Can someone check my plan please?
Discussion
Hello Everyone,
I have recently embarked on a 'diet', I am following a high protein; medium fat; low carb plan.
A little bit of background: I am 21, 6ft5, and weigh I think around 16/17 stone. I'm not overly bothered about weight, I know I'm not obese in practise and all my fat is on my belly.
My goal ultimately is too go on a bulk in the New Year.
Short-term goal: to lose the belly and get my fitness up. I aim to do this mainly with weight training, with cardio once a week at the moment, increasing to twice per week soon. (This is due to current commitments).
The diet:
Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled.
Lunch: One sandwich with gouda cheese and sliced meat, usually salami or chorizo. And a small handful of unsalted cashew nuts.
Tea: Either;
-Mince with mushrooms and onion.
-Chorizo ring with sliced cheese and gherkins.
-Oven baked on its own chicken(just seasoned - no skin) with gherkins.(I like gherkins!)
-Smoked salmon and coleslaw.
-Fish and veg.
Does this sound okay for my short term goal? Bar potatoes, what other vegetables are high in carbs?
Exercise details I will post in the near-future on a new thread, hopefully with some good before and after pictures! (That will be the bulking thread)
Due to limited time and equipment, this is what I am doing at the moment. (Vague at the current time - sorry will update this thread soon with regard to the cutting exercises.)
Monday - Chest and triceps.
Tuesday - Rest - will be cardio like swimming or cycling soon.
Wednesday - Back and biceps - I tend to do this at the moment with squats as well this day, is this bad?
Thursday - Rest.
Friday - Cycling roughly 3-5 miles to start with, at a decent pace.
When I have the time/equipment I will swap the cardio to Thursday, and have the leg work on Friday.
Sorry for the essay people, been looking to do this for a while, so having a journal/information hub is a good push for me to get on with it, and carry on to achieve my goals.
So, is this a good or bad plan? What can I improve diet and exercise wise? Shall I add and/or take anything out?
Thanks in advance.
PS: OrdinaryChap - your 2 threads were the final inspirational push I needed to crack on and get this started with.
I have recently embarked on a 'diet', I am following a high protein; medium fat; low carb plan.
A little bit of background: I am 21, 6ft5, and weigh I think around 16/17 stone. I'm not overly bothered about weight, I know I'm not obese in practise and all my fat is on my belly.
My goal ultimately is too go on a bulk in the New Year.
Short-term goal: to lose the belly and get my fitness up. I aim to do this mainly with weight training, with cardio once a week at the moment, increasing to twice per week soon. (This is due to current commitments).
The diet:
Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled.
Lunch: One sandwich with gouda cheese and sliced meat, usually salami or chorizo. And a small handful of unsalted cashew nuts.
Tea: Either;
-Mince with mushrooms and onion.
-Chorizo ring with sliced cheese and gherkins.
-Oven baked on its own chicken(just seasoned - no skin) with gherkins.(I like gherkins!)
-Smoked salmon and coleslaw.
-Fish and veg.
Does this sound okay for my short term goal? Bar potatoes, what other vegetables are high in carbs?
Exercise details I will post in the near-future on a new thread, hopefully with some good before and after pictures! (That will be the bulking thread)
Due to limited time and equipment, this is what I am doing at the moment. (Vague at the current time - sorry will update this thread soon with regard to the cutting exercises.)
Monday - Chest and triceps.
Tuesday - Rest - will be cardio like swimming or cycling soon.
Wednesday - Back and biceps - I tend to do this at the moment with squats as well this day, is this bad?
Thursday - Rest.
Friday - Cycling roughly 3-5 miles to start with, at a decent pace.
When I have the time/equipment I will swap the cardio to Thursday, and have the leg work on Friday.
Sorry for the essay people, been looking to do this for a while, so having a journal/information hub is a good push for me to get on with it, and carry on to achieve my goals.
So, is this a good or bad plan? What can I improve diet and exercise wise? Shall I add and/or take anything out?
Thanks in advance.
PS: OrdinaryChap - your 2 threads were the final inspirational push I needed to crack on and get this started with.
Thanks for the kind words, I just wanted to show to everyone what is possible with a little bit of dedication and a smart training program/diet!
If you can only do two or three days a week I'd recommend you consider Rippetoe Starting Strength as a program to work too.
Also make sure you give your legs some serious attention since they represent 50% of your body and are vital for muscle building. I don't know any serious lifter who doesn't give their legs a decent weights workout and the squat you mention is in my top 3 lifts (Squat, deadlift and Bench press).
Your diet doesn't look bad and it's probably a good place to start. I always suggest folk stick to any diet plan for a minimum of 2 months and any training plan for a longer period since it often takes the body a while to adjust and I do see far too many people chopping and changing each month which means they really don't find out what works for them or not.
With your diet, do you know how many calories that is vs how many you need?
If not I'd start here; http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and then use the Harris Benedict equation to understand how many calories you need.
Diet is about 75% of the end result. It's one of those things that on the face of it seems to be manageable but if you don't get it right then you'll most likely not see the results of your hard work.
