Judge My Grocery List

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

Alright, I’ve posted elsewhere but for anyone who didn’t see my other post: I’m 6’1", 168pounds. Been weight training (on a plan) for the past 2-years, with the most seriousness being in the past year.

After a lot of trial and error and data overload, I’ve decided to go back to heavy weight (80-85% of 1-rep max) for 4 to 6 reps with 5 reps being the aim for all sets before upping the weight. (I’ll change things up after about 6 weeks, but it will still be heavy weight…possibly a power cycle with descending reps such as 2X4/3/2??)

Using mostly multi-joint lifts (Squat, Bench, Hang-clean-press, stiff-deadlift, weighted pull-up, weighted chin-up, weighted dips) with very little direct arm work (2-sets of 6-8 each for one exercise each for bi’s and tri’s).

With that said I am also re-evaluating my diet (caloric intake and quality of food), so I want you to scrutinize my grocery list below (I’ll get into the day to day planning later on another post):

-Ground beef (90%+ lean)
-Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts
-Tuna in sunflower oil
-Bacon (gotta have it!)
-Rice and pasta
-oatmeal (real stuff…not the packets)
-sweet & regular potatos
-cottage cheese
-plain yogurt
-Bagels (and cream cheese)
-Whole Eggs
-lactose free milk (I can’t do lactose)
-coconut milk (calorie dense and cheap)
-prunes, apples, pears, peaches
-steamed veggy pouches
-Natural Peanut Butter
-whole grain bread
-box of granola

I think that about covers what I’m planning to stick to on my next grocery trip. Anything you would drop or add?? I would love to add some fresh spinach but I’m damn near scared to death of that stuff anymore with all the past news coverage. Also, I drink half a gallon of lactose-free milk per day for extra calories. Is this good or bad and if bad, can you think of anything better to substitute as a quick and easy calorie source.

It has just become second nature for me to drink it and it’s not a task, seems like a good and easy way to add an extra 900 calories but I could be wrong. There seem to be mixed opinions about milk. I think it has helped me thus far though. I also have two tubs of protein, one that is 100% Whey (Isolate I think) for immediate use after training, and the other tub is an extended release blend (casein, etc…) for mornings and prior to bedtime.

We’ll let me know of any improvements I can make or if this sounds like a solid staarting point. Thanks.

2

So all you have for veggies are the steamed veggie pouches? What’s in them? Did you buy them mostly just for convenience?

You can also get pre-washed bags of mixed greens and spinach, maybe not the spinach, but it’s really easy to just put some greens and chicken in a container and eat it.

3

[quote]bigsexypanda wrote:
So all you have for veggies are the steamed veggie pouches? What’s in them? Did you buy them mostly just for convenience?

[/quote]

I was wondering the same thing.

Consider more fresh veggies.

Flaked Light Tuna in water - I’m not knocking the sunflower oil stuff.

Buy the spinach - there’s been a lot of bad press about the price of gas but that shouldn’t stop you from driving.

More diverse types of common protein - fish and beef - and maybe some other sources of animal protein - bison is kind of tasty.

4

Well, yeah I just got the veggy pouches for convenience. they are basically just individual veggy servings (some mixed some not) that are frozen and packaged in bags that you nuke/steam them in. And Bison sounds great but I don’t have access to much variety at the grocery stores around here (very under-developed/poor area in Kentucky, actually the county I currently live in was rated one of the top 6 poorest counties in the U.S., I have one of the best paying jobs here as a Federal Prison guard, approx 50K per year so that should say a lot). Fish I could manage though, I’ve just never been very good at cooking it.

Any ideas for some easy fool-proof fish recipes (can’t stand it when it comes out dry). I suppose I could work in some more “fresh” veggies like baby-carrots, avocadoes and tomatoes. I just don’t trust the leafy stuff much due to ecoli poisoning. Thanks, keep the comments comming.

5

-Ground beef (90%+ lean)
-Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts
-Tuna in sunflower oil
-Bacon (gotta have it!)
-Rice and pasta
-oatmeal (real stuff…not the packets)
-sweet & regular potatos
-cottage cheese
-plain yogurt
-Bagels (and cream cheese)
-Whole Eggs
-lactose free milk (I can’t do lactose)
-coconut milk (calorie dense and cheap)
-prunes, apples, pears, peaches
-steamed veggy pouches
-Natural Peanut Butter
-whole grain bread
-box of granola

Looking good, but ideally if your striving for the leanest possible condition, drop the bagels, whole grain bread,potatoes, and granola STAT and if your gonna eat oatmeal, find yourself a source of steel-cut oatmeal which is the unprocessed form which contains all of the natural goodness. Ideally, if you can swing it, get pasture-fed beef/lamb/bison etc… and raw milk and cream (rich in CLA for one)

6

The only thing I would say is go for some more fresh veggies if you can. I’ve never been a big fan of nuked veggies, gets old real quick. Maybe you could get some omega-3 eggs? They’re not much more then normal eggs in terms of price.

