High day/low day diet for lean bulking/fat loss
I'm 5'9, 212 lbs, age 34, 20+ years lifting experience. I estimate my bodyfat somewhere around 18-20%
(pics here: http://forums.steroid.com/members-pictures/220330-least-muscular-flabdominal-shot-i-think-i-have-gyno.html )
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.
