Losing Body Fat Keeping Muscle

Hello all,

i didn't want to highjack Ortprods thread on the same subject but would like the forum to look over my diet and calorie intake and give me some advice etc. I am 6' 1" tall weight in at 13st 9lbs and have 17% bodyfat.

My workout routine is generally WOD's for upperbody 2-3 times per week and KB swings for 20 mins (30 secs swings and 30 secs joggin on the spot) with a 16kg bell 2-3 times. So one week i'll usually do 3 strength and two KB and the other would be the reverse.

i'm looking to drop around 5% bodyfat and am looknig for advice oon my diet. 6 months ago i was 21% and cleaning up my diet and focusing on triaining helped a lot. I go away for 2 week holiday in 10 weeks and would like to loose as much fat as possible while maintaining my current size and strength.

5 days a week i eat like this:

8:30am Breakfast - 4 weetabix + milk = 420 cals

noon - big soup = 242 cals

3pm lunch - chicken + sweetcorn = 600

*after training*

7pm protien shake = 400 cals

7:30 dinner - 2 chicken br + beans = 766 cals

total = 2428 aprx (minus shake for non-training days = around 2000 cals)

any things that shouldn't be in there? how's my calorie intake?

Should i concentrate on 3 KB sessions and 2 WODs until i'm down to my ideal BF%?

on sundays i would generally have some roast potatoes but that is usually the only white carbs i take in, would this one weekly treat hurt progress?

I feel i've hit a a brick wall been stuck at 16-17% for about a month now.

So looking for advice please...

thanks, Ricky, London, England

I am trying to calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), I just need your age please

Then we can get this rolling.

Thanks

I am 27

i was under the impression that BMI wasn't very good as it didn't account for muscle?!

thanks for the help. Ricky

I think the BMR is a decent approximation when you modify it to your DEE( Daily Energy Expenditure). Really the only other way to tell is to take 7 to 10 days and write down EVERYTHING you eat down to that 10 calorie vitamin. Weigh yourself at the beginning and the end, if your weight stayed the same you were eating at your DEE if you lost you were eating less than your DEE and if you gained you were eating more than your DEE.

I tried the 7 day thing and I found I didnt gain or lose while eating around 2000 cal a day and my calculation said that I need 1950 cal to stay the same, so its fairly close. It was a real pain to keep track of everything though (my friends though I was nuts that week) .

Ok, so when I ran your numbers I got 2215 calories a day if you workout regularly (which you do). Now if you want to lose fat it is recommended that you eat 10-20% below your DEE so you would need to eat around 1995, thats %10 less (I would just say 2000 a day).

The only thing that looks weird in your daily menu you provided is the soup. Whats in it? I would sub in a salad (with tuna if you want) or something like that. And maybe for dinner take out a chicken breast and add a salad. You would get more volume but fewer calories.

For example, if I still feel really hungry after I eat lunch or dinner I just get some raw carrots, broccoli, or lettuce and just naw on it (I really like lettuce). You can put a little light dressing or vinegar on it if you cant stand the raw veggies. I have noticed, however, that I am starting to like the raw veggies more and more and I have slowly weaned myself off of having to cover them up with a dab of dressing.

Also, your protein shake is 400 calories. That seems like quite a bit. Mine is 300 and I use the dreaded 2% milk. Check your powder mix and see if you can find one that has minimal calories or mix it with less milk (or even water but I think thats nasty).

About the cheat day: One cheat day a week is fine dont worry about it just dont go overboard (it sounds like you dont so you should be fine).

And how do you eat the other 2 days of the week? :wink:

Good luck,

Rick (Im a Rick as well )

Hi Rick,

thank you for taking the time out to write to me.

i dont think you'll be familiar with the soup but it is a heinz 'big soup' usually beef/chicken/lamb & vegetables. Canned stuff so maybe not the best but found it better than the sandwhich i used to eat at that time instead.

