Training & Nutrition - Where should my calories come from?

For that last month my fitday chart has me at 54% carbs / 23% protiens / 19% fat. Is this good? Where should one get his calories from? I am a 6'2'', 214 lbs, 32 year old male. My goal is weight loss and I am down 21 lbs since Jan 06. My goal is to get to 200 pounds and maintain and ride like the wind this summer. Thanks.

I hear 60/20/20 is pretty standard. Keep it up, I see your doing really good. That contest went from a biggest loser deal to you really making a change. Great Job! :)

That's pretty low on fat, I guess because you're dieting? The Fitday site itself gives you some guidelines.

There is no 'right' answer to that one. There are 100's of recomended guidlines. Each one different, and each one formulated to enforce a 'diet book' by some doctor/nutritionist/etc.

The one that is correct for you, is one you are comfortable with, and gives you a varied enough choice of foods that you enjoy that you can easily see yourself eating it for the rest of your life.

Anything other than that is simply a temporary weight loss diet and not a susainable lifestyle. I dont stress too much on keeping the big 3 at any set point, i eat good foods of each of the 3. I dont try to limit either fat/carb or protein intake but with my lifestyle, if i track my intake, my fat is generaly around the 30% mark. Protein about 15-20 and carbs the rest.

thanks for the tips. the biggest loser contest at work has two weeks left and i pretty much have it locked up. it was this contest but also my out of control diet and weight at the end of 2005 that has gotten me motivated. i want to continue down the healty path of life. there is so much nutritional information out there that it can be very confusing. from my searching today it looks like a 50/25/25 split is a healthy ratio for most?? i have NO plans to return to my previous ways and cant wait to hit the road this summer at 205 lbs!!! compared to last summers 230 lbs i am guessing i will feel like i am flying down the road. later.

I consider any diet/nutrition plan that doesnt try to restrict one of the 3 down too low as being one that will work. As I said earlier, the actual ratio's are not that important, picking somethign you can maintain for life is.

A diet is temporary, eating well is a lifestyle.

My personal choice that I made years ago before it was well known/trendy closest too the mediteranean diet, but with the refined carbs replaced with complex. Like brown rice instead of white, whole grain pasta instead of white, etc.

I dont actually follow any set diet, I have no book or website I follow. I just use common sense. Complex carbs instead of refined carbs. Good fats (olive oil) instead of trans fat, Lean cuts for protein. White meat over red meat, fish over white meat, raw over cooked, cooked over packaged. Increase vegetable and fruit as much as possible. Reduce processing when you can. Follow that and although some people may disagree, your doctor, heart, and cholesteral levels wont.

I do HIGH PROTEIN, LOW CARB, NO FAT.
I eat a banana and drink a diet coke on
rides of 40 - 50 miles and am good for
the duration.

I don't believe in FAT! Some people
on Atkins diet swear by it but at 55 I
view FAT as a giant lingering TIME BOMB
if I put that s**t in my body.

I DO take 3 grams of FISH OIL talbets
a day for the 'good fat' tho.

My diet on a daily basis breaks down
about:

150 grams protein
108 grams carbs
3-10 grams fat

Gets me down the road. I am not
a competitive rider, but I can average
about 15 miles an hour unless I am
climbing a lot of hills.

Ned Goudy
Glendora, CA USA

Lightning Thunderbolt http://www.lightningbikes.com/thunderbolt.htm
Easy Racer EZ1-SC http://www.easyracers.com/ez_1_sc.htm

I do HIGH PROTEIN, LOW CARB, NO FAT...

My diet on a daily basis breaks down about:

150 grams protein
108 grams carbs
3-10 grams fat

That's a farily high protein intake and a low carb intake, as you said. Unless you're a clydesdale who rides several hours per day, that's certainly more protein than you need. 108 grams of carbs is barely enough to replace depleted glycogen from a 2-hour ride. I'll consume 100 grams of carbs or more on a weekend ride in the form of cytomax, clif bars, and clif shots. That doesn't even count the recovery food/drink.

But if you're not riding hard or long, I suppose you're not at risk of bonking.

