Current Diet, Need Help

[nathanlowe]

Right, my diet is poor. If i didnt do as much exercise as i did then i would probably be overweight.
Its taking alot of courage to put this down as im going to get some stick from it but here it goes.
breakfast 7-45 - biscuites
break 11 - cereal bar
dinner 1 - 2 chicken pieces
snack after school about 3 - crisp, biscuites, cereal etc, 1 of them
tea 5-30 - on monday and thursday i have full tin of beans,,,in the week i either have steak, pork or chicken with chips
at night ill have cereal.

INO IT P!SS Poor, but im an unreal fussy eater.

Im thinking, just to start with, just improvning it to this
Breakfast - Cereal or Wafer Thin Turkey Ham
Break - fruit smoothie and cereal bar
Dinner - chicken pieces and Protein Shake
3pm snack - cereal or Heinz ravioli or spag bol
Tea - Chips and Steak, Pork, Chicken Fahjitas or Cod fillet
Protein Shake after training
Night snack - Cereal.

Ino its bad, but them small changes imo will make a little difference and by sticking to them then i will make more drastic changes. Dont want to make loads of changes because i wont stick to them.
In my diet i will try to have no biscutes, crisps or chocolate.
And hopefully have yoghurt and crackers when available ?

Im just trying to improve it a little bit and when i stick to that 100%, make more drastic changes.

 

[nadirmg]

umm well if your going for baby steps here's a few:

1) replace cereal with oatmeal - mix in cinnamon and splenda. it takes great!
2) replace biscuits with some scrambled eggs and toast with peanut butter.

once you get breakfast down 100% (like you said) come back
in the meantime, read the stickies on clean eating, ok?

one thing i've learned from my own experience...
changing your diet is going to be difficult unless you're 100% committed to a total change. as long as you've got little yummy processed snackies in plastic wrapped baggies stashed in the cupboard, sticking to ANY kind of diet changes for any length of time will be difficult.

take the leap, dude. go for broke. that's the only way you're really going to make any REAL change. i speak from my own experience.

 

[nathanlowe]

The only thing is i dont like oatmeal or eggs.

Really fussy eater.

 

[The Gentleman]

Mind over matter brother. Unless eggs and oatmeal make you physically sick or gag you need to bite the bullet and learn to love it (at least tolerate it).

For some people, like myself, taste tends to grow with age. I used to hate beans because of the texture when I was a kid, but as i matured so did my tastes (I'll eat anything that's not poisonous or alive).

If that doesn't work starve yourself for a day (not recommended) and make the first meal to fill you up be oatmeal or eggs. You'll be so hungry damn near ANYTHING is gonna taste phenomenal and you might just acquire a taste for it.

If you're a fussy eater and trying to put on weight, you'll need to make some sacrifices.

 

[nathanlowe]

Im not eating to put weight on. Its more to help me in my gains and lose some body fat. Ino you wouldnt look at the revised diet and say, looks like he is trying to lose weight. But ive been on the same diet for 5 + years. Im really fit and have about 13% body fat. Six pack shows when tensed, can see an outline when relaxed.
I think just removing crisp etc and adding in smoothies etc will make a lot of difference.

i probably would heave at eating eggs and oatmeal.

 

[The Gentleman]

Ah, I see. Since your trying to lose some bf% cutting on carbs and fats and upping your protein will help.
Just watch the smoothies and make sure you make them and know what you're putting in. If you buy smoothies from a market or juice-stop watch out and make sure you have them in moderation as they tend to be loaded with sugar.

 

[nathanlowe]

Ive been making them myself.
The only one i know how to do and that i acutally like is.
1 banana, about 6 strawberrys and half pint of fresh orange.
Does this count as 1 a day or about 3 ? Should i have 2 smoothies so i get about 5 a day?

I just want to see how far i can get by improving my diet. Ive got good figure from eating shit so can only see good changes by improving the diet.

 

[The Gentleman]

If you want to get really serious with your diet try to log your daily diet by keeping track of calories, protein, carbs, and fats. Use the nutrition labels on anything you eat and pay attention to # of servings and serving sizes. There are some calorie calculators in the stickies that can give you a rough estimate of your daily needs.

If you want strength and performance gains for when you actually workout you may want to skip the smoothie and high amounts of sugar as it may lower your blood sugar (causes light-headedness and fatigue= weaker performance). Instead save the smoothie for later and try loading up on some carbs and fluid pre-workout so you are hydrated and have plenty of energy to burn. Just make sure you time your meals right for both pre and post workout.

 

[nathanlowe]

Well ill just post down the intervals ill probably be eating and working out, if you dont mind could you just shuffle things round.
breakfast berween 7-30 and 8 am
Break is 1045 till 1100
Dinner is 1pm
Home from school about 3 but sometimes 4 because of revision classes
tea about 5 to 5-30
Gym usually about 8 till 8-45 but sometimes on tues its about 7
Some snack before bed up to abotu 12

 

[The Gentleman]

You're working out pretty late. Right after your workout (within 20 minutes) you need to eat a decent meal or at least a protein shake to give your body the tools it needs to repair itself. If you can rearrange you daily schedule try to workout earlier in the day so you give your body the remainder of the day to recuperate. I'm guessing since you have school this probably won't be an option.

You need to do a few things to get the results you're looking for.

You need to eat immediately after your workout.
You need to get more sleep (try not staying up til 12 if you're waking up before 8)
You need to make sure the calories and carbs from your tea meal are carrying over to your late workout so you don't get fatigued and you have the energy to make sufficient gains.

How often are you lifting? It looks like you may be overtraining.

