Meal Plan Help

No matter how healthy I eat, it doesnt seem to be working. I was wondering if you could help by either making tweaks to my meal plan or post a shopping list I can follow which I can devise a meal plan from and get any changes you for portions, meal timing, etc. Usually, I would look up all the threads for meal plans I could try but I have to keep in mind I don’t have the money to follow a decent peri-workout nutrition protocol. So here goes:

  1. 120 g of oatmeal w/ 2 cups of milk and 24 g of whey protein or six eggs w one slice of bread w/ peanut butter

  2. two peanut butter sandwiches: each is 2 slices w 4 tbsp of peanut butter yielding 9 g of peanut butter, 15 g of fat, and 7 g of carbs.

  3. 6 oz of meat whether it be rib-eye or chicken breast usually w some kind of carb like fruit or broccoli.

  4. Final meal is always a smoothie of 24 g of protein, water, and frozen fruit.

I drink one cup of orange juice everyday. I know you must frown at my meal plan, but it’s the best I could think of from what I can get. I’m not trying to be lazy but it would help since I realize selection of foods almost never changes for any phase whether it’d be fat loss or muscle gain as the only thing that probably changes is the amounts of food.

The whey protein I use is optimum nutrition 100% gold standard. I will say I’m a complete newbie but I was taught to follow the approach KISS in bodybuilding. Any suggestions, CT? Thanks for the reply for the training questions btw.

Why is it that as soon as I mention bodybuilding without peri-workout nutrition, everybody ignores me? Isn’t there anyone highly experienced that could help out someone who currently has to bodybuild with a small budget?

Keep adding food until you start seeing progress. If you have trouble getting in enough, try some liquid calories. Whey + Extra Virgin Olive oil + natural peanut butter is a quick way to get in calories

You can also try going carb-heavy after workouts

thanks, joris. I’ll try that. I can stomach tuna, meat without sace or salt nd pepper, but I cannot stomach extra virgin olive oil unless it’s light dressing for food or used for cooking due to the stupid act of taking shots of olive oil for a week.

vcjha,

What are your current body compostion goals? Add lean body mass, increase strength (both)? Fat loss? You didn’t really specify?

You’re correct that food choices are typically the same, but obviously amounts and carbohydrate timing will vary depending on your goals. Carbohydrate tolerance (mostly starches/grains) also has to taken into consideration.

From some of the foods you’ve listed, I would assume you’re trying to gain weight???

vcjha,

What are your current goals? Where are you currently (height, bw, training etc etc).

[quote]vcjha wrote:
No matter how healthy I eat, it doesnt seem to be working. I was wondering if you could help by either making tweaks to my meal plan or post a shopping list I can follow which I can devise a meal plan from and get any changes you for portions, meal timing, etc. Usually, I would look up all the threads for meal plans I could try but I have to keep in mind I don’t have the money to follow a decent peri-workout nutrition protocol. So here goes:

  1. 120 g of oatmeal w/ 2 cups of milk and 24 g of whey protein or six eggs w one slice of bread w/ peanut butter

  2. two peanut butter sandwiches: each is 2 slices w 4 tbsp of peanut butter yielding 9 g of peanut butter, 15 g of fat, and 7 g of carbs.

  3. 6 oz of meat whether it be rib-eye or chicken breast usually w some kind of carb like fruit or broccoli.

  4. Final meal is always a smoothie of 24 g of protein, water, and frozen fruit.

I drink one cup of orange juice everyday. I know you must frown at my meal plan, but it’s the best I could think of from what I can get. I’m not trying to be lazy but it would help since I realize selection of foods almost never changes for any phase whether it’d be fat loss or muscle gain as the only thing that probably changes is the amounts of food.

The whey protein I use is optimum nutrition 100% gold standard. I will say I’m a complete newbie but I was taught to follow the approach KISS in bodybuilding. Any suggestions, CT? Thanks for the reply for the training questions btw.
[/quote]

You’re probably not getting enough calories. Meal 1 and 3 look OKish, but meal 2 @ 4 tbsp peanut butter and bread isn’t enough and while meal 4 is kinda OK since it’s the last meal of the day, it’s not adding many calories.

