1900-2000 Calories a day

Ok I have been seroius about losing weight for over a month or so Iam down about 10lbs but I want to kick it up a notch and really cut some weight so I can move on to building muscle!
heres my problem Iam confused on how to get to 1900 calories with having the protein I need, and Iam at work 12 hours a day and the only thing near me is a subway and KFC I dont like eating things I dont cook when Iam on my diet but thats been the problem in getting my calories I need. I think my body is in starvation mode I havent lost weight in a while. Another problem is I dont know how to measure calories very well i just guess when Iam eating chicken ect. This is all so confusing! Heres my meal plan/work out plan
as of today Iam 6'0 265 lbs i work out chest/tri on sunday back/bi on monday Legs/tuesday Chest/tri on Wendsday Shoulders/bi's on thursday. all mixed with atleast 10-15 mins of cardio after the weights.

breakfast 8:30-9:45 (depends on when i get woke up and what time i have to be at work)
half a carton of egg whites and a apple

snack 10:30-11:00 2 scoops on ON whey protein in water

Lunch 12:00-3:00 depends on work (this is were i get confused) I eat chicken just dont know how much Iam eating their boneless skinless chicken strips and i eat maybe 4 or 5 of em with 1/2 cup of corn and green beans


Dinner 7:00-8:30 Another guess at chicken with green beans and some grapes with a 2 scoops of on whey for my pre work out

9:00-11:30 work out

11:30 post work shake 2 scoops of whey

All my shakes are mixed with water. Some one help me kick start my fat burning.

i will touch on 1 item....ur inability to want it bad enough to insure u get proper diet.

i dont really cook too, 1-2 times per week at which time i will grill some steak or even bake chicken if i have to....or bake some salmon or haddock with some pepper and lemon juice...yummy.

i should get more real foods in my own diet, but i use powders, canned tuna, eggwhites, whole eggs, cottage cheese for my protein sources...sometimes shrimp too.

its nothing to bring a cooler with u for the day, throw in a tub of cottage cheese, balsamic dressing, few eggs, cup of egg whites, some whey protein, tub of natty PB and/or a preopened can of tuna, maybe a tbsp of mayo and some mustard already sitting in tupperware. im also lazy so ill use those microwaveable veggies bags and do like some green beans and broccoli night before or something...put it in some containers for next day.

weigh everything out, cheap food scale, log it, monitor weight and go from there.

u gots to want it bad enough to sacrifice a bit of time to prepare u food.

[QUOTE=xJagsfanx;504876881]I eat chicken just dont know how much Iam eating their boneless skinless chicken strips and i eat maybe 4 or 5 of em with 1/2 cup of corn and green beans
[/QUOTE]

I would recommend a simple food scale and the use of a calorie tracking site like fitday or livestrong. That will help you get your diet under control to a certain extent.
Nothing is harder than sticking to a boring diet, mix it up - add some tuna, salmon, lean beef instead of chicken for your protein all the time. Mix up your veggies - add some brown rice or other complex carbs to help fill you up.. Keep up the good work bro - you never fail until you give up!

The reason you are probably having trouble getting your protein within your calorie range is because your range is too small.

You should probably be somewhere between 2000-2300 per day. Also, if you are still having a hard time getting your protein, there are protein powders with higher protein content for the same calories than ON Whey per gram of protein.

the protein I use (Pro5) has 32g of Protein for i think is 140cals... you can easily reach your protein needs in your calories with that

Eating protein comes down to eating protein sources its simple as that, I can meat my 190g mark by mid day if I add one protein shake, I would overshoot it though. Seriously the 2 6 ounce lean burgers I have for lunch are like 60g protein.

Cooking all the time sucks so it makes it easier if you can cook 3-4 days worth of food, mostly protein. The rest of the carbs can come from other healthy choices that are easy to pack and go.

Trust me, as a single mom who works full time and has to squeeze in soccer and the gym every other day, cooking 3-4 days in advance is the only way i cant stick to my diet.

Also, like a previous poster said, mix up your diet and make sure your cals aren't too low. You could end up binging which can halt any progress.

I generally like to cook 8-10 chicken breasts (8 oz each) at a time a few times a week. I just throw garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper on them and bake 35-40 mins (til done). They come out tasting pretty good and are great for high protein with pretty low calorie (46g protein in approx 220 cals). I just take 2 cut in halves with me to work every day and toss them in the fridge (a small cooler would work well too) and slam them down cold and fast at intervals through the work day.

Iam going to go look for a food scale today after i get out of the gym! and a cooler to take to work with me I dont mind mixing up my diet a little. I would like to have some suggestions on what foods to eat to keep the cals down and the protein up. I lost about 80lbs about 3 years ago but i starved myself and i dont want to do it that way ever again and Iam looking to get BIG! What are you guys eating? thanks for all the help so far!!