 

[nathanlowe]

I lift monday, tuesday and thursday.
Soon to be monday, wednesday, saturday

I can lift earlier on tuesday, about 5-30 ish or 6. But on monday n thursday i get dropped off at 8 after seeing my dad.
The thing is, i only like my protein shakes after they have been blended in a smoothie maker. Would it be ok to blend it before i go so that i have it straight after my workout and just give it a good shake ?

 

[The Gentleman]

Don't blend your protein shakes beforehand as whey tends to dissapate when introduced to water (liquids). Make your shake when you get home as whey protein is absorbed quickly and efficiently into the body when exposed to liquid. When I said to eat a meal (or protein shake) immediately after a workout I meant within the hour (preferably half-hour).

Try to give yourself a day's rest between workouts, so the sooner you switch to your monday, wednesday, saturday routine the better. Remember your body needs rest.

 

[nathanlowe]

That would be hard to consume one straight after.
As after my lifting, i do 30 minutes of cardio, then get the bus home. If i start at 8pm, finish my lifting about 8-50pm, finish cardio at about 9-25pm, get the bus at 9-40, get home 9-55 ish. Its going to be over an hour.

 

[The Gentleman]

Try saving cardio for earlier in the day or move it to one of your off days. If you have a shake before or after cardio it won't do much for you, but make you feel sick or bloated.

 

[nadirmg]

The only thing is i dont like oatmeal or eggs.

Really fussy eater.

how old are you??
in your first post you said you wanted to make some small changes and once you can stick to them 100% then you'd move on from there, right?

oatmeal and eggs are your major power hitters for slow-burning carbs and protein as well. hate to break it to you, but most people that are serious about lifting weights and getting their diet on track will be eating them. look at any of the stickies and oatmeal and eggs will be on there.

so if you want to start somewhere, start with a good breakfast loaded with carbs that will keep you going and protein to feed your muscles when you're getting started in the day? all habits must begin somewhere and IMO i think it'd be easier to start something new at the beginning of the day rather than the end when you're tired.

also for your whey shake... why don't you take a little shaker with a flip top lid to the gym with you, mix it at the gym as soon as your done and -bam- you're giving your body some instant protein.

 

[nathanlowe]

Im 16

 

[Biggly]

I haven't looked closely at them and they may be complete crap but have you considered a protein bar instead of a shake?

By the way, at your age you can get away with all sorts of stuff, as you get older that diet will blimp you out like.. like... erm.. that famous German blimp thing.


B.

 

[nadirmg]

I haven't looked closely at them and they may be complete crap but have you considered a protein bar instead of a shake?

By the way, at your age you can get away with all sorts of stuff, as you get older that diet will blimp you out like.. like... erm.. that famous German blimp thing.


B.

mmm, not sure he'd like them. they taste like ground up vitamins with jello pudding caked around it. while they're great -energy- i don't see them being a good replacement for whey by any means.
it's a small step in the right direction, but...

B's right tho, dude. you got a limited amount of time to be eating the way you are without any consequences. do you like ANY green vegetables?

 

[nathanlowe]

No i dont.

 

[nathanlowe]

No i dont like protein bars that is.

 

[nadirmg]

well good luck. you'll need it since it looks like you haven't even considered any of the advice we've been giving you.

 

[Biggly]

I'm guessing when he gets a girlfriend he won't go down on her either.

"I don't like fish..."

The good news is that as you mature your taste preferences change. One day he'll look back on this thread and chuckle, like this:

"Chuckle chuckle"

OK, new plan.... how about a nice tin of TUNA!?


B.

 

[nathanlowe]

Comon please keep it sensible.

Im just trying to get abit of advice and encouragement.

Just trying to work with the things i like at the moment, and then add in things like eggs which i will try to stomach.

Whats the best diet from the things i like ?

 

[Biggly]

A very low volume one, with a generous helping of the things you don't like.

There is no way of eating a cookie that stops it being a cookie that you just ate, short of sticking your fingers down your throat and throwing it back up again.

You'll find you're not getting much help because you're not really willing to change. You know what you're eating is crap but you want us to encourage you to eat some slight variation on the crap? If you want to change your body you need to change your diet

OK, here's the advice you want. Go on steroids.

You can eat all sorts of shit and still get results. It's perfect for you.

Is that actual advice? No, I don't advise it but what do you really want? What are you willing to do to get it? If you're not willing to pay that price then you don't deserve it and that's fine; a great physique "costs" more than most are willing to pay. No worries. You're just window shopping, fine. You can't afford it, move on, find another hobby.

You REALLY want that physique? Then steal it, do the steroids, as the only person you're likely to be hurting is yourself. But you're screwing your health by what you eat anyway, so why not?

Mmm?


B.

 

[nathanlowe]

So your telling me, my sort of revised diet is just as bad as my original diet of having fast foods, crisps, chocolate etc ?

Im just tryign to work with the things i like at the moment and then adding in things like oats and eggs etc.

If i did go on steroids, it would be only ever be after 21 years of age, after training my ass off for 5 years plus with a perfect diet and reaching an ultimate platue.

 

[nadirmg]

we're saying that eggs and oatmeal is just about as basic as it gets, dude. you have to start eating SOMETHING healthy at some point if you're actually serious about changing your diet.

if you don't like eggs and oatmeal, fine. you won't like my next suggestions:
spinach
broccoli
sweet potatoes (with no sugar, or butter)
lots of salad (with no cheese or regular dressing, fat free only)
cottage cheese
fish

see what i mean? you need to start somewhere. simply shuffling your diet around, eating whole wheat bread instead of white bread, reduced fat chips (or crisps) instead of regular ones won't do a damn thing for you.

we're not going to do you the disservice of telling you half-truths and warm fuzzy things. we'll help you, but you MUST be willing to try new things. otherwise you haven't changed anything.

you're serious about change? then change.