Help me get more out of my diet

I've attached a chart which is my current diet. I feel like it is pretty solid but always like advice and know I have room for improvements. Would like to make slow, steady, lean gains. I was eating around 4500 calories up until a month ago and put on some good muscle but got fatter than I would like at the same time. I would rather gain slower and remain lean.

25 yrs old
6'1"
195lbs
Training off and on for a few years, but have just gotten serious about it the past 6 months. Currently doing a 3-day split very similar to the one Big A outlined.

One change that I think I'll make is moving the blueberries to an earlier meal and replacing them with some broccoli so as to not have any sugars so late in the day.

Any other suggestions?

crg914 said:

I've attached a chart which is my current diet. I feel like it is pretty solid but always like advice and know I have room for improvements. Would like to make slow, steady, lean gains. I was eating around 4500 calories up until a month ago and put on some good muscle but got fatter than I would like at the same time. I would rather gain slower and remain lean.

25 yrs old
6'1"
195lbs
Training off and on for a few years, but have just gotten serious about it the past 6 months. Currently doing a 3-day split very similar to the one Big A outlined.

One change that I think I'll make is moving the blueberries to an earlier meal and replacing them with some broccoli so as to not have any sugars so late in the day.

Any other suggestions?

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A couple of suggestions to change things up:

I'd be looking at lowering your fat intake and upping your carbs.

Try having some chicken instead of the pork and eat lots of green veg.

michelin said:

A couple of suggestions to change things up:

I'd be looking at lowering your fat intake and upping your carbs.

Try having some chicken instead of the pork and eat lots of green veg.

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How much do you think the fats need to be lowered? The vast majority are healthy fats, except the pork chop. But I trim the fat off of those before I cook them. I just used the 14g of fat from the nutrition label because I didn't want to guess at it, but it should be less than that since I trim them.

And I know chicken would be better but I was eating that for the past 6 months so much that I have to take a break from it. Maybe I just need some better chicken recipes?

Do you think that the carbs are too low to put on lean mass slowly? Before I was eating around 400g carbs and I started to get fat. I was gaining weight fast, but not all of it was quality. I would like to avoid that.

For green veggies I'm eating the salad, green beans and will add in the broccoli. What else could I use? I'm not to crazy about asparagus, but maybe once in a while.

crg914 said:

How much do you think the fats need to be lowered? The vast majority are healthy fats, except the pork chop. But I trim the fat off of those before I cook them. I just used the 14g of fat from the nutrition label because I didn't want to guess at it, but it should be less than that since I trim them.

And I know chicken would be better but I was eating that for the past 6 months so much that I have to take a break from it. Maybe I just need some better chicken recipes?

Do you think that the carbs are too low to put on lean mass slowly? Before I was eating around 400g carbs and I started to get fat. I was gaining weight fast, but not all of it was quality. I would like to avoid that.

For green veggies I'm eating the salad, green beans and will add in the broccoli. What else could I use? I'm not to crazy about asparagus, but maybe once in a while.

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I can only speak for myself bro but I personally try to keep my fats as low as possible at all times, never more than 50g a day. I get them from nuts and olive oil.
Were your fats high when you were eating 400g carbs? That could be why you gained excess weight.
I understand about taking a break from chicken so how about some tuna for a while?
Pork is a fatty meat so thats the reason I avoid it, I'd rather get my protein from a leaner source.
Green beans, spinach, cauliflower if youre not keen on asparagus.

I think you need to experiment a bit with your carb values and see how you get on, remember its a slow process to put quality muscle on.

As I said, these are only my opinions, were all different. Your diet is far from bad mate and I'm only trying to make tweaks but to be honest the best thing would be to do what I did and get yourself a prep coach who can go through all this in finer detail and give you a long term eating and training plan. I've just joined up with Alex A and can highly recommend him.

Good luck

michelin said:

I can only speak for myself bro but I personally try to keep my fats as low as possible at all times, never more than 50g a day. I get them from nuts and olive oil.
Were your fats high when you were eating 400g carbs? That could be why you gained excess weight.
I understand about taking a break from chicken so how about some tuna for a while?
Pork is a fatty meat so thats the reason I avoid it, I'd rather get my protein from a leaner source.
Green beans, spinach, cauliflower if youre not keen on asparagus.

I think you need to experiment a bit with your carb values and see how you get on, remember its a slow process to put quality muscle on.

