Please critique my diet

[iwantaz3]

:confused:

Hi All! I have been weightlifting ( seriously) for nearly 8 months and have made some significant improvements through a lot of trial and error.

I think I have my training down, I lift heavy in the 5 to 8 rep range, do mostly compound exercises, 3 for big muscle groups and 2 for small muscle groups. I follow a 4-day split along with 2 days of HIIT ( used to do 4 days of Cradio but dropped it to 2 ). After every 6 weeks or so I change the order/type of my exercises or alternate heavy/light workout routine for a few weeks.

Now here comes the problem - "Its not the workout, it is the diet, stupid"! situation. I have tried all kinds of formulas and read this forum as much as I can to get a good understanding of how I should plan my diet, but i think i am unable to get the hang of it.

My current diet looks like this:

Meal 1 - Protein shake w/ half cup of skimmed milk ( previously used to take oatmeal with half cup of milk and 2 tsp of wheat germ)

Meal 2 - oatmeal with half cup of milk 1/2 tsp of peanut butter

Workout ( Weights)

Meal 3 - Subway wrap, usually turkey with veggies ( no mayo, no oil)

Meal 4 - 1 cup cottage cheese

Meal 5 - Lentils, veggies, with whole wheat bread

On cardio days the run between Meal 4 and 5

Total caloric intake is ~1200-1300cal, protien is around 90 to 100gms

My weight is 100Lbs and I am 5ft1"

Body fat continues to be around 24% to 25%. I am trying so hard to get it down. Previously I used to do 4 to 5 days of cardio ( 2 HIIT with 2 or 3 medium intensity). My trainer talked me out of it and convinced me to go 20 to 25 min HIIT for 2 days, since then i have seen more definition but not to my satisfaction.

I would appreciate feedback from the forum members.

[Lady C]

Originally Posted by iwantaz3

:My current diet looks like this:
Meal 2 - oatmeal with half cup of milk 1/2 tsp of peanut butter
Meal 5 - Lentils, veggies, with whole wheat bread
Workout ( Weights)
Meal 1 - Protein shake w/ half cup of skimmed milk (add fruit to shake to help carry the protien to muscles)
Meal 3 - Subway wrap, usually turkey with veggies ( no mayo, no oil)
Meal 4 - 1 cup cottage cheese (add in fiberous veggies)
Total caloric intake is ~1200-1300cal, protien is around 90 to 100gms
My weight is 100Lbs and I am 5ft1"

Sounds like you have the workout down. Here are my suggestions on the diet. I rearranged your meals to meet your goals better. You were eating heavy foods late. Eat these earlier in the day so your body has a chance to burn them off.

Meal 4 (above) I added fiberous carbs for satiety. I think you may not be having enough good fats or calories. Increase calories to 1400-1500. You have to eat enough to gain muscle which I assume is what you mean by dropping bodyfat - drop bodyfat and gain muscle in its place. Check out Laura817's journal she eats about that much and is your size. I am a bit bigger and I eat slightly more than that. You could even gain some scale weight as long as you are losing bodyfat.

Keep up the good work!

[iwantaz3]

Thanks a lot Lady C. I will rearrange the meals per your suggestion.

Increase calories to 1400-1500? at my height and weight would that not be too much. I looked over laura817's jounal ( very impressive by the way) and saw that she was taking in 1200 cal and is around 5ft3".

[laura817]

Great advice Lady C!

iwantaz3 -- If you decide to eat that low of a caloric deficit (1200 calories), you might want to incorporate a refeed once or twice week. Pick a day where you eat higher than your maintenance level. My maintenance level is ~1400 so I will eat 1800 calories once or twice a week depending on my energy level. This will help raise leptin, refill muscle glycogen, kick start your metabolism, as well fooling your body thinking it’s not in starvation mode.

[iwantaz3]

Laura817,

I will give this a try. I think I will try eating 1500cal once or twice a week and see what happens.

Thankyou LadyC and Laura for taking the time to reply to my posts.