Correct info for diet????

SMlFFY

SMlFFY

SMlFFY

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Hi guys.
Was wondering how to work out what % of carbs, protein, good fats etc... Is required for a good diet.
My diet consists of ATM
B/fast- 2 brown bread, beans, 2 x hash browns, diet coke(lol)
Lunch- tuna sandwich, side salad, diet coke
Tea. - cooked by my beautiful wife and could be anything from stir fry to chicken pasta to peppercorn steak with cooked veg.

I do karate 2 times a week 90mins each.
I'm 40 and 15.7st.

I know my diet needs changing, And I do have access to 100kg free weights in my garage.
But unsure of how to start?
 
I'd say cut down on the carb intake a bit, you have a lot there compared to Good fats and protein. You don't want to drop your calorie intake down loads as you risk slowing metabolism which would be detremental to your fat loss goals. So keep calories around 1.8 - 2.2k and try work out the best level to keep loosing fat but so your not sleepy all the time. Also I'd atleast split my ratios to 30/40/30 = Carbs/Protein/Healthy fats.

Take a good look at your breakfast, perhaps take out the hash browns / a slice of bread and throw in a few eggs? scrambled, poached however you have them or even a few sasauges / bacon. Just to increase your protein uptake a bit and lower the carbs.

Lunch looks alright, perhaps throw in some a bit of mixed nuts? (30 - 50g's) just to get some fats into your diet.

Tea looks good, a nice bit of everything just try to make sure you have a source of protein in it.

As for diet coke, try to cut back and eventually come off it. Although its low calories and has some caffeine its just fizzy and should be replaced with some water aka Tap Water (its also cheaper than coke).

Thats just my input to improving it slightly, it increases your fat and protein intake while decreasing your carbs a bit.
 
D'oh as usual I don't put enough info into post.
Well I'm well overweight for my height 5"9.
Saying words like carbs and protein means bugger all to me. Couldn't tell you which is which to be honest.
Any decent websites to get the info off?
I'm after reducing my bodyfat and increasing muscle mass. To be fitter overall as well.
I started running this time last year(but stopped after holiday, motivation is my biggest problem I think).
I know I could run/weight train before work 8-4 work is and could also do it tue,thu,fri,sat & sun if anyone has a decent routine.
 
SMlFFY said:
Hi guys.
Was wondering how to work out what % of carbs, protein, good fats etc... Is required for a good diet.
My diet consists of ATM
B/fast- 2 brown bread, beans, 2 x hash browns, diet coke(lol)
Lunch- tuna sandwich, side salad, diet coke
Tea. - cooked by my beautiful wife and could be anything from stir fry to chicken pasta to peppercorn steak with cooked veg.

I do karate 2 times a week 90mins each.
I'm 40 and 15.7st.

I know my diet needs changing, And I do have access to 100kg free weights in my garage.
But unsure of how to start?
Click to expand...

depends on goals like aforementioned


first you got to work out if you want to cut or bulk up
but imo 50% carbs - 20/30 fat/protein or protein/fat
don't become too fixated just have a decent diet as a starting point first.

ditch the karate and take up a real martial arts like MT + BJJ :)
 
SMlFFY said:
Hi guys.
Was wondering how to work out what % of carbs, protein, good fats etc... Is required for a good diet.
My diet consists of ATM
B/fast- 2 brown bread, beans, 2 x hash browns, diet coke(lol)
Lunch- tuna sandwich, side salad, diet coke
Tea. - cooked by my beautiful wife and could be anything from stir fry to chicken pasta to peppercorn steak with cooked veg.

I do karate 2 times a week 90mins each.
I'm 40 and 15.7st.

I know my diet needs changing, And I do have access to 100kg free weights in my garage.
But unsure of how to start?
Click to expand...

