Having trouble building a diet

[Robertcw3rd]

Hello,

For the past five months I perfected my diet -- with takeout food. I spent around $1,200/month on my parents' credit card while in college.

My body was very happy. I was eating mostly Vietnamese Food and Whole Foods burritos and custom smoothies.

Mostly steamed rice chicken and pork dishes and large bowls of chicken pho. Ocassionally I went to Chinese buffets.

But I've been cutoff and I'm losing my gains. I can't keep up with my old workout routine.

I'm 5'8" and got to 183lbs, not sure on body fat% but probably around 12-15% while on the previous diet from not lifting in years to five months of training.

I can't seem to replicate my results on homecooker food compared when I ate tons of takeout.

When I cook my own chicken it's just not as filling.

I'm using Under Armor's 'My Fitness Pal' App to track macros, but it's just not as satiafying as the takeout food. Don't know why. I think restraunts use higher quality meats that are leaner and better fed while alive.

I need advice though. I can't afford to go back to the $800 - $1,200 a month'just walk in to take out whenever I feel like it' plan anymore.

I'm desperate here. I'm losing attention from women as my body becomes dad bod before my eyes.

BTW I am not 49 years old. Not even sure how that got set that way.

And I have read through stickies on this, bit I need advice from someone with experience. I don't understand how to figure out how many calories I need or what percentage should be fats or carbohydrates.

I was spending about $8 - $12 per meal. At around 900 - 1,200 calories per meal.

so, $1200/4 = $300 a week. So, $300/$12 = 25 meals a week / 7 days = 3.6 take out meals a day. So at 900 - 1200 calories per meal, I was probably eating around 3,400 - 4,200 calories a day.

I have no idea how ths macros break down, but if I had to guess based on tbe fact that all the dishes were probably two chicken breasts, a spinach tortilla, one can of black beans, one cup of brown rice, diced onions, tomates, fresh cilantro and squeezed lime (my whole foods custom burrito), three trimmed chicken thighs, three cups of steamed rice, chopped carrots, cucumber, and lettuce (chicken rice plate).

The porl rice plate probably uses some cut of pork I don't know of. Combine the two for a chicken and rice plate.

Chicken Pho is a large bowl of beef bone broth with unknown herbs and spices, two chicken breasts, a large pack of rice noodles, sliced onion, cilantro, three fresh sliced limes, two cups of fresh beansprouts.

So that was my diet. I guess I could try cooking all that not I'm not sure I can afford to cook 4,000 calories worth of all that everyday. Nor do I think I have the time to cook all that. Maybe. What the heck do all you guys on this site eat?

[CommitmentRulz]

And I have read through stickies on this,

I don't understand how to figure out how many calories I need or what percentage should be fats or carbohydrates.

I guess I could try cooking all that not I'm not sure I can afford to cook 4,000 calories worth of all that everyday.

You're a college boy. Surely you are smart enough to apply what you read in the stickies to real life. Your post reads, to me, as you just don't REALLY want to bother...

What are you studying?

[Tucane]

To answer your last question. We generally eat whatever food that meets our needs... so lots of individual variation there and results follow regardless.

You don't have to eat the same way you did back then, all the time... do it as much as you want and mix it up a bit for fun.

As per the stickies, get in the minimums of fat 0.4/lb and protein 0.8/lb and do as you prefer with the rest of your calories.

I suspect you won't need the 4k kcal to begin with, aiming for 3k or so is more reasonable and filling out with a snack or two if needed would be easier on the cooking aspect aswell.

[Robertcw3rd]

I'm in philosophy (which I now regret).

[Robertcw3rd]

To answer your last question. We generally eat whatever food that meets our needs... so lots of individual variation there and results follow regardless.

You don't have to eat the same way you did back then, all the time... do it as much as you want and mix it up a bit for fun.

As per the stickies, get in the minimums of fat 0.4/lb and protein 0.8/lb and do as you prefer with the rest of your calories.

I suspect you won't need the 4k kcal to begin with, aiming for 3k or so is more reasonable and filling out with a snack or two if needed would be easier on the cooking aspect aswell.

How many hours a day do you all spend cooking?

[ncsuLuke]

Learn how to cook. I don't even try to save money on my food budget and it would be an expensive month if I hit $400 and I cook for two.

If you want to make meals in mass look at getting a slow cooker, it is beyond easy to use and there are a million recipes online.

[AdamWW]

You sound like a spoiled little shyt spending his parent's money without a care in the world.

[adigiro1]

how do you do it?

You meal prep. I spent an hour yesterday cooking and that will last me 2 weeks (I freeze the 2nd week's meat).

