Ok here goes........

After doing all the calculations on marcus' sticky, I should be consuming...........................

2400 calories in a 29/20/51 split, protein/fat/carbs

Today I ate................

1550 calories in a 35/17/47 split

I really don't think I can eat anymore. I can maybe bolster it with some cc a bit before bed but other than that.........

Everything I eat seems to be full of carbs, when you take into account that the % is almost the same but the total cals is nearly 1000 lower I must be eating too many?

I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is, but I figured that if I wrote down all the things that were confusing me then it might inspire someone more knowledgable than myself to lend a hand. :)

Thanks all

How about some almonds (1 oz, handful) is about 160 cal. Great surce of good fat, lowers your bad cholesterol too!

I also add flaxseed oil to either my shake or salad

How about Avocado? Yummy!! Great with tomatoes and alfa-alfa sprouts on a piece whole-wheat bread or in pita

Ok here goes........

After doing all the calculations on marcus' sticky, I should be consuming...........................

2400 calories in a 29/20/51 split, protein/fat/carbs

Today I ate................

1550 calories in a 35/17/47 split

I really don't think I can eat anymore. I can maybe bolster it with some cc a bit before bed but other than that.........

Everything I eat seems to be full of carbs, when you take into account that the % is almost the same but the total cals is nearly 1000 lower I must be eating too many?

I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is, but I figured that if I wrote down all the things that were confusing me then it might inspire someone more knowledgable than myself to lend a hand. :)

Thanks all

Are you sure you are calculating everything right? How tall are you? Why is there such a huge gap between the amount of calories that you should be eating and the amount of calories that it takes to make you full. I don't know if you should necessarily be raising your calories so drastically so suddenly. You are trying to lose fat, not gain, right?

Your Protein consumption is way to low.

You will pretty much need to ditch your old way of eating.

**Build your meal around your protein consumption, not as an afterthought.**

To burn fat you need muscle. To fuel muscle, you need protein. Figure that out first. If you are low on carbs, no biggie. In fact you will drop fat faster.

Find some cheap sources of protein. There are tons of them. For pure convenience/price/ease/time nothign beats a big ol bucket of whey.

Start with your first meal. Breakfast. Start with our protein. A smoothie? Maybe a protein shake if we are short for time? Now add your good grains for QUALITY carbs. Whole grains.

Lunch. Chicken breast. Turkey is great. Lean red meats are good.
A 6 oz sirloin with spinach topped with olive oil is perfect.

Dinner? Tuna? Halibut steaks? Now add your veggies and fruits and greens.


Some people have an easier time starting each meal like its a lo/no carb meal at the start. Then adding their other components.

Protein First. Then your other macronutrients.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I'm pretty sure my calculations are spot on. Actually I know they are coz my stats are near identical to marcus'.

Thanks fitness nerd - that's helpful stuff.

I'll post what I ate yesterday to see if that's any help. I'm really struggling to cut the carbs.

8am: 2 Weetabix
Semi-skimmed Milk
Apple

9:30 - 10:30: WORKOUT (full body weights)

10:30: Banana

11:15: Maximuscle promax shake with semi-skimmed milk
Chicken Breast
Shape Yoghurt

13:15: 2 slice wholemeal bread
chicken slices
carrots

18:30 Baked Potato with beans
Chicken Breast

*I know I should be having the protein shake immediately after working out - need to buy a shaker.

* 14:00 - 18:00 I'm working so can't eat during then

* Like I said I'm going to add some CC on crackerbread or something a couple of hours after my last meal.

thanks again

I'm really struggling to cut the carbs.
My advise is don't cut any carbs unless you have to. Wait till you plateau or your results really start to slow before you reduce your carbs too much. It's different for different people but i started cutting with 55% of my calories coming from carbs each day and only dropped this slightly when my results slowed about a month later; my currently body fat% is a little over 7% & i'm still eating just short of 50% of my calories from carbs. I firmly believe that lowering carbs should only be considered by those in the following situations:

* Has alot of fat to lose
* Has reached a plataeu
* Wants to speed up the progress
* Is at a very low body fat level and wants to get lower (which is why i'm considering it now).

Your best bet (in my opinion) is to keep carbs fairly high (50-55%) and lower them only if you have to. Later down the line it's not so easy to raise them if you are suffering from decreased energy levels without the risk of storing them as fat.
10:30: Banana
This is your post workout meal????? You need protein here big time; all the work you're doing working out won't count for much if you not getting any protein until about 45minutes after this. If you still want the banana then keep it, but have at least 2; BUT GET SOME PROTEIN PLEASE!!
*I know I should be having the protein shake immediately after working out - need to buy a shaker.
Thats a relief ;) .
* 14:00 - 18:00 I'm working so can't eat during then
Can you get in another shake?

Man, I have the opposite problem... I have BIG problems eating ONLY my 2200 calories I need.

For me, getting enough food is too easy. I eat about 6 times a day depending on how much time I have(although I was just on my honeymoon and put on a bit of weight and still haven't returned to my regular diet) and I make it all simple and easy foods.

Here is my plan for tomorrow:

Breakfast
2 eggs scrambled, cup of oatmeal w/blueberries

Snack
low fat mozza cheese and a green apple

Lunch
bbq jerked chicken breast and some lentil soup

Snack
Shake from yogourt, skim milk, protein powder poured over bran cereal and some fruit

Dinner
Chicken & cauliflower curry

Nighttime snack
Cottage cheese and some almonds

I try to add as much fiber as possible to keep me full so I dont crave more food and it helps... but I am always hungry.

Try writing down a mealplan for a few days and then hit the grocery store with a list. Before you go to bed, try to prepare as much of your meals for the next day as possible.

HTH

Man, I have the opposite problem... I have BIG problems eating ONLY my 2200 calories I need.

For me, getting enough food is too easy. I eat about 6 times a day depending on how much time I have(although I was just on my honeymoon and put on a bit of weight and still haven't returned to my regular diet) and I make it all simple and easy foods.

Here is my plan for tomorrow:

Breakfast
2 eggs scrambled, cup of oatmeal w/blueberries

Snack
low fat mozza cheese and a green apple

Lunch
bbq jerked chicken breast and some lentil soup

Snack
Shake from yogourt, skim milk, protein powder poured over bran cereal and some fruit

Dinner
Chicken & cauliflower curry

Nighttime snack
Cottage cheese and some almonds

I try to add as much fiber as possible to keep me full so I dont crave more food and it helps... but I am always hungry.

HTH

I think your breakfast looks a little lacking. I'd load more calories at that time. Also, when is your workout time? My largest consumption of calories is post workout, then breakfast.

2 eggs is around 10 grams or protein. Pretty low if you are hitting the weights every other day. I'd trade those 2 eggs with six egg whites and a 1/2 cup of steel cut oats. I'd save those berries for your post workout shake.

I'd switch out that green apple for almonds. Good fat content and good protein content.

I notice most of your carbs are fruit. Keep the apple and berries. Other fruits I would eat more sparingly unless its a post workout shake.

You seem a little low on the good fats though. Take some natural peanut butter with that cottage cheese.

Fat is a very satisfying component of meal. Add 30-60 calories of fat to ever meal and it'll keep you from bingeing with 500 calories of junk.

I'd also ditch the cauliflower for leafy greens (not iceberg, its crap) and top it with olive oil and some pepper.

You can eat a LOT of greens for very little impact calories, but a nice filler of fiber and vitamins.

I have to admit to being in LUV with fruit. I try to limit my consumption of it. I use the blueberries in place of sugar/honey in my oatmeal. I also spice my oatmeal with cinnamon to add a bit of flavour. And my brand of oatmeal has 3g of fat from flax, which is a nice healthy fat.

The mealplan above is thrown together from an unplanned grocery trip since I just returned from my honeymoon. I won't be back at the grocery store till monday night. Even so, it's not horrid, just not perfect :)

For a while I was actually planning every meal I ate. But then I got lazy and just started using my head and just tried to eat healthy. Now that I am back from my honeymoon and fattened up, I need to plan my meals out again to get things back under control.

I plan to incorporate the following into my mealplan next week:

Healthy fats such as Udo's oil to supplement my shakes
Veggies such as broccoli, gailan, yu choi, asparagus and spinach
Whole eggs mixed with egg whites for a nicer protein to fat ratio while retaining flavour
Extra flax seeds to add to my oatmeal
Fresh tuna steaks cuz they taste awesome and are healthy :)
Bell peppers since they taste good, low calories and have lots of vitamin C

Hmmm, I think it's time to get my journal thread running again!

*Hopefully this helps out the original poster somehow...

*Hopefully this helps out the original poster somehow...

Haha......nice to know you're still thinking of me as you hijack my thread ;)

Only kidding. I definately agree with you on the whole meal planning thing tho. I can't be trusted to decide what i'm gonna eat at the time.

Got a shaker now so will be moving the shake to pwo. Any more ideas would be much appreciated. I'm gonna start planning tomorrows meals. I wish I could just have a weekly plan but work different hours every week so it's hard.

Could probably sneak off for a protein shake at work if u reckon it'd b a good idea? Would consuming 2 a day have any adverse effects on fat loss? Or just on my wallet ;)

Cheers guys

2 shakes a day wont hurt if you can stay within your calories and macro's. A lot of people take several shakes per day for convenience.

Personally, I dont take a PWO shake anymore, I drink a dextrose/maltodextrose drink... but I think the PWO shake is fine.