[QUOTE=xJagsfanx;504911951]Iam going to go look for a food scale today after i get out of the gym! and a cooler to take to work with me I dont mind mixing up my diet a little. I would like to have some suggestions on what foods to eat to keep the cals down and the protein up. I lost about 80lbs about 3 years ago but i starved myself and i dont want to do it that way ever again and Iam looking to get BIG! What are you guys eating? thanks for all the help so far!![/QUOTE]

Any lean meat

Tuna
Chicken
Salmon
Tilapia
Cod
Lean ground beef
Steak
lean pork
Beans

And any veggie and sometimes grains like cornmeal (polenta and oats

Don't forget eating healthy doesn't have to be boring you can take a recipe like this

[url]http://blog.tightbodwithapod.com/panko-chicken-tenders/?src=FG+061[/url]

and that is very low in calories and high in protein.

[QUOTE=defury;504914951]Any lean meat

Tuna
Chicken
Salmon
Tilapia
Cod
Lean ground beef
Steak
lean pork
Beans

And any veggie and sometimes grains like cornmeal (polenta and oats

Don't forget eating healthy doesn't have to be boring you can take a recipe like this

[url]http://blog.tightbodwithapod.com/panko-chicken-tenders/?src=FG+061[/url]

and that is very low in calories and high in protein.[/QUOTE]

these things ^^
Make some chili using ground chicken or turkey, or even extra lean ground beef. What i do is drain the fat and wash off the rest of the fat with hot water. I mix the beef with cottage cheese and salsa and it makes a really good wrap. I have 2 of those today for lunch.

I also eat low cal yogurt cups (pre-portioned stuff works for me really well). Body wise bread (100cals/2 slices). Natural PB. Skinny Cow icecream (loooove these). Sometimes i have protein bars (watch the cals with some of them though).

You can buy prepackaged stuffed chicken breasts, and if it doesn't have all that breading, the macros are pretty good.

More protein,

Shrimp
Scallops
eggs/egg whites (i use to love a tsted egg and cheese sandwich, but i can't eat eggs anymore)

Make your own pizza with whole wheat tortilia wraps. Use tomato paste, all the protein you want and a light cheese. Yummmy.

home made yam fries are another one of my faves.

i'm going to stop now. lol

All great suggestions above.

Just a question...are you really aiming for only 1900 calories? That seems excessively light in relation to your current weight. IMO you would seem extremely hard pressed to be able to maintain muscle while on your cut with that little amount of calories.

I do push myself really hard at the gym but i just figured i didnt want to go over 2000 cals in a day.Truthfully Iam scared to pack on to many calories and end up gaining the 10lbs i have lost back but I cant figure how to get to 230grams of protein with that amount of calories.

Well just remember weight loss is more calories expended than taken in. This however doesn't mean take in only 500 calories a day and expend 4000 (arbitrarily speaking of course).

You'd like to lose weight, however I don't think you want to sacrifice hard earned muscle to achieve that goal. You need to lower your calories a certain level below maintanance to lose weight in an efficient and healthy manner. Otherwise you're body will just eat itself into weight loss (per se). Remember, muscles help burn calories/fat. However you need to build/maintain muscles to do so. If you're body burns muscle for energy sure you'll lose weight...but not in a way anyone here would want too.

Lastly, try to go by the mirror and the way your clothes fit. Having a weight goal is good for a baseline target. However keep in mind, muscles weigh more than fat. You can lose fat and gain muscle and still weigh the same (however look and feel a ton better with your clothes fitting better).

Best of luck...hope I didn't throw a lot of confusion your way.

[QUOTE=FitnessJunkie;505000171]Well just remember weight loss is more calories expended than taken in. This however doesn't mean take in only 500 calories a day and expend 4000 (arbitrarily speaking of course).

You'd like to lose weight, however I don't think you want to sacrifice hard earned muscle to achieve that goal. You need to lower your calories a certain level below maintanance to lose weight in an efficient and healthy manner. Otherwise you're body will just eat itself into weight loss (per se). Remember, muscles help burn calories/fat. However you need to build/maintain muscles to do so. If you're body burns muscle for energy sure you'll lose weight...but not in a way anyone here would want too.

Lastly, try to go by the mirror and the way your clothes fit. Having a weight goal is good for a baseline target. However keep in mind, muscles weigh more than fat. You can lose fat and gain muscle and still weigh the same (however look and feel a ton better with your clothes fitting better).

Best of luck...hope I didn't throw a lot of confusion your way.[/QUOTE]


Not alot new foods new habits i like that my bench has gone up! I just need to find new ways to cook some of this food you all have mentioned! does anyone have any recipes for baked chicken i love chicken with onions mushrooms ect!