Where did you get your BF% from? Are you sure it is that high?
If you are 160 with 15% BF then you are at 136 lbs of lean mass. That means you should be eating somewhere between 95 and 136g of protein a day. (.7 to 1.0).
The Max Calories you will consume on this scheme would be around 1,800. The lowest you would on this scheme would be 1,266.
Bear in mind, there is a whole section of fitness gurus that believes CrossFitters are starving themselves....but if your goal is weight loss then this is the amount of calories you would need, without a doubt.
Keep in mind that x-fit is for general preparedness and they try to accommodate the average joe -- who is trying to lose weight, coincidentally enough.
As I said above, if you want to lose weight, then 1500 kcal will get you there quickly...
If you do not want to lose weight, you just want to maintain, then you need to up those calories.
So lets start here -- what are your goals?!Also...
So yes, it is awfully low, but not when you consider the types of foods the Zone would like you to take in on a daily basis. Most of the foods are very calorically dense and are whole increasing your satiated feeling. If you're a sugar junkie and plan on starting this tomorrow on the dot and to every stipulation then prepare to feel absolutely horrible for a week or two.
Well...yeah its low. The goal with the x-fit nutrition program is minimal BF which is always going to call for a calorically restrictive diet.
This has little to do with the caloric density of "zone foods". First off, there is nothing that is considered a zone food. Sears specifically states in his books that you can eat whatever you want so long as you adhere to the ratio and diet prescription -- that will result in a caloric deficit.
With that said, the zone promotes the use of foods that are NOT calorically dense. This is to add volume to the food and suppress the inevitable hunger that ensues from a calorically restrictive diet.
The added volume allows stomach stretch receptors to suppress appetite a bit -- but this doesn't really work too well for too long as anyone on the zone or caloric restriction will tell you.
Realistically, foods that aren't calorically dense tend to just be better for you.
I don't know as much as I should about the Zone so if anything else needs to be stated I'm sure Chris will pipe in. I believe he followed this method when he did his own extreme weight loss.
For the record, I did the zone when I was already at around 8-10% BF and it worked well to keep energy levels up and maintain my weight. However, I did not use it for weight loss explicitly -- i did my own thing and then found out about the zone later. As it turns out, I am fairly certain i would have had better success on the strict zone diet if I had known about it, despite losing 60 lbs in 5 months or so.
My diet was pretty simple -- eat lots of veggies, lots of meat and limit fats (since they are calorically dense, not because they breed fat). This worked well for me, but some people require the structure of the Zone.
Back to the issue at hand though....we need to know your goals before we can really Rx the best diet for you. The CrossFit nutrition plan will work best for you if you want to lose weight while not being a zombie with an attitude.
