Help with Nutrition Plan

Hey guys, i’m a beginner bodybuilder and i need help to see if my nutrition plan is good for me or if i need anything else. I’ve researched in articles and forums around the internet to create this initial plan, but i still know very little, and that is where i need your help to point me to the right direction. Currently, i’m 26 years old, 5.9’ and about 22% of body fat. My goal is to lose body fat and gain muscle. Here’s my nutrition plan:

8:30 - Wake up and eat a bowl of Muesli
11:00 - Eat a sandwich of sliced turkey breast and a piece of fruit (banana or apple)
13:00 - Eat a normal lunch with, like rice with salad and chicken
16:00 - Eat another sandwich of sliced turkey breast and a piece of fruit
18:00 - And another one
20:30 - Weight Training
22:30 - 1.5 scoops (about 40gr of protein) of Gold Nutrition Total Whey with 300 ml of water
23:00 - Dinner rice with natural tuna or chunks of soy
00:30 - Sleep

I eat a lot of sliced turkey breast sandwiches, but i don’t mind, i would put tuna on them, but i read that too much tuna could be bad because of mercury, so i only eat it on a main meal. Can you give me some pointers to improve my nutrition plan? thanks

Dude, that’s a lot of carb and not a lot of fat. Maybe a better start would be 50/30/20 protein/carb/fat, the carbs being complex, except for your post workout meal. A little more research and you can nail down the macros and tune your diet in for your lifting/lifestyle.

A lot would depend on your carb sensitivity… If you can’t get lean on a moderate carb diet, it will be time to go ketogenic and replace carbs with fats. You will still need to have low calories. A lot will depend on what kind of workout you are doing too.

There are great cardio plans which work great for MMA athletes and most people use those for cutting, but since you are an aspiring bodybuilder and have to retain maximum muscle, i would suggest you to look into lactic acid training by Charles Poliquin. Personally that is the best fat loss workout i have tried and i have retained maximum muscle with that.

I’m going mostly 2-3 times to the gym a week and i work throughout with 3 type of plan and on each i train a main and secundary muscle group. Without a doubt nutrition is the hardest part for me, because it requires knowledge to be able to know what your body needs.

I’ve read on some sites 50/30/20 (carbs/protein/fat) and you suggested 50/30/20 (protein/carbs/fat), which one is better for me at this point? more protein or more carbs? i’ve used the True Natural Bodybuilder Calorie Calculator and it says my BMR is 1751 and that my Average Daily Calorie Need is 2446 calories. If i have 6 meals that means 51/31/9 grams (carbs/protein/fat) per meal or 51/31/9 grams (protein/carbs/fat) per meal.

[quote]xlar8or wrote:
I’m going mostly 2-3 times to the gym a week and i work throughout with 3 type of plan and on each i train a main and secundary muscle group. Without a doubt nutrition is the hardest part for me, because it requires knowledge to be able to know what your body needs.

I’ve read on some sites 50/30/20 (carbs/protein/fat) and you suggested 50/30/20 (protein/carbs/fat), which one is better for me at this point? more protein or more carbs? i’ve used the True Natural Bodybuilder Calorie Calculator and it says my BMR is 1751 and that my Average Daily Calorie Need is 2446 calories. If i have 6 meals that means 51/31/9 grams (carbs/protein/fat) per meal or 51/31/9 grams (protein/carbs/fat) per meal.[/quote]
Vamshi is right about carb sensitivity. Carbs are great and make crazy use of insulin, which can be great for building muscle, or getting fat. Since you said you need to lose bodyfat, a 50p/30c/20f I think is a good starting place. The 50/30/20 would be more geared to a lean person looking to gain muscle. Me, I’m carb sensitive, so I’m more of a 60/20/20 p/c/f kinda guy. But you need to start somewhere and keep vigilant track of everything you eat (convert to grams), get a scale and measuring cups/tablespoon measure. It seems crazy, but you have to know where you are to get where you want to go.

How long have you been on your proposed diet? How has it been working for you?

It seems like too many calories, and not enough protein. But you’ll have to break it down, measure the quantities of food, and plug it into an online calorie counter to check.

I’ve been on this plan for about 2 weeks, so i think it’s still too early to see any results. Maybe i could add another 1.5 scoop of whey to have more protein, or try to eat more chicken or turkey, what do you guys think? I could reduce the rice to have less carbs and add more vegetables and more fat from something. How do i know if i’m carb sensitive?

i suppose there’s a lot of trial and error in these things. If i wanna lose body fat i have to lower the calorie intake for about 10-15 % for a healthy drop, but if i wanna bulk i have to add 10-15% for a healthy rise, if i do the math it should cancel each others, but i suppose those extra 10-15 % of calories to bulk i should add come from protein and the 10-15 % to lose body fat i should cut come from carbs and fat? or am i completely wrong?

[quote]xlar8or wrote:
I’ve been on this plan for about 2 weeks, so i think it’s still too early to see any results. Maybe i could add another 1.5 scoop of whey to have more protein, or try to eat more chicken or turkey, what do you guys think? I could reduce the rice to have less carbs and add more vegetables and more fat from something. How do i know if i’m carb sensitive?

i suppose there’s a lot of trial and error in these things. If i wanna lose body fat i have to lower the calorie intake for about 10-15 % for a healthy drop, but if i wanna bulk i have to add 10-15% for a healthy rise, if i do the math it should cancel each others, but i suppose those extra 10-15 % of calories to bulk i should add come from protein and the 10-15 % to lose body fat i should cut come from carbs and fat? or am i completely wrong?[/quote]
There is trial and error involved, but you should be able to see what’s going on in 2 weeks. I would say really in a few days. It sounds to me like you really need to get basic about your food choices and macro’s. Measure and calculate! Write it all down, every single thing, and track the progress, or lack of, then recalculate if needed. Don’t eat processed turkey and sliced deli meats, cook it all your self, then you’ll know what’s what.