reviewing my normal intake I decided to up my calories by 500 or so to 3100~ daily. Today I decided to do a rough breakdown of what I logged:
I would mainly like to take a look at my macronutrient ratios. The amount of protein I am consuming versus fat and carbohydrates for a bulk diet. Is this fairly ok?
you’re eating enough protein. Im just curious (and maybe theres time constraints with your daily schedule) as to why you work out on an *almost empty stomach. If your bulking I would think atleast 1 whole meal before training would definitly be better. Also, why are you avoiding carbs and doing high intensity cardio?
all very good questions -
For the working out on an empty stomach, my gym was closed the night before so I woke up and rushed to the gym so I didn’t too crappy about missing a night 
damn snow… Usually I work out with at least 4 or so meals under my belt for the day.
I’ve noticed I Feel kind of crappy when I eat alot of carbs, high protein and ft with moderate carbs seems to do the trick. I also like less water belly for as long as I Can maintain that 
for the HIIT, I find after a short round of 10 minutes doing HIIT I feel ALOT better, the endorphin release is very high. I’m trying to go with Berardi’s idea of G-flux where the more you consume but burn off the better it is for muscle growth. I have to find that “sweet spot” if you will which would allow me an excess while still staying cardiovascularly conditioned.
Do you think I should up my fat or CHO intake to overcome my protein intake? or maybe kick protein down to 300 grams a day and replace with some whole carbs in the morning perhaps…
do you have a post-workout shake? how about a post workout meal? maybe add some carbs to your meal after your workout. maybe you should split up your fat intake, you have multiple types of fat at each meal, maybe just pick one type for each meal.
and how do you function on next to no carbs?
and like the other poster said, for your morning workout just make some sort of protein shake before your workout. im sure if you woke up down a shake mixed with whatever, then got ready went to the gym that would be sufficient time between to at least have something in your body.
well as I said in my response I usually work out with 4 meals under my belt, later in the evening, just bad circumstances friday night forced me to go sat. morning. The fat split up was something i was worried about. I use the cocoa for sat fat balance. also the little to no carbs has no effect on my energy levels. i feel slower when consuming them and my PWO shake has 60 grams of sucrose/dextrose. that is my carbsource for the day
turns out I’ve been eating twice as much pb as I had originally thought, just weighed it by teaspoon this morning - which means my normal day fals around 4000-4500 calories. I should probably amend that as jumping from 2100 to 4000 is bound to have some bad occurences.
I know peanut butter has a lot of healthy fats,but you have to be careful of your intake.Peanuts have a lot of phytoestrogens,which are now proven to lower testosterone levels.1-2 tablespoons 1 or 2 times max per week.For fats, try flaxseed, olive oil,fishoil,meat,salmon etc
As for your diet,for me,i would never do this.To gain lean muscle,you need complex carbohydrates, and lots of them.If you eat them at every meal, with your protein,they will not bloat you.No one I know has gained muscle using a low carb approach.Long term low carbing wreaks havoc to your body in many ways;hormonal and metabolic.
Hmm, thanks for your input Steel. This is something I have considered greatly recently. PB is so tasty though its my form of junk food I guess. So should I go with the typical 30/35/35 split? 30% protein, 35% carbs and fat respectively? That deffinetly changes the game for me a bit. I Don’t believe I’ve gone heavy on carbs in about 7 or 8 months :o Its worth noting that I’m looking to stay relatively lean while bulking, so I’m not afraid of cardio. I am a bit worried that the sudden jump in carbs will put me off for that though.
Try it out a week or two- see results and tweak accordingly by adding cardio/cutting carbs.
edit–
im an idiot, thought you said 30/30/35, not 30/35/35.
Ease into a 40/40/20, 40%carb,40%protein,20%fat split into 5-6 meals,from complex sources,such as oatmeal,brown rice,whole wheat breads.The key is that every meal must contain protein and carbohydrates;this way you will not get bloated,feel tired,etc,this happens if you consume carbohydrates alone.
what i mean by ‘ease into’ is that in the first week, eat only 100-200 above maintenance,so that your body gets used to this way of eating, then in week 2,eat 300 calories above maintenance,etc.
Let me get this right (correct me if im mistaken). You’re actually eating 4,000-4,500kcals daily, when you believed you were eating 3,100 (peanut butter measurement error). How long have you been making this error? I ask, because you’re eating 1,000-1,500kcals than you think and are staying lean. I was going to comment on your G Flux-ish routine.
I was going to say that you’re probably under eating if your doing cardio and weightlifing, but with the error, I guess your not. I do believe that carbs are the way to go if you want to put on size. When I diet down (finished in september) I typically use a low carb/keto approach. Im currently eating 600-700 grams of CHOs daily, along with 400 grams of PRO and 60 grams of fat and I haven’t gotten much fatter (im still lean, going from 178 to 209). I think Carbs get a bad rep, especially around here.
about a week I’ve been making that error elusive, atleast to that extent. alright so I’ll start introducing carbohydrates. I only ever eat clean so I’ll probably bake my own breads for the week.
What would you say a fair meal would look like if I were to stay around 3500-4000 cals (want to test waters slowly so I don’t wake up one morning and realize it just took awhile to show the gain.
Anyway, I’m on rippetoes right now so there isn’t alot of volume to my routine, my caloric expendature shouldn’t be all that big.
Thanks.
well just had my lunch
7 oz chicken breast grilled
1 cup of oatmeal
1 serving unsweetened cocoa
5g leucine.
time to turn anabolic.
lol, thats the spirit.
thought I was gonna puke. haha.
Reckon you are consuming a bit too much protein there?
If you are trying to gain mass, try increasing your fat or carbohydrate intake.
Id up the fat. Perhaps have more olive oil and nuts and other Omega 3s in the diet.
My 2 cents.
man my muscles look noticably bigger today. Like I have a constant pump. IS this a short term effect or did my chronic carb restriction prior to this help sort out where all these carbs will be transporting nutrients to…the muscular partition
You’re refilling your muscle glycogen. Your muscles should be full and hard.
ah. So even with 500+ grams of carbs a day due to my age, cardio, clean diet, timed meals and weight training I shouldn’t put on a shitton of fat? I’m insanely self concious about that. Used to be waay over weight. but then again I ate pie every night and was 100% sedentary.
heres my day so far:
breakfast: 655
french toast made with: 620
2 eggs 170
3/4th cup eggwhites 120
3 slices 12 grain 330
2fishoil
lunch: 712
4oz ground beef 267
1 cup oatmeal 300
1/2 oz almonds 100
2 fishoil 25
5g leucine 20
With all the daily activity you’re doing (weightlifting + cardio and whatever else) you should be fine if your calories are in check (meaning, not way overboard).