Thread: Critique My Diet (Fitday Data Provided)

gaining muscle and getting lean at the same time is extremely difficult most people on here say one or the other, any muscle you do gain while burning fat will be VERY minimal specially if you have already been training for awhile ........people who are completely knew can manage to do both for a little while my honest opinion would be to choose one or the other man, say bulk up first then cut or cut then "bulk" depending on where you are at for BF%

Grrrrr.

I hate that response, but I keep hearing it.

This is frustrating.

I think I have a healthy amount of muscle on my body. After working out for years, I'd guess that if I were to stop, I'd drop from 208 to oh...maybe 190. When I went keto a few years ago and went from 225 to 185 I definitely lost weight at the expense of muscle. So I want to keep building on where I am.

BUT...

I want to get rid of what is annoying, stubborn stomach fat. It's not that much mind you, but damn it, I want it gone and I want to work my way to washboard abs.

BUT...

I don't want to do achieve my ab goal at the expense of muscle.

Feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place here.

It seems silly that you can't achieve both goals. Has everyone here "picked their poison?" Or has anyone achieved both simultaneously?

Thanks.

KY

you're making it seem like in order to have visible abs you have to sacrifice all your hard earned muscle which isn't the case... if you do things properly you'll be able to lean out while preserving most of your muscle mass... i just don't think it's reasonable to expect to be able to get shreded and build any substantial mass at the same time as both require very different and unique eating habits...

What % body fat are you? estimate

You lost weight at the expense of muscle because you probably weren't doing it right.

Were you eating at least 1.5g protein/lbm? Were you lifting heavy? Did you make the common mistake of overdoing cardio to "burn the fat off"?

SOME muscle loss is to be expected, but it's not as if you're going to shrink to being scrawny.

You can't gain muscle & lose fat at teh same time.
Gain = Caloric Surpluss
Lose = Caloric Deficit

Originally Posted by lucifuge

if you don't mind some math work, you can use this. I don't think it's perfect, but it's seemed fairly accurate for me in the past.

English BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Metric BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

Once you know your BMR, you can calculate your Daily Calorie Needs based on your activity level using the Harris Benedict Equation.

Harris Benedict Formula
To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:


If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) :
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) :
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) :
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) :
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) :
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9



Total Calorie Needs Example
If you are sedentary, multiply your BMR (1745) by 1.2 = 2094. This is the total number of calories you need in order to maintain your current weight.

Once you know the number of calories needed to maintain your weight, you can easily calculate the number of calories you need to eat in order to gain or lose weight.
I would suggest 15% - 20% caloric deficit, or 500 calories... whichever is less.

Originally Posted by kyoun1e

I've been tracking my caloric intake all month.

First, my info:

* Goal: Muscle growth (but I don't want to "bulk"...want leaner as well).
* Profile: Age 40, 6-2, 208
* Workout: Been doing 8 x 8's for a month now or GVT.

Here's my average daily info:

* Total Calories: 2,585
* Protien: 188g
* Carbs: 162g
* Fat: 132g

Question: Will continuing down this diet path help me achieve my goal?

Thanks.

KY

So, this is below-maintenance for you, correct?

When I did keto, I'm 100% positive I wasn't doing it right. I was more concerned with just losing weight. I was going to the gym but without a doubt, I didn't eat enough protien. That said...water under the bridge at this point.

The 2585 calories would be below maintenance...I guess. I actually just used the formulas that lucifuge provided to determine my total caloric needs:

* BMR = 2023
* Harris = 3134 (moderate exercise), 3490 (hard exercise)

HOLY CRAP!

This seems absurdley high!

Two problems with those numbers:

1. There's no way I'm eating that much. If I wanted to bulk, that would mean I need to eat 3600 calories. I can't even imagine that. 2600 - 3000 is a struggle.

2. At my current 2600 average and current workout schedule I theoretically am in deficit and should be "cutting." I don't see that's the case.

