Beginners Bulking Diet

Diet and Nutrition
1

I need some advice since when it comes to diets, since I’m clueless. I’ve looked around a bit, and I haven’t liked the look of any the diets I’ve seen - they’re either for cutting, or contain lots of weird shit I don’t like - so I’d like to adjust what I currently eat to fit my needs.

I think I may be consuming too many calories (I’m bulking so I can’t really do too many, but I think I may end up putting on a lot of excess fat if I continue). Anyway, some quick stats:

Weight: 74.2kg
Body Fat: 16%
Goals: Look good naked. I don’t care (much) about visible abs, but don’t want to be fat. I want to get much bigger and strong. I’m aiming to get to around 200+ lbs, I’ll likely just want to keep getting bigger and bigger, but for now I’m aiming for 200lbs, not sure what body fat % I’d want at that, it’s hard to tell, but <12%.

Trying to do the cleanest bulk I can since I don’t want to turn into a right fatty. Anyway, I recorded what I ate for a day, so hopefully someone here can help me refine it. I’m drinking milk with all meals and throughout the day, I’m going to do that in it’s own separate section at the end, rather than put “glass of milk” everywhere.

Breakfast (8am):

Beans on toast, 4 toast, 1 tin of beans

  • 738 calories
  • 38g protein
  • 135g carbs
  • 4.8g fat

Nothing else until about 1:30pm today! I know, but it’s hard with work. If it’s a gym day I’ll take a protein bar or something to have at about 11:45am - 45 minutes before I go to the gym.

Lunch (1:30pm):

1 egg mayo sandwich (whole grain bread)
1 chicken avocado (whole grain bread, usually have 2-3 of these for lunch on a typical work day)

About 4:30pm:
1 chargrilled chicken pasta pot (from the supermarket, forgot to record the info, doh)

7pm

2 scoops whey (50g)

  • 196 calories
  • 38g protein
  • 3.6g carbs
  • 3.4g fat

// I’ll total these at the end
50g almonds
50g brazil nuts

Dinner (8:30pm):

3 beef steaks and wholemeal pasta (150g - usually have so much more)

  • 970 calories
  • 82.4g protein
  • 93.8g carbs
  • 24.8g fat

Sometime after

5 whole eggs
50g almonds
50g brazil nuts

2 slices toast

  • 218 calories
  • 9g protein
  • 40.8g carbs
  • 2.0g fat

The stuff I left for the end:

4 litres of semi-skimmed milk (that’s 2%):

  • 2000 calories
  • 144g protein
  • 192g carbs
  • 72g fat

100g almonds:

  • 630 calories
  • 25.4g protein
  • 6.5g carbs
  • 55.8g fat

100g brazil nuts:

  • 695 calories
  • 16.3g protein
  • 2.9g carbs
  • 68.2g fat

Okay, so the totals:

Calories: 5,447
Protein: 353.1g
Carbs: 474.6g
Fat: 231g

That’s not including:

egg mayo sandwich
chicken avocado sandwich
5 whole eggs
1 chargrilled chicken pasta pot thing

Since I don’t know the calorie contents and such for that stuff. I know this is a long post, but I would really appreciate any advice and help people can give. Seems to me like I’m taking in too many carbs and calories if I want to stay as lean as possible - although I used to eat way more than this; infact I thought I ate hardly anything today, I’m surprised the figures are so high!

2

you’re going way overkill on the calories given your stats, assuming moderate to even heavy exercising

3

What kind of amount would you recommend?

4

[quote]w00tage wrote:
What kind of amount would you recommend?[/quote]

3500 or 4000 is probably enough to gain some steady weight at 75kg.

I have gone from 75kg to 80kg so far on 3700ish calories.

5

to get my 3500-4000 my diet looks like this for the most part:

eggs (5-8), bowl of oatmeal OR 2 pieces of toast, 1 tbsp of almond butter on each piece.

protein shake: 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 yogurt added in & piece of fruit

lean meat or fish/complex carbs/1 cup veggies

protein shake: 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 yogurt added in & piece of fruit

lean meat or fish/complex carbs/ 1 cup veggies

protein shake: 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 yogurt added in & piece of fruit

A very basic layout, with basic meals. To increase calories I do the following:

  • Increase amount of eggs and/or meat at each meal.
  • Add in more ‘goodies’ to my protein shakes, cottage cheese, honey etc.)
  • Increase amount of complex carbs after training.
  • Snack on a bag of macadamia nuts throughout the day.

