Critique my diet!!

Hey guys,

So i've been trying to get my diet right in the last couple of weeks........

I think I'm eating too much at the moment, i made this plan before i measured my TEE properly but I'm just after some feedback on the food that I'm eating rather than the total calories as i can just cut down portion sizes, etc. when i work out my exact requirements.

From my understanding, I need to calculate my TDEE (find maintenance) and then minus 10% to start cutting fat - is this correct??

Below is my stats and a pretty detailed example of what I'll eat in a day.

Current Stats:
Age - 22
Height - 181CM
Weight - 85KG
Activity - Lightly active work day + 3x hard weight training days (sometimes additional 1-2 days cardio)

Goal:
Lose fat (especially belly fat) and gain lean muscle.

6.30am - breakfast:
Scrambled egg whites - 237ml
2 slices toast (Abbotts village grainy whole meal)

9.30am - snack:
1 cup homemade fruit salad (grapes, oranges, watermelon, pineapple, strawberry)
2xfish oil caps
1x general multivitamin

11am - lunch 1:
1xsoft whole meal wrap (wattle valley)
100g grilled chicken breast
Tomato
Spinach
Grated carrot
Avocado spread

1pm - snack:
40g natural almonds
2xfish oil caps

3pm - lunch 2:
150g grilled chicken breast
150g mixed frozen vegies
100g brown rice

4.30pm - gym: (post workout)
30g gold standard whey
5g creatine monohydrate
30g dextrose - just started this, not sure about it =\

6-7pm - dinner:
250g grilled barramundi fillet
70g steamed green beans
80g steamed asparagus
25g sliced red capsicum1 cup homemade mash potato with milk/ butter
Diced tomatos (to make sauce for fish - lots of different spices added here aswell)

9.30pm - pre bed snack:
33g gold standard 100% casein shake

Macro Totals:
Protein - 246g (38%)
Carbs - 253g (39%)
Fats - 63g (22%)

Total:
Approx. 2,702 Calories (calculated by Myfitnesspal)


Look forward to any suggestions/ recommendations!

Cheers

Don't get too wrapped up in the calculations.
If you've been eating this and not dropping weight but not putting weight on then this is your maintenance calories. From here drop between 300cals and 500cals. Your protein seems pretty high but that's personal preference. I personally like to keep my carbs as high as possible, no point on wasting cals on protein if you can achieve the same results with more cals from carbs/fats. Also unless you find eating that frequently easier then don't bother trying to hit the broseph 6-7 meals a day. Just do what suits you best. You'll probably find that eating bigger meals less frequently keeps you feeling satiated for longer anyway. I know it certainly did for me.

One calculation I would be aware of and someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Times your weight in pounds by 9.5 and never eat under this as your calories. There are variables to this eg: if the person is morbidly obese, but its a good rule of thumb. You want to eat maximum amounts of food with maximum results.

edit: Type of food is irrelevant provided majority is micronutrient dense. And put your carbs pre-training not post.

M@YHEM said:

Type of food is irrelevant provided majority is micronutrient dense.

Click to expand...

Bit of a contradiction here that seems to be promoted by the 'if it fits your macros' brigade. they try to make out that you can eat rubbish (ice cream etc) and still do well, what they seem to forget to mention is that 95% of he diet has to be spot on. Might as well keep it simple and say what you do 95% of the time is what matters, and yes you can have the occasional junk.

M@YHEM said:

And put your carbs pre-training not post.

Click to expand...

He does, he has rice just before training, the dextrose after training is there to cause a rapid spike in insulin combined with protein (insulin transports proteins into muscles) at a time when the muscles are most receptive (after training), no good spiking insulin before training, will make for a crap workout.

In relation to diet, Faaaaarrrrrrkkkkk, when do you have time to eat that many meals??? And how do you manage it?? I have trouble fitting in two meals a day, generally lunch and dinner, no benefit spending your whole day eating meals.

Plus I sometimes have a couple of shakes ie one for breakfast and one for dinner or post workout if dinner is still a couple of hours off, but have not had them for a few weeks now as most shakes taste like crap.

Big Mick said:

Bit of a contradiction here that seems to be promoted by the 'if it fits your macros' brigade. they try to make out that you can eat rubbish (ice cream etc) and still do well, what they seem to forget to mention is that 95% of he diet has to be spot on. Might as well keep it simple and say what you do 95% of the time is what matters, and yes you can have the occasional junk.


He does, he has rice just before training, the dextrose after training is there to cause a rapid spike in insulin combined with protein (insulin transports proteins into muscles) at a time when the muscles are most receptive (after training), no good spiking insulin before training, will make for a crap workout.

Click to expand...

I see your opinion and I agree to disagree.

Thanks for the feedback guys....

I am aware of the fact that meal timing is unimportant but my job allows me to eat basically when I want so I don't mind spreading my food out! (I don't eat at those exact times everyday, was just an example)

I also prepare all of my work lunches on Sunday nights so that helps a lot. I just pack my lunch box every morning and pick at it throughout he day.

Hmm I haven't really monitored my weight since I started, the first week I decided I just wanted to try and eat healthy and the second (this week) I decided to start counting calories so I guess from here on ill start measure weight and go from there calorie wise!

Cheers

You'll tire quickly eating the same food day in day out. Use MFP to track cals & macros and eat a variety of different food.

Hi Shrek

Yes, this is just one example..... Dinners are different every night and I switch between eggs on toast, oats with milk, toast with natural peanut butter/ protein shake, etc. for breakky.

Only thing that stays the same for one week is lunch 1 and 2 as I prep that on a Sunday to make it easier to stick to!

Just a quick one - will the % of different macros I get each day effect my fat loss? Or does it not matter as long as I am eating good food and staying under my maintenance level of calories?

Reason I'm asking is because I think it would be very hard to keep the same macros everyday...

This is my percentages for 3 days this week for example:

Monday: C39 F22 P38
Tuesday: C33 F29 P38
Wednesday: C33 F27 P40

Total calories for each of the 3 days was very similar.

So yeah - how much does macro variation matter as a pose to total calories consumed??


Thanks

A few gms either way everyday won't make much difference. Huge variances will.

Cool...

Anyone have the link to the thread that a girl (don't remember the name)wrote up with all the formulas and such to work out calorie/ macro requirements???

emma leigh? has it on her site.

Even better! Thanks buddy