please critique my diet

[aroganttravis]

I have been lifting for about 5 years...natural and im trying to cut up as much as possible. I currently weigh 200lbs. I dont want to get involved in counting exact calories and fat intake due to i have no intent on competeing. I am just trying to see some of the fruits of my labor. here is what an average day looks like:

1st meal:
4 egg whites. 1 whole egg
2 packages of oatmeal.

2nd meal:
protein shake(40g protien)

3rd meal:
8oz of grilled chicken
1 cup of brown or white rice

4th meal:
meso tech complete shake
40g prot
32g carb

5th meal:
10 oz of lean steak
1 cup of rice
1 cup of green vegis

6th meal:
protein shake before bed
40g protein

I usually work out 4-5 days a week. I do cardio 4 days a week for 30 min at night before i go to sleep.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SerbMarko]

looks good to me, for your last meal, if you are going to make it protein make sure you use caseine instead of whey, it will take longer to break down in your system, your better off eating a whole steak before bed though, with no carbs obviously.

 

[aroganttravis]

I usually buy lean steak and there pretty small. would i be better off instead of taking a protein shake for my last meal...if i ate just steak will that constitute a good last meal with no vegis or anything?

 

[SerbMarko]

I usually buy lean steak and there pretty small. would i be better off instead of taking a protein shake for my last meal...if i ate just steak will that constitute a good last meal with no vegis or anything?

most definitely, steak takes hours upon hours to break down, and you have to consider that you grow and recover when you sleep, so having all that protein working in your system while you recover is your best bet, and also remember that your natural growth hormone output is at its highest during the night, just remember no carbs before bed or that will be stored as fat, some green leafy veggies would be acceptable though.

 

[aroganttravis]

I appreciate your imput! ill see how this diet works for a while. Im going to change my last shake to steak.

 

[The_KM]

If you take in x amount of protein at a given time, not all of it will be utilized, unfortunately. Your body utilizes what's necessitated for protein synthesis of muscle and body proteins, then in short, converts it into bf or energy. That said, the point is, although Serb gave solid advice, I wouldn't condone steak as a nice bed time snack. Not to mention the fat apace it!

I also don't believe in 0 carbs before bed, which is just my personal synopsis, but everyone has different views. Denovo lipogenesis requires much more energy to convert carbs to fat, and by energy, I mean calories (thermal effect). But in combination with fatty acids, like we suggest before bed, it can cause a direct accumulation of adipose tissue.

Aroganttravis: Your diet looks good bro! We're on exactly the same page, when I diet whether it's bulking or cutting, I don't dial up my macros, kcals and so on. It's time consuming!

But here's some helpful pointers.. hopefully...

Stick to complex carbs throughout the diet, not simple (anything white or processed). This will stabilize blood sugar levels, limiting glucagon and insulin secretions. It seems simplistic, but recognizing "what's what" becomes a difficult task until it saturates your brain. Lastly, this could potentially deviate the oxidative process of triglycerides by using such high-energy extensive carbs, like white rice, as the main derivative of glucose/energy. Let me know if this makes sense bud, I tend to complicate the simplicity of everything.

Kev

 

[aroganttravis]

nope that made perfect sence. I have been throwing a few things around. so do you think that brown rice would be better then white rice for my carb source?

 

[tim290280]

Half your meals are shakes. Eat real food instead. Shakes are only really useful around training (pre and post).

You only have 1 serve of vegetables for the day. You need 5x that at least. You also need more fibre. You also lack any form of fruit.

Protein is no where near as important as people think. You need to get your macro ratio sorted so that you get a balance of foods.

Aside from the eggs I see no healthy fats, especially omega 3's.

If you want to diet but don't want to count calories you still have to be aware of the ballpark calories you are needing to consume and the rough amounts that you are taking in. Without this your diet will be hit and miss. Food logs are really the only reliable way of making sure you know this and are successfull.

 

[aroganttravis]

any suggestions on things i can add or change in my diet?

 

[tim290280]

any suggestions on things i can add or change in my diet?

Yes:

Half your meals are shakes. Eat real food instead. Shakes are only really useful around training (pre and post).

You only have 1 serve of vegetables for the day. You need 5x that at least. You also need more fibre. You also lack any form of fruit.

Protein is no where near as important as people think. You need to get your macro ratio sorted so that you get a balance of foods.

Aside from the eggs I see no healthy fats, especially omega 3's.

If you want to diet but don't want to count calories you still have to be aware of the ballpark calories you are needing to consume and the rough amounts that you are taking in. Without this your diet will be hit and miss. Food logs are really the only reliable way of making sure you know this and are successfull.

Anything you missed?

