What Would You Do?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

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Hello everyone,

I wasn’t going to join yet, but i’m in need of help and thought you older, more experienced guys would have some ideas. I have been reading on here, for a bit over a year. I have tried looking through the archives and sub-forums for ideas but it doesn’t really have what I need. Basically, I’m 17 and have been training seriously for 5 months. But have been training on and off for a bit over a year, before that. I was just learning the ropes and movements and what not. (No idea what I was doing. Making very little progression on movements).

Anyway, my question is; I’m on an extreme budget!
My Protein/Carbs/fats drastically change depending what I can get my hands on.
I live at home with my Mum. She has never approved of me training, saying it’s an unhealthy obsession and that I look “fine”.

I started training at 150-lbs and currently weigh 172-lbs. I know I still need to add a lot of muscle. But I feel pretty “fat” I have never been “lean” I have vascularity in my arms and shoulders. This always gives people the impression I am leaner than I am. I feel I need to lose 20-30lbs to get to a point where I feel comfortable and can begin gaining.

What do you suggest I do, to find a way to get quality foods? From constant arguments over the past 2 years, have managed to go from mainly micro-waved meals and crap. To 1 evening meal each night consisting of 150g of meat (mainly chicken) with vegetables or potatoes/pasta’s.

From consistently training hard and trying to progress every week, I have managed to put muscle on with such a shit diet. Seriously, I have read you need 1g-1.5g of protein per lb to grow (on average) But I barely get 100g total on a good day. The only way I get a surplus is by eating biscuits/chocolate.

My routine is:

M: Legs (quads,hams,calves)
T Chest+Tri’s
W Back+Bi’s
T REST
F Shoulder’s+Traps
S Arms+Calves
S REST

I am currently at college and trying to find a part time job so I have no income.
When I can get money I buy chicken.
On a good day, If i can buy my food, I eat:
4 whole eggs + 2 whole meal toast
200g Chicken breast + rice (no real measurement just get a mug and half fill it)
200g Chicken + vegetables
Fish finger sandwich

For example today, I have eaten
4 pieces of toast
foot long baguette with cheese 200g chicken and tomoato sauce.

I know it sounds ridiculously low kcal. But seriously, I eat whatever I can have.

I have insomnia so I get 3-5 hours sleep a night.

I have gotten ill/drains a few times, I think because I don’t recover when I have very low amounts of quality food and eat crap to get the kcals up).

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Sorry it’s a long message.

Oh and on another note, I read on one thread a dude called Skynett said something about if a new lifter gets onto a clean diet which is enough to support growth (surplus) You will lose fat anyway because your new/young. IF I manage to find a way to get more clean foods, would this happen, so I won’t need to lose weight?

(please don’t have a huge argument, I really need help, I don’t wan’t to waste perhaps the best gaining years of my life, because of my diet. I have noticed a lot of “Troll” shit recently. Please don’t skip this, I can assure you i’m not a friggen’ troll. I really appreciate you guys helping me out).

Will throw a few pictures on to see what I’m currently like…(If I can post them aha)

2

good build

look harder for a job

use search function in supps section there will be a lot of cheap food type advice

good luck keep it up

ps what are we supposed to say when you seemingly claim you have no income and your mom chooses the food? that we suggest things you can say to change her mind?

pps eat lots of eggs. cheap.

3

Thank you, I’m trying by best with what I got! I understand that, but it’s very hard where I live.

Sorry for not making the question’s too clear. In England we don’t have some of the food choices In the US + The price costs a lot more here.

I think Carb wise I could just about get enough through potato’s, pastas and rice. + Vegetables. But I have never tried eating enough of them because I thought if I ate such a high carb and low protein diet I would pile the fat on.

I was just wondering if anyone had ideas for protein? Cause if I can gain on the shit I have been eating, I’d love to see how I gain with a more optimal diet.

If I can somehow get £10-£20 a week to buy some more food, what foods would you suggest?

I Don’t know if this is silly, but I have read about people getting “Sick” from eating more than 7 cans of tuna a week. If I ate 2-3 cans a day (tuna is cheap) that couldn’t be good from a health perspective?