If I had more money to spare, i’d probably add in another meal that consisted of lean meat & veggies.

6

[quote]w00tage wrote:
What kind of amount would you recommend?[/quote]

I am 76kg 13%bf but i do strength training.
I make very steady muscle gains with little body fat gains by eating;

4 eggs scrambled 2pieces of toast at 7am
a protein shake (25gramms protein 48carbs) 9.50am
2 bananas, handfull of grapes and a kiwi at 11am
tuna sandwiches 4bread (120 grams of tuna)1pm
protein shake (45gramms protein 97carbs)3.50pm
dextrose in water 5pm
train 5.30
protein shake after with dextrose (45protein gramm)
2 chicken breasts vegetables and tin of new potatoes.

This is my full bulking cycle i start by adding a piece of food a week until i reach this point if you get what i mean;and to maintain strength during a cut,i make sure i allways do the same amount of reps whether i do 4 or 10 sets per exercise.I dont eat the same every day this is just an average day i dont eat the same food every day.

7

I’ve spent a lot of time reading through the Anabolic Diet today, but I’m really unsure of it. I don’t know how I’d manage to stick to 30g of carbs a day, and even if I could, I’m not a fan of the idea of taking loads of pills to try and get the nutrients I’ve been missing throughout the day.

Can I do something similar, i.e. a high protein/low carbs/high fat diet 7 days a week, but not take it so extreme. Or will having a decent amount of carbs each day stop my body becoming a “fat burning machine” which makes the Anabolic diet so effective? (my thoughts are that the carbs need to be incredibly low to force your body into burning the fat instead, which wouldn’t happen if you’re getting a decent amount, so I would just end up getting fatter).

If a low-carb, high protein + fat diet would still work well, what kind of ratios should I aim for? Also, with the anabolic diet articles I read it wasn’t exactly clear if you’re meant to still eat anything pre-workout and post-workout (usually around noon for me). At the moment I’m having a protein shake after working out, and a couple of sandwiches, but nothing pre-workout, except a couple of days where I had a protein bar 45 minutes before.

8

A good idea to keep your weight in check is to increase your calories by 500 and if you aren’t gaining reasonably increase by 250 and keep increasing by 250 until you see good progress… if you start gaining to much fat try taking out 250 cals.

9

Ok guys, I decided to keep it simple. I’m just going to do what Spencerulz outlines. Monitor weight and adjust accordingly - just ordered some scales, should be here by Tuesday. I’m thinking I need to cut down the carbs though. What’s the best time to incorporate carbs into my day? i.e. No carbs in the evening/morning/mid-day… at all… eat throughout?

I decided I’m going to do about 30 minutes of cardio twice a week on off-days to try and cut down some fat, and just experiment with food, i.e. eating more etc if my lifting starts to suffer.

Today my overall stats are:

Calories: 3395
Protein: 282.5g
Carbs: 338.5g
Fat: 99.2g

I can post a breakdown if that would be helpful. I think that’s probably the amount I’m going to aim for in terms of calories though, maybe a little less, maybe more; I’ll monitor progress on the scales. I’m not sure how tall you other guys who were at 75kg are, but I’m only 5’5", so I probably don’t need as many as you - assuming you’re taller - but your replies were helpful.

I’m not sure what kind of ratios I should be aiming for (protein/carbs/fat). How is bread as a source of carbs?

Right now, my thoughts are to have no evening carbs on non-training days, and on training days to only get them from vegetables (do potatoes count or does it have to be stuff like broccoli - greens?), but in the morning for breakfast I’ll be having bread, as well as at lunch.

10

[quote]w00tage wrote:
Ok guys, I decided to keep it simple. I’m just going to do what Spencerulz outlines. Monitor weight and adjust accordingly - just ordered some scales, should be here by Tuesday. I’m thinking I need to cut down the carbs though. What’s the best time to incorporate carbs into my day? i.e. No carbs in the evening/morning/mid-day… at all… eat throughout?

I’m not sure what kind of ratios I should be aiming for (protein/carbs/fat). How is bread as a source of carbs?

