I eat 6 meals a day:
(8:00) #1 = protein + fat
(11:00) #2 = protein + carb
Lift weights
(12:30) #3 = protein + carb
(4:00) #4 = protein + carb
(7:00) #5 = protein + carb
(11:00) #6 = protein + fat.
My General meals are around this:
Protein + carb:
508 Calories, 50g protein, 63 gram carbs, 1g fat
Protein + fat:
490 Calories, 29g protein, 16g carbs, 19g fat. (the sources of fat from all natural peanut butter and 3g of multi oil)
Total of an average of 2800 calories a day.
I train for an hour a session, 3-5 times a week.
I have gained some mass with this diet, but being a skinny bastard(160lbs) i didn’t like the idea of now being able to pinch a fat roll on my sides…
Should I 1) continue to eat these 2800ish calorie diet and pray to god that my muscle increase will increase the energy expenditure and the leanbody/fatarse ratio will turn out good.
Or should I 2) lower the carbs or protein or something.
If it’s just a little bit of fat like an extra inch or so on your waistline I wouldn’t worry much about it as a bit of fat gain can be expected. I do see some simple things you can do to tighten up your diet a bit more: #1 You’re eating 15 g of carbs with your p+f meals, get this number down around 5 preferably. #2. Change meal #5 to a p+f meal. #3. If these steps don’t give you the results you desire than change meal #2 to p+f as well.
If I were you, I would up the calories to 3500 using mostly additional protein and good fats (flax + peanuts), maybe a bit of very slow carbs - veggies and oats. Forget getting lean and gaining muscle simultaneously. When you get to 190 lbs, then start worrying about cutting up. You should know by now that fat-worrying is the sole cause of people failing in this bodybuilding endeavour. I am at the other end of the spectrum, I gain weight very easily but after 4,5 months of dieting I decided to go with bulking because that is the only way. Right now I am eating 4500 kCal, I am probably gaining fat along with muscle - but so what?
If I were you I would increase the number of calories per meal to 600-900(hear me out), and focus on intense mass building exercises. This might be more the problem than your diet, since high reps and low weight won’t produce astronomical mass/strength gains. 4-5 sets of 4-6 rep exercises have given me the most results. Make sure to keep that protein intake up, and cut the fat out of your last meal. There is no sense in consuming 19g of fat at 1100 pm-it will just add to your sides. Also your main focus in caloric intake should be within an hour of working out (1000+ cal), which will put you at about 4000-4500 calories per day. Hey everyone loves to eat. Don’t junk out though, and if you start gaining more in the waist than your chest/back/arms/legs, just do a 2 week cut down and drop to 1800 cal/day, w/ minimal carbs. This can actually help for the next time you go on an eating rampage, because it will stimulate the release of hormones= growth. The best advise I can give you if you choose to ignore the rest, is don’t give up. Give it some time, and with dedication you’ll see the results. I was 156lbs. 18 months ago, and now I weigh 185lbs. Focus.
You will gain fat anyway when eating more calories than you expend. Don’t worry about it. Just go on a cutting phase for about 12 weeks and shed that excess fat with a high protein and low carb diet.
How long have you been working out?
Have you put fat on?
I don’t believe that 2800 Calories is excessive for someone trying to gain mass.
I have a hard time saying much more to ya as I don’t know much about you.
I will say that bodybuilders seek to increase lean muscle mass by massing up, then maintaining muscle as they cut down. You can always lose the weight you gain.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I have a couple more questions for you all. Exactly how many of the grams of good fats should I get in a day?
What is a good split? 40c/40p/20?
Anyone have some good P+F recipees for around 500 calories?
I can get the carbs in easy, but when it comes down to P+F, I am pretty much stuck with all natural peanut butter and fishoil capsules.
When I am dieting (I am 180 to 200 lbs…), I go for at least 50 g of fats per day. Right now, bulking, 80 to 90, 40-50 of which come from various nuts and flax. There is no “the best” p/f/c ratio, your mileage may vary, try some of them and see which one works the best for you. When cutting, I go with 50/25/25, right now I am (looking at my food log), 3900 kCal, 35/20/45, add or subtract a percentage or two. Btw. I did a mistake above, I am bulking at 3900, not 4500. Eat all kinds of nuts and peanuts with tuna canned in water or chicken breasts, I really can’t see the problem in getting adequate amount of fats… 100 g of peanuts has more than 60 g fats…
T-Boy!: When doing massive eating, my P+F meals consist of 8-10oz. lean ground beef, a tbsp. of oil (flax or olive), and some no-carb veggies (spinach, bell pepper, etc.)