Dieting for fat loss without muscle & energy loss. Noob help

Hello everyone,

I have read some excellent posts and threads on this forum but there is just so much information to get your head around,

How does one generally go about creating a diet plan for fat loss without it negatively affecting your energy levels and muscles? Also one that is fast and cheap since I have very little time to no time to cook and prepare food, I work 9 hours a day even on weekends + I am doing 1 hour of Yoga every morning and 1-2 hours of Gymnastics or conditioning most evenings and while I've bulked up I cannot seem to shift the flub. My problem is everytime I try to diet or cut back I fall flat on my face for lack of energy.

I'd like to find and stick to a diet where I can lose weight but still have energy and the muscle gains while training,

I know that in general the worst thing you can do is combine fats and carbs/sugars, so cakes, biscuits and fries with mayo are the road to fatty land.

My situation is a little unique since I had some severe unusual gastroinestinal problems for 3-4 years which left me bed ridden for one of those, it has left me with some dietary issues and paradoxically one of those was becoming overweight (although I've lost a lot so far), since I could only eat fats combined with carbs in that time, so ironically I was alright with junk food cakes etc. but a nice piece of fish or just straight rice was out of the question.

Here are my issues:

-I now digest very slowly and I have issues with bowel movements if it is low/no fat, a sandwich can take me 4 hours or more. Fast fatty food I can pass through quicker, ironically junk food like chocolates I can digest fast. So I have to plan meals at least 4 hours before training or exercise.

-I have difficulty digesting protein, I cannot eat mushrooms or red meat for example, still cannot eat fish and cannot do whey protein or other powders.

-When I do eat protein I cannot eat too much and I have to eat it with fat, so I'd be sick with just lean chicken or tuna for example but could do a fatty chicken kebab.

-I require fat in my diet, so for example if I ate just rice or potatoes every day with no fat I'd be sick and would have poor bowel movements.

-I am B12 deficient

-I cannot eat too much dairy

Given that a high protein/high acid diet makes me very sick I tried to go for an alkali diet and do vegetarianism and eventually veganism, but I fell flat on my face for lack of energy and also my bowel movements were terrible. I was basically eating yellow split mung beans (high in protein) and white rice with a little ghee so kitchari, supplemented with vegetables. However I did try numerous variations of grains and beans and I did it for 1 1/2 months but coudln't keep it up.

I would so very much prefer to be a vegetarian for various reasons including being on a more alkaline diet.

Last but not least, eating grains and/or potatoes makes me gain weight very fast, although ideally I would have wanted to eat a potato diet with vegetables.

I have found liver to be my new friend and I actually crave it, makes sense with the B12 deficiency.

Sorry for the length of this, would really like to find something cheap and fast that works and that I can stick with, lose fat while still enjoying muscle gains and energy.

At this point, I would be more concerned about your overall health than performance or aesthetic goals.

From the info you gave, I would say you probably don't digest fats better either.

When you dont digest fats very well, it makes the stool loose and passes through the system quite quickly. Do you have runny stool?

Do they float or look greasy in the bowl?

Before trying anything new for body composition goals, I would try to improve your digestions. A few things you can do to help that are:

- By a crock pot and slow cook everything. This will soften the meats and veg and make it easier on the digestive system

- Thoroughly chew you food to a liquid before you swallow. Mixing the saliva in with the food and breaking it down into a liquid takes a huge burden off the digestive track. (Maybe even consider blending (not juicing) vegetables for the short term)

- Drink 1/2 cup of water half an hour before a meal to hydrate the gut before giving it food to process.

- Dont drink with your meals, this dilutes your most probably already low stomach acid. 

- Try a digestive supplement like 'Now food super enzymes'. Take 1-2 with every meal, to help break down and absorb the food

Thats just some of the stuff off the top of my head.  If you dont try to correct this now, its gonna bite you in the ass later down the line. If you are deficient in b12, imagine what else you are deficient in? Also if the body is under a chronic state of stress, its going to be hard to drop that bodyfat anyway. AND and inflamed gut will show up as being bloated too. 

I just woke up, so I hope all of that wake sense. If you would like me to clarify anything let me know.

Thanks Jules for replying and thanks for the points, some of them I was aware of already. Please read after the dotted line if you want to get straight to the points!

From the info you gave, I would say you probably don't digest fats better either.

When you dont digest fats very well, it makes the stool loose and passes through the system quite quickly. Do you have runny stool?

Do they float or look greasy in the bowl?

- Dont drink with your meals, this dilutes your most probably already low stomach acid.

