At 5'9, 15% bodyfat, and 155lbs, how low should I drop my calories? And specifically, how about the carbs?
Q#1) How low should I drop my calories?
Q#2) How low should I drop my carbs? Is the 40/30/30 p/c/f a good split... or...?
I'm not low carbing, not now or ever. Right now my carbs are lowER, because I'm not training yet (except HIIT and a bit of cardio).
I calculated my calorie needs with the Harris-Benedict formula and figure I need between *2100 and 2500 calories* to maintain my current weight. The 2100 calorie number comes from a 'sedentary' lifestyle, the 2500 comes from 'moderately active'.
Q#3) What the heck am I? Sedentary or moderate?
The only exercise I get is lifting and HIIT, and I sit around all day at school, at home doing homework, etc... so am I sedentary (my typical life) or moderate (b/c I lift and do HIIT). I haven't started wrestling practice, so I don't get that exercise either. I'm just a lazy bum!
I've heard never to go below 2,000/day... yet at my weight, eating 2,000kcals/day would hardly elecit a loss of 1lb/week. I'm not on any androgens or anything like that, just plain dieting with HIIT.
Q#4) Do you use Massive Eating guidelines (PC and PF) for dieting was well as bulking, or just bulking? I've seen conflicting views on this. I think I'm going to use Berardi meal combining, for all my meals except dinner (which my mom makes, and I have to eat to make her happy, and not tear apart the family)
I will be consuming for my daily meal plan:
7:00 - P + C - Oatmeal + whey
9:30 - P + F - ??????
11:30- P + F - ??????????
2:00 - P + F ?????????????
4:00 - PWO - Dextrose + whey (small shake, 30g carbs/23g protein)
6:00 - P + C - Oatmeal + lean meat (chicken, turkey, eggs, or tuna)
8:30 - P + C (+ a little F) - Dinner, whatever my mom makes, I'll try to go as low as I can on the fat
10:30 - P + F - Cottage cheese, and either natty PB, almonds, or ...? some sort of oil...?
Totals: I don't know! See questions # 1 and 2... lol
Q#5) Does this look like a decent meal plan?
The problem with low-carbing (or even carbing at around 30%):
One huge problem I have is eating enough sans carbs. My mom won't buy me flaxseed oil, or anything 'crazy' like that (in her words). So I used to just eat lots of oatmeal (she'd buy plenty of that).
Now I can't eat as much (I eat 1cup/day for breakfast, probably gonna make it 2/3cup soon). Even almonds have carbs! Agh!
Q#6) Maybe I should buy some flaxseed oil? Fish oil? What would you suggest purchasing MYSELF that is ESSENTIAL?
PS - Bringing food to school and eating it that is P+F is pretty difficult, as beef jerky is expensive and my mom won't buy me any... I don't want to eat lunchmeat straight up and be a social pariah either.
Q#7) Suggestions? If I just ate almonds, there's no protein, and if I ate almonds and whey protein, the whey would be absorbed ridiculously fast, which makes it worthless! What's good to bring to school...cheap and economical... that I can afford on a high schooler salary (I guess I could pay about $20 a week for food at school, maybe $25)
And the LAAAAST question:
Q#8) What should I DEFINITELY purchase as far as fats go? What would give me better bang-for-the-buck, flaxseed oil or fish oil? We have extra virgin olive oil at home, too, should I be taking in some of this as well? I'm really not well-educated on the different types of healthy fats, sine I've been bulking all I was doing was eating almonds and natty pb, but it seems like the oils might be a better option to maintain LBM.
I know this post is really long, I wanted to covery any questions ANYONE might have. If I missed anything, ask away, and I'd be glad to clarify. I numbered my questions, to keep it simple.
With great appreciation and gratitude,
-Mike
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