Planning my Low Carb Diet

Good evening everyone.

I'm looking at doing a low carb diet for the next 12 weeks.

It's not something that I have ever done before so my knowledge is pretty much nonexistent so please be patient with me.

I have spent a lot of time in the Dieting section but I can't really find the answers that I'm looking for.

The very first thing I would like to know is, what should the basic macros look like?

Something like:
Fat: 20%
Carbs: 20%
Protein: 60%

The next thing I would like to ask is, what food sources would you recommend for a low carb diet, preferably something that can be prepared a couple of days in advance and something that is easy on the pocket.

I don't know if it's necessary for my stats but here it is anyway

Age 34
Height 186
Weight 90kg
BF Sadly, I'm back at around 20-22%

So ideally I would like to drop +- 8kg in the next 12 weeks, which hopefully will bring me closer to around 15% bf.

I have purchased Clen but I don't think I'm going to use it just yet. I'll keep it for another time.

My goal is to drop down to at least 15% by May/June so that I can start my next cycle.

But one thing at a time, if you could just shed some light on the above to point me in the right direction so that I do more planning and research on my up and coming diet.

Many thanks in advance!

Okay so I've done some Googling and this is what I have so far:

My Maintenance Weight comes to 2600 Cals/Day

I'm thinking of running at 2000 Cals for next 12 weeks. Probably doing some kind of carb cycling on a Sunday, where I'll carb-up for the week.

Here's my meal plan so far:

Breakfast:
4 Egg Whites
1 Medium Apple

Snack:
30g Whey Protein
1 Medium Orange

Lunch:
150g Chicken Breast
150g Mixed Veg

Snack/PW:
1x Tuna
1x Medium Apple

Dinner:
150g Chicken Breast
150g Mixed Veg

The Macros look something like this:
Carbs: 36% (120.55g)
Fat: 18%
Protein: 46%

With a total of 1400 Cals

Here's my first concern, why is the carbs so high? Could it really be coming from the fruits?
The other thing is, what else can I use to get my other 600 cals?

Please feel free to 'whey' (drrr dish) in.

@Empire...wink wink...

Howsit Bud, your calories are to low and why so much fruit? Ask Empire for advice on your diet.

You need real carbs bro..

On a low calorie diet you need to eat more foods that are filling that are also low calorie dense, so that you feel full and not like you are starving. Don't torture yourself. Stuff like baby spinach and salad will keep the hunger away but has very few calories. Aom for your snacks to be proper meals, just smaller than usual.

For my carbs I eat basmati rice, low fat wraps, sweet potato, oats with something to make it less boring like either nomu sugar free hot chocolate powder or oats with cinnamon and blueberries and, and low fat popcorn (Ster Kinekor Lite 6% fat). If you have no gluten intolerance then even a bit of bread is not bad. It's the crap you put ON the bread. I do no refined sugars besides intra and post workout. 1 or 2 4000 calorie cheat meals a week on heavy training days. This is not suffering, and I stay 9-10% body fat in my 40's.

Whey protein is not a good substitute for real food. It's absorbed too fast and does not keep you full. Your body can not store protein. Use it post workout or as flavouring with oats or something like that.

Thanks Guys.

So would you say that even though it is a low carb diet, the idea of trying to have as little as possible to
almost zero carbs is absolute bogus and that carbs are still required?

I'd be happy to rework the meal plan if someone could please tell me what the macros should look like for a low carb diet.

According to Google (Which I don't believe to be very reliable)
20% carbs, 40% protein, 40% fat.

Either have carbs or have 0 carbs and go on keto.

00pump wrote: Either have carbs or have 0 carbs and go on keto.

Thanks Pump.

I'm actually reading through Empire's posts at the moment, where he setup a Keto diet for someone and I'm in two minds here. Low carb or Keto...

Perhaps he can advise which would be the best route


FYI for future readers: www.anabolicsteroids.co.za/forum/10-diet...-diet?start=25#11041

Kevin.Kleyn wrote:

00pump wrote: Either have carbs or have 0 carbs and go on keto.

Thanks Pump.

I'm actually reading through Empire's posts at the moment, where he setup a Keto diet for someone and I'm in two minds here. Low carb or Keto...

