Diet.

Hello Terry, I’ve read plenties of your replies and noticed that you know a great deal of dieting, therefor I now turn to you for advice…

Well, first, my name is Joni.
And I’d need some help with coming up with the right diet for me, I’m currently at 128 lb’s, ~5’7 and my body fat % is around 14 - 15.

What I would like to do, is, drop a bit of the body fat, rather in exchange for LBM… I don’t know what to do, I’ve considered the T-dawg 2.0, but I’m not sure if that is the way to go, since I really wouldn’t feel like losing the little muscle I have…
Currently I’m on ABBH-program, but I think I will begin either with EDT, Pendulum BB (Or athletic), or Ian Kings Upper/Lower strength (12 week cycle)…
Oh, and I do keep a track of what I eat, using Fitday.com, if you wish, you can see my journal at “Lyandir - free online diet and fitness journal”. I’ve only added my eatings there, not activities.
I truly would apreciate any help you could give…
Summary: I need to drop/exchange body fat, to lean body mass… Any advices?
Thank you so much for any time you have to spare for thoughts on this matter…

Yours, Joni.

P.s. For the record, I’m 16, if that matters… And I’ve been considering the Don’t diet, diet…

If I had a little more time I would try and delve a bit further to give you a hand but at this point I am a little swamped. Just wanted to throw a couple points out there.

Either or the T-dawg and Dont Diet plan are solid choices. I have used both with great success at times. It depends on what you perfer really. Lately I am leaning more toward a Dont Diet type of intake.

The other thing is that of your worry about the T-dwag and losing LBM. One of the best points about T-dwag2 has been it’s ability to give great results in BF depletion, along with the preservation or even increase in LBM.

Sorry I couldnt go further @ this point. If I get a longer break in the near furture I will try and make it back.

I am quite sure TT will allready have you covered by that point though. Just be patient. She is a BUSY person, but somehow always finds time to help a T-person in need. :slight_smile:

hope that little bit of info. helps.
Phill

A T-Dawgish protocol for dieting could work for you. I think in your case (since you are already in good shape) you would just need to make sure you didn’t lower calories too much. If you ate maintenance calories, kept it P+F for all meals except post-workout meals, and added a little cardio in the mornings, you would probably reach your goals at a fairly steady rate.

The P+F phase seems to keep blood sugar stable (after you get used to this, its a little bit of a pain at first if you are used to tons of carbs), and the post-workout drink along with another high-carb low fat meal afterwards seems to do the trick for maintaining your lean body mass. It is said that you can’t lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, however, over the course of a week it might be possible to lower one and raise another, over successive weeks leading to the gains you want.

R-ALA can be used with carb-up meals to assist with glycogen repleneshment. My current diet is from a well-known internet person who specializes in this kind of thing; without running numbers (since they would be poinless for you), I can say that my protein intake is high, fat intake is moderate, and there is a heavy emphasis on post-workout nutrition with a dextrose/whey drink and another high-carb meal afterward. There is also a small amount (!) of carbs on my off days at one meal. When I was initially doing the diet, I was weighing my food after cooking and it seemed that any lean protein (especially chicken which I was using) loses a lot of weight after being cooked (it seemed like 1/3rd the weight if it was cubed). I was way-overeating protein for a while and I’ve fixed that, but I can say that during that 8 weeks I put on some LBM and my strength increased. Now that I’ve worked out the weighing of food properly, I’m “cutting”. I can tell you I’m still consuming a fairly high amount of calories considering my training. I believe for fat loss this dietary regimen relies on steady-state cardio every morning to tip the scales over into the fat loss zone.

I’m sure TT or someone else has some great info for you; hope this at least provides some insight on a T-Dawg type experience.

Hey, there, Lyandir. It looks like you’re in pretty good shape currently. But who of us doesn’t want JUST A LITTLE BIT more. (grin)

Good advice (as always) by Phill, there!

First off, I don’t know how your BF was tested – there’s quite a bit of variation depending on the method – but women carry 9-12% essential BF. That means if you were to diet down as low as you could possibly go, you have no control over essential BF; i.e., the fat in your brain, the myelin sheath around the nerves, etc. There’s a point, too, BF%-wise where it starts to affect things hormonally; i.e., you’ll lose your period. Which is all right temporarily if you’re dieting down for a show, but not good if you’re talking about normally, on a day-in-day-out basis.

All of that aside, I think T-Dawg 2.0 would be an excellent choice. Doing so would cut out the breakfast sandwhiches, potatoes and chocolate out of your diet and replace them with green veggies.

The other thing I see in your diet that I’d like you to change is getting protein every meal! That’s a biggie. At your BW and LBM, you need between 22g and 25g of protein every meal, six meals.

Finally, I would like to see you optimize your PWO nutrition. Have you read John Beradi’s “Solving the Post Workout Puzzle,” I & II?

Don’t forget to factor in a cheat meal every week, six hours where you get everything you’ve been craving all week. My suggestion is that you weigh yourself every Friday and have a cheat meal on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

I like EDT, but I don’t think that you’ll be taking in enough carbs on T-Dawg to facilitate muscle repair. You’d be sore all the time and soon hit an overtrained state. Save that program for an all-out bulking phase (and diet).

I think tightening up your diet a bit will give you the results you’re looking for.

Good luck to you, and let me know how it goes.

Lyandir,
I posed the same question several days ago. You can read Terry’s response in my post. When I just checked, it was on page three of training/nutrition. Very helpful info, good luck!

Thank you for the replies, I will read the rest of Berardi’s articles, as I get more time.

The things with t-dawg diet is, that I can’t come up with enough P + F meals, to cover the caloric intake, therefor I was considering the “Don’t diet”-aproach, where I could divide my meals to P+C / P+F -meals.

