Hey man I tire to cut weight too. I was 202 and dropped to 190 in a week an a half the problem was though that I felt half dead. I had no energy at all an was cranky all the time. Cut carbs, but do it slow you can get carbs from vegtables, but a small slice of wheat bread wont hurt. Listen to your bodybody bro. You should try HIIT workout and look up a CKD deit. You will be hungery at first, but start slow if you get crazy hungery eat some cottage cheese and slow cut away all the extra food you dont need if you do it to quick your body will freak out. Hope this helped.

Whole grains actually wouldn't be a bad thing. if you ate some whole grain bread or oatmeal in the morning in addition to your diet you already have, it would still be low carb, but they would be good carbs. You would have a bit more energy throughout the day, and still cut weight. maybe not as fast, but if you do it too fast your body will not like it and you will get results like extreme tiredness and hunger.

You need some carbs in your diet for healthy brain function I know. Maybe look into CKD diet. Hope it helps.

Thanks for responding! I've been reading up on the Cyclic Ketogenic Diet and it's very clear on the workout regiment but not the kind of foods you can eat in this plan. It says to carb load 1-2 days a week (70% of your calories be carbs), then 5-6 days of high protein, high fat, and low carbs. For anyone who's followed this CKD diet, any ideas on good meal plans to follow this diet plan?

Try eating some cottage cheese before bed. That's what I eat before bed about half a cup of fat free cottage cheese and some peanut butter and almonds. The cottage cheese is casein protein which is slower digesting to feed your muscles as you slumber. The peanut butter will help keep you full as well and the almonds are full of healthy fats and again will help you feel fuller longer. Hope that helps.

cottage cheese is great. if you have the money, they make casein protein shakes and things like that which supply you with good protein before bed

like everybody is saying is right take some cottage cheese it will help you feed your muscle during your sleep.. and you can get a protein the GNC brand sold one is call PM Protein is very good per serving you get 40 grams of fast and slow protein and haves 2 grams of glutamine to make your muscle recover faster..

I agree also with the cottage cheese, but what it may come down to is your meals throughout the day, your dinner and bedtime snack may be spaced to far apart so a small meal like cottage cheese or tuna wont cut it. i would like to know what your daily diet is like so i can get more insight.

Thx guys I appreciate the answers I'll give the cheese a shot

Hey Pump, my diet right now isn't great, I'm jus starting college so I'm in a dorm and have yet to really get back into the routine of hitting the gym. But I eat two times a day in the cafe one meal at morning one at night. What they serve varies so it's fought to get good stuff. Then usually a tuna or pb n j sandwich. So my diet isn't great but I'm working on it

Buy some fiber one and protein bars in bulk. Also mix up a protein shake with oats at breakfast.
Eat your bars for between class meals during your day and dont eat typical college food for dinner...
Also avoid drinking, i know it can be tough in school but its to your benefit and you will see the difference in the mirror.

hard boiled eggs and tuna are good choices too that are easy to make

Thanks fellas.

Any other suggestions for lunch and dinner?

My grocery list (depends on cut or bulk) consists of the following staples that are quick and store well in a dorm:

Canned Albacore tuna in water
Cottage cheese
Low carb wraps
natural peanut butter
skim milk
chicken breasts(no bone or skin)
Sliced Turkey (low salt)
Whole grain bread
Whole natural almonds

All of this stuff is great for your muscle building arsenal and school schedule friendly.

Also if you have time, use the kitchen on your floor (if you have one) to your advantage. Buy a pound or so of lean ground beef, ground turkey, etc. Get a skillet, cook the meat thoroughly, put it in a Ziploc container, put it in the fridge, and presto. A nice lean meat that is ready whenever you need it.

-AP

for kids in school these few things are perfect for a healthy quick meal/snack
1. canned tuna
2. canned chicken
3. meal replacement shake
4.fruit and unsalted almonds
5. rice cakes with turkey.

this is just a few of the many posibilities

It isn't 100% necessary, but if you are just starting the CKD, then it can be beneficial to skip the first weekend refeed to ensure you've gone into ketosis.

You shouldn't have any problems with this, but if you do, a fiber supplement can help.

-AP

Fiber all the way, that is my personal problem. I got some chewable fiber tabs and every day i get 1 to 2 with a meal depanding when i eat the most protein espically from meat. I aslo drink a green tea every two days and that regulates my system perfect.

