Weight Lifters, I Need Food Advice

[canibus]

So I quit smoking, 3 weeks on thursday. Unfortunately I gained 10 pounds in that time period. :shrug: I was told it would happen, but I refused to believe it. Anyway, it's no excuse, I eat like shit anyway but before I wasn't gaining weight. So i've decided to finally step over to the nutritional living and leave all the fast food out. I'm very busy throughout the whole day, so I usually end up settling for anything close to where i'm working. I lift 4-5 days a week and hit it pretty hard, but I know that to lose some weight I have to switch over to high rep. I'm at 193 right now, but i'd like to be somewhere in the 175 range.

So I need a meal plan on the go that can work for someone who doesn't have a kitchen handy for most of the day, but also wants to eat healthier and lose some unwanted weight in the meantime. My caloric intake to maintain my current weight is 2,800 calories. So cutting 500 from that would be a great start. Any pointers?

 

[2valve]

Well at a 500 calorie cut, you're only going to lose 1lb every 6 days just from cutting calories. You can cut at least 500, try to do more, it's not hard. Just track your intake with something like sparkpeople.com or if you have a smartphone, their app. Keep a 40/40/20 carb/protein/fat intake with the calories you eat. Eat 4-5 small meals a day spread out every couple to few hours. Obviously stay away from simple carbs, dairy, sweets and of course soda! Drink tons of water.
I used to be 5'7" 245 at my worst. I'm 6'3" 185 now and it's easy to maintain. If you can plan in some cardio do it.
Good luck.

 

[Ebeeson0502]

Cut the carbs, maintain the protein. The body can only absorb 32-35g of protein every 2 hours, so i'm sure you've heard you need to eat 5-6 times a day.

Calculating Calorie & Macronutrient Needs - Bodybuilding.com Forums

Thats a good post, and theres a lot of great nutrional schedules on there of great stuff to eat.

Also, Myfitnesspal is an AMAZING app that a lot of people use on their smart phones, you should check it out


EDIT: Id also recommend checking this dudes youtube channel out, hes a freaking genius at making great, healthy, cheap and easy food, even a lot of stuff made out of protein powder.

http://www.youtube.com/user/leanbodylifestyle?feature=sub_widget_1

 

[Sn95Snake]

Well at a 500 calorie cut, you're only going to lose 1lb every 6 days just from cutting calories. You can cut at least 500, try to do more, it's not hard. Just track your intake with something like sparkpeople.com or if you have a smartphone, their app. Keep a 40/40/20 carb/protein/fat intake with the calories you eat. Eat 4-5 small meals a day spread out every couple to few hours. Obviously stay away from simple carbs, dairy, sweets and of course soda! Drink tons of water.
I used to be 5'7" 245 at my worst. I'm 6'3" 185 now and it's easy to maintain. If you can plan in some cardio do it.
Good luck.

This, and if you are looking for anything to help cut weight you should look into Oxyelite Pro. It is an appetiate suppresent and a metabolism booster.
It works really well just make sure you lay off caffine and drink alot of water. I have 2 friends that used it with diet and excercise, one went from 280 to 200 and the other went from 250 to 190.

 

[canibus]

Well at a 500 calorie cut, you're only going to lose 1lb every 6 days just from cutting calories. You can cut at least 500, try to do more, it's not hard. Just track your intake with something like sparkpeople.com or if you have a smartphone, their app. Keep a 40/40/20 carb/protein/fat intake with the calories you eat. Eat 4-5 small meals a day spread out every couple to few hours. Obviously stay away from simple carbs, dairy, sweets and of course soda! Drink tons of water.
I used to be 5'7" 245 at my worst. I'm 6'3" 185 now and it's easy to maintain. If you can plan in some cardio do it.
Good luck.

500 is fine for now as i'm not in a hurry, besides, isn't eating under 2,000 calories a day bad for you?

 

[FastNick01]

Protein absorbtion depends on body mass. The 30g rule is an old wives tale. As far as cutting the carbs, you will loose alot of fat but you will loose muscle too. Low carb diets are worthless in my opinion. It always comes down to what you want to look like though.

- Eat most of your carbs and fruits earlier in the day with an nice split of protein/carbs/fats depending on your goals. Eating 5-8 small meals to keep metabolism up.

