What diet? Information overload

adelinue

Hello!
There's so much information out there (some of it really conflicting) that i'm having a bit of an information overload. I'm confused as hell and don't know what to do -beside asking you for help.

A bit of background: I've created my account back on November with the purpose of losing weight. After some trial, errors and some help from MFP I was able to 'create' (I use that term loosely) a balanced diet that fulfilled me and met my calorie goal (1200cal) at the time. I lost about 40lbs by February, at which point I came to MFP less and less but I continued on with my diet, only upping the calories a bit; my goal was to maintain because I was growing sick of focusing all of my energy on fat loss since I was satisfied with where I was. Still, I managed some more pounds over the months, nothing major tho.

As of now, I'm a 158lbs (72kg), 5"10' (176cm) 21 year old. According to my scale, my BF% is 18% but I'm no so sure as I'm plenty chubby. My life style is pretty sedentary : I work at a desk all day (summer) or study in a desk (school year). I workout 3-4 times a day (depending on the program I'm following, I used to follow BeachBody programs 6days/7), I also do some very light workouts the days i'm not doing a 'workout' from a program (Yoga if I'm feeling sore, or just walking for a few hours. The later a bit more lately since i'm using Pokémon Go as an excuse x) ).

As of now, I care very little for my weight. My goal is to get leaner and stronger, maybe even gain some muscles (not my focus tho), meaning losing BodyFat. My current diet is 35% Carbs, 25% Good fat (mostly from Olive oil since we have this in abundance in my house) and 35% protein. That's what I find myself doing most days at least, my goal tho is 30% carbs, 30% fat and 40% protein. I usually stay at 1400-1500 calories a day eating very nutrient-dense food. According to most websites, I should eat at the very least 1g of protein per pound (ideally 1.5g) but I have a lot of troubles for that. I eat 200gr of white meat (turkey usually) and 160g thuna everyday, with 30g of Whey on workout days and I still struggle to meat 158g of protein (Actually, I never got to that, the most I ever got was 130g I think). It's just that I'm not rich (student lol) and all of this food is already costing me a pretty penny. If you have any tips for good protein sources that won't ruin my wallet, that would be great!

I think I told you everything, I'm just searching for advices and tips because I'm not sure if what I'm doing is right and don't want to do with for months before realising it was all for nothing. I'd rather do it correctly from the start

Thanks for reading

kommodevaran

Log correctly, don't undereat (if you are male, 1500 calories is the bare minimum), eat what you like (all foods have nutrition and there are no "bad" foods), don't overdo the protein (0.8 grams per pound of body weight is normally enough), and exercise (strengt training to build muscle).

adelinue

kommo: Thank you But what about overeating? Just eating what I like seems a bit vague. How much calories is too much? What about macros?
I forgot to add that my current program is 'You are your own Gym', a strengh training regimen. I'm hoping to stick to it for a long time (hopefully for life )

kommodevaran

You will be using the food diary in here, which will have you hit a reasonable calorie goal, if you have set it up correctly (entered your height, weight, age, sex, activity level). You set macros according to your needs; I suggested one way to calculate protein need. Fill in the rest with fat and carbs to your own preference.

adelinue

MFP gave me 1300cal which I believe is too low. I set it up manually to 1500

minniemoo1972

Then eat what you like up to 1500 calories.....

srecupid

Start with just eating what you want but, sticking to the goal. Then if you find yourself getting hungrier find a cheat code aka if I eat less sugar and more protein/fiber I am almost never hungry immediately after eating like if i would have had something sugary

cerise_noir

adelinue wrote: »

MFP gave me 1300cal which I believe is too low. I set it up manually to 1500

With YAYOG, make sure you're eating adequate protein and fat, also fiber for satiety, then fill up the rest with carbs. Of course, you're allowed treats/desserts. I have them all the time.

dmt4641

MFP gave you 1300? I thought they did not give lower than 1500 for men?? I am shorter than you, weigh less than you, older than you, and I'm a woman. All of those factors mean I burn less calories a day than you, yet I can lose weight on more than 1500 calories.

Am I reading this right that you workout 3-4 times a day? Or did you mean week? Walking for a few hours on top of exercise?

If you are eating 1200-1500 calories and working out several times a day, you are under eating and overexercising. You do not have much to lose, so you should set MFP to lose .5 lbs a week and eat back at least 1/2 of your exercise calories. Undereating when you are so close to your goal can lead to muscle loss, which is the opposite of what you want. Eat to lose 1/2 lb a week. Get at least .8 grams of protein per LBM and at least .3 grams of fat per LBM. Those are the minimums, the amounts over that and amount of carbs you eat depends on what keeps you full and makes you feel good. You don't have to hit some perfect percentage each day, that is hard to do.

Cheap forms of protein: eggs, tuna, ground beef and turkey, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, frozen chicken breasts.