Do my goals and diet match up?(long-ish)

[DrewL]

I've been back lifting for about a month now(after two years of worrying about my heart palps) and feeling better than ever... no palps in a month...

Basics
Ht; 6'0"
Wt; 205lbs
bf%; 18%
Bench 215
Dead 300
Squat, still working of the form.

Ive decided that I want to cut down to around 10-12% bf, Im giving myself till january to accomplish this goal. Thats something like 20lbs of fat to lose and at 1-2 pounds of fat per week thats 10-20 weeks. Hopefully I can gain some lean mass along the way and speed up the process even more.

Heres the plan

Cardio: 5-6 times per week for 30-45 minutes at 60-70% of max heart rate in morning(4:30am) on empty stomach

Weight training(all lifts are 3 sets... not including warm up sets)
Day 1-chest/tris
bench 6-8reps
dips-6-8reps
incline db press-6-8reps
close grip bench-6-8reps
Day 2 off
Day 3-Back/Biceps
Deadlifts 3-5reps
Bentover rows 6-8reps
Pullups-working on these but now i can do a sets of 4,3,2(assisited ones would be awesome
Standing BB curls 3-5 reps
Day 4 off
Day 5 see day 1
Day 6 Legs
Squats 6-8reps
Calf raises 10-15 reps
Leg extensions 6-8 reps
Lunges- 10 reps
Day 7 Shoulders/Biceps
Standing Military Press 6-8reps
Upright Rows 6-8 reps
Standing BB curls 3-5 reps
Heavy Shrugs 6-8 Reps

Diet

Post Cardio(5:30am)
Oatmeal w/ natural pb and 4oz milk Calories:390 Fat:17g Pro:16g Carb:48g

Mid morning(9:30am)
Tuna Pouch; Calories 150 Fat:1g Protein 35g Carb: 0g

Early Afternoon (2:00pm)
Chicken w/ whole wheat pasta and 1% cottage cheese; calories 440 Fat:9g Protein:44g Carbs 43g

Preworkout (4:30pm) 1 hour before workout
6oz Lean Steak w/ veggies and 1slice whole wheat Calories 455 Fat:12g Protein: 54g Carb: 24g

Postworkout (6:30pm) right after workout

5 gram creatine
15 minutes later 2scoops Isopure zero carb Protein Calories 210 Fat 1g Protein 50g Carb: 0g

Final meal
Tuna and 1% Cottage Cheese Calories 230 Fat: 3g Protein: 48g Carb:8g


Daily Total Calories 1875; Fat: 42g Protein: 248g Carbs: 123g

Ill probably add a slice of whole wheat bread if thoes cals seem to low

Total then Calories 1995; Fat: 44g Protein: 252g Carbs: 143g

If that is still too low I can add some veggies or olives in there to boost the calories.

I take a good multivitam every morning along with L-glutamine

Overall what do you guys think? I can see adding a few more cals in there somewhere but any suggestions on where and what? I would still like to gain strength while on this diet any tips on how to accomplish that?

I will be starting a journal within the next couple of days to help keep me on track and motivated. Maybe some pics as well.

[Big Mike]

Routine looks good. I would scratch that second day of biceps and change day 5 to an off day.

As far as diet, I think you are eating too little not enough protein. You should be eating around 2500 calories if you want to keep that hard earned muscle of yours. Bump the protein up to 300-400 g's a day. I prefer 2x bodyweight, that works best for me. You can also try a Timed Carb Diet (TCD). I'll let you know right now, it's hard and it sucks to be on it but you can't argue with the results. I think a_welch is doing a variation of this. Maybe he'll chime in with more advice.

[LiftGirl]

First of all, I don't understand why you're working chest, tris and bis twice a week, but other muscles only once a week. It should be even.

Second, you aren't eating nearly enough fruits and veggies. You have one serving of veggies; it shoud be more like 5. Also, I don't think you are getting enough fat.

Also, I'd suggest varying up your cardio a bit. Try some intervals once or twice a week. Great for fat burning!

[DrewL]

Mike-

Thank you for your comments. Ill add about 100g of protein a day. Maybe a mid morning shake and some egg protein powder before bedtime, would that help out? Where would you suggest grouping shoulders? Would you add it to a leg day? I have definately seen progress with my biceps but I dont want to risk overtraing if you think that is what it will eventually lead to.

LiftGirl-

Thank you for your reply as well. Should I be adding another leg day to my routine, as well as doing shoulder and back exercises twice a week? Or are you suggesting that I cut back on the chest/tri/bi volume and only do those once a week? I do feel that I give my body adequate recovery time for those specific muscle groups and have been making substantial progess with regards to them if overtraing is the issue here.

As far as the veggies go... I definately need to add some to the diet, what would you suggest that would fit into my needs? Beans, possibly? To give me more protein and fat. I love broccoli and corn, should I stay away from the starchy veggies and stick to the fiborious ones?

a_welch-

If you read this and have time I would like to hear about the Timed Carb Diet.



Thanks again for your comments and look forward to learning as much as I can from you all.



Drew

[Big Mike]

I would add shoulders to your leg day. Or you can try what I'm doing right now; I'm currently doing this:

Monday: Chest/shoulders/tris
Wednesday: Legs/back/bis/abs
Friday: Chest/shoulders/tris
Monday: Legs/back/bis
Wednesday: Chest/shoulders/tris/abs
Friday: Legs/back/bis

You know your body better than I do. If you can get away with training something more than once a week and still see progress, go for it. When you stop growing and progressing, it's time to do something different.

