Mike's Diet

[MikeM]

Please feel free to make any comments, suggestions, anything to help me out.
I'm 5'7.5" and currently weigh 205. I'm curently doing powerlifting and want to keep adding strength. Ultra low carb does not really work for me as I get fuzzy headed and lethargic, but after reading an article by Rich last summer, I realized that about 150g of carbs a day is fine and I try to stay around that average.
In general I think I eat well. My problems come from binging from time to time.
Any questions, feel free to ask as I think I need help getting my belly fat under control, also I think this log will help me be accountable, and hopefully keep me from slipping back into bad habits.

Today's food:
No Breakfast (not intentional, running really late)

11:30 Lunch:
3 fried eggs
5 oz fried ham
8 oz milk 1%

Pre-workout:
Protein shake w/1%milk
(32 protein, 10 carb, 2 fat plus milk)

Post work out:
large apple
5 oz peanut butter

Dinner:
10 oz shrimp
1/4 cup brown rice
1 cup of mixed cooked vegetables (mostly broccoli, mushroom, snow peas, onions, and peppers)
8 oz milk 1%
Slice cake
scoop ice cream

According to fitday. com that broke down to:
2419 calories
185g protein 30% of cal.
196g carbs 31 % of cal
113g fat 39% of cal

My birthday was yesterday, hence the cake. That's not normal for me. Also, The peanut butter got a bit out of hand as I love peanut butter, probably need to tighten that up.

Anyway, any advice is apprecieated. Thanks!

[BigJosh]

Smash this Mike.

[BendtheBar]

Get on it!

[jdmalm123]

Mike, looks good.

If you drop the cake and ice cream to get carbs to 150 (that's what I'm getting and powerlifting too) and get at least 1g PRO per lb of LBM, you should do fine...

After eating strictly this way for 3-4 weeks, you should be able to start tweaking effectively and it shouldn't take much.

[MikeM]

Thanks fellas. JD, that's the rub is the 3-4 weeks strict and consistent. I usually fail somewhere during the first weekend and start slipping badly somewhere around a week after that.

I'm hoping this food log will help as I will be pretty embarrassed to write about that bag of chips and bucket of salsa I demolished instead of the meat and vegetables I should have been eating.

BTW, I'm not hitting a calorie target per se. I am just trying to eat normally and clean, track that for a few weeks and see where I am in terms of what I need per day, etc. I've used those calculators in the past and they seem either too high or too low.

So, this time, I have no target going in. Just eat intelligently and not emotionally and see where the chips fall.

I like that fitday also tracks your fiber, vitamins and minerals too, btw. Turns out I am not getting enough vitamin C regularly. Might need to go with an orange a day or something to bring that up.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by MikeM

I like that fitday also tracks your fiber, vitamins and minerals too, btw. Turns out I am not getting enough vitamin C regularly. Might need to go with an orange a day or something to bring that up.

Kiwi fruits have more vit C than oranges, pound for pound.

[bamazav]

Small steps Mike. Nutrition failure is often the result of making too many and too big of changes too early. Don't forget that some of the oil used for cooking is absorbed into food, so that may affect your fats a bit. Also, other supplements, beside, protein will affect totals also. One meal doesn't make a lifestyle, a lifetime does. Shoot for hitting the numbers at least 80% of the time, until you want to cut for the stage, then it goes to 100%. 80% compliance allows you freedom to celebrate the birthdays without feeling guilty.

[MikeM]

Kiwis! Thanks for that tip, Babs.

Yeah, I love cooking in Olive oil, so that's going to get me a bit more fats, but it's mostly all good fats I eat normally. Thanks, Bama.

Today:
Breakfast
1/2c. Oats with pecans, strawberries, banana, and blueberries added in
Protein shake

Lunch
5 oz steak
1 c. broccoli
a carrot
8 oz milk

Post workout
Protein shake
Apple
3 oz peanut butter

Dinner:
3/4 lb hamburger patty
2 c. green salad with broccoli added in too
1 tblesp ranch dressing
1/2 c. green beans
8 oz milk

totals:
2284 calories
Protein 180g 30%
Carb 173g 29%
Fats 112 40%

Carbs were a little high, mostly from the fruit, but this is my squat day, so I'm not worried about that. I did hit all my vitamin and minerals, but a little low on fiber for some reason.

I try to keep straight up carbs to one meal a day. So if I eat oats in morning for example, I don't have any other bread or pasta type carbs the rest of the day. Conversely, if eggs for breakfast, I might have pasta or rice for dinner and no carbs at lunch. Or if I have a sandwich at lunch, that means eggs for breakfast, no pasta or rice or potato, etc. at dinner.

2300 calories and this was plenty of food today. I never felt hungry if that means anything.

[jdmalm123]

foods already looking better.

overplanning can be as much of an issue as underplanning... i think your head is in exactly the right place to get 'er done.

Tell me about it. I re-started lifting a dozen times in the last 6+ months...
For whatever reason, I've been motivated and am in my 3rd week of training and eating consistently....are you motivated? Hell, yes, you are!

[MikeM]

Thanks JD. I'm getting old. Might be my last chance to get this under control, you never know.

I was butt hungry today! Massive squat day yesterday, so maybe no surprise, but still was a battle not to just shovel food all day. And it's an off day from lifting today too. We'll see how this plays out.

breakfast:
2 oz. turkey breast slices (gnoshed while making my eggs, sad I know )
3 eggs
5 oz ham
8 oz milk

Lunch:
turkey sandwich
-2 whole wheat slices, a good 4 oz turkey, hummus, tomato, onion and a slice of cheddar
8 oz milk

Snack
6 oz greek yogurt
.75 c of blueberries
apple
2 tblsp of peanut butter (took restraint not to eat the whole jar!)

Dinner
8 oz steak
1/4 c couscous
1/4 cup edamame
1.5 c green salad w/ lots of veggies
1/2 glass red wine

2699 calories
Protein 213 33%
carbs 170 25%
fats 121 40%
Alcohol is other 2%, fitday splits that out