MrCrassic 

I post again asking for feedback on my eating routine.

Right now, I'm in base training and am trying to eat to maintain my weight. I'm 5'8", 21 years old and have been 155 pounds for a few months now. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to optimize my eating patterns further, but NOT so that I lose more weight. At this point, I'm riding at least 130 miles a week, including an hour of interval training a week. Because of some centuries I've done, I've been riding closer to (or over) 200 miles a week. If I'm not riding to work, I walk a hell of a lot (since it's far). With the exception of work, I'm usually pretty active.

Before anything, I practically removed the following things:

• Sun Chips
• White breads
• Juices with sugar
• Sodas
• Most 'sugary' cereals

Now the eating pattern (the bullets represent choices I have, i.e. independent meals):

BREAKFAST:[*]Four or five eggwhite omelet with turkey and one slice American cheese, with either waffles and syrup (light to medium amount) or Arnold Health Nut Multigrain Bread (no butter). [*]Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Cinnamon Cereal with Soy Milk and same bread as above. [*]Strawberry banana Protein smoothie (with soy milk, no yogurt) and same bread as above.

SNACK:[*]A scoop of chopped honeydew and melon, sometimes with a banana (today, I tried this with peanut butter), served with creamed coffee. [*]Croissant with creamed coffee. [*]Granola with creamed coffee.

LUNCH:[*]Side of white rice (or if I brought it, brown rice) or whole grain pasta, tuna mixed with Thousand Island dressing and cheddar cheese. [*]Tuna salad mix (sometimes I have french fries, maybe once a week, if that)

SNACK 2:[*]Clif Bar [*]Kashi cereal (if I didn't have it for breakfast) [*]Almonds or Cashews (a handful)

DINNER:[*]Two bowls of Honey Bunches of Oats or Cheerios (if I get home late, which often happens) [*]Pasta with fish or chicken (depending on what I had eariler) [*]Rice with fish or chicken [*]Jamba Juice Strawberry Workout (Strawberry Banana Protein smoothie) with a Clif Bar

Here are some problems I was critiqued on:

• Not enough fruit (I don't like grapes, and I'm not a big fan of apples or oranges)
• Coffee should be drank black (I don't like black coffee or straight tea)
• Less cereal (I really like cereal, and I usually eat cereal either for breakfast or as a light dinner, since I often come home too late to make something better)

And here are some foods that I would like to keep eating, if it's not negative to my diet:

• Cereal (f'ing love it)
• Creamed coffee (love this too)

What do you guys think?

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CastIron

I think for an active 21 y/o guy you're way overthinking this. Really.

DataJunkie

Slowly increase the calories you are consuming until the weight loss stops. I calorie count and members on the site I use frequently have issues when they go into maintenance mode. Generally they do exactly what I posted. Then again it is easier when you are calorie counting.

MrCrassic 

That's my problem. On one hand, I know that I shouldn't worry too much about how I eat because I ride my bike A LOT, and am active off my bike by walking places or doing physical things. On the other hand, I'm worried that I need to keep close tabs on this to avoid gaining back weight (though I don't think I possibly could gain nearly as much as I lost with all of the riding that I've been doing, at least not with body fat anyway).

Plus, I want to try and keep a diet that sharpens my performance on the bike.

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telebianchi

One: If you've maintained 155 for a few months I'd venture to say you've got things figured out.
Two: If you start and continue to gain or lose weight, then worry about it. My weight can vary as much as five pounds over the course of a week, so don't make some knee-jerk reaction based on one scale reading.
Three: I'm kind of psyched to know that I'm your same height, twice your age, ride three-quarters as much, but only weigh 11 lbs more (and still dropping).

MrCrassic 

That's awesome, man! Keep it up!

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CastIron

Also, understand you will likely have a normalized body weight range. A gain of say 5-7 lbs shouldn't be alarming even after taking into account your body adjusting it's blood plasma/water volume (which it does with activity and weather variations).

MrCrassic 

My range has been between 155 and 160 pounds. If I've fallen under 155, I don't know of it.
There are days, however, where I feel lighter and days where I feel heavier...

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keiththesnake

The top of my BMI is 154. I gotta cut weight.

MrCrassic 

BMI is flawed.

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CastIron

BMI is indeed enormously flawed when applied to individuals. It's function is to track large populations for statistical correlations. In that respect it works reasonably well. As with many things, you first have to determine where in the bell curve you lie and adjust accordingly.

ericgu

I agree that you are overthinking it. Carmichael's "food for fitness" has some good information and samples meals. Basically, look to eat high quality rather than low-quality foods.

I think your removes are okay, though I question the sun chips. I'm assuming that they're something that you enjoy, and if you get rid of all the food that you enjoy, your diet gets pretty boring. Chips are a decent way to help replace all the salt that you're sweating out, and they aren't that bad for you.

Coffee isn't a big deal with cream or without. Cereal is better if you switch to whole grains.

I'm surprised nobody noticed the omission in your diet. Not a single vegetable in that whole list. You need to eat vegetables.

z415

+2. Fruits do not make up for veggies.

Within a Word

Yeah, I'm going to second the vegetables suggestion. Green peas and broccoli are particularly healthy options, potatoes have tons of potassium and a few other things, sweet potatos too. Granted cooking can sometimes be a hassle but youtube can be helpful with that. Most importantly you need beer. Never underestimate the power of beer.

z415

mmmm, sweet potato fries.

Within a Word

https://www.nutritiondata.com/ is a good website to target particular foods that might help you. Lots of nuts/seeds, pumpkin seeds in particular.... wikipedia for what it's worth says they have "steroidal properties" but you know, not in a ball shrinking, toddler throwing rage sort of way. Walnuts have an ungodly amount of fat/nutrition in them. Personally, I eat a lot of vegetables & garbanzo beans with olive oil and sour cream on them, or tahini sauce. But yeah, for calories and additional fun on a ride, don't forget the beer. Srsly!

fordmanvt

Any baked chips are fine. You could probably have Sun Chips every day instead of fries once a week, they only have 1g saturated fat per oz. Fries have about 25-30g for one "large" serving.

American Cheese sucks, especially the pre-sliced stuff. I use Cabot Cheddar as there are four ingredients: Milk, salt, cultures and enzymes. Plus the rennet they use isn't animal based.

Potatoes are OK, but almost any green vegetable will be better.

Pedalandshift

Looking at your diet I realze that you are eating foods that I swore off years ago. Really, cheese and turkey omlet for breakfeast? White rice, potatoes? Everyday? Try for 50% of your diet coming from fresh fruits and veggies, the rest can be whole grains, fish, beans, just stay away from processed crap like "protein smoothies" and Clif Bars (best saved for the road).

There is nothing wrong with meat, cheese, potatoes, and white rice, but they're not everday healthy foods. Too much cholesterol or too high on the glycemic index. Try reading a good book on nutrition and health like "Eat, Drink, be Healthy" by Walter Willet.

I applaud your sincerity and effort, but you are rationalizing. Egg white omlet with cheese is a bit absurd, I think. My version? Egg white omlet over crusty whole grain bread with hugh dollop of chipotle or habenero salsa. That'll start your day off right!

Best,

f4rrest

Yep, white rice is like wonderbread. Cheese is like a slice of lard. More veggies and fruit.

Richard Cranium

Huh? How about just eating?

You could try baby formula and or Ensure or other products targeted to medical treatment. But then again you may want something more bizarre. Why not see if you can get some "primate chow" from the local Zoo and munch down on that. (along with bananas)