Diet while deployed to Iraq

[FinanceSoldier]

I am currently deployed to COB Speicher, Iraq. I need some help or guidance with my diet. For the last month the diet I have followed is very few if any carbs and limiting sugars while eating alot of protein and fruit. My typical days meal is Breakfast: Ham & Cheese Omlet w/Raisan Bran Cereal and Low Fat Milk, Lunch: Either chicken breast and fruit or a wrap and fruit, Dinner: Same as lunch. The fruit depends on what is available and if all else fails I go with a fruit yogurt. I drink 1 bottle of gatorade with each meal and water throughout the day. I have recently lost 18 pounds on this diet along with many miles of cardio on a elleptical. This week I have started the Trifecta Stack from LG Sciences and added weights to my workouts. I also take a daily multi-vitamin. I feel like there is a dificiency in my diet where I could get better results. I am somewhat limited to what the cafeteria is serving but they usually have a wide variety. My goal is to gain mass and stength while cutting especially in the midsection. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is written incorrectly this is my first post.

[VolPower]

I am currently deployed to COB Speicher, Iraq. I need some help or guidance with my diet. For the last month the diet I have followed is very few if any carbs and limiting sugars while eating alot of protein and fruit. My typical days meal is Breakfast: Ham & Cheese Omlet w/Raisan Bran Cereal and Low Fat Milk, Lunch: Either chicken breast and fruit or a wrap and fruit, Dinner: Same as lunch. The fruit depends on what is available and if all else fails I go with a fruit yogurt. I drink 1 bottle of gatorade with each meal and water throughout the day. I have recently lost 18 pounds on this diet along with many miles of cardio on a elleptical. This week I have started the Trifecta Stack from LG Sciences and added weights to my workouts. I also take a daily multi-vitamin. I feel like there is a dificiency in my diet where I could get better results. I am somewhat limited to what the cafeteria is serving but they usually have a wide variety. My goal is to gain mass and stength while cutting especially in the midsection. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is written incorrectly this is my first post.

first off,welcome to the board :D, the post is fine, dont worry about it.

fruit has alot of sugar in it and also does yogurt. i would try to add some whole grain carbs to your diet for some stable long lasting energy, and cut the fruit to earlier in the day, before workouts. keep a decent protein intake.
im also limited to what i have at my disposal at school so, id say just make the best of it ( or try too)

[FiveTenTwoFiftyFive]

Thank you for your military service! It must be tough sticking to a program with your limited resources but it sounds like you are doing great.

If you are going to try to add lean mass while cutting body fat at the same time it gets trickier but it can be done. First thing I would do is limit the fruit to before and after workout and maybe breakfast - when I lose fat I keep it to around 2 servings a day. If you are strictly looking to gain mass you could eat fruit all day but if you are adding mass and would still like to drop fat use slower burning carbs like pinto beans, black beans, sweet potatoes - not sure what you have access to with kitchen but you could buy dried beans in bulk and cook up big batches of them. The other cheap way to add some slow burning complex carbs is buy a big bag of brown rice and cook up a big batch at the beginning of the week. Keep it in your fridge and add it to your meals. It will last all week. I'm on my third week of dieting and living on brown rice, beans, and chicken. I never get sick of it.

I cook up a big batch of pinto and black beans and then I mix my chicken with these. Then you can simply add some buffalo hot sauce or salsa to give it some flavor. The trick with burning fat and building muscle is keeping your blood sugar very regulated through the day and you'll need the slow burning fibrous carbs for that. The reason I go with some type of bean is because it does have a lot of complex carbohydrates but it also is loaded with a lot more fiber than grains. They keep you filled up for a long time, offer anti oxidants, fiber, and a steady release of energy.

Taking a multivitamin is great, there are a couple really good ones on DA. I've went with Adam by NOW and Orange Triad by Controlled Labs. Adam is a great value overall. It sounds like you could probably use an additional calcium/magnesium supplement. Those are inexpensive and you could probably get one with added potassium as well which would be good because I would cut back on the gatorade throughout the day. I realize you are in Iraq though and it is useful for replenishing electrolytes but your fat loss with start to plateau and replacing those carbs with slow burning complex carbs will be necessary. Drink gatorade after weight training though and the carbs will be shuttled to replacing glycogen stores.

If you are looking for another supplement that is inexpensive that can help with losing fat while gaining lean mass I would add an alpha lipoic acid or R-ala to the mix. It's cheap and also is a potent anti oxidant and helps improve the effectiveness of other antioxidants in your body so it has a triple punch.

For leaning up and gaining muscle a cheap and very effective stack is
Fish Oil
Green Tea
Alpha Lipoic Acid

I like this stack because it's all natural and offers multitudes of other health benefits.

Hope this helps!