How is my diet?

[66-30-33]

First OP is talking about wanting to see his abs, he's not talking about 20% bodyfat.

Second, when only 20% of overweight people can lose 10% of their bodyweight and maintain their weight loss for at least 1 year, (older studies were more pessimistic) I would say that yes it is rocket science
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11375440?dopt=Abstract
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/222S.long#ref-3

Third, if a lot of people can maintain a bodyfat between 15% and 20% year long maybe it's because their setpoint is "set" at that level. People with a higher setpoint will need to do more work to maintain a lower bodyfat.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990627/

Finally, I don't want to get into a discussion of why we're fatter now than in the 50's but there are easy answers for that, the solutions to this problem are harder. Jobs and hobbies are less physical than they used to, the average restaurant meal is four times larger now than then (http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/325591), and the environment we live in leads us to unconsciously eat more (http://maxcondition.com/2016/07/21/nutrition-eating-behavior-a-new-model-for-the-study-of-eating/)

Actually I said I wanna lose my fat but wanna have a nice 6 pack. Obviously losing the fat is the main goal right now though.

 

[insomniac]

Actually I said I wanna lose my fat but wanna have a nice 6 pack. Obviously losing the fat is the main goal right now though.

Someone will surely correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that you do have a 6 pack. I mean, of course you've got abdominal muscles. It's just that the fat is covering them up.

You cannot spot train your body. You can strengthen your muscles, abdominals included, which will help you burn fat at rest.

For people who want to get in-depth, insulin and glycogen are probably what you want to be researching.

 

[Mrb1p]

OP, if you wanna change your lifestyle, just change it. Don't do it half-assed. Just go all in. Cut those empty carbs. Eat healthy, learn to cook.

I guarantee you'll feel like **** and you'll crave that sugar at 7PM. For at least a solid month, depending on your situation. But after that ? It's gonna be all good.

Load up on good carbs, water, tea and protein. Nothing else.

Maybe whey/BCAA/Preworkout wtv if you want, but the most important part is :

DITCH
THE
SUGAR.

I don't wanna be rude or anything but that's why you're never going to either;

1-achieve your goal
or
2-Maintain your bodyweight after your fat loss phase is over

Right now you're eating an artificial diet if I may say. You have no clue how much calories you're consuming, you're just trying to eat as little as possible. It's not sustainable over a very long period (by that I mean the rest of your life)

How long are you going to be able to maintain such a diet? A few weeks? A few months? I don't know.

Of course over that time span you're gonna lose some weight but then what? When you're going to tell yourself "Alright, I'm happy at that bodyweight" what are you going to do? Do you think you're going to keep eating the same boring diet you've been on for the past few months? I don't think so.

Usually at that point people completely overhaul their diet, they include more diversity in it, and because people suck at estimating how much they eat (and how much they burn through exercise) because they've never counted calories in their life they're eating 20 to 50% more calories* than they think they are and in a matter of months they're right back where they started before the diet and then they complain that "diets don't work".

If you don't know how much calories you need to be eating to maintain a bodyweight that you like how can you realistically hope to maintain that bodyweight?

Your body functions a little like a thermostat does, by that I mean that it regulates your energy expenditure and your energy intake to help you maintain a certain pre-determined bodyfat level. Judging by your comment, your bodyfat setpoint** is high meaning that your body will fight back to come back to a bodyfat level at which it feels comfortable (i.e. you will unconsciously move less or eat more)

If you don't keep track of the calories you're eating or can't even approximate how much you're eating you won't know that you're eating more and more over time. The difference won't be noticeable on a day to day basis but on a month to month basis the difference might be that you're eating 300 kcals more per day now than then.

Bottom line is, if you've never counted calories in your entire life and that you don't know how much calories you're eating in a normal day and how much calories you need to maintain a desire bodyweight you're going to play yo-yo with your bodyweight like the vast majority of people are doing.

yeah it sucks having to count calories but after a certain time you pretty much know the quantity you need to eat and you become pretty good at estimating how much you're eating.

Anyway, rants over, I have to go back to work

*Willbond SM et. al. Normal weight men and women overestimate exercise energy expenditure. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. (2010) 50(4):377-84
**http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fa...-points-and-bodyweight-regulation-part-1.html

Never counted a calorie in my life and I'm hovering 12-16%.

Just know what you eat.

Sure helps that I have a background in nutrition, a long time athlete and I'm a chef... But anyone can pick up a few books or read articles on the internet.

 

[66-30-33]

Thanks guys. I am actually writing this all down as I keep a notepad at my PC for this and other things I do, i'm not just reading it and forgetting it. Chicken breast with Kale salad and tuna for dinner after I finish hiking the mountain I go to 12 times a week and the gym.

