Diet Plan - Help a brother out

[DeezGunz23]

TweetPreparing to start up another cycle, always feel like I stray too much from my diet and don't end up getting everything out of it that I should.

Im thinking that this time around I will have a written plan to follow instead of keeping it all in my head. Now what do I put on this paper?!?

5'10, 225 lbs, 13% body fat, looking to cut down significantly

[DeezGunz23]

TweetBasically looking to find out where you guys get your diets from, if you've ever had a dietician type put one together for you (if so, was it worth it?) or if you just stick with the basics...lots of chicken, fish, protein shakes, and veggies? Andddd do you write it down and log it into a notebook or do you guys just freestyle it? Use to write all of my workouts down on paper but stopped that years a go, it was helpful but just got lazy. Maybe having a diet written down would make it easier to obey a more strict regimen???

[alluprbdy]

TweetI am a little diet obsessed and I always spend a solid 8-10hrs on mine when I adjust it. I've been using the same base diet plan now for around 9 months. I just have adjusted for body weight and activity and my age changed too.

I start with the Harris Benedict Formula for basic metabolic rate:

BMR calculation for men BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.76 x age in years )

Apply to formula to calculate maintenance cals:

Little to no exercise Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.2
Light exercise (1–3 days per week) Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.375
Moderate exercise (3–5 days per week) Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.55
Heavy exercise (6–7 days per week) Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.725
Very heavy exercise (twice per day, extra heavy workouts) Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.9

Now of course that isn't exact science but for me it gives me a great baseline goal for how many cals to put in my diet. I clean bulk never get looser than 12% I like to be able to take the shirt off and look good year round not just after a cutter. So that being said I always start around 200 cals above my calculated maintenance calories. I am a little OCD with my waistline and measure pretty much everyday but I also use the mirror in making my calorie adjustments. If I am getting thinner while I'm trying to bulk then obviously I need to make an adjustment and add to my total calories. If my waist goes up 3/4" in a week I know I'm consuming too many. I always make small adjustments around 50 calories or so up or down and I find that stupid small adjustments have made big changes for me.

As far as the diet plan itself I am a big proponent of macro-nutrient separation (pro/fat meals and pro/carb meals not pro/carb/fat). I think it is absolutely vital when cutting, and helpful but not vital when doing a true bulking diet. I don't have a set in stone percentage I follow as far as how much % of cals are pro/carb/fat but I go around 40%/30%/30% give or take. Currently I am eating 43%/26%/31% like I said not exact but round about. I eat all clean foods, my diet consists of the following items:

Eggs
Skim Milk
Bacon (low sodium)
Wheat Lavash Wrap (delish)
Chicken Breast
London Broil
Fresh green beans
Lettuce
whole grain wheat pasta
natural homemade pasta sauce
unsalted cashews
Protien Powder
Dextrose Powder (PWO only of course)

That is all I eat never stray except for a 1x a week cheat meal which is carb heavy low fat after a weekend workout usually.

I have some things that have helped me out a lot to get better dieting sucess and that would be some rules I have for my self:

1. No bread.

Don't get me wrong I like pb&j sandwhiches on some white bread and I miss them dearly however they are no good for the waistline.

2. Milk in PWO shake only.

Dairy bloats you so all shakes are water based except PWO when I can use the extra carbs.

3. Don't drink your calories.

I will never drink something with calories in it, Period.

There's no point in drinking calories these days with all the 0 calorie alternatives out there. You like soda? Drink Coke Zero. You like energy drinks? Drink Monster Zero. Want Coffee? zero calorie sweetner. and so on.

Now this is prob a rant and little more than what you were looking for but I'm bored at work at the question intrigued me. Also as said above I'm a little diet obsessed. If you want any help feel free to PM me.