What is wrong with this diet?

[Scrybe]

I've been eating the same meal plan for almost 2 years now thinking it's as healthy and easy as possible. I make all meals in one day and pack them up for work. So I have the same thing for breakfast every day, same thing for lunch every day and same thing for dinner every day. Before I got strict about this I was eating a ton of carb and sugar filled foods. A round of P-90X got me great results, and I had hoped that using this strict diet along with some minor muscle building exercise would be enough to maintain at least the waist size. But a year later all skinny clothes I bought are too tight now. Especially around the . So let me know if anything looks out of place here, because I feel like I'm spinning wheels. I'm in the middle of week 3 of second round of P-90X and I've seen zero results this time.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (~1 1/2 cups) I slice of american cheese, 1 piece of bacon

Lunch: 93% Lean Ground Turkey patty (~2 cups) Steamed Broccoli (~1 1/2 cups) mixed and topped with Extra Virgin Olive Oil/Vinegar (~3 tablespoons)

Dinner: Chef Salad with spinach(~2 cups) skinless chicken breast (~1/2 cup) Black olive slices (Tablespoon) Raw Broccoli (1/2 cup) Chopped boiled egg (~ 3/4 egg) Shredded Cheddar (Tablespoon) Light Ranch (2 Tablespoons) Extra Virgin Olive Oil/Vinegar (~3 tablespoons)

Additionally I will snack on no more than a half cup of almonds, and I drink way too much diet soda. (3-5 cans/day)

[Boss Man]

You body might be going into a starvation mode as the calories are probably a bit low especially in light you exercising as well and instead of building any muscle, you might be actually burning some, which given that 1lb of added muscle burns an extra 45-50 calories a day, conversely, losing muscle could have the opposite effect.

The calories in your plan appear to be close to 1,950 a day, not factoring in any nut consumption, but your carbs may be a little low.

The diet drink is the only issue I can see right now

I suspect you may have gained some muscle, but possibly a little water weight if you're eating a few high salt foods, or adding salt to food.

[Scrybe]

Thanks Boss Man.

So do you think any of that would prevent losing inches from ? I'm not really concerned about weight, just fitting into clothes again. You think if I ate MORE, I'd progress? Also, I forgot about the cup of milk in whey protein I have most days after workouts. And how would more carbs help? I'm under the impression that I need to totally stay away from them.

[Boss Man]

Carbs give you energy, fuel the brain and assist with helping to sleep.

They also get converted to Glucose, no matter what they are and then get stored as Glycogen for energy, particularly the muscle glycogen, but as carbs stimulate insulin and that allows around 40% of your protein intake to become glycogen, then it makes sense to have them.

This being said, you wouldn't be wise to have tonnes of the things, I'd limit to around 30% of your calorie intake per day from carbs and certainly no lower than 20%.

In the case of your fats, you would adjust accordingly and keep protein the same I feel, but calories may need to be a little higher, just incase you're not adeuately supporting your exercise needs.

If you increased them then I'd go no higher than 20% more for now, because if you just jacked them up massively, you'd encourage fat gain, when the body converted a lot of what wasn't needed into fat.

[calvarez93]

I've been eating the same meal plan for almost 2 years now thinking it's as healthy and easy as possible. I make all meals in one day and pack them up for work. So I have the same thing for breakfast every day, same thing for lunch every day and same thing for dinner every day. Before I got strict about this I was eating a ton of carb and sugar filled foods. A round of P-90X got me great results, and I had hoped that using this strict diet along with some minor muscle building exercise would be enough to maintain at least the waist size. But a year later all skinny clothes I bought are too tight now. Especially around the . So let me know if anything looks out of place here, because I feel like I'm spinning wheels. I'm in the middle of week 3 of second round of P-90X and I've seen zero results this time.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (~1 1/2 cups) I slice of american cheese, 1 piece of bacon

Lunch: 93% Lean Ground Turkey patty (~2 cups) Steamed Broccoli (~1 1/2 cups) mixed and topped with Extra Virgin Olive Oil/Vinegar (~3 tablespoons)

Dinner: Chef Salad with spinach(~2 cups) skinless chicken breast (~1/2 cup) Black olive slices (Tablespoon) Raw Broccoli (1/2 cup) Chopped boiled egg (~ 3/4 egg) Shredded Cheddar (Tablespoon) Light Ranch (2 Tablespoons) Extra Virgin Olive Oil/Vinegar (~3 tablespoons)

