diet advice

grahamor

i have been going to the gym 3 times a week for the last few months doing 2k on the rower at level 9, 5k on the treadmill in about 26mins and some small weights. Although i feel great, i still have the same fat around my gut area that i'd love to get rid of.

i go out on the piss once a week (about 6-8 pints) and have maybe 1 takeaway a week.

I know my diet is far from perfect but i need some pointers about where i am going wrong. I think its my evening meal that is worst. Any opinions are great.

8am: bowl kellogs start, normal milk, tea

930am: actimel, banana

11am nutrigrain, tea

130pm: ham, cheese sambo on wholemeal bread, king-lite crisps, apple

630pm: pasta or potatoes or rice with chicken, steak or sausages and some tomato or indian sauce.

8pm: a few biscuits and tea.

DubNside

grahamor wrote:

630pm: pasta or potatoes or rice with chicken, steak or sausages and some tomato or indian sauce.

8pm: a few biscuits and tea.

Theres your problem, cut the Starchy carbs. And processed meat like sausages.
Indian sauces are full of cream and additives so that a big no-no!

Biscuits are full of trans-fats and are the worst kind, milky tea is also loaded with fat.

Cut the carbs in the evening, try green tea and have seeds(pumpkin etc/nuts if you have to "snack" in the evening, nuts are fatty but at least they are good fats.

Oobie

Not all Indian sauces are cream based - try making tomato based ones like Jalfrezi, Madras etc rather than Korma types.

Sauce

You eat 4 times between 8:00 and 1:30 which is 5.5 hours and then you dont have another meal until 6:30 which is another 5 hours.

How about having your actimel and banana at 10:30 or 11 and then having your nutrigrain and tea at 4. You could try using semi skimmed milk or skimmed milk in your tea also.

It would be better to Porridge, weetabix or all bran for breakfast instead of start

g'em

grahamor wrote:

Although i feel great, i still have the same fat around my gut area that i'd love to get rid of.

well your diet is responsible for hte flabby guyt so that's what you have to work on.

grahamor wrote:

i go out on the piss once a week (about 6-8 pints) and have maybe 1 takeaway a week.

do I really need to tell you that this isn't helping? :rolleyes:

grahamor wrote:

8am: bowl kellogs start, normal milk, tea

porridge is teh breakfast of kings. yes, its an acquired taste, but once you start to like it, there's nothing that can replace it. unprocessed, starchy carbs, oodles of energy and fibre, fill you up and keep you feeling great throughout the morning.

grahamor wrote:

930am: actimel, banana

probiotic drinks are one of the most-succesful marketing gimmicks seen in recent years. truth is they're generally a load of rubbish. eat a live yoghurt if you're concerned about your 'healthy' bacteria.

grahamor wrote:

11am nutrigrain, tea

nutrigrain are pseduo-health bars. eat fruit or nuts if you have to snack again.

grahamor wrote:

130pm: ham, cheese sambo on wholemeal bread, king-lite crisps, apple

how about dropping the cheese? and leave out butter or mayo, fill it up with salad. and drop teh crisps (just coz they're lite doesn't make them good!!!)

grahamor wrote:

630pm: pasta or potatoes or rice with chicken, steak or sausages and some tomato or indian sauce.

now depending on when you're going to the gym, it may be an idea to reduce your starchy carb intake in the evenings. If you workout earlier in teh day, there's no real need to have a meal hgih in carbs later in teh day. But if its your meal straight after working out, its not so bad. But don't let the starchy carbs account for more than around a quarter of the total meal. wholemeal pasta and brown rice, new potatoes if possible. skinless chicken, lean steak, sausages in the bin. Tomatoe based sauces are great, tend to be lower in fat, but check the label. Also watch out for hidden sugars.

grahamor wrote:

8pm: a few biscuits and tea.

drop the biscuits. try and snack on protein rich foods later in the evening- they take longer to digest and kinder on your waistline- cottage cheese, nuts, some lean meat.

And you could do with upping your protein overall- eggs, lean meat, pulses, nuts.. all great protein sources. Like I said, protein is slower to digest than carbs and fats, keeps you fuller longer, its what your body uses to keep muscle (and other) tissue healthy. Processed slices of lunch meat ham aren't a great source of protein, they tend to be high in sugar, salt and have a hgih water content. Aim to eat 5-6 times a day, with no longer than about 3 hours between meals (and by meals I mean snacks too). Oh and 'small weights' won't do you any favours. Trust me, lifting something heavy is not going to turn you into Arnie overnight, but it will increase lean muscle (makes you look better), speeds your metabolism much longer than cardio, makes you stronger... well the benefits are endless. Ideally a balanced mix of weights and cardio are the key to fat loss.

justsomebloke

g'em wrote:

probiotic drinks are one of the most-succesful marketing gimmicks seen in recent years. truth is they're generally a load of rubbish. eat a live yoghurt if you're concerned about your 'healthy' bacteria.

Best marketing campeign ever as they don't really do anything for you and then they have so much sugar to hide the fact that they taste like $hite

grahamor

DubNside wrote:

milky tea is also loaded with fat.

i didnt know this, so should i drink low fat milk or start drinking green tea ?

Thanks for all the replys so far