The majority of your carbs should come from complex carbs.

The only time you really want simple carbs is pre and post workout. Some even prefer to limit the simple carbs even lower and reserve them post workout for the insulin SPIKE.

-AP

Well, there's good and bad with dates. Dates have a ton of fiber, which is good. That keeps you feeling fuller longer, and also cleans your digestive track, so you lose some weight just from the fiber that is in dates.

The problem is, they also contain a fairly high amount of sugar.

Now there's some debate going on now as to if natural fruit sugars are good or bad for weight loss. The topic is interesting, because they've found that if you eat blueberries which are loaded with anti oxidants & are still high in sugar, they are actually help you lose wight, and the sugar isn't processed in the same manner that processed sugars are, so some weight loss specialists are actually claiming that it's not about carbs, but it's actually about processed carbs to natural carbs. Which means you can eat as many natural carbs as you want, just skip the processed carbs and you are fine.

I eat a very high amount of fiber a day, I try to load it, as I find it keeps my extremely healthy, and my energy levels high if I do. Part of that fiber intake is dates, not a large portion.

Still, if you're on a CKD or atkins or low carb diet, it's best to skip it while dieting, and then eat the dates when you're on your regular food cycles.

Also, too much of anything can be bad, so eat them in moderation anyway, just to be safe.

1. The fastest way is to fix your diet, do HIIT style cardio, and lift weights intensely. You can't spot burn bodyfat, so just going for overall fat loss is what you have to do. Supplements come in after these steps have been taken.

2. Generally, 5 days of low carb and 2 days carb refeed. When you first start, you may have to skip the first re-feed to get into ketosis.

-AP

Oh Petey, that's new information....why didn't you tell me I had to skip my first refeed. I slammed the carbs my first weekend.....arrrggghhhh....

Maybe you should write a little article for the site about CKD, because all the information posted is good, but the tips like that are missing.

Is Plyometrics considered a HIIT style cardio?

work out

do what garlick and petey said and you should also diversify your chest workouts. i trained one of my friends who had a slight "man boob" problem. i had him do all chest machines on one of his chest days, all barbell workouts on another chest day, and all dumbells on another chest day. i had him do high reps, between 15 and 20 reps. these workouts will workout every aspect of your chest and switching up the routines like i mentioned keeps your chest from getting use to the workout and the high reps will burn your chest up better. in about 2 months, my friends man boobs were mostly gone and he started strength training his chest with me. if you havent done a chest routine like that you should give it a shot.

I have a friend that was always trying to get the fat off of his chest. he did higher reps and lower weight, but also when he worked chest day he did it first thing in the morning before he ate anything. This way you burn more fat instead of the calories you consumed earlier in the day.

He used a pre-workout supplement for the energy to do it, because it's hard to work out that early. That was his theory, and i have to say it worked pretty well for him.

Hey Petey, when you said skip the first refeed...do you mean the whole cycle or just the first day of refeed? Also, when consuming so much protein in on the CKD plan, will there be any problems with taking bowel movements?

Yes, skip the first refeed altogether when you are starting, otherwise it may be very difficult to get into ketosis. You shouldn't have much of an issue, but if you do, a fiber supplement can help.

-AP

I agree, there are alot of mixed feelings when it comes to carbs. In the end the total carbs you intake and kinds of carbs you eat are dependent on your goals. If you want to gain pure strength with no regard for how much fat you gain, then complex carbs at all meals with simple carbs post workout is what you will need.
You said you want to gain strength but not fat so i would suggest eating your complex carbs (300g daily) in the morning and early afternoon. Consume approximately 50g carbs (prefferably dextrose) with your post workout protein drink and then shut off carb consumption for the rest of the day because you will certainly not burn off these extra carbs and they will more than likely be turned into fat.
So save the pastas for lunch and have a good carb-lean dinner to keep muscle synthesis at a max and fat deposits at a minimum. This is kind of like micro-carb-cycling throughout the day for the best body composition.

what is a good example of dextrose you can consume post workout?

http://www.BodyBuilding.com/store/now/dex.html

just add 2 tsp to your whey protein and its a tad sweeter and will instantly saturate your muscles with glycogen since this absorbs much faster than sugar or sucrose.
Gatorade powder (not premade) also has fast absorbing fructose but I like the idea of adding sweetness to my protein as well as a very fast absorbing carbohydrate source.

wut brand do u have? i have GNC tasteless and i do one heaping teaspoon in about 4 ounces of water and pound it then drink more water.

