My diet thread

[lincoln]

With lots of help from Phineas, Push and Pull, and others, I have my workout routine figured out

Now, here goes on the diet/nutrition stuff. Today was day 1 of my new diet, aimed at increasing protein intake (while admittedly ignoring all other macros).

I entered today's diet on fitday and here are my macros: 4,225 calories, 183.3 g fat, 445.6 g carbs, 191.2 g protein

lol! Sorry, it just looks funny to me

Here's what I had (not sure if I really need to include everything, but will do so for now)

1 glass OJ
2 cups coffee (sugar)
1 whole wheat bagel with peanut butter
1 handful almonds
Chicken club sandwich on whole wheat (grilled chx breast, bacon, mayo, lettuce)
1 cup macaroni salad (with egg)
1 can Coke
1 Builders Bar
2 cups chili (ground beef, kidney beans, tomatoes, chili seasoning)
1 handful shredded cheese
1 serving tortilla chips
2 croissants
1 beer
2 glasses chocolate milk


Now, granted -- this was a big day. The bolded items will be somewhat consistent going forward, for the most part, every day. My lunches and dinners vary. On a normal day I eat more vegetables.

I buy my lunch, usually a sandwich, at a variety of places. Sometimes its chicken salad on rye, sometimes its a philly cheese steak. Sometimes a turkey sub, or a few pieces of pizza, or a burger. I'll get chips of some sort and sometimes a cookie.

Dinners are usually more balanced because we eat a family dinner with the kids. So usually some kind of meat (pork tenderloin, chicken breast, burger, steak, etc), a vegetable or two, and a bread product of some sort. Or we'll do some pasta and red sauce meal with breadsticks and a salad. You get the idea.


Well, there you have it.

[Phineas]

With lots of help from Phineas, Push and Pull, and others, I have my workout routine figured out

Now, here goes on the diet/nutrition stuff. Today was day 1 of my new diet, aimed at increasing protein intake (while admittedly ignoring all other macros).

I entered today's diet on fitday and here are my macros: 4,225 calories, 183.3 g fat, 445.6 g carbs, 191.2 g protein

lol! Sorry, it just looks funny to me

Here's what I had (not sure if I really need to include everything, but will do so for now)

1 glass OJ
2 cups coffee (sugar)
1 whole wheat bagel with peanut butter
1 handful almonds
Chicken club sandwich on whole wheat (grilled chx breast, bacon, mayo, lettuce)
1 cup macaroni salad (with egg)
1 can Coke
1 Builders Bar
2 cups chili (ground beef, kidney beans, tomatoes, chili seasoning)
1 handful shredded cheese
1 serving tortilla chips
2 croissants
1 beer
2 glasses chocolate milk


Now, granted -- this was a big day. The bolded items will be somewhat consistent going forward, for the most part, every day. My lunches and dinners vary. On a normal day I eat more vegetables.

I buy my lunch, usually a sandwich, at a variety of places. Sometimes its chicken salad on rye, sometimes its a philly cheese steak. Sometimes a turkey sub, or a few pieces of pizza, or a burger. I'll get chips of some sort and sometimes a cookie.

Dinners are usually more balanced because we eat a family dinner with the kids. So usually some kind of meat (pork tenderloin, chicken breast, burger, steak, etc), a vegetable or two, and a bread product of some sort. Or we'll do some pasta and red sauce meal with breadsticks and a salad. You get the idea.


Well, there you have it.

Okay, so there are some promising items in there. First of all, what was your fat breakdown? How many grams/percent saturated, polyunsaturared, and monounsaturated? Two people could have 190g fat/daily, but one could be 70% trans and saturated while the other could be 10% saturated with no trans. Would help if you broke down your carbs also. How much fructose? Simple sugar, complex, fibre?

My biggest advice to you would be stop buying food for lunch all the time. Sometimes you might not have time to make food or you might even forget to bring it to work or school. I do this often, but I fortunately have a quality cafe downstairs that serves all organic, quality meals, so I don't end up buying potato salad and greasy burgers.

While there's definitely more leeway on a bulk in the sense that you don't need to worry as much about having cheat meals, you still need to eat primarily very well. Ditch processed foods, even if -- like mainstream protein bars -- they're marketed towards the health market. Again, sometimes the convenience is nice, but this "luxury" should be used only very sparingly. Your body will appreciate whole foods (i.e. real food).

Please ditch the pop. It has absolutely nothing to offer your body. And, don't just revert to diet pops, because they have a world of problems with them, too.