Perhaps he can advise which would be the best route


FYI for future readers: www.anabolicsteroids.co.za/forum/10-diet...-diet?start=25#11041

@Empire please could you help me out here bud.

Would you recommend I go low carb or Keto? And if Keto, can I use the meal plan in the link as my foundation and just tweak it to suit my Cal requirements?

All depends on how your body reacts to carbs. If you prep for a show it's a different ball game and you just have to stick it out if you have to go 0 carbs for a while.

But personally if you just want to drop some fat or look better while enjoying your training sessions try to work in some carbs post workout to sustain energy and muscle fullness. I can share a diet that I followed for a summer cut on more or less the same calories as you want. I used quite a few supplements

Meal 1
4 egg whites
2 whole eggs
3 1000mg omega 3

Meal 2
150 grams chicken breast
Half cucumber

Pre workout
6g citruline malate
1 teaspoon glycerine
1g L-carnitine

Intra workout
10g EAA's

Post workout
50 grams whey
150 grams pineapple

Meal 3
200 grams Hake or chicken
150 grams white rice
1 serving GDA

Meal 4
150 grams salmon
Nice big green salad
3 1000mg omega 3

Sorry, I have been MIA for a bit.


so what I would do for the next 2 weeks is EAT AT MAINTENANCE and see how your body responds first, a lot of people use calculators but the calculations are WAY off in comparison to what they have been eating.

set your protein at 2.2g per kg of LBM. so you being about 160-170g protein. then I would for the first 2 weeks set your fat at 15-20% of your diet and then balance from carbs. your carbs are going to be high at this stage. so if you do a 15% fat ratio your carbs are going to be at 380g a day. your carbs will be 25% work out carbs - pre intra and post so 90g. so 30g-30-30 for example. 10% of your carbs comes from veggies. so 38g of carbs from veggies. and then balance from starch and fruit.


DO THIS FOR 2 WEEKS.

Then you got your baseline. I would then cut 700 calories from carbs for 5 days and then add back in 800 calories from carbs for 2 days.

so 5 days low calorie, 2 days "high" calorie

Protein and fat stay the same.

NOW you want to keep your workout carbs high for as long as possible. so your 700calorie drop is going to come from your starches and fruit. so 380 minus workout carbs are 290, minus veggies of 38 give your 252 less 175g(700 calorie drop)gives you 75g of carbs that you can have split whenever.

so your low days essentially are around the 200g of carbs mark.

I would then also try and increase your NEAT which is things like just being more active, park further away from the door, use the stairs, work standing up, don't phone your college in the next office, get up and walk to them. The reason for this is sitting at your desk, for example will burn 1 calorie a minute, if you bounce your leg the whole time you are going to burn 2 calories per minute, you have increased energy expenditure by 60kcal per hour. do that for the 5 hours in the working day, you have just burned the same calories as doing cardio, and you haven't done cardio.

CARDIO SUCKS BALLS. so if you can be more active just being a human being, then you are winning.

so to give you a bit of an insight, I have been "off-season" and I pushed my calories up to 3400-3500 daily. my protein content at 108kgs is 180g per day. and my fat content is about 18% daily and balance from carbs. which is roughly 450-550g a day. I am the strongest I have ever been on 150mg test a week DB shoulder press 45kgs for 6 reps after doing 50kgs for 4 reps. 68kg single arm dumbell rows for 13 reps, 62kg dumbell press for 4 reps. it's all documented on my Instagram so I am not talking shit here. I have decided to do a show in 24 weeks' time, my low carb days are at 350g and 2700 calories. still setting big numbers.

TRAINING SHOULD NOT CHANGE. DO NOT INCREASE VOLUME, RATHER CUT BACK 1 SET AND STILL PUSH FOR PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD. the goal here is to maintain muscle, even grow muscle. Stimulate, not destroy. recovery is going to be vital so sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

remember if you have too much protein it just converts to expensive carbs through gluconeogenesis. so if you eat 300g of protein and your body only needs 180g of it, and it needs glucose, it will convert protein into glucose at a 50% rate, so the 120g of protein left will become 60g of carbs.

hope this helps you out bro.

Read that over and over until it all sinks in.

