Need Advice on My Bulking Diet

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hi guys,

I’m 36 years old, 6’0", 185lbs, roughly 24% bodyfat. I spent a good two months eating about 2000 calories a day, low fat, medium carbs, high protein and lost very little fat with very little change in muscle mass. I decided to do things differently by tring to significantly increase the amount of muscle mass on my body which would effectively increase my metabolism which will make losing fat later on an easier process.

My training program looks like this:

Monday: Quads and hamstrings
Tuesday: Chest and biceps
Wednesday: 30 minutes cardio
Thursday: Shoulders and calves
Friday: 30 minutes cardio
Saturday: Back and triceps
Sun: 30 minutes cardio

If I ever feel like I need a day off, I will take off a cardio day.

Here is what I’m eating right now:

BREAKFAST:
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tablespoon flaxseed
1 scoop protein powder
1 teaspoon fish oil

44g protein, 59g carbs, 29g fat, 686 calories

SNACK:
1.5 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 scoop protein powder
1/2 tablespoon flax seed

35g protein, 50g carbs, 19g fat, 520 calories

LUNCH:
190g chicken breast
1/2 cup rice
1 banana

55g protein, 100g carbs, 9g fat, 692 calories

SNACK:
1.5 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 scoop protein powder
1/2 tablespoon flax seed

35g protein, 50g carbs, 19g fat, 520 calories

DINNER:
200g Steak
1/2 cup rice
1 teaspoon fish oil

57g protein, 74g carbs, 21g fat, 701 calories

DAILY TOTAL:
225g protein, 332g carbs, 97g fat, 3124 calories
34% protein, 51% carbs, 15% fat

I also take 1 to 2 doses a day of Metameucil since, as you may have noticed, the only fruits or vegetables in the diet is a banana (I’m not a big fruit/vegetable guy).

What is your opinion of this diet?

2

Anyone…? Anyone…? Bueller? :slight_smile:

3

where do your workouts fall during your day? I assume you’ll be taking in more calories peri-workout?

This diet might be fine for an off day, but seeing as you plan on being in the gym 7 days a week, I would add calories around workout out time.

4

Workouts usually take place between 7pm and 8pm. What I’ve been doing recently is having the dinner first, going to workout about 1.5 hours later, and then having my ‘snack’ as my post workout drink.

Someone pointed out to me that my calculations were wrong since fat has 9 calories and protein/carbs have 4. I’m in the process of making changes to it as we speak to ensure I get the correct ratios of everything. I’ll repost it soon.

5

Well, I like that you’re taking the cleaner approach, but you need more if you want to gain. I take the cleaner approach as well, but with that, you really need a ton of clean food to make progress. On another note, if you are truly 24 percen bf, you might want to assess that before you go further. Just my opinion.

6

The problem with using your snack as a post workout drink is that it contains 19 g of fat. Post workout you have a 300% greater protein synthesis so you really want to take advantage of this. Fats are going to slow the rate at which the drink will absorb. I’d say increase your protein powder, and increase your oatmeal, and mix with water. Simple, but will be much more effective.

Ideally, a high protein, high carb meal should be consumed about an hour after your PWO drink… but in your situation (training late) you could probably get away with your ‘snack’ drink.

7

[quote]vin_mancini wrote:
Monday: Quads and hamstrings
Tuesday: Chest and biceps
Wednesday: 30 minutes cardio
Thursday: Shoulders and calves
Friday: 30 minutes cardio
Saturday: Back and triceps
Sun: 30 minutes cardio

If I ever feel like I need a day off, I will take off a cardio day.[/quote]
Move your Shoulders & Calves workout on Friday.
Tuesday’s routine involves the shoulders (a bit), so you’ll probably need one more day between your Chest & Shoulders workouts.

I’d suggest sticking with only 1 cardio/week. You do need to rest more.
If you feel like you’re putting on too much fat, then better watch your diet.

8

I’m just curious as to why you are using substantially higher carbs than protein? I would think you should be taking in more protein than carbs, and about equal carbs/fats. At 24% BF (if that is a true indicator), I would think you don’t need all the insulin response from the carbs throughout the day. Just my $0.02. This is a weak area for me.

9

OK, here is a revised diet:

BREAKFAST:
2.5 cups skim milk
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 tablespoons flaxseed
1.5 scoops protein powder
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon fish oil

72.5g protein, 62.5g carbs, 17g fat, 701 calories

SNACK:
1.5 cups skim milk
1.5 tablespoons wheat germ
3/8 cup oatmeal
1.5 scoops protein powder
1.5 tablespoons flax seed

64.75g protein, 62g carbs, 12.75g fat, 633 calories

LUNCH:
240g chicken breast
1 cup rice
1 banana
1 teaspoon fish oil

62g protein, 80g carbs, 8g fat, 631 calories

DINNER:
240g chicken breast
1.5 cups rice
1 teaspoon fish oil

63.5g protein, 73.5g carbs, 8g fat, 616 calories

PWO:
1.5 cups skim milk
1.5 tablespoons wheat germ
3/8 cup oatmeal
1.5 scoops protein powder
1.5 tablespoons flax seed

64.75g protein, 62g carbs, 12.75g fat, 633 calories

DAILY TOTAL:
327.5g protein, 340g carbs, 58.5g fat, 3213 calories
41% protein, 42% carbs, 16% fat

Is there anything I should change? Do you think I should still be adding more calories to this diet?