Your diet is missing several of the most popular bulking foods: eggs (you have only one listed...I eat 4/morning); tuna (boring, yes, but cheap, convenient, and damn nutrient dense), whole wheat pasta; natural peanut butter (beats the regular stuff); avocado; seeds, etc. These foods are very useful when on a bulk. I include all of these daily, except pasta I skip on some days.

Also, while chocolate milk has many proven health benefits for physically active individuals, regular milk has all except 2/3 of the increased sugar (which is claimed to helped replenish glycogen reserves after training...not sure though, as it would be a simple sugar) and would probably fit into your macros better. I mean, if you want it and can work it in then by all means, but 2 cups of choc milk is something like 70g carbs, which is a pretty big chunk of what could or should be more useful sources to your muscles like pasta, potatoes, oats, bread, etc.

[lincoln]

Okay, so there are some promising items in there. First of all, what was your fat breakdown? How many grams/percent saturated, polyunsaturared, and monounsaturated? Two people could have 190g fat/daily, but one could be 70% trans and saturated while the other could be 10% saturated with no trans. Would help if you broke down your carbs also. How much fructose? Simple sugar, complex, fibre?

My biggest advice to you would be stop buying food for lunch all the time. Sometimes you might not have time to make food or you might even forget to bring it to work or school. I do this often, but I fortunately have a quality cafe downstairs that serves all organic, quality meals, so I don't end up buying potato salad and greasy burgers.

While there's definitely more leeway on a bulk in the sense that you don't need to worry as much about having cheat meals, you still need to eat primarily very well. Ditch processed foods, even if -- like mainstream protein bars -- they're marketed towards the health market. Again, sometimes the convenience is nice, but this "luxury" should be used only very sparingly. Your body will appreciate whole foods (i.e. real food).

Please ditch the pop. It has absolutely nothing to offer your body. And, don't just revert to diet pops, because they have a world of problems with them, too.

Your diet is missing several of the most popular bulking foods: eggs (you have only one listed...I eat 4/morning); tuna (boring, yes, but cheap, convenient, and damn nutrient dense), whole wheat pasta; natural peanut butter (beats the regular stuff); avocado; seeds, etc. These foods are very useful when on a bulk. I include all of these daily, except pasta I skip on some days.

Also, while chocolate milk has many proven health benefits for physically active individuals, regular milk has all except 2/3 of the increased sugar (which is claimed to helped replenish glycogen reserves after training...not sure though, as it would be a simple sugar) and would probably fit into your macros better. I mean, if you want it and can work it in then by all means, but 2 cups of choc milk is something like 70g carbs, which is a pretty big chunk of what could or should be more useful sources to your muscles like pasta, potatoes, oats, bread, etc.

Fat breakdown: Saturated 29% Poly 25% Mono 34%

Not sure where to find the carb breakdown on fitday? It just shows total carbs (445.6) and dietary fiber (40.8)

Thanks for the advice on buying lunches. Its a convenience factor - mornings are hectic getting the kids ready and then getting to work.. but I could do something the night before at least a couple times a week

Understand on the Coke. Its a guilty pleasure. I'm not ready for the 100% lifestyle change so the soda, beer, and greasy burgers aren't going to totally disappear. Not making excuses - I understand these choices are not optimal and will affect what I get out of my workout - but I'm not going to BS anyone. Maybe I'll go "all in" at some point in the future, for now I'm happy with the changes that I am making. At this stage I'm more interested in learning what is optimal and then making adjustments to get closer to it. Hope thats ok.

Thanks for the tips on the bulking foods. I can incorporate those. Eating eggs has always killed my stomach (sharp cramps) so I need to watch that. How can I tell if peanut butter is 'natural'? I bought some that says "organic" -- is that the same thing? And another question, what is meant by "processed" foods vs. "real foods"? I have heard the terms but I'm unsure on the definitions (technically most foods are somewhat "processed" aren't they?)

I noticed your comment on protein bars. Doesn't seem like you're a fan but maybe I'm misreading it. If thats the case, can you explain? I'm sampling a few different ones this week, and so far one was not bad and the other one was kinda nasty.

Can you tell me what my macros should look like so I can enter them as Custom Nutrition Goals on fitday?

I know.. lots of questions. I'll stop now.

Thanks.

[lincoln]

Quick post on today's macros:

3,605 calories, 145 g fat (26% sat 26% poly 37% mono), 386.2 g carbs, 190.2 g protein

Unlike yesterday where I was at or above RDA for all vitamins and minerals, today I was below RDA for Vitamin A, Vitamin D, and Potassium