As I said, these are only my opinions, were all different. Your diet is far from bad mate and I'm only trying to make tweaks but to be honest the best thing would be to do what I did and get yourself a prep coach who can go through all this in finer detail and give you a long term eating and training plan. I've just joined up with Alex A and can highly recommend him.

Good luck

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Fats were a little high than they are right now, but not by much, probably around 150-160g a day, mostly good fats.

Tuna is a good idea, I will try and substitute that in for the pork next week.

Thanks very much for your suggestions. I would really like to hire somebody but that must be put off for a little while. I move from FL to NC in less than 3 weeks, get married 2 weeks after that, and then go on my honeymoon which is 3 weeks long so my life is pretty hectic for the next few months.

I will definitely look into some professional assistance in the future, but am just trying to squeeze everything I can out of what I can work with right now

I would change around quite a bit in your diet..

1. First, you can't really just have one diet.. Since nutritional uptake is based on level of activity.. And for bodybuilders.. That's day in the gym or day off from the gym.. (type of job and level of activity is important also) So you really need two diets schemes..

2. I think you are relying too much on shakes and not whole foods.. Some people will disagree with me on this.. But personally i try to eat my protein and not drink it...

3. I believe it Protein/Fat or Protein/Carb meals..

4. Need to know what time you train.. Alot of diet restructure around Pre and Post workout..

Feel free to PM me and I can get more specific..

1. Well on days I don't train I just reduce what I eat a little at each meal. Is there a better way to handle this?

2. I tried to split it up about 50/50 from shakes and whole food. Three times I thought would be good for shakes are first thing in the morning because my appetite doesn't get going until a couple hours after I wake up, PWO, and right before bed. How do you feel about keeping shakes for those times and using whole food instead of the remaining shakes?

3. So you wouldn't eat all three macros at the same time? Can you help me understand why you have that opinion?

4. I train at 0800 and am at the gym for around an hour, maybe a little more so my 0930 shake is PWO and 1030 is a meal an hour later.

Thanks for your response and I appreciate your help

crg914 said:

1. Well on days I don't train I just reduce what I eat a little at each meal. Is there a better way to handle this?

2. I tried to split it up about 50/50 from shakes and whole food. Three times I thought would be good for shakes are first thing in the morning because my appetite doesn't get going until a couple hours after I wake up, PWO, and right before bed. How do you feel about keeping shakes for those times and using whole food instead of the remaining shakes?

3. So you wouldn't eat all three macros at the same time? Can you help me understand why you have that opinion?

4. I train at 0800 and am at the gym for around an hour, maybe a little more so my 0930 shake is PWO and 1030 is a meal an hour later.

Thanks for your response and I appreciate your help

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1. Yes.. There is a better way

2. I still think if you can eat whole foods.. Do it.. PWO is about the only time i eat a shake.. Sometimes in the AM if im running late for work.. IF i wake up in the middle of the night starving.. I usually make a shake.. Before bed is another option for a shake, but i would eat cottage cheese or a regular meal over a shake..

3. read this... **broken link removed**

4. Preworkout: Hour before hitting the gym.. I would have a protein/carb meal (typically something slow to medium digesting carb) You are having a protein shake and banana.. Fruit fills liver glycogen not muscle glycogen.. So i would go with a different carb source here.. or add fruit to a complex source.. like raisins and oatmeal.

Right before workout or during: supplements (BCAA's, LBA's, Preworkout drink, etc.)

Postworkout: Lean Protein/Fast Digesting carbs (whey shake with maltodextrin is good here) Once again.. Your eating fruit PWO.. i would avoid fructose PWO...

Hour later or so: Lean Protein/Carb Carb source could be low gi like beans, barley, yams, etc.

bigguns078 said:

1. Yes.. There is a better way

2. I still think if you can eat whole foods.. Do it.. PWO is about the only time i eat a shake.. Sometimes in the AM if im running late for work.. IF i wake up in the middle of the night starving.. I usually make a shake.. Before bed is another option for a shake, but i would eat cottage cheese or a regular meal over a shake..

3. read this... **broken link removed**

4. Preworkout: Hour before hitting the gym.. I would have a protein/carb meal (typically something slow to medium digesting carb) You are having a protein shake and banana.. Fruit fills liver glycogen not muscle glycogen.. So i would go with a different carb source here..

Right before workout or during: supplements (BCAA's, LBA's, Preworkout drink, etc.)

