Diet assessment for losing fat, toning and some muscle

Chemical Byrne

Hi. I'm 28m. Over the past 3 years my exercise went to crap and i put on weight by eating junk regularly. My fitness is not great these days. Since the new year I wanted to make a new start and started cutting out the rubbish and doing a bit more exercise.

I successfully reversed the tide on what was shaping up to be a bit of a belly and my pants are noticeably looser at the waist by means of watching what I eat and some exercise.

I'm not looking to be jacked or ripped or anything, just so have a non-flabby and toned physique with a moderate amount of muscle.

Here's what I do, say 3 times a week on average:
-75 shoulder width pushups, 5s x 15r
-75 ab crunches, 5s x 15r
-75 shrugs, bicep curls continuing to overhead raise w. 5kg per side, again 5s x 15r

-30min HIIT swim or c.5km cycle twice per week average for cardio


My typical diet for a day would be:

Breakfast
Bowl of oatmeal porridge, boiled egg and small bowl of fruit with yoghurt. Green tea.

Lunch
Wholemeal bread sandwich w. lettuce, chicken, cheese, relish and butter. 1 or 2 pieces of fruit & maybe a yoghurt. Black tea.

Dinner (typical)
Fish/Pork chop/steak/chicken fillets, roast veg, potatoes, or maybe a pasta dish. a piece of fuit and tea.

Might eat dinner out once a week and have takeaway once a week also.
I avoid fry up brekkies, the occasional one only, say once a month.
I don't drink any alcohol.

I know the dinner is a bit vague as it will chance but that would be typical. Breakfast and lunch would be fairly the same throughout the week most of the time.

So would the above be conductive to shedding the remaining fat and building a bit of muscle mass.

I am 5'9" in height. Would have always had an athletic type build if i hadn't done the dog on laziness and junk food over the past few yrs. Before christmas I was 71kg. With the above diet/routine kept up since Jan I am down to 66kg, which to be honest I feel is too light for a guy. I have lost the majority of the fat except for a stubborn little bit on the lower part of my belly between belly button and belt line (not much there, not bulging or anything, just enough to obscure abs muscles and it bunches up when I lean forward in my seat).
Along with losing fat, I feel I may have lost some muscle mass too, but i'm not sure really.

Not an awful lot of meat in that diet I notice, maybe I am not getting enough protein. What do ye think?

Would be interested to hear peoples opinions. Thanks. I'm a total n00b in all of this so be gentle, lol!

TitianGerm

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

Hi. I'm 28m. Over the past 3 years my exercise went to crap and i put on weight by eating junk regularly. My fitness is not great these days. Since the new year I wanted to make a new start and started cutting out the rubbish and doing a bit more exercise.

I successfully reversed the tide on what was shaping up to be a bit of a belly and my pants are noticeably looser at the waist by means of watching what I eat and some exercise.

I'm not looking to be jacked or ripped or anything, just so have a non-flabby and toned physique with a moderate amount of muscle.

Here's what I do, say 3 times a week on average:
-75 shoulder width pushups, 5s x 15r
-75 ab crunches, 5s x 15r
-75 shrugs, bicep curls continuing to overhead raise w. 5kg per side

-30min HIIT swim or c.5km cycle twice per week average for cardio


My typical diet for a day would be:

Breakfast
Bowl of oatmeal porridge, boiled egg and small bowl of fruit with yoghurt. Green tea.

Lunch
Wholemeal bread sandwich w. lettuce, chicken, cheese, relish and butter. 1 or 2 pieces of fruit & maybe a yoghurt. Black tea.

Dinner (typical)
Fish/Pork chop/steak/chicken fillets, roast veg, potatoes, or maybe a pasta dish. a piece of fuit and tea.

I know the dinner is a bit vague as it will chance but that would be typical. Breakfast and lunch would be fairly the same throughout the week most of the time.

So would the above be conductive to shedding the remaining fat and building a bit of muscle mass.

I am 5'9" in height. Would have always had an athletic type build if i hadn't done the dog on laziness and junk food over the past few yrs. Before christmas I was 71kg. With the above diet/routine kept up since Jan I am down to 66kg, which to be honest I feel is too light for a guy. I have lost the majority of the fat except for a stubborn little bit on the lower part of my belly between belly button and belt line (not much there, just enough to obscure abs muscles).
Along with losing fat, I feel I may have lost some muscle mass too, but i'm not sure really.

