Help With My Diet!

Hi, I'm a 28 year old male. I am 6'3 and 245lbs. I'd like to get down to around 215-220lbs. More importantly though I'm would like to complete a 1/2 marathon in April and in theory a full one in October or early next year. I run 3-4 times a week, swim once a week, and participate in a "boot camp" class once a week. I feel comfortable with my work-out plan but am having a hard time adjusting to a new diet. To start the New Year I began keeping a food journal. Unfortunately I simply based my numbers on the Daily Recommended Values on a generic nutrition label. That got me…

Calories: 2000
Fat: 65g
Cholesterol: 300mg
Sodium: 2400mg
Carbohydrates: 300g
Fiber: 35g
Protein: 50 g

Obviously this varies greatly from what you recommend. Now, I’ve only been doing this a week, but this is what I’ve noticed. I’ve been coming in super low on my calories even when I’m only shooting for 2000. Also, my carbohydrates have only been averaging around 150g per day, which also seems fairly low. On the flip side, my cholesterol has been pretty high (400+mg/day) and my protein intake has been around 100+g per day. (Which is actually closer to what you recommend).

Here’s my problem. I can calculate my more realistic calorie/fat/protein goals from your chart, but could you let me know how the other numbers should look? Also, your plan calls for much higher levels of calories and carbs then I have been achieving. How can I increase my caloric intake without raising everything else? I’ve included an example of one of my days. This represents a fairly normal eating day for me. Is cottage cheese good for you? I love it but it seems to contain a lot of fat and a huge amount of sodium, though I don’t know how you feel about sodium.

Thanks for all your help, I feel like I’m on the right track, it just needs a little tweaking.

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Hey bud!

I'm really impressed with your regimen and how dedicated you are to keeping track of what exactly you're eating. Way to go!! I hope others will take your example!! It's not really that hard once you have a system in place and a few weeks under your belt. Congrats! Be assured that you ARE heading in the right direction.

So I have a few suggestions for you!

1) You definitely need to increase your caloric intake. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but you're not eating enough calories to even maintain your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is basically what keeps your body working and functioning (that is, without exercise!). This is especially important if you're planning on marathon training. Let's do a little number crunching...

This is the simplest formula that I know to estimate your BMR and determine how many calories you're burning without exercising. Remember it isn't PERFECT because it doesn't really take into account an active/sedentary lifestyle. This calculation will represent an individual with average daily activity.

So, the first thing to do is multiple your weight by 10. Then, you take this number and multiply it by 0.2 (this means you burn about 20% of your daily caloric intake simply by daily activities--an average). Add these 2 numbers together, and you have an estimated number of calories burned daily WITHOUT training....so in your case....

245lbs x 10 = 2450 Cal

2450 Cal x 0.2 = 490 Cal

2450 Cal + 490 Cal = 2940 Cal

So, in order to maintain your weight, without exercising, you would need to take in 2940 Calorie. If you're training, you can add Calories to compensate (i.e. if you jog for 30 min/day, you can probably add about 400 calories to your BMR).

In your situation, I'm guessing you're feeling pretty exhausted at the end of every day with your 1300 Cal/day. A rule I usually use is to take in about 85% of your BMR + training in order to lose weight. So let's say you jog 30 min/day and add 400 Cal to your BMR...that gives you 3340 Calories to support your daily activities.

3340 x 0.85 = 2840 Calories

In order to lose weight safely, effectively and comfortably, you should probably should for around 2800 Calories/day.

2) Try strategic eating. This is slightly more advanced, but I think it works wonders and makes a big difference. What I tend to do is eat more calories in the beginning of the day and taper off towards the end of the day. This, along with eating more meals/day should do the diet trick for you (as far as total calories).

Let's say you eat 5 meals/day...

2800 Cal / 5 meals = 560 Cal per meal

This is a trick that not many people are aware of...most people would tend to just eat 560 Cal/meal all day long. In your case, I would suggest increasing the Calorie load in the morning, and decreasing the Calorie load at night. For example...

