What is it you're hoping to accomplish with this diet?
I knew that was coming as soon as I realized I forgot to put that in the thread. ^_^'
This is really just to bring my BF% down some and my energy levels up. On the side, hopefully, it will help with my quality of sleep. I'm not looking to gain muscle mass (which is why I'm starting to think this diet has a bit too much food in it), but maintain and improve muscle density.
Definitely NOT too much food. Barely any of your calories will come from carbs if you are relying on that quantity of vegetables. Your BF% will surely shoot down if you maintain or increase activity levels with this diet...
Its definitely a good start. As is usually the case there are some things you can improve to make the diet *ideal*.
The reason i stress *ideal* is because you NEED to plan your diet out to be ideal...that way when you stray from it, which you will (everyone does), you don't stray too far. If your diet PLAN is not ideal to start then your diet in PRACTICE will be further from ideal.
Breakfast:
Normally consists of 2-4 eggs, either hardboiled or raw, a piece of fruit (normally a banana or a peach), and three spoonfulls of yogurt.
This is good. Depends on the yogurt, but if it's plain yogurt then it should be fine. If you plan on eating fruity yogurt, cut out the super-high-calorically-dense banana and replace it with more yogurt since there will be more than enough carb in a fruit-filled yogurt.
Personally, I prefer buying the plain yogurt and mixing in fruit and fruit juice, but thats up to you.
Snack: Roughly 2.5-3 hours later. I will be snacking on about a cup of raw vegetables, a half-cup of nuts, and about two spoonfuls of yogurt. I will try to vary this as much as possible, but that's the portions of carbs/protein/fatty-something that I'm going for.
More vegetables, less nuts. If you are trying to cut BF% then that ratio of carb to nuts is off balance. The nuts are going to provide something like 50-60% calories in this meal in that case. You have no source of protein here. Nuts are not protein.
Beef Jerky, pre-prepared refrigerated meat, lunch meat, eggs, etc. would be a good, quick protein source here. If you are in a pinch, get a powder like Isopure and mix about 10g with water just for this snack.
Yogurt, again, depends. If your yogurt is high in carb you may not need to add more veggies....but more veggies won't hurt here either - they rarely ever do.
Lunch: Roughly 2-3 hours later. This will consist of two cups of two different vegetables, a protein/fat source such as natural peanut butter (roughly two tablespoons), or a lean meat like 3-4 slices of turkey, chicken.. or a grilled quail or whatnot. If I am to have the lean meat, I will add two fish oil pills to the process. Occasionally, I will make a sandwich with whole grain bread or whole grain pita, keeping in mind the no-more-than-twice-a-week rule.
Does this mean a total of 4 cups of veggies? 4 cups would be a great, hugely epic meal - and i would recommend it since most veggies are not calorically dense at all. For example, one cup of broccoli is only 31 calories. 2 cups total will be too little for a major meal like lunch. Depending on the veggie, you will need at least 3 cups.
Lean mean is good, but you will need more of it. 3-4 oz should cut it.
Add the fish oil REGARDLESS. Take at least 2-3g of fish oil a day. Thats when you just START seeing benefits from it. I take 10g total, 5 in the AM and 5 in the PM.
Natural Peanut butter is not a source of protein. It's a source of fat. I also suggest switching up your nut butters every month or so (or whenever your jar runs out) between peanut, almond, cashew and macadamia nut butters.
Snack: Roughly 2-3 hours later (this would be right before I head home) A piece of fruit and an egg and fish oil pill, likely, or similar proportioned alternative.
Good.
Can replace the fish oil with nuts here, as well.
Only thing is the fruit:meat ratio. Generally speaking, make it 2 eggs per 1 piece of fruit, too. Fruit is usually pretty calorically dense, depending on the type....certain exceptions do apply, so you need to be more specific here.
Dinner: Roughly 2-3 hours later. A larger protein source, two cups of two different vegetables, and either a fat source coupled with the protein (in the case of say.. a salmon fillet) or an independent fat source (an avacado or something) or two fish oil pills.
Once again, need more veggies. Either that or top off the meal with a more calorically dense fruity dessert.
Be careful with how much avocado you eat if you are trying to lose weight. One standard sized avocado contains over 300 calories, mostly from fat. Thats awesome if you are trying to bulk up, but if you are losing weight, you need to consider this heavily. I suggest making guacamole and eating only 1/4 of it at a time.
Snack: Roughly two hours before bed. This will be the lightest of all, consisting of a cup of vegetables and maybe an egg or a spoon of peanut butter or something.
Should be fine. Like I said above, experiment with different nut butters to add variety.
The vegetables/fruits will be rotated as often as possible, giving myself as much of a variety as I can at different times of the day. I will aim to never eat the same veggie/fruit source more than twice in one day, and not more than four times every three days.
Its common for people to not have more than 20 items in their "personal menu". Don't get too bogged down by this notion of variety. Keep it simple. You won't get bored, I assure you.
And I will be drinking nothing but water during this process.
Good, Drink at least 2 Cups with every one of those meals.
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Some things i brushed on or feel should be added:
1) Fish oil. Every Day. At least 2-4 grams. 10g or more may be pushing it. If you want to do that much, split it up during the day like I suggested above (5g in the AM, 5g in the PM).
2) Multi-vitamins. Centrums are fine. 2 a day. Any vitamins that you don't need will be excreted. Always take multi-vitamins with an ample source of fat.
3) Monitor your weight 2x a week. If possible, monitor your body fat and/or your waist size. If you notice increases, cut the food volume. I don't think this will happen. If you notice losses, try to make sure they are MOSTLY BF% and not lean. This, of course, will depend more on activity levels.
Good start. I wish you luck.
