Help with diet needed, please!

Hey guys,

I'm 18, weight 86kg's, am 181cm tall, at +/-13% bf and lifting naturally and really need some help with my diet! The only supplements I take is Whey protein and BCAA's and then my multi-vit, omega 3-6-9 and calcium and magnesium tabs.

My current diet is as follows:
Breakfast: 4x egg whites and 2x whole eggs with oats a banana and some almonds
Lunch: Lean beef mince and potato
Snack: 2 Apples and a Naartjie
Pre gym snack: Oats
Post workout: Protein shake (with 2x egg whites)
45 min after workout: Tuna and baked beans and then shortly after that some futurelife with almonds
Dinner: Crumbed chicken/ fish and vegetables

If anybody could advise me on how I could alter my diet for cutting purposes and then clean bulking purposes would be awesome, lately I've been trying to lose weight and build/ maintain my muscle mass. Most of my carbs are eaten before and after training. I'm in two states of minds of whether I should cut to below 10% bf or just try go on a lean bulk and then up the cardio and reps abit? My intake of protein is 240g, carbs is 320g and my daily calories come up to +/- 3300 (I'm worried that my protein intake is too low and my carb intake too high?)

Please guys, any information would be much appreciated!

Regards

No one is going to spoonfeed you. Read the diet section. You'll have a month's worth of reading and learning. The posts there will explain WHY you eat what and when to achieve a target.

You need to understand the various factors. You will then be able to design your own diet, post it and only then will the guys give input.

Good reading son.

Just keep it simple.

Carb sources: brown rice, sweet potato and oats.

Protein: chicken, lean beef cuts, tuna etc

Cut down on the fruit and sugars (crumbed chicken and baked beans)

Read the stickies as mentioned plenty of info there.

Exactly what cluchplate said, at your age you should just eat plentifull, healthy, qaulity, and consistantly and you will grow.

Get the basics right first, and improve on it from there. Read all you can on the topic and educate yourself as much as possible. There is lots to learn in this game.

Yeah the best would be to read the diet stickies, I will however point out a few problems in your current diet.
1. your snack, there is no protein only sugars? rather drink a whey shake with peanut butter or even better have a meal.
2.Pre gym needs protein, whey.
3.Remove the eggs from your post or only use egg whites, you don't want fat after your workout.
4.45min post, no carb?? add some fast digesting carbs, white rice / potato
5.no reason to eat shortly afterwards again, you are hungry because your 45min post meal is not enough.
6.last meal, not crumbed, add in some good fats.

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it! I'm busy going through Dj's threads now. @Trarex Thanks man, that's exactly what I was looking for

No problem buddy, feel free to ask if you get stuck with dem stickies!!

Sweet! So after going through and reading the stickies I've got a much better understanding of what my diet should look like. And I've discovered that I've been trying to cut with a split that is more suited towards gaining mass. :oops: So after adjusting and going for a 50 protein/ 30 carbs and 20 fats split, Ive come up with this:

Meal 1:
Oatmeal 100g
1x Banana
4x egg whites and 2x whole eggs

Meal 2:
100g of Cottage cheese with 100g of low fat milk(Cheese shake) (This will be substituted with whey protein once I get some cash) :dry:

Meal 3:
350g Lean mince
30g Almonds

Meal 4 (pre gym):
1 apple
1.5tins of tuna + 40g oats


Post workout shake:
Protein shake with low fat milk and 2x egg whites

Meal 5:
200g chicken and 200g potato

Meal 6:
Vegetables and then I'll just scrape the crumbs off the chicken or fish and then to add some fats I will lightly drizzle the vegetables with olive oil.

I will also make use of the carb cycling and eat like above for 3 days then on the 4th day I will bump up the carbs and then carry on as normal for 3 days and then bump up the carbs on 4th day etc.

Roughly at 300g protein and 200g carbs, aiming to get protein up to 350 but for now thats abit too expensive so will just have to do with above.

I'm also thinking of substituting the apple with oats and then on the carb up day I will maybe throw in the apple.

Looks decent, however, if I'm not mistaken cottage cheese will cost you more than whey in the long run.
Personally I think meal three's protein is too high in comparison to your other meals and add some veggies there.

Good luck on the tuna and oats pre gym, that sounds disgusting but hey if it works
rather split the mince from meal 3 to half with meal3 and half with meal 6.

That looks much better Bud. I no it's not easy when your still living with your folks and on a budget. The crumbed chicken breasts aren't ideal but God you just made me want to eat a couple of KG of them I love those things.
But having said that just download myfitnesspal and scan the bar code or find them on the list and just make them fit your macros it's not the end of the world at your age you'll still be able to cut while eating them.

It's Far better than I was eating all those years ago :lol: good luck and keep us posted

And +1 for making the effort.

@Trarex Yea that's true man, protein for protein the cottage cheese is way more expensive but the only thing is that per month I'd be spending maybe R40-R70 for a months supply whereas the whey would cost me about R250 and up for a months supply (Extra on what I have now). Will definitely make a plan though. And thanks, I actually noticed that, adding that to meal 6 is a pretty good idea because that meal is pretty low on protein. Haha yea the tuna and oats doesn't sound great but you gotta do what you gotta do, I'll just eat them separate.

@Rhino Thanks man, and yea its tough, always feel like a burden cause this lifestyle is damn expensive... Hopefully I'll be able to find a part time job during holidays and maybe next year I can try find something permanent. Haha same here, crumbed chicken breasts and fish fingers too. Had a look at myfitnesspal and it looks really helpful, will definitely download it. Haha, sweet stuff, thanks again man! Will do

No need to scap of the crumbs maybe you can try this
- 1/4 cup oat bran
- 1/4 cup wheat germ
- Tbspn ground flaxseed
- 1/4 cup ground almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- pinch ground garlic
mix all together then take 1/2 cup water and mix with 2 egg whites , dip your chicken in the egg & water mixture then into the dry mix , leave a couple of mins then bake in the oven till ready

Looking much better, when I was your age my diet was shocking, in hind site it was a wasted opportunity for "easy" gains. Eat and train and you will see some great results.

Have you worked out total Calories for the revised diet? Not just the macro split?

Hitting 350g of protein per day would probably just become an expensive source of fuel. So don't stress this, I find my body responds well to carb/fat cycling and it will be cheaper for you (peanut butter, olive oil etc) ie. I aim for around 270g of protein per day from whole sources and like you mention cycle my carbs, usually high carb days are Wednesday (legs) and Sat (allows for a meal with the misses)