For a long time now I have been eating a diet that is basically the Zone diet but with half the carbs. The zone diet is 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat. I calculate how much protein I need by taking my weight, deciding by 2.2 to get kg then multiplying by 2 to figure out my total grams of protein. I then divide by 7g, to find out my total number of blocks on the zone. Which works out to 32 blocks total. This will make more since if you know what the zone is, but the blocks are basically servings of protein, fat, and carbs that when added up (one serving of each) you get 7g of protein, 3 grams of fat, and 9g of carbs which works out to be 91 Calories per block. Which would be around 2912 Calories total.
I have been eating 4 meals. two of them as post workout shakes. I workout twice a day. Each of these is 8 blocks total. For my other two meals, I have typically be eating only 2 blocks of carbs as all non-starch vegetables and getting roughly 8 blocks of fat and protein. On days I did not work out, I would eat 2 meals a day, skipping breakfast all together, Eat the same amount of total protein. So 16 blocks of protein at each meal, instead of just 8. I would then eat non-starchy carbs vegetables or maybe have a sandwich or a wrap, and get the same amount of fat.
This worked well, as far as results go. I could loose fat and keep working out and I often would have a cheat meal about once a week or once every two weeks. I would say my fat percent was around 10%. The top and middle abs were shoving and I had a pranced V shape and you could even see the veins on my waist, basically where my belt would go. However, I have noted that most of my str printed stuff had finally stalled and when I hit that point, I hit it hard. Dropping around 50# in my squat max. I just couldn’t do any more.
So I am switching now. I am eating more carbs, with most days getting 6 blocks at my other meals, but still not 8 blocks x 4 meals yet, still adjusting. I have noted my energy, strength, and mood has improved. And although I am not as lean as I was before, my overall progress and increased dramatically. I am just setting aside the more vain aspect of my diet until a later date, where I can find a solution that gives my the lower fat percent I want with continued solid physical performance.
P.S. The leanest I have ever been was when I had increased my cardio. One of my workout is for strength gaining and the other had been high intensity cardio. But for about a month to two months, I tried during the long slow cardio thing. I increased my cardio to 90mins x 3 days a week. This would be things like 1 hour run with a 30 min bike, of 45 mins of rowing and 45 mins of bike. Just a long slow pace, trying to improve each time. But mostly keeping my breath in check and listening to podcasts. That combo of doing long slow cardio and decreasing my carbs got me the leanest I have ever been. But it also was not well planned. First I hate cardio like that because it eats up my personal time. second my diet was not made to keep that kind of activity for long.