Everyday, when I get home all I need to do is heat the food up in the microwave. I'll typically open a new can/bag of veggies every few days due to shelf life being shorter.

[Vandeman17]

If it was just me, $1200 would last me at least 3-4 months for food. Welcome to being an adult and off your parents teets. If you liked all those foods that you had for takeout, learn how to cook them then go to the store and buy ingredients

[BS57]

Mommy and daddy's credit card and not eating prime rib and fillets.

You fail OP.

[Robertcw3rd]

You sound like a spoiled little shyt spending his parent's money without a care in the world.

Yes. That's true. But I'm figuring out how to build a good diet.

I doubt I'll see the same results as when I had unlimmited funds though. The food I was eating was great.

Anyway. I've managed to build a 3,000 calorie diet that gives 200+g of protein and 80g of fat. I don't know if 3,000 is enough though. It's actually kind of strange because I hit my macro goals before getting up to a lot of calories, so I'm not sure how common that is.

I also hit all my micros with this diet. So if 3,000 is enough, it seems okay.

The only things I don't like about my diet are that it includes three eggs in the morning (not a huge fan of eggs) and that it's still somewhat expensive coming in around $12/day. So $360/month.

But here it is:

Three large eggs
Two slices of plain toast
3 cups of Kashi GoLean cereal
3 cups of Flax Seed Milk (with pea protein -- Good Karma brand)

1lb of Jennie-O 93% lean ground Turkey
3 cups of Quinoa
1g cucumber
1/3 lettuce head
1 carrot
3 limes

2 cups of white steamed rice
2 servings of Amazing Grass Superfood protein powder

Comes out to 3,000 calories (actually 2,999).

Macro Breakdown:

393g of carbs (49%)
239g of protein (29%)
79g of fat (22%)

Micro Breakdown:

64g of Fiber
58g of Sugar
15g of Saturated Fat
7g of Polyunsaturated Fat
6g of Monounsaturated Fat
0g of Trans Fat
878mg of Cholesterol
2,057mg of Sodium
2,957mg of Potassium
267mg of Vit A
113mg of Vit C
167mg of Calcium
208mg of Iron

Downsides of Diet:

Low on Potassium.
Too much Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated Fat.
High on Cholesterol.
No omega-3 fats (from fish. I do get some from the flax seed milk).
Too much protein?
Not enough Calories?
Too many Carbs?

Let me know your thoughts on this diet. My body loves ground turkey. I'd love to get the eggs out of this diet but am not sure what to replace them with. I also like Salmon, so I might try to work that in twice a week for omega-3 fats from fish. Can't afford to eat it daily. The limes are my only source if Vit. C.

I could toss in a bagel for an extra 200 calories.

[Robertcw3rd]

So actually I counted wrong. My app had quinoa at 0.2g servings, when I ate three cups of the stuff.

I also got hungry at night and added in three cinnamon raison bagels and 945 calories of pasta.

I didn't eat the kashi go lean because ants got to thw open box. Bought more.

So ANYWAY, I actually ate 5,064 calories yesterday. With 776g of carbs, 276g of protein and 93g of fat.

And, I lost weight today because I didn't have much time for food this morning.

So. I think I'm going to need a 5,000 calorie diet just to maintain. I think my metabolism is very fast.

Takeout food is so much faster and easier, and has way less cooking and cleanup. You guys are lucky if you obly need to eat 3,000 calories.

I might just spend my whole paycheck on takeout food and be done with it already.

Anyone know how to slow down a metabolism?

[ncsuLuke]

You don't know what your maintenance calories are from one day and you aren't maintaining on 5000 calories unless you are working out a ton.

[faithbrah]

You don't know what your maintenance calories are from one day and you aren't maintaining on 5000 calories unless you are working out a ton.

this. at this point OP shouldn't focus too much on creating the perfect diet, just get the calories and macros in somehow.

[Tucane]

Keep eating 5k consistently and you'll have a level 3 dad bod soon^^

Rather start smaller, build up to a higher LBM and activity level. Later on you'll be able to eat more, profitably.

[paulinkansas]

When chicken leg quarters are on sale, I buy 6-10 of them. Marinate them for a few hours, then put them on the grill at low heat until the internal temp is 165. That's 6-10 meals for about 5-8 bucks.

[Robertcw3rd]

Keep eating 5k consistently and you'll have a level 3 dad bod soon^^

Rather start smaller, build up to a higher LBM and activity level. Later on you'll be able to eat more, profitably.

This had me laughing. But, ultimately, I'm just always hungry.

Before, when I got hungry, I'd drive down and get Vietnamese takeout order a plate or two and be done with it. Simple. Wham, bam and done.

Cooking sucks.