Yeah I have always thought about eggs. But to eat enough eggs I’d have to throw away a lot of yokes and I’d feel pretty wasteful. Also get a lot of shit off my Mum for “wasting food when you’re complaining about not getting enough”.

Thank you for the egg advice, I will try and get hold of more this week.

The only other way would be to spend this money if I can get it that is, on a cheap low quality protein powder. But then drinking a shit tone of shakes can’t be half as good as whole food.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, I just thought someone would have some solutions.

Oh and lastly, the other question. Young/Newer people training (I.E me) Can they lose body fat whilst on a surplus if eating good quality foods?

4

You don’t even have 10 lbs of fat to lose. You are already lean enough and trying to get leaner is only going to slow your progress as a whole. If anything, you could stand to gain a few lbs of fat in the pursuit of more size and strength.

5

[quote]The Recluse wrote:
Thank you, I’m trying by best with what I got! I understand that, but it’s very hard where I live.

Sorry for not making the question’s too clear. In England we don’t have some of the food choices In the US + The price costs a lot more here.

I think Carb wise I could just about get enough through potato’s, pastas and rice. + Vegetables. But I have never tried eating enough of them because I thought if I ate such a high carb and low protein diet I would pile the fat on.

I was just wondering if anyone had ideas for protein? Cause if I can gain on the shit I have been eating, I’d love to see how I gain with a more optimal diet.

If I can somehow get £10-£20 a week to buy some more food, what foods would you suggest?

I Don’t know if this is silly, but I have read about people getting “Sick” from eating more than 7 cans of tuna a week. If I ate 2-3 cans a day (tuna is cheap) that couldn’t be good from a health perspective?

Yeah I have always thought about eggs. But to eat enough eggs I’d have to throw away a lot of yokes and I’d feel pretty wasteful. Also get a lot of shit off my Mum for “wasting food when you’re complaining about not getting enough”.

Thank you for the egg advice, I will try and get hold of more this week.

The only other way would be to spend this money if I can get it that is, on a cheap low quality protein powder. But then drinking a shit tone of shakes can’t be half as good as whole food.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, I just thought someone would have some solutions.

Oh and lastly, the other question. Young/Newer people training (I.E me) Can they lose body fat whilst on a surplus if eating good quality foods?

[/quote]
The classic cheap way to get tons of calories is a gallon of whole milk a day + plus extra food as needed. I don’t know what prices are like across the pond… 20 pounds is about $30 in the US, and in my area the milk would cost $15/ week. one gallon would get you 2500 kcals, 130g protein, you could get the rest of your protein from eggs and tuna but you wouldn’t need as much. 2 cans of tuna would get you about 50g protein for 180g total.

The milk thing might not work out best, but my advice is whatever you do, buy in more bulk. Don’t buy more cans of tuna, just buy the bigger cans, usually the price per unit weight is better. Eggs are also good but it takes A LOT of them to get enough protein in.

Can you post prices of various foods in your area?

ps what are you throwing away the yolks for? It’s the best part

6

[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:

[quote]The Recluse wrote:
Thank you, I’m trying by best with what I got! I understand that, but it’s very hard where I live.

Sorry for not making the question’s too clear. In England we don’t have some of the food choices In the US + The price costs a lot more here.

I think Carb wise I could just about get enough through potato’s, pastas and rice. + Vegetables. But I have never tried eating enough of them because I thought if I ate such a high carb and low protein diet I would pile the fat on.

I was just wondering if anyone had ideas for protein? Cause if I can gain on the shit I have been eating, I’d love to see how I gain with a more optimal diet.

If I can somehow get �£10-�£20 a week to buy some more food, what foods would you suggest?

I Don’t know if this is silly, but I have read about people getting “Sick” from eating more than 7 cans of tuna a week. If I ate 2-3 cans a day (tuna is cheap) that couldn’t be good from a health perspective?

