I thought I would do something different on here, since I've cooked, ate and posted just about one of everything that you can make in a home kitchen on here over the years.

The goal here is to lose fat, lean out my body and retain as much muscle mass as possible. I'm 60, I eat pretty healthy with very few processed, high fat, high sodium, high sugar foods as possible. I drink no soft drinks, eat no sugary snacks, and generally stick to 3 meals a day. I guess my biggest vices in the dietary area is that I like beer, wine and booze. Those are empty calories, so I'm going to have to cut back to the recommended two a day or less.

I have consulted a few TDEE calculators online and according to the average I have determined that I need 3000 calories a day to maintain. I'm a pretty athletic guy for 60. I'm 5'-11" 200# and according to my body fat calipers I am about 18% body fat. I lift 3x per week M/W/F with a full body workout focusing on compound exercises such as: Squats, deadlifts, bench, push press, hang cleans, rows, pull-ups, etc...

I have looked back over my records and I have maintained right at 200 pounds for a couple of years now and you guys see what I eat.

So I have enlisted the help of Myfitnesspal to start tracking my calories and I will start out with 2500 a day in order to lean out. I'm shooting for about 40% carbs, 30% protein & 30% good fats.

Let's see if I can still eat good, stay healthy and get lean at 2500 calories a day.

Breakfast this morning = 540 calories

4 slices Black forest ham
2 eggs
sliced avocado
sliced tomato
2 slices Aldi Organic grain bread

I'm sitting here starving. Sure wish I had that sitting in front of me.

It was really good. The avocados really are good with just salt and pepper. I'm surprised how much I like them.

Stay tuned for lunch.

Man, avocado is my favorite fruit on earth! I’ll eat just about any way but love it plain as well. I’ll slice one in half and fill with nuts and eat it out of the hull. Great for a small lunch. I wish you luck on your goal. I am focused on the same thing. Lean out. I did notice that many of your dishes include bread. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know but those are extra crap calories that you can do without and it helps greatly on leaning out. Now, what’s for lunch?? Mine will be salad!

Have you tried the zero net carb bread from Aldi? It's not bad to me and almost seems heavier, it sticks with you for a while.

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm not really trying to lose weight, just lean out a little. I'm pretty much eliminating "bad" bread, but I will continue to eat "Healty" breads like seed breads such as Dave's, etc...

I have no interest in going "Low Carb." I've been wondering how long it will take the Low Carb people to show up and tell me I'm doing it all wrong. (Not talking about you.) Just people in general.

The funny thing with dieting, exercise, motor oil, truck tires, etc... Everyone always thinks the decision that they made is the best. And that's perfectly normal. Lots of them think that the decision they made is best for you too... Lots of dieting "experts" out there, but few of them look good in a swim suit to members of the opposite sex..

I haven't, but I'll tell you I think I personally need carbs in my diet. I've tried low carb and it wasn't for me. Everyone's body is different.

Everyone is different. While deployed I’ve gone from 220 to 193lbs of solid muscle. Still showed not one ab!! Frustrated the crap out of me for awhile. I’m just not built that way.
You gotta eat carbs. Carbs equal energy. Feed the Machine is what we say. I personally just try to stay way from too many simple carbs.

I agree 100%. There are good carbs and bad carbs. Just like there are good fats and bad fats. Same with proteins.

I'm 55 and about the same height and weight.
I made a push last year to get in as good a shape as I was when 35. Came very close with what I could do working max. weights, not so much on running, and found recovery was a lot tougher. But I was doing pretty good. The one thing I found was lots, lots, and lots of water to keep hydrated and it seemed to help my body utilize the foods I ate and recovery time. SLEEP

Then Feb. Covid hit and I'm just getting back on the workout wagon.
I'm eating lots of fruits, nuts sparingly, meat, spinach salads. Just need to watch my artificial sugars. Wife buys the junk.

To me eggs, avocados, meats (not processed), all good, I have tried to cut out some bread. Biscuit on Saturday is gonna happen though.

Good luck and keep us posted if you find that Fountain of Youth we'd all like to drink from.

Lunch today...

Splurged a little bit with 730 calories total for this meal. Reuben, pickles and low sodium chips. 1266 total for the day so far. (I wouldn't exactly consider this a healthy meal, other than it was mostly homemade including the Corned beef and the sauerkraut.