If you need any help or want to chat feel free to PM me or post here!
Lee
If you can only do two or three days a week I'd recommend you consider Rippetoe Starting Strength as a program to work too.
Also make sure you give your legs some serious attention since they represent 50% of your body and are vital for muscle building. I don't know any serious lifter who doesn't give their legs a decent weights workout and the squat you mention is in my top 3 lifts (Squat, deadlift and Bench press).
Your diet doesn't look bad and it's probably a good place to start. I always suggest folk stick to any diet plan for a minimum of 2 months and any training plan for a longer period since it often takes the body a while to adjust and I do see far too many people chopping and changing each month which means they really don't find out what works for them or not.
With your diet, do you know how many calories that is vs how many you need?
If not I'd start here; http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and then use the Harris Benedict equation to understand how many calories you need.
Diet is about 75% of the end result. It's one of those things that on the face of it seems to be manageable but if you don't get it right then you'll most likely not see the results of your hard work.
If you need any help or want to chat feel free to PM me or post here!
Lee
NoVetec said:
The diet:
Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled.
Lunch: One sandwich with gouda cheese and sliced meat, usually salami or chorizo. And a small handful of unsalted cashew nuts.
Tea: Either;
-Mince with mushrooms and onion.
-Chorizo ring with sliced cheese and gherkins.
-Oven baked on its own chicken(just seasoned - no skin) with gherkins.(I like gherkins!)
-Smoked salmon and coleslaw.
-Fish and veg.
Does this sound okay for my short term goal? Bar potatoes, what other vegetables are high in carbs?
Diet: Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled.
Lunch: One sandwich with gouda cheese and sliced meat, usually salami or chorizo. And a small handful of unsalted cashew nuts.
Tea: Either;
-Mince with mushrooms and onion.
-Chorizo ring with sliced cheese and gherkins.
-Oven baked on its own chicken(just seasoned - no skin) with gherkins.(I like gherkins!)
-Smoked salmon and coleslaw.
-Fish and veg.
Does this sound okay for my short term goal? Bar potatoes, what other vegetables are high in carbs?
That looks like quite a high sat fat diet.
Try dropping the cheese, the high sat fat red meats, replace 2 eggs with 1 egg and 1 egg white, or even 1 egg with 2 egg whites. Egg is the highest quality protein you can eat from food and is the baseline for the Biological Value index (so as such only Whey and Amino Acids have a higher BV).
Mince, bad
Chorzio (yes?), bad
Salami, bad
Cheese (any), bad
Coleslaw = Mayonaise, bad
Although high in protein your sat fat count may be going way over 20g per day GDA. Have a look at the food labels and count them up, you may be surprised, or even shocked... Easy fix, cut red meat altogether and replace with chicken/turkey/fish(any).
Potatoes are not Veg and do not count toward your 5 a day. They are (good) starchy carbs, but if you want to use those carbs instead of store them, you want to eat the spuds about 4 hours before exercise.
Most veg has low glycemic carbs, wonder foods like Broccoli (high vit C too), Carrots (high vit A), any green leafy veg. The darker green and leafier the better. It's essentially ok to eat these without concern for moderation. Unfortunately, imo, they all taste like s
t. 
Also, steam, boil, grill, bake food, in that order of goodness.
Add nuts - brazils, walnuts, almonds - and beans to your diet.
Finally your only source of Omega 3 EFA in that diet is Salmon and Egg yolk. You need Omega 3 EFA for muscle building. Try and up it, or eat some Salmon almost every day, but not the egg yolk (egg white is pure protien no Omega 3 EFA)
If you're trying to invoke Ketosis you need to cut carbs almost entirely because most high protein foods also have carbs in them...
Exercise:
Cardio, 3 times a week for 30 mins in total (e.g. 2x15mins), minimum. Ideally 5 times a week, 60 mins in one CV session. If you start running out of carbs (feel knackered!), target a 120bpm max CV session.
Thanks for the replies guys.
Lee - Will check out the Rippetoe Starting Strength programme early next week, and I will endeavor to do a proper leg day as soon as possible. Can anyone recommend a bench with a decent leg extension? I'm looking ideally to do all my weights at home. At present I have a basic bench, with a bar bell and dumbbell, but I do have a fair variety of weights for the time being. I am going to buy a tricep bar as well pretty soon.
mattikake - I shall buy a steamer in the next week or so, I've already included more vegetables in my diet, and also swapped the coleslaw for some veg. The sliced meats in my sandwiches aren't too bad in saturated fat, but I have swapped some of the red meat for tuna instead.
I have a week off coming up, so I will do two days of decent cardio, then after that do the best to accomodate it alongside work. The two weights days I mentioned will always be done.
I've found a brand of bread - Burgen - if anyone's interested - that has 10.9g of carbs per slice compared to the average of 20g or so from the main brands. Overall, I'm taking a maximum of 30g of starchy carbs, and no more roughly 5g of sugar carbs - coming from the veg and other general foods. I'll see how this goes for two months - as long as I take in no processed st I feel this is a good start.
