new improved (i hope) fat loss diet

[bizzle]

Whats up everybody. Ive revised my fat loss diet and now every day im taking in b/t 1800-2000 calories with 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat. My carbs are all complex and come primarily for oatmeal and other whole grains, some fruit. My protein is primarily egg whites and tuna and 2%milk. My fat is all from nuts and 2% milk. Tell me please if this looks optimal for fat loss. Also, im recovering from a marathon at the moment but when im good again, prolly a week or so, ill start running again. Which would be best for fat loss, running 8-12 miles daily or performing 20-30 minutes of HIIT daily? Sorry for asking so much

[abranei]

All looks good on face value. Good balance in your diet

My concern is that you calories might be too low for your height 6ft 2 and weighing 178lbs coupled with 7 days of training. 1800 calories is approx BMR (calories needed for living and breathing not including excersise).

Using my maths calcs for figuring out calories reqirements based on height and weight and level of excersise a week you calories requirements are more likely 3000 a day. So dropping this by 20%

I recommend starting at 2500 a day and lower the calories by 200 a day if the fat doesnt drop off. You will need a skin fold caliper to measure that fat% each week to help you decide to drop or stick with the current calorie intake. You can buy these for �5-10 from ebay (Accu-Measure)

You need to run for at least 30mins and no more than 90 mins. You need to deplete your glycogen stores before you begin burning fat. You need to do excercise at 70% of your cadio capacity to be in fat burning zone. At a guess you will need to do the 8-12 miles because your so used to doing marthons. 30mins High intensity will probably too easy and your body wont enter fat burning mode.

[Goodsoulette]

I went on a super low fat diet, lost weight, got gall stones, at 27! 27!! Thats for fat 40 year olds apparently. So anyway now I have to have virtually no fat at all else I end up in agony. Just make sure you get enough fat to keep your body ticking over, I would talk to a dietician, nutritionalist to make sure you are getting the right amount. I would look at some oily fish in your diet too.

[bizzle]

well i wouldnt think 20% of my cals coming from fat would be all that low would it?

[bizzle]

Also, why do you say work out for 30-90 minutes and no more? Because of muscle loss im assuming

[Goodsoulette]

hmmm... it sounded really low to me but I just sat and worked it out and its not.
I was restricting myself to no more than 25 grams of fat per day and since the gallstones its definitely less.
I just to my mate matt who cycles a lot, he is super fit and he watched what he eats religiously, he recons between 5 and 15 % of his calories come from fat ( but then he has 14 % body fat) and I think normally it should be 25 shouldnt it. Posted before I thought about it.

[abranei]

More than 90 mins is supposed to stop muscle loss but you may need longer based on your fitness level.

20% is a good ratio for fats and if you consume the 2500 calories I suggested then 20% of these would be 55g of fats and these should be from good fats as mentioned in the other posts.

Goodsoulette - the average BF% changes the older we get because the ratio between muscle and fat changes in favour of fat as we age. Check out the link below to see the average BF% for your age.

http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/products/am3 k_chart.pdf

[bizzle]

more than90 mins is supposed to stop muscle loss? Do you mean start?

[bizzle]

ANd sorry but also what do you mean when you say your friend cycles a lot?

[abranei]

Sorry bizzle - Going over 90mins and you risk losing muscle mass.