Yeah I have always thought about eggs. But to eat enough eggs I’d have to throw away a lot of yokes and I’d feel pretty wasteful. Also get a lot of shit off my Mum for “wasting food when you’re complaining about not getting enough”.

Thank you for the egg advice, I will try and get hold of more this week.

The only other way would be to spend this money if I can get it that is, on a cheap low quality protein powder. But then drinking a shit tone of shakes can’t be half as good as whole food.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, I just thought someone would have some solutions.

Oh and lastly, the other question. Young/Newer people training (I.E me) Can they lose body fat whilst on a surplus if eating good quality foods?

[/quote]
The classic cheap way to get tons of calories is a gallon of whole milk a day + plus extra food as needed. I don’t know what prices are like across the pond… 20 pounds is about $30 in the US, and in my area the milk would cost $15/ week. one gallon would get you 2500 kcals, 130g protein, you could get the rest of your protein from eggs and tuna but you wouldn’t need as much. 2 cans of tuna would get you about 50g protein for 180g total.

The milk thing might not work out best, but my advice is whatever you do, buy in more bulk. Don’t buy more cans of tuna, just buy the bigger cans, usually the price per unit weight is better. Eggs are also good but it takes A LOT of them to get enough protein in.

Can you post prices of various foods in your area?

ps what are you throwing away the yolks for? It’s the best part[/quote]

Good points. Also look for deals online or in Sunday’s news papers for sales. I agree your fat levels don’t look to high. Keep your head up, keep working, good luck

7

[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
You don’t even have 10 lbs of fat to lose. You are already lean enough and trying to get leaner is only going to slow your progress as a whole. If anything, you could stand to gain a few lbs of fat in the pursuit of more size and strength.[/quote]

I think the picture is just a better one. I am carrying quite a bit of fat around the stomach and lower back.
I would have estimated my body fat at higher than 15%. Ideally wouldn’t it be better to start gaining from “10%”
(I know it’s just a number and everyone looks different at the same level) and once around 15% re-comp or diet again back down etc?

I know my goal is size and strength, but feeling uncomfortable with my current body fat, If I just “gain” I will approach 20% body fat, I’m already soft at this weight/body fat.

I appreciate the advise i’m just feeling pretty shit with my current physique and am in this “for the long haul” so I understand it’s a slow process, that’s why I would like to look good “year round”.

8

[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:

[quote]The Recluse wrote:
Thank you, I’m trying by best with what I got! I understand that, but it’s very hard where I live.

Sorry for not making the question’s too clear. In England we don’t have some of the food choices In the US + The price costs a lot more here.

I think Carb wise I could just about get enough through potato’s, pastas and rice. + Vegetables. But I have never tried eating enough of them because I thought if I ate such a high carb and low protein diet I would pile the fat on.

I was just wondering if anyone had ideas for protein? Cause if I can gain on the shit I have been eating, I’d love to see how I gain with a more optimal diet.

If I can somehow get �£10-�£20 a week to buy some more food, what foods would you suggest?

I Don’t know if this is silly, but I have read about people getting “Sick” from eating more than 7 cans of tuna a week. If I ate 2-3 cans a day (tuna is cheap) that couldn’t be good from a health perspective?

Yeah I have always thought about eggs. But to eat enough eggs I’d have to throw away a lot of yokes and I’d feel pretty wasteful. Also get a lot of shit off my Mum for “wasting food when you’re complaining about not getting enough”.

Thank you for the egg advice, I will try and get hold of more this week.

The only other way would be to spend this money if I can get it that is, on a cheap low quality protein powder. But then drinking a shit tone of shakes can’t be half as good as whole food.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, I just thought someone would have some solutions.

Oh and lastly, the other question. Young/Newer people training (I.E me) Can they lose body fat whilst on a surplus if eating good quality foods?

[/quote]
The classic cheap way to get tons of calories is a gallon of whole milk a day + plus extra food as needed. I don’t know what prices are like across the pond… 20 pounds is about $30 in the US, and in my area the milk would cost $15/ week. one gallon would get you 2500 kcals, 130g protein, you could get the rest of your protein from eggs and tuna but you wouldn’t need as much. 2 cans of tuna would get you about 50g protein for 180g total.