Additionally I will snack on no more than a half cup of almonds, and I drink way too much diet soda. (3-5 cans/day)

You need a diet plan that tells you what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. I am following yes you can diet plan and in their guide they have listed all the types of food in different groups so you know when to eat each one of them. You need to eat at least 5 times a day to keep your metabolism active and they taught me that. It is great, have been doing it for a little over half a year and Im really impressed, out of all the plans that I have tried this one is the best because it is balanced. I changed lifestyle completely because of this. They have diet pills which are all natural and they help you with your skin, to speed up your metabolism even more, to clean your body and to control your anxiety.. also, they have to-go protein shakes that you just have to add water and there you have your snack so they are perfect for school or work! I love them they are delicious!

[Boss Man]

Whgat you could have said was they have diet pills that claim to do those things, but it's a 99.9999% likelihood they will do none of those things and even if they do, to a very poor standard.

We are talking about diet pills after all, so it's a case of believe nothing and expect nothing, except some kind of placebo effect, based on your diet and exercise regime and the manufacturers marketing strategies.

[Scrybe]

Here's what I don't understand... If I eat 'not enough' calories, shouldn't that make me LOSE fat? The whole point of working out is not so I can consume more calories, it's to lose the love handles.

[Boss Man]

The calories could however if not adequate enough, cause some muscle burn.

1lb of added muscle burns another 45-50 calories per day, whereas losing muscle could cause the opposite effect.

Also inadequate eating for some, could mean inadequate consumption of things like calcium, magnesium, vit k2, phosphorus, vit d, copper, vit c etc; so nutrients that directly or indirectly affect bone structures and formation.

Were the bones to thin or degrade too much from not being given enough sustenance, the tolerances placed on them from running impact or flexion via weightlifting, might just cause a small crack or fracture.

You can get bones tested to ascertain either a T-score or a Z-score, then you pretty accurately would know the density of the bones at that point, but otherwise inadeuate nutrition would constitute a possible risk to bones, relative to the levels of all nutrients consumed.

Also not enough calories could mean you're underfuelling for workouts, causing potential muscle burn from cardio.

[Scrybe]

So are you saying there's a very small margin for error? Like if I eat too much I won't lose the fat, and if I eat too little I'm risking unhealth and not losing weight? Is it really that complicated? It used to be that if you ate less calories than you burn you'll lose fat. Those were the good old days I guess.

[Boss Man]

Creating a deficeit is key. you can lose 1lb of fat a week, if you cut 3,500 calories a week from your diet if 've remembered it correctly, but you still need to eat enough to make sure you protect muscle mass, bone density and have enough energy to exercise and also that your body doesn't go into starvation mdoe and refuse to lose fat.

There are a number of variables though as someone exercising with let's say 2,200 calories a day to eat, has many different nutrient permutations, based on the foods they consume that make up what they eat and the levels of nutrients in those foods.

It is sometimes a minute thing; for example if you have a certain amount of a nutrient in one go, depending on the quanity, some would get wasted, as opposed to if you spread that nutrient out, by eating smaller amounts of it thoroughout the day, because the body wouldn't be able to process that nutrient over a 3-4 hour period at once, beyond a certain level of consumption.

It's like a woman having an RNI, (Reccomended Nutrirional Intake), of 45g protein a day. What would be more sensible to try and achieve? 45g with one of the 3+ daily meals, or 15g in 3 of the days meals?

Though due to exercise I would urge more than this anyway and in the case of men definitely more than the 60g RNI, (hopefully remembered that right).

This is not trying to make eating sound really complicated, or scientifcally calculated, as it shouldn't be and you shouldn't worry that if you need for example, 1,200mg of calcium per day, you're getting 1,200mg and not 1,198mg, or 1,186mg, as long as you weren't getting let's say 500mg as that would be detrimental to bones on a long-term basis.

So obviously there has to be some consideration to eating based on your circumstances, but to the point where you get about it or stressed, but some changes will be more beneficial or detrimental than others .

[Trish0102]

I guess your meal plans are okay. Did you consult a doctor regarding this? You must be having problems with your health.