Diet/Nutrition Help

[MasterWiz]

I am 6' and weigh 196 pounds. All of my fat seems to center right on my belly. I really don't care what I weigh, but I need to lose the fat off of my belly and gain some more all around muscle & strength. My diet is awful other then I only drink water. I am a very picky eater as well. My question is: how do I go about doing this? How many calories should I be eating and what kind of foods? I am new to all of this and find it very confusing since I want to drop fat but gain muscle. Should I be doing more cardio or weight training? I really want to hear from people that follow the advice they give.

thanks for any advice,
Chris

 

[Built]

Read the link in my sig on getting started.

 

[Built]

Fat is not as important as calories for controlling weight. Just make sure you???re eating healthy monounsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats instead of saturated and Trans fat. The less, the better. You should not be eating more than 20 grams of saturated fat per day.

Some saturated fat is good in your diet. Trans fat on the other hand is not a food as much as a plastic. Keep the polys low - again, you need some, but polys tend to promote inflammation.

Monos > saturated fat > polys

Strength training which means weight training in the gym or at home at least 30mins, 2 x per week. Muscle helps speed your metabolism since it requires 50 calories a day just to support a pound of muscle.

I have heard this bandied about, but never really seen any rationale for it.

Got anything?

Cut down on processed foods. Stick with all natural foods which have little added preservatives and chemicals. If you can???t find it in nature think twice before you eat it.

Prudent advice.

Cardio exercise do interval training on an exercise of your choice eg. running - warm-up 5mins then do 1min fast, 1min slow continously for 20mins.

Interval work certainly has its place in your conditioning.

Eat more. Yep you heard right. Instead of the 3 square meals a day, go for 6 micro meals to keep your metabolism geared up to burn and your insulin levels steady.

False.

While dieting, many people find it more comfortable to eat fewer, but more substantial meals. Meal frequency does nothing to increase your metabolic rate.

 

[DocHoliday]

Your maintenance will be 3051 cals/day once you are moderately active. You need weight training AND cardio. 30 mins/day 6 days/week alternating will be a great start.

 

[Built]

Three thousand and fifty ONE. Wow. That's pretty specific!

Nobody needs cardio to cut - but it can help a little, and a little cardio is good for your heart.