TCD is simple. Here are the basics:

- Same protein requirements as an other diet.

- Fat needs to be at least 40% of your diet.

- No more than 6-8 grams of carbs per feeding.

- Only carbs after working out. 60-100g's of fast carbs (such as gatorade) right after work out, 10 minutes later have a 65-100 g protein shake.

-As soon as you are hungry again, you can eat a small “regular” meal with a 40/30/30 protein/carb/fat profile to “top off the tank” of glycogen stores in the muscle. Then, you are back to zero or trace amounts of carbs until the next workout.

-You then repeat the this format for a maximum of five days, and then have a 1-2 day carb-up. On days that you don’t train, you don’t eat any carbs except for a green salad or two with an oil based dressing.

-If you don’t keep the fat ratio AT LEAST 40% your body will just continue to use carbs as fuel.

@ 205 you should look to lose about 1.5 pounds of fat with little to no muscle loss during this time.

Note: TCD info taken from Iron Addict @ Ironaddicts.com

[DrewL]

Mike-

What kind of fats do I need to add to my diet to get to that 40%? Do all of these need to be unsaturated or can I be liberal with cheese and things like that ect.? So basicaly with the TCD does it matter the type of fat or will fat in general do? Also the post workout protein drink, would 65-100 grams of protein be too much for someone to absorb all at once? or is that someting specifically related to the TCD diet.

Thanks alot mike, ill definately consider this diet... the carb thing wow that would be hard though... but if I can achieve those results, i'd be willing to do it.

[Big Mike]

Healthy fats such as olive oil and fish oil would be the best, imo. I usually cook my steak and chicken in olive oil if I'm doing a TCD. I personally take in a 50g protein shake post-wo. I usually feel bloated with anything more than 50g's in my protein shake, so I just stick to that. 65-100g's is recommended but definitely not needed.

I tend to notice that after two days of no carbs, I'm "out of it." I'm not as mentally sharp and can't think clearly. If something like this happens to you adjust accordingly. Working out every other day fixes it for me.

Use a website such as fitday.com to track all of your food to make sure you are on track and you meet all of your food requirements. If you choose to use a TCD, you should start a journal here so others can track you progress and see how effective this diet is. You can track things such as weight, body fat %, overall mood, strength increases/ decreases, etc.

[LiftGirl]

Originally Posted by DrewL

Mike-


Thank you for your reply as well. Should I be adding another leg day to my routine, as well as doing shoulder and back exercises twice a week? Or are you suggesting that I cut back on the chest/tri/bi volume and only do those once a week? I do feel that I give my body adequate recovery time for those specific muscle groups and have been making substantial progess with regards to them if overtraing is the issue here.

As far as the veggies go... I definately need to add some to the diet, what would you suggest that would fit into my needs? Beans, possibly? To give me more protein and fat. I love broccoli and corn, should I stay away from the starchy veggies and stick to the fiborious ones?

I think you could either add a leg day or take away a chest day as long as you are making progress.

I don't think you need to worry about starchy vs fibrous veggies. I think you should eat all kinds, a nice variety.

[jallen]

i am always floored at "bodybuilders" protein recommendations. You don't NEED more protein. You're body will never use 250g of protein in one day. All you'll be doing is adding in more calories and putting undue stress on your kidneys. 3-400g a day? That's an absurd requirement unless you're on roids, then you have bigger problems. The figure i go by and trust is 2x your bodyweight in kg (that's kilograms) for ELITE athletes. This is from the heads of exercise physiology and human nutrition at my university. I wish i had a link to the studies, but unfortunately i don't. You'd be safe at 1.5-2x your bodyweight in kg. Of course you can eat more, but it's going to waste. So eat however much you want, but just know it's not all doing what you think it is, except for cutting a hole in your pocket.

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by jallen

i am always floored at "bodybuilders" protein recommendations. You don't NEED more protein. You're body will never use 250g of protein in one day. All you'll be doing is adding in more calories and putting undue stress on your kidneys. 3-400g a day? That's an absurd requirement unless you're on roids, then you have bigger problems. The figure i go by and trust is 2x your bodyweight in kg (that's kilograms) for ELITE athletes. This is from the heads of exercise physiology and human nutrition at my university. I wish i had a link to the studies, but unfortunately i don't. You'd be safe at 1.5-2x your bodyweight in kg. Of course you can eat more, but it's going to waste. So eat however much you want, but just know it's not all doing what you think it is, except for cutting a hole in your pocket.

You can pull up all the studies you want to support your view on this. I can think of at least a dozen that support my view. You can find studies supporting anything if you look hard enough. Using elite athletes in this comparision is ridiculous. Truth is, elite athletes have elite genetics. The "average joe" cannot get away with the things elite athletes get away with training and diet-wise. I would rather gain muscle faster than worry about "wasting" a little protein. If Drew can get by with minimum protein intake, then by all means, go for it. But don't knock it until you try it. One thing I have noticed with about people that say high protein intake is not necessary is that they are almost always below 200 pounds. While the bigger guys support the "Eat big to get big!" school of thought. Correlation? I think so. And the whole stress on kidneys thing... MYTH! Just like the Easter bunny and Santa Claus.

Bottom line: More protein = More Muscle

[Dana_k]

Good Luck!!!! Always stay motivated man, you got us here!!!