If you get tired of making food, try to find a decent Meal Replacement Powder (MRP) and then structure it something like this:

  1. Solid meal. Oats + protein + fruit is a good option here.
  2. MRP
  3. Solid meal e.g. meat/fish + carbs + veg
  4. MRP
  5. Solid meal e.g. meat/fish + fat + veg
  6. Evening protein snack e.g. cottage cheese

If you don’t want MRP, then make your own shakes of whey or whatever protein powder + palatinose for meal 2 and protein powder + coconut milk for meal 4. Probably best to get some flax meal in there for some fibre too.

I’m by no means the most experienced person here, but I am lazy and cheap when it comes to food so I thought you might appreciate my input.

edit: Just another tip, cook meal 3 and 5 together. That way you only have to cook once per day, which is a lot, but it’s gotta be done.

First of all, thank you to everyone for the reply. Means a lot. Now I will reply to each of you.

[quote]Clutch wrote:
vcjha,

What are your current goals? Where are you currently (height, bw, training etc etc).[/quote]

See my first post. I’m currently 5’10, 160 lb 12% bf, 2 years training.

[quote]Marther wrote:
vcjha wrote:
No matter how healthy I eat, it doesnt seem to be working. I was wondering if you could help by either making tweaks to my meal plan or post a shopping list I can follow which I can devise a meal plan from and get any changes you for portions, meal timing, etc. Usually, I would look up all the threads for meal plans I could try but I have to keep in mind I don’t have the money to follow a decent peri-workout nutrition protocol. So here goes:

  1. 120 g of oatmeal w/ 2 cups of milk and 24 g of whey protein or six eggs w one slice of bread w/ peanut butter

  2. two peanut butter sandwiches: each is 2 slices w 4 tbsp of peanut butter yielding 9 g of peanut butter, 15 g of fat, and 7 g of carbs.

  3. 6 oz of meat whether it be rib-eye or chicken breast usually w some kind of carb like fruit or broccoli.

  4. Final meal is always a smoothie of 24 g of protein, water, and frozen fruit.

I drink one cup of orange juice everyday. I know you must frown at my meal plan, but it’s the best I could think of from what I can get. I’m not trying to be lazy but it would help since I realize selection of foods almost never changes for any phase whether it’d be fat loss or muscle gain as the only thing that probably changes is the amounts of food.

The whey protein I use is optimum nutrition 100% gold standard. I will say I’m a complete newbie but I was taught to follow the approach KISS in bodybuilding. Any suggestions, CT? Thanks for the reply for the training questions btw.

You’re probably not getting enough calories. Meal 1 and 3 look OKish, but meal 2 @ 4 tbsp peanut butter and bread isn’t enough and while meal 4 is kinda OK since it’s the last meal of the day, it’s not adding many calories.

If you get tired of making food, try to find a decent Meal Replacement Powder (MRP) and then structure it something like this:

  1. Solid meal. Oats + protein + fruit is a good option here.
  2. MRP
  3. Solid meal e.g. meat/fish + carbs + veg
  4. MRP
  5. Solid meal e.g. meat/fish + fat + veg
  6. Evening protein snack e.g. cottage cheese

If you don’t want MRP, then make your own shakes of whey or whatever protein powder + palatinose for meal 2 and protein powder + coconut milk for meal 4. Probably best to get some flax meal in there for some fibre too.

I’m by no means the most experienced person here, but I am lazy and cheap when it comes to food so I thought you might appreciate my input.

edit: Just another tip, cook meal 3 and 5 together. That way you only have to cook once per day, which is a lot, but it’s gotta be done.[/quote]

