ApoKolypse wrote:
I don't really worry too much about what I eat.
You don't want to avoid red meat ENTIRELY, just cut way down. Thinks like chicken and tuna are better for you because they're lean.
I should probably try a meal plan to optimize how my workouts go but I'm athletic as F*CK, I just need a bit more bulk.
How old are you? My guess is under 24.
Deepslit wrote:
I'll just add my situmuation on here since I've been thinking about it.
I've been working out at the gym for 2 weeks so far this will be my 3rd. I'm going regularly with someone who knows their shit about the exercises. I've just been focusing on how to get a routine going and my FORM, keeping a journal of what I do and JUST started keeping tabs of what I eat.
My main question is about eating. I eat like a bird, but I've just consciously started substituting times I would normally snack on something with a piece of fruit, maybe turning down desert and I don't go to fast food at all anyways. But I just want to know more about the 6 meals a day, how to proportion it and WHAT TO EAT?? There's just so much info, it's hard to get a foundation going.
I'm picking up on the exercise portion, just looking for help/info/sources on eating.
Eating is the biggest killer for most people, that and OVER-exercising. It's very easy to come up with excuses for not eating usually people are too busy with school, work, family or they go out drinking and well some people cant say no to junk food and sweets.
Personally, I've always been a huge eater and a lot of my friends hate me for it. I've gone to all you can eat places and eaten 10 full plates of food or all you can eat wing night and eat 50-60 wings no problem. There are 3 bodytypes (ecto, endo, meso) and no one is exactly one bodytype but I'm as close to an ecto as anyone can get. However due to injuries (sustained outside of the gym), "old age laziness", and intense disliking of cardio I have to watch what I eat now but I cut out all crap years ago. My biggest problem is eating too much natural peanut butter before bed.
What I'm trying to say is that everyone is different and what works for one person doesn't work for another. I used to have to eat 5000 calories a day just to gain a few pounds and it still pisses me the F*CK off when i'm cruising the weight training forums and see diets of guys over 200 lbs and they eat less than me. One reason I stopped trying to get big is I realized the amount of food that I'd have to eat would be insane.
Some basics of eating that I follow:
1) 1.5-2g of protein per pound of bodyweight (30-50g per meal)
2) depending on goals 1.5-2.5g of carbs per pound of bodyweight (unless on a special diet)
3) Cut out saturated fat and trans fat entirely ( i cut fat off my chicken and steaks)
4) Eat good fats from Fish oil caps / flax seed (limited due to being a phytoestrogen) / cook food with olive oil or peanut oil / natural peanut butter
5) Carb cut-off 4-5 hours before bed. Carbs are used by the body for energy, you don't need energy when you sleep and your body will store this unused energy as fat. Eat good fats in your last meal, for me I eat natty pb and apples. NOTE: Your body needs good fats for proper nutritional balance. Good fats are just a different type of energy source which your body burns more slowly so it's best to eat them around bedtime.
6) I eat red meat. Sometimes I cut down but I've never cut it out of my diet. My body used to crave it, I would actually go nuts if I didn't eat red meat at least once every 2 weeks. I usually save steaks for days I do squats since these are my hardest workouts and steak is the best for recovery and building muscle.
7) 2 hour window. After weight training for 45-60 minutes there is a 2-hour window where your metabolism is sped up and you can pretty much inhale a crap load of food. I try to get 3 meals in this window all very high in protein with the first one very high in carbs to resupply my energy levels and the other 2 with moderate carbs. Stay away from fat after workoing out because it slows digestion which is not desired when your body needs to replenish itself.
8) I have attempted to eliminate any and all trans fat from my diet. I read labels and don't buy anything with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils because if they contain these then they have trans fat even if it says 0g trans fat, it's a loophole that says they don't have to report the trans fat if it contains less than .5g per serving
9) I limit my intake of high fructose corn syrup. I don't argue with people about it, it's just a choice I've made. I understand the process and I personally believe if abused can lead to obesity. About the only thing I eat at home with it is ketchup.
This is for you deepslit:
5-6 meals a day.
I normally only get in 5 meals plus the insane amount of EAAs and gatorade I drink while I workout but my meals are very big compared to most peoples.
First you need to define your goals. Right now I'm on a very advanced training protocol called DC training and I need to eat a crap load so I don't overtrain. Many lifters say you can't overtrain just undereat. I don't know if that's true but I know looking around my gym that most people don't eat enough.