Thanks SO much Empire!

I'm going to work out a diet tonight so that I can do shopping tomorrow and start Monday.

I will keep you posted.

Okay so I thought I would take my time and read this a couple of times, just like Muscleaddict suggested.

So before I jump in head first and throwing money around on meals etc, I would like Empire to scrutinize my meal plan that I came up with, based on the above suggestion.

Meal Plan (BASELINE)
3000 Cals
C54% (379g)
F20% (62g)
P26% (177g)

07h00
Breakfast
3x eggs whites
110g Oats
1x Apple

10h00
Snack
3x eggs whites
110g Oats
1x Orange

13h00
Lunch
120g Chicken
150g Brown rice
190g Mixed Veg


16h00
Pre Workout
1x Tuna
55g Oats (31g Carbs)
30g Peanut butter (4g Carbs)

Intra
Jelly Babies 45g (30g Carbs)

Post Workout
Breakfast Cereal 40g (30g Carbs)

19h00
Dinner
120g Chicken
150g Brown rice
190g Mixed Veg

Empire, I think if it's possible. Can we also look at my program as well and see if it needs to be tweaked to suit the diet.

I have been working on a 4 day program, and training 5 days a week. The reason behind this is so that I can train a certain group twice a week.

Typically my last set (3rd) of every exercise, I go till failure, sometimes I make a full 10 reps.

Day1
Preacher Curls 12-10-10
Seated Hammer Curls 12-10-10
Cable Bicep Curls 12-10-10
Back Extension 15-15-15

OR

Seated Bicep Curls 12-10-10
Cable Bicep Curls 12-10-10
Seated Hammer Curls 12-10-10
Back Extension 15-15-15


Day 2
Smith machine shoulder press 12-10-10
Lateral Raise Machine 12-10-10
Disk Front Raise 12-10-10
Reverse Fly Machine 12-10-10


Tricep Push Down 12-10-10
Overhead Tricep Extension (rope extension) 12-10-10
Dips 12-10-10
Abs

Day 3
Smith Machine Bench Press 12-10-10
Inclined Smith Machine Bench Press 12-10-10
Flat Dumbell Fly 12-10-10
Chest Fly Machine 12-10-10

Lat Pulldown 12-10-10
Seated Cable Rows 12-10-10
Lawnmower Pull (Machine) 12-10-10
Back Extension 15-15-15

Day 4
20 Mins Cycle
Leg Press 12-10-10
Leg Extensions 12-10-10
Hamstring Curls 12-10-10
Standing Calf Raise Machine 12-10-10
Abs

I saw something that you (Empire) posted where you said that one shouldn't just jump in head first and do cardio every day because the body adapts quickly and rather start off with just a little cardio and then take it from there.

Give me your thoughts please bud.

You need to get rid of that Smith machine.. dumbbell shoulder press, barbell shoulder press, dumbbell presses for your chest, alternate the incline of the bench / barbell presses for chest.

Back as well, bent over rows with a bar alternate between over and underhand / one arm rows. Get rid of the machine for side laterals and use a dumbbell too, do them standing or seated and get your body not to jolt on the raises. You also missing upright rows for rear dealt.

Legs you need to alternate the press with squats and include lunges.

Thanks Pump.

I figured it's time to change things up a bit...

The main reason why I preferred the Smith machine is because I gym alone so I don't have any spotter to help when I fail but you're right. I need to move on to more free weights.

Kevin.Kleyn wrote: Thanks Pump.

I figured it's time to change things up a bit...

The main reason why I preferred the Smith machine is because I gym alone so I don't have any spotter to help when I fail but you're right. I need to move on to more free weights.

Then maybe swap it up, but you going to get much stronger using free weights. Rather focus on perfect form, mind muscle connection, nice and slow, super slow on the negative and then like a spring push back out. Then maybe every 3 weeks use the Smith machine and you will be surprised how strong you are when you get on it, but it's very easy to load a Smith machine and not hit the muscle properly. Rather focus on your diary with quality lifts than being able to add 10 to 20+kgs on a Smith.

Thanks Pump!

I'm busy making a new program that does NOT include the Smith Machine.

