Diet Critiqued please

[Emmett52]

Hi long time reader, first time poster!

After losing roughly 3 to 3.5 stone in weight over the past 2.5 years through cardio 5 times a week (spinning classes or 10k in 40mins on a treadmill first thing in the morning) and very poor nutrition, ie too low calories, mainly carbs and losing muscle in the process, i started hitting the weights in february of this year to get bodyfat down, boost metabolism, regain the lost muscle and generally become lean. However, for this past 3 months my bodyfat has stuck at 17%, so naturally i come here for help (gym instructer i turn to at gym wouldnt be the smartest re diet!).

I currently weigh 182 pounds, 6 ft tall and am 25 yrs old. I currently do a 3 day weights split, with 20 mins of cardio straight after and 1 day where i jog/run for 8k in 35 minutes on a treadmill to try and stay fit, so i think it is my diet that needs tweaking. My long-term (6month) plan is to get to around 12% body fat, but would love to hit 14% asap as it is coming up to the summer!

here is my food intake this past 2 days, please bear with me (sorry bout the spacings, started a food log recently and hard to cut and paste it across!!), but these would be typical days:

Day1
07.30 3 eggwhites 1 whole egg, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 scoop protein (nutrisport 90+)
312cal / 42.1g prot / 28.9g carb / 3.8g fat

9.30 2 slices granary toast
210cal / 8.2g / 41g / 1.g

13.00 200ml skimmed milk, 1/2 cup oats, 50g protein, 1 apple
517cal / 58.2g / 66.2g / 5g

Weights

15.50 1 apple, 200 ml semi-skimmed milk, 50g protein
369 cal / 53.2g / 39.2g / 2g


16.30 130g salmon
265cal / 26g / 0g / 17.7g


18.00 1 apple
104cal / 1g / 28g / 0g

21.30 200g chicken
302cal / 58g / 0g / 6g

Total 2079cal / 246g / 203g / 36.2g

Day 2:

07.30 3 x Egg Whites 1 whole egg, 2/3 Cup Oats, 1/2 Scoop Protein
362cal / 43.6g / 37.9g / 5.1g

09.30 2 slices toast
210cal / 8.2g / 41g / 1g

12.00 2 apples, Chicken Sandwich
437cal / 30g / 77g / 1g

13.30 1/2 Cup Oats, 1 scoop Protein
340cal / 49g / 28.4g / 4.4g

Gym Weights & 20 Min Cardio after

16.30 1 Scoop Protein
190cal / 45g / 1.4g / 1.4g

17.30 1/2 Cup Brown Rice, 200g Chicken
410cal / 60.5g / 23g / 7g

18.30 2 apples
208cal / 2g / 56g / 0g


20.00 1 Cup All-Bran (High in fibre), 300 ml Skim milk
270cal / 18.8g / 61g / 2.9g

23.30 100g Cottage Cheese
80cal / 11.6g / 4.8g / 1.5g

Total 2507cal 241.7 309.5 21.8

My main meals (ie chicken or salmon), i also have steamed brocolli / cabbage / sprouts or long beans but read somewhere not to count them (P-funk i think may have said it, sorry of it wasnt you!)
Any comments/help/tips would be greatly appreciated re diet or more cardio
i started taking creatine 2 days ago, no loading, and 5 g of glutamine bbefore bed,

cheers in advance

 

[Built]

Your fats are beyond too low, and glutamine is a useless supplement unless you're in a burn unit and getting 40g a day in an IV drip.

What kind of a deficit are you running? How fast are you losing?

PS track in FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal - that way you can just run an average and be done with it.

 

[Emmett52]

i am losing around 1 pound per week, but for example when i weighed myself 2 weeks ago 1 weighed exactly 182.5 pounds @ 17%, but 10 days later on same scales roughly same time i was 181 pounds @ 19%. does hydration levels affect the bf calculator on scales? I thought glutamine is to stop muscle loss when on a defecit, no? ive calcultaed different calorie requirments on diff sites, dont know which is most accurate but i try a defecit on average of 500 cals per day through food, alhough some days (aybe 1 or twice a week) i maybe eat 300-400 more, but allow for this because these are days that i would walk to work an extra 25 mins a day, so overall for the week i figure my calories in are more than calories out,

 

[Built]

Yes, hydration affects them bigtime. Ignore them.
There's a lot of hype surrounding glutamine, I got sucked into it too, don't feel bad. It does nothing.
25 minutes of walking burns maybe 100 calories.
Just use fitday, track your intake, track your weight.

I you've lost two pounds in two weeks, you are running a 500 calorie a day deficit. Don't bother with the calculators - they fit population averages, not individuals.

Read why I diss glutamine so bad: http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/supplements/82545-glutamine.html#post1671974

Read the Berardi article. You'll see what you need to see.

 

[Emmett52]

thanks for the advice built, i opened a fitday account and run my food intake and my energy expenditure and it came up with:

calories in : 2399 47g fat, 204g carbs, 304g protein

Calories Burned Today
Basal: 1947 55%
Lifestyle: 1182 34%
Activities: 389 11%
Total: 3518

How much more essential fats you suggest i take in and sources? i currently use a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil when making my oatmeal pancakes in the morning and a teaspoon when marinading my chicken before grilling (included it total intake)

do i need to bump up my calories more, and if so roughly which period of day? ie is it best to have a bigger breakfast when metabolism is highest or eat more around my workout time in the evening

6 weeks to summer so i'm prepared to do whatever it takes to drop 8-10 pounds be it through cardio or diet, cheers in advance

 

[Built]

Please ignore calorie expenditure calculators - they fit population averages, not individuals.