I aim to lower this intake within a month by having a tuna/ham salad at lunch, as opposed to the sandwich. I'll have the nuts in addition, but mainly brazil nuts and peacans.
Cheers again for the much appreciated replies.
Lee - Will check out the Rippetoe Starting Strength programme early next week, and I will endeavor to do a proper leg day as soon as possible. Can anyone recommend a bench with a decent leg extension? I'm looking ideally to do all my weights at home. At present I have a basic bench, with a bar bell and dumbbell, but I do have a fair variety of weights for the time being. I am going to buy a tricep bar as well pretty soon.
mattikake - I shall buy a steamer in the next week or so, I've already included more vegetables in my diet, and also swapped the coleslaw for some veg. The sliced meats in my sandwiches aren't too bad in saturated fat, but I have swapped some of the red meat for tuna instead.
I have a week off coming up, so I will do two days of decent cardio, then after that do the best to accomodate it alongside work. The two weights days I mentioned will always be done.
I've found a brand of bread - Burgen - if anyone's interested - that has 10.9g of carbs per slice compared to the average of 20g or so from the main brands. Overall, I'm taking a maximum of 30g of starchy carbs, and no more roughly 5g of sugar carbs - coming from the veg and other general foods. I'll see how this goes for two months - as long as I take in no processed s
t I feel this is a good start.I aim to lower this intake within a month by having a tuna/ham salad at lunch, as opposed to the sandwich. I'll have the nuts in addition, but mainly brazil nuts and peacans.
Cheers again for the much appreciated replies.
mattikake said:
Try dropping the cheese, the high sat fat red meats, replace 2 eggs with 1 egg and 1 egg white, or even 1 egg with 2 egg whites. Egg is the highest quality protein you can eat from food and is the baseline for the Biological Value index (so as such only Whey and Amino Acids have a higher BV).
I thought this egg yolk myth was debunked a while ago. I normally eat around 6-8 whole eggs per day and I have a mate who eats 12 when cutting and 24 when bulking.NoVetec said:
Thanks for the replies guys.
Lee - Will check out the Rippetoe Starting Strength programme early next week, and I will endeavor to do a proper leg day as soon as possible. Can anyone recommend a bench with a decent leg extension? I'm looking ideally to do all my weights at home. At present I have a basic bench, with a bar bell and dumbbell, but I do have a fair variety of weights for the time being. I am going to buy a tricep bar as well pretty soon.
mattikake - I shall buy a steamer in the next week or so, I've already included more vegetables in my diet, and also swapped the coleslaw for some veg. The sliced meats in my sandwiches aren't too bad in saturated fat, but I have swapped some of the red meat for tuna instead.
I have a week off coming up, so I will do two days of decent cardio, then after that do the best to accomodate it alongside work. The two weights days I mentioned will always be done.
I've found a brand of bread - Burgen - if anyone's interested - that has 10.9g of carbs per slice compared to the average of 20g or so from the main brands. Overall, I'm taking a maximum of 30g of starchy carbs, and no more roughly 5g of sugar carbs - coming from the veg and other general foods. I'll see how this goes for two months - as long as I take in no processed st I feel this is a good start.
I aim to lower this intake within a month by having a tuna/ham salad at lunch, as opposed to the sandwich. I'll have the nuts in addition, but mainly brazil nuts and peacans.
Cheers again for the much appreciated replies.
To be honest, the squat, deadlift and lunges would cover most of the leg exercises. Lee - Will check out the Rippetoe Starting Strength programme early next week, and I will endeavor to do a proper leg day as soon as possible. Can anyone recommend a bench with a decent leg extension? I'm looking ideally to do all my weights at home. At present I have a basic bench, with a bar bell and dumbbell, but I do have a fair variety of weights for the time being. I am going to buy a tricep bar as well pretty soon.
mattikake - I shall buy a steamer in the next week or so, I've already included more vegetables in my diet, and also swapped the coleslaw for some veg. The sliced meats in my sandwiches aren't too bad in saturated fat, but I have swapped some of the red meat for tuna instead.
I have a week off coming up, so I will do two days of decent cardio, then after that do the best to accomodate it alongside work. The two weights days I mentioned will always be done.
I've found a brand of bread - Burgen - if anyone's interested - that has 10.9g of carbs per slice compared to the average of 20g or so from the main brands. Overall, I'm taking a maximum of 30g of starchy carbs, and no more roughly 5g of sugar carbs - coming from the veg and other general foods. I'll see how this goes for two months - as long as I take in no processed s
t I feel this is a good start.I aim to lower this intake within a month by having a tuna/ham salad at lunch, as opposed to the sandwich. I'll have the nuts in addition, but mainly brazil nuts and peacans.
Cheers again for the much appreciated replies.
Please just be careful with form if you're not used to doing them, I've been training a few chaps and had them with minimal weight on the bar doing these exercises for the first couple of weeks just so their muscles could learn the movements before even considering adding any weight.
As for diet, I'd start with your plan, see how you go then tune it up as you go along. I don't think you need to go for your perfect diet straight away but monitor weight loss and keep tightening it up as required.
Lee
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