Diet Advice

[W3rd]

So, life has been crazy, and due to everything, my body has suffered. I know it's time to get back in the gym, and to hit it hard, since most of my clothes don't fit anymore. On a good night I get 6 hours of sleep, and there just isn't time for any more. I'm posting to see if anyone has anything they would add or subtract from my diet I plan on using. Keep in mind, I can't tailor a diet just for me, as Lauren and I now live together, and with her working afternoons, it leaves the dinner cooking up to me. Also, I am doing this on a strict budget (money is tight), so fancy supplements and all that are out of the question. Here is my basic meal plan:

Breakfast:
- 2 patties of turkey sausage
- One serving Special K
- Glass of Orange Juice

Mid Morning Snack:
- Nature Valley granola bar

Lunch:
- Salad with grilled chicken and very minimal light dressing of choice.

Afternoon/ Pre-workout Snack:
- Protein shake

Dinner:
- Whatever I end up cooking that night, in a small portion.

I drink mostly water, and have been scaling soda out of my diet lately. Is there anything you would change? What protein powder do you guys prefer? Any help would be appreciated.

[TurboDSM]

Try weight watchers.
And I'm serious.
I lost 75lbs because of it.

[W3rd]

Try weight watchers.
And I'm serious.
I lost 75lbs because of it.

I'm not interested in that, can't afford it and I am a suuuuuuuper picky eater.

[SilverVengence]

drink skim milk. eat nothing.
win.

[that1guy]

I'm not interested in that, can't afford it and I am a suuuuuuuper picky eater.

You should be, I have lost almost 30 pounds.

How much do you weigh now. Follow this
current weight=amount of calories per day.
240lbs=2600calories
220lbs=2400calories
200lbs=2200calories
180lbs=2000calories
160lbs-1800calories
1800 calories per day is the recommended amout of calories every person should intake in one day.
Keep in mind if you get hungry, eat veggies. Brocoli, and culiflour(sorry bout my spelling) are no calories. As well as carrots, and a can of green beans. Most condiments are freebies as well. Mayo is bad!!

[W3rd]

You should be, I have lost almost 30 pounds.

How much do you weigh now. Follow this
current weight=amount of calories per day.
240lbs=2600calories
220lbs=2400calories
200lbs=2200calories
180lbs=2000calories
160lbs-1800calories
1800 calories per day is the recommended amout of calories every person should intake in one day.
Keep in mind if you get hungry, eat veggies. Brocoli, and culiflour(sorry bout my spelling) are no calories. As well as carrots, and a can of green beans. Most condiments are freebies as well. Mayo is bad!!

I should be interested in something I can't afford, and consists of pre-made meals I don't like?

[hookemhorns0tx]

Track your food on myfitnesspal or livestrong, they even have ipod/iphone/android apps for it.

Take a multivitamin/fish oil pill daily
Eat 1g protein per lb of lean body mass
Eat .35-45g fat per lb of weight
Fill in the rest of your calories from either protein/fat/carbs, whatever works for you
Try to limit sugars under 70g
Get a lot of veggies and fruit in your diet

Oh yeah, the whole eating every 2-3 hours boost your metabolism is a myth. Meal timing is irrelevant to weightloss.

[TurboDSM]

I should be interested in something I can't afford, and consists of pre-made meals I don't like?

Weight watchers isnt pre-made meals

[that1guy]

I should be interested in something I can't afford, and consists of pre-made meals I don't like?

You couldn't be more wrong. It is a point system on the amount of calories you intake in one day.

[91AWDDSM]

You should be, I have lost almost 30 pounds.

How much do you weigh now. Follow this
current weight=amount of calories per day.
240lbs=2600calories
220lbs=2400calories
200lbs=2200calories
180lbs=2000calories
160lbs-1800calories
1800 calories per day is the recommended amout of calories every person should intake in one day.
Keep in mind if you get hungry, eat veggies. Brocoli, and culiflour(sorry bout my spelling) are no calories. As well as carrots, and a can of green beans. Most condiments are freebies as well. Mayo is bad!!

And drink water. Water does great things for making you seem full, even if it's got no calories. Then there is the whole "necessary for life" thing too . Lean protein is great for feeling full while eating less too. Carbs are the opposite but oh so good.

Here's what I would do

1. figure an approximation of your BMR. There are a couple different calculations out there (summed up on the wiki page for BMR), but find a calculator that won't do any kind of activity adjustments. I burn between 1650-1700 Kcal/day if I never left bed (i.e. my BMR)
2. Figure the amount you want to loose per week. Math says there is a specific calorie goal for that mass. I believe 2lbs/week is 1000 cal/day, 1lb/week is 500cal/day, etc.
3. Now you can figure if you wanted to loose 1 lb/week, and never left bed, you'd have to intake x calories (and probably die, because you won't get enough calories to keep up your organs).
4. Once you have that, add in activities. One book I read suggested wearing a pedometer all day to figure your activity level - not bad, because many phones have pedometers. you can say during a normal day, I walk x steps, and that is y miles. For my weight, I burn z calories by just waking my daily activity - could be a lot if you work retail or something, could be not very much if you are like me and sit on your ass at a desk all day.
5. So you've got BMR + typical daily activities. that equals how many calories to consume to maintain your weight. Then you've got weight loss goals. Subtract that from your maintenance intake and you loose weight.
6. Then, you can add your exercise. It's like free food lol. Just be accurate on it if you want to really loose weight. Technically you should eat all the calories you burn, because it can put you at a big deficit and hurt. but it can also make up for a doughnut instead of the turkey sausage patty

Find something good and easy to use to track calories. If it's not, you'll never use it. I like myfitnesspal for android, because I can scan bar codes.