Thanks, def appreciate the input. Guess all i gotta do is add fruit to my first meal, maybe a banana or some orange juice. If there is one thing I hate eating now though I do without fail everyday, it’s meat. I thought the barbecue would be easier to cook it on, but I was wrong as sometimes you come in with burnt meat when you thought it was perfect-looking on the grill. At the same time, unless someone experienced says otherwise, I know it’s best to eat it without sauce or even salt and pepper. I only put olive oil on my meat. What is palatinose? Truth is I only want to use at maximum 3 scoops of whey as it gets expensive to me. Currently, I only use two a day. Also, I follow ct’s words which is supplements or powders are best for para-workout, solid food is best for all other times. I just recently found out that 6 oz of cooked meat is not actually 48 g, but actually 64 g, the weight of an 8 oz raw. Whew! It took me AT LEAST an hour finish my dinner before I found out about that tidbit. I actually cook my whole week’s batch one day out of the week, but I’m going to cut that down to twice a week. One more weird thing is I get assistance from my parents to buy all sorts of food, but they will never support me for supplements, even when I tell them it lets them buy less food. But if someone experienced on the forum, like ct or prof x, tells me otherwise, I will definitely try one more time to explain it to my parents. So, just to let you know, given my goals, to anyone experienced that is willing to help, I’m willing to eat crap for the rest of my life(excluding cheat day once a week unless someone can tell me cheating will make you lose gains). I don’t need that "If you dont want to eat that, then blah blah blah. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to reach my goal in the fastest way that will produce the best results, except for spending alotta money and steroids.

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
vcjha,

What are your current body compostion goals? Add lean body mass, increase strength (both)? Fat loss? You didn’t really specify?

You’re correct that food choices are typically the same, but obviously amounts and carbohydrate timing will vary depending on your goals. Carbohydrate tolerance (mostly starches/grains) also has to taken into consideration.

From some of the foods you’ve listed, I would assume you’re trying to gain weight???[/quote]

I can’t believe I forgot this, but 14 posts and you’ve reached LEVEL 5?! that’s great! I heard levels are based on the amount of supplements you buy on the site, but judging by your great body, I guess SWF and Flameout arent the only things to determine your level.

edit: Just another tip, cook meal 3 and 5 together. That way you only have to cook once per day, which is a lot, but it’s gotta be done.[/quote]

vegetables for me are the easiest thing in the world to cook cuz they’re microwaveable. least spinach, carrots, and brocoli are. Just letting people know…

[quote]vcjha wrote:
Clutch wrote:
vcjha,

What are your current goals? Where are you currently (height, bw, training etc etc).

See my first post. I’m currently 5’10, 160 lb 12% bf, 2 years training.

[/quote]

You still haven’t stated your goals… gain mass, strength, lose fat, etc…

If gaining, you might need to add some junk to your food choices. I’ve found that eating some junk everyday (about 20% of your daily choices) is ideal for trying to add some mass. Strict is great for losing.

Great body! I’m lookin to reach yur body but with a wider back, wider shoulders, and something that I don’t think has ever been done before, increase the size of my whole lower leg, not just the calves, and massive chest that pops out about 4-5 inches(I know that’s crazy). Sorry if I talked bout this too much. But it really is hard for me to say as I would like a plan that allows me to gain more mass but allow me to lose a little fat too. (gain 3-4 lb muscle while losing 1lb of fat). Might sound stupid but that’s what I wanna do. So does that clear everything up?

[quote]vcjha wrote:
Great body! I’m lookin to reach yur body but with a wider back, wider shoulders, and something that I don’t think has ever been done before, increase the size of my whole lower leg, not just the calves, and massive chest that pops out about 4-5 inches(I know that’s crazy). Sorry if I talked bout this too much. But it really is hard for me to say as I would like a plan that allows me to gain more mass but allow me to lose a little fat too. (gain 3-4 lb muscle while losing 1lb of fat). Might sound stupid but that’s what I wanna do. So does that clear everything up? [/quote]

hmm… that might be a bit tough. I’d recommend lean bulking, focusing carbs around workout times, and eating lots of healthy fats, veggies, and protein outside of that. That’ll probably be your best bet.

[quote]randomality wrote:
vcjha wrote:
Great body! I’m lookin to reach yur body but with a wider back, wider shoulders, and something that I don’t think has ever been done before, increase the size of my whole lower leg, not just the calves, and massive chest that pops out about 4-5 inches(I know that’s crazy). Sorry if I talked bout this too much. But it really is hard for me to say as I would like a plan that allows me to gain more mass but allow me to lose a little fat too. (gain 3-4 lb muscle while losing 1lb of fat). Might sound stupid but that’s what I wanna do. So does that clear everything up?

hmm… that might be a bit tough. I’d recommend lean bulking, focusing carbs around workout times, and eating lots of healthy fats, veggies, and protein outside of that. That’ll probably be your best bet.[/quote]

Thanks, that’s already what I do. Not trying to be smart, just looking for a shopping list of ONLY THE BEST FOODS for my goal. Everybody says lift, eat and sleep. Honestly, I think most of us do just that otherwise we wouldn’t be here. The only thing I can admit is my diet timing is way outta whack, I’ve taken 3-4 day breaks from lifting due to workout headaches, and my sleep is horrible on timing but on those days I get 12 HOURS sleep.

