Am I On the Right Track, Diet Wise??

Diet and Nutrition
1

This is what I eat every workout day

Breakfast: 2 bananas, 25g whey protein, 2 tbl spoons of peanut butter

Pre Workout Meal: 4 cups of Brown Rice, 4 cups of skim milk, (maybe a salad or vegetable soup)

During workout: 2 cups worth of Kool-aid (Gatorade when I can afford it)

10 mins PWO: 50g of whey protein

45-60 mins PWO: 50g of whey protein, 1 cup of oats, 2 cups of skim milk

Meal: 10 scrambled eggs

Before bed meal: 2 cups of cottage cheese if I got some money, but most time just some more peanut butter or some whey with olive oil if money is tight

Everything comes out to about 4000 calories, with about 400g carbs, 380-400g of protein, and 120-130g of fat. I’m 6’3", 220, 19 yrs old, and don’t know body fat, probably around mid-teens, as I have clearly visible abs, but some bad love handle/ lower back fat

I’m a college student, so right now I don’t have alot of money to work with, but if anyone has some suggestions, or tweaks to my current diet, it would be apperciated. I use to have the 45-60 in PWO shake Pre- workout, but changed it to enable me to get to the gym earlier. I didn;t think it would make a big difference but I didnt know if this was a good approach.

2

Ummm is it working so far?
What are you trying to achieve?

The same ole gain some mass and lose a lil bit fat? Do you have energy? How’s your focus and mood?

And 4 cups of rice? How do ya handle that much in one setting? Do you have a hole in your stomach?

3

[quote]dnlcdstn wrote:
Ummm is it working so far?
What are you trying to achieve?

The same ole gain some mass and lose a lil bit fat? Do you have energy? How’s your focus and mood?

And 4 cups of rice? How do ya handle that much in one setting? Do you have a hole in your stomach?[/quote]

Well I’ve been gaining pretty decently, though results stalled, I think mostly due to changing my training (i switched to a lower volume routine for the last month, and just seems not to work for me, so I’m starting Big Beyond Belief this week). However, I did use this diet the 1st 2-3 months of college with a different routine, and got from 210 to 220 with little if any fat gain. The reason for that big meal of 4 cups of rice and 4 cups of milk is I am on a ‘meal plan’ system at my university. They have a cafeteria with all you can eat food, but most of it is absolute shit. But they do have brown rice EVERDAY, so I go in there, take an hour or hour and a half, and eat while I do some homework. I use to eat a sweet potato as opposed to some of the rice, but for whatever reason my body can’t handle sweet potatoes very well. My energy is decent, though I do get worn out, less from training, more from school work and gloomy weather lol. My goal is aesthetics. I’m just trying to bulk up while eating ‘healthy food’, and hopefully compete in the next few years, though it’ll be awhile before I fill out this lanky frame of mine.

4

I didn’t see 400 grams of protein there. I also didn’t see 4,000 cals, maybe 3,000. Make sure you read labels carefully.

5

Man, I wish I was serious about training when I was still in College and had a meal plan -lol.

Can you pack food in a backpack and take it with you? If you can, assuming your college is similar to the one I went to, try to grab and take out:

-Chicken Breasts or Sliced Turkey on whole wheat (even if you scrap the bread, grab a few sandwiches from the ‘deli counter’)
-Whole Wheat Bagels with PB
-Hard Boiled Eggs
-Fruit with thick skins (won’t spoil too quickly)

S

6

An over-reliance on powdered proteins, which, although quickly and efficiently metabolized, don’t “stick.” Eat whole foods instead.

I’d rework most meals, but without knowing the answers to dnlcdstn’s questions above, it’s difficult to provide adequate feedback. But to start, I’d consider substituting one banana for a cup of oats (measured dry, by the way) for your first meal. Oats will fill you up more and provide a steadier insulin response over the course of the following few hours. I’d also substitute the whey for some egg whites plus one or two whole eggs. Drop the peanut butter in your first meal.

Your pre-workout meal, although on the right track with carb loading here, is far too large. Four cups of brown rice equates to approximately 180 grams of carbs. And on top of that, you’re downing another four cups of skim milk? That’s probably another 40-50 grams of sugars! Plus there’s no protein aside from what little protein from the milk. I’d say keep the salad, split the rice portion 40/60 pre/post workout, add a chicken breast or two and cut down on the milk consumption. You’ll be doing yourself a favor aesthetically.