I think you asked if Protein was acidic, and it's actually not. Most proteins are actually more of a base, so they have a negative acidity, so they work well with creatines.

The water that you mix with the protein will still break it down, but not as quickly than if it was in just straight water.

I had the GNC unflavored kind, and also the EAS unflavored kind. They were both the same thing and sick in water. At first i resorted to orange or grape juice, then someone told me not to do that and use gatorade instead, so i did that. Im actually in an off cycle right now though.

garlick, you are confusing the hell out of me. you said water was the best thing but now a protein shake is?

Water is the most PH stable fluid to mix your creatine mono in. What Garlick is saying guys is that protein will not have an adverse effect on the creatine mono that you are taking in.

and if you dont like the taste of the powder, it does come in pill/capsule form. I would also recommend to anyone who hasnt already tried it, to take a PH buffered creatine like Kre Alkalyn, which doesnt break down into creatinine in acidic conditions like creatine mono would. Correct Garlick?

tru adam, im gettin kre alkalyn after i finish my mono. its almost the same price and is a better creatine. too bad i baught my mono before i joined this site haha.

Hey Adam, you're absolutely right. The PH buffer keeps it from breaking down to Creatinine.

No I said Protein is a base.

Sorry, I know chemistry can be hard to understand, but when a substance has no PH level (water) it doesn't interact as easily with other substances.

When it has either a base (-) PH level or an acidic (+) PH level, then it interacts with other substances.

Protein is a base, but it's a very light base. So it's PH level is like -2.

Gatorade is like +6 or 7, with 10 being the highest.

Now, most of our water has a slight acidity to it, because of the additives that most municipalities add to the water to make it drinkable (flouride, magnesium....etc). So most water is like +.5.

So it's still the best substance to mix with Creatine.

If you mix it with your protein shake, you're still going to get some kind of interaction because of it's PH level, but not as much gatorade.

That was all I was saying, is that Protein, while not as good as water, is still not terrible.

It takes approximately 7 minutes for Creatine to break down into Creatinine in water.

In Gatorade it would take about 30 seconds!!!

In Protein, it might take about 4~4.5 minutes.

I hope that's a little clearer.

Thanks a lot for clearing that up garlick

Yes. You do not want to be too high or too low in these areas for obvious reasons but 20-30% over or under in the macro nutrient area is fine as long as your total calories reflect your goals.

Well right now my minimums are calories(2650), protein(189g), fat(245g), and carbs(less than 30g).

Right now I'm eating about calories(1880), protein(209g), fat(112.3g), and carbs(9.1g)

I currently weighing 208 and body fat is at 22%. I'm trying to cut and get my weight to about 185lb. and body fat% under 10%.

Are there any adjustments that I should be making?

well, i know it defys logic but you do want to increase your fat intake in order to lose fat. Your calories are low but they should be in order to lose weight. Your doing great on cutting the carbs down to low levels. What is your activity level to justify your daily calorie requirement?
When i did carb cycling I just made sure i met my protein requirements for the day and let total calories control the rest of my meals which played out well with giving me appropriate levels of dietary fats. Consider taking an EFA supplement which could be very beneficial to you.

Ok, thanks. I am doing the P90x training. I will look into the EFA supplements. Are there any that you can recommend from the GNC store?

Animal Omega is great but its a little too great and the price makes it not worthwhile. Basically any Fish Oil supplement is great and take normally 2 caps with every meal and your set. GNC's brand Fish Oil should suffice and should cost less than competitors.

One more question? Should fats be calculated by grams or mg? I'm not sure if my fat intake is calculated correctly? Are there any other foods that are high in fats but low in carbs?

salmon and bratwurst are two great protein + healthy fat sources with zero carbs. I add mustard to the brats and pepper and lemon to the salmon.
I also make canned tuna with fat free mayo and sometimes raw carrots to pack a crunch. (the fiber in the carrots make the carbs almost neglibible).
Egg whites are great for breakfast along with either canadian bacon or sausage if your still looking for more fats. Lunch can be a grilled or baked skinless chicken breast with cooked broccolli and/or squash, zuchinni etc.

fats should be calculated in grams. 1 gram fat equals 9 calories. But looks like you knew that.