Mrs. Irish is basically sticking to the same meal plan, except she is doing intermittent fasting, by basically skipping breakfast the the calories. Plus shes eating slightly smaller portions than I am to keep her lunch and dinner below 1500 calories total for both meals. I'm going to have a grilled chicken salad for dinner so I hope to be way under 2500 calories today.

Smart. Good for you brother. I've taken a hard focus on health this year.

I'm down 30+ lbs since late January. Still would like to drop another 25-30 or so...I'm not doing anything new or creative; just the basics....

- Get good rest.
- Pound water. Water. Drink lots and lots of water. Did I mention water?
- Stay within in a reasonable calorie window (that means not just over, but under as well...gotta take in enough fuel to keep the machine going). Calories are king.
- Watch the macros, but focus on protein. I aim for 187g protein/day.
- Fine tune it in the gym. I lift 3x/week and hit cardio 2x/week. Bonus activities (playing ball with the kids, bike rides, hikes, etc.) are exactly that - bonus.
- Be consistent and trust the process. It works.

Edit - I forgot to mention eating throughout the day. I make myself eat 3x/day, period. Not at all knocking intermittent fasting (I know it can be very effective). But for me personally I would lose track of the day and skip breakfast and lunch and have a massive supper. No bueno. I eat breakfast lunch and supper and have veggies at each meal, no exceptions.

It sounds like we are doing basically the same thing. I'm shooting for 200 grams of protein every day. That's about 1.2 x my lean body mass.

I've done intermittent and I know it works for some people, but I'm a 3x a day person too. Love breakfast too much to skip it. (See first post. )

My target TDEE is 3000 calories, so I'm cutting back to 2500 to basically recomposition my body fat percentage down to the low teens. I've only been there about 3 times in my life and I'm just curious if I can do it in my 60's.

For those that don't know... This guy gives a good explanation of what I'm trying to do. I thought I would post the food that I'm using to do it, thinking that it might be interesting to some people, because I know there's some folks on here that like to eat and stay in shape...

Finally dinner tonight...

A big dinner salad with:

Grilled chicken thighs
Romaine Lettuce
Chick Peas
Carrots
Jalapeno
Sharp cheddar
Bell peppers
Avocado
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Mrs. Irish's house made dressing
2 glasses of Peaks and Tides Cabernet

Total calories for dinner: 952

Total calories for the day: 2218 (282 below my target of 2500)

Mrs. Irish's total calories was 1422 ( 72 below her target of 1500)

Not bad... I had good eats. healthy, filling and tasty food, and I never got hungry, except right before dinner. I feel good going into a big workout day tomorrow.

I’m following closely. I like where this is headed and I need to follow suit.
I’m trying to implement the Mediterranean diet and it’s not easy to just make a sudden change.

This my fitness app works well until it doesn't.

I'll stop there. Everyone knows or doesn't know where they are.

I think the Mediterranean diet is valid and I think it is a good eating plan.

Notice I didn't say the word "Diet." I think "Diet" has negative connotations with almost everyone. It implies sacrifice and no one likes to sacrifice. I think dieting can lead to binging. I like to use the term "Eating Plan" because to me it implies "A plan to conquer a goal." My goal is to gain muscle and lose fat to the point where I am as close to 200# as possible and have maybe 12% body fat. I think it can me done even at my age. (Watch the video posted above.)

I think you are right about "a sudden change." And I think this is why most people fail at dieting and then, because they yo-yo diet, it becomes worse. I think a gradual change is the path to success. A gradual change in lifestyle to making more healthy eating decisions and getting more exercise. And I'm taking about strength training and casual cardio, minimal cardio. Think of cardio more for your heart and lees for your waistline. If you are doing it right, strength training already has a cardio component.

To that end I am attempting to modify my eating habits to where I don't feel deprived, and therefore don't feel the need to binge on fatty, salty, oily or sweet snacks, by mainly focusing on the total calories and maximizing my protein intake. And for me, all that really involves is working out hard, getting my rest, and making smart choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner, since I already eat pretty healthy anyway and I don't normally eat junk food to begin with.

The only thing I'm using Myfitnesspal for is to simply track calories. Yes, I pretty much know where I am. I have maintained 200# for months (Y'all see what I eat.) while steadily going up in my lifts. That would infer to me that I am, in fact, losing fat and gaining muscle, but I wanted to take it a little further and fine tune everything. So that's why I went to the app. I don't plan on using it for the rest of my life, I'm just using it to gauge my caloric intake and get a feel over say... A period of months of what I need to eat to lose fat and then to maintain a certain weight and bodyfat Percentage.

