Diet Critique Please...

[rissinite]

Stats : 6'5", 222lbs

Lean Bulk Diet

Will sip a BCAA drink occasionally throughout the day. My lean Proteins will be either, Chicken Breast, Tilapia, Egg Whites or Ground Turkey Breast

5am
Fat-Burner, Acetyl L Carnitine, BCAAs

5:30am
Fast-paced walk for 45 min. (Cardio), then XTend BCAA drink right after Cardio

7:00am
Sirloin (About 50g Pro, 16g Fat) Multi Vitamin, Fish Oils

9:30am
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Lean Protein (50g) and ½ cup of rice or oats with Spinach or Green Beans

12:00
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Acetyl L Carnitine
Fat Burner
Lean Protein (50g) and ½ cup of rice or oats with Spinach or Green Beans

2:30pm
Lean Protein and ½ cup of rice or oats with Spinach or Green Beans

4:30pm
Assault Pre-workout drink (Zero carb) with BCAAs and Fat Burner included
Acetyl L Carnitine
Apple

5:00
Weights (Sipping XTend BCAA drink throughout)

Immediately Post-workout
40g of Whey, 80g of Dextrose in Water, with Glutamine

7;30
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Lean Protein (50g) and Sweet Potato or Rice or Oats (70g Carb) and Green Beans

10:00p
Multi-Vitamin
Fish Oils
Glutamine
Ground Turkey Breast (50g) and Almonds (16g fat)

340g Pro, 40g Fat, 225 Carb = 2,620 total Cals

[Turkish Juicer]

Before anything else, this is not a lean bulking cycle.

Let me break it to you:

- Your protein intake is way too high, you will be thinning your wallet and lot's of stress will be put on several internal organs that are involved (intestines/stomach, liver, kidneys) in digesting, synthesizing and filtering all the excess protein. Moreover, you won't attain your goal of putting on lean muscle mass by doing so. You should reduce your daily protein consumption to 240gr, even that is a pretty big number for your stats, trust me.

- You still need to eat over maintenance if you want to bulk, whether remaining natural or with help of chemicals, as creating a calorie surplus is the only way to bulk, whether lean or not. In mathematical terms, you'll need to eat more than 2.620 cals if you want to lean bulk, and assuming that your protein intake will be reduced, the rest will have to come from carbs and fats.

- You are relying on the supplements too much. They won't make miracles. It seems like you are into eating whole meals, so I would reconsider the relentless BCAA intake as it seems to only add to the absolutely unnecessary amount of protein you are currently eating everyday.

- You really need to calculate your TDEE, buddy. You are a big guy and I don't see how you think you can bulk with 2.620 cals. You'll definitely need to be eating more than 3200cals a day, that's for sure.

[rissinite]

Thanks for the insight. Much appreciated. I posted this because I really wanted to hear from someone that I should be taking in more Kcals. For so long I've followed a cutting diet around 2300 cals that it freaks me out to go up 1000kcals from where I've been. One question I do have, is do you account for the small amts of protein in things like oats, or traces of carbs in green beans, spinach? I've revised below, so please tell me what you think.

Stats : 6'5", 222lbs

Lean Bulk Diet

Will sip a BCAA drink occasionally throughout the day. My lean Proteins will be either, Chicken Breast, Tilapia, Egg Whites or Ground Turkey Breast

5am
Fat-Burner, Acetyl L Carnitine, BCAAs

5:30am
Fast-paced walk for 45 min. (Cardio), then XTend BCAA drink right after Cardio

7:00am
Sirloin and Almonds (About 40g Pro, 25g Fat) Multi Vitamin, Fish Oils

9:30am
Lean Protein (40g) and Almonds (25g Fat)

12:00
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Acetyl L Carnitine
Fat Burner
Lean Protein (40g) and rice or oats (80g) with Spinach or Green Beans

2:30pm
Lean Protein (40g) and rice or oats (80g) with Spinach or Green Beans

4:30pm
Assault Pre-workout drink (Zero carb) with BCAAs and Fat Burner included
Acetyl L Carnitine
Apple

5:00
Weights (Sipping XTend BCAA drink throughout)

Immediately Post-workout
35g of Whey, 70g of Dextrose in Water, with Glutamine

7;30
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Lean Protein (35g) and Sweet Potato or Rice or Oats (90g Carb) and Green Beans

10:00p
Multi-Vitamin
Fish Oils
Glutamine
Ground Turkey Breast (40g) and Almonds (25g fat)

270g Pro, 80g Fat, 350 Carb = 3200 total Cals

[JWP806]

For your last meal, you will probably want to eat some lean beef, cottage cheese or have a casein shake IMO.

[rissinite]

Really trying to get away from the powders I've relied on so heavily prior, and doing more whole foods. I thought about beef for the last meal, but wanted to stick to red meat once per day

[Noles12]

Really trying to get away from the powders I've relied on so heavily prior, and doing more whole foods. I thought about beef for the last meal, but wanted to stick to red meat once per day

If you want to stick to red meat once per day then switch your meats in the meals. Have the red meat at night and the turkey in the morning.