7

Get fresh veggies and buy a steamer. Steam them up on the stove top.

8

I want bacon and bagels with cream cheese :cry:

lol

veggies steam pretty well if you stick em in like a glad ware container and poke a hole in the top, put a little water in it. I usually cook the veggies depending on the amount for around 6 minutes

9

[quote]gzen1 wrote:
Any ideas for some easy fool-proof fish recipes (can’t stand it when it comes out dry). I suppose I could work in some more “fresh” veggies like baby-carrots, avocadoes and tomatoes. I just don’t trust the leafy stuff much due to ecoli poisoning. Thanks, keep the comments comming.[/quote]

Simple. Cut out a large piece of tinfoil. Put your fish in the tinfoil. Add sliced veggies and a drizzle of olive oil. Wrap the foil around the fish so that all the seams are closed but you have a little tent over the fish. Place foil wrapped fish in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Fish should be cooked and moist. Veggies are also cooked. It is a very easy cooking recipe.

If you don’t trust the leafy stuff, wash it yourself. Put a quarter teaspoon of bleach into a gallon of water and wash your leafy veggies with that. Then rinse and dry. No need to worry about ecoli. You are just making yourself afraid of food.

10

Alright, I’ll give the fish recipe a shot, thanks. I knew someone would bust on me about the bacon and cream cheese bagels…but check it out…I’m 6’1" and 168 pounds…ectomorph. I’m in good shape as I’ve been an athlete for as far back as I can remember (knee-high playing tee-ball). In high school I did track, baseball, cross-country, tennis, golf as well as playing b-ball on the side. I also went to a military academy for one year and was in the Navy. So with my metabolism and active lifestyle, I’m not going to sweat some bacon or bagels w/ cream cheese. I need calories.

I very rarely eat sweets, and I drink absolutely NO Soda. Just water, Juice, Milk, and Beer on occasion. So dammit, the bagels might go eventually but the Bacon stays…period! If I ever start getting fat (never been there) then having been a state cross-country runner, I’m sure I can correct that problem. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. My goal right now is mass/bulk, predominately muscle but a little extra fat will not hurt me.

11

[quote]gzen1 wrote:

Any ideas for some easy fool-proof fish recipes (can’t stand it when it comes out dry). [/quote]

Easy, Packet cooking !!

Take aluminum foil, wrap fresh veggies of all kinds, fish, and any / all spices you like.

Heat oven to 350F

close al foil pouch such that all sides are at the top like a Hershey’s kiss… pour in water and or beef / chicken broth…

Bake for 10 to 20 minutes… Your food will not burn so long as it is under liquid and will obviously be VERY moist…

Altenn Brown from the food networks “good eats” is the man when it comes to good recipes…

12

[quote]gzen1 wrote:
I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. My goal right now is mass/bulk, predominately muscle but a little extra fat will not hurt me.[/quote]

come on, man! that is not the attitude! if you want to do this, do it right! no more excuses!

yeah, you need a ton of calories and whatnot… you are bulking. but 500 cals from fish is better than 500 cals from bagels. (i made those numbers up arbitrarily, but the point holds that whatever calories/nutrients you can grab from the bad stuff you are better off grabbing cleanly from good, natural, healthy foods that you body needs).

as for your shopping list, i would definitely recommend talapia for your fish. it is cheap and easy to cook (try baking in olive oil with salt and pepper… it tastes great) but whatever flavors you add to it, no matter how gourmet/complicated you get, will taste good. it is also VERY low in mercury for a fish.

i, too, am lactose intolerant (but rather severely so). can you tolerate cottage cheese? plain yogurt? if so, i’m jealous!

if you are like me, you like snacking. so, i like to buy a packet of those mini-carrots, a box of raisins, a BIG tub of nuts, and other healthy things i can keep snacking on (when i’m bulking).

enjoy!
dan

13

Drop all grains; way more veggies.

14

Agree with dropping grains and starches and adding more vegies.

If you have to have grains buy what you will eat that day so its not sitting around.

Make the rice brown rice and the ground beef get a roast like a top round roast and ask the store to run it through the grinder once.

I worked as a meat packer and I know that the store ground beef is crap.

what they have left over after the roasts and steaks are cut they grind up and call it burger.
better off grinding roasts IMO. they just come out better.

I use a forman grill for all meats and a rice cooker for rice and my vegies, rice is a rare thing for me anymore though

Any meat cooked takes less than 5 mins on that bad boy though.

15

Whoaaaaaaa! Drop grains and starches??? What about Carbs? I’m trying to get high carb foods (rice, pasta, potatoes, oatmeal, granola, etc…) so my high metabolism will burn through the carbs before the protein, therefore leaving the protein for muscle building. Am I wrong here?

