Question about diet ...

[purbeast0]

So over the winter I bulked up big time. I went from 178lbs to about 212-215lbs. Yesterday I weighed myself and I was about 213lbs.

Over the winter my diet pretty much consisted of the following:

wake up - protein shake.

lunch around 1pm - eat out at work or bring 2 cold cut sandwiches - turkey + cheese on one, ham + cheese on the other.
also at work I would snack cause we have free snack/junk food.

around 7pm I would take another protein shake

dinner I would eat either 2 turkey burgers, eat pizza, eat chicken + rice, basically anything.

before i sleep another protein shake.

I'd also take Celltech once a day which has 300 calories in it. Also I'd snack in the evening. On weekends my diet would change as far as times of what I would eat and I'd eat out somewhat often as well.

Now that I'm cutting I stopped celltech. I'm taking plain ol creatine monohydrate in place of it so I can get the creatine w/out the sugar.

now currently my protein shake intake is pretty much the same. for lunch i'm eating 2 sandwiches still and some yogurt. i've noticed when i leave work i'm starting to get hungry so I think i'm goign to split those 2 sandwiches into one around noon and one around 4pm.

for dinner i've been eating a turkey burger + some veggies (either green beans or corn) and another tub of yogurt. i'm also cutting out all of the junk/snack food.

my main question is ... is this enough calories or should i add in more? i don't want to loose too much size/strength but i want to just eat clean and keep my size. last summer i leaned up a little too much to the point i noticed it in my upper chest and shoulders. i don't want that to happen this year.

also my protein shakes consist of just skim milk + 2 scoops of powder. they are probably 320-350 calories each.

i don't nkow my exact bf% as i haven't measured it but i don't want to get below 200lbs.

 

[jiggahertz]

Honestly you just need to monitor your caloric intake and weight fluctuation. I'd try to keep it near 1lb/wk weight loss. I would probably drop the protein shake before bed and go with a slower digesting protein. If you're hungry you could try replacing the protein shakes with solid food, and drop the cheese from the sandwiches to be replaced with eggs or something for another meal.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: jiggahertz
Honestly you just need to monitor your caloric intake and weight fluctuation. I'd try to keep it near 1lb/wk weight loss. I would probably drop the protein shake before bed and go with a slower digesting protein. If you're hungry you could try replacing the protein shakes with solid food, and drop the cheese from the sandwiches to be replaced with eggs or something for another meal.

yea i'm going to be doing that, i just wanted to start out properly so that i'm not putting myself in a situation where i'm not eating enough from the get go.

over the past month or so my weight hasn't fluctuated at all really so i'm pretty much maintaining w/the initial diet i was talking about.

 

[jiggahertz]

You probably don't want to cut more than 500 cals/day off your current diet than to start.

 

[KoolDrew]

i just wanted to start out properly so that i'm not putting myself in a situation where i'm not eating enough from the get go.

It's almost always unavoidable to not have to make any adjustments. Especially as the cut progresses. Just make sure to monitor your calories and keep track of weight loss. Try to aim for 1-1.5 pounds lost a week. If you're losing more, increase calories. If you're losing less, decrease calories. Keep protein higher (I suggest around 1.2g per pound LBM for cutting).