Some real good advice being shared here. Just wanted to chime in to say:

(1) What % fat are your total calories??? I'm willing to bet that it is too low. I also suspect that you'd be better off if you moved a little bit more fat into your diet earlier in the AM. It'll have more sticking power for your training later on. This is a classic mistake people make, and I struggle with it as well (because I LIKE eating the low-fat breakfast foods of oatmeal & yogurt and egg whites).

Remember - Fat does not make you fat. Taking in more calories than your body needs does. And the food that your body most easily processes into fat? Nope, not fat. It was that cheat food - the white rice. Hehe!

(2) You asked a really good question about whether it is better to cheat if you want white rice, rather than lots of oatmeal.

Normally, it is going to be better to eat a little bit of what you are craving than a lot of something else, because you'll take in too many calories, and you won't be satisfied anyway.

Just some things to realize:

- Make sure that you limit your portion of the cheat so it doesn't blow the overall budget (and you should have some built in cheat space in your week). If you can't cheat without it turning into a binge, don't do it.

- Usually, the 'cheat' is telling you something, so listen carefully. Are you craving fat? protein? carbs? If you let your blood sugar get low enough (by not eating frequently and/or enough) and training hard, you'll often crave the quickest and easiest to absorb carb. Maybe give in to this cheat, but make sure you eat right to avoid it next time!

- Your palate changes, so if you can tough it out early on, you might do better. When you change your diet and eliminate things like white processed/refined starches, many people find that they stop craving them. It can take 4 or 6 weeks (or more!), so it won't happen right away. But if you cheat too often within this category, you may not be training yourself NOT to want these foods anymore. That said, cold turkey can backfire on people too, so it's a delicate balance.

Just my two cents.

sig

how can I calculate please?

where can i calculate this? thanks. so i should eat some fats in the AM or during the day too?

This " Fitday " software is used by a lot of people here to calculate and track calories.....

FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal


Unless you are able to account - as best you can - for every calorie ( and gram of fat, protein, carb ) you consume ( and expend ) then sweating over the minutia of things like a Harris Benedict calculation or some silly ' zig zag diet ' is a complete waste of time IMO.

You HAVE to be able to somehow track and account for the calories and grams of macro-nutrients of every meal you eat during each day for every day of the week.


Now, in reference to your question about tracking fat, one possible approach is ......

1. Figure out your ' daily maintenance calories ' ( depending on your goals ) using the Harris formula.
2. Figure out what the calorie equivalent of approx. 1 gram of protein per pound of your bodyweight is ( 1 gram of protein is 4 calories btw )
3. Target your fat intake to 25% - 30% of the ' daily maintenance calories ' number you get from Harris formula..
4. Subtract the fat and protein calories calculated above from your ' daily maintenance calories ' and you're left with a ballpark estimate of the carb calories you need ( 1 gram of carb is 4 calories btw )
5. Use " Fitday ' or some other means to document all the calories and grams of fat, protein and carbs you consume at each meal, each day each week.

....oh, and by the way, you may want to buy yourself a small kitchen weight scale so you can get some idea of how much your various food portions weigh - it'll ensure your calorie calculations are as accurate as possible.

Not sure I follow.

What do you mean by the " sticking power " provided by fat for his training exactly ?

Wrangell - Sorry for the lack of clarity.

I meant that by moving more calories - particularly fat ones - to earlier in the day and before his training, he can slow the absorption of the food he's eating and stave off the weakness that can happen during, at the end, or immediately after training. I meant it more as a comment on the effects of the fat on the overall blood sugar (glucose) processing.

There is also the problem of finding your energy stores lower later in the day (after all this) because you're simply behind on calories (and fat calories particularly) by 3 PM. Obviously, you don't want to be running and jumping and lifting on too MUCH fat, but there is such a thing as not enough. To me, the "problem" that happens with earlier in the day training (esp competitive sports that are basically HIIT) is that you wind up with this huge window of time in which you aren't eating anything (while you're being active) and immediately thereafter, you're most likely going to consume protein/carbs, not fat - both because of planned nutritional recovery and because you aren't going to FEEL like a fat-based choice.

