Back to Basics...

John.Smith

So I've been a lurker here for a few weeks and need your help. I recently injured myself - torn hamstring - and the long weeks of sitting on my arse recovering have made me took a look at what probably had a lot to do with the torn hamstring - me being a fat lazy fecker!

With your help though, I've decided to do something about it. I've spend hours poring over the stickies and various threads, and while it's all very helpful, there's definitely a bit of information overload for my poor addled brain.

I've therefore got a few (about four hundered!) questions, which I hope you'll be able to help me answer. (I've also got some targets, by the way. I'd like to be 77kg someday, with a body fat of 15% or lower. Now I know this is a huge chunk so with your help I'll do what I always do with a big job: break it down into smaller, slightly more achievable jobs.)

I'm meeting with a trainer tomorrow - friend of a friend who's doing me a special deal. He's going to help me design a programme with mainly weights and some cardio that can work around my injury. (Again, nothing too crazy - too often I've made the mistake of attacking a diet or progamme with gusto only to give up a few days later.)

I've started logging my food on FitDay over the past few days. With the diet tips I've picked up here, I've slowly started to do stuff like eat more protein, cut down on carbs etc. (I never actually looked into nutrition and dieting stuff before, believe it or not. It's actually kinda cool how you can assign numbers to everything and fairly easily calculate how much you've taken in.)

It's less easy to decide how much my total daily energy requirements are - there seem to be a lot of formulae which vary wildly. Would anyone here be able to guesstimate mine? I'm on my feet for most of the day, spend maybe an hour total sitting at work, climb a flight of stairs about 7-8 times a day, and work 8-5 at least (I'm a doctor).

So the last three days - since my health scare/buzz started - I've been averaging about 1700-1900 calories a day in. That's 38% fat, 42% carbs and 20% protein. (I shudder to think what my takeway laden intake was like in the last few months. Suffice to say I've put on a few stone!). Thanks to the injury (and before it, it's merely an excuse) I don't do much apart from sit on the couch when I get home in the evening, but I'll see how the gym goes tomorrow. In about two weeks time I'll be able to cycle to work again, three mornings a week - it's only 15minutes each way, nothing drastic but every little helps. I'm drinking about 4 litres of cold water a day, and I've tried to up my sleep from 5.5 hours to about 7 hours a night, with fairly good results.

So, would anyone like to get my Back to Basics Questions rolling by helping me out with my energy requirements? Cheers, and thanks for all the other info in the forum!

TommyKnocker

Hi John

Firstly, welcome to boards and congratulations on deciding to start leading a healthier lifestyle. It will pay dividends for you, which as you are a doctor, I am sure you already know.

Now, it's a little hard to advise you on how to get to where you want to be, if we don't know where you are coming from. You say you would like to get to 77kg @15% BF. So where are you now? What's your current weight, BF% (if known), age and height?

Also can you give a detailed outline of what your daily food intake is like. Post everything that passes your lips (solids & liquids) in a normal day and approximate times.

Just looking that the macronutrients % you posted, I would advise (and I am no expert by the way, just someone interested in staying healthy) you to work towards switching your carb and protein % around. I personally try for 40% -45% protein, 35% Healthy fats and around 20% carbs (mostly from fiberous sources (i.e. veg and a little fruit). My starch carb intake is 20g oats in the morning and 2 oat cakes at around 08:30 ish. After that any carbs I take in come mostly from veg and fruit. The only exception being glucose in my post workout shake.

Finally, when you receive the workout plan from your trainer, post it here also and some of the more experienced folks can give you some feed back on it's suitability for attaining your goals.

Best Regards,

M

John.Smith

Sorry, I had this typed and obviously deleted it:

I'm 26, 100.5 kg, 183cm, BF is 27.1% as measured by a weighing scales!

Thanks.

John.Smith

Ok so two days worth of what I've eaten - bearing in mind up until Tuesday I ate like a pig at it's last meal.

Morning Meeting (Generally food laid out at these things): - usually 7am

I would have eaten:
One cup of coffee with milk, spoon of sugar and one or two small danishes - the usual pastry sugary crap, plus one of those Innocent Smoothies.

Yesterday I ate:
An apple, cup of black coffee.

