Diet Help

[Blake008]

im 5'9, 165lbs and approx 15%BF.
Diet sucks and needs help tweaking for mass and muscle gains.
I work 24hours on/ 24 off with my full time job...and 12 hour shifts in a car part time, so its kinda hard to have quality meals when my jobs always have me on the go.

Mornings are a typical breakfast of eggs, wheat toast, grits and OJ.

Lunch (if i get one) is usually quick fast food or something and a protein shake if possiable.

Afternoons we usually have big meals, steak, rice and gravy, etc. Basically all the crap i shouldnt be eating if i want quality meals.

I am a full time firefighter, and we arent allowed to leave the station at all unless we go on calls.... so anything i we eat, is 99% of the time cooked there for 8 people. I work out hard at the ststion about 2 hours a day. I am lacking on cardio. I do have a post-workout protein shake, as well as one during the morning. I take L-Argenine and Beta Alanine, Glutamine, and Creatine.

I know my diet absolutely SUCKS. I am reading more in the "diet" portion of this forum. I just joined up today and wish i would have been able to find this site about 2 months ago!

[baseline_9]

im 5'9, 165lbs and approx 15%BF.
Diet sucks and needs help tweaking for mass and muscle gains.
I work 24hours on/ 24 off with my full time job...and 12 hour shifts in a car part time, so its kinda hard to have quality meals when my jobs always have me on the go.

Mornings are a typical breakfast of eggs, wheat toast, grits and OJ.

Lunch (if i get one) is usually quick fast food or something and a protein shake if possiable.

Afternoons we usually have big meals, steak, rice and gravy, etc. Basically all the crap i shouldnt be eating if i want quality meals.

I am a full time firefighter, and we arent allowed to leave the station at all unless we go on calls.... so anything i we eat, is 99% of the time cooked there for 8 people. I work out hard at the ststion about 2 hours a day. I am lacking on cardio. I do have a post-workout protein shake, as well as one during the morning. I take L-Argenine and Beta Alanine, Glutamine, and Creatine.

I know my diet absolutely SUCKS. I am reading more in the "diet" portion of this forum. I just joined up today and wish i would have been able to find this site about 2 months ago!

It would be nice to see you eating 6 meals per day.... any chance you can take in some aditional chicken in a tupaware tub... you can then just snack on your chicken throughout the day.....

A shake is a poor meal IMO... especially if it is just whey...


I think what you need to do is aim to get your calories around your maintanance level, maybe a little higher and try to do a bit of a body-recomp... basically gain muscle and loose fat at the same time.... I do think this would be possibe in your case from what I have read so far...


So some simple guidelines.... I am sorry I dont have a load of time but sum1 will help you out for sure.... dont go elsewhere...


6 meals a day...

Lean protein sources in each meal (chicken, fish, egg whites, lean beef)

good complex carbs around training (oats, sweet potato rice)

healty fats at other times (Olive Oil, fish oils, nuts, naturall peanut butter, fatty fish)


Train with weights 3-5 times per week, keep it intense

Get your cardio sorted.... Start with 30 mins 3-5 tims per week and build it up...



Sorry bro, need sleep....

Sum1 will b bak for ya soon tho

[Blake008]

Thanks Baseline! I appreciate the help and suggestions especially when youre crunched for time. Im going to start asap. Looking forward to other pionters. Thanks!

[Nephets]

I think if you look at the other diets on this board you can get a pretty good idea of what you should be eating. The types of food, the timing of the meals, the macros that make up the meals. I would suggest you try to make up your own diet based on the best foods you have available to you and the times that you would be able to eat them. Please include the macros fir each meal. I think that would be a much better starting point for us to start tweaking your diet. Try for 6 meals with protein in each. Do your best not to depend on shakes as a protein source. I wouldn't go over 2 a day.

[gbrice75]

Just for reference and some possible ideas, have a look below at one of my standard diets:



GB's Current Diet:

PROTEIN/CARBS/FAT/TOTAL CALORIES

MEAL 1 - PRE-WORKOUT
4:30am

Premier protein shake - 30/5/3/160
1 cup oats - 10/52/5/280
1 Extra Large Whole Egg - 7/0/5/90
1/2 cup liquid egg whites - 12/2/0/60
1/2 cup blueberries - 0/10/0/40

TOTALS: 60/70/12.5/620

5:30am - WORKOUT, followed by 1 hour cardio

MEAL 2 - POST WORKOUT
7:30am

1 cup oats - 10/52/5/280
2 scoops Myofusion - 50/10/6/315

TOTAL: 60/60/11/600

MEAL 3
10:00am

6oz Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast - 36/0/2.5/165
7oz Sweet Potato - 3/35/0/150
1 Cup Green Beans - 1/4/0/20

TOTALS: 40/40/2/350

MEAL 4
1:00pm

4oz 95/5 Lean Ground Beef - 35/0/7/200
1/2 cup (a little over) Brown Rice - 5/40/1/180
1/4 cup tomato sauce - 0/3/0/12
2 cups baby spinach - 2/2/0/15

TOTALS: 40/45/8/415

MEAL 5
4:00pm

3/4 cup 1% Milk Fat Cottage Cheese, No Sodium Added: 20/7.5/2.5/135
1 scoop ON 100% Casein - 24/3/1/120
2tbsp PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter - 4/6/1/50

TOTALS: 50/15/4/300

MEAL 6
7:00pm

6oz Broiled Tilapia - 35/0/3/165
1 cup broccoli - 3/6/0/30
1tsp EVOO - 0/0/5/45

TOTALS: 40/6/8/235

MEAL 7
10:00pm

1 cup 1% Milk Fat Cottage Cheese, No Sodium Added: 26/10/3/180

TOTALS: 26/10/3/180 (could add more fats here but happy with totals as is)

DAILY TOTALS: 315/250/50/2700

46% protein, 37% carbs, 17% fat