Daves Diet

[Was_once_fat_dave]

Thought I'd stick this up for a bit of critique, help and pointers.

Current Stats 6 foot, 14st12lbs/208lbs/94.3kgs. BF%19
I'm trying to follow the Anabolic way of eating so a typical non training days diet for me would be like todays

7am 150ml semi skimmed milk with 1 scoop whey
(F/C/P kcals) 4/8/30 188

7.30 3 rashers bacon, 2 eggs fried in tblspn evoo
65/0/44 761

1030 can of tuna in brine with full fat mayo
32/0/46 472

1pm 250g lamb mince, 100g chopped toms, 50g shrooms,
51/5/46 663

5pm 4oz rump steak, 1 duck egg, 50g shrooms
25/1/45 409

9pm 100g cottage cheese, 100g pork chop
32/2/43 468

total 209/16/254 2961
% 63.5/2.1/34.4

5 pints of water and 6-10 omega 3 caps taken daily.
1.5g of alcar 3 x a day on an empty stomach.

On gym days you can add 2 more whey shakes, 1 either side, with the one after having the milk replaced with 150ml's water. I will up portion sizes on gym days to increase the kcals but to try and keep ratios the sameish.
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I'm trying to cut down to around 15% and have hit a plateau at the moment having only recorded a 2% loss in the last 4 weeks or so.

Has any one got pointers I can use to improve/kickstart my fat loss back into action?

Fire away......

[Was_once_fat_dave]

ps.
the carb ups have been reduced to just one meal over the weekend where I might have some rice with a meal, bread and hashbrowns with a breakfast or potatoes/gravy and yorkshires with a sunday roast. Only one of these per weekend tho.

[NU_nutrition_TS]

If fat loss stalls on a low carb/high fat diet there is only one reason: total calories are too high!

Your body switches to using fats predominantly for its energy needs on a low carb/high fat diet and it can equally use the fat in the foods you eat or the fats from your body fat tissue.

What factor ensures it uses body fat? Total calories!

If you are meeting all your daily energy needs from diet alone then the body has no need to dip into its body fat stores. Deny it some dietary calories and it has to make up the shortfall from its own stored resources.

If you are 'fat adapted' and deny it both carbs and some calories it will dip into its fat stores and fat loss will resume.

[Was_once_fat_dave]

Cheers NU, I know that already, can't believe I overlooked it. Me feel stupid me does now!!

Would you say I've got the %ages about right? (not the workings out) Or do you reckon I've got some to high or low?

[NU_nutrition_TS]

Because low carb diets are often credited with having a 'metabolic advantage' we do tend to overlook total calories to an extent. Normally this isn't a problem as higher fats tend to naturally limit our calorific intake. But when the rate of fat loss stalls - even though we are maintaining carbs at rock bottom - it is usually because we have allowed the calories to creep up (even just to maintenance levels) and this means the body has no reason to break down any more fat tissue to get its energy.

If I'm reading your stats correctly, you are getting 63.5% of your total calories from fats, 2.1% from carbs and 34.4% from protein? If so, then your definitely keeping carbs at a level that guarantees both maximum fat utilization and ketone production. No poblems there. Fat is above 50%, which is a good level to be at. Protein is just over what I personally consider to be the maximum (30% or less) but that is a minor nit-pick! Try dropping calories slightly (say 250-500 kcals per day while maintaining your macro ratios as above) and see if the fat loss resumes...if, after reducing kcals by 500 for a few weeks, there is no change it might be worth looking at reducing the protein % slightly and upping fat to compensate.

[MeshMan]

Quote

If fat loss stalls on a low carb/high fat diet there is only one reason: total calories are too high!

Your body switches to using fats predominantly for its energy needs on a low carb/high fat diet and it can equally use the fat in the foods you eat or the fats from your body fat tissue.

What factor ensures it uses body fat? Total calories!

If you are meeting all your daily energy needs from diet alone then the body has no need to dip into its body fat stores. Deny it some dietary calories and it has to make up the shortfall from its own stored resources.

If you are 'fat adapted' and deny it both carbs and some calories it will dip into its fat stores and fat loss will resume.

Yep, and you can even gain weight of course going above your calorie requirements even on high fat.

I begin to wonder though NU, what would the body do if say, 3,000 kcals was maintenance, and we did every other day 3,000 then 1,000 then 3,000 then 1,000 etc. Or better yet, 3000, 2000, 1000, 3000, 2000, 1000 and so on....woudln't we see major fat loss on the very low days? You would expect at least 6 pounds of fat to be lost in a week if the body remained fully regulated and ate purely at your fat stores on the low days!

[Was_once_fat_dave]

Think I can knock about 3-400 kcals off just by swapping the duck egg for chicken egg, dropping the bacon down to 1 slice, possibly swap it to ham or a 'good' sausage. and then reduce the amount of evoo most things are cooked in(looking back hadn't mentioned this apart from brekie). This will have a negative effect to the fat/protein ratio but will I think I can keep this down to a 1% change.

Will give this a go and then if still stalling will have a go at lowering the protein further, possibly knocking the shake on the head.

Am I right in beliveing the Protein can be converted into glucose and hence become a 'hidden carb' as such?

[Was_once_fat_dave]

Would the days when you were on 1000kcals send your body in to a semi starvation mode and therefore start storing fat again, or would it take more than 24 hours at this low level of kcals?

[NU_nutrition_TS]

Quote

Yep, and you can even gain weight of course going above your calorie requirements even on high fat.

I begin to wonder though NU, what would the body do if say, 3,000 kcals was maintenance, and we did every other day 3,000 then 1,000 then 3,000 then 1,000 etc. Or better yet, 3000, 2000, 1000, 3000, 2000, 1000 and so on....woudln't we see major fat loss on the very low days? You would expect at least 6 pounds of fat to be lost in a week if the body remained fully regulated and ate purely at your fat stores on the low days!

That would be much closer to a natural eating cycle our ancient ancestors probably experienced due to food availability. Factors such as climate, season, game movements, hunting success would all have a bearing on how much food was consumed on a day to day basis. If they managed to eat sufficient calories over the long-term, they would probably have enjoyed stable body weight (maintain good lean mass and minimal body fat) and health even though they may have gone hungry on some days and gorged on others. Our bodies have probably evolved to function better on this kind of cyclic way of feeding rather than having a set and equal number of calories day in and day out!

PS for FD: Your total daily calories as they stand now are not particularly excessive, so don't be tempted to drop them any further than 500 (start with 250 and monitor - if there is no change try dropping by an additional 250 to make a 500 kcal deficit in total). If after a few weeks of this fat loss is still plateaued, then try the macro shift I suggested!

[Was_once_fat_dave]

Don't think I could drop them by more than 500 kcals, If I was to do so I would want to eat everything around me. As it stands now, what I eat only just to say satisfies my appitite.