Hi,

I am currently eating around 1200-1300 calories per day as I want to lose fat while maintaining muscle growth (I know it will be reduced gains however fat loss is more important to me at the moment).

I try to aim for 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat as I feel carbs result in fat gain.

Breakfast:

2x Boiled egg (one without yolk)

1x small portion Skyr Yogurt (roughly 50g)

Mid morning snack:

1x small apple

Lunch:

2x Boiled egg (one without yolk)

1x Turkey Burger

2x small wholegrain seeded bread, buttered

1x small portion Spinach

Mid afternoon snack:

1x small portion Skyr Yogurt (roughly 70g)

1x small banana

Evening meal:

Varies from:

Turkey Burgers with baked beans + salad

Jacket Potato, beans and cheese + salad

Chicken Fajitas

Chicken Stirfry

Evening snack:

1x small portion Skyr Yogurt (roughly 70g)

1x Protein Shake (most nights).

I drink plenty of water and rarely consume fizzy drinks. I do drink a fair amount of tea.

Incase people don't know, Skyr Yogurt's nutrition is similar to Greek Yogurt but IMO better as it's tastier and more protein.

Can anyone see any improvements for my diet or areas which may help? I want to reduce my body fat % then I will be increasing my intake to ensure lean gains.

I used the calculator on the website, however I'm unsure of my BF% so I guessed 20% - I'm debating whether I should have put something like 17 or 18% now. However I really do feel if I ate 2148 calories per day I wouldn't lose any weight.

I run on a treadmill for 20 minutes 3-4 times a week, burning (according to the treadmill so take this figure with a pinch of salt) roughly 300 calories.

I do 4-5 weight sessions per week mostly 12-16 sets per muscle and aim for 12 reps.

I also cycle to and from work 5 times a week covering roughly 5km per day. I cycle as fast as possible (kind of a short high intensity workout).

To be honest.. my toe-nails twirls when i see the caloric intake you have set up for yourself and all alert-lights turn on.

I am sure you will not be happy to read what's coming next, but i hope it helps you to understand how to go the "right way" for loosing weight / fat.

1200-1300 is even on the complete verge of what the Harvard Health Publication and the Department of Health and Human Services (just to name a few sources) suggest a daily "minimum" intake of "not below" for women (1200) and 1800 for men.

These are the "minimal" required amounts to merely 'survive' whilst not being what is considered active. And mostly cut only your BMR - which means if you'd lay flat in your bed, completely motionless and even your bowels wouldn't be actively digesting anything. (being: the Basal Metabolic Rate)

Of course you can survive a few days with astoundingly little food. But that doesn't mean you can do a diet on that term that should give you longterm fatloss.

You might ruin more than you will do good for yourself.

Now on top of that you want your body to execute 4-5 weight training sessions per week, 'and' also 3-4 times of cardio.

Where is your body supposed to get the fuel for all of this, if you don't even eat enough to maintain even your main body functions? Exactly :)

It might work for a while but this is no sustainable regime.

Your body will hold on to fat, water and everything it can, because you put it into starvation mode. Yes too harsh of starvation can actually make loosing weight and fat much harder. On top of that it will turn down your whole metabolism and slow down digestion and everything else in order to keep itself alive, in panic there might not be enough food incoming. And last but not least it will - when in such a dramatic caloric minus over a longer time - begin to break down muscle tissue and to use it as energy source / fuel, along with the stored fats. The very thing you are trying to add to your body, will actually be eaten away :)

This is the reason why we humans are so massively good at surviving - we can even - aside from out fat storages - decide to get rid of everything that is high maintenance - the muscles - and break it down i.e. into protein and use it as fuel.

Let me crunch some numbers for you:

(the bodyfat level isn't that important for calculating the weightloss caloric intake - so don't worry if you put in 20 or 17 - i used 20 for now too)

+

you see i am also getting to roughly 2100 calories per day.

And this already the very extreme weightloss ratio. of 500 calories less per day, which is a lot deficit.

I'd go with model 1 and shift some of the protein towards fats, to make it a bit easier do-able.

People often don't understand you need to eat less calories than you burn, yes, but you also need to eat enough to keep the body functional and to avoid shocking your organs and metabolism to such an extend that it fears for life and kicks on all the defense systems it has (as described above).

Especially when you wish to 'transform' your body and build muscle and a leaner phyisque at the same time. Your nutrition has to be on spot and can't be that ridicilously low, it's a hard enough task on its own to put on muscles while being in a deficit =)

On top of that i'd suggest you try 3 times of HIIT cardio (high intensity interval training) instead of 4 times a week on a treadmill. The afterburn effect is much greater and kicks on your metabolism to a great extend to burn fats. And on top of that long cardio tends to make more hungry due to the higher oxygene levels and emptying of all stores.

So long story short - if you want a sustainable weightloss program, those are the numbers to go with.

Hope this helped! Cheers!

Thank you for the fast reply.

I have been able to sustain this current diet for around 4 weeks now - which as you've mentioned probably isn't the healthiest thing to be doing.

I will definatly be taking your advise and increasing my calorie intake - you said to use model 1 (as thats the same proportions that I current eat to; 40P, 40C, 20F) I can simply increase how much I eat.

I can tell I've lost a considerable amount of fat over the past 4 weeks - I've been taking progress pictures and my belly has reduced significantly but still a long way to go. Hopefully eating more calories as you've said will increase my metabolism and in turn aid the fat loss.

Just a quick question, will eating a portion of Yogurt and a protein shake 30 minutes before I go to bed cause an insulin spike to hinder my metabolism? Or is 30 minutes enough time before bed?

Also if I swap to HIIT such as sprinting on a treadmill for 1 minute, jogging for 2 minutes; how much of an impact will this make as apposed to jogging for 20 minutes? I have a weak left knee due to an injury 6 months ago and sprinting may cause pain / discomfort.