Suggestions for my diet?

[L2P]

Hey guys - looking for some constructive criticism/suggestions for my current diet. I'm 5ft 8in, weigh about 153lbs and estimate I'm at around 14-16% bodyfat. I lift 3 days per week, have soccer training once a week + a game on the weekend, do crossfit 2-3 times a week and play in a social beach volleyball team once a week.

At the moment, I'm trying to cut back my bodyfat and increase my strength. I know it seems a bit counter-productive but I think it's been working so far just looking to see if anyone can perhaps suggest some things I could improve on or see any holes.

I pretty much eat the same thing most days, throwing in a few different dinners/snacks in the process.

Breakfast - about 6:30am
3 whole eggs - scrambled

Morning snack - about 9:30am
Toasted tuna (in springwater) sandwhich on wholemeal bread

Lunch - about 11:30am
1 chicken breast, broccoli and mushrooms - about a cup each

Afternoon snack - about 2:30pm
Toasted tuna (in sprignwater) sandwhich on wholemeal bread

Pre-workout - about 5pm
Homemade protein bar (made with oats, natty PB, chocolate syrup, protein powder and milk)

Post-workout - about 6:30pm
2 scoops ON 100% Gold Standard Whey with water

Dinner - about 8:30pm
This is where I change it up most days as I live at home and can sometimes get away with eating the food my olds cook. Most of the time it will be some form of chicken/fish + a heap of vegetables. they know I eat rather healthy so they don't use oil or sauces with mine maybe a bit of spices to give it some flavour

Before bed - about 10pm
1 1/2 scoops ON Casein with water

All this adds up to the below (assuming that I had a 100g piece of fish for dinner):
46.g fat
256.3g protein
110.7g carbs

I know it's pretty high in protein but I can't seem to not eat the above. I do eat a lot of vegies for dinner and lunch which I haven't factored in to the above as it is quite hard to measure when my olds make dinner :P

Any suggestions?

[L2P]

anyone got any suggestions at all?

[uracowman]

anyone got any suggestions at all?

I'll chime in.

First and foremost, is your workout regimen accurate? With that type of activity level, I don't see how you have a 14-16% body fat percentage unless you were eating Mcdonald's literally five times a day.

Second, I would switch around your meals. If you really do have that type of activity per weak, I don't think ~2000 calories a day is going to cut it. Judging from your meal plan, the meals look really boring and repetitive and it seems like a regular person would get tired of it after about two weeks unless you had an iron will. Do you really think you can eat toasted tuna on bread or a piece of chicken everyday?

If I were you, I would replace some of those meals with something like bacon and eggs (and no bacon is not unhealthy as long as you render out the fat), a sandwich with some baked chips, ect.

Also, I wouldn't worry about eating that many meals a day. The increase in metabolism hype that people tell you about when spreading out meals is a gimmick.

[kusok]

Losing fat is about calorie deficit. How many cals are you eating??? Tracking your calories is by far the best way to achieve any fitness goal.

Also, if I was you I'd add fat and carbs while taking protein down to 200.
Fat helps with hormones, and carbs will give you energy, vitamins, and make sure you're not flat and deflated from your dieting.

Finally, you may be increasing your strength, but it's only for now. As you become a more advanced trainee it will become harder and harder to get stronger on a calorie deficit. At some point you will have to decide what is more important to you, losing more fat OR getting stronger.

[L2P]

I'll chime in.

First and foremost, is your workout regimen accurate? With that type of activity level, I don't see how you have a 14-16% body fat percentage unless you were eating Mcdonald's literally five times a day.

Second, I would switch around your meals. If you really do have that type of activity per weak, I don't think ~2000 calories a day is going to cut it. Judging from your meal plan, the meals look really boring and repetitive and it seems like a regular person would get tired of it after about two weeks unless you had an iron will. Do you really think you can eat toasted tuna on bread or a piece of chicken everyday?

If I were you, I would replace some of those meals with something like bacon and eggs (and no bacon is not unhealthy as long as you render out the fat), a sandwich with some baked chips, ect.

