[imraan47]

Hey

ok heres the deal. from my last post with the pics and all...you all said that i need to cut down and trim the fat off and get down to 160-165lbs. im currently i would say about 170-173lbs. im holding much fat in the waist line and stomach area..abs are almost gone.
so im back home for holidays and need to get on a strict diet and i tried and i dont even know wht the heck to eat and all as i have never done a cutting up diet. i tried to keep it to high protein and low carbs and fat but i need a more strick plan. my only restriction is that i cant eat pork or ham since as per religion. so can any one plz recommed foods that i can eat. i can eat the following but need to better plan it all:
pasta, rice, chicken, tuna, cottage cheese, red kidney beans, potatoes, beef/meat...this is all i can think which covers most of the stuff i eat but other things can be added so plz help!

and also how many meals to take per day? and how frequent? i train around 1PM or 2PM. and will be doing a 3 day on and 1 day off or a 2 day on and 1 day off routine.

[Gopher]

Hey buddy,

Sounds like you have some general principles down, but I'd be careful not to make the mistake of eliminating carbohydrates from your diet entirely durring cutting. The following is some diet principles I followed for 6 weeks to get from about 12.5% bf to 7.8 naturally.

I shot for 5 meals a day, no more then 55 grams of protein per meal.
Carbs were kept complex, and only with the first two meals of the day (one pre workout and one recovery meal). After that I was going for straight protein and fiberous carbs. I didn't count the carbs I got from my green veggies (broccoli, romaine lettuce, etc.) but after the first two meals thats the only kind I got. Also, I tried to keep all later meals all under 400 calories a pop (which was pretty easy to do w/o many carbs).

Obviously you're gonna want to keep fat very low. Good protien sources are chicken, fish and at the begining very lean ground beef ~93% (at first). Later in the program as results slow I had great results switching my later protein sources to white flaky fish.

Crucial things: Always get your meals in, prepare food in advance so you don't ever have to settle for crap, have an reasonable MRP handy for filling in meals, keep your water consumption up, GREEN VEGGIES! (you'll loathe brocolli by the end of your cycle), and stay strong!

I had a lot of sucess with this routine and have since put friends and relatives on similar ones with great results. Good luck to you!

[Gopher]

A couple additional tips. I generally kept my daily carb intake under 100grams--even with the fiberous carbs this was relatively easy. Fat was kept under 70grams (which was only this high because of the fat in my Muscle Milk 1.5 servings daily--would not use again durring cutting). And one of the biggest things for me was keeping a journal with the macronutrient breakdown of my foods so I could accurately measure how close to goal I was. This was really great for several reasons... it helps plan future meals, really makes it easier for you to throw something together on the fly, keeps you strict, and it makes it easier to isolate and eliminate certain foods at certain times of the day based on how your body is reacting.

Ohh and one final thing--though I never had a problem durring cutting (the fiberous carbs kept me kosher) a few people I've put on this diet have had problems with constapation. You might want to pick up some fiber therapy or other laxative for if/when it gets bad as the weeks progress.

[imraan47]

this helps alot but i still dont see my self being able to get about 50g of protein per meal. i mean what can u eat that will give u that. 5 meals is not too much and can do that easy with 3 hrs in between but its hard to figure out how to get that protein intake.

[Flex]

Get about 1/2 of your protein from whey, the rest get from egg whites, lean beef, chicken breasts, ground turkey, etc.

[Gopher]

Heres some excerpt meals from my bodybuilding log. This will give you an idea of how to structure your days.

Meal 1: Egg Whites (10) Protien: 40g Carbs 0 Fat 0 Calories 170
Oatmeal (1/2 cup dry): Protien 5 grams Carbs 27 Fat 3 Calories 150

Meal 2: Salmon (5 ounces) Protien 34g Carbs 0 Fat 7.5 Calories 230
Reduced fat Hot dog: Protien 6g Carb 2g Fat 1.5g Calories 50
Brown Rice (1/2 cup) Protien 4g Carbs 33g Fat 1g Calories 150

That was a pre/post workout meal--the following is rest of day

Meal 3: Shake (1scp Whey 1scp Muscle Milk): Protien 36g Carb 9 Fat 11 Calories 284

Meal 4: Lean Steak (6 ounces) Protien 54g Carbs 0 Fat 10 Calories 285
Reduced Fat hot dog Protien 6g Carbs 2 Fat 1.5 Calories 50

Meal 5: Tuna (1 can drained w/o fixins): Protien 37.5 Cars 0 Fat 2.5 Calories 175
Reduced Fat Hot Dog: Protein 6g Carbs 2 Fat 1.5 Calories 50

This day wasn't perfect by any means and I didn't meet my caloric/macronutrient goals for every meal. But this should give you a good idea of how to structure the main parts and how to use some little things (i.e. how i use the reduced fat hot dogs [which are the 97% Fat Free Hebrew National btw] to act as little protien/calorie fillers.