So you can eat a good breakfast, a pre-workout snack, have the workout or training session, eat a post-workout meal/snack...and figure out in the middle of the afternoon that you haven't had practically any fat yet. And you may not like the way your body tries to tell you this (fatigue, extreme hunger/cravings, etc.).

true. that's what oftenly happens to me. Im dead after school hours after having no fats and having played for 1-3 hrs soccer. From today I started taking some fats like a slice of fat free cheese with the veg salad etc. Later tonight I will post up what I eat today.

Some questions please:

Looking at what I am eating am i eating enough? I am a person who rarely feels satisfied for example I feel full only when I eat like I used to do in old times. (for example I can still eat something after eating 250g (not cooked) of brown rice. Even yesterday I had 7-8 small portions of chicken breast and 2 serving of broccoli and I still could have eaten much more. I am just asking to see it this is normaly or not.

anyway,...this is what I eat yesterday: (rest day)

breakfast- special k + 3 eggs+ apple.
10am-apple
11am-yogurt with almonds
football for 45mins.
2pm-corslaw with turkey slices
3pm-apple and some almonds
5pm-2 servings of chicken breast (7-8 small portions in total) and 2 servings of medium sized broccoli

slept at 7.30 until now (5am) lol (was tired)

waaaaaaiiiit.. doesnt fat free cheese not count as a fat ?

Depends. ' Enough ' is a relative term.

What is your daily target for calories ?

How many calories does the above list of meals / snacks come out to ?

I entered this site to see my calorie needs everyday:


Calories Per Day Calculator - Basal Metabolic Rate

on a moderately active option it told me I need- 2527 cals per day
on a very active option it told me I need- 2864cals per day


for example today I dont feel hungry (dont feel hungry, BUT STILL can toss more food but at least i was satisfied) after this post-workout meal.(largest of the day)
Let me tell you what I did first of all.

Football for 2 hrs at school, had a salad with a can of tuna + an apple and went to jog for 30mins. Then I eat:

brown bread sandwich with 2 turkey slices and 2 olives
large veg. salad
and 3 pieces fish (hand palm-sized portions)
and about 10 almonds.

later tonight I will post what I eat today.

I have a friend who also just started the abs diet, he is doing it because he is training with weights not for fat loss since he is already skinny. He is a person who desont eat large meals but have contionusly complained that he is feeling hungry all the time despite him never beaing a big eater. So Im not alone.

Fine.

But again, if you think it is relevant to calculate your BMR, daily maintenance calories etc. etc. then you have to be able to determine - as best you can - how many calories you actually consume each day. Determining how many of those calories come from carbs, protein and fat would be helpful as well.

Do some analysis at the end of the day today and calculate an estimate of how many calories you took in today.

If you can track the portion size/amounts (and then use computer for totals on calories and break down of carbs-fat-protein) even for one week, it'll give you a perspective on just how much you are eating. You can learn how to eyeball/judge after only a short period of time. But it can be surprising the first time you realize what 50 grams of breakfast cereal or 8 ounces of fish looks like. Without amounts, there is no way for anyone to know if you are eating enough, yourself included!

Oh, and I second the confusion on how eating fat-free cheese counts as a fat...

ok it may be my mistake then. what is fat free chesse counted as than mate? and what fats apart from olive oil can I take.

as for the cereal I fill in a fat free yogurt cup. that's all. I know that I am eating enough because none of the people eat like me or feel like me after they eat. people are normally filled with two large steak portions and a large bowl of salad but Im not. I am not complianing or anything, Id prefer it like this and keep my current body I am just annoyed that I am a bit abnormal. During this summer I stopped for a week (i went to a holiday) and there I eat literalley everything I could have eat (only gained 1kg though) and that is what I call filled. I'd use to have 3-4 full plates of chicken/meat/corn/pasta/rice along with fruit. For me to be full and satisfied I have to "pig out" as they say it. whilst people accomodate with a 2 course meal at a restaurant. hehe.

what I eat today: (i will check on fitday about details later) but does this look good?

breakfast 7am- special k + pear+ 2 egg whites
10am- apple+ veg. salad with turkey slices
1pm- veg salad with can of tuna
preworkout 4pm- fat free yogurt, 25 almonds
Fullbody workout + abs
6pm- 5 medium sized chicken breast pieces + large veg salad.
8.30pm- 3 small chicken breast pieces + apple

11pm. sleep.