Personal opinion and why, do you suggest rather a 5 day program with fixed muscle groups for each day of the week or a 4 day program where a certain group gets done twice in a week?

Empire wrote: Sorry, I have been MIA for a bit.


so what I would do for the next 2 weeks is EAT AT MAINTENANCE and see how your body responds first, a lot of people use calculators but the calculations are WAY off in comparison to what they have been eating.

set your protein at 2.2g per kg of LBM. so you being about 160-170g protein. then I would for the first 2 weeks set your fat at 15-20% of your diet and then balance from carbs. your carbs are going to be high at this stage. so if you do a 15% fat ratio your carbs are going to be at 380g a day. your carbs will be 25% work out carbs - pre intra and post so 90g. so 30g-30-30 for example. 10% of your carbs comes from veggies. so 38g of carbs from veggies. and then balance from starch and fruit.


DO THIS FOR 2 WEEKS.

Then you got your baseline. I would then cut 700 calories from carbs for 5 days and then add back in 800 calories from carbs for 2 days.

so 5 days low calorie, 2 days "high" calorie

Protein and fat stay the same.

NOW you want to keep your workout carbs high for as long as possible. so your 700calorie drop is going to come from your starches and fruit. so 380 minus workout carbs are 290, minus veggies of 38 give your 252 less 175g(700 calorie drop)gives you 75g of carbs that you can have split whenever.

so your low days essentially are around the 200g of carbs mark.

I would then also try and increase your NEAT which is things like just being more active, park further away from the door, use the stairs, work standing up, don't phone your college in the next office, get up and walk to them. The reason for this is sitting at your desk, for example will burn 1 calorie a minute, if you bounce your leg the whole time you are going to burn 2 calories per minute, you have increased energy expenditure by 60kcal per hour. do that for the 5 hours in the working day, you have just burned the same calories as doing cardio, and you haven't done cardio.

CARDIO SUCKS BALLS. so if you can be more active just being a human being, then you are winning.

so to give you a bit of an insight, I have been "off-season" and I pushed my calories up to 3400-3500 daily. my protein content at 108kgs is 180g per day. and my fat content is about 18% daily and balance from carbs. which is roughly 450-550g a day. I am the strongest I have ever been on 150mg test a week DB shoulder press 45kgs for 6 reps after doing 50kgs for 4 reps. 68kg single arm dumbell rows for 13 reps, 62kg dumbell press for 4 reps. it's all documented on my Instagram so I am not talking shit here. I have decided to do a show in 24 weeks' time, my low carb days are at 350g and 2700 calories. still setting big numbers.

TRAINING SHOULD NOT CHANGE. DO NOT INCREASE VOLUME, RATHER CUT BACK 1 SET AND STILL PUSH FOR PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD. the goal here is to maintain muscle, even grow muscle. Stimulate, not destroy. recovery is going to be vital so sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

remember if you have too much protein it just converts to expensive carbs through gluconeogenesis. so if you eat 300g of protein and your body only needs 180g of it, and it needs glucose, it will convert protein into glucose at a 50% rate, so the 120g of protein left will become 60g of carbs.

hope this helps you out bro.

So would you say low calorie Monday to Friday(training days) and High Calorie Saturday and Sunday(Non-training days).

Basically what I am asking is, do I have high calories on non training days?

Kevin.Kleyn wrote: 07h00
Breakfast
3x eggs whites
110g Oats
1x Apple

10h00
Snack
3x eggs whites
110g Oats
1x Orange

13h00
Lunch
120g Chicken
150g Brown rice
190g Mixed Veg


16h00
Pre Workout
1x Tuna remove the tuna from this meal and rather have post work out whey
55g Oats (31g Carbs)
30g Peanut butter (4g Carbs)

Intra
Jelly Babies 45g (30g Carbs)

Post Workout
Breakfast Cereal 40g (30g Carbs) i would add whey protein here

19h00
Dinner
120g Chicken
150g Brown rice
190g Mixed Veg

i am in bold above you.

you are going to get sick of brown rice as your only carb source.

otherwise you looking good to go, i would still track those meals in an app daily!

Kevin.Kleyn wrote: Empire, I think if it's possible. Can we also look at my program as well and see if it needs to be tweaked to suit the diet.