The milk thing might not work out best, but my advice is whatever you do, buy in more bulk. Don’t buy more cans of tuna, just buy the bigger cans, usually the price per unit weight is better. Eggs are also good but it takes A LOT of them to get enough protein in.

Can you post prices of various foods in your area?

ps what are you throwing away the yolks for? It’s the best part[/quote]

(I don’t know if I am quoting right ahaha!)

Thank you Facepalm for trying to give me some solutions. I’m lactose, so I appreciate the idea, but I don’t think I could stomach that!

I think you miss read, I eat 4 eggs a day at the moment (eating the whole egg). But Yolo’s tip was to eat eggs, as they’re relatively cheap. I then said if I were to eat a lot of eggs, I would need to throw away the yokes because eating 6+ whole eggs would be a lot of fat?

9

dude Asda does 30 eggs for £3.

admittedly, they probably come from headless, syphilitic nightmare chickens but fuck it, if it’s all you can afford then go for it.

also, get a job.

10

I purchase all supplements in bulk from myprotein, including the peanut butter (its pretty good).

I have no idea why you are wanting to throw away the yolks of eggs?!

Just seems retarded as thats where the goodness is.

Asda do ridiculously low priced rice and pasta, used to get 5 kilos of pasta for £3 (don’t know current price cause im dieting)

Even oats are crazy cheap, i get 1 kilo for under 50p in Tesco.

Aldi do 1 kilo of chicken for £6.

Spar/RS Mccal, although i dont think you get RS MCall in England, do 2 litres of milk for 99p!

11

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
I purchase all supplements in bulk from myprotein, including the peanut butter (its pretty good).

I have no idea why you are wanting to throw away the yolks of eggs?!

Just seems retarded as thats where the goodness is.

Asda do ridiculously low priced rice and pasta, used to get 5 kilos of pasta for Ã?£3 (don’t know current price cause im dieting)

Even oats are crazy cheap, i get 1 kilo for under 50p in Tesco.

Aldi do 1 kilo of chicken for �£6.

Spar/RS Mccal, although i dont think you get RS MCall in England, do 2 litres of milk for 99p!
[/quote]

Thankyou for your input.
Yeah, I get the bags of rice at a good price.
It was more protein that were the issue, I will head down Aldi this week and have a look.

Thanks for taking the time to give your suggestions.

12

[quote]The Recluse wrote:

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
I purchase all supplements in bulk from myprotein, including the peanut butter (its pretty good).

I have no idea why you are wanting to throw away the yolks of eggs?!

Just seems retarded as thats where the goodness is.

Asda do ridiculously low priced rice and pasta, used to get 5 kilos of pasta for Ã??Ã?£3 (don’t know current price cause im dieting)

Even oats are crazy cheap, i get 1 kilo for under 50p in Tesco.

Aldi do 1 kilo of chicken for �?�£6.

Spar/RS Mccal, although i dont think you get RS MCall in England, do 2 litres of milk for 99p!
[/quote]

Thankyou for your input.
Yeah, I get the bags of rice at a good price.
It was more protein that were the issue, I will head down Aldi this week and have a look.

Thanks for taking the time to give your suggestions.
[/quote]

Might be easier/cheaper to get 5 kilos of unflavoured whey from myprotein than shelling out for chicken.

Should be under 40 quid and at 20g of protein a scoop its got good value.

I understand what it’s like though, couple of friends of mine can’t train more than 3 days a week cause they don’t get enough food to recover.

Their parents refuse to buy them cheap whole foods with their dig money and instead buy shit like cakes for themselves.

13

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]The Recluse wrote:

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
I purchase all supplements in bulk from myprotein, including the peanut butter (its pretty good).

I have no idea why you are wanting to throw away the yolks of eggs?!

Just seems retarded as thats where the goodness is.

