Hey guys. I just want to make sure my diet is in check. Ive lost 11 lbs on this diet in the last 3 weeks. Ive heard that i can not lose fat nor water enough to equal that much weight and that i an definately losing muscle. Id like to through in some eggs. Please tell me what you think.
Breakfast: 2 servings oatmeal and can of tuna
Brunch: apples, bananas and 6 hard boiled eggs
Lunch: two cans tuna and whole avacado
Snack: bad of snap peas and 6 hard bioled eggs
Dinner: 1 lb of chicken, a veggie and 2 red potatoes
Bedtime snack: 3 spoonfulls of omega 3 peanut butter
This is my diet as of right now ( minus the eggs ). My goal is to build lean muscle and im currently in the process of trying to burn fat. My stats are
26 yrs old
190 lbs
16% bf ( roughly )
It seems that every week a new diet plan comes out and who knows what to believe. So i figured id ask the pros. I know everyones body responds differently to different things, but i figure there are similarities to every diet.
Im about to start a cycle of h-drol ( closest compared to T-bol ). I know this isnt the Ph forum, but i know that i have to take in as much protein as possible. My main concern is my diet.
Please help me with some tweeking of the diet if necessary. Even if all those eggs are a bad idea.
That's the reason you CANNOT COPY AND PASTE ANOTHER PERSONS DIET AS YOUR OWN. That diet was tailored to a specific individual, not you. Your stats can be 100% different than the person the diet was made for and therefor the diet that that person uses to cut can be a cutting, diet, maintenance diet, or bulking diet for you. You really have no idea unless you calculate macros and total calories and your TDEE. I'll give you the basics of nutrition here so you know how to create and tailor a diet to suit your needs. As to the diet you mentioned, there is not a person in this world who can tell you if it'll be effective for cutting or bulking if you don't provide the calorie and macro totals for the entire diet (it would also help if you broke it down meal by meal), your complete stats (age, HEIGHT, weight, body fat %, and activity level, and give up your calculated TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). The basics are:
1) go online and google the Katch-Mcardle BMR formula (if you have an accurate estimate of BF%). Plug your stats in and it will give you what's known as BMR (basal metabolic rate). This is the energy expenditure your body uses to sustain your current condition WITH NO ACTIVITY. In other words, its how many calories you burn if you were bedridden all day.
2) after getting your BMR you have to figure out your Activity Factor. This is an estimation of how active you are during the week which includes how physical your job is (work outside and do manual labor or sit at a desk for 8hrs), how often and long you workout at the gym, what other activities you do that require good amount of movements etc. For someone who's sedentary (not very active) for most of the day you'd use an activity factor of 1.2-1.4. For someone moderately active (physical job or gym 4-5+days a week or just plays sports/extracurricular activities) you'd use an activity factor of 1.4-1.6. For someone very active (very physical and demanding job, think landscaper or roofer, goes to the gym 6 days a week, plays lots of sports, and is always out doing something and moving, an athlete, etc) you'd use an activity factor of 1.6 or greater. When you choose your activity factor, you multiply it by your BMR you got from step one and you get your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) or how many calories you burn everyday based on your activity level. This is just an estimate. I can't stress that enough, IT IS JUST AN ESTIMATE, it may be spot on or may be a little off but it should be a pretty good estimate if you've been honest with the numbers you use to calculate it. I'll get to how to adjust for error later.
3) once you get your TDEE (BMR x activity factor = TDEE) you have to decide whether you're cutting bulking or maintaining. For a cut you want to reduce calories by 10-20% (10% being a mild cut and 20% being more aggressive). The more aggressive you are in a cut the higher the risk of losing LBM and possible overtraining, its just a risk not guaranteed, but the risk is there nonetheless. For maintaining you stay at your TDEE since calories in = calories out so you'll neither gain weight or lose weight. For a bulk, you want to increase calories by 10-20% (10% being mild and 20% being more aggressive). The more mild you are here the less fat gain you'll have but also you'll increase lbm at a slower rate (depending in a few other factors which are outside the scope of this discussion). The more aggressive you are in a bulk, the more LBM you'll gain but also the more fat as well. Everything is a trade off and you have to make decisions based on what your priorities are here. AAS can change some of these numbers due to increased recovery, increased protein synthesis, and better calorie partition or p-ratio. I'm writing this assuming you're natty at the moment but if you're in a cycle we can tweak the numbers later.
A sample calculation for me when I started my bulk:
Stats: 28yo, 5'10", 190lbs=86.182kg (the formal requires your weight in kg NOT pounds, ~15-17%BF (ill say 16% for the calculation) using this formula for BMR:
BMR = 370 + (21.6 x LBM)Where LBM = [total weight (kg) x (100 - bodyfat %)]/100
BMR = 370 + {21.6 x [86.182kg x (100 - 16%)/100]} = 370 + {21.6 x [86.182kg x .84]}
BMR = 370 + {21.6 x [72.39]} = 370 + {1563} = 1933calories (rounded to whole number)
This means when I stay in bed ALL DAY my body burns roughly 1933 calories just to sustain life and basic living functions. Now I multiply by an activity factor which for me I have a physical job, gym 3x/wk, and some other activities here and there, so I chose 1.5
TDEE = BMR x activity factor = 1933calorie x 1.5 ---> so my TDEE = 2900 calories
with everything I do during my average day, I burn 2900 calories. Now I'm bulking so I wanted a moderate bulk and picked a 15% surplus
TDEE adjusted for my goals would now = TDEE + (TDEE x .15) = 2900calories + (2900 x .15)
= 2900 + (435) = 3335 calories.
