For the past 6 months, I have been lifting heavy (80-95%) on bench/squats/dL 3 days a week (all 3 lifts each session). I've hit my stride the last few weeks and moving weight around that I didn't I would be able to for reps (3-5). On top of that, I do bjj 3 days a week and my work opened a gym so once a week do a quick 30 minute circuit to get auxiliary stuff in.

The one problem is always being hungry! Of course you should be hungry with that much work, but I find myself making some bad choices (candy when I used to go months as well as other crappy carbs). I eat fruit everyday to try to offset the cravings, but I still fall into the trap and rationalize since I am working out a lot and my bf% is staying under control. I've gained 10lbs but wearing the same slacks (waist is good, but legs/butt are starting to get tight).

I just want to make better food choices and need stuff to keep me satiated, especially with the sweets. What foods, other than fruit, do y'all suggest? What is something that also makes you feel fuller for longer?

Protein and LOTS of water.

Am I missing something? Seem like legs and glutes getting larger after 6mo of heavy squats and DL is kinda the point.

Protein. I also eat a lot of fruit and cheese.

Fat and fiber.

I meal prep a lot. Smoke a chicken over the weekend and I've got chicken and avocado at the ready. I'll mix in smoked pork or beef occasionally as well.

I also drink protein shakes. Whey protein, spinach, eggs, strawberry and bananas, almond milk.

NTXAg10 said:

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Protein. I also eat a lot of fruit and cottage cheese.

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I'll borrow your post, if you don't mind, to make it cottage cheese. I'm trying to get back to a good lifting program (if anyone has any recommendations, I'm all ears - or eyes, in this case) and better diet myself, but in the past when I was really trying to increase my protein intake I relied on 2% fat cottage cheese. It's pretty protein-dense, especially for the price. I can eat it raw without a problem, but a lot of people can't stand the taste. If you don't like the raw taste, eating it with strawberries, blueberries, grapes, or sliced bananas mixed in it is pretty tasty (in my opinion) and it's also satiating.



In the end, increased protein is the key for you OP. Drinking lots of water as someone else suggested is also important. It's easy to get stuck in ruts of not drinking nearly enough.

My "dessert" is 1/2 to 1 cup of cottage cheese and a scoop of ON double chocolate whey. I add cottage cheese to a lot of things.

Plain Greek yogurt has pretty decent macros as well.

How much protein are you taking in?

Satiating foods are typically high in protein, high in fiber, complex carbs, and less calorie dense (although nuts are still great to eat).

Potatoes
Oatmeal
Veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, etc)
Eggs
Greek yogurt/Cottage cheese (I eat a ton of GY)
Legumes (Lentils are really fast to cook).
Popcorn

My typical lunch is a medium sized potato or cup of rice, 1 or 2 veggies, 5oz lean ground meat, maybe cheese or avocado, dollop of greek yogurt. This is extremely filling, but is only like ~5-600 calories. Air fryers are really handy.

I would think the non-negotiable variations you need to make are:
-1 gram per pound of bodyweight of protein per day
- Eat between 300-500 calories over your maintenance for the day to put on gradually more weight, with the hope it will be muscle mass given your work load

Everything else just fits around that

First off major kudos to you for progressing in your journey! Cravings can definitely be challenging sometimes so remember to give yourself grace.

Similar to what others have mentioned in this thread:
- increase in protein
- protein shakes ( with actual protein powder vs pre-made bottles)
- rice cakes ( you can add peanut butter + fruit or any other toppings you wish)
- almonds, Cashews etc no salt or lightly salted would be preferred
- tuna
- loaded oatmeal
- ground turkey

and of course, drink plenty of water.

If I don't eat anything after lunch, I'm usually am craving a snack in the mid afternoon and then dying in the gym. Nothing is worse than being in the bottom of a heavy squat when you're starving.

A cup of coffee at 2:00, 1/4 cup of oatmeal at 4:00, and protein shake around 5 before my workout is how I handle it.

do the various thinks everyone listed help improve on a 17.4% bodyfat, 23.8 BMI, and 53.4% muscle mass? I am trying to lose body fat and gain muscle mass. I am 41, 157 lbs. 5'8" and do CG 3 times a week plus add in a day of some other thing (light running/long walks/heavy lift)

Eh, I'm on the aged cheddar variation and it works fine.

