My Diet for Fat-Loss and Muscle Growth

[B0TT0M36]

Hey everyone,

Heres a little background info for you first.
Im 5"10, 220lbs, been working out pretty regularly over the past 5 years, unfortunately over the last year I stopped or very rarely worked out. I developed a blood clot in my lung last March and was bed ridden for about 3 weeks, one of which was in the hospital. I could barely move and had to sleep sitting up right for a week. Anyways, I got depressed and extremely stressed out because of my illness and I was overseas in Australia getting my Bachelors which led to even more stress (school, money, family, ect.).

My weight has been fluctuating over the last 4 years pretty fiercely:
4 years ago I weighed in at 300 lbs
Dropped 100lbs in one year
Stable at 190-200lbs for 2 years
Dropped down to 180lbs
Over the last year shot up to 220lbs (all fat cause I havent been working out)

Sooooooooo, im trying to get back into my old workout habits which was 5-days a week focussing on specific muscle groups each day:
Monday - Chest
Tuesday - Back
Wednesday - Legs (HATE! btw lol)
Thursday - Shoulders
Friday - Arms
Sat/Sun - Rest
Each workout day included cardio

ANYWAYS!! My eating habits have been bad throughout, either I starve myself or eat crap foods or eat an abundance of mediocre foods.

I took a picture of what im trying to eat (and hopefully continue eating).

It consists of six small meals all of which have brown rice (a total of 2 cups), broccoli, celery, carrots, snow peas, and two chicken breasts. For breakfast I'll have 1/2 cup of oatmeal with protein mixed in, 1/2 cup of egg whites, then I'll be having two three smoothies throughout the day consisting of fruits blended together with milk and protein. I'll also have just straight protein after the gyme and before bed. I also take a multivitamin daily, Centrum.

So, just want eveyones take on how good/bad/too much/too little of whatever. I'll end up subbing in different vegetables from time to time like spinach, cauliflower, beans, ect.

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate the help!!

Cheers!

B0TT0M36

[mouth]

You're having the same meal every time?

[massabsamurai]

you can either bulk (muscle growth) or cut (fat loss). Can't do both at the same time.

[JonnyO]

Barely enough food to feed a rabbit....2 chicken breasts for the entire day?

[YYZgeddylee]

more protein (meat) each meal.
throw in some hard boiled eggs, tuna, cottage cheese,
oysters, or other protein sources that you like the taste of.
skip the fruit in smoothies.

[Mr Ontario]

lol what about a cat?


Barely enough food to feed a rabbit....2 chicken breasts for the entire day?

[B0TT0M36]

Yea im not a very big variety guy, I lived on a student budget for over a year which meant chicken and rice every night with pasta for lunch and oatmeal in the morning.

Thinking I'll have four of those containers a day (I'll add more stuff to them, protein wise) and then breakfast will be oatmeal and egg whites with some form of fruit and a protein shake.

Never really liked the taste of tuna, but it was years ago that I tried it, maybe a second chance is in order lol.

[mouth]

Should you be having rice that late as well? If you're trying to lose some weight...maybe trade the carbs for something else in the later meals....?

[B0TT0M36]

yea, i was thinking myself too....just not sure what to trade it with...maybe cottage cheese, never had it tho, so itll be an experience lol

should try to not eat carbs past 7pm...atleast i remember someone saying that to me before lol

[B0TT0M36]

Any other suggestions??

[O-Train]

yea, i was thinking myself too....just not sure what to trade it with...maybe cottage cheese, never had it tho, so itll be an experience lol

should try to not eat carbs past 7pm...atleast i remember someone saying that to me before lol

Cottage cheese is what I was going to say. Swap it in for the chicken and rice and keep the fibrous carbohydrates (ie broccoli, celery etc...) You may want to get rid of the fruit too. It seems to me like you're not trying to lose a lot of weight quickly so I don't see a problem with some fruit. Just maybe not blending a lot of it 3x/day in shakes.

What time of day do you train? I was going to say if you train in the morning you could structure your diet around getting the majority of your complex carbs in the morning. In the afternoon/evening you have to be more careful about eating too much post-workout.