Am i taking this too far because any healthy food will work? I’ve said this before I’m really tired of hitting the same brick wall which is I’m going to have to spend lots of money to reach my goal. Is there anyone out there who is experienced and wouldn’t mind answering questions? I feel like the one person I turn to the most which is CT won’t even answer my posts and the rest of the forum probably thinks I’m a really stupid noob.

Honestly, if my questions could have been answered instead of a general statement that rarely helps which is lift heavy, eat right with healthy foods, and get lots of sleep. We all know that bodybuilding could be the hardest thing to do with hard goals due to many conflicting views, and HEAVY INTERNET MARKETING AND BUSINESS. I also want to be able to spread my knowledge to other people who may get into bodybuilding, tell 'em I mean no bullshit, and actually mean it, instead of finding out their pics aren’t legit, and through a lot of searching, I find out they take steroids.

I must be rambling but I’m sure a number of people feel my pain. I’m not asking someone to be there every step of the way, but I would love if my questions got good answers. I may be selfish asking this, but can anyone out there give me the help that I need?

Sorry if I made it to hard to understand, but I’ve found exactly what my message is: atoo long I’ve been confused about bodybuilding nutrition. Many meals that other people make always have suggestions. I want the knowledge to make a perfect diet for any phase of bodybuilding I go through. Usually I pick a few sample good foods and throw them into a daily meal plan but that’s doesn’t seem to be working. Can somebody please explain me what they mean by “perfect nutrition and diet?”

I used to think that any diet with healthy foods and ample nutrients is perfect but I must be wrong. Anyone experienced here know the perfect diet for gaining maximum muscle growth BAR NONE? Taste doesn’t matter, meal timing doesn’t matter. I’m willing to put forth the effort if it makes a big difference in results.

Go to the home page. Near the top are links to different categories of articles… “Training” etc. Look in the category called “Nutrition” and start reading… there is a motherlode of articles in there. Look for articles that seem to discuss the basics, and overall comprehensive eating strategies.

It doesn’t seem like you’re eating enough food IMO. Figure out what you’re total numbers are, for protein, fat and carbs. You should shoot for approx 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight at a minimum. Some would even say 2 grams per pound, especially for somebody who wants to get big and still has a long way to go.

The main point is to learn as much as you can about training and nutrition, and keep on learning… it never ends, really. There is no way you will learn what you need to learn, just getting a few answers on a forum. That’s just scratching the surface when it comes to such a broad topic as ‘what is the best bodybuilding diet’. Plus everyone is different and you’re probably going to need to try different things and see what works best for you.

There is a wealth of knowledge on this website but the best place to look is in the articles section, IMO, when it comes to the basics.

Thanks K. See I have read the articles and honestly, all it does is confuse me. There’s so many contradicting views there. I remember a post from a TMmuscle moderator saying they post articles which explain a concept and those who make rebuttles to those concepts. Also, it changes constantly from month to month.

I remember when it was the low-carb frenzy. And suddenly six months after, they revert back to high-carb? So me going on the anabolic diet was a total waste of time. You get where I’m coming from now? I wish by a miracle someone experienced would come through and blow through the bullshit and make it plain and simple to understand that absolutely no questions or contradictions could be thought up.

To me, the person that could come close to that is CT(he’s probably the only real person I could talk to because everybody else isnt as open with contact as him and he’s probably the top trainer on TMuscle.) but he will never come through here as I think I’m on his permanent blacklist. He actually answered a post just to tell me that my w/o would be far from anything he would ever recommend. I take criticism very well but shouldn’t advice and pointers come with the criticsm if this forum is supposed to help all fellow bodybuilders?

If you’re just looking for a shopping list then read the ‘Superfood’ articles.