dieting in a 3d world country

[onedude20]

so the title says it all,i live in a 3d world country and i can't afford more than 50% of the bodybuilding meals or i can't find them in the market

stuff i can not afford for example : tuna,lean red meat, protein powder, whey protein nuts except peanuts which is cheap where i live, i can only afford like 1-3kg tops of turkey/chicken breast a week.
stuff that doesn't sell where i live for example : oatmeal, quinoi , blueberrys ,low fat milk, greek yoghurt, brown rice, brocolli,spinac, salmon, asparagus.

stuff that i can afford : bananas, apples, avocados, whole milk, most vegetables, raw and fresh sardines, whiting fish, sword fish (when available), home made whole weat bread, white rice.avocados.

i'm kinny fat 21 years old male, i'm 1.65 meters tall (5.4'), my weight is 70kg (154"), i have 24% bodyfat, i started light weight/running training 2-3 times a week, my current subject is losing fat and building some muscle before starting to bulk.

my current diet is a total of 1200-1400calories a day which consists of

meal 1 : 1 avocado 1 apple/banana

meal 2 : chicken breast or turkey breast or 2 whole eggs or sometimes half a tuna cane + different vegetables + olive oil

meal 3 : 1 banana 1 apple

meal 4 : 1 banana

i sometimes add meal 5 if i don't get enough calories from the other meals which is mostly peanuts/walnuts/almonds

i have no cheat meals to 1 cheat small meal per week (mostly 1 chocolate bar or 1 soda cane)

is my diet okey for my objective ? what should i change, add or remove, keep in mind i'm pretty poor ( college student ) and i have a very limited budget.

[WonderPug]

To start learning the basics about nutrition, please read the relevant stickies at the top of the nutrition forum as well as this:

COMPOSING A RATIONAL DIET

Advice on diet and nutrition is often based on myths and, even more so, on the marketing message of supplement companies and self-proclaimed diet gurus with agendas contrary to your interests. Please don't allow yourself, your health, your fitness goals or your wallet to be compromised by the prevalent misinformation. Learn the basics of nutrition and start engaging in healthy, rational dietary habits that can last a lifetime.

The first step is to discard biased advice on nutrition and diet, and, in its place, embrace simple logic:

Compose a diet that ensures micronutrient and macronutrient sufficiency, derived predominantly from whole and minimally processed foods if possible, with remaining caloric intake being largely discretionary within the bounds of common sense.

Caloric Intake

Energy balance is the primary dietary driver of body weight and it also impacts body composition. A chronic surplus of calories will result in increased body weight and a chronic deficit of calories will result in a loss of body weight.

In other words, in order to gain about one pound of tissue weight (as opposed to transient flux in water weight), you need to consume a total of about 3,500 calories more than you expend. And to lose about one pound of tissue weight, you have to do the opposite -- consume about 3,500 calories less than you expend.

Thus, the first step in constructing any rational diet is to get a sense of how many calories per day, on average, you should consume in order to progress towards your goals.

The average number of calories you expend per day -- called total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) -- is a function of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and your average weekly activity level.

To estimate your BMR, it's important to have a sense of how much lean body mass (LBM) you carry. If you're not sure, post a photo or two and we can estimate your percentage body fat and, from this number and your total body weight, it's easy to estimate LBM by using the following formula:

LBM = body weight * (1 - percentage body fat)

To estimate BMR, use the the Katch-McArdle formula:

BMR = 370 + (9.8 * LBM in pounds)
or
BMR = 370 + (21.6 * LBM in kg)

The next step is to estimate average weekly activity using the following guidelines to calculate an activity factor (AF):

• 1.1 - 1.2 = Sedentary (desk job, and little formal exercise, this will be most of you students)

• 1.3 - 1.4 = Lightly Active (light daily activity and light exercise 1-3 days a week)

• 1.5 - 1.6 = Moderately Active (moderately daily Activity & moderate exercise 3-5 days a week)

• 1.7 - 1.8 = Very Active (physically demanding lifestyle & hard exercise 6-7 days a week)

• 1.9 - 2.2 = Extremely Active (athletes in endurance training or very hard physical job)

To estimate TDEE (the calories at which you will neither gain nor lose tissue weight), use the following formula:

TDEE = BMR * AF

Now that you've estimated your TDEE, it's important to refine that estimate empirically. To do so, consume an average amount of calories equal to estimated TDEE for two weeks, monitoring weight change. The results will confirm your actual TDEE.

