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Do you have access to a kitchen? It's not that difficult or time-consuming to make yourself small meals (chicken salad, etc.) to take with you in re-usable plastic containers and eat between classes and the such, if you get sick of protein powder.

Maybe you can give an idea of what your schedule is like? When do you get up, train, have classes, eat, go to bed, etc.

Felt brought up a good point. I do that all the timeI will generally disignate a day, and make up about two veg salad type things in a bowl that will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days, and put some in a plastic-ldded bowl andtake it with me. I might add some meat, fish or chicken to it as a full meal, or take some cooked meat in a ziplock bag with me. One of my favorite ideas with meat is to wait for a special on pork loin, when the local store sells it at 1.59/lb (half a pork line, cut it into about 3 small roasts, wrap and throw 3 in the freezer, roast one up and use it for slicing and taking with me for about 3-4days. Same thing with chicken legs and London Broil. These 3 seem to go on sale regularly and are easy to tote with.
Tim

I do that sort of thing as well. That's really the key to sticking with the nutrition plan.

The main problem for me in doing that kind of diet is time.

I know that it isn't very time consuming in relation to other things, but there is not a grocery store that close to campus, I don't have a car, and I really don't do much besides go to the gym and do work.

I've been trying to grab some extra fruit from the dining hall and bring it around with me for snacks during the day, and I'm working on ordering a whey protein shake to mix with water (I'm open to specific suggestions).

I realize that if you want to, you can always "make the time." But I don't feel comfortable in the academic environment I am currently in, with trying to go and cook for myself.

Thank you though for your suggestions. When I'm home on break, I'll make sure to follow them.

Just for a quick update:

I've managed to cut out most of the carbs in my diet, and have greatly increased the amount of protein. This has been coupled with a reduction both in total caloric intake and workout frequency. The results:

November 19th: 185 lbs
December 21st: 177.5 lbs

I realize that this loss is a little more than 1 lb per week, but I don't believe it as at an unhealthy rate.

I am thinking of keeping this diet for a little while longer (of about a 500 calorie deficit per day), and then leveling it off.

Well done.

You obviously have your diet worked out. How is your training plan doing? Without a training plan you are likely to put it back on as fast as it came off.

The plan is going well.

I've followed the Irons' advise and reduced my program to a simplified range of exercises. I've also trimmed down my time in the gym (about an hour five times a week) and I'm feeling good.

There have only been two problems:

1. I've moved from doing time-intensive ab circuits to trying to work them as any other muscle. I've been going for the higher weights and such, but I don't feel like it is always an effective workout.

2. On Friday I was doing my "push" workout (chest, shoulders, triceps), and I my shoulder kept painfully almost locking in place. I've experienced this phenomenon before (when I was doing skull crushers a couple years ago), and I ended up damaging the soft tissue in my shoulder. I quit the workout when I started noticing the same signs, and this has slowed me down a bit.

I'd take a break if I were you if your having pain in your shoulders. You don't want to screw those up. With triceps do cable triceps extensions instead to skull crushers. Whats the pain like when you bench?

I started dieting myself, after 2 weeks I've dropped 7 pounds.

The pain comes when my arms are approaching full extension and it feels as if someone is taking my right shoulder and moving the ball of it around the socket.

I have a couple questions for the general forum population:

1. Why use whey? (Just curious about any quantitative evidence)

2. I've been trying to reach the .8g of protein per # of lean mass body weight, but I am wondering what the justification for this sort of threshold i. Why .8? I realize that it is just a number and more so a guideline than anything, but I guess I am just wondering why one would seek an elevated level of protein at all.

Note:

I am not arguing for a non-protein non-whey diet, or arguing for anything at all. I was just interested to hear what people thought on the subject (and I realize that for many of you this has been heavily discussed already).

There is no definitive evidence to state why you need 1.0 g per # of bodyweight. Its all based on assumptions and opinions. I personally don't believe you need that much. I believe its important to boost intake before and after you exercise. Having it at the correct time when your body accually needs it.

Whey just gives you access to high quality protein without having to cook up a steak or chicken. Convienance purposes.

John berardi says 1.0-1.5g per # of body weight and Stuart Phillips says .9 per KG of bodyweight. I'm more Phillips while Ironman is more Berardi.

Whey also digests faster.

No reason.Protein,like carbs, breakdown at different rates.Whey breaksdown quicly, and is best utilized postworkout to get it where it needs to be for maint/repair.Cassein,and most solid food choices breakdown much slower,and are best utilized to keep a steady stream of amino acids flowing to the muscles, esecially
between meals and before going to bed.
Tim

Also note,most SPORTS NUTRITIONIS agree that the MINIMUM of protein intaje should be-0.8 gr per LB of Lean Body Mass (LBM. NOT actualweight) for an ACTIVE athlete,WAY MORE than the RDA for the US. Anything more, see the sticky,is speculation, but thatc said, definately will NOT hurt you
Tim

Another update:

I'm down to 173 lbs. Sine I dislocated my shoulder last month, I've been off of the upper body lifting. I was finally able to see a physical therapist today, and hopefully will be back doing some upper body lifting in the next week or so. While a portion of this weight loss has been from trimming down my body fat (it's noticeable), I've also lost some muscle mass. According to the body fat calculator on my scale (I know it is inaccurate, but I have been just been using it as a measure of change), I have lost over 2 lbs of muscle in the past month. I have been restricting the calories in my diet to about 2000 a day, to help with the fat loss, but I think that once I can do full body lifting again, I would like to put on more weight.

I guess my new question is, how much should I increase my caloric input to start putting on more mass? I do not want to overshoot, and put back the fat that I have been trimming off (in addition, unfortunately, to some muscle). I have been eating a high protein, lowish carb diet, and plan to keep the same balance now, but I want to know how I should modify my caloric intake.

Thanks in advance.