Can someone look at my diary and give me some suggestions?

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LolaKarwowski
LolaKarwowski Posts: 217 Member
in Food and Nutrition
When I first started on this journey my eating habits were horrible which is pretty normal for beginners otherwise no one would need MFP. I made better choices and lost the weight. My goal now is to have a 6 pack (a nice body overall.. but I really want my abs to show) somewhere in the near future! Although I've been training REALLY hard, I know that my results will mostly depend on my diet.

Even though I feel I eat pretty well.. I have a feeling that I could do better. SO, could you guys look at my diary and give me some suggestions? Maybe you all can see something that I don't. I am not worried about calories at the moment. I just really want to eat nutritious foods.

I'm trying hard not to say that I want to be 'eating clean' because I've noticed that a lot of people do not like those two words together. I guess, I just want to eat healthier foods that will help me reach my goal.

Replies

  • martyqueen52
    martyqueen52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    edited July 2015
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    You can eat nutritious all day, for years, but if you don't watch your calories, your abs will not show. I eat pizza, cookies, cake, all kinds of "bad" food, as the hippies call it, and I maintain my 4 pack. Could I have a 6 pack? Sure. But I choose not to drop my calories because I'm Italian and like to eat, and powerlift.

    Abs are cool and all, but being able to dead-lift a car is 10x cooler.

    Stay within your caloric range and macros, and eventually you'll see abs.


    Now if you want stage ready abs, it's pretty impractical to sustain that look, not to mention idiotic.
  • LolaKarwowski
    LolaKarwowski Posts: 217 Member
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    martyqueen52 wrote: »
    You can eat nutritious all day, for years,but if you don't watch your calories, your abs will not show. abs

    Stay within your caloric range and macros, and eventually you'll see abs.


    Now if you want stage ready abs, it's pretty impractical to sustain that look, not to mention idiotic.

    Do not want stage abs. Ever. Just want them to show a bit.

    I do stay close to my daily calorie mark. The only reason I said I wasn't too worried about my calorie intake is because I think I'm supposed to be eating a little more than I am at the moment. I will be eating at TDEE soon but I'm upping my intake by 100 each week instead of going all in. But I am definitely keeping a close eye on my calorie intake as well as my macros.

  • marynificent
    marynificent Posts: 110 Member
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    I think your diet looks amazing when you stick to it! Same problem here, everything is so much more delicious on the weekend ;) When you go out, order the salad with grilled chicken and the dressing on the side. Or lean steak with dry sweet potato. Abs are all about diet. I am lucky to be leaner in front and can have some abs while still carrying fat elsewhere (I'll have a 24 pack before I shave off my love handles!!) but I don't worry about them too much when the rest of my muscles look amazing. I wouldn't focus too much on it; some people can't ever have visible abs based on their individual make up. Just keep pushing in your workouts and keep your calories and macros as close to your goals as possible. Oh and I find a cheat meal once a week is better than a cheat day or no cheats at all!
  • martyqueen52
    martyqueen52 Posts: 1,120 Member
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    LolaKarwowski wrote: »
    martyqueen52 wrote: »
    You can eat nutritious all day, for years,but if you don't watch your calories, your abs will not show. abs

    Stay within your caloric range and macros, and eventually you'll see abs.


    Now if you want stage ready abs, it's pretty impractical to sustain that look, not to mention idiotic.

    Do not want stage abs. Ever. Just want them to show a bit.

    I do stay close to my daily calorie mark. The only reason I said I wasn't too worried about my calorie intake is because I think I'm supposed to be eating a little more than I am at the moment. I will be eating at TDEE soon but I'm upping my intake by 100 each week instead of going all in. But I am definitely keeping a close eye on my calorie intake as well as my macros.

    Just keep at it, and eat in a caloric deficit.

    Make sure you train abs too. I prefer squats and deadlifts to train mine. Or you can do hanging leg raises, crunches, etc.

    If you have no muscle there, they will not show when the fat sheds off. But they will, it just takes time, don't get discouraged.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    Lose body fat and your abs will show. I've done it "clean" and "dirty" and it made no difference. Once I had abs daily diet could effect how good they looked (water retention, gas, etc) My current pic was my dirty time, they actually look more defined than when I ate "clean" bc I stuck it out longer. It does take time, how long and the look you get depends a lot on genetics.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I think it looks pretty good. You might want to track fiber and see how you are doing there, and I'd recommend eating more veggies and probably a greater variety of them, but you are definitely including veggies regularly, so that's good.

    That's not for abs, but just generally for nutrition. Abs is just about body fat and having the muscle to show, as others have said.
  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
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    The only thing I noticed that you might want to watch more carefully is your sodium intake. Every 100mg of sodium over your daily goal will cause you to retain ~ 1 cup of additional water ( ~ 0.5 lbs. ).

    Beyond that, just keep to your normal routine. If you continue strength training while maintaining weight, you will naturally start shifting your BMI to a leaner ratio ( recomp ), and that's what you need to show off the definition.
  • LolaKarwowski
    LolaKarwowski Posts: 217 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I think it looks pretty good. You might want to track fiber and see how you are doing there, and I'd recommend eating more veggies and probably a greater variety of them, but you are definitely including veggies regularly, so that's good.

    That's not for abs, but just generally for nutrition. Abs is just about body fat and having the muscle to show, as others have said.

    I hateeeee veggies. Only carrots (non-steamed) and broccoli taste good to me. You're right though, I need to find more variety of them. Don't want to get bored eating the same stuff.

    I'm glad you all mentioned that I actually need to have muscle for them to show. I will continue to work harder and eating good. I am not looking for ways to speed up the process. I've just never seen my body with muscles before. I've seen it fat, I've seen it chubby, I've seen it normal, and I've seen it super super skinny. I REALLY want to see how my body looks after all my hard work.

    Quick question though, are there better chocolate protein bars out there? Are builder's bar the same as other protein bars?
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    LolaKarwowski wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I think it looks pretty good. You might want to track fiber and see how you are doing there, and I'd recommend eating more veggies and probably a greater variety of them, but you are definitely including veggies regularly, so that's good.

    That's not for abs, but just generally for nutrition. Abs is just about body fat and having the muscle to show, as others have said.

    I hateeeee veggies. Only carrots (non-steamed) and broccoli taste good to me. You're right though, I need to find more variety of them. Don't want to get bored eating the same stuff.

    I'm glad you all mentioned that I actually need to have muscle for them to show. I will continue to work harder and eating good. I am not looking for ways to speed up the process. I've just never seen my body with muscles before. I've seen it fat, I've seen it chubby, I've seen it normal, and I've seen it super super skinny. I REALLY want to see how my body looks after all my hard work.

    Quick question though, are there better chocolate protein bars out there? Are builder's bar the same as other protein bars?

    Pure Protein bars are probably my favorite.

    If you like broccoli, you can probably find other vegetables you like. Try mixing some other vegetables in with your broccoli and oven roasting or grilling them. Vegetables are always better oven roasted or grilled. Zucchini are pretty mild, and kind of take on the flavor of whatever you put on them.

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