[sheLBY341]

I lost 30lbs before my two knee surgeries on weight watchers in just a few months. It's not a diet, more of portion control. You get your daily points depending on your height, weight, gender and then you get a 49 per week point allowance. So you can go over and borrow that point allowance per day or save all your points up and splurge on the weekend. There is a free app on droid (not sure what kind of phone you have if it can download apps) called "wwdiary". It's based off weight watchers and allows you to keep track of what you eat each day, and there is a calculator built into this app to find out what foods are what points based on fat, carbs, fiber and protein. It really does work, and like I said...it's not a diet, it's just a different way of eating and being a little more aware of your food intake. I rejoined weight watchers a few weeks ago since I'm done with both my knee surgeries, and depending on what health insurance you have, a lot of them cover weight watchers. Like my HAP HMO covers it. My boyfriend is following it also but he doesn't have insurance so isn't going to the meetings, which is okay too...he uses that app I was talking about. Makes it a lot easier, and it's really easy to follow when you get the hang of it and it really does work. Last week when I weighed in, in one week i lost 2.5lbs. And mind you, I do not work out because of my knee. And I was still eating things like candy, cupcakes, going out to dinner, etc. If you have any questions about it or want to know a little more, your more than welcome to ask me :]

[zerogee88]

Oh yeah, the whole eating every 2-3 hours boost your metabolism is a myth. Meal timing is irrelevant to weightloss.

Works for me.

[hookemhorns0tx]

Works for me.

Yeah that's because you're still eating at a deficit. Its just calories in vs. calories out by the end of the day. Meal timing doesn't affect metabolism at all. Metabolism is based on how much muscle mass you have in your body, so meal timing has nothing to do with it. Since I have school, eating 2-3 giant meals is more convenient for me rather than shoving food every 2-3 hours lol. Some days I don't eat a thing the whole day, and end up eating a 2k calorie meal post workout.

[zerogee88]

Yeah that's because you're still eating at a deficit. Its just calories in vs. calories out by the end of the day. Meal timing doesn't affect metabolism at all. Metabolism is based on how much muscle mass you have in your body, so meal timing has nothing to do with it. Since I have school, eating 2-3 giant meals is more convenient for me rather than shoving food every 2-3 hours lol. Some days I don't eat a thing the whole day, and end up eating a 2k calorie meal post workout.

Who said I was still eating at a deficit? Like you and I have discussed before, at the end of the day there are a 100 different opinions for every 100 people you ask. So my advice would be find out what works for you and stick with it.

[hookemhorns0tx]

Who said I was still eating at a deficit? Like you and I have discussed before, at the end of the day there are a 100 different opinions for every 100 people you ask. So my advice would be find out what works for you and stick with it.

Yeah true. And I assumed you ate at a deficit because you said you were losing weight, which would mean your body is burning more calories than it is taking in resulting in weight loss.

[91AWDDSM]

Yeah true. And I assumed you ate at a deficit because you said you were losing weight, which would mean your body is burning more calories than it is taking in resulting in weight loss.

If he is losing weight he 100% IS eating a deficit. There is no other way to lose weight...

[hookemhorns0tx]

If he is losing weight he 100% IS eating a deficit. There is no other way to lose weight...

Lol that's what I'm saying. You can eat all the donuts, icecream, pizza you want and lose weight as long as your eating in a deficit. A lot of people can't diet like this because they crave more after just eating 1 serving. I had a strict diet that eliminated bread, dairy, sugary foods and it sucked. My only carbs were brown rice, oats, and whole wheat pasta while keeping sugars under 30g daily. Now I eat bread and all those foods that I banned such as cereal, icecream, burgers again, but I track my calories and am still burning fat like crazy. I still eat healthy while enjoying the other foods in moderation, not because it is necessary to lose weight, I just feel better when I eat healthy. If it fits in your macros(IIFIYM) dieting made everything easier!

[Sedan]

In order to lose one pound you have to burn 3500 calories


Start taking adderall. That shit works forsure

[pfizzle]

91AWDDSM nailed it.

I'm on a 60/20/20 diet. Staying under 1800 cal a day. 250g protein , 50g carb , 50g fat. If it fits in your macros than eat it. Watch for sugars and sodium. I usually up my carbs on a heavy lift day, but business as usually everyday. Also have a cheat meal once a week.

[zerogee88]

Yeah true. And I assumed you ate at a deficit because you said you were losing weight, which would mean your body is burning more calories than it is taking in resulting in weight loss.

I thought you were speaking in terms of what I was doing during the weight loss competition, not just generically that I was burning more than I was taking in. You know what I was doing during the competition, that shit was unhealthy but it worked, lol.