What do you eat on a daily to stay in shape?a

Designator

Ok so im 26 and over the past year and a half lost over 30kg + and now im looking to get more toned but Im finding this more difficult than it was to lose all the weight.
Basically I think its my diet that isnt right, Im not sure what to eat or when, how frequent ,etc...
I basically want to know what those of you who are relatively in shape, and have a low body fat percentage eat on a daily basis as a guide for me...
My current diet consists of breakfast: weetabix, breakfast biscuits. brunch: a plain chicken sandwich , lunch: a turkey and cheese wrap and dinner : turkey and a half portion of rice, I also drink a lot of water during the day

What small adjustments can I make to this to help me reduce body fat? Id happily eat the same meals everyday if it means I can reduce my fat percentage, any help appreciated

Cake Man

By "getting more toned", I take that to mean you'd like to get a bit more defined lean muscle mass. This will take a few things - diet obviously the most important as I'm sure you're well aware by now as getting more lean requires cutting more body fat (and thus, dropping more weight). You mentioned you've lost 30kg+ (fantastic btw well done), what weight were you and what weight are you now? And also, do you know or have an idea of what body fat you are now?
Keeping protein high is also required (0.8 - 1g per pound of body weight is a general rule of thumb many people go by).


Secondly, exercise. To get more lean muscle, it's probably optimal to do some sort of body resistance exercise (weights for example) a few times a week to build muscle. What exercises have you been doing, if any, in the last while?


In terms of figures, have you been tracking what you are eating and drinking (myfitnesspal etc.)? Have you worked out what your daily calorie requirements are (TDEE)? You're most likely finding it difficult to lose further weight as you need to re-calculate/adjust your calorie figures. Either that or you're underestimating how much you're eating and/or not tracking you calories which means you don't know exactly what's going past your lips.
If you're generally taking in the same amount of calories as, say, a few weeks/months ago, you need to re-adjust especially after dropping weight. Otherwise you'll continue to stay the same weight, give or take. Work out your TDEE and subtract about 500 calories from that. Eat that many cals for a few weeks until you drop another few kg and re-adjust again...


Going by the foods you eat from what you posted, it's not the worst but probably not the best either. Ultimately though, it's all down to calories - how many calories does all that food equate to? Knowing this and the question above about your TDEE will determine if you're in a calorie deficit which causes weight loss. Maybe you could replace the breakfast biscuits (rubbish tbh) at breakfast with a few eggs to up your protein and I notice you didn't mention eating much fruit & veg - pile on the veg as it's very nutritious and a big plate of the stuff would only cost you 50-100cals.
Don't worry about when and what times you eat, it's not really important.
I'm like what you said at the end of your post in that I eat more or less the same foods each day. Habit and consistency is good and gets results.




TL;DR work out your TDEE, eat 500cals less than this each day, track track track EVERYTHING. Rinse and repeat after losing a few kgs. Lift weights and take in good bit of protein.

Zillah

Are you doing weights, and if so, can you describe a typical week? Are you following a programme?

If you're not doing weights then I have found your problem.

acc2016

Do you drink tea or coffee? Depending on how much milk you use, five cups of that could be over 200 calories a day extra.

Designator

I was 115 kg Im now about 84 kg
My body fat percentage is around 22% and I want to lower it significantly but build more muscle
Im not too pushed about dropping weight too much, its mainly the body fat percentage i want to lower
I burn about 5-600 calories at work every day walking and on my days off I normally switch between using a rowing machine, or weights, or a bit of boxing
My TDEE is 3027 calories a day and I normally eat around 2700
At the moment it is mainly the fat around my waist and lower stomach I want to get rid of
Basically I need a simple meal plan that would consist of 2600 calories a day and would be balanced enough to help me see results if anyone can help

Designator

Ive used a TDEE calculator and my fitness pal to try and figure out how many grams of each I should have a day and it comes out at
345g protein
241g carbs
46g fat

Does this sound right? Or would this result on me piling on more flab?

Penny Tration

Are you eating any fruit or vegetables?

Regardless of your TDEE, your diet looks to be almost entirely carbs and protein.

I'd be replacing a fair lot of those carbs with fruit, veg and some fats (avocado, nuts, nut butters, eggs, etc).

Designator

Not a whole pile to be honest, mainly just alot of spinach leaves with my dinner and thats about it. What fruit would you suggest? Apples? Bananas?

acc2016

Why the insistence of only a 500 calorie deficit? Surely 1000 would be okay?

You can eat alot of good food in 2000calories.

Designator

Well Im not too bothered with dropping the weight so fast, just want to get leaner really

Cake Man

Designator wrote: »

I was 115 kg Im now about 84 kg
My body fat percentage is around 22% and I want to lower it significantly but build more muscle
Im not too pushed about dropping weight too much, its mainly the body fat percentage i want to lower
I burn about 5-600 calories at work every day walking and on my days off I normally switch between using a rowing machine, or weights, or a bit of boxing
My TDEE is 3027 calories a day and I normally eat around 2700
At the moment it is mainly the fat around my waist and lower stomach I want to get rid of
Basically I need a simple meal plan that would consist of 2600 calories a day and would be balanced enough to help me see results if anyone can help

Just on the bolded bits above, I know where you're coming from in wanting to cut body fat but not really interested in dropping weight as I sometimes think that way too but to lose body fat, you HAVE to drop weight. That's just the way it works.