Meal 1 -- 560 Meal 2 -- 560 Meal 3 -- 560 Meal 4 -- 560 Meal 5 -- 560

Meal 1 -- 760 Meal 2 -- 660 Meal 3 -- 560 Meal 4 -- 460 Meal 5 -- 360

Why, you ask? Well, what this plan does is rev up your metabolism in the morning and tones it down at night. The result? Prevention of fat-storing while you're sleeping and promotion of fat burning during the day time.

The same concept applies for your carbs, proteins and fats. Generally, you'll want to increase the carb load in the morning and decrease it throughout the day. On the contrary, I would increase the protein at night and decrease protein in the morning. This will promote muscle repair/growth during sleep.

So, in the same way that I separated the Calories (in the table above), you can adjust the protein and carbs (the fat can remain the same throughout the day...after all, you want stuff to taste good right?!)

To recap, high Calories, high carbs and low protein in the morning. Lower Calories, lower carbs and higher protein in the evening. Remember that 50% of your calories should come from carbs, 30% from protein and 20% from fat. You can adjust these numbers to suit your goals...but I think this is at least a good starting point for you. With a lot of cardio work (such as marathon training), you can probably increase the carbs to 60 or 70% and decrease the fat and protein accordingly.

Also, remember that 1 g of protein is equal to 4 Calories. One gram of carbs is equal to 4 Calories. One gram of fat is equal to 9 calories...

100g protein = 400 Cal
100g carbs = 400 Cal
100g fat = 900 Cal

3) Another trick is to vary your diet from day to day. What I mean is, you can eat 2800 Calories for 2 days, then have one day where you actually go ABOVE your allowance. This will make sure your metabolism doesn't slow down to meet your 85% Calorie intake. So, instead of being at 85%, make it 115% for a day. Two days on, one day off.

4) Let's look at WHAT you're eating. I would imagine that by following the guidelines above, the types of food will probably also change. So, you had a few specific questions about sodium and cholesterol.

I haven't ever seen evidence that sodium intake hinders progress of a weight training program. BUT, if you have medical problems such as hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease or diabetes insipidus, then you need to watch your sodium intake.
For a normal, healthy individual, it's not necessary to have a strict sodium intake. Just remember that increased sodium intake may increase the amount of water weight. But, in general, this isn't a big deal. As a reference, in a patient with any of the diseases above, we generally recommend the 2g sodium restricted diet (2000mg). As long as your sodium isn't blasted-into-space-high, then you're fine. Your journal shows your sodium to be right in line.

One word of caution is to watch your frozen meals. Most of them contain loads and loads of sodium. Use in moderation!

Along the same lines, cholesterol shouldn't go much higher than the recommended 300mg/day. This will help prevent heart disease in the long run. To make things even easier, try to focus on sources of good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein -- HDL). This concept is a little more complicated...but in general if you're a healthy individual with a well-balanced diet and an appropriate exercise regimen, your HDL is probably through the roof (a good thing!). HDL is basically a protein that takes cholesterol from your body and delivers it to the liver, where they are metabolized into usable products (such as hormones and bile acids).

You mentioned cottage cheese. This is actually a great tool! In general, I would suggest getting the lower-fat cottage cheese as they have less saturated fat and a good amount of protein. They're great for a right-before-bed snack.

Make sure to keep your fiber up! This will keep your GI tract healthy and able to absorb all the nutrients you need. The only thing you would need to do here is to increase your vegetable and oats/grains intake.

So, where should you go with all of this information? I would personally suggest to print this page, get a pair of scissors and cut off the top part starting with #1. Use this to start with..maybe for a week or two until you get the hang of it. Then, when you're ready, start working on #2 and splitting your calories. Then, when you're ready, start on #3 and vary your diet throughout the week.

I hope this gets you on the right track. I know it's a lot to digest, so definitely start with the top and work your way down with time. You should notice a big difference with your energy level along with the ability to actually lose weight without starving! These are the tools of the trade that are difficult to find on your own.

I hope ALL of my visitors find their way to your page to motivate themselves into eating a healthy diet and reaching all of their goals.

Good luck to you!!

Ryan :)