need some help with this meal plan

[jonny100]

after reading around the thread I came across a decent looking plan from someone in the same school situation as me. it was from TcTurbo (I think):

meal 1(at home in the morning): cereal with milk
meal 2(at school during break): peanut butter & whole grain bread
meal 3(at school during lunch): tuna sandswitch (tuna, mayo, celery, eggs (hard boiled), and whole grain bread)
meal 4(on the way to work after school): protien bar
meal 5(after work at home): chicken/salmon with mash potatoes & brocolies (spelling))
meal 6(before I go to bed): don't really eat here cause I dont' know what to eat.

Firstly I'd like to know, is this plan geared towards fat loss or muscle building?

Here are my proposed changes to this plan, please give me your opinions based on the fact that my fat loss workout would be about 20 min HIIT, 3 times a week:

pre-workout: 1 bannana
meal 1: change cereal to oatmeal and add something like cinammon
meal 2: leave as it is + 1 apple
meal 3: same, but alternate between chicken and tuna
meal 4: same as meal 2 + 1 orange
meal 5: chicken with brown rice, carrots, sweetcorn and peppers
meal 6: milk and cottage cheese

My concern is that this plan is involves too much protein and seems more like a muscle building diet. Are there any ways I can tweak this to optimize it for fat loss but still allow enough protein for HIIT? will milk give me the protein i need post workout? and should I still have as much protein even on days when i'm not doing HIIT?

Also, what effect will the fruit have? Should I eliminate both peanut butter sandwiches?.........god i'm so confused. lol

If I could get help with all of these questions that would be great. i know I ask too many but I feel like i need all the answers.

 

[spockafina]

My concern is that this plan is involves too much protein and seems more like a muscle building diet. Are there any ways I can tweak this to optimize it for fat loss but still allow enough protein for HIIT? will milk give me the protein i need post workout? and should I still have as much protein even on days when i'm not doing HIIT?

Also, what effect will the fruit have? Should I eliminate both peanut butter sandwiches?.........god i'm so confused. lol

If I could get help with all of these questions that would be great. i know I ask too many but I feel like i need all the answers.

I think your proposed diet looks great!
Don't worry about "too much protein" - having protein w/ every meal is optimum for fat loss, as well as muscle building. Do not eat any less of anything on days you're not working out.

Fruit is wonderful - don't worry about it. Fat loss is about having a clean diet, and burning more than you're consuming - unless you plan on eating 8 apples and 10 oranges a day, don't worry about it. Fruit is filling and therefore is a good choice for fat loss diets.

I wouldn't have 2 PB sandwiches per day. Maybe have one, and the other can be a turkey sandwich or a chicken sandwich.

I think you are well on your way to seeing lots of results! Just be sure to be consistent with your meal plan and exercise.

 

[jonny100]

thanks for all that spokafina!

so with that diet and workout do I need anymore protein or carbs straight after my workout besides what the oatmeal and milk will give me?

 

[spockafina]

so with that diet and workout do I need anymore protein or carbs straight after my workout besides what the oatmeal and milk will give me?

Yes, you need more protein after a work-out; sorry I didn't catch that before. Oatmeal and milk will only give you about 15 grams of protein, but that's all slowly absorbed protein. A whey protein shake is ideal as the protein is absorbed quickly by the body. You should be okay with the carbs from oatmeal and milk.

 

[neenaw]

Hi there, I think your meal plans look pretty good. I would second what spock said about the peanut butter sandwiches - limit it to one a day! You seem to have quite a bit of carbs in your diet, but I liked it when I saw you had changed the mashed potatoes to brown rice in your own plan You could try sweet potatoes instead of the rice sometimes too if you like them.

In place of the proposed 2nd peanut butter sandwich, how about a salad? even a chicken or tuna salad? fresh, raw vegetables are a little lacking in your plan. a salad involving lettuce, carrot, onion, cabbage, cucumber, tomato, celery and anything else you like would be great! personally i love something as simple as lettuce, grated carrot, onion & raw cabbage - mix it all up and it's delicious. putting a small amount of low fat salad dressing or mayonaise on it won't kill you either.

I know it's hard when you have to work around your school and/or work schedule but you just have to do the best you can in your own circumstances which i think you are doing pretty well.

Oh, the post-workout protein question: along with your cereal, even if you ate a tablespoon or so of natural peanut butter, it would increase the amount of protein you intake directly after workout. a protein shake *is* better cos it's liquid and is digested & absorbed faster but if you can't take this for whatever reason then don't lose sleep over it. protein in food form is fine.

By the way, are you just doing HIIT as your workout? HIIT isn't something I know much about (going to research it after this post tho ;-)), like I don't know the benefits of it over cardio, but maybe incorporating weight training into your plan would be a good idea since you are wanting to lose fat.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[spockafina]

Oh, the post-workout protein question: along with your cereal, even if you ate a tablespoon or so of natural peanut butter, it would increase the amount of protein you intake directly after workout.

One tablespoon only has 4 grams of protein. Peanut Butter should be used as a source of fat, NOT protein. And your post-work-out meal should be only carbs + protein; no fats.

 

[jonny100]

in reply to neenaw, thanks for that detailed response, it was much appreciated .
It's funny you should mention a salad as a meal because I just this day changed my afternoon sandwich to a salad (as a tip from another thread) which included grated carrot, lettuce, cucumber, tuna and low fat salad dressing. (all vegetables were raw)
This was really nice so I think I might continue this every day.

As far as the post-workout protein goes, I got myself a large tub of whey protein powder last weekend (made by Body Fortress) which I take a serving of mixed with water alongside my breakfast after HIIT.
You mentioned weight training. What I was planning to do was do a big period of fat loss, AND THEN switch to a weight training program as I heard that you can't really gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. My thinking is that if I can get my body fat into a lean percentage range then I will start doing weights because that is when I will see the results best.
I actually calculated my body fat % as 6.6 using some calipers and a site which calculates for you. As I am 16, this came out as being "lean", although I still feel it should be lower yet because my abs are not visible. (The calipers tell me I have 1cm of fat around my stomach).

One question I have is this, should I still have the protein shake with my breakfast even if I haven't just done a HIIT workout? (I only do it 3 times a week).

 

[spockafina]

You mentioned weight training. What I was planning to do was do a big period of fat loss, AND THEN switch to a weight training program as I heard that you can't really gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. My thinking is that if I can get my body fat into a lean percentage range then I will start doing weights because that is when I will see the results best.
.

You should include weight training w/ your fat loss plan. Lifting boosts your metabolism more than cardio, and it will definitely help with losing fat. No, you may not build as much muscle, but it is worth it - you can't neglect it when trying to lose weight.

 

[jonny100]

so does this mean that I had should up my daily calorie intake as well?

I haven't yet figured out how many calories I'm eating and how much fat/protein/carbs I'm getting each day, I'm in the process of working it out.

Is there any good formula I can use that will tell me how many calories I need to be eating, and then do I go below or above this figure if I want to lose fat but whilst lifting weights?

 

[spockafina]

so does this mean that I had should up my daily calorie intake as well?

You don't need to up your calories - just eat what you've been eating for fat loss, but add in the weight training. When you feel you are lean enough, then you can begin your bulking phase.