What to eat?

Ladies and gentlemen, I have to apologize for a series of noob questions I have posted so far, but here it goes again:

I'm trying to figure a nice clean diet, eat 5-6 times a day - but honestly I have no idea what to eat so many times. I'm trying to cut some weight down and keep calories around 2500/day.

For discussion purpose, this is from my food log from yesterday:
- Cereal w/milk (Trail Mix Crunch, 1-serving,240 cal)
- Cup of coffee w/3 teaspoons of sugar (49 cal)
- Cheese string (1 serving, 80 cal)
- Stir-fried shrimp w/brocolli & cauliflower + teryiaki sauce (1 serving, 250 cal)
- Greek yogurt (non-fat, 1 serving, 80 cal)
- Turkey sandwich (lean turkey breast, whole grain bread, 2 slices of non-fat cheese, 420 cal)
- Protein shake ( mixed with milk, pre and post workout, so 2 servings of 284cal = 568)

So that comes out to: 1687 calories for yesterday. It seems like I'm undereating even though I ate 6 times throughout the day?

Any suggestions & advice is much appreciated.

 

Plan out three meals a day, each to give you roughly 800-900 calories apiece.

Then, separate them in half. Now you have 6 meals for that day.

 

That sounds simple enough.
Thanks Kuma!

 

I was just about to say the same thing. Fat helps testosterone production so don't skimp on it too much.

I also like vanilla protein powder with my coffee. I think it tastes great.

 

Will do.
I use string cheese more as a snack, between meals so I'm not starving.

I haven't tried that, but will give it a try just to see how it is

 

It also gets you a bit more protein in throughout the day, which is an added bonus if you're like me and your blood content level is about half coffee.

 

That is not a great deal of food like mate.

Kuma's suggestion is a good one.
Lef overs can whip together into some pretty. Good meals too.

 

I'm a little confused. You're eating less than 2K kCal a day, but you're drinking protein shake, which isn't exactly known to be particularly satiating.

I think you need to think about what your primary goal is here. At those calorie levels, you're probably not going to gain much muscle, no matter how much you workout and no matter how much protein shake you drink. So why drink it at all, when you could eat real food?

 

So from what you are saying you want to increase caloric intake from what you have listed? Right? I'm presuming that's a good value for weight loss for you as I don't know what your activity is like.

There is no fruit in that list.
There is also not enough vegetables (you want at least 5 serves a day).

-Put a piece of fruit into your breakfast, and include another one in your preworkout meal.
-Replace your turkey sammich with a turkey salad with some bread on the side. This will increase the amount of veges as well as protein. You just can't fit that much stuff between two slices of bread.
-I'm presuming your cheese string is something like a morning tea. Instead have proper cheese with biscuits or something.

You don't have to eat 6 times a day. It's more important to eat around your training times (which you are already doing). And when you think about it, a lot of people already eat 5-6 times a day with morning and arvo tea, so when you think about it that way, it's not really that large a hurdle to leap.

You can take Kuma's advice and simply split your normal larger meals. Or you can just plan in a decent morning and afternoon tea, as well as pre and post workout meals and voila there are you 5-6 meals a day. Snacks like cheese and biscuits, a can of tuna are good, simple ideas. But then to increase your calorie intake, just eat MORE of this sort of food, rather than change it (with the exception of switching to full fat dairy products, which has already been mentioned anyway).

 

whey is good in coffee

 

A big glass of milk with each meal certainly can't hurt either. It gives you more calories and protein. Heck, drinking a lot of milk in general should do you well provided you're not lactose intolerant.

 

GOMAD!!

 

For that particular day, definitely not.
On most other days I'm able to make it to 2000-2500 cals, which is my goal.

I'm not trying to gain at the moment, just trying to cut down. Protein shakes are only pre and post workout.

Yes, my goal is to cut down few pounds. I'm not trying to increase my caloric intake, as on most days I'm able to make it 2000-2500 calories, but on certain days like the one I listed in original post I barely make it to 2000 while not feeling hungry at all.
My activities include: two heavy lifting sessions a week, 2 circuit/HIIT/Tabata sessions per week, one MMA session, and cardio usually for 20-30 min after lifting. On that particular day there was no fruit...I guess I just never got around to it, but on most others there's at least one. I know I definitely need more vegetables, however, I have no clue what to use for those 5 suggested servings.

I think if I had a glass of milk with each meal I'd probably end up hating milk
I remember reading an article by Christian Thibaudeau and in a part of it he suggests against such thing since you could end up being lactose intolerant from consuming so much milk? I'll post it if I can find it later...


Thanks for everyone's input and advice

 

I'd say it varies. I drink anywhere from a half gallon to a gallon a day by myself most days and I've been doing it for years.

 

Another great idea - my wife and I will occasionally buy all the stuff for salad, chop it up beforehand, and put them in containers. From then on, whenever you want a salad you just pull the stuff out and make one. Garden spinach salads with a few different veggies, some Bacon Bits, and some Italian Tomato Basil Dressing is the bomb diggity.

 

I think that if you're only trying to cut down, then the protein shakes are just eating up a big chunk of your calorie allowance. Better to eat a big piece of chicken or a tuna sandwich or something substantial.