Diet Advice

Normstorm

Hi all,

After a long lay off, I'm ggoing to get serious about working out again (like everyone else at this time of year eh!).

Whenever I get in one of my health kicks, I have no problem keeping active and working out but its the diet I struggle with (mainly because of irrational eating times - i usually dont have a breakfast, eat a large lunch at 1 or 2 and then a huge dinner at 10, and a pretty bad sweet tooth).

My exercise routine usually (and will) consist of weights on mon, wed and friday and cardio/rugby training on Tuesday & Thursday with a match on Saturday.

Could anyone recommend a good diet for this level of activity? I would like to lose weight (I'm currently very flabby, particularly round the belly) but also keep energy levels up to handle the amount of excercise and work (I work 10-12 hours Monday to Friday).

I'm 5'11" and 15 stone at the moment if that info is useful.

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

pipster

I'm not a gym instructor but I've been into the gym and diet for a number of years now so don't take what I say as gospel but I would be quite lean and fit so it should help you to get started.

A couple of comments on your diet, eating at 1 and 10 is not very good. In the morning you should have water and some form of protein. Your body is dehydrated in the morning and with weight training your muscles absorb protein or something while you rest (not an expert )so in the morning you are low and need to replenish. A lot of people have scrambled eggs and brown toast but I usually have porridge which doesn't have protein but it fills you up during the day as its slow releasing. I put protein powder in it if I workout.

You will want to have slow releasing carbs from now on and then you won't have a sugar crash after making you crave sugar e.g. brown rice, sweet potatoes etc.

Its good to have a little snack every 3 hours or so but keep it small like an apple preferably with a spoon of peanut/almond butter or a small handful of nuts. Protein also releases slow into the body so its good to incorporate some into a snack but this can be hard so even having a piece of fruit is grand. I eat the most frequently in my group in work but I would be the smallest as its always healthy.

Drink a lot of water as sometimes hunger can be confused with dehydration.

Most people who start eating healthy actually eat more food but its the trick of eating little and often that makes you lose weight as when you eat twice a day, your body stores it as it thinks you won't feed it again for a while. Eating more frequently stops the storage.

You have planned to work out six days a week which is too much as your body won't be able to rest and recover. Weights are the most effective. Depending on your rugby training, I would have thought that alone will get you in good shape. You could add to it by doing 1 weight/cardio day. Cardio can be extremely effective or useless depending on what you do. Running for 30 mins will help endurance but it doesnt make you are fit as more circuit style training. I used to run long distances but now stick to a 10min treadmill with 30 seconds walk then 30 seconds sprint. You will be surprised how much more of a workout you get from just 10 mins. If that's easy then slowly increase your incline as you go and feel the burn.

One thing that seems to help a lot of people is preparation so you could good big batches of healthy meals at the weekend so you don't end up eating bad things when you are tired and hungry.

I hope this helps, I have been into the gym for about 6 years and been to loads of trainers and still learning loads.

thegreatiam

pipster wrote: »

A couple of comments on your diet, eating at 1 and 10 is not very good. In the morning you should have water and some form of protein. Your body is dehydrated in the morning and with weight training your muscles absorb protein or something while you rest (not an expert )so in the morning you are low and need to replenish. A lot of people have scrambled eggs and brown toast but I usually have porridge which doesn't have protein but it fills you up during the day as its slow releasing. I put protein powder in it if I workout.

not to sound rude, but youre wrong about this.

What is important is your total calories in vs your total calories out. the time you eat or how often you eat have no major impact.

If youre dehydrated then drink water.

You cant advise that someone should have water and protein in the mornings and then tell them "I usually have porridge which doesn't have protein but it fills you up during the day as its slow releasing"

OP this is the deal for your diet.

work out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) this is how much energy your body uses just breathing and pumping blood etc.

then add on how much you burn through exercise

You'll end up with a number around 2500-3000 depending on age. This is the calories you need to maintain your current weight at your activity Or TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)


Eat more than this number to gain weight, eat less than this to lose weight.

That's it. No trickery, no bro science. no eating only certain types of food, or eating 6 small meals, or eating at certain times, no waking up in the middle of the night to chug a protein shake cos your body is absorbing proteins.

Just choose good food from genuine sources. (not MacDonald or chocolate)
Eat real meat, real veg, real dairy.

Divide it how ever you please. If you want to eat a large lunch and a large dinner then do so. no problem,

If you want to eat a small breakfast followed by 5 small meals during the day then do so, no problem.

the times and size of your meals do not matter.

If you want to miss a whole day and catch up the next day then do so.

you can calculate on a daily or weekly basis if you wish. 3000 calories a day is 21000 calories a week.


I would advise that you eat less on the days that you do nothing and slightly more on the days you exercise.
Here is a good link to help figure it out
http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
enter your details and activity level and it will calculate your approximate calorie requirements.



PS, porridge can be 10+% protein depending on how you prepare it.

pipster

thegreatiam wrote: »

not to sound rude, but youre wrong about this.

What is important is your total calories in vs your total calories out. the time you eat or how often you eat have no major impact.

If youre dehydrated then drink water.

You cant advise that someone should have water and protein in the mornings and then tell them "I usually have porridge which doesn't have protein but it fills you up during the day as its slow releasing"

OP this is the deal for your diet.

work out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) this is how much energy your body uses just breathing and pumping blood etc.

then add on how much you burn through exercise

You'll end up with a number around 2500-3000 depending on age. This is the calories you need to maintain your current weight at your activity Or TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)


Eat more than this number to gain weight, eat less than this to lose weight.

That's it. No trickery, no bro science. no eating only certain types of food, or eating 6 small meals, or eating at certain times, no waking up in the middle of the night to chug a protein shake cos your body is absorbing proteins.

Just choose good food from genuine sources. (not MacDonald or chocolate)
Eat real meat, real veg, real dairy.

Divide it how ever you please. If you want to eat a large lunch and a large dinner then do so. no problem,

If you want to eat a small breakfast followed by 5 small meals during the day then do so, no problem.

the times and size of your meals do not matter.

If you want to miss a whole day and catch up the next day then do so.

you can calculate on a daily or weekly basis if you wish. 3000 calories a day is 21000 calories a week.


I would advise that you eat less on the days that you do nothing and slightly more on the days you exercise.
Here is a good link to help figure it out
http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
enter your details and activity level and it will calculate your approximate calorie requirements.



PS, porridge can be 10+% protein depending on how you prepare it.

Yes I agree that its a basic mass balance to lose weight. I have said I'm not an expert on the topic but counting calories can be quite a time consuming task and in my opinion using some healthy guidelines you can also be healthy and lose excess weight. I have friends who have lost weight or have always been a healthy weight and they wouldn't count calories. They have adopted a long term healthy lifestyle. I know that to monitor weight loss you need to measure most things but I would think that developing good habits could be less daunting for someone starting out. If you are a trainer or doctor then I think someone should consult with your expertise for some of these things.

thegreatiam

fortunately, counting calories is actually very easy. and if youre going to invest months of time and effort to try to lose weight then investing a few minutes to learn how to count calories will save you a lot of future time.

There really is nothing to do except know what food you are eating and whats in it. you literally cannot get more healthy than that.

Like I said, make sure all your food comes from real sources, real meat, real veg. avoid junk food as this is not real food and you have a healthy diet.

That is exactly adopting a long term healthy lifestyle.

In fact you only need to count the calories for a shot period, very quickly you will learn the nutrients of your food to a point that youll roughly know whats in it. Once you have achieved your weight loss you ll be counting calories subconsciously and be able to adjust your intake naturally.

Normstorm

Cheers for all the feedback guys, much appreciated!