diet question.

[DMC85]

would appreciate some advice on my diet. i have gained alot of stomach fat and want to shed some of it. is there anything obvious that stands out that i should not be eating? also, are foods that contain a large amount of carbs which sugar bad for fat gain? e.g i try to boost my protein intake by eating these high protein yogurts which have 4 grammes of carbs which sugar per half a tub which i eat before bed and also for second meal in morning so wondering if they are a bad idea

some background first. im 36, 5 ft 8 and weigh 95kg which i feel is too heavy for someone my height. not sure how accurate digital scales are but my body fat readings comes in at 20% which isnt bad but im not sure its accurate and even if it is id like to be a bit lower. i look a bit flabby now which isnt a good look at my height.

in terms of my lifts, my deadlift 1 rm is just over 200kg., squat is approx 160kg now, bench press is 110kg, and shoulder press is 65kg.

my daily food intake is generally as follows:

breakfast-medium sized bowl of porridge, 3 eggs scrambled ( i remove yolk from 2 of them), 2 slices of brown toast or bread with butter, 150g of cottage cheese

mid morning-protein shake, protein yogurt 175g

lunch-chicken breast with 2 slices of bread or toast on non training days, on training days i eat it with a cup of brown pasta (no sauce), apple

afternoon-500ml of low fat protein milk and 150g of cottage cheese

dinner-2 mash potatoes with approx tea spoon of butter mixed with meat(steak, chicken, pork, fish generally) and veg

late evening-chicken breast with cup of hot milk (full fat)

before bed-500ml protein milk and 175g of protein yogurt, 125g of blueberries.


only thing i can think of causing fat gain are possibly the potatoes or the yogurts.

[Robert Santana]

You are only too heavy because the bar is too light. Drop 10 kg and work your way back up.

No specific food is going to cause fat gain, an accumulation of calories from a variety of food will. It looks like you eat too much fat. Have you plugged all of this into an app?

[DMC85]

You are only too heavy because the bar is too light. Drop 10 kg and work your way back up.

No specific food is going to cause fat gain, an accumulation of calories from a variety of food will. It looks like you eat too much fat. Have you plugged all of this into an app?

im not sure what you mean? i should be lifting heavier?

i used an app to calculate calories of what im eating and the protein milk im taking amounts to over 500 calories a day as i drink a litre of it including half a litre before bed. ive cut this back considerably and replaced with whey protein. have also cut back on bread. since i stopped drinking so much of the milk a couple of days ago ive dropped 1.26lbs

[Robert Santana]

Yes. You need to get stronger. You could do so and lose 10 kg. Cut the fat, spare the carbs.

[DMC85]

If I lose 10kg won't I lose strength with it though?

Also based on my weight the lifts mentioned in my initial post are well into intermediate? Not saying I can't get stronger but won't it be very difficult to lift heavier if I'm losing weight? Sorry my understanding of this just isn't great.

I think I need to switch into an intermediate programme to gain more strength. E. G I'm still doing 1 set of 5 on deadlifts every second workout. I've got up to 192. 5kg X 5 but seem to have stalled here. I'm still making progress on squats doing 3 X 5. At 150kg now.

My press and bench press could be better though. My bench has stalled at 105kg for 3 sets of 3 to 4 reps. my press is currently 55kg for 3 sets of 4. Form has been an issue for me on the press. I've improved this and have made some gains on it recently.

Getting time to undertake an intermediate programme as prescribed will be a challenge for me with my job. If I could lose weight and keep my lifts close to where thry are now I'd be happy.

[Jovan Dragisic]

some background first. im 36, 5 ft 8 and weigh 95kg which i feel is too heavy for someone my height. ...

in terms of my lifts, my deadlift 1 rm is just over 200kg., squat is approx 160kg now, bench press is 110kg, and shoulder press is 65kg.

I'm 38, 5'8, lifts like yours, assuming the squat and bench press are 3x5. My press is 5 kilos more. I weigh about 105 kg. I am struggling to maintain some bodyweight, as I don't enjoy all the food any more really. But as far as being too heavy goes, every time I start losing weight, women stop checking me out - they still do, but not nearly as when I'm heavier than 105. So the too heavy thing has probably got to do with your old clothes not fitting and shit. If you cut down on your calories from fat, you will be surprised how quickly the body fat is coming off.

[DMC85]

I'm 38, 5'8, lifts like yours, assuming the squat and bench press are 3x5. My press is 5 kilos more. I weigh about 105 kg. I am struggling to maintain some bodyweight, as I don't enjoy all the food any more really. But as far as being too heavy goes, every time I start losing weight, women stop checking me out - they still do, but not nearly as when I'm heavier than 105. So the too heavy thing has probably got to do with your old clothes not fitting and shit. If you cut down on your calories from fat, you will be surprised how quickly the body fat is coming off.

no the numbers i posted are my one rep max on those lifts or close to it. my squat 1 rm is actually 169kg though. i just took a guess at what they are and i dont know how accurate one rep max calculators are or if they are even accepted.

currently squat is 150kg for 3 x 5

deadlift is 192.5 x 5

bench press is 102.5 for 3 sets of 5

press is 55kg for 3 x 5

im down from 15.46 stone to 14.8 in the last 2-3 weeks since i stopped taking a litre of that protein milk daily and paying more attention to my carb portions.. my deadlifts havent been as good lately but im not sure its down to the weight loss. could only lift 190kg for 3 reps last thursday but i put that down to tiredness and the floor i was lifting on in my garage is uneven and more difficult to pull from.

my issue with my weight is that its too much fat on my stomach.

btw how accurate are these digital weighing scales that measure body composition? my body fat comes up as 20% when i weigh myself on that.

also, when saying that i can get stronger while losing weight does that mean my lifts can go down somewhat? e.g. As a 36 year old male, if my bodyweight is down to 85kg and my deadlift were to go down to 190kg for a one rep max from 200kg at 95kg bodyweight i would still be at the same strength level pretty much?

[Robert Santana]

You may be able to do both you may not. Typically if you have excess fluff you can do both by "cleaning up" your diet. In other words losing 5-10 kg, if you have enough bodyfat, shouldn't require a herculean effort.

[Jovan Dragisic]

my issue with my weight is that its too much fat on my stomach.

Nobody notices that but you. You just went up in shirt size, so your shirts don’t fit. I didn’t say you could get stronger while losing body weight, I just said you will be able to drop body fat easily at any given point. I am personally struggling to even maintain body weight, as the volume of food is too much to stay above 100 kg. Push the deadlift as far as it will go before fiddling with losing weight is my advice.

[Robert Santana]

When will these guys understand that not enough muscle mass is a bigger problem for them than too much fat. We aren't dealing with a morbidly obese man here.