Diet

wingnut32

I have been weight training for the last couple of months an am reasonably happy with my results with the exception of the huge gut I have developed in that time.

TBH I took the "bulking up" phase as license to eat everything in sight.

Now that the summer is closing in I really have to shed the pounds but also keep the muscle I have gained.

I have already started to cut down on the calories this week and have added three 40min cardio (bike)sessions to my routine. The only thing is I am not comfortable with the current diet and am looking for some examples of what I should be eating and at around about what times. If someone can post a complete week that would help.

Diet on a typical day would consist of

7am - Bowl of weetabix with slimline milk and a whey shake. Cod liver tablet and multivitamin also.

10am - Two slices of mccambriges with peanut butter.

12pm - Tuna filled bagel.

2-3pm - Tuna filled bagel.

5-6 - Usually chicken or steak with veg. Whey shake.

7 - Workout weights or cardio.

9 - Bowl of weetabix with slimline milk. Whey shake.

Is there any thing I should be changing, any help is appreciated.

wingnut32

help!!!

Froot

wingnut32 wrote: »

I have been weight training for the last couple of months an am reasonably happy with my results with the exception of the huge gut I have developed in that time.

TBH I took the "bulking up" phase as license to eat everything in sight.

Now that the summer is closing in I really have to shed the pounds but also keep the muscle I have gained.

I have already started to cut down on the calories this week and have added three 40min cardio (bike)sessions to my routine. The only thing is I am not comfortable with the current diet and am looking for some examples of what I should be eating and at around about what times. If someone can post a complete week that would help.

Diet on a typical day would consist of

7am - Bowl of weetabix with slimline milk and a whey shake. Cod liver tablet and multivitamin also.

10am - Two slices of mccambriges with peanut butter.

12pm - Tuna filled bagel.

2-3pm - Tuna filled bagel.

5-6 - Usually chicken or steak with veg. Whey shake.

7 - Workout weights or cardio.

9 - Bowl of weetabix with slimline milk. Whey shake.

Is there any thing I should be changing, any help is appreciated.

All the things I marked in bold are the carbohydrates your eating. They are probably what is causing you difficulty.

1. Do you use milk or water for your shakes?

2. Don't eat weetabix, it's processed crap (like 99% of cereals), try muesli (don't eat massive bowls of this because it seems healthy though) or better yet try porridge (its really cheap!) and maybe even slice up a a small banana into it to give it some variety.

3. Drink normal milk, yeah it has more fat but it also has less carbs than slimline milk. Unless your making your shakes with milk you shouldn't worry too much about it. (which you should be doing really because I doubt your counting that milk as part of your intake of calories).

4. Bagels are equivalent to 5 servings of bread, I'm guessing your not eating wholemeal bagels either. Your having 2 bagels with tuna between midday and the afternoon. Thats a very large amount of carbs during your (probably) 2nd most inactive period during the day (with the other being when your asleep).

5. Try eating a tin of tuna and an apple instead of a bagel with tuna, if you dont feel full then eat another apple. It's got lots of taste so it's not like your eating rabbit food and the water in it makes you feel fuller. What your eatring there as two midday snacks is too much to justify as a snack. Eating that after your workout would be more suitable because your body can better handle the carbs.

6. Eat the vast majority of your carbs after your workout, tailor your workout time to make this easier. Your body can deal with carbs most efficiently just after exercise so when you eat a bagel or weetabix (the wrong carbs for you) in the morning your not doing yourself any favours.

7. There is no real reason you should be eating a bowl of cereal at 9pm at night.If your working out at 7 (with 40 mins of cardio) why are you spending 2 hours in the gym? You should be able to get your weights and 40mins of cardio done in 1hr15mins or so (tops) unless your doing 10 sets of 10 on every muscle group or something.

Anyway that's my bit of advice.

wingnut32

Thanks for the reply froot. I am going to replace the the weetabix with porridge and get rid of the bagels.

I have tried to eat tuna on its own and it just didnt do it for me, I was thinking about having the tuna on wholemeal bread and replacing the second bagel with a bag of nuts ( love brazil nuts).

Have you any suggestions on what I should be eating after my workout to replace the second bowl of weetabix??

Also I only add water to the whey.

Froot

I'm not a fan of milk myself, allergic to it and all dairy products as it happens, so I only use water when I'm taking protein. I think it tastes better with water. The reason I asked is because it could slip some peoples mind that they use milk which is discounting well over a litre of milk a day if your having 3 or 4 shakes.

