New to forum - diet question

[glenco]

I've just started working out. I'm 6', slender build, and weigh 183lbs. My goal is to look defined and lean (18% body fat now). I workout every other day,which consists of a seven mile bike ride to gym and about an hour of moderate upperbody weight lifting and a seven mile bike ride home. I juice every morning (grape/apple/carrot/banana/frzn.beeries), lunch is a large salad w/chicken or fish. and for snacks and dinner I eat PB&Js (fresh PB and sugar-free Jelly on wholegrain bread). My question, Is that enough to sustain my cardio/weight training routine? Is it also okay to do so much cardio w/weight training? I've heard that too much cardio makes building muscle more difficult. Thanks for your time!!

[CrazyR]

how many calories do you estimate?

seems like far too little to me... and not a very balanced diet either

you dont need to starve yourself to lose fat

your bodies metabolism will slow right down meaning that your fat loss will take alot longer and yes you will have less muscle growth too

have you read these basics?

[msflexnc]

I don't know all the specifics of your diet but it looks like you may need to increase your protein intake. Adding more lean muscle will increase tone/definition and help bring down bodyfat.

[jplayer]

WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hold up a minute.
Do yourself a HUGE favor and use the search button not only on Nutrition and Diets but also workouts and more specifically overtraining!!

After youve done that come back and post some specific questions you have

From the looks of things it appears you are on your way to becoming a frail, no muscle, cardio machine that has no energy because you are overtrained!!!

Some specific points of concern
Nutrition( protein is needed to build muscle and PB&J's are far from great for you)
Post workout meal (if your riding your bike home 7 miles you are absolutely killing your body when it wants to be recouping)

[CJNY]

There's really no way to say whether you are eating enough because you give no amounts for the foods you mention. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich could be a couple of hundred calories or it could be a thousand.

Whether what you are eating is enough to sustain your workouts is something you can answer better than us. Is your energy level high, enough so it doesn't compromise your lifestyle. How is your weight? How about body fat? Anything changing?

14 miles of biking every other day might sound like a lot to some folks but, really, if you are riding slowly, its awfully easy and might not affect your training at all. If you are fit, even an intense 14 miles might take 45 minutes total, maybe even less.

Details, details details. It's all in the details.