Take it one day at a time. You don't have to hit 50gs of protein every meal, and I don't think I'd said you should. What I was driving at before was that you really shouldn't exceed 55gs per meal--chances are you won't even be able to use that much and beyond that amount all you're gonna end up with is lighter bank roll and stinky farts.

Stay focused and don't settle for shit nutrion--you can do this!

[imraan47]

fuck the problem is being in school is crazy and the cost of univ and able to get these foods every month adds up. just for 30eggs at costco is about $8...chicken breasts go for at leas $5 a piece unless ur lucky to find them cheap sometimes. and turkey i cant even find it. i mean i can get the cold cuts or the shaved one but it costs soo much for it. i think about $2 per pound or so of shaved turkey pieces. oh well...need to get this all straight.

[deadman315x]

first of all if u want to burn body fat u need to burn more calories than you consume

now about 60% of total calories burned a day comes just from your RMR (resting metabolic rate), this includes your BMR (basal metabolic rate). your BMR is the energy ( calories) your body needs just to keep ur heart pumping,lungs pumping etc

if you're training 4-5 times a week and doing cardio 5 plus times a week, u drastically need to increase calories- namely carbs. if u keep up with the low-carb low calorie your metabolism will decrease tremendously.. if this happens u can no longer efficiently build muscle and burn bodyfat.

alot of ppl think u need to drop carbs down to 100 or less just to burn fat- thats absolutely false. any weight u lose is water/lil bit of fat/and muscle

your diet must consist of 60% carbs 25% protein and 15% fat

like i said before, if u want to burn body fat u need to burn more calories than you consume. this is very important

now if u can calculate ur BMR and take into account how many calories u burn from excercise, adjust ur diet to burn about 500 calories more than u consume. example: take in 3000 calories a day then burn 3500 calories a day. now burning the 3500 calories a day doesnt come just from exercise u need to take into account ur RMR, in your case u probably roughly burn 2000 a day just from RMR. and lets say u burn 1500 a day from exercising ( 2000 + 1500 ) = 3500 calories burned a day/3000 calories eaten = 500 calorie deficit

now if u were to follow the same routine for 7 days ( burning 500 calorie deficit ) you'd burn 3500 calories a week ( 7 x 500 = 3500 ) which translates to 1 lb of bodyfat ( 1 lb of bodyfat contains 3500 calories) that means u lose a lb of fat a week which is very good and compromises no muscle mass

so i'd say u DEFINITELY NEEED to up your calories re- adjust ur carb intake and figure out ur BMR ( theres formulas out there on the web )

[Gopher]

imrann,

I definitely hear you there, bro. I'm a student myself and bankrolling bodybuilding diets is a bitch. If your willing to put in the time to look at circulars/clip coupons it might relieve some of the financial stress--can't think of much else to suggest there, other then youhave to pay to play.

deadman,

I generally agree with what you have to say, but don't you think a macronutrient breakdown of 60% carbs to only 25% protien is a touch off balance for someone whose goals are to loose fat?

I mean, I certainly see the benefit of carbs pre/post work out and advocate planning their consumption earlier in the day around this with fiberous carbs throughout, but just knowing personally what my body has most readily responded to in the past I tend to be a bit skeptical there.

Your rule of thumb may very well be correct, it is intelligently written and seems to follow a legitimate formula, I just have a hard time personally wrapping my mind around it--I'm no expert though.

[Gopher]

Just to expand a bit--I'm plugging the numbers now and based on a 2000 calorie a day diet (which is admittedly low). 60% carbs to 25% protien to 15% fat would have a macronutrient breakdown of like 300grams of carbs a day, 125 grams of protien and like 33 grams of fat.

Now based on that hypothetical number you threw out of 3000 calories, we're talking about 450 grams of carbs a day in that break down... sounds aweful big to me.

[deadman315x]

3000 calories 450 of which are carbs, you have to understand as an active bbuilder,you need glycogen filled muscles for the active lifestyle. You also have several factors that tremendously boost the metabolism. all of which include the following:

7-8 meals per day
weight training
lean muscle mass built from weight training
cardio training
and an increased BMR from all variables

as for spiking insulin, insulin levels are already sustained from active lifestyle ( consistent weight training and aerobics exercise )
insulin is actually a muscle building hormone

[Nothin' but a peanut!!]

not much i could really add but ill give it a go
take about a good 6 meals and then split some of them until you are eating 7-9 meals
keep protein sources lowest in fat that you can and eat with fibrous carbs
id have carbs with breakfast, and then postworkout and thats it
basically decrease carbs and increase aerobics
dont forget to throw a cheat meal/day in once every while just to bump up metabolism and releive some stress