Diet Transition+College+CrossFit page

[JRummy]

Hey everybody my name's Jake, I'm 20 years old and about to be a college junior, and I wanted to get a little help here on some issues I'm starting to have. Just to warn you, this may be a kinda long since I'm putting this all down in it's entirety...

To start off with, last summer I said enough was enough and decided t lose some weight. In May I started out at 205 and using a Weight Watchers style program for about a month and half, combined with some vague knowledge of Paleo, I dropped weight like a rock and lost 30lbs by the end of August. I also continued doing CrossFit 3-4x/week during the summer since I was back from school out of state. My diet during that summer consisted mostly of bacon and eggs for breakfast, large chicken breast and steamed veggies or salad for lunch, and either another chicken breast or some piece of meat and another round of veggies for dinner. Snacks were almonds, string cheese, fruit, and bits of dark chocolate. I had cut out pretty much all breads/grains and most of sweets along with soda, as I only drank water. I did that the entire summer while eyeballing or ballparking portions after following the WW protocol for the first month to get portion sizes in my head. By the end of the summer I was 175lbs and as lean as I'd ever been, with pretty visible abs and musculature compared to my former bulky and fluffy self.

Now to this summer, where after heading back to school and watching what I ate as much as I could with the meal plan I had to use for my food (went to salad bar daily, rarely if ever ate pizza, burgers, or fries, and pretty much never drank pop) I still slid back up to 185lbs. This happened despite still working out about 2-3x a week of Crossfit-esque workouts by myself plus rugby practices/games. This summer is busier than before as I'm taking 12 credit hrs of summer school courses, working as a lifeguard at my local pool, and doing private landscaping (although landscapings pretty much done b/c of dead grass from heat). I didn't have class last summer so my time had been spent working, working out, and dieting, instead of being divided like it is now.

I wasn't able to start CrossFit till mid-June this summer because of my hectic schedule, so I tried to make up for it by eating better. I ate relatively the same as the previous summer but my weight wouldn't budge. Now I'm able to Crossfit regularly, and trying to stick even more carefully to my diet but it's still not working. I decided to chat up my CF trainers and ask them for advice on anything I could do to bust thru this stupid plateau like I did last summer. What they had told me was that it might be from the delayed start of exercising regularly before starting up in mid-June, and the composition of the foods I was eating. I had told them the foods I ate and they told me I should try and add more fat (ex. nuts and avocados) for energy to my diet since I cut out most of my carbs. I understand the whole concept of high-fat/low-carb/Paleo-Primal, along with eating more to give my body fuel to burn instead of restricting it. I just have a hard time making the transition to eating more + adding more fat to my diet, as I guess I had always accepted eating a little less meant you'd lose weight and vice versa.

So now to the main area of help I need. I'm going to be living in an on-campus apartment this year in college, with a reduced meal plan, so my meals are going to be more based on what I buy from the grocery. One of my roommates has access to a local garden with tons of fresh vegetables, along with knowledge of getting good cheap food from local markets in the area. My question is, how should I construct my new diet/lifestyle of eating and transition away from my old mindset of the eat less=weight-loss thoughts? My goal would be to get back to 175lbs, if not maybe a smidge lower to maybe 160-165 for good. I was lean but still had a lot of room to go when I reached 175 previously, so I want to be lean and solid when I reach my goal. Grew up as the short (5'6") fat kid all my life so attaining the coveted lean six-pack has always been a pipe dream of mine but I would give anything to get there! So I'm asking all of you to please give me any suggestions that I could use to get me where I want to go. I'm planning on making this change for life as I enjoyed eating healthier and it made me feel better so I can only imagine how it'll feel when I really get it dialed in and correct for good! Thanks again and I'm sorry if this seems like a lot, just had to get it all out there!

[JRummy]

Anybody? I'm looking for any help I can here, I'm trying to ask everyone I possibly can, and since I don't have many people I can personally talk to who can help, my next best bet is to turn to the internet. So if anyone on here has any little nuggets of info they can give me, I'll be glad to listen to it!

[tradawg]

If you're doing Crossfit, I'd recommend replacing some of the fat with carbs. To get the lean look you want, you want to add muscle, correct? You need to eat enough to build muscle, and if you're working out regularly and eating good, whole foods, you're more likely to add muscle than fat. So don't be afraid to eat more! And add some potatos, plantains, berries, even white rice, to get those carbs up.

[JackieKessler]

I agree with tradawg -- from what I've been reading on the forum, if you are very active (and CrossFit qualifies), then you need more carbs than someone who isn't that active. In addition to what tradawg suggested, I'd add sweet potatoes (especially Hawaiian and Japanese sweet potatoes -- purple and OH so good).

[JRummy]

So besides eating more to help fuel myself because of doing CrossFit, how should I proportion out what to eat in regards to me needing to eat more fat for fuel since I don't eat much to begin with AND eat more carbs? Because if someone just tells me to outright eat more, it just somehow doesn't click with my brain because I reflexively associate eating more food with gaining weight, not leaning out. So my problem is not knowing the difference between eating more and overeating if that makes sense?

[adkatsim]

I'm a 21-year-old college girl who CrossFits, so I might be able to offer some help! I've always loved to cook, which helps, but seriously make an effort to cook as much of your food as possible from scratch when you have an apartment (scrambled eggs actually only take 30 seconds to make). I found pretty quickly that my food just tastes better than anything I can eat in a cafeteria/buy out. It's definitely hard to know if you're eating too much when everything is so delicious, though! I've started portioning out anything I make right away; that way, if I have a second portion, it's more likely that I'm actually hungry rather than just eating out of a giant pan because it's still full. Ditto on adding carbs after WODing; I'm really into sweet potatoes after work-outs. No one will be able to give you a straight answer about when you are hungry; the key is truly experimentation!

[tradawg]

If you're worried about eating more, do it gradually. Add a sweet potato each day and then the next week add some fruit. And most importantly, don't stress about it! If you're eating whole foods, and getting quality exercise, you're doing things right and the body composition will get there. It's going to take some experimenting with what feels/works best for you, but it will happen.