diet alternatives

Question

I'm 24 y.o. male, 173cm, 86kg, currently trying to lose fat and not lose muscles

/ means OR

My current diet is

Breakfast (~7.00):

• oatmeal / cottage cheese / eggs

(~10.00 - 11.00):

• some fruits (apples/pears/tangerines)

Lunch (~14.00):

• meat/chicken + rice/buckwheat/potatoes/noodles, sometimes + vegetable salad

Dinner (~19.00-20.00)

• varies (vegetable salad + nuts + brown bread / something like lunch but less amount)

I drink 2-3 liters of water daily.

Exercises include pull-ups ( 10 times 10 ) / Parallel bars push-up (12 x 10 ) + some abs exercises, legs exercises once a week.

I'm losing weight, but I suppose(visually) that I'm losing some muscles to.

Does that mean I'm not getting enough protein?

What are some tips on my diet and what are some good alternatives on the meals?

Answer 1

As you noted, you are not consuming enough protein. You only have one real source a day being the meat at lunch), with small amounts coming from the nuts at dinner or dairy at breakfast.

That being said, having large amounts of protein is not enough to build or maintain muscles on its own... you need calories for that. And when you're dieting, you don't have calories to spare.

Put simply, muscles require calories to build and maintain themselves. When you diet, you are forcing your body to cannibalize itself (fat stores, muscles) to compensate for the lack of calories it received. Therefore, it is common to have small to moderate muscle loss when on a heavy diet.

I suggest reading this answer for more information on losing fat while building or maintaining muscle.