Critique My Diet, Save A Life

[d0rkyd00d]

Alright, I'm beginning my first cut ever. Kinda. I'm carb cycling for the first time, and I'm hoping to cut bf % and maintain/gain muscle mass. Here's my plan/diet, let me know what you think. First some stuff about me.

I am 220 lbs. I started out at 245 lbs 8 months ago, and I'm sure I was around 50% body fat (okay, maybe a little less :)). I'm doing SS, as well as HIIT on all three days (about 15 min.) I do no other cardio.

I can't say I've calculated out the exact calories, or figured out my maintenance weight. I know this is extremely helpful, so I'll have that in a couple of weeks. But I was hoping to get some insights. Here's my dietary plan:

Workout Days (M,W,F):

Breakfast : 4 eggs, 2 slices wheat toast, a couple of pieces of bacon

Snack: 30G protein bar with 32G carb.

Lunch: 1 can tuna (about 24 g protein) on wheat bread, or PB sandwich on wheat

Snack: another protein bar or tuna/pb sandwich (depending on what I had the first time)

Dinner: Steak, chicken, or fish + green veggies

Snack: Post-w/o shake (24 G protein).

I'm also drinking about 1/2 a gallon of milk (low fat Lactaid) a day.

I think I'm an endomorph(?). I build muscle very easily, and also pack on pounds really easily. I am working hard to make sure I get the right protein amount each day, but the carbs are what I need work on. What are the best carbs for a workout? What should I shoot for on a workout day? I'm going for 0 carbs on tues & Thurs, and low carb on Sat & Sun.

Any help on the carb values, and what the best sources would be on high carb days, would be greatly appreciated!

[Jayfive]

Alright, I'm beginning my first cut ever. Kinda. I'm carb cycling for the first time, and I'm hoping to cut bf % and maintain/gain muscle mass. Here's my plan/diet, let me know what you think. First some stuff about me.

I am 220 lbs. I started out at 245 lbs 8 months ago, and I'm sure I was around 50% body fat (okay, maybe a little less :)). I'm doing SS, as well as HIIT on all three days (about 15 min.) I do no other cardio.

I can't say I've calculated out the exact calories, or figured out my maintenance weight. I know this is extremely helpful, so I'll have that in a couple of weeks. But I was hoping to get some insights. Here's my dietary plan:

Workout Days (M,W,F):

Breakfast : 4 eggs, 2 slices wheat toast, a couple of pieces of bacon

Snack: 30G protein bar with 32G carb.

Lunch: 1 can tuna (about 24 g protein) on wheat bread, or PB sandwich on wheat

Snack: another protein bar or tuna/pb sandwich (depending on what I had the first time)

Dinner: Steak, chicken, or fish + green veggies

Snack: Post-w/o shake (24 G protein).

I'm also drinking about 1/2 a gallon of milk (low fat Lactaid) a day.

I think I'm an endomorph(?). I build muscle very easily, and also pack on pounds really easily. I am working hard to make sure I get the right protein amount each day, but the carbs are what I need work on. What are the best carbs for a workout? What should I shoot for on a workout day? I'm going for 0 carbs on tues & Thurs, and low carb on Sat & Sun.

Any help on the carb values, and what the best sources would be on high carb days, would be greatly appreciated!


You seem to be doing a bit of a different type of cycling than I did. My Moderate days (workout days) would look like this:

Breakfast: About 35% of my carbs for the day, protein, a little fat.
Snack: Protein+ Fats
Lunch: Protein+ about 10% of my carbs
Pre-workout: 35% of my carbs+ protein
Post-WO: Protein shake
Within an hour: Protein+ remaining 20% of carbs
Before Bed: Protein+fats

Since I was primarily focusing on losing fat, I would not do an insulin spike post workout, I didn't lose any muscle from that but I was also sipping some BCAAs during. On off days, I would practice low-carb and cut my carbs off within 4 hours of waking up (normally I'd get 2 meals in). The day before my heaviest WO, I would do a No-carb day all day. None. Then the next day (heavy day) I would have a full carb up day, severely limiting the amount of fats I take in.

The reason behind my break down was this: you're looking to only fuel and replenish. Since you're looking to do this, you really only need to spare at breakfast and after workout and you only need to fuel at breakfast and pre workout. The amount of carbs at lunch was more for comfort, you could easily replace those with fats. I stuck only with carbs+protein or protein+fats. If you're doing this the way I did, carbs and fat are your fuel. Carbs are the high octane, fats are the low octane. You don't mix. I got a lot of protein though, somewhere around 350-450 grams a day. I looked at food in 4 categories; protein, carbs, fat, and ****. Protein were lean meats and dairy proteins (some proteins classified as fats too, such as salmon). Carbs were almost entirely lower-moderate GI and complex (rice, pasta, sweet potatoes), fats were things like nuts, oils, etc. **** was basically anything you wouldn't associate with a health diet (fried food, cake, candy).

This is by far not the only way to do this of course, theres a ton more out there and you should find whats best for you but this was what worked for me and I thought I'd share.

[d0rkyd00d]

Thanks for the advice I appreciate it!

[Off Road]

Also, be careful of the protien bars...some are just candybars in disguise.