Right now, my thoughts are to have no evening carbs on non-training days, and on training days to only get them from vegetables (do potatoes count or does it have to be stuff like broccoli - greens?), but in the morning for breakfast I’ll be having bread, as well as at lunch.[/quote]

Sorry to be vague, but again, I think this is something you have to monitor yourself because everyone is different. Personally, I generally have to limit carbs to before and right after my workout, and most of my carbs come from black beans, good oatmeal, brown rice. I will have veggies throughout the day though, so no limits on those. I still have oatmeal for breakfast on my off days, but I limit carbs otherwise - at some point, carbs started to really increase the amount of fat I was putting on.

BUT they can be so important to your energy levels/quality of workouts/recovery, etc., so don’t demonize them. Just carefully experiment with yourself and you’ll eventually have the results you want. The same could be said with overall calories as well, in my opinion.

11

Im eating 4.5k at 90 kilos and i´m still gaining.

So cut it down to 3.600 - 3.800 . If it is too little add a few hundred. At 5.4k cals youll gain a lot of fat aswell.

12

[quote]w00tage wrote:
Ok guys, I decided to keep it simple. I’m just going to do what Spencerulz outlines. Monitor weight and adjust accordingly - just ordered some scales, should be here by Tuesday. I’m thinking I need to cut down the carbs though. What’s the best time to incorporate carbs into my day? i.e. No carbs in the evening/morning/mid-day… at all… eat throughout?

I decided I’m going to do about 30 minutes of cardio twice a week on off-days to try and cut down some fat, and just experiment with food, i.e. eating more etc if my lifting starts to suffer.

Today my overall stats are:

Calories: 3395
Protein: 282.5g
Carbs: 338.5g
Fat: 99.2g

I can post a breakdown if that would be helpful. I think that’s probably the amount I’m going to aim for in terms of calories though, maybe a little less, maybe more; I’ll monitor progress on the scales. I’m not sure how tall you other guys who were at 75kg are, but I’m only 5’5", so I probably don’t need as many as you - assuming you’re taller - but your replies were helpful.

I’m not sure what kind of ratios I should be aiming for (protein/carbs/fat). How is bread as a source of carbs?

Right now, my thoughts are to have no evening carbs on non-training days, and on training days to only get them from vegetables (do potatoes count or does it have to be stuff like broccoli - greens?), but in the morning for breakfast I’ll be having bread, as well as at lunch.[/quote]

Why are you making this so complicated? With set calories/protein/carb/fat ratios?

It’s pointless bullshit and will not help you at all.

You really don’t need to monitor that shit unless you are going to diet down for a contest

Instead of calculating that crap, you need to structure 6 healthy meals you can easily make & stick to.

I’m 5’8" and 80kg, so no, i’m not that much taller.

And don’t count carbs from vegetables. (potato’s are not included)

13

[quote]w00tage wrote:
Ok guys, I decided to keep it simple. I’m just going to do what Spencerulz outlines. Monitor weight and adjust accordingly - just ordered some scales, should be here by Tuesday. I’m thinking I need to cut down the carbs though. What’s the best time to incorporate carbs into my day? i.e. No carbs in the evening/morning/mid-day… at all… eat throughout?

I decided I’m going to do about 30 minutes of cardio twice a week on off-days to try and cut down some fat, and just experiment with food, i.e. eating more etc if my lifting starts to suffer.

Today my overall stats are:

Calories: 3395
Protein: 282.5g
Carbs: 338.5g
Fat: 99.2g

I can post a breakdown if that would be helpful. I think that’s probably the amount I’m going to aim for in terms of calories though, maybe a little less, maybe more; I’ll monitor progress on the scales. I’m not sure how tall you other guys who were at 75kg are, but I’m only 5’5", so I probably don’t need as many as you - assuming you’re taller - but your replies were helpful.

I’m not sure what kind of ratios I should be aiming for (protein/carbs/fat). How is bread as a source of carbs?

Right now, my thoughts are to have no evening carbs on non-training days, and on training days to only get them from vegetables (do potatoes count or does it have to be stuff like broccoli - greens?), but in the morning for breakfast I’ll be having bread, as well as at lunch.[/quote]

Here is a good outline for meals
Breakfast: P+C
Snack: P+F
Lunch: P+F
Pre workout: P+F
Post workout: P+C
Dinner P+F
Snack: P+F

the general rule is have carbs in breakfast and after your workout. vegetables and a LIMITED amount of fruit is okay anytime.