Today I ate:
Two strawberries, cup of black coffee, half slice of pineapple

Breakfast - Usually in the canteen around 9:30 or 10am

Would have eaten:
Couple of sausages plus porridge or Weetabix

Yesterday:
Bowl of porridge with two pieces of white pudding (only 'meat' I could get!)

Today:
Two sausages, two rashers, two pieces of pudding

Lunch - generally 1 - 2 pm

Would have:
Brown roll with chicken tikka, sweetcorn, peppers, and cheese, toasted with a Can of coke or bottle of Lucozade

Yesterday:
Chicken wrap, pre-packaged. (About 400 cals.) Bottle of water.

Today:
Bowl of mediterranean vegetable soup. Bottle of water.

Afternoon: - 4pm ish

Would have:
Cup of coffee, maybe some chocolate.

Today and yesterday:
Black coffee, two creme crackers with cheese stick melted between 'em

Dinner - 7-8 pm

Would have:
Anything ranging from takeway 2-3 times per week to oven pizza to whatever I make at home (lots of it) topped off by tea with chocolate biscuits

Yesterday:
Two donegal catch cod fillets, grilled, with frozen veg, boiled

Today:
Omlette with two small grilled chicken breasts mixed in, cup of black tea

There ya have it!

TommyKnocker

Hi Again

Ok, again remember that I am no expert and have no qualifications in the field of diet and nutrition. However IMHO your current diet still needs quite a bit of work. I have added some comments to your quoted post below.

Also a scales is not the most reliable way to measure body fat. Ask the trainer or in the gym if they can measure yoru body fat with a calliphers as it gives a better reading (providing the person using said device can use it propperly).

I have estimated that your daily calorie requiremetns are between 3,005 - 3,388 Using this site http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

This uses the harris benedict formula, and caclulates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) at 2,186 calories. Then using the lightly active and moderately active multipliers I came up with this range. So eating 1,700 - 1,900 is way too low an intake and may cause your body to hold onto fat. The recommended calorie deficit for a healthy and sustained weight reduction, where hopefully most of the loss is from body fat is between 300-500 calories per day.

Almost everything I have read on nutrition and losing weight stated that you should never eat below your BMR and especially not over a sustained period.

John.Smith wrote: »

Ok so two days worth of what I've eaten - bearing in mind up until Tuesday I ate like a pig at it's last meal.

Morning Meeting (Generally food laid out at these things): - usually 7am

Have you not eaten breakfast before you left your house? if not why?

I would have eaten:
One cup of coffee with milk, spoon of sugar and one or two small danishes - the usual pastry sugary crap, plus one of those Innocent Smoothies.

Yesterday I ate:
An apple, cup of black coffee.

You could try switching to green tea

Today I ate:
Two strawberries, cup of black coffee, half slice of pineapple

Both of these meals consist of just Carbs and caffine. No protein and no healthy fats. If you had eaten a healthy breakfast before leaving the house, you could have just sipped on water through out this meeting.

Breakfast - Usually in the canteen around 9:30 or 10am

Would have eaten:
Couple of sausages plus porridge or Weetabix

Yesterday:
Bowl of porridge with two pieces of white pudding (only 'meat' I could get!)

Calling white pudding "meat" is like calling chicken nuggets from a fast food outlet "chicken". There probably is some meat/chicken in these products. However it is the type of meats that can not be sold as is over a counter.

Today:
Two sausages, two rashers, two pieces of pudding

Back to the old ways. Something like a glass of milk with 2 oat cakes with peanut butter or a small tin of tuna with 2 oat cakes would have been a much better option.

Lunch - generally 1 - 2 pm

Would have:
Brown roll with chicken tikka, sweetcorn, peppers, and cheese, toasted with a Can of coke or bottle of Lucozade

Yesterday:
Chicken wrap, pre-packaged. (About 400 cals.) Bottle of water.

Not too bad, but what's with the "pre-packaged"? Pre-packaged is likely to have lots of mayo or coleslaw etc. Why don't you make your own and bring them with you?

Today:
Bowl of mediterranean vegetable soup. Bottle of water.

Not bad, but again no protein or healthy fats

Afternoon: - 4pm ish

Would have:
Cup of coffee, maybe some chocolate.

