An Example Of An Easy To Follow 2500 Calorie Diet For Those That Suck At Meal Planning

[Adam3000]

Starting my next cut soon so I just threw together my initial diet plan for the first few weeks. Just dropping it in case anyone is interested in ideas.

I've made clear from my posts that I believe in the proven science of calorie counting and thus I do not pay attention to the type of food I eat other than making sure I have enough protein. I also don't believe in low carb diets because energy and mood are critically important to consistency, and low carbs have negative impacts on both of those. I try and eat mostly healthy stuff simply because it is more filling and prevents cravings for shytty foods, but I don't care too much. I will gladly substitute anything on this list for an equal calorie amount of Big Mac's and Fries on any given day. But lets not get into that argument....

You need a food scale in order to precisely weigh your foods which is the only proper way to count calories. Volume measurements like cups and pints are not accurate

Here is my outline. I will answer any questions anyone has regarding this and appreciate any info or ideas anyone wants to drop.

Sorry for the long post

Current Weight: 167
Desired Weight: 160, retaining muscle mass
Estimated Maintenance Level: 3000
Total Calories On This Meal Plan: 2510
Focuses: High Protein, High Fiber, Filling, Easy To Prep

Breakfast:
1 scoop Syntha 6 protein powder with water
2 servings of plain Cheerios
8 oz skim milk divided between cereal and protein shake
Calories: 490, Fat 10g, Carbs 67g, Protein 36g

Post Workout:
65g pure dextrose
15g Casein protein
20g Whey protein
Calories: 400, Fat 2g, Carbs 67g, Protein 30g

Lunch or Dinner:
8 oz pre cooked weight chicken breast, slow cooked and shredded and refrigerated
2 pcs 100% whole wheat bread for a sandwich
Low calorie sandwich toppings
1 serving Baked Lays chips
2 pcs Dove Dark Chocolate
Calories: 700, Fat 17g, Carbs 75g, Protein 61g

Lunch or Dinner:
1 serving Quaker Old Fashioned Oats with Cinnamon and 10 grams of Honey added
14g Peanuts into the Oats
8 oz Low Sodium V8
Calories: 310, Fat 10g, Carbs 48g, Protein 10g

Snack:
1 pcs whole wheat bread and 16g Peanut Butter
1 serving almonds
Calories: 365, Fat 23g, Carbs 30g, Protein 14g

After Dinner Snack:
1 serving All Bran Buds Cereal
4 oz Skim Milk
34g Casein Protein before bed
Calories: 245, Fat 2g, Carbs 31g, Protein 30g


I guarantee that you will not be hungry on a meal plan similar to this. Just wanted to drop some ideas for those looking for any.

I have a MIcrosoft Excel spreadsheet set up with all my meals set up and columns for calories, fat, protein, and carbs and a "totals" column that automatically adds up the counts. That way when I want to switch things up I can just erase the certain foods I'm eliminating a plug new ones in and it automatically calculates all the nutritional info. I have attached the spreadsheet in case anyone wants to use it to make their own:

http://www.filedropper.com/meals

 

[RTF]

You work in physical labour or something breh?

From the weights you put up that you've mentioned, unless you like 6'6 there's no way your maintenance is 3000. I work in an office, never walk more than 9,000 steps in a day, 23, put up more numbers in the gym... when I was 175lb my maintenance was 2,700. I'm down to 160lb and I sure aint eating 2,500 calories.

 

[The ADD]

Do you switch to oats and cereal at night just for preference?

 

[Adam3000]

You work in physical labour or something breh?

From the weights you put up that you've mentioned, unless you like 6'6 there's no way your maintenance is 3000. I work in an office, never walk more than 9,000 steps in a day, 23, put up more numbers in the gym... when I was 175lb my maintenance was 2,700. I'm down to 160lb and I sure aint eating 2,500 calories.

I'm active 7 days per week. My "off" days at the gym are the days I work part time at a job where I walk around the entire time.

I did my entire cut at 2400 calories last time. Not low enough to get to sub 10% BF, but I can drop more calories later as the weeks progress

 

[Adam3000]

Do you switch to oats and cereal at night just for preference?

I eat a bowl of Quaker Oats whenever I am hungry because it is filling, especially with peanuts in it. I have it set up as my lunch for this stretch though. I like to keep my dinner large, that way if something comes up where I need to go out to eat or have guests or I'm just really craving junk food I can subsitute my large meal for that. So I am keeping my 700 calorie meal as dinner as a failsafe to stay under my calorie limit even on a bad day.