- I cannot stress how important water is( at least a gallon a day or more if you can depending on size of course).

-To loose a nice amount of fat do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach 45-60min 3 times a week.

-Also weight lifting should be spread out with a day break in between workout sessions.

-Also last but not least if you drink, stop. There is virtually no point of taking in alcohol when your trying to get in shape. Even in moderation. Alcohol especially has huge effects on protein synthesis and testosterone levels along with dehydrating your body and adding shit calories to your diet. That goes for pop etc...

For example my states are 6'2, 215lbs fairly lean lower teens body fat%.

A typical day consists of
1. 8 whole eggs. 1 1/2 cup oats(non instant crap) with honey,strawberries, blueberries
Lunch either chicken breasts, ground turkey,beef,steak, with potatoes r wheat noodles

2. normally can of tuna, banana, plain shredded wheat.

3 post workout. Pineapple, aprox 40-45g protein whey.

4. Normally a steak and potatoes,

5. Turkey or fish somewhat of a lighter meat source.

6. cottage cheese with glass of milk and 3 spoons full of natural Peanut Butter.

The days diet depends on whether or not I am training with weights or doing something else. Do some research into starchy and non starchy carbs and when to consume them. Time of day is also important.

Just a few tips, good luck to you. If you have any questions feel free to ask me. Good luck to you

 

[canibus]

thanks Nick,

I have the muscle mass that I want to be at, but I want to lean out and work my way to some decent abs. So I'd really like to lose weight and maintain my current muscle mass.

 

[Petro-head]

Great advice here. What is considered a small meal? Can any of you guys post a picture of what a small meal looks like. And whats the best way to increase metabolism? Planning on going back to playing soccer in a few weeks.

 

[AluminatorSnake]

Caloric intake my friend... cut back on it like you said. Also protein is a key factor in both gaining muscle and loosing weight. Its said to consume 1-1.5 grams per pound of your weight.

Eat more lean meats like chicken and fish.
Try to do whole grain and wheat for your starches
Veggies like squash and zuchinni or peas
Substituing lettuce with alfalfa and brocco sprouts is also beneficial.
Omega 3's are your good fat friends, good source is avacado

*Dont get caught up in salad bullshit. most arent really beneficial in nutritional value nor do they help with caloric intake because all dressings have a ton of calories, with the only exception being a vinegrette, and its still not great. If you can muster to eat a salad with veggie oil as dressing, go for it lol but to have a healthy salad you get very little nutritional value.

Try to spread your food consumption into 5-6 meals. And if yo uhave a smart phone, download My Fitness Pal and keep track or your caloric intake with thousands of items and they also keep track of how many calories you burn.

Someone that weighs 225 needs anywhere around 1700-1800 calories a day just to function and be awake. Set a calorie goal per day and reach it, such as 2300-2500 calories then try to burn that number down each day with cardio and exercise to just above your daily need and you will lose weight.

 

[SVTCobra60]

This should have been asked in the Workout enthusiast thread, probably would have got more educated attention lol, I'll pm you op

 

[4VFreak]

How did you calculate that your caloric intake to maintain your current weight is 2800 calories? That seems really high. Did you use a basal metabolic rate calculator?

BMR Calculator

I'm not a small person and my maintenance level is only around 2200. Unless you are a massive person or your lifting routine burns a ridiculous number of calories, you should try to cut your intake even more.

 

[SpectorV]

How did you calculate that your caloric intake to maintain your current weight is 2800 calories? That seems really high. Did you use a basal metabolic rate calculator?

BMR Calculator

I'm not a small person and my maintenance level is only around 2200. Unless you are a massive person or your lifting routine burns a ridiculous number of calories, you should try to cut your intake even more.

that above link shows me at 2140 to maintain, but thats not accurate~ I workout so it takes far more to maintain calories wise. If you dont workout at all then thats probably accurate.

I can eat around 2700-3,000 a day and not gain any weight it seems.

 

[SID297]

Eat food, not too much, mostly vegetables. That will help you cut weight. Just remember that an edible food like product is not real food.

 

[4VFreak]

that above link shows me at 2140 to maintain, but thats not accurate~ I workout so it takes far more to maintain calories wise. If you dont workout at all then thats probably accurate.

I can eat around 2700-3,000 a day and not gain any weight it seems.