Asda do ridiculously low priced rice and pasta, used to get 5 kilos of pasta for Ã???Ã??Ã?£3 (don’t know current price cause im dieting)

Even oats are crazy cheap, i get 1 kilo for under 50p in Tesco.

Aldi do 1 kilo of chicken for �??�?�£6.

Spar/RS Mccal, although i dont think you get RS MCall in England, do 2 litres of milk for 99p!
[/quote]

Thankyou for your input.
Yeah, I get the bags of rice at a good price.
It was more protein that were the issue, I will head down Aldi this week and have a look.

Thanks for taking the time to give your suggestions.
[/quote]

Might be easier/cheaper to get 5 kilos of unflavoured whey from myprotein than shelling out for chicken.

Should be under 40 quid and at 20g of protein a scoop its got good value.

I understand what it’s like though, couple of friends of mine can’t train more than 3 days a week cause they don’t get enough food to recover.

Their parents refuse to buy them cheap whole foods with their dig money and instead buy shit like cakes for themselves.[/quote]

Yeah, it’s all good. I have found some chicken and cheap whey protein to buy. Hopefully the protein isn’t a low quality one, with a shit load of fillers. Thank’s dude, think its gonna be all positive from here!

14

Wow. You seem like one of the most sincere people to ask for help in a while. I hope that some of the more experienced members (especially those familiar with low-budget BBing) give this thread a look. But, in the meanwhile, here’s my 2cents:

New lifter gaining muscle whilst losing fat (Skynett’s comment):
Numerous studies have shown that beginning lifters will automatically begin dropping fat whilst building muscle (in fact, many companies have abused this to say ‘supplement X helped these trainees build 5lbs of lean mass and drop 3lbs of fat in two months!’). Also, I can vouch for this, as when I first started lifting, even though my diet was still substandard, and my training was atrocious, I still managed to drop fat whilst gaining muscle. The body seems to do an automatic ‘recomp’ when it shifts from ‘sedentary’ to ‘lifter’. However, the question for you is, are you past this honeymoon phase? You seem to have made some decent gains already, and so I think it may be possible that the phase is over. But at the same time, the introduction of a clean diet might just have that effect for the first few months. To be honest, I don’t know, nor do I have enough experience to speculate, but it’s possible, and Skynett is also a pretty knowledgable dude (I’ve been reading these forums for a while).

You wanting to cut:
Fair warning, from what I have seen of the Tnation forums, you will probably get a bunch of people jumping on you for this, saying something like “don’t waste your years of greatest potential growing”. My opinion is slightly different, however. I think there are three main goals we can look at in your situation; ‘bodybuilder’, ‘physique athlete’ and ‘looking good for yourself’. Depending on which category you fall into, your actions from here on our should be adjusted accordingly (although, the first two goals could simply be seen as extensions of the third). For example, if you want to get ‘bodybuilder big’, then there is a lot of merit to the idea of packing on as much mass as possible whilst in these years of youth. If you prefer a more moderately-muscled ‘physique athlete/fitness model look’, then there is far less emphasis on packing on tons of mass. If you fall into the third category, then do what makes you happy and tell everyone else to get the fuck out. So my suggestion (based on logic) is; asses which of the three categories you fall into, and then adjust accordingly. However, I strongly believe that you should do what you most want to do. If you want to look good year-round, then don’t let someone bully you into bulking above 15% bf. I personally fall into the second of the two groups, and have been doing my best to put on mass, whilst not letting fat accumulate (I’m rarely above 11%, and spend most of my time in single digits). I know that this is definitely the slow way to do it, and most certainly not the most effective way to do it (many studies, and the opinions of many far more experienced members of this forum agree on this), but being a former fat boy, I prioritize not losing my ‘leanness’ as I would feel terrible. I can vouch for the fact that I have an easier time of staying lean (while on a surplus) if I am lean, and that it is possible to gain whilst maintaining those levels of ‘leanness’- but the gains are much SLOWER. So, in summary, assess the goal, choose an applicable path there, but also do what you’re comfortable with.

Good luck!
-Fyz

15

[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:

[quote]The Recluse wrote:
Thank you, I’m trying by best with what I got! I understand that, but it’s very hard where I live.

