All Cereal / Protein Shake Diet

Diet and Nutrition
1

First off let me say that i am being completely serious here. I am currently on the anabolic and i like the results i am seeing, however i hate the diet. Yes i have a problem. I find that I cannot wait untill carb days on the weekends for one reason- I am addicted to cereal. Of all the foods in the world, cereal is my poison. I could eat a bowl of cereal for every meal, every day of the week for years on end and i would never get tired of it. I have no idea how i gained this addiction but i cannot get enough of it.

With that said, let me map out my goals. I am looking to maintain 10% body fat while bulking. I do not have a high metabolism so i find this may be difficult. The point here is that im trying to find a way to stay looking “cut” while still gaining strength/muscle mass. (and who isnt?) The anobolic diet is just not doing this for me. My body reacts alot better to carbs for energy/muscle gain than it does from fats. The 2 carb up days on the weekend are not doing it for me. I work out 6 days a week and i am basically out of energy by Thursday after a carb up weekend. Though i dont look overly flat or deflated during the week, my strength is definately suffering.

Now just so you know, I am a 20 year old college student, currently 6’2" 195 at 10% body fat. My goal is to reach around 205-210 while maintaining my body fat level at 10% (or less for that matter) by Christmas. I am trying to implement a diet that will allow me to fullfil my hunger for cereal on a daily basis. I would love to here as much critique and feedback as possible here and if my diet looks completely bogus feel free to send me a link to a good one. Here goes.

Here is a layout of what a typical day would look like

9:00- 2 bowls frosted mini wheats w/ skim milk and a protein shake- (12 ounces skim milk, 2 scoops chocolate low carb protien, half a banana, flax seed oil)

1:00- 2 bowls cereal w/ skim milk (1 frosted mini wheats, 1 Honey bunches of oats w/ almonds)

3:00- Protein shake

5:00- 2 bowls of frosted flakes

7:00-(post workout) protien shake w/ peanut butter and 1 bowl of frosted mini wheats

That would amount to around 3000-3500 calories, 350g carbs, 180g protein, 50g fat on a daily basis. These numbers are ballpark figures but they should be pretty close.

Let me know what you think! I may try this soon and if so i would post results, i just want to see some form of educated opinion before i do something absolutely stupid. Feedback and healthy criticism is welcomed. Thanks!

2

OK didnt actually read it all but I got the gest of it.

Cereal is not great anytime except PWO and then questionable by many. Yet you are eating it what 6 times a day. Some of those spike your insulin higher than pure dextrose. Any long term use of that diet is a fast track to being VERY insulin insensitive IMO and down the road towards the epidemic of diabetes.

Just my take.
Phill

3

Unless you are new to lifting, it’s likley not particularly realistic to expect to maintain the exact same bodfyat while putting on 15 lbs of muscle. That’s really not much to gain. You’d be better off gaining 10 lbs of muscle without excessively trying to limit fat gain. Hopefully gain no more than 5 lbs and then lean out some if you wish. And gain some more, and lean out one more time to get where you want to be.

4

You should not be eating P.B. post workout.

You should be loading up on carbs and protein in a specific ratio.
PWO your body increases the amount of GLUT-4 transporters which allow you to put more glycogen back into the muscle cell…fat will slow oown gastic emptying and delay this.

Your cereal choices are horrible to be honest; stick with fiber one or special K.

Ok too tired to write a really long post…PM me later.
Jason

5

Wow. Look at all those micro-nutrients from veges and fruit, and all of those B-complexes from red meat and…oh…wait.

Food is not just protien, fat and carbs. All of the other micro nutrients are just as important, and you would not be getting any of them. Dumb idea.

6

Frosted Flakes?? Frosted Mini wheats?? Eliminate the word “Frosted” from your diet if you are hoping to limit fat gain.

Oatmeal is good. Get regular shredded wheat and add splenda. Wheat or Bran flakes are alright I suppose. Fiber One is pretty damn good actually.

Cereal over all isnt the best idea, but if you NEED to do it, do it wisely!

7

Good lord.

Frosted flakes? You gotta be kidding.

Honestly, you need to decide what is more important to you. Cereal or your body.

I truly believe that cravings (regular cravings) come from you not eating enough of other good things.
I rarely crave sugar or sweets because i eta plenty of other good things.

It’s also very psychological. If every time you are hungry, you eat sugar cereal or some crap…guess what you are going to start automatically thinking about when you are hungry?

Now how bout if every time you are hungry, you eat something responsible? Guess what you’ll start thinking about when you get hungry?

Replace every cereal you have on that list with either steel cut oats or sweat potatoes or some kind of responsible carb.

