Crader, Guejsn,
Thank you for your replies, hope you had a sweet valentine day!
I am increasing my cal intake.. up to 1800 today in 5 meals . I believe there should be enough protein since I got protein shakes and have counted 50g protein + 4oz chicken breast I got in my salad. I also got 20g of fiber ( from the same shakes).not sure about the evening though, I feel pretty full by then
the following represent the alimentation I am trying to follow..may look boring put it allows me to keep control of my cal intake without having to guess on the up or down side( please feel free to tell me what is wrong with it)
early morning
coffee with 2 tsp sugar + 1 E(25mg)C(200mg)--- 30-50 cal?
1 slice bread with 2tbspnatural peanut butter---- 300 cal ( added this today)
fitness 40-60min
after fitness
2 slim fast optimum ( or GNC protein shakes)----360 cal( or 250 if GNC)
lunch ( usually 3-4hours after fitness)
1 E(25mg)C(200mg)
2 slim fast optimum ( or GNC protein shakes)-----360 cal( or 250 if GNC)
midafternoon
slim fast optimum ( or GNC protein shakes)-----180cal ( or 125 if GNC)
late afternoon
slim fast optimum ( or GNC protein shakes)-----180 cal( or 125 if GNC)
dinner **** does not always happen, will try to force myself*****
salad ( or veggies) with 4oz chicken -----250 cal
late evening **** does not always happen, nuts are my downfall *****
some nuts ( not too often cause I can go crazy and eat the whole box) ( 200 cal?guess)
i get 2liters(64 fl oz) of water a day and trying to increase it to 2.5 within the next 2 weeks
I would also like to put a second fitness session in the evening 2-3/ week . that way maybe i can do cardio in the morning and weight in the evening and be able to follow Guesjn advice and not over do the weight.
what do you think?
regards
Not to be an arse, but that is NOT going to get you the results you want! You are barely eating anything at all.
You need to EAT REAL FOOD!!! Protein shakes do NOT count as real food (and most certainly do NOT get the same result with your metabolism as EATING!
You need MORE than a piece of toast with peanut butter in the morning. Try oats with protein powder and nuts/seeds and yoghurt.
You NEED to eat dinner; you are "trying" to have the 'best' meal you have on your list so far. Have what you would have for dinner for lunch.
Read this and go from there:
Tips on Diet for Fat Loss
Just to help get you started in the right direction, here are some tips for you diet for fat loss. (These are the general guidelines that I give to my clients who are looking to lose BF (and they can be adjusted to suit muscle and strength gain, since the only difference in the two is the AMOUNT of calories that needs to be consumed); otherwise I write them a personalized diet plan (that takes into account personal preferences, allergies, etc.) to meet their needs):
1.
First, you needs to work out what you MAINTENANCE calories are (There are various methods and equations that you can use to calculate this (see post #2 at http://anabolicminds.com/forum/bulking/104321-help-determine-my.html); most take into account current body mass, height, and activity level). Then, to lose fat, you need to make sure that you're having up to 500 calories LESS than maintenance. Depending on how fast or slow you lose the fat, you can adjust and tweak your calorie intake each week.
2. Eat every 2-3 hours after waking. This helps keep the metabolism going throughout the day, as well as keeping insulin levels stable.
3. EVERY meal should have complex carbohydrates [CHO] (i.e. kumara, rice, oats, etc.), QUALITY LEAN protein (chicken breast, fish, tuna, salmon, lean beef, egg whites, etc.), and FIBROUS CHO (i.e. vegetables, green ones in particular).
4. Drink 4.5 litres of water per day. This will help keep the system clean.
5. It has been proven that TWO servings of DAIRY per day helps lose MORE fat than if one avoids it altogether.
6. Do NOT avoid fat (The only fat you should be avoiding is Saturated fat and Trans fats). You NEED fat in your diet, as fat plays major roles in energy metabolism and other parts of your body (Wardlaw & Hampl, 2007). Make sure to
have at least 30 grams of GOOD fats daily (60g would be best) (i.e. flaxseeds or flaxseed oil, fish oils, peanut butter, nuts - especially almonds and walnuts, hempseed oil, olive oil, etc.) per day (i.e. this is ~2 tbsp of flaxseed oil or peanut butter).
7. Don't drink tea or coffee. Try drinking GREEN tea instead; it helps with thermogenesis, and is especially good if you take it one hour before doing cardio first thing in the morning.
8. Don't drink alcohol. Alcohol has NO nutritional value and is full of calories.
9. Minimize adding salt to food. Instead, flavour a meal with herbs and spices (i.e. ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper, curry powder, chilli powder, and garlic all help thermogenesis a bit).
10. The only sugar needed on a regular basis is the NATURAL sugars found in food; these are mostly found in fruit. Too much sugar plays havoc with insulin levels and these should be as stable as possible throughout the day. The best time to be having sugar is straight AFTER a RESISTANCE workout, when the body is trying to replenish muscle glycogen stores (Burke, 2006).
11. Do NOT avoid CHO. Y
ou NEED at least 50-100 grams of CHO per day for your body to burn fat effectively. A good guideline is to have at least 1 gram of CHO per kg of body mass per day as a MINIMUM (Burke, 2006).
12. Eat most food as 'natural' as possible. This means fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, grains, etc. Try not to eat too much packaged food, as it is full of extra calories and sugar.
13.
Most importantly, remember that it IS OK TO CHEAT every now and then. Actually the body NEEDS cheat meals and days (1-2 a week will get results; I have 3-4 8000 calorie days, and I am only 112 pounds right now!). By throwing all the guidelines I have just mentioned above out of the way and having a day where you eat what you want, it helps ; and it will also help prevent your body from going into starvation mode (which it will do on excessivley low calories, and the body will battle you to hold onto the fat as much as it can; and that's the last thing wanted). If you prefer NOT to 'cheat', then adding in 1-2 higher CALORIE days (i.e. go up to Maintenance, or even Bulking, or even slightly higher), with the extra calories coming from quality COMPLEX CHO, you should be ok.
Supplements should NOT be a big deal, as most fat loss can be done through simply eating the right food at the right time. And unless everything that you're doing is already done to ensure the maximum results in the timeframe that you want to achieve it in, and then supplementation should not be the focus. However, there ARE a few supplements that I think are important to any regime:
1. A multivitamin. (Although you should be eating as much of a variety of food as possible, in order to meet the RDI/AI of most nutrients from actual food).
2. Creatine monohydrate. Creatine helps the body to recover faster, as well as aiding in increasing strength levels and lean body mass [LBM].
3. Flaxseed/Hempseed/Fish Oil. This is the GOOD fats. Flaxseed or Hempseed oil is great with breakfast or in protein shakes.
4. Protein Powder. This just helps for the in-between meals, or after the gym, and to make sure that you gets enough protein in (
You should be having 1-1.5 grams of protein per kg of body mass per day; this is so that muscle loss is prevented, and can even assist in small gains in LBM).
Apart from these 4 'base' supplements, you don't need a lot. And forget about using fat-burners or thermogenics; they are a waste of time unless you're ALREADY lean (say 12-15% BF) and wants that 'extra edge' to lose the last few% bodyfat (i.e. like a fitness competitor, etc.)