 

[Mrb1p]

12 times a week ? Dear lord, take a rest

 

[insomniac]

Some other tips:

Eat your fruit alone and on an empty stomach.
Eat cottage cheese and (small amounts of) almonds and cashews as your last snack of the day.

 

[Ozz]

Someone will surely correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that you do have a 6 pack. I mean, of course you've got abdominal muscles. It's just that the fat is covering them up.

You cannot spot train your body. You can strengthen your muscles, abdominals included, which will help you burn fat at rest.

Correct. Not to mention that larger abs underneath the same amount of fat might also make you look thicker. Best to get at least a decent understanding of nutrition in that case. As I said and others repeated, "paying your dues" for a short time to learn some things will pay off dividends in the future when you can then *knowingly* alter your daily diet for a specific reason.

Wanting to lose some weight is fine, there are simple steps to take and continue with to get that done without too much strict effort. Getting to "six pack status" is beyond that unless you're genetically gifted in that area. And if that were the case one might not have to ask for help getting there anyway

 

[66-30-33]

12 times a week ? Dear lord, take a rest

It's only 1250 meters up a steep curvy road. Rest days are Saturdays.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

66, there is some good advice in this thread, but let me point out that the biggest key is making your new habits sustainable.

If you are eating foods you hate, eventually you will revert back to your old ways of eating. This doesn't mean you shouldn't cut out the fruit loops, but there are ways to make many foods healthier.

I love chicken parm, burgers, pancakes etc, but I make these foods in healthy ways that support my fitness goals.

As an example, I make burgers with lean ground turkey and I skip the bun and opt for a lettuce wrap. With the pancakes, I use white whole wheat flour and pure maple syrup, not the junk laced with high fructose corn syrup you buy at the grocery stores.

Now some things I won't make concessions on, such as pizza. I learned how to make pizza just like a pizzeria shop, but now I control what goes in it, the amount of cheese, sauce without citric acid, etc. However I still use regular flour and whole milk cheese. It's usually my cheat meal once a week.

For me, having a cheat meal keeps me highly motivated throughout the rest of the week. I would encourage you to do the same.

Also, the most important thing you can do is learn how to read food labels. I haven't lived in Canada in awhile, but they can trick you if you don't understand the "false advertising" going on. I.e. some people will drink a bottle of Gatorade after their workouts (not recommended) and think it was 80 cals because that's what the label says. Yet upon closer inspection it says 2.5 servings... Doh! So that's 200 cals right there and a bottle of water would have sufficed.

Also, cals aren't the only thing to look for. Say you like shredded chicken and you see it pre-packaged in the grocery store. It's say 120 cals a serving and you think "great", but what you didn't notice was the 700 grams of sodium. You can make a much healthier version at home with a fraction of the sodium using a homemade tomato based BBQ sauce.

It's all the little things that add up as you educate yourself on nutrition. Once you understand your body and have a better understanding of the calories, sodium, glucose, etc in most foods, then you can start eyeballing your food and know where you are on a daily basis.

Until you have a fundamental understanding of these things, keeping a food diary is core method you shouldn't skip.

 

[66-30-33]

So I just got my fitness pal, added what I have ate today.

Goal is 2230 cals.

Breakfast:

- 2 eggs 143 cals
- 10oz black Keurig coffee
- Light Rye Bread Deli World 2 slices 130 cals

Lunch:

- 1 Sonora WW Tortilla 210 cals
- 1 beefsteak tomatoes (windset farms) 25 cals
- Flaked Light Tuna, Spicy Tai Chilli 90 cals (this food is high in protein)

I need 1632 the rest of the day.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

I would just like to emphasize sustainability when it comes to food and workouts.

Don't burn yourself out you could either get completely sick of working out, or possibly injure yourself.

I know we all go thru phases where we go really hard but you have to be careful, good luck to you man

good job using the app, having a rough estimate of your calorie intake is really going to help. i have days still where i am hungry sometimes especially later at night, i used to work 3rd shift and it really threw me off badly you don't have to eat all the calories either. I've noticed that i am consistently under my calorie limit but whatever works best for you is good.

 

[66-30-33]

6 cups of Sweet Kale and a big chicken breast 1100 cals. I'm over 1000 cals left for my daily goal, the app said if I did this everyday I would be 205 pounds in 5 weeks. 9700 steps walked since I got the app and just under 600cals burned but did not take into the hill I was climbing sweating like a pig twice. Bought some quaker oats for breakfast tomorrow.

 

[Havre]

I would just like to emphasize sustainability when it comes to food and workouts.

