Night/evening eating / diet

[jeffh3c]

Looking for some additional input on my diet. I have been trying to swap from a free for all diiet which I ended up on after an extended period away from home while training for my job. Anyway, the break from working out caused me to gain some serious weight (stress, inactivity, junk food - what else can I say).

I am now at 199 and 30%BF (I know, its bad). I am doing decent for me on my lifts, and have cut to about 1900-2300 per day.

Here is the main problem---> I have that constant urge to eat when in a defecit, but it is manageable. When evening hits though, I want to eat like never before. Am I cutting too much?? Also, I will wake up at night 1-2am and need to eat a flaxseed cookie or cracker before I can go back to sleep. On one hand, this is sitting on my stomach with inactivity meaning it is more likely to go to fat, but on the other hand sleep is catabolic. So is the small snack a bad thing as long as it isnt ho-ho's and twinkies, and I keep it small??
Any ideas on the evening being such a bad time?

I am trying to maintain my muscle while I cut the BF%. I would rather loose slower if that is what it takes to keep my lbm. In the last few weeks since starting back, I have lost 5 lbs, but my BF has stayed the same.

I included them below as simplified, and in a webpage format (easier to read but needs downloaded)

DIET Examples

Breakfast for Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Muscle Milk Mocha LAtte 1 Scoops
Yoplait Light Fat Free Yogurt 1 Container (6oz)

Lunch for Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Brenton seame cracker 3 crackers
jello sugar free pudding snack 1 indiv cup
Monster Milk protein (brownie batter) 2 scoops

Snack 2 for Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Brenton seame cracker 2 crackers

Supper for Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Chicken breast 4 ounce(s)
pure protein bar
Croutons, seasoned 0.4 cup
Bagged Salad 2 cup(s)
Salad dressing, KRAFT LIGHT DONE RIGHT! Ranch Dressing 2 tbsp
Steak Sirloin lean 12 ounce(s) 539.68

Snack 3 for Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Brenton seame cracker 2 crackers
pure protein bar 1.76 ounce(s)
voortmans flaxseed cookies dark chocolate 2 cookie
Report Total

Cals Protein (g) Fat (g) Carbs (g) Fiber (g) Saturated Fats (g) Sugar (g) Sodium (mg) Cholesterol (mg)
Report Total 2467.21 189.51 94.39 228.35 17.95 22.07 34.3 2853.34 791.83
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example 2.
I am only giving 2 examples, though these are fairly representative of my diets. Keep in mind that I dotn log onto my computer to log the 75-125 cl I eat in the middle of th night

Breakfast for Monday, October 05, 2009
Muscle Milk Cake Batter 1 Scoops

Snack 1 for Monday, October 05, 2009
Brenton multigrain crackers 5 crackers
Yogurt Fat Free Light (yoplait) 1 container

Lunch for Monday, October 05, 2009
Monster Milk protein (brownie batter) 2 scoops

Snack 2 for Monday, October 05, 2009
Oil olive 0.33 tablespoon(s)
Chicken bouillon, dehydrated 0.66 cup(s) 13.86
Success rice boil in bag brown 0.66 Bag
Chicken breast walmart great value 3.96 ounce
Brenton multigrain crackers 2.5 crackers
jello sugar free pudding snack 1 indiv cup

Supper for Monday, October 05, 2009
Chili beef 3 cup(s)
Cracker Saltines 14 piece(s)
voortmans flaxseed cookies dark chocolate 1 cookie
Cake Yellow without icing 0.25 slice(s) <---was for inlaw bday, I had to!!!

Snack 3 for Monday, October 05, 2009
voortmans flaxseed cookies dark chocolate 2 cookie
Brenton multigrain crackers 11 crackers

well.... looks like I cant post a html docuent, so the above will have to do.

p.s. I am ~199 down from 204 and 30%BF 5'6" with a family that makes dieting really difficult, as well as a traveling job that does the same. I lift 4x per week (again) and do so for ~1 hour. I do 20 min LISS cardio after weights, and I run 2-3x per week LISS for ~35 min.

