Critique my diet please.

[Livinlean]

Beware: Long post.

Stats
5'10
190
7.8%BF
Age 21
Training 5 years on/off. 3 years hard. By hard I mean minimum 5-6 days at the gym and most of the time 7 days.

A little background about me is below...

Alright to start off about 7 months ago I embarked on a cycle of Test p and Tren A. I ran Test at 450mg and tren at 300mg. I was 188 @ 15%BF After 4 weeks I was 204 @ 18%BF. At that point the sides had gotten so bad I couldn't even sleep cause of the tren at that point I completely dropped the tren and took 2 more shots of test P just so that the test was in my system longer than the tren. I ran clomid/nolva PCT and got bloodwork 2 months after finishing PCT. I was upfront with my doc about everything and he said all my levels looked perfectly fine (what a relief).

So at that point I thought the bad sides were from my high BF%, I went from 204 @ 18%BF to 191 @ 7.8%BF in about 6 months and that is where I sit at now. So now I am trying to pack on some more muscle the natural way.

So now onto my diet, it is pretty much the exact same as I've been following for the past 3-4 months with the exception of adding flax seed oil and mixed nuts.

Format used = xx protein/xx carbs/ xx fat/ xx cals

9:30 am Meal 1 (Shake)
8 egg whites
25 almonds
cup oats
TBSP Flax seed oil
1 banana
2 scoops protein
cup of water
108/145/29/1369

10-12 Workout
1.5hrs weight training
30 mins cardio (one day HIIT, next day step mill)

12:15 pm Meal 2 (Shake)
1 1/2 cup 1% milk
2 scoops whey
62/24/5.5/389

1:30 pm Meal 3
Pasta (rotini&penne)
1/2 chicken breast
39/122/5/670

2 glasses water @ 3pm

4:30 pm Meal 4
2 slices bread
1/2 chicken breast
mixed nuts
31/39/27/520

2 glasses water @ 530pm

7:00 pm Meal 5
Fettuccine
chicken breast
42/54/3/410

2 glasses water @9pm

10:30 Meal 6 Bedtime shake
1 1/2 cup 1% milk
2 scoops whey
1 TBSP flax seed oil
62/24/17.5/519

So the total for my diet comes out to 344 protein, 408 carbs, 97 fat for 3877 cals. Keep in mind that besides adding mixed nuts to meal 4 and flax seed oil to meal 6, This is the diet I've been following for the past 3-4 months and it has helped me shred a lot of fat.

This is the first time I have ever wrote out my diet and I didn't realize how much I was consuming. I thought my carbs and protein were lower and fat was higher and I estimated around 3000 cals not 4000. So I learnt a lot by writing this out lol.

I don't know too much about dieting which is why I posted on here.. What do you guys think about my diet? What jumps out to me is the first meal a lot of protein and carbs compared to all other meals but I have been using that shake for about 5 months and it gives me a lot of extra energy at the gym to lift those heavy weight.

[Livinlean]

Goal is to pack on lean muscle. Only supps I take are glutamine at morning and night and caffeine before my workout @ 200mg.

[gbrice75]

You sure you're in the 7% range? Do you have pics to show that? 190lbs @ 5'10 and 7% BF... you gotta be pretty thick.

TBH I think your diet kinda stinks. I'll elaborate more later, but if you can get to 7% BF with that diet, God bless you - i'd be fat as fvck. Also not sure why you're cycling w/ tren nonetheless @ 21 years old, but we'll leave that alone for now. How the hell did you add bodyfat on a tren cycle?

[Livinlean]

You sure you're in the 7% range? Do you have pics to show that? 190lbs @ 5'10 and 7% BF... you gotta be pretty thick.

TBH I think your diet kinda stinks. I'll elaborate more later, but if you can get to 7% BF with that diet, God bless you - i'd be fat as fvck. Also not sure why you're cycling w/ tren nonetheless @ 21 years old, but we'll leave that alone for now. How the hell did you add bodyfat on a tren cycle?

I used calipers and my results came to about 9% but I used only a 3 spot test. A friend of mine who is a personal trainer did a 9 spot test (I think) and it came to 8.2 and recently to 7.8. I was advised to take test P and tren A because I needed something that would kick in fast and be out of my system fast so I didn't test positive, truthfully I will never take tren again lol. Why do you think the diet stinks?

I wouldn't classify myself as 7% tho, more like 8 :P

[Livinlean]

I forgot to mention while I was cutting I was doing an hour of cardio not 30 mins. I downed it to 30 mins now because I want to pack on some more weight. Ontop of that I do MMA twice a week and Ice hockey 3 times a week.

I currently don't have any pictures of myself besides my avatar but I can try to take some soon.

[gbrice75]

Protein is kind of high but not a big deal. At your stats, 300g is plenty - that's more than 1.5g/lb of LBM. Carbs are excessively high IMO. If both came down, overall calories would obviously come down as well, which I also think are high.

