Bit of guidance please

TheMilkyPirate

Hi everyone I've changed my diet quite a bit lately and upped my exercise levels quite a bit to try and get a more athletic body for my holidays in september. I realise an athletes body is a very hard thing to achieve so I'm under no illusions here.

My diet beforehand was nothing short of discgraceful I practically lived on bread, Bread rolls crisp sandwiches brown bread was pretty much my staple diet. I've cut out all bread completely now. I also ate a lot of crisps chocolate and generally a lot of crap. I had no routine and just ate when i was hngry had no dinner most days, A mess really.

When I was young I got very sick, Before this I ate everything. Proper dinners veg meat everything but this hasnt been the case since I was sick at about 6 years of age, Now the thoughts of most food make me sick, I don't eat fish, eggs, veg, most meat the only meat i eat (and only dinner) is minced beef or steak. I don't like nuts raisins etc either.

I've tried to get an ok diet going considering my limitations and this is what I've landed on.

Breakfast: Two weetabix with full fat milk and a banana. I also take my fish oils and multi vit

Lunch: 6-7 crackerbread (my bread replacement) and a half tin of baked beans.

Dinner: 300g of minced steak or beef with bolognese sauce and a pint of milk.

I eat 1-2 pieces of fruit a day as snacks and I drink a shedload of water 3-4 litres a day.

It's not great but compared to my old diet it's golden.

I play intense 5 a side soccer for one hour twice a week, I cycle 5k twice a week also.

On Mondays Wednesdays and Thursdays I do my circuits which are:

20x bodyweight squats
20x walking lunges
10x push ups
15 second plank
30 jumping jacks

I do this circuit three times with a minutes rest in between.

I'm 72kg and 5 10" and 23 years of age. I'm not fat but have a small belly but when I tense I can see my 6 pack, So not a whole lot of fat there.

Is this diet ok? Will I achieve anything with this diet? Am I completely fooling myself into thinking I can get a nice body with this regime.

burrenguy

That diet is definitely streets ahead of what you were eating, so you should definitely see some results in the beginning anyway. The circuit there looks good as a base. As you get accustomed to it, you can add reps gradually, decrease rest periods, add circuits or even replace the exercises with harder ones. You need to keep progressively overloading your muscles to get stronger.
You could also think about joining a gym if you have one nearby and doing something like Stronglifts or Starting Strength. That combined with the soccer and cycling should help with your fitness. Anyway, good luck!

Devia

Not near enough protein in your diet mate.

aoife161

Aim to get at least 1g of protein per pound of body weight. If you want to make it easy to track use the app "my fitness pal". You log everything you eat and you can see exactly how much of what you're getting (in regards to macro nutrients, as well as whatever else you want to keep an eye on eg.fibre).

Aim to get at least that much protein. Lets assume that puts you at 30% of your total calorific intake - then the balance will be made up of fats & carbs. Play around with how much you take in regards to carbs on your workout day as opposed to your rest day. Rule of thumb try to eat more carbs on active days, and more fat on rest days.

I would definitely say though from your post there, it would look as though you're not getting nearly enough protein. If you want to keep muscle, and lose fat - eat a good amount of protein.

TheMilkyPirate

Thanks everyone for your opinions, Would a protein shake be a viable option in my case? As a sort of brunch meal.

aoife161

Yes, I don't see why not. I'd try to get a good amount from healthy sources first though, lean beef, chicken, turkey, fish, nuts. Then if you're having a decent amount of these kinds of food and still find that you're not making the numbers you need, add in the shake.

I'll have a shake at least once a day but never as a substitute - its always in addition to good sources of protein.

Chancer3001

Increase protein definitely.

But we've missed the big picture.

Your goal is to look more athletic.

So either, go on a ddiet and lose body fat so you appear more defined.
or
lift heavy weights to force your body to create more muscle.

This training regime imo, is good for health and function, but won't build muscle.

TheMilkyPirate

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Increase protein definitely.

But we've missed the big picture.

Your goal is to look more athletic.

So either, go on a ddiet and lose body fat so you appear more defined.
or
lift heavy weights to force your body to create more muscle.

This training regime imo, is good for health and function, but won't build muscle.

That's what I'm aiming for with the above eating plan, I ran it through my fitness pal a while ago and it came out at around 1650cals for the day, Which is weight loss territory for someone of my build and and with my exercise regime or so I believe anyway.

But gonna try and introduce chicken into my diet, Supposedly there isn't much taste off it so hopefully that might be the easiest way of getting more protein into my diet.

Anyone recommend a nice chicken dish for someone that's never eatin it? Can't believe I just asked that.

Chancer3001

Stir fry.

Chicken and lots of good veg.

homemadecider

Where are the vegetables in your diet??

Chancer3001

Change the pint of milk to water and you'll save a few hundred calories a day if needed.

But 1650 is easily low enough, probably too low if anything

aoife161

thats mad you've never eaten chicken! What do you eat ? lol. I buy about 8 - 12 chicken fillets each week and still run out before next big shop!
If you're looking to have some chicken for lunch then here's a recipe I use every week. Probably eat it 2 / 3 times a week. Don't go over board with it though...there's nothing worse than having the same thing day in day out and then you just get sick of it....so variety is the spice of life! Anyway - here's the recipe

1 chicken breast , wrap it in foil and bang it in the oven at about 190 / 200 for 30 mins (or until its cooked). The reason i wrap it in foil is because I find it gets a thick skin if baked without any covering.

Once its cooked take it out and cut it in to bite sized chunks.
Put 2/ 3 tablespoons of greek yoghurt, with 1 tsp mustard into a bowl add some pepper and mix it altogether. Mix the sauce in with the chicken. You can add chopped up onion / scallions or tomatoes in with it. Whatever takes your fancy. (Cucumber, grated courgette, green beans, would all work in here).
Then either have the mixture on a bed of spinach / lettuce leaves for a nice light salad, or if you want to get a few carbs in, put it in between 2 slices of WHOLEGRAIN bread.

I think its really tasty . And its really easy to spice it up if you fancy it. E.G you could swap the mustard for 1 tsp of curry powder. Would also be nice!