 

[jeffh3c]

here is last week or so nutrition in easier to read format.

 

[Wilderbeast]

IMO you are not too low in calories. I am in a MUCH larger deficit than you are right now and I have a higher LBM. The problem I see with your diet is the Protein:Carb ratio. Your carbs are too high and your protein is too LOW. Personally, when not on a keto diet, I aim for at LEAST twice as many grams of protein per day as grams of carbs per day, if not more. You need to cut the snacks down to either pure protein or protein combined with a good fat like almonds, cashews, EVOO, mac nut oil, or all natural PB. Cut out the protein bars and protein cookies and replace them with a good quality whey isolate or at least a good isolate/conc blend. Do the same with the muscle milk, I am not a huge fan of the quality of the protein or fats that they use in their formulas. Try to structure your meals as at least 3 high protein, moderate fat, moderate/low carb meals i.e. Chicken breast, turkey, lean beef, or fish along with veggies, a salad, some nuts or Nat PB with a small piece of fruit or even a small serving of potato or rice. (Personally I would make the majority of my meals a lean protein with a good quality healthy fat, and minimal amounts of high fibrous carbs). Put a WPI or WPI/WPC blend shake w/ a high quality healthy fat AND/OR a fibrous carbohydrate in between each meal for a total of 3 shakes per day (6 total meals). Other than that feel free to contact me via PM or by email at [email protected] . I do (for a small fee) do diet and training consulting.
Best of luck friend. Hope I helped.

Regards,

BEAST

 

[ripnlean]

I found this to be the case for me as well.
Instead of keeping cookies bedside, here is a trick that worked for me:

Eat a 1/2 cup cottage cheese prebed, only 90 calories but man does it fill you up and it contains a great deal of casein proteins to be slowly released throughout your sleep.

I'd get rid of the crackers as well, sodium for one stores water and makes you hungry if you don't bloat from them. go for nuts instead, almonds and walnuts are the best, high in good EFA's and fill you up right, so you stay less hungry
Good luck on the Diet, you will have to make it a bit more strict if you want to call it a cut.

 

[jeffh3c]

Reps ->ripnlean, wilderbeast

Wilderbeast check pm.

I will try to cut cals further, but I get so dang hungry as it is. I will definately try the cottage cheese before bed. I assume then that I should not have ANYTHING at night.

How do people stand being so low on calories. I feel like I am starving at the present level (obviously not or I'd be lower BF)!

I have dont atkins before and it worked, but I gained it back quickly. I read recently in M&F that keto is bad for test production, which I want to keep high. I will up the protein and cut the carbs some. How about the muscle milk, is that all that bad - it says it is supposed to help with MCT and all to burn fat. It does have some sugar though. I LOVE the flavor.... I also bought some ON gold when packets (MRP) for when I travel. I was savign those, but would they be a better choice in protein?

I do love chicken breast, but I hat to "fix" food. I ate tuna awhile back while loosing, but I ate so much of it that the thought now makes me a bit sick... I was using the bars and the like to try to get the protein in.

Is the yogurt bad too?

I think I have the lifting part set, but this diet area is HARD stuff....

 

[youngandfree]

You get hungry because you are still eating junk. Crackers and cookies are not helping you. You wrote on Oct 6 you had 4 oz of chicken AND 12 oz sirloin? Divide that sirloin up and eat two snacks of sirloin instead of cookies and crackers. I don't care how "healthy" they are, they are processed junk. Having a treat once a week is fine, but the crackers 3 times a day isn't helping. Try to replace your food that comes from a box or is "quick and easy" and have whole real food you make. Buy more fresh meat and cook 3-4 days at a time. Check the sugar in the yogurt. I suggest limit shakes to no more than 2 a day. More whole food is better. But as said above, cut the cars back and cut then off after 5 or 6 pm.