As you already pointed out - meal 1 is ridiculous. 1/3 of your daily calories in a single meal - unnecessary. I'd literally cut the P/C/F in half. I'd drop the almonds and add a whole egg. I'd remove the flax all together, or replace with fish oils.

I don't like all the milk, but maybe you do ok with it, alot of people don't tolerate it well. I'd at least swap it for skim however. I'd completely remove it before bed, and again i'd swap ALL your flax out for fish oils. Flax is not a good omega-3 source despite what alot of people believe.

I'd swap all they whey for a protein blend (i.e. whey, casein, egg albumin, etc) with the possible exception of PWO - even then it wouldn't be a bad idea IMO. Also no green veggies at all.

Hardly any variation in protein sources, i.e. no beef or fish.

Again, if this diet is working as well as you say it is, then I wouldn't change a single thing until it starts to stall. Then consider some of the changes i've suggested.

[gbrice75]

I forgot to mention while I was cutting I was doing an hour of cardio not 30 mins. I downed it to 30 mins now because I want to pack on some more weight. Ontop of that I do MMA twice a week and Ice hockey 3 times a week.

I currently don't have any pictures of myself besides my avatar but I can try to take some soon.

Good that you're still doing cardio. The idea that cardio is counter productive to building muscle is asinine. 'smart' cardio can only help things.

[Livinlean]

Protein is kind of high but not a big deal. At your stats, 300g is plenty - that's more than 1.5g/lb of LBM. Carbs are excessively high IMO. If both came down, overall calories would obviously come down as well, which I also think are high.

As you already pointed out - meal 1 is ridiculous. 1/3 of your daily calories in a single meal - unnecessary. I'd literally cut the P/C/F in half. I'd drop the almonds and add a whole egg. I'd remove the flax all together, or replace with fish oils.

I don't like all the milk, but maybe you do ok with it, alot of people don't tolerate it well. I'd at least swap it for skim however. I'd completely remove it before bed, and again i'd swap ALL your flax out for fish oils. Flax is not a good omega-3 source despite what alot of people believe.

I'd swap all they whey for a protein blend (i.e. whey, casein, egg albumin, etc) with the possible exception of PWO - even then it wouldn't be a bad idea IMO. Also no green veggies at all.

Hardly any variation in protein sources, i.e. no beef or fish.

Again, if this diet is working as well as you say it is, then I wouldn't change a single thing until it starts to stall. Then consider some of the changes i've suggested.

Well at this point I am feeling that this diet is starting to stall I'm not getting the results I once was. So I will make some of the changes you said.

I didn't add the veggies I eat in the diet, I do eat some but not a lot. I usually have 2 salads a day fairly small. One is usually mid day with the 2 glasses of water and another is with Meal 5. The salads are always different as my mom is a chef and brings home whatever is left over that day.

As for protein variation my meal 5 at 7pm is sometimes switched to a steak or salmon but that's only on days when my mom cooks dinner, when I'm cooking I like to keep things simple.

So I will switch out 1% milk for skim, Buy fish oil instead of the flax seed oil, and use casein in any shake which isn't after my workout.

Why do you say get rid of the almonds and add a whole egg? For my breakfast shake I will take 1 scoop of whey instead of 2 and 1/2cup of oats instead of a full cup.

If I am cutting some of my foods out wont that be counter productive because I am trying to gain weight? I was personally thinking of adding some more food in there lol.

[Livinlean]

Good that you're still doing cardio. The idea that cardio is counter productive to building muscle is asinine. 'smart' cardio can only help things.

Whether it be counter productive or not, I have to keep my endurance up for MMA and Ice hockey so I would never cut out my cardio. And I completely agree "smart" cardio can only help things. I remember reading somewhere that doing cardio after weight training puts you into an anabolic state allowing your body to absorb nutrients better, Don't know the validity to it tho.

[gbrice75]

Why do you say get rid of the almonds and add a whole egg? For my breakfast shake I will take 1 scoop of whey instead of 2 and 1/2cup of oats instead of a full cup.

Just trying to get the total fat content of the meal down, but adding a whole egg in there for the full spectrum amino's, whole eggs are a wonderful protein source and I never do an egg meal with whites only - not that whites only are bad, but yolks are full of nutrients amd 4.5g fat from a whole egg > some fats from nuts IMO.

If I am cutting some of my foods out wont that be counter productive because I am trying to gain weight? I was personally thinking of adding some more food in there lol.

All depends on your caloric needs. Somehow I doubt you need more than 4000 calories to add weight, but you say you were burning bodyfat on this diet so who knows. Maybe you have a sick metabolism, but people like that don't usually get up to 18% bodyfat so you're a strange case lol!

[Livinlean]

Just trying to get the total fat content of the meal down, but adding a whole egg in there for the full spectrum amino's, whole eggs are a wonderful protein source and I never do an egg meal with whites only - not that whites only are bad, but yolks are full of nutrients amd 4.5g fat from a whole egg > some fats from nuts IMO.

Alright I will take your advice on that. I will cut out the almonds and add a whole egg. Should I add 2 or will 1 suffice?