10

If you post some pics, people might be able to help you out more. I for one am thinking you might not actually be 24% bodyfat.

11

[quote]Murph14 wrote:
The problem with using your snack as a post workout drink is that it contains 19 g of fat. Post workout you have a 300% greater protein synthesis so you really want to take advantage of this. Fats are going to slow the rate at which the drink will absorb. I’d say increase your protein powder, and increase your oatmeal, and mix with water. Simple, but will be much more effective.

Ideally, a high protein, high carb meal should be consumed about an hour after your PWO drink… but in your situation (training late) you could probably get away with your ‘snack’ drink.
[/quote]

I thought this myth was already busted in the “post workout myths” article. Link: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

12

[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:

[quote]Murph14 wrote:
The problem with using your snack as a post workout drink is that it contains 19 g of fat. Post workout you have a 300% greater protein synthesis so you really want to take advantage of this. Fats are going to slow the rate at which the drink will absorb. I’d say increase your protein powder, and increase your oatmeal, and mix with water. Simple, but will be much more effective.

Ideally, a high protein, high carb meal should be consumed about an hour after your PWO drink… but in your situation (training late) you could probably get away with your ‘snack’ drink.
[/quote]

I thought this myth was already busted in the “post workout myths” article. Link: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

Thanks for posting that. I’ve never read that before but there was some pretty good in it.

13

You said that your diet to lose was around 2000 cals and low fat. Have you ever tried using a low carb approach? Where do you hold your fat? Love handles? Back? If, so it may be a sign that you are not very carb tollerant and a lower carb approach might be best, gaining or losing.

Also, people who look at a 185 lb guy who is on a 3100cal diet and automatically say that is not enough to gain might want to take a step back. For some reason, everyone on this site is able to consume 5000 calories before they can gain muscle, but we are all not like that. For me to gain at a rate of 1-ish lb per week from 180 to 207 took 3100 cals per day. This was actually a bit fast, as I gained a bit more fat than I was comfortable with. I have since leaned out to 190. To lose any more at this point, I need to stick around 2000 cals per day. I try to get around 300-35o grams of protein and I only eat carbs first thing in the morning (on workout days) and pre-workout. This is working for me. It may work for you. Everyone’s different.

14

Don’t know if it was a typo but if you’re eating 97g of fat at 3100 cals a day your fat is roughly 30, not 15% of your diet.

15

To answer everyone’s questions… yes, almost all my fat is around my midsection (I’ll get my girlfriend to take some photos of me later today). I do remember doing low carb for awhile with carb up days and there wasn’t a major difference there either. However, now that I realized that the way I was calculating my percentages of nutrient ratios was completely wrong then who knows what I was really eating back then. I figure I’ll try to bulk up some more muscle (which I still desperatly need) until May 15th or so and then try to lose as much fat as possible for the summer.

As you can see from the first diet example, I thought I was eating 34% protein, 51% carbs and 15% fat when I was actually eating 29% protein, 43% carbs, and 28% fat (and here I was wondering why I appeared to be putting on more fat than muscle eating this way!!). I’ve now modified it so that I’m eating 41% protein, 42% carbs, and 16% fat with 3213 calories a day. Is this OK? I’ll post up some photos later.

I do have one question though. As you can see, three of my meals are shakes (breakfast, snack, and PWO). For those of you that are adding egg whites to your diet, are you adding them to your shakes raw or are you cooking them? There used to be debate as to whether or not raw egg whites could be properly digested. What’s the general consensus about that here these days?

16

[quote]vin_mancini wrote:
To answer everyone’s questions… yes, almost all my fat is around my midsection (I’ll get my girlfriend to take some photos of me later today). I do remember doing low carb for awhile with carb up days and there wasn’t a major difference there either. However, now that I realized that the way I was calculating my percentages of nutrient ratios was completely wrong then who knows what I was really eating back then. I figure I’ll try to bulk up some more muscle (which I still desperatly need) until May 15th or so and then try to lose as much fat as possible for the summer.

As you can see from the first diet example, I thought I was eating 34% protein, 51% carbs and 15% fat when I was actually eating 29% protein, 43% carbs, and 28% fat (and here I was wondering why I appeared to be putting on more fat than muscle eating this way!!). I’ve now modified it so that I’m eating 41% protein, 42% carbs, and 16% fat with 3213 calories a day. Is this OK? I’ll post up some photos later.

I do have one question though. As you can see, three of my meals are shakes (breakfast, snack, and PWO). For those of you that are adding egg whites to your diet, are you adding them to your shakes raw or are you cooking them? There used to be debate as to whether or not raw egg whites could be properly digested. What’s the general consensus about that here these days?[/quote]

I try to cook egg whites just because I think the texture is disgusting when added to shakes.

17

Adding it to my shake doesn’t bother me at all… it just gets lost in all the other stuff that’s in the shake and makes it a bit creamier. But I’m not going to drink down 12 egg whites a day if my body can’t utilize it in its raw state…

18

For optimal health, you need 6 to 15 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.