 

[aroganttravis]

I appreciate the feedback. I will incorperate some nut for healthy fats. add some more vegies with meals and add some fruit. Ill rearange my shakes so that they are taken pre/post workout and eat reg meals thruout the day.

 

[The_KM]

What's important is assessing others advice, and using it to your advantage. No problem at all, but look around.. unsaturated fats are found in an assortment of nuts, oils, and so on. Instead of spoon-feeding you answers, I'd rather you reconstitute your diet and take the following into consideration:

Fruits, although I'm not a fan of fructose and sucrose, are fine in the morning and scarcely throughout the day. Fiber is one nutrient subdivided into multiple categories, pectin from fruit is one of them.

-Unsaturated fats before bed time coupled with a caseinized protein. Grained, whole grain and comlexive carbs throughout the day excluding post workout..

Post workout nutrition, alongside whey: dextrose or other forms of glucose. Look into WMS as well, namely Kiwk Karb by NP. Because you're cutting, take 50-80g of dextrose apposed to the general 150g serving.

nope that made perfect sence. I have been throwing a few things around. so do you think that brown rice would be better then white rice for my carb source?

Yes sir! Look into the aforementioned carbs, such as bulgar, quinoa, couscous, kashi and oats. These are quick, easy and extremely dense sources of carbs.

 

[tim290280]

^^ Which was what I was driving at. You can't just give advice like "you must eat nuts" because plenty of people (myself included) are allergic to nuts.

And fruits are a great source of nutrients and vitamins. Not many things come close. I agree you don't want to go overboard with them if you consume a lot of processed foods that contain sugar or HFCS, but fruit itself (not fruit juice) is relatively low in fructose. You'd be getting the runs before you have consumed enough fruit to be harmfull.

I think of most fibrous and leafy vegetables to be essentially empty nutrients. They don't provide much other than fibre and nutrients. So they can be thought of as free foods. Eat as much of them as you can handle.

 

[aroganttravis]

thanks for all your thoughts. I am going to look into alot of things that are being said. with the info about my diet that i listed ive lost 3 pounds my first week. i am going to look into the suggestions that were mentioned.

I do agree that i may need to add some healthy fats to my diet. but diets work differently for different people. i will try this out for a month or 2 and see what happens and then ill mix it up and try some different things. I might keep a log just to track my progress. Im going off the mirror not the scale....

thanks again for suggestions that were mentioned.

 

[The_KM]

And fruits are a great source of nutrients and vitamins. Not many things come close. I agree you don't want to go overboard with them if you consume a lot of processed foods that contain sugar or HFCS, but fruit itself (not fruit juice) is relatively low in fructose. You'd be getting the runs before you have consumed enough fruit to be harmfull.

Eh, we'll have this debate over and over again, which is fine. But we might as well agree to disagree

Sucrose isn't any better, and for some it could actually be worse depending on their pancreatic state, upon other variables. Fructose is a monosaccharide but sucrose isn't, meaning it must be hydrolyzed into glucose. Personally, in my perspective it's relatively the same thing as taking in straight glucose... just with a delayed gastric emptying and absorption rate.

I also agree, fruits contain micronutrients and minerals that are hard to come by. Sure, anyone can take a pill for each vitamin or mineral, but it's not the same nor is it complemented with other minerals.

Fructose is either directly converted to adipose tissue for storage, or circulated as an unregulated source of VLDL. Whether it lead to hypercholesteralemia or obesity, it's not good.

I agree you don't want to go overboard with them if you consume a lot of processed foods that contain sugar or HFCS, but fruit itself (not fruit juice) is relatively low in fructose

You'd be surprised. Whole wheat breads now contain HFCS, so do other "whole wheat" products, which is why the accumulation tends to add up much faster than people think.

 

[tim290280]

Eh, we'll have this debate over and over again, which is fine. But we might as well agree to disagree

You'd be surprised. Whole wheat breads now contain HFCS, so do other "whole wheat" products, which is why the accumulation tends to add up much faster than people think.

I noticed that about the USA, Aust is headed the same way. I now buy bakery bread rather than the other stuff. It is amazing the difference between the two types.

Whole foods of decent quality are hard to buy from a general supermarket. But that is why so many whole food shops have opened up. As much as organic foods are a load of marketing bullshit, it is a positive step towards less processing and pre-ripening of foods.

 

[skindnef]

Food logs are really the only reliable way of making sure you know this and are successfull

This is the best advice IMO. If you are looking for results, just like in the gym you need to log.I lost 30lbs in 3 1/2-4 months & my food log was key to that happening.

 

[aroganttravis]

I will definatly start a food log to get an idea of what i am eating on a daily bases. that seems like an easy thing to do.

 

[tim290280]

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http://www.t-nation.com/free_online...even_keys_to_a_successful_body_transformation