Caloric intake w Crossfit

[MolliesMaster]

What kind of calories are you guys putting down a day? If you don't know your caloric intake, post what you eat on avg day and I will figure it out.

I'm predominantly paleo, I may have a slice of bread or one of mom's brownies 2-3 times a month, usually nothing more.
I'm trying to achieve my optimal best while continuing to lose some unwanted fat. I train 5-6 days a week, sometimes two a days.

6'1 230lbs
My normal day looks like:
Morning: BCAA's after workout, cup of coffee, 4-5 tablespoons of almond butter

Lunch: Chicken (usually) with some sort of spinach or carrots, if I am extra tired or pushed it hard, I'll have a sweet potato.

Dinner: Steak or Fish with a Spinach, blue berry, coconut milk smoothie.

Extra supplements- 2 grams of DHA+EPA, Magnesium(bed), 5000iu of D3 (breakfast) and 100mgs of 5htp before bed.

How does this look? I think I need to throw in some more fats.

[Glenn]

I recently signed up for Eat To Perform and I'm still fiddlin' with it when I have time to concentrate on it.

Here's the basics of what I've gleaned so far. I was way underfed. Way underfed. On a strict paleo diet with the exception of alcohol, Once I started tracking my macros I was taking in maybe 1800-2000 calories a day and most of that was protein and fat. Very little carb intake as most of my carbs came from fibrous vegetables and no grains. It's tough to choke down 200 grams worth of carbs if they are just vegetables.

Now I'm eating 3200-3500 calories a day. I've added fruit, mainly bananas, back into my diet to jack up my carb count post work out. Fat calories are easy to get. Protein is tough too. 225+ grams of protein a day is a lot.

So far, about a month in, my weight really hasn't changed by more than a pound or two but my lean muscle mass has increased and body fat has dropped a few more points. I don't track every day like I probably should and plan on getting dialed in a bit better and play with this thing over the fall to see where it takes me.

[MolliesMaster]

I was doing some reading on Eat to Perform today actually. Let me know how it goes after you get it all figured out. I am definitely interested.

I know I need to up my carbs and fat, it would probably make me feel/perform a lot better.

[Glenn]

Aight. So here's how this thing works. Some say it is similar to zone. It isn't. Not by a long shot.

First thing you do is calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. Doing that gives you how many calories per day you need to support your level of activity. You do that here...

http://eattoperform.com/eat-to-perform-calculator/

Most of the time you want to solve for carbohydrates by entering in 1g/lb of body weight for protein and 0.5g/lb of body weight for fats. Then you will know how many grams of fat, carb and protein you need to reach your TDEE.

The trick comes in knowing how to tweak your macros up or down to get the results you want. Lower carbs, increase protein, lower fats etc all make the other macros either increase or decrease to keep the caloric intake the same. There is no universal formula for it and your percentages all depend on if you are trying to bulk up, lose fat or maintain what you have.

For example I'm currently at 212-215 lbs. I'm 45 and I work out 5+ days a week.

So my TDEE is right at 3700 calories per day.

Percentages break down like this...

250g protein 1000 cal 27%
349g Carbs 1397 cal 37%
150g Fats 1350 cal 36%

On my rest days I drop to around 3000 calories and take those out of my carbs and fats.

Here is a simple food list on how the macros break down among common foods...

http://eattoperform.com/wp-content/u...ocery-List.pdf

[MolliesMaster]

Dang you went all out! Thanks!! I owe you one!

[Glenn]

No worries. I edited the last part. I drop to around 3000 calories on rest days. Not 300.

I'll add this too. It is dang near impossible to hit your carb goals on a paleo diet. Not completely impossible but pert near. I cannot physically eat that volume of fibrous veggies. Protein is hard enough to get down. But if you tried to hit that carb goal on fibrous veggies and no fruit you'd go broke on turlet tissue.

I've added fruit back into my diet in a big way.

[MolliesMaster]

You are right about that. It looks like more sweet potatoes and bananas for me. Maybe some wild rice?

Did you notice a difference in performance?

[Glenn]

I've got more motor and seem to have a higher tolerance for that "suck" factor. You know that feeling when you aren't at muscle fatigue, still have strength and gas but it's all starting to burn and you want to put it down? I'm pushing through that better.

My weight hasn't changed but I've lost fat and added more lean muscle.

Don't tell anybody but I've bought some brown/wild rice and may resort to that for a quick carb hit. 44g per serving is hard to beat.