Well I'm on my fourth day of my goal of a healthier lifestyle. I wanted to post my diet over the last couple of days and get some feedback on the soundness of my diet I am 6 ft 290lbs at 23 years old. I am also drinking about a gallon and a 1/2 of water a day

Monday
1/2 cup oatmeal

apple

2 cups green beans/grilled steak

10 baby carrots/2 tbsp fat free ranch

girlled chicken /2 cups green beans/2 tbsp olive oil

2tbsp natural PB

Tuesday
5 eggwhites/1 whole egg/2 slices whole wheat toast

apple

2 cups green beans/ grilled steak

10 baby carrots/ 2tbsp fat free ranch

grillen chicken/2 cups green beans/ 1/4 cup brown rice

2tbsp natural pb / 1cup skim milk

Wednesday
5 eggwhites/1 whole egg/2 slices whole wheat toast

apple

2 cups green beans/ grilled steak /1 slice wheat bread

10 baby carrots/ 2tbsp fat free ranch

grillen chicken/2 cups green beans/ 1/4 cup brown rice

2tbsp natural pb

Good foods, but HS, how may calories is that? 290 lb, I would think you need more of everything. I would eat more than that while cutting and I'm almost half your weight.

Start by doubing the number of meals you are eating to 5-7/day - every 3 hours or so. If you keep with that type of food and only the occasional cheat, you will see the fat drop off!

Wow, that's horrid.

Where's the food bro????

~SC~

It's true, at 290 pounds you need to be eating a lot more food!

I have more food than you are eating in one day stuck in my keyboard right now! ;)

@ 290 lbs, here's what I would eat a day for 2 lbs/week fat loss (assuming currently slow metabolim):

(290 * 11 * 1.2) = 3828 calories/day to maintain weight
3828 - 1000 = 2828 calories/day to lose 2 lbs/week

1 g protein per lb = 290 g protein (1160 calories)
Leaves 1668 calories to be split evenly between fat and carbs.

Caloric Breakdown:
290 g protein (1160 calories, 41%)
209 g carbs (834 calories)
93 g fat (834 calories)

P/C/F %= 40/30/30

- Make sure to get your protein from real sources as much as possible. Lean beef, chicken, fish, turkey, lean pork, eggs, nuts, etc. Protein shakes work too.
- Get your carbs from veggies, whole wheat bread, etc. No simple carbs. Make sure they are all complex carbs or low-gi carbs.
- Make sure your fats are good fats, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Minimal saturated fats. Good fats come in the form of oil based salad dressing, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, peanut butter, fish, flax, etc. Check the labels of everything you buy.

Do you work out? You should combine this with a workout program. 3-4 days per week, heavy compound lifts. Minimum rest between sets. Also, 3 days of cardio. Work up to 30 minutes at 60-70% maximum heart rate. You can up this to 45 minutes when you are ready.

Everytime you lose 10 to 20 lbs, redo the calorie formula. For every 10 lbs, remove 130 calories (roughly 10 g protein, 11 g carb, 5 g fat OR 16 g carb, 7 g fat) from your daily total.

Good luck and keep us posted. If you want workout advice, post on over in the weight training forum.

Thanks for the advice I really appreciate it. I had read to just take your body *10 and then subtract 500. So I had been aiming for 2400 but the most i got up to this week was around 2200. I'm going to have a hard time eatin 290g's of protein a day. What kind of protein shake do you reccomend and when should I take it? I just started working out again and I want to do cardio fist thing in the morning and lift at night but we'll see. 30-45 minutes of cardio won't be a problem. I used to work out all the time up until about last feb. Ever since then is been on and off, mostly off! I feel in love and got fat. Of course I was never skinny to begin with. Back then I was about 225 or so and thought 25lbs less would look pretty good. Anyway, thanks fr taking the time to give me some feedback, I do have some lifting questions and will post those over in the wieght training forum.

Thanks for the advice I really appreciate it. I had read to just take your body *10 and then subtract 500. So I had been aiming for 2400 but the most i got up to this week was around 2200. I'm going to have a hard time eatin 290g's of protein a day. What kind of protein shake do you reccomend and when should I take it? I just started working out again and I want to do cardio fist thing in the morning and lift at night but we'll see. 30-45 minutes of cardio won't be a problem. I used to work out all the time up until about last feb. Ever since then is been on and off, mostly off! I feel in love and got fat. Of course I was never skinny to begin with. Back then I was about 225 or so and thought 25lbs less would look pretty good. Anyway, thanks fr taking the time to give me some feedback, I do have some lifting questions and will post those over in the wieght training forum.As mentioned, your calories were too low. 10Xweight is normally the minimum that I think anybody here is likely to recommend when starting off. Some may go lower, but only after they've really plateaued. Where did you get the subtract 500 from? I think aiming for 2900 is great. That, combined with your weights and cardio, is sure to result in some fat loss.