As far as the cereal goes, the All Bran Buds have like 51% of the recommended daily fiber intake and have very few calories, so combined with the casein protein shake it makes me full as fukk shortly before bed with slow-digesting goodness. I have always been a late night snacker---this combination prevents that

 

[Malta]

That's a lot of carbs

 

[Adam3000]

That's a lot of carbs

Totals: 64g Fat, 318g carbs, 181g protein

About 50% calories from carbs. Sounds about right to me

Although when I drop from 2500 to 2300 to 2100 at the very end I will likely cut carbs before the other two

 

[RTF]

us office brehs have it difficult with the diet mayne. Work mad hours behind a desk, get bored and think you hungry all the time smh

 

[Adam3000]

us office brehs have it difficult with the diet mayne. Work mad hours behind a desk, get bored and think you hungry all the time smh

I was working an office job when I went through my initial 35 lb weight loss faze when I stopped deciding to be skinnyfat. I ate at 2200 then, so it wasn't much of a difference. Didn't drop below 2200 until I was approaching 10% BF and was addicted to getting a defined six pack. The worst part for me is I worked with a bunch of large ladies who always had pot lucks, and my cubicle was right next to the food table.

Boredom is definitely my absolute worst enemy when it comes to eating. In the past I have not always tried to fight it, I have just used tricks to combat its effects. For instance, I always had sunflower seeds with shells in the house. You can sit there breaking open seeds for quite a while and not make a significant dent in your calorie intake. A few hundred calories at most, which I can then easily eliminate out of a meal later in the day. Half the time I didn't even count the seeds as calories because nuts aren't completely bioavailable anyway from what I understand.

Learning to enjoy Diet Soda is another way to combat boredom. I always craved a can of Pepsi, Coke, or Mountain Dew when I was bored. Hated Diet Soda. But I found that I could tolerate Pepsi Max, and since then I have learned to be able to enjoy a Diet Dew or a Coke Zero also. So now, when I am bored and get that craving I can reach for a zero calorie drink.

When all else fails and I absolutely NEED some junk food, I make a smart choice. A roll of Sweet Tarts has only 150 calories of pure dextrose, while a package of Skittles has 240. So I reach for the Sweet Tarts. Dove Dark Chocolate has 40 calories per piece and I can let that shyt just slowly melt in my mouth....2 pieces and 80 calories later I no longer have any cravings. If I want a bag of chips I reach for the type of chips that has the highest number of chips per serving size, I set aside one serving and put the bag away, then I eat the chips slowly one by one. Just the act of drawing out my eating makes the cravings subside, and I have only wasted 150 calories out of my daily total.

Just some tips that work for me

 

[MMS]

I was working an office job when I went through my initial 35 lb weight loss faze when I stopped deciding to be skinnyfat. I ate at 2200 then, so it wasn't much of a difference. Didn't drop below 2200 until I was approaching 10% BF and was addicted to getting a defined six pack. The worst part for me is I worked with a bunch of large ladies who always had pot lucks, and my cubicle was right next to the food table.

Boredom is definitely my absolute worst enemy when it comes to eating. In the past I have not always tried to fight it, I have just used tricks to combat its effects. For instance, I always had sunflower seeds with shells in the house. You can sit there breaking open seeds for quite a while and not make a significant dent in your calorie intake. A few hundred calories at most, which I can then easily eliminate out of a meal later in the day. Half the time I didn't even count the seeds as calories because nuts aren't completely bioavailable anyway from what I understand.

Learning to enjoy Diet Soda is another way to combat boredom. I always craved a can of Pepsi, Coke, or Mountain Dew when I was bored. Hated Diet Soda. But I found that I could tolerate Pepsi Max, and since then I have learned to be able to enjoy a Diet Dew or a Coke Zero also. So now, when I am bored and get that craving I can reach for a zero calorie drink.

When all else fails and I absolutely NEED some junk food, I make a smart choice. A roll of Sweet Tarts has only 150 calories of pure dextrose, while a package of Skittles has 240. So I reach for the Sweet Tarts. Dove Dark Chocolate has 40 calories per piece and I can let that shyt just slowly melt in my mouth....2 pieces and 80 calories later I no longer have any cravings. If I want a bag of chips I reach for the type of chips that has the highest number of chips per serving size, I set aside one serving and put the bag away, then I eat the chips slowly one by one. Just the act of drawing out my eating makes the cravings subside, and I have only wasted 150 calories out of my daily total.

Just some tips that work for me

i aint the only one

 

[The ADD]

us office brehs have it difficult with the diet mayne. Work mad hours behind a desk, get bored and think you hungry all the time smh

Eat less but bigger meals

 

[Slystallion]

not feeling the cheerios bread chips and chocolate in that plan though

 

[semtex]

I have to concentrate hard as fukk to get even 200g of carbs a day

 

[Mr Hate Coffee]

Intredasting

 

[The ADD]

I have to concentrate hard as fukk to get even 200g of carbs a day

I would think that would be easy for you.