High day/low day diet for lean bulking/fat loss

[keth'naab]

I'm 5'9, 212 lbs, age 34, 20+ years lifting experience. I estimate my bodyfat somewhere around 18-20%
(pics here: A least muscular and a flabdominal shot...I think I have gyno :( )

The goal is to try to regain my lost glory. :P

I was in pretty darn good shape prior to shoulder surgery about 5-6 years ago, so I'm counting on muscle memory helping me to regain some muscle, and I'm hoping the diet will be supportive enough to regain the muscle while providing enough of a calorie deficit along with the cardio to burn some bodyfat slowly but surely.

I have tried several of those BMR type calculators, and they end up having me somewhere in the 3500-4000 kcal/daily for maintenance, which just ain't right. Damn shame, as I could hit that up with a smile on my face, but it just seems way too high to me. Perhaps if I was using anabolics and some strong thermogenics, I would need to eat like that.

so I figured I'd plug my lean bodyweight into things instead of my actual bodyweight and I come up with a nice round 3000 assuming heavy activity (3003, actually).

since I know that my metabolism is a bit slower, I figure I'll shoot for 2900 being maintenance calories. My body tends to do a bit better on higher protein, so I'm looking at 45-50% of my kcal from protein, with associated fats and added EFAs from all-natural peanut butter and flaxseed oil.
Carbs will be clean, brown rice and oats. Dairy will be of the nonfat/skim variety, including yogurt (unflavored/unsweetened) and cottage cheese. Lots of protein powder.

Here is the Monday-Wednesday-Friday diet. I do cardio first thing in the morning and last thing before bedtime. I lift weights in the afternoon, so 3 workouts/day on these days, and these days, I hit my target maintenace calorie expenditure. The other 4 days, I drop carbs pretty low and end up about 600 kcal below target maintenance. I do 2x/day cardio on those days, except Sundays I take off entirely.

so here it is.

"High" day

morning cardio

Meal 1
1/4c brown rice
8 oz round or flank steak
51g pro/41g carb/13g fat/500 kcal

Meal 2 (pre-workout)
1/2c oatmeal
1T ANPB
1 scoop whey
1c skim milk
39/44/13/458

lunch - iron

Meal 3 (PWO drink)
1/8c dextrose
1/8c maltodextrin
2 scoops Isopure
50/50/1/420

Meal 4 (power pudding)
1/2c plain skim yogurt (no sugar added)
1/2c plain skim cottage cheese
1 scoop whey
1T flax oil
44/17/16/401

Meal 5
6 oz chicken breast
high fiber, low-cal veggies (Broccoli, cauli, asparagas, etc)
1T flax
45/12/23/450

Meal 6 (pre-cardio)

1/2c oatmeal
1 scoop whey
1T ANPB
1c skim
39/41/15/458

during night, I fill up a shaker with 2 scoops Isopure, some water and a bunch of ice, and each time I take a leak, I drink it. By the time it's morning, it's finished. Great way to stay hydrated and stave off catabolism, especially since I *must* do fasted cardio each morning. The fast is carb-only overnight.

total daily calories and ratios and whatnot:

318g protein (45%), 210g carbs (30%), 79g fat (25%), 2900 kcal

on the non-lifting days (2x cardio still), I hit 306 (53%), 117 (20%) and 68 (27%) for 2374 kcal.

On the non-lifting days, I basically drop 3/4c of the 1c of oatmeal I eat on a lifting day, as well as dropping 1T of ANPB, and I get rid of the dextrose/maltodextrin in the normal PWO (I still drink the isopure for the protein though.)

then sunday I sit on my rump and eat like a non-lifting day.

supps include glucorell-R, sesamax, EPH/caffeine 3-4x daily, 2T Barleans flax, and of course, the venerable multi-vit/mineral, as well as Iron-Tek and Isopure whey protein.

Weight training is a variation of HST. I do morning cardio at a relatively moderate pace (lvl 6-8 on the Stepmill), evening cardio is HIIT (lvl 6/lvl 15 intervals) on the Stepmill.

Already made quite a few changes to the diet, including dumping my beloved BBQ sauce (sigh). This is the latest/greatest version.

anyway, any more advice would be greatly appreciated.

[keth'naab]

14 looks...no love.

