My current macros are 200g of protein, 260g of carbs, and 60g of fat.
I weigh 155 lbs with about 15% bf at 5’8. I’m trying to do 7000 steps daily and cardio (fast walk with 8 incline/3mph treadmill) 4-5 days a week. I eat 5 meals a day. However, I have been skipping steps and cardio due to energy issues. As soon, I eat a cheat meal like a pizza, I feel great the same day and the next day, energy-wise.
I still don’t see any abs yet. Barely. I’m struggling with energy issues and digestion issues. Does reducing carbs help with fat loss? Should my fat be lower or higher when adjusting my diet for fat loss?
Me personally I would flip the protein and carbs so 250p and 200c. I would also reduce fats to around 30g.
You’re gonna have days where you are tired when you are eating low carbs and doing a ton of cardio.
Don’t do cheat meals just do high days with good foods but just more of them.
Keep your carbs around training.
Are the meals above what you eat daily?
Tbh you’re only eating about 100 cals less than my maintenance and as many carbs as I’d eat on a bulk, and I’ve got about 30lb on you. I’d expect someone your size to be starting in the 1800-2000 cal ballpark for a cut. I would start you 250g pro, 150g carb, 50g fat.
Wouldn’t that be hard on my kidneys? I already have trouble with digestion with little fiber daily.
I work out 6 days a week (PPL workout routine).
Yes, this is what I eat daily. The only difference is I eat oatmeal in the morning 90% of the time. So disregard the almond milk, and maple syrup. I do make oat pancakes on weekends if I feel like it. And for Chicken and Pasta. I’m eating Quinoa right now. 1 cup cooked. No pasta sauce.
I’m only reducing my calories (carbs/fat) if I don’t lose any weight for the week. I also weigh myself every Monday morning only.
The only reason I haven’t changed anything was that I kept skipping cardio or steps due to work being so busy with no breaks 8am to 5pm (desk job) and they keep putting out donuts and bagels for everyone which is kind of annoying.
Thanks for sharing the post. Some useful tips.
So you ate bagels and donuts throughout the week? Or avoided them? I’m confused as to what that and getting steps has to do with finding an appropriate calorie count.
250g protein should t give you any issues with kidneys unless you already have kidney issues? You need to shift your macros a bit and drop a little fat.
I’m 5’11” and 204lbs and I’m growing on 2300cals right now. I’m currently eating 250p/250c/40fat.
If what your doing isn’t working you need to change what your doing. Like I said, keep your food clean, drop your carbs and fat little. Raise your protein. No cheats only high days if you need them.
Consistency is key when your trying to diet.
I’m just mentioning that I’m struggling to get energy to do steps or cardio. Also craving fatty food a lot more lately. Recovery is also a lot slower.
I did cheat a few times two weeks ago and felt great that day, had much better workouts too.
Just adding on: I am mostly in agreement with everyone here. My starting macros for you would be slightly different than @jskrabac and @s.gentz, but that’s nuance/ preference. We’d all bring your calories down a bit and have you prioritizing protein.
This doesn’t really count as sticking to your diet. Your daily calories are already relatively high (you’re a little over 15 calories per lbs, which is a really healthy metabolism for maintenance), in my opinion, and adding two cheats a week could be actually taking your total week into a surplus! What’s driving you to cheat so much?
Ditto on this. I tend to have to prioritize my food around training when the diet gets tough, just because there are parts of the day when I won’t feel great. There’s some level of suck you just have to go through. In this case, however, with the foods it looks like you’re still eating and the cheat meals, I think you probably just haven’t gotten used to being a little hungry yet. I don’t think you’re so deep that you are actually hitting that physiological fatigue point, I think your feedback system is just getting cranky at the change. Most of the time, I think you’d be better to go ahead and take a bigger drop and suck up two weeks of being hungry. You tend to settle in at that point.
This is really what I want to key on. “Compliance is the science”, per Stan Efferding. A diet you CANNOT stick to is not as good as one you can, irrespective of the 1s and 0s.
I think energy is driving me to cheat. I get so tired and lethargic daily. Also recovery is so much slower, I end up feeling tired waking up the following day in which I had a good workout (needing more sleep).
Like after I take a 20 min walk, I feel so tired, dizzy, and blurry vision until I eat some carbs or sugar.
That’s the weird thing. I’m not really ever hungry unless you hand me food. If it wasn’t for the meal prep each morning before work, I would not eat unless there’s free food on a table like donuts or pizza. I would forget to eat. When I was teen, I would only eat 2 times a day and I was very skinny and lean.
Today was a success, I was able to eat my meal plan and no cheats. I had a great workout. I did have a small moment after my 30 min walk today where I just felt so tired and had blurry vision, it went a way as soon I ate my dinner which was my chicken and quinoa with salt/pepper.
My guy, idk how to say this without sounding like a dick - but 99% chance this is all in your head.
You are not borderline passing out at ~2,400 calories per day - from a brisk walk. But if you convince yourself that you are so low energy that you can’t do basic human functions like walking, while still having ample stores of body fat and not a ton of muscle to fuel… then I’m sure any level of activity is much harder.
As a side note, your choices of diet foods do not look like someone who wants to look like a bodybuilder. Your only ‘natural’ protein sources are:
1 egg
4oz chicken breast
1 can of tuna
1cup greek yogurt
In the kindest way possible, what the fuck?
You could do the same with just eating protein. Like the kind that comes from animals, not a plastic container.
2lbs of lean meat, weighed raw, is about 200g protein. You’ll probably find that this is far more filling than a protein shake (or 3).
*on the off chance you are severely hypoglycemic, you will also probably find that you have less hypoglycemic events as you’ve described. I found my hypoglycemia occurrences to reduce drastically once I lowered carbs/fats and ran primarily animal proteins.
I also think this is either bouts of hypotension (which is what it sounds more like to me) or hypoglycemia. Do you monitor either blood sugar or blood pressure?
“My doctor says that I have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the early stage which can be reversed and cured. I’m currently bulking for the last 6 months. I’m only 5’9. My weight right now is 150 lbs with 20% body fat. My abdomen is swollen.”
It’s not in my head. I can’t just imagine dizziness and lethargy after a walk. Then only for it to go away when I eat any kind of carbs like rice, whole grain bread, or quinoa.
What’s wrong with this? I got the meal plan from my fitness coach. The only thing I changed was Greek yogurt part (it was another 4oz of chicken again at night). Also, what’s wrong with variety? The macros still comes out to 200g of protein total by end of day. Tuna has healthy fat and protein, Whey protein is quick protein for a person who works 10 hour a day desk job w/ overtime.