You want the slower acting protein while you are sleeping and not feeding

[FireGuy]

Caloric needs are based off of lean body mass not bodyweight. You did not specify what your bodyfat % was so trying to estimate how many calories you need without that information is purely a guess.

[rissinite]

My BF% is roughly 10% via calipers...

[FireGuy]

Run your diet for 3-4 weeks with the numbers you posted. Do another body comp and if you are gaining lean mass and not adding bodyfat then you know you are pretty close to where you need to be. If you are adding both lean and fat, scale the calories back a bit.

[--->>405<<---]

Before anything else, this is not a lean bulking cycle.

Let me break it to you:

- Your protein intake is way too high, you will be thinning your wallet and lot's of stress will be put on several internal organs that are involved (intestines/stomach, liver, kidneys) in digesting, synthesizing and filtering all the excess protein. Moreover, you won't attain your goal of putting on lean muscle mass by doing so. You should reduce your daily protein consumption to 240gr, even that is a pretty big number for your stats, trust me.

- You still need to eat over maintenance if you want to bulk, whether remaining natural or with help of chemicals, as creating a calorie surplus is the only way to bulk, whether lean or not. In mathematical terms, you'll need to eat more than 2.620 cals if you want to lean bulk, and assuming that your protein intake will be reduced, the rest will have to come from carbs and fats.

- You are relying on the supplements too much. They won't make miracles. It seems like you are into eating whole meals, so I would reconsider the relentless BCAA intake as it seems to only add to the absolutely unnecessary amount of protein you are currently eating everyday.

- You really need to calculate your TDEE, buddy. You are a big guy and I don't see how you think you can bulk with 2.620 cals. You'll definitely need to be eating more than 3200cals a day, that's for sure.

OP sorry to jack but ive seen this twice now and my interest is piqued. turkish i trust uve dun some good research on this subject and was wondering if ud point me in the direction of ur source of info for this? 1.5 - 2g pro per lb LBM has been what ive read from some pretty reliable sources but they are a few yrs old and was wondering if new studies have concluded contrary to this? i have experienced the stress on the liver and kidneys u r talkn bout during my carb cycle.. thx..

[AXx]

OP sorry to jack but ive seen this twice now and my interest is piqued. turkish i trust uve dun some good research on this subject and was wondering if ud point me in the direction of ur source of info for this? 1.5 - 2g pro per lb LBM has been what ive read from some pretty reliable sources but they are a few yrs old and was wondering if new studies have concluded contrary to this? i have experienced the stress on the liver and kidneys u r talkn bout during my carb cycle.. thx..

Yup me too, I'm intrigued!!

[Turkish Juicer]

OP sorry to jack but ive seen this twice now and my interest is piqued. turkish i trust uve dun some good research on this subject and was wondering if ud point me in the direction of ur source of info for this? 1.5 - 2g pro per lb LBM has been what ive read from some pretty reliable sources but they are a few yrs old and was wondering if new studies have concluded contrary to this? i have experienced the stress on the liver and kidneys u r talkn bout during my carb cycle.. thx..

Hey 405,

First of all, OP is trying to lean with a calorie deficit, I don't see how this is possible without the intake of enough carbs and fats to make up for the total number of calories he needs on a daily basis.

He is currently not on a cycle, which would have made a whole a lot of sense if he was running this diet while running a cutting cycle, 340gr of protein with low carbs and fats would have served his goal of maintaining and even building lean tissue while shredding BF%, with a hard and lean look.

To answer your question, yes, 1.5 - 2g pro per lb LBM is what a lifter should take. Although, you will find many experienced forum members here, between diet/fitness gurus and vets that even 2gr is TOO MUCH, especially if you are a natural. There has been a recent discussion of this topic in one of the threads where Narkissos and others have challenged 2gr pro per lb LBM with real life experience based strong rhetoric and I happen to quite agree to this myself. I don't see a growth in lean mass when I increase my protein intake from 1.5gr to 2 gr per lb LBM, unless I am on cycle. Moreover, some of the biggest guys I have met so far are those who seem to take less protein per lb LBM than most skinny gym rats, which is always an irony to me.

At any rate, my opinion is that OP is more likely to attain his goal of lean bulking with his revised ''270g Pro, 80g Fat, 350 Carb = 3200 total Cals'' as opposed to his initial ''340gr Pro, 40g Fat, 225 Carb = 2,620 total Cals'' proposition,

[--->>405<<---]

Hey 405,
At any rate, my opinion is that OP is more likely to attain his goal of lean bulking with his revised ''270g Pro, 80g Fat, 350 Carb = 3200 total Cals'' as opposed to his initial ''340gr Pro, 40g Fat, 225 Carb = 2,620 total Cals'' proposition,

agreed for bulking carbs are very important...

[rissinite]

Thanks for the replys Turk! Started today, will keep you posted in this thread