[xtinaunasty]

woops...just replied to your pics thread. you look great!! But here are my suggestions for your diet (in bold):

Meal 1
1/4c brown rice
8 oz round or flank steak I would make this egg whites, or chicken
51g pro/41g carb/13g fat/500 kcal

Meal 2 (pre-workout)
1/2c oatmeal
1T ANPB Remove this, IMO
1 scoop whey
1c skim milk
39/44/13/458

lunch - iron

Meal 3 (PWO drink)
1/8c dextrose
1/8c maltodextrin
2 scoops Isopure
50/50/1/420

Meal 4 (power pudding)
1/2c plain skim yogurt (no sugar added)
1/2c plain skim cottage cheese
1 scoop whey
1T flax oil
44/17/16/401
That pudding shit sounds pretty good! But you need more carbs here, less fat. So I would move the oatmeal from meal 6 to this meal and remove the flax here

Meal 5
6 oz chicken breast
high fiber, low-cal veggies (Broccoli, cauli, asparagas, etc)
1T flax
45/12/23/450

Meal 6 (pre-cardio)

1/2c oatmeal I would move this to meal 4 and remove the flax from that meal
1 scoop whey
1T ANPB
1c skim
39/41/15/458

I think with the adjustments I suggested you end up with fewer calories. I think you need to injest something after cardio anyway...so you could add another scoop of whey w/a tbsp of PB after cardio.

[keth'naab]

hey, thanks for the encouragement and help! Inline comments are italicized and underlined

Originally Posted by keth'naab
Meal 1
1/4c brown rice
8 oz round or flank steak I would make this egg whites, or chicken EEPS!! I gotta have at least 1 hunk of dead cow daily or I get weak. I dunno what it is, but if i don't eat red meat, I swear I become a little ball of meow-juice. I tried blowing off beef before, but...must...have...cow...bloody....
51g pro/41g carb/13g fat/500 kcal

Meal 2 (pre-workout)
1/2c oatmeal
1T ANPB Remove this, IMO yeah, was kinda considering it. I've been a bit "heavy-gutted" for almost 2 hours after this lil' diddy...tastes good, filling as heck, but too filling for pre-workout methinks
1 scoop whey
1c skim milk
39/44/13/458

lunch - iron

Meal 3 (PWO drink)
1/8c dextrose
1/8c maltodextrin
2 scoops Isopure
50/50/1/420

Meal 4 (power pudding)
1/2c plain skim yogurt (no sugar added)
1/2c plain skim cottage cheese
1 scoop whey
1T flax oil
44/17/16/401
That pudding shit sounds pretty good! But you need more carbs here, less fat. So I would move the oatmeal from meal 6 to this meal and remove the flax hereOkay, that sounds reasonable. Now, are you saying to basically do a switcheroo-ski, or just a sub?

i.e. replace the flax in this meal with the oatmeal, or just trade meal 4 for meal 6?

Meal 5
6 oz chicken breast
high fiber, low-cal veggies (Broccoli, cauli, asparagas, etc)
1T flax
45/12/23/450

Meal 6 (pre-cardio)

1/2c oatmeal I would move this to meal 4 and remove the flax from that meal
1 scoop whey
1T ANPB
1c skim
39/41/15/458

I think with the adjustments I suggested you end up with fewer calories. I think you need to injest something after cardio anyway...so you could add another scoop of whey w/a tbsp of PB after cardio.

hurm...so after the evening cardio, have a scoop of whey with the ANPB and move the oatmeal to meal 4? lesse what I come up with...

[keth'naab]

Meal 1
1/4c brown rice
8 oz round or flank steak (can't get rid of the cow..., besides, its cheap!)
51g pro/41g carb/13g fat/500 kcal

Meal 2 (pre-workout)
1/2c oatmeal
1 scoop whey
1c skim milk
35/41/4.5/354

lunch - iron

Meal 3 (PWO drink)
1/8c dextrose
1/8c maltodextrin
2 scoops Isopure
50/50/1/420

Meal 4 (power pudding)
1/2c plain skim yogurt (no sugar added)
1/2c plain skim cottage cheese
1 scoop whey
1/2c oatmeal
49/44/4/420

Meal 5
6 oz chicken breast
high fiber, low-cal veggies (Broccoli, cauli, asparagas, etc)
1T flax
45/12/23/450

Meal 6 (post cardio)
1 scoop whey
1T ANPB
29/3/8.5/211

daily totals:

309g pro (49%), 191g CHO (30.5%) 56g fat (20.5%), total kcal 2568

hurm...now that is interesting. I get about the same protein, and still cut my kcal down by about 350 daily. That's an extra pound of fat every 10 days, hopefully!

1T ANPB + 1T flax....will that be enough EFAs for me during the day? That is a bit of a concern with me.

thanks again, I think I am liking the ideas!