My protien shake is 400 cals as i have three scoops... = 46 grams of protein. each scoop is about 100 cals.

maybe i could loose one of the scoops? would save on some cals from the less milk too!

Weekends aren't usually that bad, no, i'm not a modern day saint an once in a while maybe evey two-three weeks i'll have a take away. but i'm not going to do that for at least the next 10 weeks, until the holiday.

Saturday i think would be less meals. Maybe an omlette in the morning protien shake after i train and then chicken with beans/sweet corn.

I currently have 4 weetabix in the mornnig, which means if i cut down to 3 that will be another 60 cals saved.

so that would be 180 aprx so far off my total. taking me down to 2248 on training days. 1900 on non-training.

would it be a good start to cut 100 for non-training days and 200 on training days and see how that goes?

or would that in itself not be enough to make a difference?

I know when people usually restrict cals they loose strength/mass and i ideally want to keep what i have.

advice grately recieved.

Thanks,

Ricky

rickythadondawson said:

Hi Rick,

would it be a good start to cut 100 for non-training days and 200 on training days and see how that goes?

or would that in itself not be enough to make a difference?

I think this would we a decent start. Just make sure you pay attention to how you feel, energy levels, how you sleep etc. You will know if you cut too much because you will have trouble sleeping and have lower than normal energy levels. I know when I first started to cut fat I tried the 20% calorie cut and that was way to much, I just felt bad after a week or so, so I changed to about a 10% cut and felt better. I am now where I want to be (body composition wise) and I am now trying to gain weight but not fat. So right now I am eating a 10% caloric excess and everything seems to be going great (its only been 2 weeks). I just have to be really careful about what I eat and when I eat so I dont put on excess fat as I gain muscle. Its a pain but I see it as a challenge and thus I have made it a kind of game and I am having fun with it.

Try not to get bogged down into eating the same thing every day. This gets boring and you will be more likely to cheat. Search around and try out some random new recipes every once and a while. I am actually going to go get a double boiler over the weekend and try and steam some fish (I saw a random youtube video about steaming fish the other day and I want to try it)!

Good luck!

8:30am Breakfast - 4 weetabix + milk = 420 cals

noon - big soup = 242 cals

3pm lunch - chicken + sweetcorn = 600

*after training*

7pm protien shake = 400 cals

7:30 dinner - 2 chicken br + beans = 766 cals

1. Your breakfast is like... all carbs. Especially if that's skim milk. Eat some real food.... eggs and meat + whole milk.

2. What's in the soup

3. 600 cals of chicken and corn? Get some variety man.. you're already eating chicken AGAIN for dinner

4. What's in the shake? If it's carb/pro that's generally fine.

5. Vary it up some... looks decent.

If anything's holding you back it's probably your breakfast.

May need to cut back some cals. Maybe part of the PWO shake and shave a bit off dinner. That's it.

Hi Rick/Steven,

thanks once again for some feedback.

1. Your breakfast is like... all carbs. Especially if that's skim milk. Eat some real food.... eggs and meat + whole milk.

Steven: i work in an office environment so i dont have much option for breakfast. I understand it is all carbs but as it is whole grain wheat and at the begining of the day then it wasn't such a bad thing? It would be hard although maybe not impossible for me to get some eggs/meat in there during the week.

2. What's in the soup?

Heinz Big Soup - meat and veg (canned)

3. 600 cals of chicken and corn? Get some variety man.. you're already eating chicken AGAIN for dinner

err... i really like chicken :oops: good point though, i'll try and get some variety

thanks guys, decided last night i'm switching to 3 KB workouts with 2 WOD's a week from now.

very grateful for feedback,

Ricky

Hard boiled eggs...

Whole grains, eh. I know Robb Wolf doesn't like them a lot b/c almost everyone has SOME level of gluten intolerance. I personally think it would be a good idea to get rid of the grains and see what happens.

Um, processed soup is probably not gonna be good for you either.