Is my "eating disorder" coming out by asking this?....

**I posted this original in the unmoderated area; however, I’d like your (Jordan/Austin/Leah/etc.) on this if possible.

My general make-up:

Male, 36 year old
6’1" 248 pounds
44.5" waist at umbilicus
Very early novice stage of training / Untrained
Generally healthy with exception of high triglycerides

My macro targets are as follow with aims of losing around 1 pound per week:

220g protein
250g carbs
75g fats

Total calories ~ 2555

I’ve lost around 10-11 pounds over the 5-6 weeks. My daily intake tends to fall more towards the 2100 range, so I’m at a bigger deficit than I would be at the above recommendation (as indicated by higher than expected rate of loss).


At the risk of being trolled, I have some questions about nutrition / eating healthier foods / hitting macros / etc.

About 5-6 weeks ago, for the first time ever, I began tracking my food intake on MyFitnessPal. The first 2 weeks were to just track what I typically ate without many changes aside from eliminating soft drinks. I had a typical American diet high in fat and sugar and low in protein. The last 3-4 weeks have been geared toward single ingredient foods with weight loss recommendations via TBAB.

Admittedly, I am not hitting my macros or daily caloric goals even after 3 weeks of trying. I'm still short on protein (and carbs), and routinely over on fat. I use whey protein once per day (getting 30g protein in my serving). This is generally a meal replacement for breakfast along with some oatmeal, etc. Even after eating what I would consider a good serving of protein at lunch and dinner, I fall way short.

My main questions are:

1. How much whey protein are you typically taking in during an average day (how many grams of protein per serving, etc.)?
2. What amounts of animal protein are you eating with your meals? 4 ounces? 6 ounces? 8 ounces? etc.
3. How are you keeping fat grams so low? I eat almonds and/or peanut butter regularly as snacks, and they just blow up my numbers almost daily.


When I re-read and think about my own post, I think some of my bigger undertones are in the vein of WHAT are you eating to hit your numbers? I think most of us fall into a routine of what we eat, and it doesn't change that much. What's your daily intake look like? I tend to eat three meals a day with one or two small snacks in between.

An example....what are you eating for lunch? Are you always packing one or two chicken breasts (or how many ounces?) to hit high protein amounts, or are you throwing in more whey protein (e.g. more than once per day)? The idea of a big breakfast doesn't appeal to me....I start work at 6am, so I'm up super early and don't have means to cook anything after getting to work unless I've prepared it the night before. I can typically make more thoughtful choices around lunch and dinner.

Maybe my "eating disorder" isn't so much an actual compliance issue, but rather one of just not knowing what to eat from a practical standpoint. Progress has been made. I am happy to report that I am no longer eating junk. Sugar intake is way down. Fiber is up. Single ingredient foods for 80-90% of my diet. I'm just drawing a blank with WHAT to eat from a day in day out stand point.

Additional thoughts...
After viewing the BBM nutrition seminars on YT, I feel like I have an understanding of not having to eat copious amounts of animal protein (beyond say 90-120g for the entire day). As I understand it, eating around 30g of animal protein has enough leucine (~3g) to trigger MPS for each meal. I guess I am having a hard time getting additional protein via carbs and fat sources that get me up to 220g. Or rather, I'm having a hard time doing it proportionally while keeping fat intake down below 75-80g.

Help please!
Jordan

Fevzay,

Thanks for the post and I hope you’re doing well.

For your questions, it doesn’t necessarily matter what I am doing since you and I are different people with different goals, histories, etc. However, for you I would recommend the following:

  1. I would do 20-40g of whey 1-2x/day to help you meet your protein needs.
  2. 6-8 ounces would be recommended
  3. If nut butters are killing your fat numbers the obvious answer is to decrease intake to them to 1x/day or eliminate them completely. Other than that, low fat protein sources like chicken, fish, whey, lean beef, low fat or fat free dairy, greek yogurt, etc.

I don’t know if you have an eating disorder so much as you need to play around with inputs a little.

Thanks for the response!

I know, I know…it reads as a simple compliance issue of sorts. I suspect my main issue is “trying” to eat healthy, then hope it adds up (it doesn’t, obviously) rather than planning out specific numbers before they happen. This is hilarious to me because I am amazing at budgeting (before things happen). Same concept, different subject.

I appreciate the confirmation of using somewhere between 40-80g of whey per day to supplement my regular intake. Particularly this will be useful for my breakfast intake.

kind regards,
Jordan
aka Fevzay
aka yet another jordan