How to divide the protein and carbs:
bodyweight x 1.5-2
so for me I weigh 177lbs, I gained 5lbs over the last 4 weeks due to my new protocol.
so i am shooting for 265.5 - 354g of protein and the same for carbs which lean towards the high range since I'm trying to gain weight. Some people inhale 3g of carbs per pound of bodyweight or more but for me personally I just gain fat which I've already noticed happening this past week but it's mainly due to me not doing any cardio due to nagging injuries and fear of turning something minor into something serious.
This is what I normally eat the past month:
Meal #1 - blender
2 cups of skim milk
Either:
2 servings of egg whites and 1 serving of whey protein OR
2 servings of whey protein ( for days after I workout )
1 serving of oats
1 serving of cyclogainer ( a type of weight gainer which contains 26g of carbs and 12 g of whey protein)
Meal #2 - Pre Workout / Intra Workout
1 serving Purple Wraath
1 serving Xtend
1 serving Primal EAAs
1-2 servings of powder gatorade (cheaper and BETTER than the liquid stuff)
Meal #3 - Post Workout - blender
2 servings of skim milk
2 servings of cyclogainer
2 servings of whey protein
40-50g of waxy maize starch
Meal #4 - 45 minutes after Meal #3 - blender
2 servings of skim milk
1 servings of oats
2 servings of whey protein
Meal #5 - 120 minutes after #4
.5lb of chicken breast ( 1 breast)
Mac and cheese (box contains 3 servings i just try to eat half)
Meal #6
same as #5 and I try to finish the mac and cheese
unless it's too close to bed now I'm starting to cut out the mac and cheese
Meal #7
either another .5lb of chicken breast and natural peanut butter OR
peanut butter and apples
Off days
I stick with the same meal #1 and the rest of the day I eat all solid foods similar to above.
Good Carbs (These are what I mainly eat)
Oats (every morning for like the past 5-6 years at least)
Wheat pasta (not so much cuz I got sick of it)
Brown rice
Sweet Potatoes
I went back to mac and cheese cuz it's easy to count the calories from the box
I like to think the good carbs I eat like oats help to offset the amount of meat I eat. The latter raises cholesterol and the former lowers it.
I'm sure it looks all rigid and stuff but I'm pretty lenient and I'm not as strict as I might be coming off. This has been a gradual progression that has been years in the making. I have a lot of sleep problems so I'm not on a schedule right now partially why I'm up right now and writing all of this so I sometimes stay up more than 16 hours per day so I have to eat that 6th or 7th meal.
Also, when I go out with my friends all bets are off. I consider it a treat and eat just about anything within reason. One reason I don't eat out much is that I could drop $50 easy on one meal and still walk away hungry depending on the restaurant and most restaurants cook shitty food and I really only like to eat at higher end places.
The most important time to eat is before you workout and after. Before make sure you get a lot of good carbs in so you have a lot of energy for your workout usually 90-120minutes before you workout depending on how many carbs and what type of carbs. Afterwards eat a lot of protein and carbs and stay away from fat.
Like I said I could write 10 pages on this stuff and I haven't even discussed what supplements I take or cardio or other types of training which most people including myself neglect.
None of this means anything if I'm some punk so here is some info on me:
Just coming off of a lot of rehab and maintenance weight training and still not doing cardio
Current goals are strength and mass
5'11" about 177lbs (gained 5 lbs in the past 4 weeks)
Some lifts and my squats are at or below parallel none of that partial bullshit 95% of guys in gyms do:
Back Squat ( powerlifting stance) = about 350lb (abandoned regular squats da few months ago due to nagging knee injury from football)
Front Squat max 245lb
parallel box squat max about 315lbs
Front Box Squat 185x10
deadlift 415 with straps / 385 without straps (about to blow past this)
best bench about 5 years ago 225x10 put my max around 320.
bench now 185x14 just did it today. Due too excessive shoulder strain I don't plan on benching heavy anymore.
best weighted pullup bodyweight (160lbs) +90lbs ( not even close to that right now )
best dips bodyweight + 80lbs for reps ( no where close to that now due to shoulder strain)
Nothing spectacular at a glance but when looking over the rehab I've done from my shoulder and knee I'm back on track on reaching my goals which are:
squat 3x bodyweight
deadlift 3x bodyweight
bench 225x20-25 times
tl;dr
I know what I'm talking about.