Sorry for not making the question’s too clear. In England we don’t have some of the food choices In the US + The price costs a lot more here.

I think Carb wise I could just about get enough through potato’s, pastas and rice. + Vegetables. But I have never tried eating enough of them because I thought if I ate such a high carb and low protein diet I would pile the fat on.

I was just wondering if anyone had ideas for protein? Cause if I can gain on the shit I have been eating, I’d love to see how I gain with a more optimal diet.

If I can somehow get �£10-�£20 a week to buy some more food, what foods would you suggest?

I Don’t know if this is silly, but I have read about people getting “Sick” from eating more than 7 cans of tuna a week. If I ate 2-3 cans a day (tuna is cheap) that couldn’t be good from a health perspective?

Yeah I have always thought about eggs. But to eat enough eggs I’d have to throw away a lot of yokes and I’d feel pretty wasteful. Also get a lot of shit off my Mum for “wasting food when you’re complaining about not getting enough”.

Thank you for the egg advice, I will try and get hold of more this week.

The only other way would be to spend this money if I can get it that is, on a cheap low quality protein powder. But then drinking a shit tone of shakes can’t be half as good as whole food.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, I just thought someone would have some solutions.

Oh and lastly, the other question. Young/Newer people training (I.E me) Can they lose body fat whilst on a surplus if eating good quality foods?

[/quote]
The classic cheap way to get tons of calories is a gallon of whole milk a day + plus extra food as needed. I don’t know what prices are like across the pond… 20 pounds is about $30 in the US, and in my area the milk would cost $15/ week. one gallon would get you 2500 kcals, 130g protein, you could get the rest of your protein from eggs and tuna but you wouldn’t need as much. 2 cans of tuna would get you about 50g protein for 180g total.

The milk thing might not work out best, but my advice is whatever you do, buy in more bulk. Don’t buy more cans of tuna, just buy the bigger cans, usually the price per unit weight is better. Eggs are also good but it takes A LOT of them to get enough protein in.

Can you post prices of various foods in your area?

ps what are you throwing away the yolks for? It’s the best part[/quote]

Are you recommending 2400 calories in addition to his solid foods?

16

Sound like you have the heart to get done what you need to get done.
As far as the fat from yolks, don’t worry about it.

17

eggs. cheap.

18

[quote]Fyzjin2 wrote:
Wow. You seem like one of the most sincere people to ask for help in a while. I hope that some of the more experienced members (especially those familiar with low-budget BBing) give this thread a look. But, in the meanwhile, here’s my 2cents:

New lifter gaining muscle whilst losing fat (Skynett’s comment):
Numerous studies have shown that beginning lifters will automatically begin dropping fat whilst building muscle (in fact, many companies have abused this to say ‘supplement X helped these trainees build 5lbs of lean mass and drop 3lbs of fat in two months!’). Also, I can vouch for this, as when I first started lifting, even though my diet was still substandard, and my training was atrocious, I still managed to drop fat whilst gaining muscle. The body seems to do an automatic ‘recomp’ when it shifts from ‘sedentary’ to ‘lifter’. However, the question for you is, are you past this honeymoon phase? You seem to have made some decent gains already, and so I think it may be possible that the phase is over. But at the same time, the introduction of a clean diet might just have that effect for the first few months. To be honest, I don’t know, nor do I have enough experience to speculate, but it’s possible, and Skynett is also a pretty knowledgable dude (I’ve been reading these forums for a while).