Today and yesterday:
Black coffee, two creme crackers with cheese stick melted between 'em

While cream crackers are not the worst, they certainly are not the best either. And the "Cheese stick" is processed muck. If you are going to eat cheese, at least get some real cheese from a delicatessen. Also Ryvita or oat cakes are a better option than creme crackers. Again you could try switching to green tea

Dinner - 7-8 pm

Would have:
Anything ranging from takeway 2-3 times per week to oven pizza to whatever I make at home (lots of it) topped off by tea with chocolate biscuits

Yesterday:
Two donegal catch cod fillets, grilled, with frozen veg, boiled

This type of breaded fish is only 2 steps away from what is sold in fast food outlets. Again eating fish is to be commended, but buy fresh fish from a fish monger and include some of the oily type fish such as mackerel or salmon (and stay away from farmed salmon!!!)

Today:
Omlette with two small grilled chicken breasts mixed in, cup of black tea

This is more like it. You could have included a salad of mixed leaves and vegetables with this, just to balance it out a little.And again green tea?

You could also look to increase your water intake a little. 2 bottles coupled with your tea and coffee is not that much of a fluid intake

There ya have it!

Don't use your work canteen as an excuse to eat junk. If they don't or won't provide healthy foods, then bring your own into work with you. All it takes is a little planning.

I don't eat in my work canteen. I bring all my food to work with me.

I am also in work at 07:00 each morning and get up at 04:45, so don't use the rising early as an excuse to skip breakfast or eat junk either.

Just for comparison here was my food intake for yesterday. In truth my daily food intake is pretty similiar each day. Maybe the type of meat eaten or vegetables change. Now I am not saying that this is great. I am sure some of the folks on here could point out where I could improve it. But I think it is pretty decent.

05:30 Breakfast
20g Jumbo oats, 3 almond nuts, 3 hazel nuts, 3 walnut halves, 3 brazil nuts, dessert spn of mixed seeds, 5 grapes, 8 raspberries, 6 blackberries, 3 strawberreis, dessert spn of blueberries with 200ml of no fat milk.

200ml Cranberry juice & 1 mug of green tea

1 Multi-vit, 4 Fish oil capsules, 1 Advanced C-Jointin (For joint health)

08:30 ish at desk in work
Whey shake with 1.25 scoops of Whey, 1 tea spoon of Creatine, 1 tea spoon of L-Glutamine and 400ml no fat milk.

2 oat cakes each with a heaped tea spoon of peanut butter

1 apple

11:00ish snack
1 Banana, 1 Kiwi & 125g homemade cottage cheese and mixed berry mousse

1 mug of green tea

12:45 Lunch
400g of homemade ratatouille, 125g chicken breast, 125g fillet beef

1 dessert spoon of Peanut Butter

1 mug of green tea

16:00 afternoon snack
Whey protein shake with 1.25 scoops of whey and 400ml milk

1 200g homemade cottage cheese and mixed berry mousse

18:00 - 20:00 Gym
Strong Lifts 5x5 workout

20:10 Post workout shake
2 scoops of whey protein, 1 tea spoon of Creatine, 1 tea spoon of L-Glutamine, 1 scoop of Glucose

21:30 Dinner
350g mixed frozen veg (sprouts, brocolli & green beans), 175g turkey steak

1 mug of green tea

I will also have gone through about 3-4 liters of water throughout the day and in the gym

22:30 Bed

ZZZzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzz


Best Regards,

M

John.Smith

Cheers - is green tea that much better for you than, say, black coffee or is it just a taste thing?

TommyKnocker

Hi There

Green tea is said to boost the metabolism and has lost of antitoxidants.

I used to drink a lot of tea and coffee, but I gave it up quite a few years ago and replaced it with water. My reson for giving it up was that tea and coffee was usually coupled with biscuits, muffins, danish, breads, chocolate bars etc

Once I gave up tea and coffee it was really easy to eliminate this other rubbish from my diet. Also I found I slept better when I wasn't consuming caffine late at night before bed.

I had read about the positive effects of green tea drinking and so I decided to try it. It did take a few cups to get used to but now I find it really refreshing. And I do think that I noticed a small positive difference with my body fat levels after a few weeks. Maybe this is in my head but...

The best green tea to get is from the Asian markets or chinese herbalists, where you make it like normal tea. This is IMHO much better and nicer tasting then the green tea teabags that you can buy in the supermarkets.


Best Regards,

M