Postworkout: Lean Protein/Fast Digesting carbs (whey shake with maltodextrin is good here) Once again.. Your eating fruit PWO.. i would avoid fructose PWO...

Hour later or so: Lean Protein/Carb Carb source could be low gi like beans, barley, yams, etc.

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1. Should I do an entirely different diet for off days? Can you make a suggestion or steer me in the right direction?

2. I will try and use some more whole food throughout the day.

3. Instead of the banana, how would some oatmeal be an hour before workout? I don't have the money for supplements right now so trying to make do with just food and protein shakes. Is there some food I can use in place of LBAs, BCAAs or a preworkout drink?

4. For PWO, with my whey shake, what are some good foods that would have maltodextrin in them?

For your weight of 195 u need to lower your fats to about 80-85 grams a day and bump up carbs to about 320-350 a day. and i would try to drop a shake and add ameal instead. whole foods are alot better. u might want to lower ur protein some also, extra protein turns to adipose tissue(body fat) try eatin around 300-315 otherwise looks pretty good.

crg914 said:

1. Should I do an entirely different diet for off days? Can you make a suggestion or steer me in the right direction?

2. I will try and use some more whole food throughout the day.

3. Instead of the banana, how would some oatmeal be an hour before workout? I don't have the money for supplements right now so trying to make do with just food and protein shakes. Is there some food I can use in place of LBAs, BCAAs or a preworkout drink?

4. For PWO, with my whey shake, what are some good foods that would have maltodextrin in them?

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1. Not completely different.. I would eat more veggies for carbs and add better healthy fats like coconut oil, walnut oil, etc.

2. I agree

3. Oatmeal is good.. I like pasta preworkout.. For some reason it makes me stronger.. My favorite preworkout meal is rinsed ground beef and pasta..

4. Maltodextrin is a supplement derived from corn.. What about powdered gatorade.. It is basically dextrose powder.. This could be a good substitute.. Or you could eat a meal like egg whites and white bread... Sometimes i like to down a quart of milk after a workout...

bigguns078 said:

1. Not completely different.. I would eat more veggies for carbs and add better healthy fats like coconut oil, walnut oil, etc.

2. I agree

3. Oatmeal is good.. I like pasta preworkout.. For some reason it makes me stronger..

4. Maltodextrin is a supplement derived from corn.. What about powdered gatorade.. It is basically dextrose powder.. This could be a good substitute.. Or you could eat a meal like egg whites and white bread... Sometimes i like to down a quart of milk after a workout...

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1. Should the amount of carb/fat/protein be the same just from different sources? If I worked up an 'off day' diet, would you help me with that one as well?

3. Would white pasta be ok, or should I stick to wheat pasta?

4. Powdered gatorade is a great idea. That's pretty cheap, I think they have a can for like $7 at BJ's. With a PWO shake that's 50g of protein, how much gatorade should I include in the shake?

crg914 said:

1. Should the amount of carb/fat/protein be the same just from different sources? If I worked up an 'off day' diet, would you help me with that one as well?

3. Would white pasta be ok, or should I stick to wheat pasta?

4. Powdered gatorade is a great idea. That's pretty cheap, I think they have a can for like $7 at BJ's. With a PWO shake that's 50g of protein, how much gatorade should I include in the shake?

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1. NO ratios would be different and calories lower for off day

3. White pasta is fine.. Its a medium digesting carb

4. You would probably want at the least. 50 grams of carbs.. possibly 100 grams...

this is a diet i proposed and got good feedback on. all you need to do is adjust times and maybe switch a meal or 2 depending on the time you work out.

i wake up 10 am
12 eggwhites cup oats
11:30 shake + oats + creatine
12 train
1 pm PWO shake WPI in Grape juice + creatine
2 pm 10 oz flank steak steamed veggies
4 pm 12 0s chkn or fish 1 cup brown rice
6:30 12 oz lean ground beef & salad
8 :30 Shake + oats

10:30 pm chicken or fish with olive oil and salad or veg

12:30 WPI shake in water with olive oil.

all shakes were changed to 50g WPi 30G caesin.

also at around 5 am im starving to i premix more WPI/caesin and just pound it down in the middle of the night.

Thanks tkav, I've been continuing to talk to bigguns through PM and he has been a tremendous help. He's a solid bro. I appreciate your input as well, the more I can learn the better.