I do digest fats, too well in fact (so my pancreas/gall appear to be fine) and my stools today are normal. You are correct that I now have low stomach acid, largely due to the incompetence of the NHS (UK national health service) who just put me on high dose anti-acids for a year which did not help (so they just upped the dose every month) and have now messed up my stomach acid level ever since (probably for life).

I went private and after several tests and several rounds of gastroscopy and colonscopy, they concluded that I must have had a bacterial infection, ulcer and/or stress induced colon inflammation or all 3 (although not H Pylori),

Anyway to cut a long story short, if i just ate straight mashed potatoes i would be in trouble, constipation bloody stools etc. but if I took the same potatoes and put a few table spoons of fat/butter/ghee on them, it would pass through perfectly.

The doctors have basically told me  my stomach acid is messed up/low from the heavy anti-acids and my colon has inflammation basically mild IBS. Betaine HCL with a protein meal is an excellent idea however I must be careful with acids since even a coffee (which makes you secrete acids) will make my stomach upset.

The reason I require fat in my diet is because if I just ate straight potatoes or straight bananas (as I did try once) mechanically I am aggravating the colon wall, the fat is like a lubricant, for this same reason I cannot do high fibre like oats whether soluble or insoluble.

So it presents a problem for me with dieting since I am quite able to easily digest high fat junk food i.e. biscuits, cookies, even McDonalds! But the lower the fat levels and the higher the protein levels are the more I risk running into trouble with my digestion.
 

 

- By a crock pot and slow cook everything. This will soften the meats and veg and make it easier on the digestive system

 

I already own one but I just don't have the time to use it, not enough time in the day. The blending idea is excellent also I have been thinking of just that for a while now, again involves cooking for myself and I have very little time.

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What really wanted to ask are the following-

1) How does one go about fasting without losing muscle mass and maintain energy for workouts - this appears to be my main issue

2) Pre-workout snacking?

3) Post-workout, this should be your main meal?

4) How to be a vegan and deal with protein and B12 requirements? I would love to hear from Cole Dano with this regard (I should pm him) since he was heavily involved in Ashtanga Yoga and Vegeterianism.

5) Perhaps some overall pointers to put me in the right direction, Joshua Naterman's posts are excellent, there is just so much info!

 

I just woke up, so I hope all of that wake sense. If you would like me to clarify anything let me know.

It does and I really appreciate it!

At this point, I would be more concerned about your overall health than performance or aesthetic goals.

 

It's less aesthetic and more to do with practicality, I am very heavy in the legs, I put fat on my arse and thighs first, which is incredibly annoying for gymnastics where a beer belly and thus a more centred body mass would be preferred!

You're really making this a bigger deal than it needs to be.

Just eat low carb (less than 80 grams a day post workout) with one carb up day a week.

Stop drinking alcohol.

Cardio. jogging and sprinting.

Be patient and consistent...

Aspirant said:

 

I already own one but I just don't have the time to use it, not enough time in the day. The blending idea is excellent also I have been thinking of just that for a while now, again involves cooking for myself and I have very little time.

 

If you have time to shop, train and get on the internet, you have time to cook. You chuck everything in it over night and it is done the next day. And you can cook multiple days worth of food at one time.    If you are low on time, its the smartest way to cook

Sean Hunter said:

You're really making this a bigger deal than it needs to be.

 

Just eat low carb (less than 80 grams a day post workout) with one carb up day a week.

 

Stop drinking alcohol.

 

Cardio. jogging and sprinting.

 

Be patient and consistent...

I don't and can't drink alcohol.

As for patience and consistency, yes but I'd like to get sorted just with what I'll be doing this with.

As for low carb isn't that contradicatory to Paleo 2.0 and all the Joshua Naterman threads? A fatty protein diet I could do.

If you have time to shop, train and get on the internet, you have time to cook. You chuck everything in it over night and it is done the next day. And you can cook multiple days worth of food at one time.    If you are low on time, its the smartest way to cook

Honestly I barely have time to do it, I've been meaning to write on this thread the moment I read your reply that was about 2 days ago now. I barely have enough time to train even, for example I had to miss today as it's too late now.

I am seriously motivated however, just want to get the diet aspect sorted so it's out of mind and automatic. At the moment I seem to be fasting all day (and I can feel my strenght withering) only to eat one massive meal after training, lack of planning and availabilty is the main cause, if i knew what to snack on etc. I'd be prepping it.

This in addition to my dietary limitations!

Perhaps I should make a new thread referring to vegeteraniasm/veganism and dieting, since my limits/problems eating high protein and dairy products are what really pushed me in that direction in the first place.