Yeah, your basal rate is what it takes for you to maintain your resting metabolism, it assumes no physical activity. 2800 calories still sounds high, unless op is lifting and/or doing cardio for a couple hours a night. It all depends on how much daily physical activity he normally participates in (i.e physical labor or desk job), what his workouts look like, and how fast he wants to lose weight.

 

[johnjon87]

The only way i got to my goals was to takr a whey shake in the am fot instant protein, a protein mix shake mid day (pro complex is my favorite) then a whey shake after working out and then Maybe even a casien shakr an hour before i go to sleep for protein while i sleep. I never was able to achieve my protein. Goals on just eating

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

 

[usaf_eagle]

Protein absorbtion depends on body mass. The 30g rule is an old wives tale. As far as cutting the carbs, you will loose alot of fat but you will loose muscle too. Low carb diets are worthless in my opinion. It always comes down to what you want to look like though.

- Eat most of your carbs and fruits earlier in the day with an nice split of protein/carbs/fats depending on your goals. Eating 5-8 small meals to keep metabolism up.

You're right about the protein absorption.. but the "5-8" meals a day is also a wives tale. As long as you reach your macronutrients, it doesnt really matter how many times a day you eat. Research shows that meal frequency has very little impact on your BMR. If you find that you take in less calories by eating 3 meals a day, do it. If you eat less calories eating 5-8 meals a day, do it. It's not going to affect your metabolism enough to force yourself into an inconvenient meal frequency.

 

[canibus]

How did you calculate that your caloric intake to maintain your current weight is 2800 calories? That seems really high. Did you use a basal metabolic rate calculator?

BMR Calculator

I'm not a small person and my maintenance level is only around 2200. Unless you are a massive person or your lifting routine burns a ridiculous number of calories, you should try to cut your intake even more.

BMR is 1,967 multiply that by 1.55 and I end up with 3,048 calories. So I need to intake about 2,500 to start losing weight. I don't know where I got the 2,800 from?:shrug:

 

[Ibleedblue13]

Do interval training for cardio at the END of your workout. This will help burn fat that otherwise might give you a hard time. And as stated by everyone, all the working out in the world isn't going to be productive unless you eat right

 

[crfrider16]

I'm on a cut right now. An easy way to have good food always available is to cook in bulk. First, I go online and look at the circulars for the 3 or 4 major supermarkets around here. Between the 4 of em, one always has chicken breast on sale for $1.99/lb. Then I go there and stock up.

I grill up to 5 pounds of chicken, and then dice it up into little squares, and throw it in a big tupperware. I do the same with brown rice. Cook 2 cups (dry) which turns into a massive amount of cooked rice. Throw that in a tupperware and mix in salsa with it (I hate plain brown rice, but with the salsa, it's delicious).

Steam up a ton of broccoli. I used to weigh my food, but since I've been doing it long enough, I've gotten better at just eying it up. Now every night, get out 2 smaller tupperwares, and scoop in 1 cup of brown rice, 6-7 oz chicken, and a scoop of broccoli. That's 2 protein packed, healthy meals right there for the nest day that only need 2 minutes in a microwave.

Lean turkey burgers on an arnold select deli flat are really good snacks too. Banana and natty peanut butter. That's 4 things that you can bring to work or wherever, that are real healthy, packed with protein and good fats, and should get you through the work day.

I ate like this 2 years ago and went from 17% BF to 8% BF. Never felt better. Of course, this is what worked for ME, and everyone responds differently to things.

The main thing that has already been said though, is abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. Diet is more than half the battle when it comes to losing fat. Good luck, motivation is the first step, and it sounds like you've got it!

 

[AluminatorSnake]

You're right about the protein absorption.. but the "5-8" meals a day is also a wives tale. As long as you reach your macronutrients, it doesnt really matter how many times a day you eat. Research shows that meal frequency has very little impact on your BMR. If you find that you take in less calories by eating 3 meals a day, do it. If you eat less calories eating 5-8 meals a day, do it. It's not going to affect your metabolism enough to force yourself into an inconvenient meal frequency.

I feel this is 100% correct. The only reason I feel like more small meals in a day works for me is when i began cutting back on my calories on only 3 meals a day, I felt like i was starving in between meals. I still eat the same amount of food, 90% of the time i plan ahead for the next day, i just split it up into intervals to help fight the hungry feeling.