What about cardio? What does your routine look like (in terms of content not structure)? Personally I don't like 1 body part/day programs for a number of reasons. eg. training frequency, time management, and in a lot of cases people use too much volume and intensity suffers. I would structure it more along the lines of a Chest/Shoulders/Triceps Day, Back/Biceps Day, Quads, Hams/Calves Day or something similar. Or better yet focus on big lifts like Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Military Press and add supplemental exercises. That way you'll build a decent base of strength and gains should come a lot more quickly.

[mouth]

yea, i was thinking myself too....just not sure what to trade it with...maybe cottage cheese, never had it tho, so itll be an experience lol

should try to not eat carbs past 7pm...atleast i remember someone saying that to me before lol

As far as a "cut off" time for carbs, it depends on what your daily schedule is. If your daily schedule requires you to get up earlier than most and you go to bed earlier, your cut off time would be earlier.

Cottage cheese...I understand the dedication behind what most people do on this site but, I don't see how anyone can stomach that stuff. It's like eating vomit and brains all mashed together.

[PdH]

I take it you're trying lose some fat and maintain the muscle you have? If so, I would suggest you follow the Palumbo diet found here:

http://www.canadabodybuilding.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4487&highlight=palumbo

[z83]

I take it you're trying lose some fat and maintain the muscle you have? If so, I would suggest you follow the Palumbo diet found here:

http://www.canadabodybuilding.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4487&highlight=palumbo

x2

[nisser]

You have zero fat in your meals. Add some eggs, fish and nuts or something. And as JonnyO mentioned, your wabbit will be starving. You are at like 500 calories with that rice/chicken/veggie meals altogether.

Also, ditch the shakes.

[B0TT0M36]

@O-Train
I havent really got a set workout plan yet...but normally when i work a muscle group I try to get atleast 10 exercises in with cardio to finish. For cardio I usually use the treadmill doing HII training on it, with walking for 1 min and running full on for 30 seconds, do that about 10 times with a 5 min warmup/cooldown jog

revamped my meals, still have the chicken and rice, and the oatmeal and egg breakfast, but ive added in differnt veggies like peppers and onions....so im having 5 meals a day, breakfast oatmeal and eggs, then the next three meals are chicken (1 full breast) with whole grain rice and veggies and almonds (kinda of a stir fry without the sauces), then my last meal is cottage cheese and veggies about an hour or two before bed. Protein shakes and water through out the day.

Whats so bad about making shakes with say 1 banana, a sliced up apple, some milk and protein?? Is it cause of the sugar levels in fruit??

[Praetorian]

@O-Train
I havent really got a set workout plan yet...but normally when i work a muscle group I try to get atleast 10 exercises in with cardio to finish. For cardio I usually use the treadmill doing HII training on it, with walking for 1 min and running full on for 30 seconds, do that about 10 times with a 5 min warmup/cooldown jog

revamped my meals, still have the chicken and rice, and the oatmeal and egg breakfast, but ive added in differnt veggies like peppers and onions....so im having 5 meals a day, breakfast oatmeal and eggs, then the next three meals are chicken (1 full breast) with whole grain rice and veggies and almonds (kinda of a stir fry without the sauces), then my last meal is cottage cheese and veggies about an hour or two before bed. Protein shakes and water through out the day.

Whats so bad about making shakes with say 1 banana, a sliced up apple, some milk and protein?? Is it cause of the sugar levels in fruit??

Seriously you really need to decide what your goal is...fat loss or muscle gain...you are NOT doing both and the diet you posted will produce lack luster results to be quite honest. Also you need to really put together a training program that includes cardio...and the correct type of cardio for the diet you are using. When you diet for fat loss you will be in a calorie restricted state as well as a limited energy environment...which means your training cannot be too long in duration because energy stores will run out quickly...this is the reason for training a single body part or two during a workout. The idea of including carbs such as fruit , dairy etc to lose fat slowly may sound good in theory but doesnt work in reality. Also it is much better to have a variety of foods and protein sources....eating chicken 3 times daily will get old real fast and you wont stick to the diet.
P

[PITVIPER]

Well guys I too am having an issue with putting together a meal plan that I can stick too. Lets put together 2 concrete bases, one for fat loss and one for weight gain.
starting with:

FAT LOSS
breakfast
snack
lunch
snack
supper
snack

WEIGHT GAIN
breakfast
snack
lunch
snack
supper
snack