Saw a dietician.....even more confused

FalvoPS · May 2012

After losing the battle of the bulge for several years, I decided to see a dietician. Unfortunately, I'm now more confused than before. First, she said I was not eating enough carbs. Second, she said I was not eating enough calories. And, lastly, she said I was eating too much protein. I'm 5'9, 251 lbs., with 27% body fat, and my BMI is over 30. I have a muscular looking physicque, but I have a gut that I want gone. Typically, I eat 1800 calories, 200g of protein, 150 g of carbs, and 50g of fat. Per her calculations, I should eat 2000 calories, 100 g of protein, 250g of carbs, and 70 g of fat. That's a 20%, 50%, 30% split of calories consumed.

Everything I have read has said use a 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat split and reduced calories. Needless to say, my results have been horrendous, but I don't see how eating more carbs with reduce my body fat. Does anyone have any ideas?

I lift 5x per week in the morning for 60-75 minutes. I know I need to do more cardio, but I lack the energy tand time to do it in the evenings.

TONYAGOOCH · May 2012

Go to this website. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
It will calculate your TDEE and give you the estimated amount of calories you should consume per day and your macros.

chrisb75 · May 2012

After losing the battle of the bugle for several years, I decided to see a dietician. Unfortunately, I'm now more confused than before. First, she said I was not eating enough carbs. Second, she said I was not eating enough calories. And, lastly, she said I was eating too much protein. I'm 5'9, 251 lbs., with 21% body fat, and my BMI is over 30. I have a muscular looking physicque, but I have a gut that I want gone. Typically, I eat 1800 calories, 200g of protein, 150 g of carbs, and 50g of fat. Per her calculations, I should eat 2000 calories, 100 g of protein, 250g of carbs, and 70 g of fat. That's a 20%, 50%, 30% split of calories consumed.

Everything I have read has said use a 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat split and reduced calories. Needless to say, my results have been horrendous, but I don't see how eating more carbs with reduce my body fat. Does anyone have any ideas?

I lift 5x per week in the morning for 60-75 minutes. I know I need to do more cardio, but I lack the energy tand time to do it in the evenings.

Yikes, 5 days a week for over an hour? When do your muscles get rest? I agree you are not eating near enough calories. I am taking a week off from lifting to deal with some sciatica and I am still eating 2200 calories at a deficit (I am 5'10 206). When I lift I eat between 2400-2500 a day, lifting 3 X a week. I disagree on her carb recommendations I am doing a 40/30/30 split between carbs, protein, and fat.

wildboar1 · May 2012

Your math is most likely a little wrong.
5'9" 251lbs with 21% bodyfat???
That means your lean body mass is about 198 pounds..... at 5'9. That puts you in professional bodybuilder category.
If this is true, then if you cut down to 8% bodyfat you'd look like Franco Columbo.

But regardless,
40/40/20 is pretty standard for bodybuilders and whatnot, but one one day a week or so you may try going up to 30 to 40% carbs. You should look into cycling your carbs. Also, eat more fat. 50g is not enough. Shoot for at least 80g.

And you don't need to do cardio.

Edit: it's 40% fat, 40% protein and 20% carbs. Not 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat.

jcpmoore · May 2012

I'm not sure what exactly bugles have to do with losing weight, so I'll skip that part. As for the recommendations-

Where are you reading "everything you read"? Which source do you trust more, "everything you read" or a trained dietitian? How honest were you with the dietitian? What I mean by that, is to get a real good plan from one you need to share every detail of your goals and workouts with them.

You say you've been using 40/40/20 and getting horrendous results. So, that tells me that the 40/40/20 isn't the plan for you. You are weight lifting 5x per week but doing no cardio. You lack the energy for cardio. Here's my recommendation- do the cardio first. Lifting tires out the muscles, cardio warms them up. Do your cardio first, then your lifting. Also, when you add strength training into your regimen, you DO need more carbs in your plan. This doesn't mean it has to be empty carbs-make them good carbs. Add more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains into your plan. Particularly the first two. This will help you build muscle, which burns more fat.

jg627 · May 2012

I'm around 225 at 5' 9" and with my current activity level (I lift weights 3 days per week), I think I would probably be trying to kill someone and eat them like that crazy, drugged up guy in Miami the other day if I had to live on 1800 calories right now. At that bodyfat you might want to think about trying to lose about 1 lb per week instead of 2 or 3. Try increasing gradually, do that two weeks, adjust some more, etc. Even 2000 seems low to me, but if you can do it and not have food dreams all night then I guess you could do it.

FalvoPS · May 2012

Your math is most likely a little wrong.
5'9" 251lbs with 21% bodyfat???
That means your lean body mass is about 198 pounds..... at 5'9. That puts you in professional bodybuilder category.
If this is true, then if you cut down to 8% bodyfat you'd look like Franco Columbo.

But regardless,
40/40/20 is pretty standard for bodybuilders and whatnot, but one one day a week or so you may try going up to 30 to 40% carbs. You should look into cycling your carbs. Also, eat more fat. 50g is not enough. Shoot for at least 80g.

And you don't need to do cardio.

Edit: it's 40% fat, 40% protein and 20% carbs. Not 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat.

Sorry, that should have been 27%, I typed this on my cell phone.

FalvoPS · May 2012

Based on this, the dietician was spot on.

toysbigkid · May 2012

bumping for a later read

Saw a dietician.....even more confused

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