Thread: Diet - limited options

No you're not doomed, you're anything but doomed, your schedule allows you complete freedom of your diet, we all should be so lucky.

Read the stickies. Welcome!

No breakfast is no big deal - unless you train first thing in the morning.

Start packing food with you.

Thanks for the responses. I'm trying to educate myself but it's like an information overload.....

I'm 5'11" - 166lbs (75.5kg), 36 years old. I'm always been quite skinny and able to eat what I want but lately I've started to fill out alot. My training over teh past few months has really developed my abs but they aren't that well defined due to a bit of belly fat.

I'm looking to develop my physique without getting fat so I actually started cutting down on the amount I've been eating. But this seems to go against what people say here which is you can't develop muscle without fat. So sounds like I should be eating more, not less. I'm looking to become the next Mr Universe but just want to be happy with my body with some nicely defined muscles. I have alot of control over my schedule during the day on most days so I should be in a good position to sort it out.

I inpuuted my daily average food consumption on Fitday.com and came up with:

1750 to 2250 calories

Fat: (37%)
Carbs: (37%)
Protein: (26%)

This is factoring in:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs on toast
Lunch: One cheese sandwich with tomato, cucumber and mayo
Dinner: Fish, veggies, mash potato (this varies, pasta some days, traditional Japanese food other days)

3 snacks: 2 x banana and 1 peanut butter on toast (2 slices)

So I guess I'm asking what I should be doing in terms of diet if I'm looking to put on muscle (you know, like actor kind of level to make a crap comparison) and not expand the old waistline.

Could you run a report averaging over these days and simply paste in the numbers to the left of the pie chart? The percentages tell us nothing. We need to see the grams and the calories.

Attached. I really need to cut down fats and increase protein.

Evening, not possible. Morning around 10am I actually used to train but these days it's after work as work is generally busy till lunch.

Your fats are fine. No need to reduce them.

So here is my dilema. I am supposedly at 14.3% body fat. I want to put on muscle but I also want to lose the excess fat on my stomach. I can't do both at the same time right? So do I have to decide on going on a calorie deficient diet or bulk up? I can't keep at my maintenance and expect to gain muscle and lose the small portion of fat hiding my abs?

Originally Posted by Logman

So here is my dilema. I am supposedly at 14.3% body fat. I want to put on muscle but I also want to lose the excess fat on my stomach. I can't do both at the same time right? So do I have to decide on going on a calorie deficient diet or bulk up? I can't keep at my maintenance and expect to gain muscle and lose the small portion of fat hiding my abs?

lol...just reread your question.

i'm a firm believer that as long as you're eating well regardless of whether you're on a calorie deficit or surplus you're going to improve your physique... you might need to go on a calorie deficit to cut body fat substantially, likewise a calorie surplus to gain substantial mass, but even at maintenance calories, if you're training hard and eating well you're going to see some improvements in your body... you'll more than likely see yourself drop some body fat and add some muscle mass and definition... but like i said probably won't get absolutely shredded or huge... i guess it just depends what your goals are... i just don't think it's as black and white as people sometimes make it sound... i say this because i've been training for years rarely adjusting my diet to "cut" or "bulk" and when i compare pictures of myself from now and a few years ago it's clear i look bigger and stronger with less body fat... could i have made better use of these past few years by dieting more strictly? sure i could have... i guess it just depends how seriously you want to take it... i personally like to live a little and can't always be bothered to count my calories and macros... i just make sure i take in some protein at almost every meal and try to stick to better carbs and fats while avoiding the obvious junk food... mind you lately i've decided to experiment a bit more with my diet and have been cutting carbs and calories to see if i can drop some more body fat... but like i said it just comes down to how serious you want to take your training and diet...

Originally Posted by Skib

i'm a firm believer that as long as you're eating well regardless of whether you're on a calorie deficit or surplus you're going to improve your physique...

I wish it worked this way for everybody, but it doesn't. I got up to 40% bodyfat and on type II diabetes medication eating clean and jogging 10k 3x a week. Even now that I'm lean and muscular, if I don't keep an iron grip on my diet, I get fat.

Originally Posted by Skib

you might need to go on a calorie deficit to cut body fat substantially, likewise a calorie surplus to gain substantial mass, but even at maintenance calories, if you're training hard and eating well you're going to see some improvements in your body... you'll more than likely see yourself drop some body fat and add some muscle mass and definition... but like i said probably won't get absolutely shredded or huge... i guess it just depends what your goals are... i just don't think it's as black and white as people sometimes make it sound... i say this because i've been training for years rarely adjusting my diet to "cut" or "bulk" and when i compare pictures of myself from now and a few years ago it's clear i look bigger and stronger with less body fat... could i have made better use of these past few years by dieting more strictly? sure i could have... i guess it just depends how seriously you want to take it... i personally like to live a little and can't always be bothered to count my calories and macros...

Now here, I agree with you. I didn't get into this lifestyle to eat sawdust for the rest of my days. You have to let yourself take a relaxed approach from time to time or it starts to rule you.

Originally Posted by Built

I wish it worked this way for everybody, but it doesn't. I got up to 40% bodyfat and on type II diabetes medication eating clean and jogging 10k 3x a week.

how is that even possible?

Easy. I ate more food than I required.

Good food or "bad", eating excess calories causes weight gain. Period.

i guess by saying "eating well" i was also implying not over eating...

if you got up to 40% bf while still jogging 10k 3x a week you must've been doing some serious over eating

Damn, I'm confused.

I think I'll just eat a bit over maintenance, focus hard on training, develop more muscle. Do this for 3-4 months, keep an eye on the waistline and then worry about cutting back and losing the abdominal fat once and for all. I don't think I've gained enough to warrant losing some muscle when I go on a super low-fat diet.

Sound like a plan?