Ask HN: What does your diet look like?

I track calories with my fitbit app and i eat well, within reason. That is - i stay away from most crap food, but don't obsess over every thing i eat. i use things like high protein bars, a v8, or a soylent to fill in gaps when i'm pressed for time. some days i eat a perfect balance of fruit, veggies and high quality protein. other days i'll have 8 beers, half a bottle of wine, and rail some yayo. i get exercise in some form 6/7 days per week. sometimes it a simple mid day walk and some flights of stairs, some times it's yoga or a run, but most of the time it's the gym.

I tried a European version of Soylent: 'Queal' I found the more of it I ate the more messed up my bowels were. I'd feel fine but I'd fart a lot and have weird soft poops. I think my own guts definitely need roughage.

I tend to err on the side of keto, although I don't try to be a mad scientist and substitute out parts of a dish that have carbs (Like, if I'm eating a taco I'm not going to try to figure out how to have carb free tacos or whatever. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I think people avoid high-fat diets just because it makes eating so much more complicated.) Mostly to stay in a state of ketosis I just do fasting in a pretty haphazard way. I skip breakfast almost every day, and I skip lunch maybe 2-3 times a week, and I skip dinner about once or twice a week, mostly just based on if I feel hungry or not. I also tend to excercise in a fasted state, not for any particular health reason, but just because I find it to be a lot easier. (I tend to be higher endurance when fasting, whereas if I eat carbohydrates before I exercise I have a small initial boost but I also tend to hit a ceiling quicker).

I also track my weight daily, which I think is important. This is probably OCD/way too much info, but maybe someone finds this useful, I also have been charting my weight loss just to keep an eye on trends: https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=4545EACF9C7890C6!3... . It's a lot easier to adjust things if you notice your weight going up the week it happens, instead of like a month later and you added 10 pounds on accident.

I pretty much do iifym (220p, 250c, 155f - 94kg, 181cm). In the past I tried slow carb, intermittent fasting, low carb and a couple other trendy methods... turns out they all work: caloric surplus and you gain weight, restriction and you lose weight. Use sport and macro partitioning to control what body composition (lean vs. fat mass) you would like to have. Simple as that.

Only hard part is sticking to it :)

This is my bodybuilding diet, I’ve been on it for 15-20 years and people often mistake me for being 10 years younger than I am. I fluctuate between 225 and 265, benched 300 once, squatted maybe 400 for 10. I regret not doing deadlifts (and associated weighted back extensions, good morning, etc for hamstring strength) because I never got the 300-400-500 trifecta.

I tell people I’m a cheeseburgertarian, trying to stick to vegetarian with the bare minimum of fish or fowl, but a cheeseburger every week or two when I just can’t take it anymore. Meat eating is an addiction that’s difficult to break, and getting strong by eating meat is glorified by many societies, which I find troubling. The biggest struggle with a low-meat diet is getting a complete protein like beans and rice in one meal and finding beans with a low phytoestrogen content (this is the reason I’m wary of Soylent - they should be using garbanzo beans).

This is a base diet, so when cutting it’s ok to skip snacks occasionally, and when gaining there is no limit on additional meals like stir fry or spaghetti to stay in ketosis.

workout:

4 day split: legs on weekend, chest and bis, back and tris, shoulders usually MWF. 3-4 sets of each set 75% of the following set, or 50 lbs each set like 135-185-225 etc. as I’m getting older, trying more push/pull of same angle on same day for joints

1 hour walking on the treadmill is the best weight loss workout when cutting

5x5 is the best strength gain workout (except legs, always push for 8-20 reps on squat and 5-8 reps on deadlift) when gaining

supplements:

1500/1200 mg glucosamine and chondroitin, MSM, multivitamin, B 100 complex once a week, 2 cups coffee, 1-2 beers before bed on weeknights

breakfast: (alternate a and b each day depending on craving):

a) 4 scrambled or fried eggs (including yolks for hormone and joint support), 2 cups instant oatmeal with 1/2 cup of blueberries and a little milk on top, 6 oz orange juice

b) 1 bowl of cereal with milk, 6 oz orange juice

morning snack (a or b):

1 handful of dried nuts and fruit when cutting

1 can of beans and 1 yogurt when gaining

lunch:

turkey, tuna or pb&j sandwich, handful of baby carrots, 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 dill pickle, 6 oz 2% milk

afternoon snack:

similar to morning snack

dinner (a or b):

a) 1 can garbanzo beans, 1/2 onion, 1/2 green pepper, sprinkle of cheese, 6 oz 2% milk. 1 head romain heart and 0-2 pieces of whole wheat bread when cutting

a) 1 can garbanzo, 1 can chili beans (optional), olives or avocado, 1/2 onion, 1/2 green pepper, sprinkle of cheese, 6 oz 2% milk. 2 flower tortillas when gaining

before bed (a or b):

a) 1 whey protein shake when cutting

b) 1 casein protein shake when gaining