Eating at night is not great because your not really doing anything to burn it off. I can see why you eat the wetabix at 9pm, most likely because your hungry aftr your workout and you wont be getting food for another 9 hours or so. I would recommend having your dinner (ie steak and veg) after your workout, because you should feel hungry enough to have it by then and you can afford to have a good solid meal too. Maybe push your workout back to an earlier time if possible to accomodate a spread for what your eating. I prefer to go to the gym at about 3pm because I'm otherwise doing nothing at that stage in the day and it's something to look forward to in the morning and you get the rest of the day to relax.

Regards tune, I love tuna so I would have no problem just eating a few cans on their own during the day. Nuts are good for you and some of them contain all sorts of magical things like healthy fats etc which are good for you. Try mixing and matching a few different fruits etc until you get the right mix. What I have tried as a snack is i slice up half a medium avacado with a kiwi, add some olive oil and throw in some spinach leaves and some nuts on top. Your getting lot of fibre and fats from the avocado and the sugar in the kiwi gives you a bit of a pick me up to keep you going. Not to mention it tastes great (usually) if you get good quality stuff. You would most likely need to drill into your head the definition of a snack though. I have often sat down and munched through a whole bag of pistachios or even sunflower seeds only to discover I may as well have eaten a loaf of bread

I'm not trying to maintain a low body fat at the moment so I'm not really that concerned with military precision type diets. Just remember the times during the day that your hungry, try to fill in those gaps without going wild and adjust according to your goals, ie weight loss, muscle gain etc.

celestial

wingnut32 wrote: »

I have been weight training for the last couple of months an am reasonably happy with my results with the exception of the huge gut I have developed in that time.

TBH I took the "bulking up" phase as license to eat everything in sight.

Now that the summer is closing in I really have to shed the pounds but also keep the muscle I have gained.

I have already started to cut down on the calories this week and have added three 40min cardio (bike)sessions to my routine. The only thing is I am not comfortable with the current diet and am looking for some examples of what I should be eating and at around about what times. If someone can post a complete week that would help.

Diet on a typical day would consist of

7am - Bowl of weetabix with slimline milk and a whey shake. Cod liver tablet and multivitamin also.

10am - Two slices of mccambriges with peanut butter.

12pm - Tuna filled bagel.

2-3pm - Tuna filled bagel.

5-6 - Usually chicken or steak with veg. Whey shake.

7 - Workout weights or cardio.

9 - Bowl of weetabix with slimline milk. Whey shake.

Is there any thing I should be changing, any help is appreciated.

Hey OP,

Your diet looks very bland, and could benefit from a good shake up. You're basically eating one meal surrounded by cereal and tuna with some carb. Where is the fruit? Apart from tuna, where are the good fats (oils, nuts)? What about eggs?

Froot gave some good tips above. Weetabix is useless really. Go for porridge or eggs (best options) or sugar free muesli. Mid-morning you could go for a plain natural yoghurt. Better than brown bread plus take note that peanut butter is actually very calorific - only eat very small amounts, if any. Post-workout you could have the meal you have pre-workout - would your routine allow that? If not, then you could have any number of things post-workout - a banana with some plain yoghurt, other kinds of fruit, a a slice of wholegrain bread with a couple of eggs, some fish, meat, nuts etc...

Also, I don't know if you have a copy of this month's Men's Fitness, but there is an excellent meal plan for fat loss in there this month - it pretty much mirrors my diet and breaks everything down in terms of carbs/proteins/cals - you'd be taking in around 2000kcals daily on the plan. What is your height and weight by the way?

wingnut32

Im 6 2 and 97kgs in weight. I am usually in from work at about 6:30pm so its kinda eat dinner wait an hour and then go and train

wingnut32

Thanks for the advice folks this is what im thinking:

7am - sugar free muesli and whey

10am - natural yogurt and apple

1pm - tuna sandwich on wholegrain bread

4pm - 70g nuts, cashew, brazil etc....

6pm - workout

7:30 - dinner chicken steak veg and whey

10pm - whey...........bed!

BossArky

OP, I haven't read the above replies in detail so maybe this has been covered...

Anyway, if you find tuna difficult to eat on its own then consider mixing it up with lots of fresh veg as follows.

• 2 small cans of tun (135g each)
• 3 carrots
• 2 peppers
• 2 onions
• bits of avocado
• a small bit of grated feta cheese
• a handfull of nuts from the blender

A big bowl of the above will do you for 2 or 3 meals. Just make enough of it so that you won't be hungry afterwards. It is full of protein and the best carbs....

Eat that for a few days, keep your activity levels high... and the weight will fall off whilst muscle stays. Works for me anyway.Good lcuk!