Dietary Advice - How increase Fat and Protein without increasing carbs?

seamus

Right, I've found myself fatigued and having trouble really getting a *good* workout recently (i'm having trouble concentrating during the day at all), and I've suspected it's because of my diet. Put quite simply, I'm not eating enough. I've know this to be true, but since I'm losing weight, I'm having trouble figuring out where and what to eat. I think I've got myself into a routine as regards how and what I eat, that I'm finding tough to break.

I've put in a standard days' eating on FitDay.com, and it comes out as below:

source  	grams   cals  	%total
Total: 	  		1479  	 
Fat: 		42  	381  	26%
Sat: 		11  	97  	7%
Poly: 		19  	167  	11%
Mono: 		10  	90  	6%
Carbs: 		199  	764  	52%
Fiber: 		8  	0  	0%
Protein: 	78  	314  	21%
Alcohol: 	0  	2  	0%

I'm not too worried about the carbs, and I'd be happy with just doubling the amount of fat I'm taking, but the protein intake is stupidly low.

I'm vegetarian, which doesn't help my choices. Any advice would be much appreciated.

joc_06

You want to double your fat intake? why??
maybe if its efas or fish oils but i can see no other reason to go over 26% fat.
Those guides arent accurate imo becasue they dont tell the whole story. Your carbs should be from whole wheat sources not refined like white bread etc.

If you lack in energy then it suggests you are not getting enough carbs. protein wont give you energy. carbs are the fuel you need to get throught your day. Id say eat more fruit like bananas and eat porridge for brekkie (its my staple along with pretty much every other athlete on the planet)

at the min im cutting and losing 4lbs fat a week til june10th but normally i eat like this:
brekkie: protein shake + oatmeal
mid morn : fruit
lunch: grilled chicken + boiled veg (you could eat tuna maybe if dont consider it meat, i dunno)
1.5 hrs b4 training: oatmeal + protein + crea mono
<20 mins aft trainin: same again

About 5 litres of water a day and as snacks some almonds or other nutritous nuts/fruits

Its very simple to not put on fat. If calories eaten equals calories burnt per day you'll stay the same weight.

seamus

joc_06 wrote:

You want to double your fat intake? why??
maybe if its efas or fish oils but i can see no other reason to go over 26% fat.
Those guides arent accurate imo becasue they dont tell the whole story. Your carbs should be from whole wheat sources not refined like white bread etc.

D'oh. This is why it's good to get someone else's opinion. I completely misread the website

If you lack in energy then it suggests you are not getting enough carbs. protein wont give you energy. carbs are the fuel you need to get throught your day. Id say eat more fruit like bananas and eat porridge for brekkie (its my staple along with pretty much every other athlete on the planet)

I'm not a massive breakfast eater. I get on much better heading to the gym first thing and having something to eat afterwards.
It may be more a matter of what and when I'm eating - the bulk of my carbs are eaten in the evening, I may look at switching them to lunchtime.

Or maybe I just need a holiday

Magic Monkey

1500kcals daily, no wonder you're fatigued.

For a start, you could double protein intake - cottage cheese is a fantastic source for this, if you don't want to go down the whey/casein shake route.

You could keep fat and carb intake static, double protein and increase total calorie intake to ~1800. If you find that doesn't work after a few weeks, change the ratios.

poobum

seamus wrote:

Right, I've found myself fatigued and having trouble really getting a *good* workout recently (i'm having trouble concentrating during the day at all), and I've suspected it's because of my diet. Put quite simply, I'm not eating enough. I've know this to be true, but since I'm losing weight, I'm having trouble figuring out where and what to eat. I think I've got myself into a routine as regards how and what I eat, that I'm finding tough to break.

I've put in a standard days' eating on FitDay.com, and it comes out as below:

source  	grams   cals  	%total
Total: 	  		1479  	 
Fat: 		42  	381  	26%
Sat: 		11  	97  	7%
Poly: 		19  	167  	11%
Mono: 		10  	90  	6%
Carbs: 		199  	764  	52%
Fiber: 		8  	0  	0%
Protein: 	78  	314  	21%
Alcohol: 	0  	2  	0%

I'm not too worried about the carbs, and I'd be happy with just doubling the amount of fat I'm taking, but the protein intake is stupidly low.

I'm vegetarian, which doesn't help my choices. Any advice would be much appreciated.

thats quite a low amount of cals! mabey you dont have the energy when in training your cals should be much higher then that or you just simply wont have the energy to work to your full potential!

joc_06

You need to give more info. age weight height goals training etc etc

seamus

joc_06 wrote:

You need to give more info. age weight height goals training etc etc

Kay..

Age: 23
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 89kgs
Training: 3 times/week, 30 mins weights, 30-35 mins cardio
Goals: Most importantly, weight loss, goal is about 85kgs, and overall fitness. At the moment I can run 1 mile in ~8mins. Pathetic really, but a huge improvement from 2 months ago.

tribulus

even if you're trying to lose badyfat you're cals seem low considering your weight -even assuming that some is excess bodyfat.

maybe a break down of your meals for the day would help people?
are you eating 5-6 or more times aday?
are you eating all good quality carbs?

maybe every so often i.e. every 5 days have a high carb day -still from good sources. Has the effect of "recharging the batteries " supposedly, as in replenishing glycogen stores which would surely be very low given that you're training 3times a week and already have a low carb intake.

anyone back me up on this couldn't find any links/literature for it??

seamus

Cheers guys.

tribulus wrote:

even if you're trying to lose badyfat you're cals seem low considering your weight -even assuming that some is excess bodyfat.

maybe a break down of your meals for the day would help people?
are you eating 5-6 or more times aday?
are you eating all good quality carbs?

maybe every so often i.e. every 5 days have a high carb day -still from good sources. Has the effect of "recharging the batteries " supposedly, as in replenishing glycogen stores which would surely be very low given that you're training 3times a week and already have a low carb intake.

anyone back me up on this couldn't find any links/literature for it??

I probably don't eat the way I should.
Meals are generally a small bagle and a large coffee in the morning (yeah I know). Tuna on white bread sandwich for lunch with a bag of low fat crisps. Dinner is usually some combination of brown rice, tofu and vegetables. I'll have a yoghurt afterwards normally.

That's pretty much it, 3 "main" meals.

As I say, I think I'm stuck in a routine which is holding me back, I'm in need of some neducation or inspiration.

kasintahan

It may not help your weight loss (actually you can expect to gain about 2 kg) but creatine yields unbelievable returns in vegetarians (i'm veggie too).

Creatine is injested from meat only (we make a small amount ourselves from aminos, it is synthasised in a lab from non-meat sources) and can at very low levels in vegetarians. I took 120 grams of the stuff at 3 grams a day (no loading) and have much improved energy levels, better concentration (that may be placebo but I really don't think so) and fuller muscles (still have puny arm though :rolleyes: ).