Once you know your actually TDEE, set your caloric intake to match your goals as follows:

To maintain weight, consume an amount of calories equal to TDEE.
To lose weight, consume 10% to 20% less than TDEE.
To gain weight, consume 10% 20% more than TDEE.

Monitor weight change via the scale and also body composition via the mirror and how clothing fits, making adjustments as needed biweekly.


Macronutrient Intake

Ensure that your intake of macronutrients meets sufficiency (as defined below), with remaining macronutrient composition of the diet being largely a function of personal preference.

Ideally, ensure macronutrient sufficiency predominantly or, ideally, entirely from whole and minimally processed foods.

Protein: ~0.6 to ~0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight (or target/ideal weight in the obese) -- the highest amount justified by research.

Fat: ~0.45 grams per pound of bodyweight (or target/ideal weight in the obese) -- the lowest amount implied by clinical observation.

Remaining caloric budget: whatever mix of macronutrients you prefer -- as implied by research.

Micronutrient Intake

Take care and use good judgement in food selection and portioning to ensure that micronutrient sufficiency is reached without excessive intake from dietary sources and/or supplements.

As with macronutrient sufficiency, one should ensure micronutrient sufficiency predominantly or, ideally, entirely from whole and minimally processed foods.

To get a good sense of recommended intake of vitamins and minerals, please review this USDA guidelines webpage.

You'll find the following information particularly helpful:

Intakes: Recommended Intakes for Individuals

RDA and Adequate Intake for Vitamins and Elements

Upper Limit for Vitamins and Elements

Electrolytes and Water

Meal Timing, Composition & Frequency

The number of meals you consume, the timing of those meals and the macro/micronutrient composition of each meal is largely a function of personal preference.

While it might be "optimal" to consume more than one meal per day and less than 5 meals per day, the simple truth is that any difference that directly results from such fine tuning is likely too small to notice even after years of training.

Thus, base your meal timing, composition and frequency on your subjective preference such as to optimize your sense of energy, performance, satiety, palatability, convenience, social/business life and sustainability.

Do not hesitate to very all three factors from day to day as circumstance dictates. In other words, do not become a slave to routine, with inflexibility compromising your quality of life.


Pre & Post Workout Nutrition

What (if anything) you consume before and after your workout does not play a significant direct role in the outcome of your diet, beyond personal preference.

Why? Because what matters in terms of direct impact on outcomes is total daily intake of all nutrients.

Thus, you should optimize based on how you respond to training in a fed or fasted state, and based on your hungry after exercise. In other words, use common sense.


Supplements

Supplements are just that, products that are intended to supplement deficiencies in your diet. If your diet is properly composed then there's no need or unique benefit to using supplements.

If your diet isn't properly composed and, thus, you have deficiencies, try to fix your diet to cure such deficiencies though the consumption of whole and minimally processed foods. If you can't fix your diet, then use the lowest dose supplement(s) needed to cure any remaining deficiencies.

[onedude20]

how is this supposed to help my case .. my god did you even read my topic

[WonderPug]

how is this supposed to help my case .. my god did you even read my topic

Learning the basics about nutrition would teach you why your question itself is erroneous.

All you have to do is pick foods that are affordable in your area and that you enjoy eating, consuming such in amounts and combinations that ensure micro/macronutrient sufficiency at an appropriate energy intake.