I have been working on a 4 day program, and training 5 days a week. The reason behind this is so that I can train a certain group twice a week.

Typically my last set (3rd) of every exercise, I go till failure, sometimes I make a full 10 reps.

Day1
Preacher Curls 12-10-10
Seated Hammer Curls 12-10-10
Cable Bicep Curls 12-10-10
Back Extension 15-15-15

OR

Seated Bicep Curls 12-10-10
Cable Bicep Curls 12-10-10
Seated Hammer Curls 12-10-10
Back Extension 15-15-15


Day 2
Smith machine shoulder press 12-10-10
Lateral Raise Machine 12-10-10
Disk Front Raise 12-10-10
Reverse Fly Machine 12-10-10


Tricep Push Down 12-10-10
Overhead Tricep Extension (rope extension) 12-10-10
Dips 12-10-10
Abs

Day 3
Smith Machine Bench Press 12-10-10
Inclined Smith Machine Bench Press 12-10-10
Flat Dumbell Fly 12-10-10
Chest Fly Machine 12-10-10

Lat Pulldown 12-10-10
Seated Cable Rows 12-10-10
Lawnmower Pull (Machine) 12-10-10
Back Extension 15-15-15

Day 4
20 Mins Cycle
Leg Press 12-10-10
Leg Extensions 12-10-10
Hamstring Curls 12-10-10
Standing Calf Raise Machine 12-10-10
Abs

I saw something that you (Empire) posted where you said that one shouldn't just jump in head first and do cardio every day because the body adapts quickly and rather start off with just a little cardio and then take it from there.

Give me your thoughts please bud.

to be honest i am not the biggest fan of body part splits like this, and as much as pump is going to hate me, I use the smith machine all the time for incline chest press, and super high incline shoulder press.

cardio when doing maintenance, i would suggest doing no cardio, and then when you start cutting do no cardio, and then when things stall add in cardio.

why not look at doing something like this :

4 day plan :

Monday rep range 10-15
3 sets Chest (1 exercise)
4 sets Back (2 exercises)
3 sets Biceps (1 exercise)
3 sets calves (1 exercise)

Tuesday
3 sets legs (2 exercise, 2 sets quads, 1 set hamstrings)
3 sets Shoulders (1 exercise)
3 sets Trices (1 exercise)
3 sets abs (1 exercise)

Thursday rep range 6-10
3 sets Chest (1 exercise)
4 sets Back (2 exercises)
3 sets Biceps (1 exercise)
3 sets calves (1 exercise)

Friday rep range 6-10
3 sets legs (2 exercise, 2 sets quads, 1 set hamstrings)
3 sets Shoulders (1 exercise)
3 sets Trices (1 exercise)
3 sets abs (1 exercise)

Then every week add 1 working set, so week 1 3 sets, week 2 4 working sets week 3 5 working sets. Then 3 weeks back to 3 working sets. 1 week off.

so for legs split into Quads and hams. 2 sets quads, 1 hams. when you add working sets add 1 to hamstrings, and then another set add to quads. so on 5 working sets you will be doing 3 quads 2 hamstrings.

Back you split into thickness and width 2 sets of each and then add above.

the more sets you do the more exercises you can add in.

Empire wrote: why not look at doing something like this :

4 day plan :

Monday rep range 10-15
3 sets Chest (1 exercise)
4 sets Back (2 exercises)
3 sets Biceps (1 exercise)
3 sets calves (1 exercise)

Tuesday
3 sets legs (2 exercise, 2 sets quads, 1 set hamstrings)
3 sets Shoulders (1 exercise)
3 sets Trices (1 exercise)
3 sets abs (1 exercise)

Thursday rep range 6-10
3 sets Chest (1 exercise)
4 sets Back (2 exercises)
3 sets Biceps (1 exercise)
3 sets calves (1 exercise)

Friday rep range 6-10
3 sets legs (2 exercise, 2 sets quads, 1 set hamstrings)
3 sets Shoulders (1 exercise)
3 sets Trices (1 exercise)
3 sets abs (1 exercise)

Then every week add 1 working set, so week 1 3 sets, week 2 4 working sets week 3 5 working sets. Then 3 weeks back to 3 working sets. 1 week off.

so for legs split into Quads and hams. 2 sets quads, 1 hams. when you add working sets add 1 to hamstrings, and then another set add to quads. so on 5 working sets you will be doing 3 quads 2 hamstrings.