Don't worry about the 290 g protein/day. It can be hard. At 2900 calories I think if you're hitting 200 then you're fine. Afterall, a 200 lb bodybuilder may be hitting 200, so why would that 200 lb bodybuilder with, say, 50 lbs fat, need to suddenly hit 250 grams/day?

Remember to have a high protein meal first thing, and get some quality protein in you last thing, before bed. Spread the protein out throughout the day. Some very easy sources for protein include whey, fat free cottage cheese, protein bars, home made chilli, baked chicken breast (or fry them on the george foreman), etc.

You should be commended on your apparent willpower so far, because I'd guess that 2400 calories/day is massively less than you're used to. Take that will power and combine it with a more measured diet and you will start seeing real fat loss - healthy fat loss, without the lean mass depression that a more significant calorie deficit would encourage (not to mention, the lower you go on calories the more nuts you'll be!).

Yeah, 290 is pretty high, but it can be done. Look at John, he's eating a ton and he doesn't weigh that much.

Just add some sort of meat, cottage cheese, eggs at every meal. If you can get 30 - 40 g in per meal, that is 180 - 240 over a 6 meal day. Add in workout shake(s) and you can easily add 40 there. I often end up eating 8 meals in a day. Most are high protein snacks.

Just make sure you get 264 g for sure (that's 0.91 per lb).

The equations I use are from the book, Testosterone Advantage Plan (TAP). Here's how it works (so you can do it yourself):

1) Maintain cals = Weight * 11 * (1 + Metabolim Factor)
- Metabolism Factor = 0.2 for low/little exercise/old, 0.3 for medium/moderate exercise, 0.5 for high/high exercise/young
2) For gaining weight you add 500, for losing weight you subtract 500 for 1 lb per week, 1000 for 2 lbs per week
3) Take result from #2 and factor out the protein (at 0.91 g per lb) by
#3 = #2 - (g prot * 4 cals)
4) Take #3 / 2. This value is how many cals you have for each fat and carbs.
5) Take #4 / 9 for fat in grams, #4 / 4 for carbs in grams

Then you have what macronutrient levels you want to meet in grams for fat, carbs, and protein. Everytime you lose a chunk of weight (say 10 lbs), you should recalculate because the numbers will change:

#1 = 290 * 11 * 1.2 = 3828
#2 = 3828 - 1000 = 2828
#3 = 2828 - (264 g * 4) = 2828 - 1056 = 1772 cals left
#4 = 1772 / 2 = 886
#5 = 886 cals / 4 = 222 g carbs AND 886 cals / 9 = 98 g fat

New numbers: 264 g prot, 222 g carb, 98 g fat, total cals = 2828

I used 1 g per lb the first time I did it.. That gave 290. With weight lifting, you can easily go up to 1.4 g/lb if you wanted. So, if you ever go over for your nutrients, go over on protein, not on fat or carbs.

The other suggestion, is that except for your workout shake, try to get your carbs all eaten before 4:00 pm. Before bed have a small P + F snack (e.g. cottage cheese and almonds). Generally try to have either P + C or P + F meals, and try to limit the C + F and P + F + C meals.

Thanks again for the reply's gus. I appreciate it. I'll try and rework my diet a little this weekend. I didnt really have a hard time eating what I ate this week. I was eating every three hours and just when I would start to get hungry I'd be eating something so it wasnt bad. I imagine that 3000 cals of clean food a day is alot of food. Again thanks.

I imagine that 3000 cals of clean food a day is alot of food. Again thanks.

Yup, it's a load - but it is really important. Even if you are not hungry and could eat less - don't. Consider yourself lucky that you will be able to stay full each day and loose weight. Beleive it or not, if you start eating less calories of 'clean' foods you might actually make loosing the fat harder.

The protein is important. I wouldn't necessarily worry about exact numbers, but if you can get above 250 it will be better. As an aside if anyone tels you you don't need that much protein, they may be right, but there is a difference between what is necessary and what is optimal.

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