To learn specifics, read my prior post.

[kacmins]

how is this supposed to help my case .. my god did you even read my topic

Actually, it's a very helpful post. FYI, you should consume more calories. More like 1800 for a cut.

[onedude20]

Learning the basics about nutrition would teach you why your question itself is erroneous.

All you have to do is pick foods that are affordable in your area and that you enjoy eating, consuming such in amounts and combinations that ensure micro/macronutrient sufficiency at an appropriate energy intake.

To learn specifics, read my prior post.

i know how much calories i need per day,and exactly how much protein fats and carbs, but the thing is, there aren't any protein sources that can give me enough protein per day and are affordable for me, except maybe sardines , they taste like s***, and there is no way i can take them everyday.

[DannPM]

Sounds like you cannot afford a lot of protein.

Can you afford two live chickens (On rooster and one hen?) You may be able to breed them and produce a plethora of hens which will lay more eggs than you can eat (after some time.)

http://www.chickensandyou.com/Bio_Recyclers_Civic.html

If you have access to restaurant/grocery waste, you can practically feed them for free.

[loganhart]

so the title says it all,i live in a 3d world country and i can't afford more than 50% of the bodybuilding meals or i can't find them in the market

stuff i can not afford for example : tuna,lean red meat, protein powder, whey protein nuts except peanuts which is cheap where i live, i can only afford like 1-3kg tops of turkey/chicken breast a week.
stuff that doesn't sell where i live for example : oatmeal, quinoi , blueberrys ,low fat milk, greek yoghurt, brown rice, brocolli,spinac, salmon, asparagus.

stuff that i can afford : bananas, apples, avocados, whole milk, most vegetables, raw and fresh sardines, whiting fish, sword fish (when available), home made whole weat bread, white rice.avocados.

i'm kinny fat 21 years old male, i'm 1.65 meters tall (5.4'), my weight is 70kg (154"), i have 24% bodyfat, i started light weight/running training 2-3 times a week, my current subject is losing fat and building some muscle before starting to bulk.

my current diet is a total of 1200-1400calories a day which consists of

meal 1 : 1 avocado 1 apple/banana

meal 2 : chicken breast or turkey breast or 2 whole eggs or sometimes half a tuna cane + different vegetables + olive oil

meal 3 : 1 banana 1 apple

meal 4 : 1 banana

i sometimes add meal 5 if i don't get enough calories from the other meals which is mostly peanuts/walnuts/almonds

i have no cheat meals to 1 cheat small meal per week (mostly 1 chocolate bar or 1 soda cane)

is my diet okey for my objective ? what should i change, add or remove, keep in mind i'm pretty poor ( college student ) and i have a very limited budget.

What country?

And what is wrong with consuming the stuff you can afford?

None of the foods you say you can't afford have any superior benefit over any other food. There is no such thing as bodybuilding meals, food, suppliments, etc. it's just food. F-O-O-D. Not complicated.

Lastly, see post #2.

[WonderPug]

i know how much calories i need per day,and exactly how much protein fats and carbs, but the thing is, there aren't any protein sources that can give me enough protein per day and are affordable for me, except maybe sardines , they taste like s***, and there is no way i can take them everyday.

It's impossible for me to believe that you can't consume 95 grams of protein per day from the foods you can easily secure in your country, yet you have Internet access.

[onedude20]

It's impossible for me to believe that you cant consume 95 grams of protein per day from the foods you can easily secure in your country, yet you have Internet access.

since you brought it up, i don't live with my parents, i don't have a job, and i'm a university student, my budget per month is around 120$ a month, 35$ goes to the internet and phone bill 25$ is the worth of transport per month, so i'm left with 40$ a month, you tell me if 10$ a week can get me enough protein ...

[onedude20]

i live in a 3d world country like i said, also your* not "you're", i live in north africa if that's interesting for you.
also where i live my budget is considered above average for a university student just so you know.
before i started dieting i used to eat bread + olive oil or 1 slice of cheese and a cup of coffe or tea for breakfast,bread and some vegetables + a slice of meat or just dried beans + 1 apple or 1 banana or 1 orange for lunch, and bread+olive oil and a cup of coffe for dinner, be thankful for what you have.

[WonderPug]

If that's your monthly budget, then I presume that the average income in your country is very low (per capita is probably <1,000 per month, possible way less). Anyway, if you are spending $35 on Internet access & phone. and that's about equal to your food budget, consider cutting off the Internet and phone and applying those funds to your food budget.

Also, your university probably provides subsidized meals plans and, perhaps, other financial aid. I suggest you look into that.

[Jasonk282]

i know how much calories i need per day,and exactly how much protein fats and carbs, but the thing is, there aren't any protein sources that can give me enough protein per day and are affordable for me, except maybe sardines , they taste like s***, and there is no way i can take them everyday.

figure out BMR, then activity factor to get TDEE, eat 10-15% more to bulk.

.6-.8g protein per body weight
.45g fat per body weight
fill the rest with a combo of carbs, fats, protein

[onedude20]

If that's your monthly budget, then I presume that the average income in your country is very low (per capita is probably <1,000 per month, possible way less). Anyway, if you are spending $35 on Internet access & phone. and that's about equal to your food budget, consider cutting off the Internet and phone and applying those funds to your food budget.

Also, your university probably provides subsidized meals plans and, perhaps, other financial aid. I suggest you look into that.

sadly my university doesn't even have a restaurant,and i can't live w/out internet, because i need it a lot in my studies, and because i'm an addict, and if by income you mean salary then yes, the average salary is more like 400$ per month.

[Jasonk282]

i live in a 3d world country like i said, also your* not "you're", i live in north africa if that's interesting for you.
also where i live my budget is considered above average for a university student just so you know.
before i started dieting i used to eat bread + olive oil or 1 slice of cheese and a cup of coffe or tea for breakfast,bread and some vegetables + a slice of meat or just dried beans + 1 apple or 1 banana or 1 orange for lunch, and bread+olive oil and a cup of coffe for dinner, be thankful for what you have.

If you actually DO live in a 3d world country and the last thing you're worried about is your survival...then you're doing pretty damn well. Just eat enough to hit your macros..or at least eat at the university.

[WonderPug]

sadly my university doesn't even have a restaurant,and i can't live w/out internet, because i need it a lot in my studies, and because i'm an addict, and if by income you mean salary then yes, the average salary is more like 400$ per month.

Frankly, as long as you consume at least 70 grams of quality protein per day, you'll make virtually the same progress as you would be higher protein intake, all other things being the same.

Just try to optimize without stressing out -- do the best you can.

[benny54]

Eat more of the foods you can afford to bulk and less than you need to cut...simple. For bulking try the GOMAD diet, 4L of whole milk/day for cutting, in your case I would eat mostly veggies and less carbs, more fats.

[MetilHed]

i live in a 3d world country like i said, also your* not "you're", i live in north africa if that's interesting for you.
also where i live my budget is considered above average for a university student just so you know.
before i started dieting i used to eat bread + olive oil or 1 slice of cheese and a cup of coffe or tea for breakfast,bread and some vegetables + a slice of meat or just dried beans + 1 apple or 1 banana or 1 orange for lunch, and bread+olive oil and a cup of coffe for dinner, be thankful for what you have.

If you're going to bitch about someone else's usage, start capitalizing your sentences and the word "I". Also consider using spell check (although I will admit I don't know if the words "kinny" and "weat" are words in your country).

i know how much calories i need per day,and exactly how much protein fats and carbs, but the thing is, there aren't any protein sources that can give me enough protein per day and are affordable for me, except maybe sardines , they taste like s***, and there is no way i can take them everyday.

If you know you need 1200 calories a day I suggest you re-read post #2, because you don't know squat.

