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Hi. I was hoping to get some diet advice. It's always good to check it up and get some opinions.

My goals are to lose some fat, while keeping on the muscle. I weight about 73kg (160lbs). 178cm (5'11")

My father passed away at the beginning of April and I didn't watch what I ate or exercise much. I seem to have put on a little fat around my stomach and I would like to try and shed it for the summer and maybe put on a little bit of muscle in it's place.

My daily intake over the past 2 weeks has been approximately

2300-2500 kcal per day.
160-180g protein per day (about 25% of total calories)
110-130g Fat per day (about 45% of total calories)
140-160g Carbs per day (about 30% of total calories).

My daily eating plan consists of:

1) Breakfast
2-3 Eggs, 1 piece of fruit.

2) Post workout meal on workout days
44g Whey (80%), 60g peanut butter, 20g Honey.

3) Mid morning food
2 Pieces of fruit, handfull of nuts.

4) Lunch
~150g Veggies, 150g Meat (uncooked weights).

5) Afternoon meal
~150g Veggies, 150g Meat (uncooked weights).

6) Evening meal
~150g Veggies, 150g Meat (uncooked weights).

7) Before bed
250g Greek Yogurt, 20-30g Honey.

I try to get all of my carbs from veggies and fruits. I have about 4 pieces of fruit per day, normally apples and bananas. I do not normally have any carbs from starches or grains.

I try to add some olive oil to my food to keep the good fats up and increase the calorie intake.

I take fish oil (2-4g per day) and drink green tea 2-3 times per day. too.

So am I heading in the right direction? Should I increase/decrease anything? Should I add a day of moderate carbs?

Thanks

@daniel4738:

1 - Are you losing fat on this diet?

2 - Do you have energy for your workouts and throughout the day?

If the answer to both of those questions is "Yes", then you're on the right track.

Yeah, most important is what Stephen brought up. If you can answer those yes, I I can't see why not, it's good. That's an approach a lot of people use for trimming off some fat. I wouldn't even worry too much about macronutrient ratio's, just the general guidelines you listed above.
Tim

You could have one less peice of fruit and switch out for a veggie.

Other than that which isn't that significant it's very good. Impressed, it sound like you did your hw.

If you are having problems, I would say the honey at bedtime would be a good place to start.

A lot of bodybuilders are fruit-phobic, but fruits in general have higher base antioxidant values than vegetables. This is especially true after preparation since fruits are more likely to be eaten raw. Exercising individuals need antioxidants to quench the damage done by free radicals.

If you're afraid of the carbs in fruits, eat berries, which tend to be lower in carbs. Melons in season are a good option as well.

You could swap it with frozen blueberries. Just some of them, mash them up a bit, and the yogurt will taste great. Blueberries are low GI, and certainly lower than honey.

Makes sense, but chances are they are getting enough vitamins through a healthy diet and a good chunk of highly dedicated bodybuilders will take vitamin supplementation. Whatever works.

Berries are about the same as eating veggies from a diet perspective. They happen to be my favorite kind of fruit. Until I read about low carb diets about 10 years ago, I didn't realize just how good for you they are.

I didn't know they helped with recovery. I'm not a big fruit guy, but I only completely cut out non-berry fruit during cutting. I eat berries during all phases.

Thanks for the advice, it's always good to see you are on the right track.

I'm not that fat to start with so I'm not sure I will see that many issues. I can already see the veins in my shoulders and legs, but I want to get rid of some of the fat on my midfrif as I can't see my Abs too well. This is two fold, firstly I want to increase my strength to weight ratio without loosing too much muscle mass and secondly I just want to look better for summer :) Basically I just ate and drank lots during April and I think it shows.

As for the Honey, I will cut it out. I have gone from drinking 5-6 cups of tea with 3 spoons of sugar to cutting out sugar all together and just having honey, to having just some honey in my yogurt and post workout shakes.

I will also try to substitute one serving of fruit with some veggies. I did try cutting out fruit all together but it made me feel awful, so I added it back in. I personally don't really like the taste of raw veggies and cooking more means bringing a third tuppawear box on my bike (on top of gym cloths, laptop etc) so I might stick with the fruit.

I don't take any vitamin supplements ... should I? I saw the debate Ironman and Ironmaiden had over vitamins and the Atkins diet. Would vitamins help?

Thanks for the advice so far, it's good to hear that I am doing something right. Would It be worth throwing in a day or two per week of higher carb, lower fat?

Cheers

Vitamins are a good idea. I wouldn't do higher carb days. The best way to have more carbs is just eat them early and have mostly protein/fat at the end of the day.

There is nothing wrong with the honey post workout. It's at bedtime where you don't want it. Bedtime is cheese/casein shake time usually. You are not eating any grains or other starchy things, so you can probably get away with eating the fruit.

Ironman will give you better advice than me, I think. But I don't see a need for "carb up" days on your diet. The cutting diet Ironman recommended to me was about 2800 calories a day, 20 grams of carbs (max of 60, lower the better) so I did well with a carb-up day or so every week. But you're getting a more balanced fat/carbs/protein mix so I don't see why you'd really need to have a high-carb day.

This is, of course, advice from a novice. But I figure if I post what I'm thinking and I'm thinking something stupid, I will get told how stupid it is. If I keep it to myself I'll never know.

2800 Kcal per day.

Does this mean I am shooting myself in the foot by only eating 2300-2500 kcal per day?

I weight in at about 72-73kg at the moment. Should I eat a little bit more to avoid crashing. I don't feel particularly hungry in between meals.

In reply to using honey or not:
Honey is 80% sugar, but it has many health benefits. Certainly when you use honey which is made in your area (use a nearby beekeeper's honey if possible). It doesn't only protect you from allergens and asthma, it also has a lot of anti-oxidants and a little amount of vitamins, minerals and oligo-elements.

I only use honey when it's spring/summer to increase my resistance (I've got something like a light exercise-induced asthma, which I only feel when I've gone cycling very hard on a warm day). I don't use it in the winter since I tend to store fat very easily.

Although Vitamins A and C are antioxidants, antioxidants aren't necessarily vitamins. An apple only has about 6-10% of the RDA for vitamin C, but has more antioxidant value than 1500 milligrams of C. A dose of 1500 milligrams of vitamin C is 25 times the RDA for the vitamin. An apple a day....

Fruits, being the ripened ovaries of plants, are the most biologically active part of the plant. They have the most antioxidant value. Any hard-training exerciser who is concerned about exercised-induced free radical damage would be going against his own interests by omitting fruits from his diet.