Time for a diet revamp... wanting to cut.

[Seanp156]

Hi, I've been pretty much on a slow bulk for a little over a year... I went from 157lbs to 180 in probably 6 months, the maintained for 3, lost some, came back and fluctuated for a while from 183-190. I'm currently around 190 and would like to cut.

Here's the diet I've just come off of... I've recently been sick, and am better now, but my appetite's not back yet to keep going, and I want to start cutting anyway.

eg:
Meal #1
2 whole eggs + 4 egg whites
6 - 8 oz. oatmeal (1.5 cups)
0.75 cups 1% cottage cheese
1 TBS Flax Oil (or oil mix)

Meal #2
Protein Drink:
1 scoops Protein,
2 scoops (0.66 cups) oatmeal
2 tbs PB
1 cup skim milk
1 banana AND 4 frozen strawberries

Meal #3
6 oz. chicken (before cooking)
10 oz. sweet potato
2 cups vegetables (broccoli, etc.)
1 tbs olive oil

Meal #4
Protein Drink:
1 scoops Protein,
2 scoops (0.66 cups) oatmeal
1 cup skim milk
1 oz walnuts
1 banana AND 4 frozen strawberries

Meal #5
6 oz. sirloin steak or lean meat
2 cups vegetables
10 oz potato
1 TBS Flax Oil (or oil mix)

Meal #6 (Non Training Days)
6-oz chicken breast,
2 cups vegetables;
~ 10 halves walnuts

Meal #6 (Training Days)
1.5 cups cooked rice,
6 oz meat of choice
1 cup vegetables,
1 Tbs Olive oil

At LEAST 80 oz of water a day, usually more.

The total calories comes to about 3800-3900 and sometimes I'd add some snacks in to bump it to 4200-4400 some days.

I'm getting kind of sick of the food that diet consists of as well, so change would be nice... Things like salad etc would be a welcome change.

Basically I'd like to lose as much fat as possible while retaining as much muscle as possible. There's no date I'm really aiming for, so a slow cut would probably be most efficient to reach my goal. I'm not totally sure of my BF% but I'm guessing around 15-18%. I'd like to get down to about 10% then decide what to do from there.

My training is going to be a P/RR/P/S routine, 3 times a week chest/tris/shoulders/abs with cardio on monday, legs on wednesday, and back/biceps/abs/cardio on fridays.

Cardio will be kept to 10-15 mins of relatively intense training, and after I get my diet worked out, we'll see how I progress and then adjust cardio as necessary from there.

If it would be most simple to adjust my diet by simply making the shakes a couple scoops of whey in skim milk or water, I'm not against it, but I'm getting a little tired of chicken, yams, and veggies (3 times a day anyway).

Thanks for any help/advice.

 

[Seanp156]

Nothing?

 

[The13ig13adWolf]

will you be incorporating cardio every day or am i misunderstanding? if you will be, why?

you don't wanna drop the calories to quickly for your metabolism's sake. a couple hundred every 2-4 weeks and reassess along the way (measurements/progress pictures). given your stats, i wouldn't go below 2470 daily as that's below maintenance at your weight.

 

[Seanp156]

No, not everyday, just twice a week to start with. I guess I'll start by changing one of the shakes to just a couple scoops of whey without all the other stuff... That should cut out about 300 cals or so.

 

[Emma-Leigh]

No, not everyday, just twice a week to start with. I guess I'll start by changing one of the shakes to just a couple scoops of whey without all the other stuff... That should cut out about 300 cals or so.

Why not decrease from a few of your meals.. ?? Don't just take out something from one meal..

Start by decreasing ~10% of your cals - keep your protein up but take off a little of the carbs and fats.. So you could take out an oz or two of carbs from a few of your meals and decrease the serve of fats you have in a few meals too.

If you want to swap your carb sources around look into brown rice or pearl barley... They would easily replace your sweet tato.. For your chicken you could use turkey or tuna... Or look into water buffalo too...

For your fats... Well.. you could swap your walnuts for almonds (you'll need more almonds - they have less fat per oz) and swap some of your olive oil for avocado...

For your vegetables - you can have a butt load of salad for very few cals. eg: 3.5 oz romaine lettuce = 17 cals (3.3g carbs, 2.1g fibre).. 3.5 oz tomato is about the same, as is 3.5 oz cucumber and mushrooms are only slighly more with 22 cals (3.2g carb, 3g protein, 1.5g fibre) for 3.5 oz...

So you combine 3.5 oz of lettuce, 3.5 oz tomato, 3.5 oz cucumber and 3.5 oz mushroom and you have a HUGE salad for only 72 cals (14.5g carb, 5.9g protein, 5g fibre)... That is about what you get from 2 cups (~ 7 oz) broccoli... So you are getting about double the intake for the same amount...

 

[Seanp156]

Sounds good, thanks Emma.

 

[The13ig13adWolf]

if you're gonna go turkey, cook it...no deli turkey .

 

[Seanp156]

Yeah, I kinda figured... I think for now I'll just use tuna for one of my chicken meals, and still have chicken for the other one. Which tuna's the one with less mercury? Chunk-lite isn't it? I think Albacore's the one with a lot of mercury.

 

[Emma-Leigh]

Yeah, I kinda figured... I think for now I'll just use tuna for one of my chicken meals, and still have chicken for the other one. Which tuna's the one with less mercury? Chunk-lite isn't it? I think Albacore's the one with a lot of mercury.

White/Albacore has more than light. See this post for a link to a list of mercury in fish.

 

[thajeepster]

you can also get those big cans of canned salmon. That stuff is good. I just found out the other day you can eat the skin/bone and all, i always tried to pick em out ... They are soft enough to just chew right up.

 

[Emma-Leigh]

you can also get those big cans of canned salmon. That stuff is good. I just found out the other day you can eat the skin/bone and all, i always tried to pick em out ... They are soft enough to just chew right up.

Yup - very good for you becaues the bones are packed full of calcium too!

 

[Seanp156]

Interesting, though that seems a little weird...