Journal de james reilly, 24 juil. 18

I really understand that. In fact I opened an Instagram profile just yesterday following my very same felling about a bodybuilder/gym enthusiast diet: why is that all of the world seems not to be able to use their daily macros in a different way than mixing together just oat, egg whites, boiled rice, almonds/peanuts butter, steamed broccoli and chicken breast? Like if these were the only source of carbs/proteins/healthy fats. When I started my diet, aiming to reduce the body fat % without losing lean mass (in fact I am increasing this more than proportionally) I had a clear idea in my mind: there is no way I can sticth to a hypocaloric diet if I am gonna feel miserable when eating - and watching those around me eating tasty food. Of course you need some extra time and a little extra effort to think out of the classic schemes (rice broccoli bla bla), but a quinoa salad with asparragus, pesto and smoked salmon, or home made pizza and bread, high protein pancakes and low fat cakes pay back. You need a treat to keep motivated. It is just about to account the macros properly. By the way, your diet calendar is really low in calories and with such a low carbs I would expect more proteins to avoid burning lean mass. How extreme is your weekly cut? More than 3500 Kcal I guess? 

I'm not trying to build up muscle, just get to a good healthy weight, but I really couldn't manage on pretty much the same food all the time. Like Neneeto says, there would have to be more variation for me. Salmon, Prawns, lean lamb, lean beef, etc, etc are all in my menus as I couldn't live on chicken and broccoli. All the best with your goals, James. 

I appreciate both comments guys.im dropping a 1000 calories a day, sub 1900, only hitting around 1500-1700. Gym 4 times a week burning off around 650calories per time. Trying to loose the belly fat, (not that it's that big) and broadon the chest. Almost the v shape. At the minute I'm 94kg and only 5"10 so aiming to drop to around 85kg for now..what other sources of protein can I get in, other than eggs, chicken and protein shakes? 

For myself I'd be including nuts such as hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts - great for trace vitamins and minerals too if they're not stale. Just watch out for the calorie content since you're counting. I love a bit of lamb so I'd be including that. Lean leg steak or neck fillet, both of which are great on skewers with a bit of spicing or just plain. And of course beef. You don't need loads if it's cooked well (not well done, just well as in properly). If you like them, Mussels are pretty good. Cook them from scratch and eat from the shells. You get full up pretty quick with all the faffing but with a bit of lime, coconut milk and chilli, they're really tasty. Then again, that may be completely against what you've researched for your shape sculpting so you have to go with your goals, not mine. There's loads of different options, though. 

It's certainly opening my eyes to what I could actually eat..rather than just green stuff and chicken! Could be an expensive shop coming up at the weekend..I'm well into lamb and beef, not so much muscles but I do like fish 

Ok, lots of extra information here. 1000 calories a day are massive! It's twice the amount I quit, and hitting the gym 4 times a week makes that even more extreme. What kind of workout are you doing there? Lots of cardio? Take into account we are the result of a hundred thousand years of evolution in which our body learnt to face with difficult times (lack of food) in which the body learnt to respond by lowering the methabolism. This means that after some time (the higher the cut the shorter it is) your body adapts to the cut and as a result you would be force to cut even more... and that way you would lose more lean mass. As to me (easier to give you an example), I am 1.73, 45 yo, started my diet two weeks ago starting from a 18.9% of body fat, around 65 kg of lean mass on a total of 84kg. I am today slightly under the 84 kg, but 15.8% of body fat and 67kg of lean mass. I am training on the strength in mltifrequence (3 times per week) on all the main multiarticular excercises (squat, deadlift, barbell chest press, military press, barbell row) with a variation of the 5x5 training. It works fine on me, considering the improvements. My humble advice is, no muscular gain comes without increasing the weight lifted. And if you cut too many calories, there is no way for your body to build them up. Did you use a body fat weighter to determine your body fat and lean mass? Those are way more important than weight alone to tell if you are on the right path. Also the body temperature might help you knowing if you are reducing your methabolism. Body temperature is the signal your engine is burning like a Ferrary instead than a FIAT 500 :D Last but not least, my weekly plan (I plan in weeks, as body responses do not come on a daily base) is 45g of fats per day, 130 of protein (about 2g per kg of lean mass) and 220 g of carbs on 4 days, 290 on 3 days per week. My goal is increasing carbs and reduce proteins as soon as I get to 12-13% of body fat. 

Heh James, are you doing Keto or just cutting calories. If you wanna lose fat (for me) keto is amazing. I’ve tried so many different things but the results from keto stand alone. Body fat went down to 14% in just over a week and started at 19%, I’ve never got below 17% before. 

