Hi all, fantastic forum you guys have here.

I've been cutting for around 3 months and currently stand at 5'10 and 165lb, down from 185lb. I have a goal to be down to 150lb come September.

I do cardio for 60 minutes every other day but plan to change that to 40 minutes every day (Is that wise? Or no different?)

My main question for you kind guys still reading, is, what do you tend to eat for lunch/dinner? Especially for lunch I find it so hard to find something new and/or exciting and with a student-budget like mine it's hard to be as adventurous as I'd like.

All advice is much appreciated, and I hope to get some photos up soon.

Cheers

B

Hi all, fantastic forum you guys have here.

I've been cutting for around 3 months and currently stand at 5'10 and 165lb, down from 185lb. I have a goal to be down to 150lb come September.

I do cardio for 60 minutes every other day but plan to change that to 40 minutes every day (Is that wise? Or no different?)

My main question for you kind guys still reading, is, what do you tend to eat for lunch/dinner? Especially for lunch I find it so hard to find something new and/or exciting and with a student-budget like mine it's hard to be as adventurous as I'd like.

All advice is much appreciated, and I hope to get some photos up soon.

Cheers

B

Hi benjo! You've come to the right place. I don' know much about the specifics of training, but I can tell you what I eat. I'm also a student, and know how it is to be broke.

Breakfast- Usually a couple pieces of fruit, apple and a banana mostly. Sometimes I have a protein bar from the dining halls here at school, but mostly I stick to fruit in the morning.

Snack - In between Breakfast and lunch is a small snack, more fruit. I tend to eat a lot of fruit.

Lunch- I usually grab a grilled chicken sandwich from the cafeteria here at school for lunch. They're tiny sandwiches, but they're good, lean meat. I also get a small salad with vinagrette dressing, and sometimes a small piece of bread with hummus.

Afternoon snack - More fruit. an orange, a banana. Something like that. I like bananas the most because they tend to fill me up more.

Dinner - Small salad, light dressing.

After workout - Raw tuna out of the can. You can't beat that.

I also drink about 2-3 diet sodas a day , and drink at least 6 glasses of water. This keeps me at about 1700 calories a day, with all the fruit. You'd wanna go a bit lower, as you weigh a bit less than I do. I've heard your weight x 10 is the amount of calories you wanna shoot for.

Anyways, once again, Welcome! These people on this forum are some of the most amazing people you'll hear from, and have been an inspiration to me over the past year. I'm sure you can make your goals.

Best of luck! :db:

You can eat a lot more than just fruit...here is a day out of my daily log...

Breakfast/Pre-Workout: 5 egg beaters, 1 1/2 slice whole wheat bread, small banana. (355 cals, 37g Protein, 45 g Carb)

Lunch/Postworkout: 6oz Tuna, 2 slices whole wheat, lettuce, FF Mayo.
(350 cals, 46 g Protein, 34g Carb)

Meal 3: 2.5 oz Chicken breast, Green Pees
(90 cals, 15g Protein, 6 g carb)

Dinner: 3 Large Fish Fillets (topped with table spoon of olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper), Peas, 1/2 apple (370 cals, 45 g Protein, 15 g Carb)

Meal 5: 6.5 oz Chicken, Salad (no dressing), 1/2 apple, slice whole wheat bread (200 cals, 30 g Protein, 10 g carb)

Meal 6: 1 cup Cottage Cheese with fruit, protein shake w/ skim milk
(400 cals, 47 g Protein, 20 g Carb)

1850 cals, 214 g Protein, 147 g Carb (little low on carbs, little high on protein but I kinda like it that way, usually will have PB sandwich on WHole Wheat to even things out a lil more)

Hi all, fantastic forum you guys have here.

I've been cutting for around 3 months and currently stand at 5'10 and 165lb, down from 185lb. I have a goal to be down to 150lb come September.

I do cardio for 60 minutes every other day but plan to change that to 40 minutes every day (Is that wise? Or no different?)

My main question for you kind guys still reading, is, what do you tend to eat for lunch/dinner? Especially for lunch I find it so hard to find something new and/or exciting and with a student-budget like mine it's hard to be as adventurous as I'd like.

All advice is much appreciated, and I hope to get some photos up soon.

Cheers

B

I'm still reading :lol: Do you weight train? If not start that along with your cardio would be a good start IE Weight train one day and the next cardio for up to 6 days a week.

I'm just slowly getting into good eating habits but there's many posts of what people eat on the forums.

