the weight and start over again.

 

[BiggT]

You've got an excellent deadlift. I agree with you on the chins.....try adding 25-45 lbs to your chins and then give bodyweight a go again. Once you can do all of your sets with 12 + reps, just stick to the weighted variety.

 

[djeclipse]

You've got an excellent deadlift.

thanks, it is a little out of proportion to the rest of my lifts, especially squat. My personal best so far is 370 x 5 (the vid is posted here somewhere), I hope to go well beyond that this time around.

I agree with you on the chins.....try adding 25-45 lbs to your chins and then give bodyweight a go again. Once you can do all of your sets with 12 + reps, just stick to the weighted variety.

I hope that does work, the funny thing is I found an old journal from back when I used to lift in highschool and I was doing 20 reps of wide grip (overhand) chins no problem... the good old days. I only weighed like 135lbs though.

Can you give me any ideas of how to get my protein in the morning with out dairy? I was thinking chic peas or kidney beans? Any other ideas?

 

[djeclipse]

Also, I seem to have lost about 4-5lbs, I'm around 191-190 on the scale at the gym now...

I also bought a digital food scale for $20.00 (on sale), and I am getting used to this type of eating schedle, I don't crave the crap I used to eat before....

 

[xblitz44x]

I'm proud of you with this diet thing! I think you're finally locking down the missing piece.

 

[djeclipse]

I'm proud of you with this diet thing! I think you're finally locking down the missing piece.

Thanks, my diet still isn't perfect as far as calories, pritien go, but I am trying to stay at or under 50 carbs per meal and so far am getting away with only 5 meals.

Just need to change up the morning to get rid of the dairy (for now) and all looks good.