pick on this noob's diet/routine

[theoldguy]

I’d appreciate some constructive criticism on my diet and workout.

I’m a 45yo male, height 5’10”, ectomorph (6.5inch wrists) was a distance runner and cyclist for many years. In 1999, I followed Rob Faigen’s NHE diet (basically a CKD) and combined with lots of lifting, I stopped being quite so skinny.

Two years ago I had major shoulder surgery and after 6 months of physical therapy, I kinda got away from my old diet and workout routine. Prior to the injury, I was 165 lbs at 10%bf. Since then, I’ve gained bf and lost muscle (lost 1inch on arms for instance). It sucks being a skinny guy with a gut

4 weeks ago, I started to get serious about my work out and diet again. At that time I was 178 lbs and 19% fat (based on my caliper readings).

Yesterday, my weight was 174lbs

My goals are to get back to 10%bf while hopefully adding muscle or at least minimizing muscle loss.
I’m disciplined with the diet and don’t normally eat junk - if I need a snack I eat cashews, pistachios, cheese or a piece of fruit. I try not to mix carbs and fats in a meal. But, I do eat bad on occasion, like when I’m out doing "dad things" and have to go to McDonalds. When I know I’m gonna eat bad, I bring along some r-ala caps.

Sample Diet:
The numbers are Protein, Fat, Carb, Calories
------------------------------------------------
Protein/Flax drink 23 14 3 230

Cereal 7 4 60 304

Post workout drink 23 2 27 218

Lunch
Chicken Breast 36 6 0 198
Broccoli 5 0 10 60
Salad 0 20 5 200

Snack - nuts 6 14 10 190

Dinner
Salmon 36 15 0 279
Green Beans 2 0 10 48
Broccoli 5 0 10 60

Protein/Flax drink 23 14 3 230
Total Protein 166
Total Fat 89
Total Carbs 138
Total Calories 2017


I only have the post-workout drink on the 3 gym days

I easily drink a gallon of water per day, don’t drink juice or soda and have a glass of wine or a beer occasionally.

Supps: multi-vit, ECA, r-ala before a meal with carbs, trying p-seven to help me sleep better

I do cardio 5 days per week about 20 minutes after the morning protein/flax drink. It’s normally a 2 mile run. On non-lifting days, I do tougher cardio such as 3 to 4 miles of trail running in the hills. When I get back from running, I eat a bowl of cereal an if it's a gym day, I go about 30-60 minutes after eating.

Workout is 3 day split with 1 warmup and 2 work sets to failure per exercise
Monday:
Legs - Leg Ext, Leg Curls, Leg Press, Calf Raise
Abs - Crunches, hyperextensions, leg raises (3 sets each till a good burn)

Wednesday:
Chest – bb flat bench, db inclines, machine flys
Shoulders – standing bb press, incline db laterals, bb front raise
Tris – cable pressdowns, db behind the neck

Friday:
Back – chins (palms away), bentover bb rows
Bi’s – machine preacher bench curls, inclined db curls
Grip – db wrist curls, bb reverse wrist curls
Abs – same as Monday


Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[LaviathanX]

Ditch the cereal. 60g carbs??? no way!

Eat one serving of Kashi Go Lean with 2 equals and 1c skim milk. Add more protein, like egg whites or center cut bacon (for your breakfast or whatever)

 

[Vageta]

pick on this noob's diet/routine

Your diet is fat, funny looking and smells bad.

Ok so my humor is dry, but truthfully the diet isn't so bad. I'd definately ditch the morning cereal and replace with oatmeal or a low GI/high fiber cold cereal like Fiber One or All Bran.

Also you should up the protein and drop a little of the fat. Since you're not doing a CKD you don't need as much fat and I think you're protein is too low in comparison. 89 grams of fat is nearly 800 of your 2000 calories. Protein at 166 grams is 664. I don't think fat intake in any diet other than a CKD should be higher than protein intake. Try bumping protein to 200 and then reduce fat to about 70-75g.

Of course that is nitpicking but honestly a high protein diet is truely the way to go for most people. Protein from real foods is satiating and it has a high thermic effect so you burn more of it during digestion. That means net calories from the meal is actually lower than if you got those calories from fat or carbs.

 

[theoldguy]

Thanks guys,
The cereal I was eating this week was Grape Nuts - 53 gr carbs for a small serving. I checked my kid's Coco Pebbles and Captn Crunch and they're like 25 grams.

What do you think of these changes:
Switch to oats. Cuts 35 gr carbs.
Add another half-scoop of whey to each drink. Adds 20-30 gr prot.
I'll switch to chicken or turkey for snacks instead of nuts. Cuts 10 gr fat, 10 gr carbs & adds 15 gr prot.

Total Protein 216
Total Fat 79
Total Carbs 93
Total Calories 1947

Think I should drop the flax from the morning protein or only use 1/2 tbsp in each to cut another 14 gr fat ?

 

[Vageta]

Looks much better. I'd just keep it the way you have it and only adjust if you're not losing fat. Better not to drop too low from the start and then have nowhere to go when you hit a plateu. Start out a bit higher and tailor it down as the diet progresses.