If you have any suggestions on P+F and/or P+C recipies (Where it’s not required to add protein-powder), I’d more than gladly accept them.

And just for the record; I’m a male. :wink:
Rofl.

Oh, and I forgot, I do HIIT, aproximetly four times a week, sometimes more often, if I’m not sore, and feel sluggish… Heh…

And just for the record; I’m a male. :wink:

(blushing) Tsk-tsk. Shame on me. My apologies, Lyandir.

Ideas for P+F meals?

Protein: seafood of any description, shrimp, salmon, tuna, eggs, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, jerky, protein powder.

For the F of the P+F, I’d go with nuts, avocado, or flaxeed oil, possibly olive oil if you’re cooking.

Some people do well with dairy, but I don’t like it when cutting. Some people have a sub-clinical intolerance to dairy, causing fat loss to slow/stall.

However you do it, getting rid of processed food and eating more protein and veggies will move you in the direction (and the body composition) you want.

Thank you, I will do so…
I think I will experiment a bit with the Don’t diet, diet, and see how it goes, only one last question (at this point), what would be the optimal macronutrient ratios on this diet?

Something I do if I know I will be buisy all week and am tired of chicken.

I dont normally like those smoked hams as they taste of chemicals and are way to salty however I found a way to get over this. Get one that is lean(95-99% lean) and put it in a large pot w/ water. Poke some holes in it w/ your weapon of choice then bring the water to a HEAVY boil for 45 mins. After 45 mins exchange water and boil for another 45 mins. This remove almost all the salt and makes it taste more “natural” and in my opinion 10x better. If it is really processed it may take a little longer. I actually got this tip from my grandma who learnt it cooking for my grandpa who has to be on a low sodium diet.

Lyandir, don’t worry about the macronurient ratios. Just calculate your protein and fat requriements, make sure you meet those requirements, and then add in your carbs after that.

P+F: 1 can of albacore, some chopped celery, a tablespoon of dill pickle relish, some balsamic, some mustard, some flax or olive oil all mixed up.

P+C: Any lean protein (fish, chicken) mixed in with brown rice with perhaps some curry powder and a little S+P.

P+F: I know you said chew but these is an idea; some Low-Carb Grow (or other suitable protein) and 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter, blend.

Here’s something that I think is fantastic but might seem a little odd:

Get some eggplant and peel it and cube it, get a tomato, get an onion, some bell pepper, some celery. Get some white fish like tilapia (cheap and clean). Clearly the amounts depend on how many meals you get. I generally like to cook enough to get 6-8 meals out of it and put them in containers.

You saute the onion, pepper, and celery, add the diced tomato, add some garlic, add the eggplant (this should, by volume, make up most of it). Add some hot curry powder, some corriander, perhaps some paprika (you know, experiment here with whatever flavors you like; I generally make it “indian” tasting). Add some S+P to taste… when this is cooked down its going to be a thick substance that if seasoned properly will have a lot of flavor, will have enough body to make you think you are eating something, and will be high in fiber (you will need a lot of eggplant, it cooks down). When its like a thick substance, put your fish filets in there and poach them. If you add a lot of fish, you’ll end up with some high protein and light carbs (we are talking mostly water from the eggplant, perhaps some from the onion, but neglegible at best). Based on your protein requirements, spoon this much into a bowl (the fish should be chopped throughout the mixture like a porridge) and then put a little flax on top of it (or olive oil). I know it sounds bizzare but this type of thing can be fantastic. I got the idea from the “Warrior Diet” book but I make my own versions and improvise. The secret is to make sure the veggie mixture is lower in carbs and to season it up really nice. The rest just sorta falls in place. Its very filling, delicious (if seasoned properly, can’t stress this enough), high in protein, has got fiber, and with the right oil drizzled over, can be high in good fats.

Once you get the “base mixture” down you can add chicken, beef, different kinds of fish, shrimp perhaps, even tofu. Whenever I have this it seems I’m eating a very substantial meal but calorically its a joke compared to it’s mass given I have served the correct portion of protein and fats.

Good luck.

Lyandar,

Just as TT stated, with the dont diet diet just simply make sure you are getting your P needs and fat ratios. Other than that I would simply suggest taking in your P+C in the AM and your P+F in the PM.

This is dependent on when you train though also. If you train in the PM then you would do some swapping to get a P+C or two around your w/o, mainly in the PWO window.

This is the type of diet I am currenly following with great success.

1 other thing you may consider that I find works great for me is to taper down the meals in K/cal quantity as the day goes on. (dependent on training once again)

For example. A day for me right now consist of 2800k/cals total. So my meal content is roughly like this=
#1 600k/cal
#2 500 " "
#3 500
#4 500
#5 400
#6 300

This seems to give me a good kick of energy to start the day, and the larger earlier meals seem to have an effect on not being hungry later in the day. Later in the day is also when one generally gets steadily less active.

The exception I have to this is on training days. I put a large meal following my training ( along with my pwo Surge) so I will make that shake / meal combo say 800k/cals and then split the rest through the day. Feeding the most when my muscle is asking for it the most. Just seems logical to me. GF1 is also supposed to raise with larger meals.

An example of a training day=

1=500
2=800 PWO
3=400
4=400
5=400
6=300

This type of meal placement and tapering I find works best for me. Not saying it will be optimal for you, but it might be worth a try so I figd I would lay it out there.

Good luck with your trimming down.

Keep us informed on your progress
Phill

Awesome contributions to this thread!!! Great job, guys!

I will give all suggestions a try!
Thank you, very much for your replies, and the time you put into them…

Thanks…