Also, I wouldn't worry about eating that many meals a day. The increase in metabolism hype that people tell you about when spreading out meals is a gimmick.

Well I'm no expert on BF% :P I could be wrong. My activity is accurate as I do that every week. I'm not too phased by how boring it is, I quite like how simple and easy it is to make and I'm kind of used to it now (been on it for about 2 months).

I only eat that many meals a day because when I used to eat quite large meals I would get hungry still after about an hour of eating but I find if I know I ahve schedule food two hours later, I can stave off the hunger and I don't eat til then. Sometimes I even forget to eat!

I did forget to mention, I am 21 so usually once a weekend I go out drinking but try to stick to low-carb beer e.g Pure Blonde and mix my spirits with Pepsi Max/sugar free soda. I know it's not great still but it's got to be a bit better than pre-mixed crappy cola :P

I think I might start to eat a bit more as I really don't want to stop increasing strength thanks for your input!

[L2P]

Losing fat is about calorie deficit. How many cals are you eating??? Tracking your calories is by far the best way to achieve any fitness goal.

Also, if I was you I'd add fat and carbs while taking protein down to 200.
Fat helps with hormones, and carbs will give you energy, vitamins, and make sure you're not flat and deflated from your dieting.

Finally, you may be increasing your strength, but it's only for now. As you become a more advanced trainee it will become harder and harder to get stronger on a calorie deficit. At some point you will have to decide what is more important to you, losing more fat OR getting stronger.

Ah I end up around the 1500-1800 mark for calories. I do find it hard to substitue fat & carbs as I just tend to eat high protein food a lot. Got any suggestions as to what higher healthy fat food I could eat? I've really got to get into the multi-vitamins and fish oil too!

[uracowman]

Well I'm no expert on BF% :P I could be wrong. My activity is accurate as I do that every week. I'm not too phased by how boring it is, I quite like how simple and easy it is to make and I'm kind of used to it now (been on it for about 2 months).

I only eat that many meals a day because when I used to eat quite large meals I would get hungry still after about an hour of eating but I find if I know I ahve schedule food two hours later, I can stave off the hunger and I don't eat til then. Sometimes I even forget to eat!

I did forget to mention, I am 21 so usually once a weekend I go out drinking but try to stick to low-carb beer e.g Pure Blonde and mix my spirits with Pepsi Max/sugar free soda. I know it's not great still but it's got to be a bit better than pre-mixed crappy cola :P

I think I might start to eat a bit more as I really don't want to stop increasing strength thanks for your input!

I am still sort of confused though.....

Didn't you say you were trying to diet?

[kusok]

Ah I end up around the 1500-1800 mark for calories. I do find it hard to substitue fat & carbs as I just tend to eat high protein food a lot. Got any suggestions as to what higher healthy fat food I could eat? I've really got to get into the multi-vitamins and fish oil too!

Adding fat is THE easiest thing in the world. Take a tbs of Olive Oil, it's the best fat you can have, 120 cals, and you don't notice them.

Or how about steak or whole milk? eggs? All high in fat.

[L2P]

I am still sort of confused though.....

Didn't you say you were trying to diet?

Well yeah but I'm not really going to give up going out at the age of 21. I just want to make sure that the rest of my diet is in check so my one night a weekend is the only thing that is out of line.

I'm not going to be competing or anything of the sort, more so trying to get a better physique. I know the only way to fully get an awesome, ripped physique is to drop the drinking. When it comes to that when I'm over this phase, I don't want to have to work from the bottom again

[L2P]

Adding fat is THE easiest thing in the world. Take a tbs of Olive Oil, it's the best fat you can have, 120 cals, and you don't notice them.

Or how about steak or whole milk? eggs? All high in fat.

Yeah I get my 3 whole eggs in at breakfast - might add some whole milk in there. Thanks!

I don't think I could hack protein powder + milk as I'm not a huge fan of milky drinks. Might have to start getting my oils up a bit more with peanut butter and the like.