I tell ya, I'm at a loss for how I progress at this point.

I guess the number one question I have is, "What should my goal be? Bulking or cutting?"

Maybe I need to post a picture and have you guys decide.

Thanks.

KY

Maintenance isn't a calculation - it's a measurement. You track on fitday, and if you neither gain nor lose, that's YOUR maintenance.

If you wish to gain, eat more than you do. If you wish to lose, eat less than you do.

Built,

So you're saying throw all these formulas out the window?

Should key metrics be:

* Weight increase or decrease
* Waistline increase or decrease
* Body measurement increase or decrease

KY

Originally Posted by kyoun1e

Built,

So you're saying throw all these formulas out the window?

Hrmph. Hmmm… maybe not out the window - they fit population averages quite well.

Individuals, not so much. Maybe just keep the results for the purpose of comparison. If your actual maintenance is dramatically lower than predicted, perhaps investigate your thyroid function.

Originally Posted by kyoun1e

Should key metrics be:

* Weight increase or decrease
* Waistline increase or decrease
* Body measurement increase or decrease

KY

Weight vs Calories.

Built,

Could you expand on your thyroid comment?

I continue to be shocked by how full I am. For example, here's what I've eaten today:

* 8 AM: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 banana, multi
* 10:15 AM: 2 chicken rollups in provalone cheese (2 slices chicken breast in each rollup)
* 11:00 AM: Workout
* 1:00 PM: 1.5 scoops wheybolic; Chicken salad (5 oz chicken, spinach, onions, feta cheese, green/red/roasted peppers, black beans)

Per fitday, that's 1230 calories and 123g of protien.

Now, it's 4:45 and I'd like to stay on the "eat every 3-3.5 hrs" thing, but I'm full! I'm 6-2, 208 lbs and I'm full at this point...and I always am.

Something doesn't make sense.

KY

I dont know what you ate like in the past, however you may have to let you body adjust to eating higher calories than you were before. Give it another month, and see how you feel. Also try and get some of you calories from carbs sources. This should normally be avoided like the plague while cutting, however you struggling to meet you calorie targets, so this should help.

What I know eat prior to workout -- oatmeal, banana, protien rollups -- I didn't previously. That's a major change in itself in the last month. That said, I'd expect my body to have adjusted by now.

KY

The formulas I posted earlier are not gospel... however, they've seemed to be pretty accurate for me in the past.

As Built said (and her advice IS gospel) you need to find what your true maintenance is. You need to really hammer down how much you are eating over the course of a week or two.
IMO the best way to do this is to get a notebook and write down everything you eat over the course of about two weeks. I'm not kidding, everything counts, the sugar in your coffee, the 3 beers Friday night... all of it. During this time, don't worry about cutting or bulking... just eat like normal. If you don't gain or lose weight, this is your maintenance caloric need. After you have your maintenance calories you can adjust from there to either try to gain muscle or cut some BF.

Originally Posted by kyoun1e

Built,

Could you expand on your thyroid comment?

I continue to be shocked by how full I am. For example, here's what I've eaten today:

* 8 AM: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 banana, multi
* 10:15 AM: 2 chicken rollups in provalone cheese (2 slices chicken breast in each rollup)
* 11:00 AM: Workout
* 1:00 PM: 1.5 scoops wheybolic; Chicken salad (5 oz chicken, spinach, onions, feta cheese, green/red/roasted peppers, black beans)

Per fitday, that's 1230 calories and 123g of protien.

Now, it's 4:45 and I'd like to stay on the "eat every 3-3.5 hrs" thing, but I'm full! I'm 6-2, 208 lbs and I'm full at this point...and I always am.

Something doesn't make sense.

KY

OMG I don't know how you do this! You're lie 208 6'2". I'm 5'9" 160lbs and I eat more than 3000 cals on a good day! (Been sick last week or so so don't check my Fitday results they suck :P)