New guy, rookie, diet plan ?

[DennyH]

Hello - new guy here. Hi everyone.

I’m pretty new to fitness as a middle aged man and have a question or two regarding my diet plan. Here’s some background first:

I’m a 46 year old male and after about 15 years on the sofa, decided to improve my health in order to be better prepared for my later years and enjoy activities longer in life. I worked out for 2 months then got distracted for 2 months but am now back on track. Amazing how fast the gain is lost being 46 years old.

I workout in the mornings at home with dumbbells, a fitness ball and a stationary bike, alternating between the dumbbells/fitness ball and cardio 5 days a week. My biggest limitation is my knees. I’m 5-9 and 170lbs. I had lost 15 lbs the first 2 months through improving my diet and exercise. Fat wise and judging by my spare tire, I still have a long way to go. Thankfully during my 2 months off, I had hardly any weight gain but that spare tire grew.

And finally, my question or request for comments. I’ve never really paid attention to what I ate until this year. I’m looking for reassurance or confirmation that the diet plan I made up is reasonable for loosing fat while improving muscle. In other words, do you see anything inhibiting progress or should be rearranged?

This is a typical day’s plan. I rotate the meat with chicken, fish, turkey each day. I don’t show the portion sizes but it’s based on 1700 cals per day (300 under my maintenance cals). 43% protein, 38% carbs and 23% fat mix. Workout is before the first meal. I don’t stick to this 100% but it’s close.

Meal 1 - 6:30 am
Protein Drink (Designer Whey)
Oatmeal (steel cut)
Egg (Hard Boiled)

Meal 2 - 9:00 am
Protein Drink (Designer Whey)
Fruit Mix (blueberries, strawberries, apple, pear)
Fish Oil Tablet

Meal 3 - 12:00 pm
Tuna (canned-water)
Tortilla Wrap (whole wheat)
Almonds
Salad

Meal 4 - 3:00 pm
Protein Drink (Designer Whey)
Yogurt (fat free)
Fish Oil Tablet

Meal 5 - 6:30 pm
Chicken
Green Beans
Salad
Rice (long grain brown)

Thank you in advance for your input.
Denny

[howardalex]

well you're definitely getting your protein and fruit...looks alright to me dude, gotta make sure you do as well on the workout

edit: actually, not sure if you should be using so much whey supplement, may be better to get extra food in, but I'm not 100% on this, no doubt someone else'll point it out if it's a problem though

[THICKnSICK]

i would recommend eating around 10g of protein or BCAA's before your workout to maximize fat burning during your early morning cardio, also maybe throw in 2-3 more hard boiled eggs for breakfast but only eat the whites. looks good tho! dieting is hard but worth it!

[hrpiii]

Yes, too much protein drinks. Cut the one out at 9 or 4. Depending on your workout. If it's in the morning, and the 9 is the post workout shake, then cut the one out at 4. Sub in a chicken breast, or some turkey or something like that. At 170 lbs, you can't have too much of a spare tire. Keep up the cardio, and a strong protein intake with natural foods.. the weight will come off at a healthy pace.. be patient.

[DennyH]

Thanks for the input. I'll make the adjustments as recomended and go from there. For the 4th meal, I did have a "solid" protein in there but switched to the liquid in order to "sneak" in the meal at work. Not a real issue though.


Thanks again!
Denny

[markkk]

DennyH-

Hey man, how’s it going? Its good to see you’re getting in the game. Better late than never right? Age is just nothing but a number anyway. Sorry to hear about the knees. My biggest fear is injuring myself and than not being able to workout.

Anyway, you really seem to have a good idea of the right foods to eat, BUT, I agree with hrpiii in the fact that you got one too many protein shakes in there. Real food would have greater benefits. Also, I would take the advice of THICKnSICK and get some BCAA's. I just ordered some for myself about 10 minutes ago. "Optimum" brand. They seem like an essential supplement to any kind of get in shape routine.

Well Sir, good luck with what you got going on!

[meriaiza]

Welcome.