How do you know you're burning 500-600cals a day at work? I'm guessing a Fitbit or something like that but that amount of cals seems highly overestimated (unless you're doing some fairly heavy labouring work?).


Regarding wanting to cut the fat around your waist/lower stomach area - unfortunately again it doesn't really work that way as you can't just choose one specific area. You'll generally cut fat everywhere before your stomach area. You never specified if you were male or female? 22% body fat is a big difference depending which you are but I'm assuming male.


As another poster said, it's probably not much harm dropping your daily intake down to around the 2000-2200 mark, doing so will speed up the rate at which you'll drop weight (and thus, body fat). It's a slow process that you just have to stick at if you want to achieve the results you're after. I've been cutting the last nearly 5 months myself and have definitely noticed a nice drop in body fat %. The best advice I can give is to just keep going at it and be persistent.

Designator

Well I work in security so Im normally walking alot around the building for 12 hours, I walk between 12-15km a day at work so I burn alot !
Do these figures sound right for a 26 year old male 84kg?
345g protein
241g carbs
46g fat

Would these numbers result in a much leaner me? Along with alot of exercise and weights on my days off

Blacktie.

Designator wrote: »

Well I work in security so Im normally walking alot around the building for 12 hours, I walk between 12-15km a day at work so I burn alot !
Do these figures sound right for a 26 year old male 84kg?
345g protein
241g carbs
46g fat

Would these numbers result in a much leaner me? Along with alot of exercise and weights on my days off

Protein jumps out first. Why so high? 185g should be more than enough. What calories is that giving you? I could work it out but I'm feeling lazy right now

To become leaner you want to be in a calorie deficit. You want to also be working out and keeping protein at roughly 1g/lb of body weight to avoid losing muscle.

Alf Veedersane

Works out at 2,758 kcals with P/C/F at 50/35/15


Edit: the diet in the OP is a long way from those macros. I'd concentrate on the kcals first and then tweak macros if needed.

Designator

for a long while though ive been just concentrating on calories intake and i feel like even when i lose weight im left with alot of flab and even when i got down as far as 78kg last year i still wasnt very toned, so i kind of want to focus on the macros a bit more so i can become leaner too if you get me

Alf Veedersane

What people usually mean by 'toned' is getting lean to reveal some muscle. You're getting over and above what you need in terms of protein. 84kg 150g of protein is enough for muscle so bear that in mind.

If you want to look more 'toned' then you'll have to use the protein to build some muscle by doing some resistance exercise.

newcar2016

Designator wrote: »

for a long while though ive been just concentrating on calories intake and i feel like even when i lose weight im left with alot of flab and even when i got down as far as 78kg last year i still wasnt very toned, so i kind of want to focus on the macros a bit more so i can become leaner too if you get me

Similar to myself, Mid 70s kg but still fairly flabby. Just gonna have to lose more weight (body fat) I think in order to get rid of most of the flabby bits.

Mellor

Designator wrote: »

...now im looking to get more toned but Im finding this more difficult than it was to lose all the weight.

Designator wrote: »

I was 115 kg Im now about 84 kg
My body fat percentage is around 22% and I want to lower it significantly but build more muscle

TBH, at 22% bf, trying to get more toned really means continuing to lose weight. Or to be specific, lose body fat.
You don't need to do anything different to what you've been doing to lose 30kg.

But because you've lost 30kg, you are burning maybe 500 calories less every day. You have to adjust your diet down to compensate to continue to get leaner.

I burn about 5-600 calories at work every day walking and on my days off I normally switch between using a rowing machine, or weights, or a bit of boxing
My TDEE is 3027 calories a day and I normally eat around 2700

I calculated your BMR at 1940. Which is c.2330 when you are sedentary, 600 cals a day on your feet at work might bring this to the 3000 mark.
Assuming you are similarly active on the weekend.

The diet you posted was 260 cals. It's a deficit, but its quite small. I also wouldnt take much to underestimate your intake and wipe it out. I'd be aiming for c.2400 cals if the goal is to get leaner.

j@utis

I would second 'too high protein' opinions. Try reducing protein to 2g/kg of body weight and upping the fat to 1g/kg. Reduce amount of flour you eat (bread, wraps), replace those with salads/veg some days.

tayto lover

acc2016 wrote: »

Do you drink tea or coffee? Depending on how much milk you use, five cups of that could be over 200 calories a day extra.

How could 5 cups of tea with milk be 200 calories?

Alf Veedersane

tayto lover wrote: »

How could 5 cups of tea with milk be 200 calories?

Whole milk is 64 kcals / 100 ml.

62.5 mls per cup isn't outlandish. The scoop you get with protein powder is of the order of 70 mls to put that into context

tayto lover

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Whole milk is 64 kcals / 100 ml.

62.5 mls per cup isn't outlandish. The scoop you get with protein powder is of the order of 70 mls to put that into context

My mug of cold milk with my dinner will cease to be.

Hollister11

Is a calorie deficit burning more calories than you eat.
Or eating less calories than required

Hummus

Zillah

Hollister11 wrote: »

Is a calorie deficit burning more calories than you eat.
Or eating less calories than required

Is a budget deficit spending more than you make or earning less than required?
(they're the same thing)

Mellor

Hollister11 wrote: »

Is a calorie deficit burning more calories than you eat.
Or eating less calories than required

What's the difference?