Postworkout should be Surge. Make it easy and simple on yourself and use that instead of trying to make some weird concotion…and no way should you be having PB post workout.

Protein at EVERY meal.

8

I thought I had it bad with ceral addiction but you’re something else!

I eat tons in the morning, and sometimes, though not often, for my last meal - always with protein powders.

I’m certainly not fat, but I am smooth. Cutting cereal seems logical, but when I do, its like what do I fckn eat??

Everymeal and frosted flakes is over the top!

You know what’s worse. All my years as a kid and as a teen I used milk… and I am lactose intolerant. Didnt know then. Ouch.

I’ve always being a “slow starter”, non fonctional in the morning. Maybe its the cereals…

9

Carbohydrates are ESSENTIAL. Any diet that makes you avoid them is a fad diet in my opinion. I usually eat organic ceral(it had no GMO’S,TRANS FAT,OR OILS) and have some skim milk with it. I never gain weight by doing this.In fact,I always get better workouts and muscle tone when I eat that way. Think healthy.

10

Get a colon and liver cleanse,then try drinking organic milk.Just try it then tell me.

11

You guys are retarded. Did no one read Lowery’s “Temporal Nutrition” or the PWO revisited? It’s not all about P+C ratios, or nutrient combination. It’s about macronutrients. Physique wise, if you eat the same amount of calories, carbohydrates, and protein, it doesn’t really matter where your food choices come from in terms of body comp. Yes, if you did this for 3 years you might have some nutrient deficiencies. If you lived on cereal and protein for 3 weeks, no, you would not die, nor would you turn into a fat beast.

12

[quote]sven33 wrote:
Good lord.

Frosted flakes? You gotta be kidding.

Honestly, you need to decide what is more important to you. Cereal or your body.

I truly believe that cravings (regular cravings) come from you not eating enough of other good things.
I rarely crave sugar or sweets because i eta plenty of other good things.

It’s also very psychological. If every time you are hungry, you eat sugar cereal or some crap…guess what you are going to start automatically thinking about when you are hungry?

Now how bout if every time you are hungry, you eat something responsible? Guess what you’ll start thinking about when you get hungry?

Replace every cereal you have on that list with either steel cut oats or sweat potatoes or some kind of responsible carb.

Postworkout should be Surge. Make it easy and simple on yourself and use that instead of trying to make some weird concotion…and no way should you be having PB post workout.

Protein at EVERY meal. [/quote]

Just think of it this way. I eat nothing but eggs and red meat on the weekdays. Every time i am hungry, i reach in the fridge and cook something. But every time i am hungry i crave carbs. I never once think, “Man am I hungry, cant wait to have my eggs and hamburger!” Yes i agree that it is my fault for creating my cereal addiction. 19 years of eating cereal and drinking tons of soda will do that to you. Now i dont drink soda any more (and trust me, it was like giving up smoking when i had to set the mountain dew down for the last time.) My point here is that compared to what i used to eat, this diet is clean as hell.

So coming from your guys’ comments, i will change some things. No i will not give up frosted flakes because i believe weight training and the nutrition that goes along with it should be fun, which was my idea for making this diet in the first place. So no peanut butter PWO, will replace the dinner meal with 8oz chicken and brown rice, will replace the breakfast meal with oats. This way i still get about 4 bowls of goodness a day, plus some more protein and complex carbs at night.

Now a question regarding oats. Since i hate waking up early just to eat, does quaker instant oatmeal count as oats? Its just so damn easy to microwave it and serve.

13

[quote]LoneLobo wrote:
It’s not all about P+C ratios, or nutrient combination. It’s about macronutrients. Physique wise, if you eat the same amount of calories, carbohydrates, and protein, it doesn’t really matter where your food choices come from in terms of body comp[/quote]

Am I reading this right?

It appears you’re saying any two diets which each have the same kcal total and the same ratio of protein/fat/carbs will give the same results, regardless of food sources or timing.

14

[quote]DRock wrote:
sven33 wrote:
Good lord.

Frosted flakes? You gotta be kidding.

Honestly, you need to decide what is more important to you. Cereal or your body.

I truly believe that cravings (regular cravings) come from you not eating enough of other good things.
I rarely crave sugar or sweets because i eta plenty of other good things.

It’s also very psychological. If every time you are hungry, you eat sugar cereal or some crap…guess what you are going to start automatically thinking about when you are hungry?

Now how bout if every time you are hungry, you eat something responsible? Guess what you’ll start thinking about when you get hungry?

Replace every cereal you have on that list with either steel cut oats or sweat potatoes or some kind of responsible carb.

Postworkout should be Surge. Make it easy and simple on yourself and use that instead of trying to make some weird concotion…and no way should you be having PB post workout.