If the goal is to be as lean as possible then I'd try to stick to a quasi-carnivore diet with diary and fruit added in.

That's close to what I do, though I eat some vegetables too, and Im typically 10-13% bf. I just dropped into single digits today while doing dry august. I'll usually cheat on the weekends, if we go out to dinner, but I'm fairly consistent otherwise.

This is in addition to lifting 4-6 days a week.

What would you define as:
quasi-carnivore diet with diary and fruit added in

Can you give me some examples of breakfast/lunch/supper options?

I'd like to trim a couple percentage points off of my fat % and add muscle mass %.

Carnivore is meat only. Adding fruit/dairy makes it quasi-carnivore. The vegetables I add are only 5-10% of the plate and calories. I do a 16/8 IF split so I only each lunch and dinner.

For instance, my lunch today was a ground chicken bowl with cheese and some squash, grapes, and blueberries. Dinner was 1/2lb salmon with some asparagus and an apple. Snacked on some cheddar cheese and raisin throughout the afternoon.

Some may say it's not appropriate to use the carnivore label at all but I do it anyway since 75-80% of my calories are from meat.

Note: I firmly believe in the theory that a persons genetics influence what the optimal diet is for the person. This works for me and you may need to experiment and see if something else works better for you .

All good. Understood. Just trying to get an understanding of what works for you.

Matsui said:

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do the various thinks everyone listed help improve on a 17.4% bodyfat, 23.8 BMI, and 53.4% muscle mass? I am trying to lose body fat and gain muscle mass. I am 41, 157 lbs. 5'8" and do CG 3 times a week plus add in a day of some other thing (light running/long walks/heavy lift)

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I think there's a couple of approaches here that could be effective, but both deal with your total daily calories:

1- you could take your total daily calories that you're living at (probably best to take the average of a week just to be safe), subtract 300-500 from that for your daily intake- BUT eating protein at 1 gram/pound of body weight.

2- Just take your total maintenance calories, eat 1 gram/pound of body weight in complete protein (doesn't have to be just totally carnivore), and fit your carbs and fats into the rest of your calorie budget- with an eye towards carbs for good energy in the gym.

The first option will obviously have you losing weight over the second option, but even with just eating your normal amount of calories you should see some improvement in body composition provided you are lifting and eating the amount of protein necessary- that being 1 gram/pound of body weight. The literature is fairly clear that eating this amount of protein (actually 0.7-1.2 grams/pound) is enough to sustain and likely grow skeletal muscle even while losing weight.

I don't agree that genetics have much of a role in determining someone's optimal diet

And this is from someone who is your age and height, but used to be 201# a year ago. Now am at 155# and 10% bodyfat. Did it only by a consistent calorie deficit but enough protein to ensure muscle stays and was able to grow while I was lifting.

At the highest level, calories in < calories burned = weight loss. Agree there a some general rules that apply to all people. However, it does not appear there is a one size fits all approach once you get further in the weeds and genetics very likely play a role.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/personalized-nutrition-the-latest-on-dna-based-diets/

Posting the article as it sites the identical twin study and the results are fairly compelling considering the study size.

Pepper Brooks said:

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At the highest level, calories in < calories burned = weight loss. Agree there a some general rules that apply to all people. However, it does not appear there is a one size fits all approach once you get further in the weeds and genetics very likely play a role.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/personalized-nutrition-the-latest-on-dna-based-diets/

Posting the article as it sites the identical twin study and the results are fairly compelling considering the study size.

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If DNA plays a demonstrable role in your metabolism, as this company claims, it should be able to be replicated in other studies. Here is a study that was done independently, was randomized and double-blinded, looking specifically at the idea of known nucleotides in DNA that have been claimed to cause changes in metabolism in humans. Although technically a small study of 100 people, it was still a prospective trial over 10 weeks which also controlled for numerous bio markers and overall weight and body fat. The group who had a specific personalized diet plan made for them did not perform better than the group who were just given generalized healthy diet plan.

Even if genetics played a role…making it a priority in overall nutrition just doesn't have enough evidence that it makes any real difference.

When people find the diet that really works for them (they're healthy weight, have good energy and have no long-term medical issues), of course they'll think that's their ideal diet- because it works for THEM. And I do think that some people consider that their "genetics" influence that.

The topic is clearly still being investigated and debated. My opinion is that my source is about as credible as it gets based on the available research and we can agree to disagree if you feel differently.