Hi gang,

I've been gone from this site for a while, but have been doing pretty well with my eating and lifting. A major step for me was to force myself to eat (and like) things I grew up hating (eg. veggies.) I'm looking to kick things up until spring rugby season, so I could use your help with my diet. What do you think?

Breakfast
Shake (Oat Bran, Protein Powder, Banana, Milk, Natural PB) 595 kcal

Mid-Morning
PWO Shake (Biotest Surge) 340 kcal

Lunch
Tuna on Toast 380 kcal

Mid-Afternoon
Salad (with vinegar for dressing) negligible (30-50 kcal max)

Dinner
Veggies (Green Beans, usually) 36 kcal
Lean Meat (Steak, Chicken) ~500 kcal

Snack
Another Shake (this time without the PB) 450 kcal

My daily total is about 2300. I've been doing this for about a month already and so far so good. I've lost about 6 pounds total, which is a good pace for me. So, does anyone have any suggestions for what to add or remove? My salad is normally a field green mix, not an American mix. I toss in some spinach when I have a chance, but it was hard to find for a while. I'm very open to other PWO suggestions, as I don't drink Surge currently (should be arriving soon.) The only thing is that it should be quick and easy, so a single powder mix would be great.

Thanks for all the help!

i would add some more EFAs to your diet

You're not feeding your body enough in the midafternoon. That small salad isn't sufficient in my opion. Let's put some chicken or some more tuna in there. If you don't want to add overall calories, perhaps, you go with 10 oz of chicken here and 10 oz at dinner for you 500 calories of protein instead of eating minimally at midafternoon and then heavier at dinner.

Or perhaps, you can take the protein powder and milk from your morning shake and instead of having breakfast in liquid form, have cooked oatmeal with your PB and banana. Then you can apply that proteing towards your midafternoon meal.

It's my opinion that somehow you need to get some more food, especially protein in this midafternoon meal.

I do consume fish oil capsules thrice daily, so I am getting some EFAs. My bread also contains flax seed and my PB has some EFAs added, too. Do I need more than that? How else should I cram it into my diet? I can't really afford to eat fresh fish too often.

My breakfast in the morning is liquid just because I tend to feel sick if I eat solid food. I have a chronic post nasal drip that makes me feel ill when I wake, and shakes seem to sit better than solid food. I agree with the salad thing, though. Maybe I should take out the peanut butter in the morning and instead add a couple handfuls of nuts with the salad? I could also stick to chicken instead of beef for dinner, and then toss another breast in with lunch?

I feel like I'm getting enough calories over all due to the way I'm feeling, and the slow pace of weight loss, but evening things out would be great.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I do consume fish oil capsules thrice daily, so I am getting some EFAs. My bread also contains flax seed and my PB has some EFAs added, too. Do I need more than that? How else should I cram it into my diet? I can't really afford to eat fresh fish too often.

If you're worried about cost, I'd drop the fish oil capsules and get the pure oil. There's also flax oil which is probably a better source of fat then the flax seed in your bread. Switch to normal whole wheat bread and drop the fish oil caps. With the money you save, invest in fish and/or flax oil.