Yeah, I can still eat cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, etc…just something about milk, goes through me like shit through a goose and makes my stomach gargle and feel weird. Wasn’t always that way either. Milk only seems to have started giving me problems within the past 3 or so years (can’t explain that one).

16

[quote]gzen1 wrote:
Yeah, I can still eat cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, etc…just something about milk, goes through me like shit through a goose and makes my stomach gargle and feel weird. Wasn’t always that way either. Milk only seems to have started giving me problems within the past 3 or so years (can’t explain that one).[/quote]

Weird. Yeah, my lactose intolerance only began in high school, and then it got pretty severe pretty quickly. I recently started taking an over-the-counter pill called Lactose Intolerance Therapy which I have found to be useful (this is the second or third thread that I’ve written about this in…

I’m beginning to feel like an advertisement! but, there isn’t a ton of information out there on sites like this for folks who are lactose intolerant, so I like sharing my tips). That would probably help with what you are feeling. It has lactase enzymes in it, but it also has other stuff which seems to help (because for me, simply taking the enzyme in other pills never actually solved the problem).

dan

17

Brocolli!!!

18

[quote]gzen1 wrote:
Whoaaaaaaa! Drop grains and starches??? What about Carbs? I’m trying to get high carb foods (rice, pasta, potatoes, oatmeal, granola, etc…) so my high metabolism will burn through the carbs before the protein, therefore leaving the protein for muscle building. Am I wrong here?

Yeah, I can still eat cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, etc…just something about milk, goes through me like shit through a goose and makes my stomach gargle and feel weird. Wasn’t always that way either. Milk only seems to have started giving me problems within the past 3 or so years (can’t explain that one).[/quote]

oatmeal=fine go for steel cut oats
bagles =not so fine I would suggest getting what you will eat that day or in a few days but dont over do it
rice=brown rice is good,white rice is kind of empty carbs
granola=mainly sugar in them now a days do you want the simple carbs.

potatoes=sweet ones,yams that kind of ones are great russets are not so much.

carbs/starch is turned into glucose which in turn replenish glycogen stores in your muscles.
you are depleting they glycogen when you lift heavy things and when you sleep and you are “fasting” for these hours.

once these stores in your muscles are replenished then the rest basicly gets stored.
this is a very simplified reason why best times are PWO and breakfast

yes you will bulk up on grains/pasta/bagels and such but how much of that is actual lean mass and how much is fat if all you are worried about is numbers then cool have at it.

if you want the leanest gains possible I would say get your carbs from fresh fruits and vegies and limit the grains and such until after the times I mentioned before.

exerpt from www.elmhurst.edu on carbs
Starch vs. Glycogen:

Plants make starch and cellulose through the photosynthesis processes. Animals and human in turn eat plant materials and products. Digestion is a process of hydrolysis where the starch is broken ultimately into the various monosaccharides.

A major product is of course glucose which can be used immediately for metabolism to make energy. The glucose that is not used immediately is converted in the liver and muscles into glycogen for storage by the process of glycogenesis. Any glucose in excess of the needs for energy and storage as glycogen is converted to fat

19

OK, guess I’ll ditch the bagels. Thanks for the info on the lactose stuff. Right now I just buy the lactose-free milk and it doesn’t give me any problems, but I’ll keep those pills in mind.

Yeah, I need to add more veggies. Brought in a bunch of carrots in to work with me today along with raisins, I’ll work on some more variety of the fresh stuff though. I guess I can switch to brown rice…stuff always tasted like shit to me but it’s a small sacrifice to the end goal I guess.

I’m not going to ditch too many of the current carb foods though…I’ll ditch the russet potatoes in favor of the yams (I already have some sitting at the house). If I notice fat gain then I’ll re-evaluate, but like I said before, I could use a little extra fat and from what I’ve read it can be beneficial when going through a bulking phase.

I was an endurance athlete through high school and I’ve been an avid runner up until about 2-years ago, so I know how to get rid of any extra fat without a doubt. In reality, I wouldn’t mind having an excuse to run instead of an excuse not to (i.e. bulking) Thanks guys.

20

look into acidophilus and also maybe goat milk (i know nasty right)

bagles are cool just maybe half one with cream cheese and bacon and spinich in the morning mmmmmm lol
sorry its almost dinner time

your pretty thin anyways so I would say do what works for ya

do a search on here for the t-dawg 2.0 diet thats a lower carb approach
carbs arent bad some people are more sensitave to them than others.
like me I am cutting but I need carbs or I am clumbsy and have brain fog

I even fell off one the pull down machines at the gym all slow motion like with people laughing at me becuse I was really low on carbs for about 4 days and it was getting to me.

try stuff for 2-3 weeks if you dont like it change it do that untill you find something that works
and read lables thats a big thing IMO