Meal1: 1/2 cup egg beaters, two pieces wheat toast, banana
Meal2: Whey, banana, 1/2 cup oatmeal
Meal3: 4oz Yams, 4oz chicken breast, 4oz broccoli
Meal4: Same
Meal5: PWO Shake (muscle milk or Myoplex MRP)
Meal6: Cottage Cheese and Cucumbers

Total around 1900 calories 50/30/20 carb/pro/fat

Meal 1: 2/3 Cup Oatmeal, Splenda, Spray Butter - 250 Calories
Meal 2: 6oz Blue Bunny Yogurt - 90 Calories
Meal 3: Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich w/ 1 Pack Lite Mayo - 325 Calories
Meal 4: 6oz. Chicken Breast - 165 Calories
Meal 5: 3 Scrambled Eggs or PWO Shake - 225 Calories
Meal 6: 6oz. Chicken Breast, 3/4 Cup Brown Rice, 1 Cup Broccoli, 1tbsp Dressing, 4 Fish Oil Caplets - 400 Calories

1450 Calories - 40% Carbs, 45% Protein, 15% Fat

I weigh 147 lbs

Try looking through the online fitness journals forum. Quite a few people, including myself, post their entire meals.

Jason

And today...

Breakfast: 6 egg beaters, 1 slice Whole Wheat, slice of watermelon

Pre-Workout: PB sandwich on 2 slice Whole Wheat Bread

Post-Workout/Lunch: 6oz Tuna, FF mayo. lettuce, 2 slices Whole Wheat Bread

Dinner: 3 Large Fish Fillets, Green Beans

Meal 5: Protein Shake w/ Skim Milk

Meal 6: 1 cup Cottage Cheese w/ blueberries

Breakdown: ~1650 cals, 195 g Protein

Benjo,

From your post it sounds to me like you are doing the old 3 meal per day routine. If so, STOP! This is the crappiest meal plan ever, that and the way the food industry operates are two of the main reasons for rampant obesity and diabetes in the "developed" world. As you can see, everyone here is on 5 or 6 meals a day.

Also, you are 5'10 and aiming for 150lbs. Seems ultra-low to me. I am smaller than you are at 5'8, I weigh 158-159lbs, and I can see most of my abs already with the rest of my body pretty lean generally (although I have a trouble spot I the chest area, but it's not that bad these days). I am not very muscular. I lift regularly so I have muscle but I have never bulked so it's nothing special. Yet you are 2 inches taller and want to be around 8lbs lighter? Seems rather too light to me. At the very least, try to aim for a body fat percentage rather than a body weight goal. I mean, if you get to 160lbs and look great, don't be disappointed if you can't lose anymore weight (in a healthy manner). Perhaps you're not meant to be that light.

Ok back to meals. I seem to be less strict than others here. I certainly eat very clean, but I do not have a set meal plan, I move things around all the time between meals. I also take more starchy carbs on lifting days for instance. Sometimes I might carb cycle and it changes the pattern again. But overall it's always 5 or 6 meals per day (more often 6, but for cutting 5 is ok if I get up late - as long as I eat every 2.5 to 3 hours).

Meal 1 is always oatmeal with vanilla flavoured protein powder in skimmed milk.

For other meals I make them between 350/450kCal and choose from:

- Tuna (water packed. I usually down a 400gram can in a day, that's 280gram drained tuna - spread across two meals).

- Chicken breast, skinless (tastes better than tuna but I don't always have time to cook)

- Smoked salmon on wholemeal bread (an indulgence since it has salt but it also has all this healthy fat along with the proteins - the bread is two slices at 46kCal per slice - I love the taste).

- Low fat fromage frais (French version of cottage cheese, no chunks, smooth, sometimes as a dessert after the meat/fish, sometimes as a small meal for meal 6, sometimes with protein powder mixed in, with 2 oatcakes - under 50kCal each - or with 5 almonds).

- Sometimes I use oatmeal with protein powder as another meal (as well as for breakfast - I just love the taste).

- Occasionally two soft boiled eggs, or an egg white omelette.

- lettuce or green beans or peas or brown rice etc... I add carbs according to taste, time of day and what I want (fiber or starches). I generally avoid starchy carbs later in the day.

- Post workout meals are protein powder in milk with a low fat sugar containing yogurt to help absorb the protein quickly. That's instead of a normal meal, 3 times a week after the weight workouts.

- I drink an awful lot of water (3 litres/day at least these days since I started creatine).

I go out perhaps once a week to restaurants but I always ask for the healthiest thing on the menu, or ask to have no sauce etc... so they are not even "cheat meals". I allow cheat meals but I just don't want them very bad so I generally don't do them, not on a regular basis anyway. Normally no more than 2 per month, if that. And even then they are not huge meals.

Vincent.

Hey thanks for the replies. It seems it's time I learnt a bit more on the whole eating plan but you guys seem to eat so much, I realise that's the best way with the whole calorie count and stop yourself from snacking but it would seem all I would do all day is eat and exercise?!