Ok, will initial fat loss in mind:

Breakfast
Your current one is actually horrible for fat loss :D
Things you could try: 4+ eggs on brown toast with bacon, smoked mackerel on toast, etc. Aim for at least 30g of protein, read the packets if you don't know what this means! The mistake you're currently making is that the foods you are choosing are very high in carbs and low in protein.

Lunch
Not so bad, but again you need to shift your bias more towards protein and fat than carbohydrates. Try, at the very least to make sure you have brown bread. You actually won't be getting a great deal of protein from a tuna sandwich though...

Dinner
Don't worry about changing this.


In general, avoid soft drinks, even diet ones aren't great. Go for low-ish carbs and high protein and fat. Snack on nuts if you get hungry, but don't go overboard as they're quite calorific.
 
Breakfast is a carb fest, with some sugar and fat thrown in.
Hash browns (deep fried as the should be or oven cooked/grilled)?
 
OP said he doesn't know the difference between carbs, protein and fats. Perhaps an explanation of which foods fall into which category would help.
 
Carbohydrates are what your granny might have called starches. They main carbs are anything made from grains (bread, pasta, rice) and potato. Sugar is also a carb.

Protein comes mostly from animal products, any meat, dairy, eggs and stuff will have protein as a major part with some fat too. You can get protein from some plant products but unless you are a vegetarian you shouldn't worry to much about this atm.

Fats are found in most things really. Nuts, meat, diary etc all have fat in them. There is added fat in a lot of things too and cooking things in fats (oils and things) adds fat into stuff. Fat isn't all bad like you'll hear from a lot of people that follow a low fat high carb diet.
 
Thanks for all the input fellas.
So starting after easter weekend
B/fast -2 x scrambled eggs, 2 x brown bread, 500ml water.
Dinner-tuna sandwich(brown bread),low fat yoghurt, banana. 500ml water
Tea. -to be kept the same. any drinks to be water.
Exercise- karate mon & wed
Tue-thu-fri 3-5km run + a weight routine.
Any ideas on the best routine for a novice, as use said I have 100kg barbel set plus a decent treadmill in the garage.
Thanks 
 
Last edited:
I suggested 4 eggs for a reason :)
Getting 30g of protein or more at breakfast kick starts your metabolism. 2xbrown bread is a little high in terms of carbs, especially in terms of comparing your daily totals.

Why have you included a low fat yoghurt at lunch? Low fat probably means they've put other stuff in to compensate, and low fat isn't the way to go anyway. As I mentioned previously, while not being bad, a tuna sandwich isn't very balanced for your needs. Home made chicken pittas would be my choice here so I could control what's in them (i.e. a lot of chicken). There are not many foods that you should actively focus on trying to eat more of when trying to lose weight, but meat is one of them.

For your evening meal it would be worth mentioning your goals to your wife, and requesting that she aimed reduce carbs slightly while keeping protein and fat high. For example, if she wanted to cook a pasta dish, she could use brown pasta and use less of it and then have more meat. Or reduce the size of any potato portion.

It might be good for you to work out how many calories you eat in a day and how much protein, carbohydrate and fat you consume. Look at the nutritional info on packets and work this out, googling can work well too. I suspect you still are having too much in the way of carbs and not enough protein.

In terms of a weights routine, first we need to know what you have to work with. Do you have a rack, or just a bench?
 
Ok, only said 2 eggs as I thought 4 was being greedy lol. Could easily ask for chicken at lunch with a salad.
Low fat yoghurt is available, so thought I was being good .
At the moment I have a treadmill and a basic multigym, but I'm trying to get rid of the gym and replace with a weight bench to use with a 100kg barbell set I have aquired.
 
If you can afford a bench and a rack you will be able to do everything you need. Ideally you should be squatting. For a good general routine check the bodybuilding sticky.

Nope, low fat yoghurt would go in the "best to avoid if possible" column. 4 eggs is completely fine, and it would actually be far better if you could have a big chicken salad (lots of chicken) for lunch.
 
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