Am I Eating Too Little?

[Surlatum]

Hi everyone, I would love it if someone with decent knowledge could answer my question...

Am I Eating Too Little?

Reason: I've always been lean, i've never gone above 13% bf at any point, i come from a background of xcountry running at national level, so was used to eating a hell of a lot of carbs and running intervals and distance training from 10-18yrs... Im now 22 and for the last 2 years have been gaining muscle slowly and building a body im pretty chuffed with, I just CANT GET SHREDDED ABS.

I would like to think my knowledge is pretty good on nutrition and PWO nutrition.

Im trying to figure out weather I need to bulk to build larger abs (as the bf i have is low enough but i dont have the muscle to show) or if i have decent abs but the bf is still too high?

Im cutting atm (for summer) with KETO. and my diet looks something like this...

breakfast : 3 whole eggs, tin of tuna, omega 3 cap, multivitamin
meal 2 : 2 chicken breasts, 1/2 cup brocolli, 2 tbsp EVOO.
meal 3 : same as above.
PWO : Protein shake with 3 blends of protein. + 5g creatine.
Before Bed : 200g cottage cheese full fat, or casein shake.

Im only 5ft 6 and 138lbs, so my maintenance from 3 seperate sites has said it should be 1500-1600cals? considering i do fasted morning cardio AND i lift 5 times a week. I would have thought this would be much higher, but as you can see from my diet above, that is around 1500cals a day, im feeling constantly hungry, but CAN complete my workouts without many problems...

I see people eating vast amounts of carbs, getting shredded eating over 3000cals and getting shredded. And im just getting a bit sick of it tbh.

Im coming to the conclusion that im eating far too few calories, and as a result burning muscle for fuel.

Would anyone care to add their 2 cents?

[rob2093124]

didn't have time to read it all, but the calories you are getting (1500-1600) look like your RMR, not your maintenance. you need to multiply that by your activity factor. check the stickies.

[andrerox80]

definitely not your maintenance. and the calculation in the sticky on calculating cals and macro's is better than online calulators or most other sources.

also, your diet looks so, so boring. go to the keto section. or just eat the right amount of cals but don't do keto (i'd opt for suggestion #2).

and no need for cardio to be done fasted.

[pshickey]

Read the stickies, so you understand how to calculate your macros and construct a proper diet. Your idea of good nutrition is not good and very lacking in variety.

[JeffyDOS]

Okay, just because a site says your maintenance is 'x' calories, doesn't mean it actually is that. It's just a cookie cutter formula. And I highly doubt any calculator would tell you your maintenance is 1500-1600.

Also, even if 1500-1600 calories is quite low, you would STILL be losing fat.

Ditch keto (unless you like not eating carbs), it provides no benefit over a normal calorie deficit in terms of losing fat