Don't burn yourself out you could either get completely sick of working out, or possibly injure yourself.

Very true.

It is highly individual though. I have seen people go from unfit and/or fat to become almost obsessed with eating healthy and exercising within weeks and I have seen people gradually over years getting "there" ("there" being also very individual - ranging from doing Iron Man-competitions to going to Zumba a couple of times a week).

The first kind of people wouldn't have patience to changing something slowly - and the other way around the second kind of people would just end up quitting if they were to change everything at once.

I usually do something 7 days a week (gym, yoga, cycling, floorball - whatever) - not because I feel I have to, but because I enjoy it. However, whenever I have had a cold or something that has prevented me from training/exercising for a week or more - I do kind of struggle to get going again for a couple of week. I get demotivated by how "hard" everything is. Then after that phase I'm back to normal again. Happens every time.

You might not know the answer to it now - and the answer might even change as time goes by, but it is wise to reflect a bit around these things. Find the right balance between pizza and kale.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Doing intermittent fasting or some variation is a very useful tool. At some point you need to be able to acknowledge hunger as temporal feeling and not respond out of instinct. That is to say, we generally program our bodies to immediately respond to feelings of hunger by immediately eating something, but this reaction can be unlearned as well. You can rather easily put off eating something for an hour or two by drinking water or having a hot beverage. Instead of going right for breakfast first thing in the morning, just drink a lot of water and maybe have a cup of tea. Try to put off your first meal until 9 or 10 and have your last meal around 6. Confining your eating to a defined window helps you to eat less overall and hopefully limits your feelings of hunger to a small window early in the morning, where it is most manageable.

 

[KapG]

Intermittent fasting is very effective

 

[blue425]

Men seem to benefit more from it. I can find sciencey stuff if anyone wants, but too lazy right now.

I eat from noon to 8PM, and on that note it is time to eat.

 

[Mrb1p]

I actually did a month of intermittent fasting and i wouldnt recommend it to anyone like ever.

 

[Ozz]

I've done it with success before, and know others who do it pretty much exclusively. Never really had or heard any issues.

Carb cycling is another effective dieting technique, but that came with more hunger yearnings than I.F. did for me. But it sure worked well!

 

[radicalcenter]

Never counted a calorie in my life and I'm hovering 12-16%.

But you and OP are not the same.

I'm sure you're eating pretty much the same thing on a day to day basis and have been doing so for quite some time. So you are aware of how much you shoud eat to maintain your weight.

OP is new to this.

Here's a paper that came out this month showing how bad people are at estimating their energy intake. People underestimate how much they eat by up to 50%.

http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/16-07-12-Counting-Calories-Final.pdf

 

[Mrb1p]

My belief is that my work schedule and my type of work is too hard for me to fast. Both on mind and body.

I actually came in fatter than I was at the start of my 3 weeks and a half of fasting.

My energy levels were extremely low in the gym, all my lifts suffered.. etc.

My mood was the worst though.

But you and OP are not the same.

I'm sure you're eating pretty much the same thing on a day to day basis and have been doing so for quite some time. So you are aware of how much you shoud eat to maintain your weight.

OP is new to this.

Here's a paper that came out this month showing how bad people are at estimating their energy intake. People underestimate how much they eat by up to 50%.

http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/16-07-12-Counting-Calories-Final.pdf

Yes, Thats for sure.

As a chef, it's even easier to count calories.

For sure he'd need to get familiar with all of this... Can't go all in blind.

 

[66-30-33]

^ Naw can't go in blind I agree, the app i'm using is easy. 1807 cals I ate today, but wayyyy too much vitamins. 205 of 100 Vitamin A and 543 of 100 Vitamin C because of the 6 cups of Kale i'm eating.

I'm starting to like this healthy food eating...getting kinda addicting.

Thinking about going to another gym (goodlife fitness) near my work with a buddy from work while staying at my other gym (Steve Nash) with another work buddy because I LOOOOOVE the sled and want to get into the ropes.

 

[Mrb1p]

Dont worry about eating too much vitamins. Better to go over a few days than under imo

 

[66-30-33]

I'll be pooping vitamins pretty soon then.

 

[66-30-33]

Starting to lose weight now, thanks guys!

213 atm, wish I did this sooner....I've missed out. Feeling awesome. Lost 17 pounds in 3 weeks as the first week I was depressed and did not eat for 3 days, but after that is when I started eating better. I'll bump this again at the end of Sept with my results. Hoping to reach 210 before the end of the month, then maybe 205 at the end of next month. Also writing down my progress week by week and still constantly logging food into myfitness pal.

 

[Havre]

Be aware that weight loss isn't typically linear. All about staying with it.