My diet on a daily basis breaks down
about:

150 grams protein
108 grams carbs
3-10 grams fat


So your total diet is 600 cal in protein, 432 cal in carbs, and max 90 fat calories? That seems like an extremely low intake for a day, not to mention extremely high in proteins. You mention a 40-50 mile ride...you are likely burning much more than this on a ride like that alone (1200-2000 cal)! I'd think a dietary restriction this severe would be counterproductive. If you don't bonk hard on that diet, maybe exercise physiology is wrong :).

If you don't bonk hard on that diet, maybe exercise physiology is wrong :).

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I suspect his rides are short enough and at a low enough intensity that he doesn't bonk.

1100-1200 calorie diet doesnt even sustain me if I sleep all day let alone bike

Maybe some math errors in Ned's post?

I like what Jarery had to say about eating. My diet is pretty much the same except that I make a conscious effort to add a bit more protein to it. If you're working muscle pretty hard, higher protein levels than that type of diet will normally give, can be beneficial in my opinion. Protein is needed not just for building muscle, but for maintaining it.

As an active person who does some weight training in addition to riding, I prefer my protein levels to be in the 30-40% range, though great health can certainly be obtained with lower levels.

30-40% protein? How do you even get your protein into that range - eat all meat? Take protein supplements? I can barely get my protein over 20% on a daily basis, with 50-60% carbs and the rest fat. I guess I just like carbs. My carbs are mostly complex - oats, brown rice, wheat bread, potatoes, fruit, etc. But I'm not on a training regimen, just trying to eat healthy and build endurance.

The word "Diet" suggests restricting your intake, but the only reason to restirct your intake is if you are filling yourself with low-nutrient food. If your focus is on consuming plant-based unprocessed foods you can eat all you want while giving yourself plenty of energy, and moving your weight in the direction (up or down) of your ideal weight. These foods will automatically provide you with the proper proportions of carbohydrates/proteins/fats.

If you feel need to restirct, minimize or eliminate your refined and processed foods, your animal based foods, sweeteners and artificial ingredients. If you are putting the right foods into your body, it will respond by telling you what it needs and how much it needs. If you crave sweets, eat fruit. If you run out of energy increase the whole grains, beans and nuts you are consuming. If you're hungry then eat. For thousands of years the body has functioned properly to make people feel these sensations for a reason. It just couldn't have anticipated the huge surge in processed foods and artificial ingredients of the past century.

It's easier to achieve than you may realize... your palate will adjust rather quickly.

So Redrom is saying there are no fat vegetarians. Not true! I have known many.

If you eat too many calories, regardless of the source, you'll gain weight.


If your focus is on consuming plant-based unprocessed foods you can eat all you want while giving yourself plenty of energy, and moving your weight in the direction (up or down) of your ideal weight. These foods will automatically provide you with the proper proportions of carbohydrates/proteins/fats.

Roody seems to have jumped to a conclusion about what I'm saying; but I'd be glad to go into more detail.

I think small quantities of meat are probably alright. I still eat meat sparingly, and I'm still loosing weight.

I would place a higher emphasis on keeping away from processed foods. A vegetarian who consumes mainly breads and pastas will have the same weight trouble as a carnivore. Ice cream is a vegetarian food. So are potato chips. I am certainly not saying that by simply being a vegetarian you will loose weight.

What I am saying is that if you eat the vast majority of your calories from the right sources (unprocessed plant based fresh food) you will be filled to the point of being satisfied, (even full) at every meal, and continue to loose weight.

30-40% protein? How do you even get your protein into that range - eat all meat? Take protein supplements? I can barely get my protein over 20% on a daily basis, with 50-60% carbs and the rest fat.

It's not too difficult. If you cut useless carbs, like most refined foods, you automatically raise your percentage of protein, without adding any protein. If I simply eat a lot of everything, I get the protein, but I also gain weight from the extra calories. I restrict the useless calories, thereby increasing my protein percentage without actually increasing the grams of protein I take in.

However, I do add some soy protein poweder to my diet and I make conscious efforts to eat a bit more protein - low fat cottage cheese, skim milk. I also eat a fair amount of wild game which is very low fat compared to farm raised animals. The percentage obviously varies each day, but I try to get approx. 150 grams of protein each day.

My goals are probably different from most. I lift weights regularly and need the protein in order to maintain a certain amount of muscle mass. Low protein diets cannot maintain much muscle, much less increase it. I ride frequently, but do not race and do not have the goal of riding faster than anyone. I'm after fitness and feeling younger than my 50+ years, which I've obtained very nicely.