Protein at EVERY meal.

Just think of it this way. I eat nothing but eggs and red meat on the weekdays. Every time i am hungry, i reach in the fridge and cook something. But every time i am hungry i crave carbs. I never once think, “Man am I hungry, cant wait to have my eggs and hamburger!” Yes i agree that it is my fault for creating my cereal addiction. 19 years of eating cereal and drinking tons of soda will do that to you. Now i dont drink soda any more (and trust me, it was like giving up smoking when i had to set the mountain dew down for the last time.) My point here is that compared to what i used to eat, this diet is clean as hell.

So coming from your guys’ comments, i will change some things. No i will not give up frosted flakes because i believe weight training and the nutrition that goes along with it should be fun, which was my idea for making this diet in the first place. So no peanut butter PWO, will replace the dinner meal with 8oz chicken and brown rice, will replace the breakfast meal with oats. This way i still get about 4 bowls of goodness a day, plus some more protein and complex carbs at night.

Now a question regarding oats. Since i hate waking up early just to eat, does quaker instant oatmeal count as oats? Its just so damn easy to microwave it and serve.

[/quote]

All oatmeal is is oats. (Well, the good stuff, not the sugary crap.)

Instant’s just fine; if you don’t like the taste (I can’t stand the shit, myself), just pour the stuff in a shake with some protein, blend it up, and drink.

15

Drock:
If I were you I would actually have the oats later in the day rather than first thing in the morning. Your body will be able to better handle the GI foods earlier since you’re waking up from an over-night fast and your skeletal muscles are insulin sensitive. Also cereal post workout is great.

16

So in other words eat the cereal early in the day and the shakes/oats/chicken later in the day correct? And as far as PWO is concerned, how much is too much? I mean is a bowl of cereal AND a protein shake w/banana too much? I love chocolate protein with a banana blended in, tastes incredible.

Another thing i wanted to reiterate here is that carbs make me feel good. I work out upper body 6 days a week and lower body 2 (i know that adds up to 8 but i mix the lower body in with the upper) and high amounts of carbs seem to help me recover much faster.

17

[quote]DRock wrote:
So in other words eat the cereal early in the day and the shakes/oats/chicken later in the day correct? And as far as PWO is concerned, how much is too much? I mean is a bowl of cereal AND a protein shake w/banana too much? I love chocolate protein with a banana blended in, tastes incredible.

Another thing i wanted to reiterate here is that carbs make me feel good. I work out upper body 6 days a week and lower body 2 (i know that adds up to 8 but i mix the lower body in with the upper) and high amounts of carbs seem to help me recover much faster. [/quote]

Ditch the banana post workout too.

I’d read this. When you’re done bump it w/any questions you have (yes I wrote it and I Feel it’s an excellent thread).

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=797434

Ok Working out induces a few things in your body; supressed insuline levels, increased glucagon and GH, and increased GLUT 4. What this means is that post workout your muscles are starving for the attention of carbohydrates. You want to get them carbs as soon as possible to start rebuilding them (that’s the simplest way to put it). So you want food that’ll break down in the GI fast (high rate of gastric emptying). The ideal foods for this are high Glycemic index carbs. Protein also increases the rate of carbohydrate uptake. So the reason you get rid of fats is that it lowers the rate of gastric empyting. Banana with it’s fiber also lowers the rate of gastric empyting. And although fructose is a simple sugar it first needs to be converted to glucose before it enters skeletal muscle where it can then be phosphorlypated to Glucose-6-Phosphate and so on. Thus it takes time. Also the fiber slows digestion.

So Post workout aim for about 1-1.5g/kg of body mass in Carbohydrates. More if your workout was really taxing. Also get 20-30g of protein in there (about .4g/kg of body weight). You need to do this WITHIN 45 minutes of your workout…preferably RIGHT after.

As far as the oats; the cereals you mentioned are high glycemic. Thus you want the higher GI foods in the morning when your body can handle them better (meaning the sugar is more likely to go to skeletal muscle than adipocytes) and the lower GI foods later if this is the diet you insist on keeping. Thus oatmeal is a lower GI than cereal.

Your other option: eat oatmeal up until your workout and just consume your ceral in the 4-6 hours post workout when your muscle cells have a high GLUT 4 expression and just love the high GI carbs.

18

Good stuff man, you have been extremely helpful! I do have alot of pop tarts sitting around my house (10 boxes) im sure they are extremely high GI foods, if not too high. This has probably been adressed before, but what about something like a protein shake and strawberry pop tarts PWO? Would that not meet the goal of high GI carbs PWO?

19

Go read the nutrition label on a pop tart and look at how much fat it has. That should answer your question.

20

Read this too while you’re at it…

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460638