So if you had a cup and a half of brown rice pre-workout, then two and a half cups post-workout, plus 1-2 breasts of chicken in both meals, with a salad, you’d be laughing.

Your ‘during’ and ‘10 minutes post-workout’ meals are fine. Your ‘45-60 minutes post-workout’ meal can be one I highlighted above. Your scrambled egg meal is on the right track with a protein/fat combo. Well done on being able to down ten whole eggs but with a fat content of 50-60 grams, it’s probably a little on the high end. Although your daily fat totals are rather low (especially if you were to eliminate the peanut butter from your first meal), I’d encourage you to take a “per meal” approach instead - as it isn’t necessarily how much of one marco your body can metabolize in a day, but during one meal instead, that’s important.

Your ‘before bed’ meal looks good. Personally, I don’t favor dairy (I don’t like how it makes me look), but to each your own. I’d even suggest combining the cottage cheese with another couple scoops of the peanut butter or a tablespoon or two of olive oil, as opposed to the either/or approach mentioned.

Hope this helps.

7

Dnlcstn- I got my macro breakdown and the number of calories by typing my foods in to a few websites like Fitday.com. It could be inaccurate, however. In the next few days I look at labels and try to add my daily intake myself.

Stu- Yea, I came into college pretty dedicated with this. I’ve managed to go from a scrawny 140 to a ‘fit’ 220, and hope to keep progressing. But back to my cafeteria, they sometimes have some meat in there like barbeque chicken, but it’s usually hit and miss. I do take cottage cheese (in tuppaware) and fruits out in my backpack, but I’ll make sure to try and stock up on the (rare) occasions they have something good like chicken, turkey, or pork

skwansy- I appreciate all the advice, and will try to organize my eating in accordance to your advice. However, due to lack of money, I sadly have to use ALOT more dairy and whey then I’d like, because currently its the most ‘bank’ for my buck. The nutritional timing with my big rice meal come from the fact I can only eat in the cafteria once a day, so I try to eat what I can while I’m in there. During this summer I had a much more ‘balanced’ diet, due to more time and having a summer job, but sadly college doesn’t allow for some of the conviences I’d prefer to have during my bulk.

8

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Dnlcstn- I got my macro breakdown and the number of calories by typing my foods in to a few websites like Fitday.com. It could be inaccurate, however. In the next few days I look at labels and try to add my daily intake myself.[/quote]

Those calorie-tracking web sites are useful resources but they’re only as useful as you use them properly. Make note of the difference between dry weight (or raw) and cooked weight. There’s a colossal difference between one cup of cooked and uncooked rice, and the same applies to, say, cooked vs uncooked chicken. Even different cooking methods will alter the end weight of your foods, which is why these calorie-tracking sites may be problematic for some users.

What’s a “‘fit’” 220? And how does it compare to a fit 200?

9

[quote]skwasny wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Dnlcstn- I got my macro breakdown and the number of calories by typing my foods in to a few websites like Fitday.com. It could be inaccurate, however. In the next few days I look at labels and try to add my daily intake myself.[/quote]

Those calorie-tracking web sites are useful resources but they’re only as useful as you use them properly. Make note of the difference between dry weight (or raw) and cooked weight. There’s a colossal difference between one cup of cooked and uncooked rice, and the same applies to, say, cooked vs uncooked chicken. Even different cooking methods will alter the end weight of your foods, which is why these calorie-tracking sites may be problematic for some users.

What’s a “‘fit’” 220? And how does it compare to a fit 200? [/quote]

Ok I will try and re-calculate my diet and see if it adds up. But a ‘fit’ 220 is the term I use for how I look. I don’t look ‘big’ yet, like no one would mistake me for a bodybuilder, but I do get asked if I lift weights or am on the school football team sometimes…

10

If nobody’s mistaking you for a bodybuilder, I’d strongly consider making the necessary adjustments. “Big” isn’t big enough for some of us and I sense you’re one of us, so why the wait?

11

[quote]skwasny wrote:
If nobody’s mistaking you for a bodybuilder, I’d strongly consider making the necessary adjustments. “Big” isn’t big enough for some of us and I sense you’re one of us, so why the wait?[/quote]

What do you neccesarily mean by wait?? My goal is to be 250 before my 2nd year of college, and today I just started the program Big Beyond Belief, as I’ve heard ppl on here have gotten great results with it. I’m also trying to get my diet in check, or at least ‘in check’ as possible with my schedule and finacial restraints. I only mentioned the ‘fit’ 220 to let ya’ll know what progress I’ve made, but in no way am I as big as I wanna be.