I guess I'm one of the different ones, I Don't touch carbs and I'm in the best shape of my life, including when I was a college athlete. My body performs better by burning fat for energy.

I think both of you are correct. Everyone's body responds differently, just like there are different body types: Endomorph, Ectomorph and Mesomorph.

Trying to reserve some calories for Friday night!

Healthy breakfast this morning of...

Smoked Turkey
Tomatoes
Avocado
Little bit of mayo
on whole grain bread

540 calories total.

Traditional breakfast food gets kind of limiting after a while so I like to mix it up.

Now that looks outstanding.

Thanks... See that's why I'm doing this thread to show folks that you can eat good, not feel deprived or starved and the food still be good, wholesome, healthy, reasonable calories, and part of a balanced workout and eating plan.

I'm lifting right now before lunch and feel really strong. Feels good.

Smart approach. That's why I've been able to see success and feel good about long term sustainability, myself. In the past I've more or less just starved myself to drop weight. These days I eat, a lot. Just much smarter.

Irish, do a smashed avocado on some toast with a runny egg and some bacon bits or ham on top. One of my favorite of all time.

Had I had some bacon cooked this morning that's what I would have done.

If you follow my cooking at all you will see a leat a few instances, where I basically do a BLT, but I add avocado and a over easy egg. So messy, but so good.

Yep... I call it a "Reasonable approach" because it is not some kind of weird diet plan and you are not going to abandon it after a short period of time because it's too weird, difficult, or shocking to your metabolism.

I've only been doing this for a few days and I feel better and stronger already. Not early enough to notice in my weight, but I don't really want to lose weight, I just want to lose fat. 201.8# this morning.

Great workout yesterday. A nice post workout lunch of grilled chicken thigh and grilled vegetables over pasta with olive oil and parmesan cheese...



After lunch I burned up some more calories, by working outside on our garden fence. I hope to get the gates finished today and get some of the lettuce and cabbage seedlings planted today.

Some friends came over to hang out at the fire pit and eat dinner, so I cooked us up some Organic, grass fed, sirloins on the flat top. We served it with one of Mrs. Irish's salads and some baked potatoes.



2322 total calories yesterday... And that includes a little rum and a couple of Corona's around the fire, a glass of cabernet with dinner and a little Tillamook Vanilla ice cream for dessert.

It's beginning to amaze me what all I can eat for 2500 calories a day. (And yes I'm including condiments and oils, etc...)

Ate pretty good yesterday, including some beer and whiskey and even ice cream, but fortunately, working the the garden, I burned way more calories than I consumed.

Once again stayed below 2500.

Breakfast... 616 calories




Lunch... 480 calories

A huge Chef's Salad with Turkey, Ham and bacon crumbles.



Dinner... 950 calories (Including the ice cream)

We made some pizzas out of flour tortillas. Mine had bacon crumbles, ham, salami, bell peppers and onions.

Ultra thin crust. Great idea

Sunday eats... Still staying under 2500 calories and eating well.

Breakfast of a black forest ham, egg and cheese sandwich on organic seed bread -. 376 calories.



Lunch was a Charcuterie with Italian dry salami, Cabot seriously sharp cheddar, Spanish Manchego, Everything bagel chips and artichoke spread. - 750 calories



Dinner was a smoked and then seared pork tenderloin, braised collards, and a baked sweet potato. - 490 calories







The point of all this is that you can eat well, be surprisingly satisfied and yet still meet your calorie goals.

Manchego is one of my favorite cheeses!

How do you determine the calories in food that looks that good?

Mine too. Love it.

Thanks. I just plug it all into MyFitnessPal. It only takes a few seconds. Plus they have a barcode scanner, so anything that has a barcode on it you can just scan the packaging.

It's a very handy app

There are 2 types of "diets". (I like to call it a lifestyle change).
Eat what you want but not when you want.
Eat when you want but not what you want.
Everybody thinks they can go on some new health kick and it never works because they get tired of it and cant sustain that way of eating for consecutive weeks/years. "Diets" typically teach you to starve yourself and you learn nothing about what your body wants/need to operate on. I follow the fasting because it is very simplistic thinking involved. You eat whatever in this time window and dont eat in this time window. I have not had a soft drink or tea in 11 years. Cant stand the taste of it now. If eating 3 square meals a day. Follow king, prince, peasant method. Good luck and keep it going.