This means for me when I'm bulking at a 15% surplus and tailored to my daily activities I need to take in 3335calories/day to bulk at that rate.
Now to pick macros:
1) protein requirements are a MINIMUM of 1g/lb BW and dietary fat MINIMUM requirement is ~.3-.4g/lb BW. These are essential nutrients and you should go no lower than these numbers for fat and protein. Fat is 9calories/g, carbs and protein are 4calories/g. Figure out your minimum requirements in grams than convert to calories. Subtract that total from your adjusted daily TDEE and the rest of your calories can come from carbs, more protein, more fat, or a combination of all 3 (the difference in different macros is negligible unless you're very low BF % or doing contest prep).
You should pick foods to fit these macros you've calculated that are preferably whole and minimally processed since these foods typically provide a better macronutrient and micronutrient profile (micronutrient sufficiency is also a key component), help with satiety, usually have more antioxidants and fiber than processed foods, etc. that doesn't mean you can't eat something that's fast food, processed or what certain ppl would consider "dirty". What it means is that most of your diet should be whole and minimally processed foods but if you wish to include other things like fast food or something very processed, you have to take that I to account and adjust the rest of your food intake to stick to the macros. I'll go out for fast food every now and then, eat out, etc but when I do I realize these foods are usually higher in fat and carb content than the foods I make at home so I have to cut some carbs and fats out of the rest of my meals to compensate. I'm not telling you to create a diet of all fast food or that you have to eat any fast food, truth be told all I use it for is convenience and the fact that its very calorie dense and some days my appetite just isn't there. I'm saying you can include it
WITHIN REASON if you adjust the rest of your days diet for it. It's also good to track your micros for a week or two (apps make this pretty easy like myfitnesspal) and see if you meet the RDA's for each micro. If your deficient you may want to think about taking a multi vitamin or supplement in what you're deficient.
Now we can get to where you MAY need to make some adjustments. So now you've come up with a diet, you've calculated your adjusted TDEE, you've calculated your macronutrient needs and made sure it totals your adjusted TDEE, and made sure the diet you picked stays within the limits of your needs (total calories and macros match what you calculated). You put this diet into action for ~2wks. If it accomlishes your goal of losing/gaining weight, than the frormula was dead on and stick with it. If you're not losing weight (on a cut) or gaining weight (on a bulk) you want to adjust calories down or up respectively by around 200-300calories. Keep this for another 2wks or so and watch the scale for any changes. If you re losing weight/gaining this is you're actual level and there was some error in the formula or the numbers you plugged in. If still no weight loss/gain keep adjusting up or down until you get the desired results.
This last part is also very important.
CUTTING AND BULKING DIETS ARE NOT STATIC. You need to change them when you no longer see progress. If you're bulking, your TDEE will only support a bulk for so long until your bulking calories become your new maintenance calories because of the new weight gain, fat gain, and lbm gain. If your cutting and no longer losing weight its because what was once your cutting calorie level has now become your maintenance due to a loss of weight, fat, and lbm. After every 5-10lbs of weight loss or gain its good to recalculate your new needs based on CURRENT stats. If you don't want to do this, keep the diet until progress halts and then adjust down or up by 300-500 calories depending on if your cutting or bulking.
One final thing. The scale is not the end all be all of dieting. You can experience a combination of changes like lose BF while increasing LBM (especially if you're a newby to the gym or on A recomp diet or AAS can help accomplish this as well). Sometimes you might not notice a change on the scale but you will look leaner or bp more muscular. Take tape measure measurements in different body parts (thighs, arms, waist and hips, neck, chest, etc) and track your progress every few weeks. If you don't notice a change on the scale you may notice a change in measurements which is just as good. Always weigh yourself on the same day, first thing in the morning (before eating or drinking), and after any bowel movement or urination, and same time of day) to keep tracking progress accurate and reliable. The scale may change 5lbs or more in a single day depending on water intake/loss, food intake, bowel movements etc). Also just bc a lb of fat is ~3500 calories does not mean if you bulk or cut you need a 500calorie deficit/surplus to lose/gain 1lb per week since 500.calories/day x 7days/wk = 3500cals/wk. muscle is denser and heavier than fat so a lb of muscle is less than 3500calories. This means if you cut at a 500calorie deficit/day it won't always equal 1lb weight loss/wk and if you bulk at 500 calorie surplus/day it won't always be 1lb weight gain/wk. if you lose or gain less or more weight than that its due to the differences in weight of each.
Hope this helps man