Go to the doctor TODAY. How could you not when you coughed up blood in the morning. You could have a stomach ulcer that has broken open and is infected which could send you realling into toxic shock. You could also have a cancerous tumor which needs immediate attention. Please do not put this off anymore, this is certainly not normal and is certainly NOT caused by creatine or Mass XXX. For your own health see a doctor immediately.

yeah man it could be life or death, see a doctor NOW!

Ok, I absolutely HATE the doctor's office, but stomach pains for a couple years, that is definitely worth a visit.

Coughing up blood, that's an ER visit.

People amaze me.

thanks for the help and it does seem worse then it is when i say cough up blood but i havent been to worried about it because it goes away after i have been awake for about 15 minutes but im going to the doctors tomorrow.

Alright, good man, keep us posted too on your results. Feel free to ask another question when you get back just to update. (wish we had a forum on this site) *hint*

Are you cutting or bulking?

If you are trying to put on mass, eat the whole egg, if you are cutting, go with the whites.

-AP

Petey answered that very well. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

Also, something else to consider, Cholesterol. If you have family history of heart disease, it's best to remove the yolks as they contain all the cholesterol, which eggs are high in.

My understanding is P90x comes with its own nutrition program. I have a friend who's a P90x "guru." He was actually just at the national fitness conference representing P90x in Aneheim, CA, and he always talks about how the diet program they put together with the program is the best for results with the workouts.

The nutritional plan is good, but I'm really trying to cut down my body fat. I heard this diet was really good.

Yogurt is actually very good for you, but look for non-fat and no sugar. One that I highly suggest is the new Activia light, it has no carbs, very little fat, and probiotics that help with digestion and can actually help keep your internal system working.

Protein tends to be a little hard on your lower intestines, no matter what type you take, and probiotics will help with handling the hard to break down molecules.

lol why did he get banned?

Sunflower oil is good fats, so its good to take some of them. They aren't going to hurt you at all. Tuna is high in protein and low in fat, as long as you don't put much mayonnaise in it. Whole wheat bread is good complex carbohydrates, so you're tuna sandwich is definitely considered clean eating.

what time are you working out?

School and work can make it hard to get in good nutrition. make sure you eat every 2-3 hours to keep up you're metabolism.

Pack you're lunch, make maybe a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread, and other complex carbohydrate foods that are convenient are granola bars, or maybe dry cereal.

Protein can be convenient too. Yogurt and protein bars are pretty good way's to make sure you can get you're protein when you're busy. When shopping for protein bars, look at the ingredients and make sure it's not a soy based product, as these can raise you're estrogen levels and does not absorb as good as whey, casein, and other types of protein.

Take out the yokes because they are filled with fat and cholesterol. The whites provide majority of the protein. If you're trying to bulk up, do 4-8 egg whites and two whole eggs.

Well, your diet really doesn't look that bad, so I don't have much to complain about there. My suggestions though are to switch up your diet. Crazy as it sounds, it works. When I cut and have a set diet and my body seems to adapt, I switch it and the results fire up again. Maybe it'll work for you, maybe it wont. Just give it a try.

Cardio wise, I will say that you need to start doing it if you are on a quest to slash down your bodyfat. I hate cardio myself, but the fact is that its effective, so it's worth it. I prefer HIIT because it helps preserve muscle, and because I get a tough cardio session in a lot quicker vs. the traditional steady pace cardio.

-AP

Hey bud, I admire your determination and work ethic. I'm not the diet expert/workout expert like garlick and Pete, but one thing I see right off the bat is you aren't giving your body time to recover and actually build the muscle your working for. If your like I was at that age, I had to force myself to take days off. And then I would wonder where the results were. The other guys oN this site will fully agree with me that you need to give your body time to recover after you workout. Good diet+exercise+good rest= the results you want.

1 & 2:
I highly recommend switching up your splits and believe it or not, rest is your friend when it comes to getting gains. I recommend:
Monday-Legs
Tuesday-Chest/Triceps
Wednesday-Abs/stretch/cardio
Thursday-Shoulders/Traps
Friday-Back/Biceps
Sat & Sun-Rest or light cardio

3. Diet:
This looks pretty dang good, just make sure you're getting enough calories overall, though it sounds like you were. I'd drop the soy beans, though. Also, make sure that your pre bed shake is primarily casein.

Supplements:
You can take more fish oil than that every day.

Overall, the supplement part looks good and I'm glad that you are covering your essentials. Your diet looks great as well. Your training is the main thing that needs an overall.

-AP