Back you split into thickness and width 2 sets of each and then add above.

the more sets you do the more exercises you can add in.

This looks legit bro!!

I will definitely run this for the next 12 weeks while dropping BF.

Thank you for all the other replies as well. I didn't want to go and quote each one individually.

I think I am pretty much sorted now, the only thing that I'm still not sure of is, the High v Low calorie and workout days:

"So would you say low calorie Monday to Friday(training days) and High Calorie Saturday and Sunday(Non-training days).

Basically what I am asking is, do I have high calories on non training days?"

Empire wrote: Sorry, I have been MIA for a bit.


so what I would do for the next 2 weeks is EAT AT MAINTENANCE and see how your body responds first, a lot of people use calculators but the calculations are WAY off in comparison to what they have been eating.

set your protein at 2.2g per kg of LBM. so you being about 160-170g protein. then I would for the first 2 weeks set your fat at 15-20% of your diet and then balance from carbs. your carbs are going to be high at this stage. so if you do a 15% fat ratio your carbs are going to be at 380g a day. your carbs will be 25% work out carbs - pre intra and post so 90g. so 30g-30-30 for example. 10% of your carbs comes from veggies. so 38g of carbs from veggies. and then balance from starch and fruit.


DO THIS FOR 2 WEEKS.

Then you got your baseline. I would then cut 700 calories from carbs for 5 days and then add back in 800 calories from carbs for 2 days.

so 5 days low calorie, 2 days "high" calorie

Protein and fat stay the same.

NOW you want to keep your workout carbs high for as long as possible. so your 700calorie drop is going to come from your starches and fruit. so 380 minus workout carbs are 290, minus veggies of 38 give your 252 less 175g(700 calorie drop)gives you 75g of carbs that you can have split whenever.

so your low days essentially are around the 200g of carbs mark.

I would then also try and increase your NEAT which is things like just being more active, park further away from the door, use the stairs, work standing up, don't phone your college in the next office, get up and walk to them. The reason for this is sitting at your desk, for example will burn 1 calorie a minute, if you bounce your leg the whole time you are going to burn 2 calories per minute, you have increased energy expenditure by 60kcal per hour. do that for the 5 hours in the working day, you have just burned the same calories as doing cardio, and you haven't done cardio.

CARDIO SUCKS BALLS. so if you can be more active just being a human being, then you are winning.

so to give you a bit of an insight, I have been "off-season" and I pushed my calories up to 3400-3500 daily. my protein content at 108kgs is 180g per day. and my fat content is about 18% daily and balance from carbs. which is roughly 450-550g a day. I am the strongest I have ever been on 150mg test a week DB shoulder press 45kgs for 6 reps after doing 50kgs for 4 reps. 68kg single arm dumbell rows for 13 reps, 62kg dumbell press for 4 reps. it's all documented on my Instagram so I am not talking shit here. I have decided to do a show in 24 weeks' time, my low carb days are at 350g and 2700 calories. still setting big numbers.

TRAINING SHOULD NOT CHANGE. DO NOT INCREASE VOLUME, RATHER CUT BACK 1 SET AND STILL PUSH FOR PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD. the goal here is to maintain muscle, even grow muscle. Stimulate, not destroy. recovery is going to be vital so sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

remember if you have too much protein it just converts to expensive carbs through gluconeogenesis. so if you eat 300g of protein and your body only needs 180g of it, and it needs glucose, it will convert protein into glucose at a 50% rate, so the 120g of protein left will become 60g of carbs.

hope this helps you out bro.

Sorry, 1 more thing...

Does this:
"Then every week add 1 working set, so week 1 3 sets, week 2 4 working sets week 3 5 working sets. Then 3 weeks back to 3 working sets. 1 week off."

Still apply to this:
"TRAINING SHOULD NOT CHANGE. DO NOT INCREASE VOLUME, RATHER CUT BACK 1 SET AND STILL PUSH FOR PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD"