Heres my story: I am a 24 year old male, 5'7". I started training a little over a year ago. I began at 221 lbs and now I am down to 181. I have packed on a decent amount of muscle and my face, legs, midsection, chest, and etc. have slimmed down. I still have a fairly decent size gut and man boobs. Recently, I've been concentrating too much on lifting and not enough on cardio. My sole focus now is to get ripped. My diet and sleep patterns are awful. Below is a normal day for me, what do I need to change to get rid of this belly and chest? PLEASE HELP!

Here is my normal daily diet:
Very little food for breakfast (maybe a banana and water or a little bit of special k with milk) Eaten at 8:30 AM

(1) Turkey breast sandwich with two slices of whole wheat bread. No mayo or cheese. This is my lunch meal eaten at about 1:00 PM

Huge dinner with (2) 8 oz. chicken breasts or lean meat, decent portion of white rice, salad with italian dressing. Eaten at 6 PM

On lifting days, I take a Muscle Milk Protein shake afterwards. Taken around 11:30 PM

I ususally only get about 6 hrs. of sleep per night. My training consists of weight training 3 days a week and I try to do half an hour on the treadmill at least 5 times a week.

The only supplements I am taking is the Muscle Milk three days a week. My work schedule dictates my eating and training habits:mad:

Here is my normal daily diet:
Very little food for breakfast (maybe a banana and water or a little bit of special k with milk) Eaten at 8:30 AM

You need to eat more for breakfast. That meal has no protein in it. Try oatmeal instead of processed cereal. I like having 1/2 cup dry oatmeal + 1/4 cup egg whites --> bring to boil and then add to a bowl with 1 mashed banana. Add some splenda and cinnamon and you have a delicious, healthy meal!

(1) Turkey breast sandwich with two slices of whole wheat bread. No mayo or cheese. This is my lunch meal eaten at about 1:00 PM

Huge dinner with (2) 8 oz. chicken breasts or lean meat, decent portion of white rice, salad with italian dressing. Eaten at 6 PM

Get rid of the processed deli meat (too much sodium). Try to add in carbs around your workouts (before and after). Try things like sweet potatoes (yams), brown rice, tuna, chicken breast, fish, and add way more vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, etc.) to your diet.

Plus, it seems like there's a huge gap between your breakfast and lunch (at least 4.5 hours!!!!!!!). You need a snack in between...ever thought of having a protein shake during that period? Try it!

Instead of having a "HUGE" dinner, aim for 5-6 meals a day to keep your metabolism going. Otherwise, you will tend to overeat at dinner, which will hurt your progress.

Good luck! :db:

Also almonds make good between meals, I eat them in the afternoon for a snack, and in the midmorning try an apple to get you through to lunch.

I agree. Eat more often. Eat a big breakfast, and taper your calories down to the end of the day. Have more fruits and vegetables. These should make up the majority of your carbs.

Use the Muscle Milk as an inbetween meal snack, if you can't get a whole food meal. It's really not ideal for a post workout shake.

I think the deli meat is fine. I usually eat 2lbs/wk of sliced turkey on a cut, and it never affects my progress one bit.


You need to eat more for breakfast. That meal has no protein in it. Try oatmeal instead of processed cereal. I like having 1/2 cup dry oatmeal + 1/4 cup egg whites --> bring to boil and then add to a bowl with 1 mashed banana. Add some splenda and cinnamon and you have a delicious, healthy meal!



Get rid of the processed deli meat (too much sodium). Try to add in carbs around your workouts (before and after). Try things like sweet potatoes (yams), brown rice, tuna, chicken breast, fish, and add way more vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, etc.) to your diet.

Plus, it seems like there's a huge gap between your breakfast and lunch (at least 4.5 hours!!!!!!!). You need a snack in between...ever thought of having a protein shake during that period? Try it!

Instead of having a "HUGE" dinner, aim for 5-6 meals a day to keep your metabolism going. Otherwise, you will tend to overeat at dinner, which will hurt your progress.

Good luck! :db:

Yeah, what others have said.
- Try switching your dinner with your breakfast :nod: It can be hard, sure, but try to make it the largest meal of the day. Eat some good cereals (Kashi GoLean I've seen recommended), yoghurt or whatever you can. Of course with protein of some sort.
- Better yet, divide that dinner by two, eat half for breakfast, and take the rest with you to work and eat it at a smoke break at 11 AM.
- Lean beef is fine, don't worry. You shouldn't eat more than 6 grams of salt per day, but eating less than 1 gram means problems, so as long as you're not eating McDonalds fries or something salty gross like that, feel free to enjoy the meat with whatever salt it comes with.
- Shouldn't eat anything at 11 PM. Your metabolism has pretty much shut down at that point, and would need to deal with food instead of fixing your muscles at night. Personally my last meal is at 9 PM
- For gods sake get some more sleep. Late night TV really isn't all that important :)

I'm going to agree with the others. Spread your calories more evenly throughout the day. You should probably think about making your breakfast the biggest meal of the day. Kashi Go Lean works great for me. Lots of fiber and protein. Good luck.

I started at about the same place you did and will run down what's worked for me.

Started (October 2004)
5' 7"
208-215 (somewhere in that area)

Current:
5' 7"
144

I've eaten about 1500 calories per day since I started. The first months my diet was bad even though I felt it was pretty good. You'll go through MANY changes with diet.

Here is what I eat:

Meal 1: Plain Quaker Oats (150) w/ 1tbsp Natural Peanut Butter (100) or 1 scoop Whey Protein (100)
Total: 250

Meal 2: Non-fat Yogurt (100) w/ Strawberries, blueberries, etc. (40)
Total: 140

Meal 3: Grilled Chicken Sandwich on Whole Wheat/Lettuce/Tomato (275) w/ 1tbsp Low-fat Mayo (40)
Total: 315

Meal 4: 6oz Grilled Chicken Breast (180) w/ 2 Fish Oil Capsules (20)
Total: 200

Meal 5: 2 Eggs (150) w/ 1tsp Olive Oil (30) or PWO Shake (200)
Total: 180-200

Meal 6: 6oz Chicken Breast (180) 3/4 cup Brown Rice (150) 1 cup Broccoli (30) 2tbsp Lite Honey Mustard (70) 2 Fish Oil Capsules (20)
Total: 450

Daily Total: 1500-1550 (40% Carbs / 40% Protein / 20% Fats)

For exercise I try to run 3-4 miles at between 70-90% heartrate 5-6 times a week.

For lifting I do alot of body weight exercises like pullups, chinups, pushups, and dips. I also do compound lifts like military presses and deadlifts. I really don't waste time with isolation lifts because I'm not bulking and just want to maintain mass. I lift M-W-F.

Hope you find some of this information helpful. It's helped me to lose around 65 pounds. I think my diet is pretty solid but it's taken months of tweaking.

Get lots of sleep! 8 hours if at all possible. Trust me on this one, it's extremely important both psychologically and physiologically.

Oh, and drink lots of water.

Finally, once you get down to 17-18% BF cardio will become VERY important. I don't care what anyone else says. If you wanna get rid of that gut you gotta get the heart pumping as often as possible. I wholeheartedly believe that Diet/Cardio/Weights all share equal importance in being successful.