Rich-B

Experts please advise ..............

I've been dieting now for 10 weeks, following the timed carb diet plan for the last 4 weeks.

I've hit a dead end, can't sus out what I'm doing wrong.

Diet is as follows:

8.30am - Protein shake (60g protein) + EFAs

11.00am - Tuna or salmon (30g protein) + EFAs

1.30pm - Tuna or salmon (30g protein) + EFAs

4.00pm - Tuna or salmon (30g protein) + EFAs

6.00pm - Workout

6.45pm - PWO shake (60g protein & 75g malotdextrin)

8.30pm - Tuna or salmon (30g protein) + EFAs

11.30pm - Protein shake (60g protein) + EFAs

On non training days I don't have any carbs at all.

I'm using 250mg Sus per week, about to start Winny jabs M, W, F for 4 weeks along with the Sus as going abroad in 4 weeks time. Also doing Clen, coming to the end of the first 2 weeks of it.

I'm 28, 6'2", approx 15st, estimate 12% BF.

Advice much appreciated.

Thanks

Jock

You need a calorific deficit to lose fat, if you have stopped losing then drop back some cals.

TBH you diet isn't great there is very little in the way of carbs and you are eating a lot of fat, thats not a healthy way to diet IMO.

Your body needs carbs in the morning PWO and PPWO for recovery more than anything else.

Carbs are not the enemy, you can lose fat with with carbs on your diet as long as you are at a deficit.

Have you adjusted your cardio?

TBH I would never eat zero carbs, even when dieting you should at least have some

Rich-B

I'm only including the fats because that is what the timed carbs diet (in the sticky) dictates I should do, same with the way I'm eating carbs.

I don't do much gym cardio but I have an active job where I am on my feet walking around all day.

big

There's only 75g of maltodextrin in there and no other carbs?

It's probably a leptin level thing.

Eat at maintenance, including carbs, for a few days, and then go back to it.

To be honest tho, with that diet, the fat should be falling off of you.

Are you doing any cardio?

Rich-B

Big

Excuse my ignorance but what's a 'leptin level thing'?

No cardio at the gym but I'm walking around from 9 til 5 every day at work.

And yes the 75mg malto is the only carbs I'm getting on workout days only.

I wonder if my fats are too high but the timed carbs diet says to keep them high as your body's alternative energy source to substitute for the lack of carbs.

Very frustrating trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

musio

Start adding some different proteins and foods in there otherwise your body will get use to the foods you eat and adapt to state of equilibrium which the body likes to do. Confuse it.

MXD

Simply not enough calories. It looks about 1300.. at 15 st you should be getting 2000 at least!
Eat more nutrient variation as well, why all the tuna and salmon!? where are the eggs, mice, liver, chicken, turkey..

Also eat your veg, its very good for you.

You need more fuel substrates imo, like fats or carbs consuming protein alone is a bad idea imo as it changes your body into burning amino acids as fuel via glucenogenisis.

I'd get at least as much fat as protein and maybe work some carbs in post/around workouts depending on how lean you are currently.

Rich-B

MXD

Thanks for the reply, thats got me thinking, but I've got a couple of questions:

1. How can the calories being 'too low' be a bad thing if I'm trying to lose fat?

2. What veg should I include?

3. Would adding say broccoli and extra EFAs to my existing diet with the fish meals help IYO?

The reason I eat so much fish is two fold; firstly because it is rich in EFAs and secondly because I work away from home every week so I therefore live in hotels which means canned fish is the only source of protein I can get as I have no kitchen to prepare any other food.

If you can think of an alternative I'd be greatful to hear it?

Rich-B

I forgot to mention in the original post that I have a carb up day on Saturday, where I eat protein and carbs with every meal.

Pscarb

ok ifrstly Rich the article is for reference only, when you are wanting to strip fat you need to lower the amount of calories so that you are burning more than you are eating.

the trick is to lower them without your body going into a survival state and hoarding fat which without carbs will lead your body to use Amino's from both protein eaten and muscle tissue for energy.

what are the totals for protein?? the reason i ask is that if the tuna is a tin of tuna then that is 34g not 30g per tin plus you are 210lbs but only taking in 300g of protein in my opinion on a diet as low as this in carbs you need to be eating 350g at your weight

what is your daily amount of fat?? the reason i ask is that good fats help release bad stored fat for energy plus it gives you the energy to train do cardio etc....

without knowing the above how do you expect to change things??

the next thing is do you eat this diet 7 days a week? if you do then this is where the Leptin levels issue comes in that Big speaks of, when you start your diet with plenty of calories you have normal leptin levels as your calories lower and your body gets used to it leptin levels decrease this in turn lowers the metabolism which is the start of the body going into survival mode so every 7 - 10 days you will need a refeed day taking in at least 600g of carbs for someone your size this will replenich leptin levels raise the the metabolism through the roof and kick starting fat burning this in turn keeps going as you go back to your low cal diet it normally takes 5-7 days for this to slow back down then you refeed again you will know when this point is as you will be without energy.....

when i diet i initially do a refeed every 7th days but when my diet gets into the later stages the high carb/refeed day is down to every 4th day.....

sorry for going on but i feel that you do not have a grasp on how the body works so you can alter your diet accordingly...

so the basics are..
find out how much carbs and protein you have per day
do not eliminate carbs have at least 50g per day
have a refeed day at least once every 7 - 10 days (eat whatever you want you will not store fat)....

hope that helps mate....

Rich-B

Pscarb

Firstly, no need to apologise for going on, I'm glad you did. You're right about me having no grasp of how the body works, the advice you have given is EXACTLY what I was looking for, thanks for taking the time to type it.

To answer your questions:

- The total protein for my tuna intake is 30.2g per tin.

- My total fat intake is what I estimate to be 1 tablespoon of rapeseed oil added to each meal and shake except my PWO shake. Is this enough?

- I follow this diet Monday to Friday. Saturday I have protein and carbs with all my meals and usually up until 1pm Sunday also.

Also, when you say to have 50g carbs per day, on the workout day should this be in addition to the PWO shake carbs or as part of the daily total?

So instant changes, starting tomorrow are to consume minimum 50g carbs per day and increase protein intake to 350g.

Thanks again mate, very much appreciated.

Pscarb

yes mate keep your low days to no less than 50g keep your protein at 350g per day, on your low days your fats need to be approx 90g you really need to work this out weigh your salmon and add these amounts to all the other fats you have and i would guess that your totals do not add up to this amount....

i would switch round and use this cycle..
Sunday - V Low day
Monday - Low day
Tuesday - Med day
Wed - Low day
Thur - Low day
Fri V Low day
Sat - Refeed day

V low day = C50g / P350g / F90g
Low day = C100g / P350g / 75g
Med day = C175g / P350g / F50g
Refeed day = C600g / P200g / F50g (ish) also include cheat meals and treats

keep the refeed day to one day, include cardio 6 days a week and you will reach your goal...
Refeed

Rich-B

I'll put that plan into action straight away.

Thanks again mate.

Rich-B

Pscarb

When adding up my daily totals, for the carbs and fats am I only counting stuff like added oils for the fats and direct carbs such as oats etc as opposed to smaller amounts of these which are contained in protein rich foods?

I only ask because as I'm doing my daily totals on fitday.com just eating 8 large eggs adds 12g carbs to my total and for example 200g of extra lean mince adds quite a few grams of fat to my total too. It seems almost impossible to keep carbs or fats down to 50g if I'm eating 350g protein, or am I eating the wrong sources of protein?

Cheers

Con

Eggs dont have carbs but yes you count all nutrients in every thing you eat.