Oh, a very last note: to me the most difficult data to start was a real estimate of my normal daily calories intake to know where to start to cut. I used a number of different algorithms, but the truth is, those are just a general idea, the only way to know that is to note everything you eat for 1 week, weighing yourself at the beginning and at the end and check if weight, lean mass and body fat% are stable (that also needs same hydration figures). I didn't do that, so that in the beginning I started with a higher theorical "normal" intake and I decided to cut it later of further 200 kcal (from carbs). This is OK if your methabolism before starting has a good affinity with carbs, which means that you should be able to eat at least 4 g carbs/kg of lean mass without gaining fats. If that is not the case there might be a need for a methabolic reset before starting your diet. Hope this helps. Cheers! Daniele 

I'd recommend using the food diary here to help you plan your shop. You'll see how much of whatever to buy once you've entered your lunches and dinners for a week (Oh for a CSV download option!) It needn't be too expensive - especially if you have a freezer. I tend to go heavy on spicing - 1) I like it 2) I feel full sooner when eating. And herbs in salads work well too (I'm not a salad lover, it has to be said). More than anything, watch out for bought sauces - they're a nightmare for un-necessary sugar. Also watch out for pre-mixed spice rubs. They can be too. A nice simple one to make up yourself is 1 part ground cumin, 3 parts paprika, 1 part ground pepper, 1 part dried oregano and then chilli powder to your taste. Sprinkle over your meat with about a teaspoonful of oil and rub in. Leave about an hour before dry-frying or grilling the meat after seasoning with a little salt. 

Oh, very last note, I forgot to comment the sources of proteins. I also use Graham's quark and Greek yogurt (0% fat) as a source of high concentrated proteins. I am a cheese lover but unfortunately the ratio fat/proteins on aged cheese is usually around 1, so I use parmesan and other tasty cheese only in small quantities to give flavour to otherwise tasteless dishes. 

It's clearly time for my (late) lunch as I forgot lots of great sources of proteins: cod and roasted ham German style, that's really tasty and you can play with ingredients to get tasty meals: i cook cod in a frying pan with a good dash of vinegar and white whine, cherry tomatoes, few black olives and capers, seasoned with oregano​. Also seafood and peas make a great combination for a soup. It's very healthy and tasty, low carbs low fat high proteins (about 24 per 100 grams of fish and i can easily eat 400grams alone). To save money i buy at Lidl and Iceland, your meals won't lose taste but will be cheaper. To get some ideas for your new meals I published some pics on my Instagram (cakesandpizzafitness) and in general Instagram is a great source of inspiration to me :) 

Do you like spicy food? Maybe a homemade curry sauce from cooked & blended veggies and spices - it can be a good low cal base and then add chunkier things like cooked meat and veg to it. 

Biltong is a great source for snack time and has 40g of protein per 100 g. Add some cheese and Nuts Soup homemade of course. 

Thanks neeneto, some good ideas there, so...Greek yogurt is 0% fat?? And parmesan is good to eat? Any cheese I've been trying to avoid but did use a bit of parmesan last night 

Bizzylizz and Goldilocks I'll look into that also thanks. I'm absaloutely mad for my Curry's! Madras crazy I am.. Would a Madras and rice from a Indian takeaway be really bad for me? 

I would go with homemade over takeaway every single time james. You can control what you put it and can also get family etc involved (if you have the time that is) Also atm am loveing my turkey rashers has 8g protein per 25g slice. Expensive if you go thourgh them like i do. How much protein you aiming for daily??? 

Yea I'm hearing that, I'm just wondering how bad they actually are for you? And what do you think a good amount is? I'm currently between 120g and 150g a day.. What are 🦃 rashers lol I like the sound of them? 

I love broccoli n sprouts just in bowl 🍲 mmm 

Nae bother James! Greek yogurt is not necessarily 0% but Rage sells the 0%. Alternatively Skye at Lidl is a bomba of proteins at 0% fat and very low carbs. Finally, parmesan. I recalled it to be used by endurance athletes committed in some crazy track on the artic as a source of quality fats and proteins. The great pro with parmesan is, 10 grams make a dish change of taste from bah to wow, and it's few grams of fats. I wouldn't recommend 100 g per day though, as always it's the quantity that makes the poison :) 

James, Basicially just bacon but turkey lol. Wack them in with an omelete for brekie unreal buddy. I aim to get between 150-200 g of protein. I try to keep away from the bad carbs bread and suger. Like you say it does kind of get boring veg,veg,fish, chicken lol but if you find ways of mixing it up it gets easier.