Diet Advice

[GV]

Hi I'm hoping some of you ladies are willing to give me some help/advice/ suggestions RE my diet. I will preface by stating that I've been weight training for 21 yrs. now, never competed in bb or otherwise but, last year I tried my hand at strongman and fell in love with it. This is my second year doing strongman comp's and although with most comp's the women's division is open there are some that are broken up into weight classes. As it stands I fall into MW class but can easily spill into the HW class and I do NOT want that to happen.
So, onto the diet issue, from Feb. 18th to March 12th I followed the diet listed below. Additonally, I added 4 days of LISS to my 5-day-a-week gym training and 1-day strongman event training routine. In the 4 weeks I followed that diet and training I lost 7 lbs (went from 163 to 156). However, my strength and endurance progressively suffered. At the end of week 4, I was feeling extremely weak and with my first strongman contest fast approaching, I changed my diet to include dble the carbs on leg day and an eating free for all on my strongman training day. This switch definitely helped in my strentgh and endurance recovering so up until two weeks ago I just went with this. Two weeks ago I weighed 2lbs heavier, so I started back on the diet (listed below) only this time I'm only doing cardio 2x's/week. My problem is in the past 2 weeks of strictly following this diet (&training) the damn scale hasn't budged and the only difference I've noticed in my appearance is I look flatter/smoother now than I did 2 weeks ago
So, not sure how I need to change my diet so that I maintain strength and endurance-my next contest is in 4 weeks and I'd like to be at 155lbs, currently holding at 158, so fretting if I make MW class is a non-issue.
Should I inc/dec carbs or inc./dec. fats or both? Or do I need a total re-vamp?

here's diet and addt'l info:
Meal 1: 1.5 scoops whey protein in water and 40 grams oats w/ .25 cup berries


Meal 2 scoops Power Milk


Meal 3: 1.25 cup lf or nf cottage cheese w/ .25cup berries and 1tsp pb or 5 almonds

Pre WO: 2 rice cakes

Meal 4: PWO: 6 egg whites and 4 oz cooked rice brown or white and a small salad of mixed greens, cucumbers, broccoli and mushrooms with balsamic vinegar.


Meal 5: 1.0 protein in shake before bed and 2 tsp. pb or 5 almonds


Macro brk down:
Total cals: <1800 (~1740)
168.5g. complete protein
155g carbs
38.4g Fat


Supp’s:
Creatine
ZMA
R-ALA
CLA
EFAs
Carnitine
Vit. D
Vit. C

[sassy69]

Wondering how tall you are?

Also you have NO real sources of protein in there except protein mixes & a couple egg whites. IMO that's going to kill progress. Also protein shakes tend to digest pretty quickly so you're not getting a lot out of them in terms of what I'd call sustained value out of it. If you' were doing a desperation diet dump where you didn't care about muscle loss I'd point you to the "Fat Fast" - which is basically a stupid low cal diet of protein shakes & fats (PB or olive oil) for a month. Its gross. I never lasted more than a few days on nothing but protein shakes because of the taste.

Also just my own thought on "making weight" - if you're consistently at 158 right now and need to drop 3 lb- you can do that easily w/ some water manipulation before your weigh-in, so in the big picture, you have other means than a big diet change to make weight with a day or two water manipulation w/o losing strength.

[tammyp]

with jill...you need real food and not all shakes.

Meal 1: 1.5 scoops whey protein in water and 40 grams oats w/ .25 cup berries
i would do a whole egg and 4 whites

Meal 2 scoops Power Milk 4 oz chicken veggies


Meal 3: 1.25 cup lf or nf cottage cheese w/ .25cup berries and 1tsp pb or 5 almondsdairy isnt ideal for prep. 4 oz chic 4 oz yam

Pre WO: 2 rice cakesadd shake

Meal 4: PWO: 6 egg whites and 4 oz cooked rice brown or white and a small salad of mixed greens, cucumbers, broccoli and mushrooms with balsamic vinegar.id replace EW w chicken , 5 oz


Meal 5: 1.0 protein in shake before bed and 2 tsp. pb or 5 almonds

[GV]

Thanks for responding Jill and Tammy. I forgot to mention I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian.. suppose that would be good to know....oh, and I'm not a fan of soy/tofu-I rarely eat and it's only when I really need a break from eggs.

I'm really not prepping for anything just wanting to cut bf, mostly to make sure I make weight for strongman.....but, secondarily after lifting for as long as I have I thought if I can find a diet suitable for my needs(Maintain strength and endurance/stamina) and that I can stick with so I can lean out enough to uncover the muscle I've managed to build over the past 21 yrs. I would like to....I hold most of my bf in my lower body and just once I'd like to see what my legs look like leaned out.



I'm 5'5"

I will swap out the meal protein shakes for eggs though

anything else?

[tammyp]

what exactly can you eat in terms of protein ? eggs, dairy and powder?

[sassy69]

what exactly can you eat in terms of protein ? eggs, dairy and powder?

That is the question of the hour.. I think being a vegan puts a much bigger challenge on you. I don't have any experience w/ this type of diet but I think you need better protein than these shakes.

But as I said for your immediate goals, I wouldnt' sweat the diet too much as you can do water manipulation to easily drop 3 lb .

[GV]

yes, my sources of protein are dairy, eggs and powders.

Do you think my macros/total cals. are reasonable? I haven't dropped any weight in 2 weeks, do I just need to have more patience and let the 'magic' happen or should I make changes?

I've never cut water, but have discussed it with some powerlifting friends of mine. I'll give it a try this week to make sure I do things correctly and also to see how it makes me feel.



Thanks again ladies for your help