You're 182 at 17% bodyfat, so you have roughly 151 lbs lean mass and you'll hit 10% at 168 lbs if you're careful and don't lose LBM.

Usual guidelines I like to use for protein and fat are as follow:

No less than a gram of protein and no less than half a gram of fat per pound LBM.

For you, this means protein minimum is 150g and fat minimum is 75g.

In practice, I like both higher, particularly protein while cutting, but that's me. Protein is very satisfying.

For fats, distribute this first 75g evenly amongst poly, mono and saturates - so 25g polyunsaturates, 25g monounsaturates, and 25g saturates.

If you go higher on the fats, favour monos and saturates - keep polys at 25g.

I suggest 10g fish oil for 3g combined EPA/DHA, and for your other fats, well, the olive oil is a good one, natural peanut butter, avocadoes, egg yolks, heavy cream, real butter, raw nuts…

Track your losses and your calories. If you lose no more than about a pound a week on average, keep your protein up, don't do too much steady-state cardio and keep your workouts short and heavy you should hang onto your lean mass.

 

[Emmett52]

i'll start eating salmon twice a week, and maybe eat xg of nuts over the course of a day, and take less protein in my before and after shake as i seem to be getting enough protein through food alone. Also think i'll cut my cardio a bit for 2 weeks to see if my diet is properly in order and to not lose any lbm (or is 2 weeks not long enough to accurately determine if something works?), a lot of debate on here about wether a lot of cardio is essential to lose bf, but as you say, everyone is different and the only person who can find out what works for me is . . . me! thanks for the advice

 

[Built]

i'll start eating salmon twice a week, and maybe eat xg of nuts over the course of a day, and take less protein in my before and after shake as i seem to be getting enough protein through food alone. Also think i'll cut my cardio a bit for 2 weeks to see if my diet is properly in order and to not lose any lbm (or is 2 weeks not long enough to accurately determine if something works?), a lot of debate on here about wether a lot of cardio is essential to lose bf, but as you say, everyone is different and the only person who can find out what works for me is . . . me! thanks for the advice

We're all more similar than different, and there's no debate: cardio is NOT necessary to burn fat! In fact, I don't rely upon it at all for fat loss. That part happens when you eat less food than you need, and figure out how to make the muscle stick around. Cardio will not do this - but high protein and fat, and short, heavy workouts WILL.

Now to all you nay-sayers out there, I didn't say you can't get cut up doing cardio - clearly you can. Bodybuilders have been doing this for a LONG time.

I'm just saying it's not NECESSARY.

And for the others who say HIIT or lifting will rip you up - I still say it really comes down to running a deficit and holding onto lean mass. Any burn-off from exercise is something I regard as a perk - and I don't even consider it because I train all year. To me, those calories are a sunk cost, like paying rent.

If you LOVE doing two hours of steady-state cardio a day on no food, by all means go right ahead. I find it boring and I find it makes me hungry - so I'm delighted it's not the only way to do it.

 

[Emmett52]

Please ignore calorie expenditure calculators - they fit population averages, not individuals.

re: the energy expenditure calculator, if my basal & lifestyle come to 3000 calories required and i want to lose a pound a week, i just take in 2500, right? but what if for example, i do a lot of walking because i walk everywhere, like for instance today i walked a total of 8k and im a fast walker, should i ignore these calories burned or should i eat extra to accomodate, i just dont want to be going too low,

also re: the glutamine which i've opened and used a few times but now deemed useless, should i just bin the near full tub i have left or is there any benefit to the stuff which otherwise would go unused, like for instance i do the cardio because my sport season starts soon and i want to be fit, so should i take the glutamine after i finish my weight session and before the treadmill or the very few mornings that i do fasted cardio in the morn?

i also find that i would rather eat and burn an extra 500 calories a day, i enjoy my (clean) food!!! and find it easier to stick to my calories required number in order to lose weight, thanks for all the advice tho

 

[Built]

If you are already doing this level of activity, you ignore it. To burn an additional 500 calories a day, you'll have to do additional activity on top of what you usually do.

Up to you.

Re the glutamine - use it I suppose. It won't hurt you. I'd use 20 or more g a day if I were taking it, but that's me.

 

[Emmett52]

so if i've my lifestyle level on fitday as seated work/ some movement (im in an office job 8-6), but do regular cardio, i should bump my lifestyle level up to accomodate my cardio then? sorry if these seem like stupid questions but i'd rather get something right once and continue to do it right, tweaking as necessary, than to spend weeks doing something wrong and not knowing where, which only leads to frustration,lol and time wasted

 

[Built]

I actually completely ignore any and all calculators for output and target calories.

I'll make it simple: you have an activity level now, correct? Okay. Track your diet at this activity level. If you neither gain nor lose, run a report on the calories over this period. This is YOUR maintenance.

To drop weight, you need a deficit. This means less food, more activity, or both.