Not an awful lot of meat in that diet I notice, maybe I am not getting enough protein. What do ye think?

Would be interested to hear peoples opinions. Thanks. I'm a total n00b in all of this so be gentle, lol!

You seem to have an awful lot of fruit in there. Fruit generally tends to be very high in natural sugars so if it were me I'd only have the one piece of fruit a day and substitute berries and nuts for the others if you need them for something sweet.
I'd also suggest a snack between breakfast and lunch and another between lunch and dinner. I'd usually have a hard boilded egg, brocolli and nuts or natural yoguart mixed with chia seeds and goji berries and a scoop of protein.

Not sure what else to suggest but I'm sure a few of the more knowledgeable posters will have some good tips.

Greenmachine

You need to be a lot more specific with your diet to get a realistic critic.
A full weeks diet is the minimum I would recommend. Specific sizes of each portion you are using. Define wholemeal bread. Only asking because some people will list wholemeal slice pan as wholemeal bread. The truth is the name is very deceptive.
I would also sub some of that fruit for veg. Salad veg like tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, lettuce can be prepared in almost no time. Also consider onion and carrots, again minimum preparation. For your main meal other roots are worth mentioning such as parsnips and turnip. Green veg like cabbage, curly kale, and baby spinach leave can be done with the minimum of fuss.

Where carbs are concerned, use wholemeal pasta, brown rice and potatoes with their skins to reduce urges to snack.

Chemical Byrne

I may have overstated my fruit intake a bit.
Dinner is the main variable here, my breakfast and lunch are fairly fixed, breakfast especially. It's always porridge and an egg.

Yes, the bread would be "wholemeal" or "wholegrain" sliced pan. Is this any good or is it every bit as poisonous muck as white bread is? I don't know much about this, sorry!

For example, last nights dinner was 3x soy/herb marinated pork, pepper and pineapple skewer kababs, garlic and herb baby potatoes w. skins, honey & butter roast veg - green beans, parsnip & carrot.

Tonight will be chicken fillets with stir fried vegetables.

I don't weigh my portions, I've no scales. They are just normal sized portions though. Not going crazy or the plate is not over flowing. I eat till satisfied, I don't stuff myself full.

syklops

Take up weights. Google starting strength.

It also seems like a lot of fruit to me.

How many potatoes would you have of an evening?

And to be honest, I'd ditch the ab crunches. They do nothing for reducing belly fat and only become important when you can see your abs.

Swap your lunch sandwiches for a salad.

Chemical Byrne

thanks skylops.

I am aware that spot reduction is a myth. I only do the crunches to tone my ab muscles. There is no harm in doing that, it is still progress despite it being hidden behind the remaining fat layer. There is only a small amount of fat left on the lowest 2 of the 6 pack. I am starting to see some muscle definition on the top 4 abs, especially the uppermost. So I am quiet please with progress on my stomach. While I will continue with the crunches I want to try focusing on building my pecks and arms. I'm lead to beleive that pushups are effective for pecks - is this correct?

I am inclined to stick with crunches for the stomach and I'm not too keen on full sit ups as they are very hard on the back. I had a back muscle strain last year and it flared up when I did sit ups for a few days. It's steadily improving though but I don't want to risk hurting myself.

I will look into doing the salad instead. Perhaps, roast chicken pieces, cherry tomatoes, red onion, lettuce mix, grated carrot, 2 slices of cheddar (pieced), w. french dressing?
Would this have the same filling effect as the sambo? I usually find the sambo n fruit at lunch keeps we well going til dinner.

Greenmachine

You can pick up a decent digital kitchen scales for not much more than €10 in the likes of argos.

Chemical Byrne

Thanks very much all of you, keep the advice coming.

GM, I will try put together a weeks worth of meal proposals that we can see.
Do you think I should be aiming for more proteins through meats?

syklops

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

Do you think I should be aiming for more proteins through meats?

Until you know how much you are currently consuming, there is no point in guestimating whether you should increase it or not.