Plus maybe it's time I start toning like suggested. It's just I seem to have quite a lot of fat around the stomach still

PLUS I could do with getting my BF% number

bf% should be your focus. Has for excercise. 5 to 7 hours a week with a good diet should do the trick.

3 40min weight training - 2hours
3 40Min Cardio - 2h

Just an example some do more some even less. Just have to do something that you feel comfortable with and can stick with.

Diet is the hump for most people. It is for me. Too bad i never had a cook like some of the celebs lol

Hey thanks for the replies. It seems it's time I learnt a bit more on the whole eating plan but you guys seem to eat so much...

Well it's "so often" rather than "so much". In terms of calories those of us who are cutting (burning fat) are overall in a small calorie deficit. But the calories we get are spread throughout the day, which has a lot of benefits:

- Amino acids present in the bloodstream all day long (the body cannot store them). The body uses these to synthesize human proteins (and build muscle)

- Revved up metabolism.

- Never stuffed full of food with the body in a position to store fat.

- Never hungry so it's easy to resist "cravings".

- Steady insulin level which helps the body use the proteins while avoiding the insulin highs and lows that create hypoglycemia/insulin resistance/diabetes etc...

Of course, overall calories are in check, and it has to be all quality foods with a good macronutrient balance (ratio of proteins, carbs, fats). If you ate pizza and donuts with beer six times a day it wouldn't work. :d_biggrin

For those of us who bulk, i.e. focus on building muscle mass, it's the same process, except that it takes a small calorie surplus instead of a small deficit. The food types are essentially the same, although the ratios may vary (I suppose a bit more protein would make sense - it all needs tuning for each individual anyway).

Vincent.

Yea benjo, I know what you mean when it seems like it's so much. It really works though! After a (very short) period of time, it doesn't become a chore to watch times for when to eat. I'm at the point where I just get a bit hungry a couple hours after I've last eaten and have my snack. Lo and behold, it's right around the time I should be eating. It's really nice to not be starving at any point of the day, and be satisfied at just about all hours. Here's basically what I eat on a daily basis:

Breakfast- Whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese, apple, cup of milk

Snack- Dried fruit/Nut mix "snack pack", beef jerkey (munching on it right now :D )

Lunch- Sandwich (either tuna with FF mayo, or light sandwich meats with hummus), apple, yogurt

Snack- Almonds/beef jerkey (sometimes both if I want)

Pre-workout snack- Almonds/trail mix

Dinner- Usually lean meat (chicken, fish, etc.), light carbs, lot's of green veggies

I can understand that it might all seem overwhelming at first, but trust me, it grows on ya! :tu:

Here is an example (I'm a vegeterian)

1) Whole Wheat English muffin, Low Fat Cottage cheese (1 tbsp)
Protein Drink w/water added flaxseed
2) Fruit and almonds (or other seeds) or home made yogurt made with berries+Splenda
3) Oatmeal (1/2 cup) with Soy Milk (1/2 cup, unsweetened) and some Whey Protein or Protein Pancakes (1/2 serving)
4) 1 sm. slice of whole wheat bread and tomatoes, avocado and Veggie slice or with egg or sweet potatoe or oatmeal on weight training days
--usually workout--
5) Protein Drink with 1/2 banana
6) Large salad with 1/2 tsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some feta or goat cheese or steamed veggies and some cottage cheese sometimes some rice and beans

Usually that adds up to 1500-1600 cal.
I adjust the amounts midday if my calories add up too fast (FitDay is great!!)

I also switch meals according to my workout schedule (before weights I have oatmeal and after a larger meal)

Once a week I have a cheat meal: some pizza or veggie burger (at Montanas), or dessert.
I try to do it on my leg day or cardio/chest day

More info in my signatures

I'm going with more of a 50/30/20 diet, so it may be low on protein and high on carbs if you're trying to gain lots of muscle mass. This averages me about 1700-2000 calories, depending on serving sizes. I've lost about 15-20 lbs so far, but I'll probably have to boost my calorie intake soon (just for a few weeks)to keep from plateauing.

Breakfast/Meal 1: 1 cup Kashi Cereal, 2 servings milk, low carb/low sugar yogurt OR 3 servings egg beaters, 2 meatless sausage patties, 1 serving milk.

Snack/Meal 2: Banana and some sort of carb (usually crackers or pretzels)

Lunch/Meal 3: Turkey Sandwich w/ cheese on whole wheat, 1/4 cup peanuts, 6 oz carrots, 1 oz beef jerkey.

Snack/Meal 4: Something w/ protein: either a bar or a shake.

Dinner/Meal 5: 1 can Tuna w/ 1 tbsp olive oil and some seasonings for flavor (usually garlic powder and some mrs dash or something) OR 6-8 oz grilled chicken breats, and some sort of green (usually broccoli, peas, etc).