All depends on your caloric needs. Somehow I doubt you need more than 4000 calories to add weight, but you say you were burning bodyfat on this diet so who knows. Maybe you have a sick metabolism, but people like that don't usually get up to 18% bodyfat so you're a strange case lol!

Well when I was at that high of a BF I was taking weight gainers with absurdly high amounts of sugar and fat probably twice a day thats like 3000 calories right there. I was more into the power lifting scene as I wanted to out lift all my buddies and wanted to catch up to some of my cousins who compete as power lifters. My diet was sh!t I was eating fast food once a day, and thats a minimum of once a day loll. I totally changed my perspective of what I wanted to look like.. I was more into showing off infront of my friends but now I'm more into living the healthy lifestyle, plus my gf likes it better this way lolll!

[gbrice75]

Alright I will take your advice on that. I will cut out the almonds and add a whole egg. Should I add 2 or will 1 suffice?

Depends - how much of the fat in that meal is coming from just the almonds currently?

Well when I was at that high of a BF I was taking weight gainers with absurdly high amounts of sugar and fat probably twice a day thats like 3000 calories right there. I was more into the power lifting scene as I wanted to out lift all my buddies and wanted to catch up to some of my cousins who compete as power lifters. My diet was sh!t I was eating fast food once a day, and thats a minimum of once a day loll.

Got it!

I totally changed my perspective of what I wanted to look like.. I was more into showing off infront of my friends but now I'm more into living the healthy lifestyle, plus my gf likes it better this way lolll!

I like your new style better too.

[Livinlean]

Depends - how much of the fat in that meal is coming from just the almonds currently?

14 from almonds, 11 oats, 12 flax seed, 2 protein.

I like your new style better too.

Loll yea, i'm glad I realized it at a younger age I don't think I would have lost that BF as easily if I was older.

[gbrice75]

14 from almonds, 11 oats, 12 flax seed, 2 protein.

So dropping the almonds and cutting the oats in half will bring you to 18g, assuming you're keeping the flax (I wouldn't). I'd drop the flax and add just a few grams of fish oils - 3-4g. Then you can easily get away with adding 2 whole eggs which will bump fat back up by 9g.

Loll yea, i'm glad I realized it at a younger age I don't think I would have lost that BF as easily if I was older.

LoL, i'm 35 and I can promise you you're right! I'm struggling like a motha fvcka with a few stubborn areas (lower back is one as you can clearly see in my avy).

[Windex]

Protein is kind of high but not a big deal. At your stats, 300g is plenty - that's more than 1.5g/lb of LBM. Carbs are excessively high IMO. If both came down, overall calories would obviously come down as well, which I also think are high.

As you already pointed out - meal 1 is ridiculous. 1/3 of your daily calories in a single meal - unnecessary. I'd literally cut the P/C/F in half. I'd drop the almonds and add a whole egg. I'd remove the flax all together, or replace with fish oils.

I don't like all the milk, but maybe you do ok with it, alot of people don't tolerate it well. I'd at least swap it for skim however. I'd completely remove it before bed, and again i'd swap ALL your flax out for fish oils. Flax is not a good omega-3 source despite what alot of people believe.

I'd swap all they whey for a protein blend (i.e. whey, casein, egg albumin, etc) with the possible exception of PWO - even then it wouldn't be a bad idea IMO. Also no green veggies at all.

Hardly any variation in protein sources, i.e. no beef or fish.

Again, if this diet is working as well as you say it is, then I wouldn't change a single thing until it starts to stall. Then consider some of the changes i've suggested.

What's wrong with this ? I get all my protein from 3 sources: Chicken, Eggs, Egg Whites.

[gbrice75]

What's wrong with this ? I get all my protein from 3 sources: Chicken, Eggs, Egg Whites.

Not really saying it's wrong per se, just stating what I don't personally like about it.

In my experience, this lack of variation leads most people to either cheat/binge, or give up completely. Now, the OP doesn't sound like that kind of person so it's probably no big deal in his case. You know me, I nit pick.

Technically speaking, we can get into digestion rate, different nutrients (beef for instance is rich in creatine), differing amino profiles, etc.

[Livinlean]

So dropping the almonds and cutting the oats in half will bring you to 18g, assuming you're keeping the flax (I wouldn't). I'd drop the flax and add just a few grams of fish oils - 3-4g. Then you can easily get away with adding 2 whole eggs which will bump fat back up by 9g.

I will cut my Flax in half and add in some fish oil until the flax is done at that point I will use just fish oil. When I stop using the flax I will bump up my whole egg intake up from 1 to 2.

Before bed I will remove the milk and flax oil and sub in water and fish oil I will also use 1 scoop casein and 1 scoop whey instead of 2 scoops of whey. Hopefully this adjustments help me out in gaining some more muscle, if not than back to the drawing board.

Thanks for all your help gbrice!

[gbrice75]

They'll help tighten up your diet for sure, you won't make sloppy gains at least. If you're not making any gains, add more of the good stuff and less of the bad.