You wanting to cut:
Fair warning, from what I have seen of the Tnation forums, you will probably get a bunch of people jumping on you for this, saying something like “don’t waste your years of greatest potential growing”. My opinion is slightly different, however. I think there are three main goals we can look at in your situation; ‘bodybuilder’, ‘physique athlete’ and ‘looking good for yourself’. Depending on which category you fall into, your actions from here on our should be adjusted accordingly (although, the first two goals could simply be seen as extensions of the third). For example, if you want to get ‘bodybuilder big’, then there is a lot of merit to the idea of packing on as much mass as possible whilst in these years of youth. If you prefer a more moderately-muscled ‘physique athlete/fitness model look’, then there is far less emphasis on packing on tons of mass. If you fall into the third category, then do what makes you happy and tell everyone else to get the fuck out. So my suggestion (based on logic) is; asses which of the three categories you fall into, and then adjust accordingly. However, I strongly believe that you should do what you most want to do. If you want to look good year-round, then don’t let someone bully you into bulking above 15% bf. I personally fall into the second of the two groups, and have been doing my best to put on mass, whilst not letting fat accumulate (I’m rarely above 11%, and spend most of my time in single digits). I know that this is definitely the slow way to do it, and most certainly not the most effective way to do it (many studies, and the opinions of many far more experienced members of this forum agree on this), but being a former fat boy, I prioritize not losing my ‘leanness’ as I would feel terrible. I can vouch for the fact that I have an easier time of staying lean (while on a surplus) if I am lean, and that it is possible to gain whilst maintaining those levels of ‘leanness’- but the gains are much SLOWER. So, in summary, assess the goal, choose an applicable path there, but also do what you’re comfortable with.

Good luck!
-Fyz[/quote]

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. It does mean a lot.
That’s exactly my thought (recomping). So I really hoped the experienced people on here would be able to help me out a bit. I know it may be a silly question for some, but everyone starts somewhere.

I haven’t really thought about physique or being a bodybuilder, considering my age and my interests may change. But I started going to the gym because it has helped me a great deal with aggression/anger and stress. When I train, I’m in my own world. I love the feeling I get when working out. That’s why I have asked for some nutritional advise, because, dare I say it, (I hate the word)! I feel “Over-trained” because there are times where I do not recover. But I still train regardless because I love it so much. It’s the only thing that keeps me positive.

The goals I set myself like many, was to get “big and strong”. But because i’m in it for the long haul, I don’t mind if the changes to my physique take time. So I have a few numbers I wan’t to reach with some movements. But I also have a clear image in my head of what I want to achieve in my physique.

Just in my opinion, I personally would like to feel happy with my physique year round. (obviously have times where you get a bit blurry in places). But other times in the year where you are a lot leaner. I have never wanted to get to a ridiculously low body fat. But low enough to see a few cuts and to actually have some visible abs. Because I personally believe I will feel a lot more confident in myself, which will help me in other areas in life also. Also it will let me know I CAN diet/recomp successfully.

I am going to gradually up the calories now and see if it makes some changes to my body/mood. Heck maybe I will sleep better, that would be nice for once! I just don’t really like the idea of gaining more body fat when I’m already well over 15% and feel unhappy in myself.

But yeah, I apologize for the long winded reply, think I got to the point eventually!

Thank’s Fyz!

19

You need to get your protein intake taken care of everyday. I tried budgeting too and eating really cheap chicken breast, but got fed up with it. It takes awhile to cook a lot of it, it takes even longer to eat it, and when you’re on you 600th gram plus of it for the day it ain’t appetizing.

If you can find CHEAP sources of whey I recommend going with it and mostly drinking your protein intake. Compare the price:gram-of-protein ratio (100g of chicken is nearly 25g of protein so you can usually compare one scoop to 100 g of chicken). Some people complain about gas when doing this; my first week of downing mostly shakes did induce a lot of gas but my body is ok with it now.

Get your food taken care of.
Set some serious training goals and work towards them (stay on a program giving you gains, start small, add gradually).
Get your recovery taken care (vitamins and sleep).

BTW I started taking cold showers twice a day two weeks ago and have noticed HUGE improvements in my sleep. Normally it took me forever to fall asleep and a lot of my time was spent in that half-asleep-half-awake limbo. Not anymore.

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And remember, whatever you decide to do, staying dedicated and on task EVERY DAY is the most important aspect. That means getting your sleep every night, watching your food intake (making sure to get enough, backing off when getting too much) and not skipping your training.

If you can do that the details aren’t nearly as important…