As to your OP, you absolutely do not need any of the foods you can't get or are too expensive. You absolutely can make do with the stuff you can get. You do not need to avoid fats (can't get lean meat/lowfat milk). 3kg of chicken or turkey breast is almost a pound a day, that is plenty, along with other food sources that have protein.

If you can't afford it, you need to make do with what you have, do without, or get a job.

[onedude20]

If you're going to bitch about someone else's usage, start capitalizing your sentences and the word "I". Also consider using spell check (although I will admit I don't know if the words "kinny" and "weat" are words in your country).



If you know you need 1200 calories a day I suggest you re-read post #2, because you don't know squat.

As to your OP, you absolutely do not need any of the foods you can't get or are too expensive. You absolutely can make do with the stuff you can get. You do not need to avoid fats (can't get lean meat/lowfat milk). 3kg of chicken or turkey breast is almost a pound a day, that is plenty, along with other food sources that have protein.

If you can't afford it, you need to make do with what you have, do without, or get a job.

I wasn't bitching about someone's usage, the guy was being rude by asking if i live in a box, whilst he can't even spell his first language correctly, that's why i reacted like that.
As for 1200 calories, my goal is to lose 2lbs a week and i only work out 2 times a week, so 1200 seems about it, and i can't get a job unless if i have a decent diplomat which can be obtained in at least 5 years from now, thanks for being helpful anyways.

[MetilHed]

I wasn't bitching about someone's usage, the guy was being rude by asking if i live in a box, whilst he can't even spell his first language correctly, that's why i reacted like that.
As for 1200 calories, my goal is to lose 2lbs a week and i only work out 2 times a week, so 1200 seems about it, and i can't get a job unless if i have a decent diplomat which can be obtained in at least 5 years from now, thanks for being helpful anyways.

So there are no people in your country that don't have a degree, but have a job ?

[Jasonk282]

I wasn't bitching about someone's usage, the guy was being rude by asking if i live in a box, whilst he can't even spell his first language correctly, that's why i reacted like that.
As for 1200 calories, my goal is to lose 2lbs a week and i only work out 2 times a week, so 1200 seems about it, and i can't get a job unless if i have a decent diplomat which can be obtained in at least 5 years from now, thanks for being helpful anyways.

How do you know it's his first language?

Everyone in your country that has a job has a degree...EVERYONE?

[onedude20]

How do you know it's his first language?

Everyone in your country that has a job has a degree...EVERYONE?

That or working at a farm/building construction or some other exhausting job that will make you not being able to attend class and eventually getting payed 5$ a day.

[onedude20]

So there are no people in your country that don't have a degree, but have a job ?

degree = a somewhat decent job, no degree = an exhausting low payed or no job.

[MetilHed]

degree = a somewhat decent job, no degree = an exhausting low payed or no job.

You don't need to get rich, you need to make $10/week to double your food budget.

[Jasonk282]

That or working at a farm/building construction or some other exhausting job that will make you not being able to attend class and eventually getting payed 5$ a day.

So you can't work AND go to school....like no one does that at all?

[onedude20]

So you can't work AND go to school....like no one does that at all?

yes, unless if your father have a company or a store that you can help him with, i have never seen someone studying in college and working at the same time.

[MetilHed]

yes, unless if your father have a company or a store that you can help him with, i have never seen someone studying in college and working at the same time.

Then I guess it's just impossible.

[onedude20]

You don't need to get rich, you need to make $10/week to double your food budget.

There is no job that will allow me to attend classes and work at the same time, hell i'll be more than lucky if i find one even when not studying.

[Jasonk282]

yes, unless if your father have a company or a store that you can help him with, i have never seen someone studying in college and working at the same time.

Well then give up bodybuilding till you finish your studies. Clearly it's impossible to do two things at once in your country. Or swim across the Med to Spain, France, Italy and start a new life

[AFC96]

Then just eat more food that you can afford.