Hey thanks for the replies. It seems it's time I learnt a bit more on the whole eating plan but you guys seem to eat so much, I realise that's the best way with the whole calorie count and stop yourself from snacking but it would seem all I would do all day is eat and exercise?!

Plus maybe it's time I start toning like suggested. It's just I seem to have quite a lot of fat around the stomach still

PLUS I could do with getting my BF% number

Whole foods are less calorie dense. Usually because of high fiber, low fat. 5 slices of pizza has as many calories as I eat all day. And what I eat is probably 2-3x the volume of 5 slices of pizza.

Also, weight training is the second most important part of fat loss, right after diet. So I would second the opinion that getting on a good training schedule (after you have your calories and clean diet in check) is advisible.

And here is what I eat in a typical day:

Time Category Food Name Serving Servs.Kcal Fat S. FatCarbs Sugar Fiber ProteiT Kcal T Fat T CarbT ProtP Fat P CarbP Prot
06:00 SupplementAll The Whey 1 oz 1 102 1 0 1 0 0 24 102 1 1 24 8.3% 3.7% 88.1%
06:00 Soy ProteiSilk Soy Milk (Unsweetened) 1 cup 1 80 4 0.5 4 1 1 7 80 4 4 7 45.0% 20.0% 35.0%
08:00 Cereal Old Wessex Ltd Oatmeal .5 cups 1 150 3 0.5 27 0 4 6 150 3 27 6 17.0% 67.9% 15.1%
11:00 Lunch Tuna Fish Salad 1 mixture 1 221 4 0 9 7 1 37.5 221 4 9 37.5 16.2% 16.2% 67.6%
11:00 Dairy Horizon Organic Lowfat Cottage .5 cups 1 100 2.5 1.5 4 3 0 13 100 2.5 4 13 24.9% 17.7% 57.5%
11:00 Veggie Carrot 1 medium 1 25 0 0 6 3 2 1 25 0 6 1 0.0% 85.7% 14.3%
14:00 Dairy Horizon Organic Lowfat Cottage .5 cups 1 100 2.5 1.5 4 3 0 13 100 2.5 4 13 24.9% 17.7% 57.5%
14:00 Snack Cashews 1 oz 1 180 14 2.5 6 2 1 6 180 14 6 6 72.4% 13.8% 13.8%
17:00 Poultry Boneless, Skinless Chicken Brea4 oz 1 120 1.5 0 0.6 0 0 26 120 1.5 0.6 26 11.3% 2.0% 86.7%
17:00 Veggie Wild Oats Organic Frozen Brocco.66 cup 4 20 0 0 4 1 2 2 80 0 16 8 0.0% 66.7% 33.3%
17:00 Grains Lundberg Short Grain Brown Rice.25 cup 2 170 1.5 0 40 0 3 3 340 3 80 6 7.3% 86.3% 6.5%
18:00 Poultry Diestel Oven Roasted Turkey Bre2 oz dry 2 60 0.5 0 0 0 0 14 120 1 0 28 7.4% 0.0% 92.6%
18:00 Legume Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Bla.5 cup 1 100 0 0 19 4 5 6 100 0 19 6 0.0% 76.0% 24.0%
18:00 Veggie Wild Oats Organic Frozen Peas .66 cup 2 70 0 0 12 4 4 5 140 0 24 10 0.0% 70.6% 29.4%
22:00 Dairy Horizon Organic Lowfat Cottage .5 cups 1 100 2.5 1.5 4 3 0 13 100 2.5 4 13 24.9% 17.7% 57.5%

Cals: 1958
Fat Grams: 39
Carb Grams: 204.6
Protein Grams: 204.5

Fat Pct: 17.7%
Carb Pct: 41.2%
Prot. Pct: 41.2%

The important thing is not too deprive yourself of variety. Jeremy likness said that when he was cutting to single digit bf%, he'd put small pieces of chocolate in his coffee from time to time.

dont completely cut out foods you like, eg if you like ice cream-why not limit yourself to a couple of scoops instead of a couple of plates or get low fat ice creams.

restricting your diet, would often lead to a binge or you'd drop the diet altogether.

remember results become visible day by day, week by week, month by month.

good luck !

My short version answer is something different, every day, and always something I enjoy. This way I do not get bored with my diet, and I often find myself looking forward certain meals, which still fall well within the guidelines I set for myself.

95% of my meals and recipes are courtesy of causticmuse and her sticky on the recipes forum. There are so many great meals in those pdf's complete with cooking instructions and macro breakdowns. If you are short on meal ideas, or just want to try something new take a minute and check them out. Here is the link.

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=10500