diet critique

[gthom47]

i just finished up a cut from 195lbs to 166lbs eating 1800cal a day. i am 5' 7" and about 12-13% bf. i am starting a bulk and my plan was to increase my cal from 1800 to 2550 cal a day by 200 cal a week over 3 or 4 weeks. 2550 is about 300cal over maintenance for me and i want to do a slow clean bulk from there, and increase if need be.

my breakdown plan is 260g carbs, 230g protein, and 65g fat. seem good for someone of my size for a slow bulk?

[FireGuy]

How long did it take you to go from 195-166 and what was your BF% when you started?

[gthom47]

i started probably around 20% body fat and it took me 14 weeks to get to where i am now.

[scotty51312]

30lbs in 14 weeks must have been pretty strict in your diet and cardio I'm betting you lost a couple lbs of lean mass. How bout a specific diet plan including times and macro's for each meal with the foods your eating listed? When you eat is almost as important as what you eat.

[gthom47]

I would run at 1800cal a day and was incredibly strict with it. Macros were 190g carbs, 180g protein, 35g fat. im not sure i lost any lbm because i have been running a 5/3/1 routine and my lifts have been going up. i feel like if i keep cutting anymore i will start to lose muscle so i want to try to gain 6 lbs in the next 10weeks on a slow bulk and hopefully it will almost all be lean muscle. As far as my diet goes for my cut i would eat breakfast around 9:30, lunch at either 2 or 3. pre workout bar, and post workout protein shake, and then dinner around 6 and a pre-bed snackMy food went as follows:

Breakfast:
3 eggwhites- 12 g protein
2 slices whole wheat toast- 34g carbs, 10g protein, 2 g fat
2tbsp peanut butter- 11g carbs, 9 g protein, 12 g fat
2 cups skim milk- 24 g carbs, 16g protein

69g carbs, 47g protein, 14g fat

Lunch:
Whole wheat wrap- 25g carbs, 5g protein, 5 g fat
grilled chicken- 25g protein

25g carbs, 30g protein, 5g fat

Pre Workout:
Granola Bar- 18g carbs, 1g protein, 2 g fat

Post Workout:
Shake- 4g carbs, 27g protein, 2g fat

Dinner:
Grilled Chicken- 50g protein
Whole Wheat Pasta- 68g carbs, 14g protein, 2g fat
Sauce- 7g carbs, 1g protein, 3 g fat

75g carbs, 65g protein, 5g fat

Before Bed Snack:
Cheese Sticks- 10g protein, 8g fat

total comes to 191g carbs, 180g protein, 36g fat

dinner would sometimes change if i was sick of it but it would all be really clean food staying around the same macros.

[scotty51312]

Ok, I'll give this a quick run through and i know that you're going to add to this to make it a bulking diet so i'll make some suggestions along the way. Fireguy and other experierienced guys will have their comments and correct me if i make any errors.

I would run at 1800cal a day and was incredibly strict with it. Macros were 190g carbs, 180g protein, 35g fat. im not sure i lost any lbm because i have been running a 5/3/1 routine and my lifts have been going up. i feel like if i keep cutting anymore i will start to lose muscle so i want to try to gain 6 lbs in the next 10weeks on a slow bulk and hopefully it will almost all be lean muscle. As far as my diet goes for my cut i would eat breakfast around 9:30, lunch at either 2 or 3. pre workout bar, and post workout protein shake, and then dinner around 6 and a pre-bed snackMy food went as follows:

Breakfast:
3 eggwhites- 12 g proteinfor bulk up this to 5 egg whites and 2 whole eggs
2 slices whole wheat toast- 34g carbs, 10g protein, 2 g fatreplace this with oats 1/2 cup should be good. Lower GI carbs and u dont' want to much insulin activity this early in the day
2tbsp peanut butter- 11g carbs, 9 g protein, 12 g fatif you want to bulk lean cut this out all the fat you'll need is in the 2 eggs
2 cups skim milk- 24 g carbs, 16g proteinthis should go if you wanna lean bulk, IF you have to have milk in your diet use it post work out for some simple carbs

69g carbs, 47g protein, 14g fat
how long between these meals. If more than 3 hours put a snack in here. Beef jerkey, possibly a hand full of almonds for healthy fat
Lunch:
Whole wheat wrap- 25g carbs, 5g protein, 5 g fat
grilled chicken- 25g protein
grilled chicken is good, Whole wheat isn't nessearily a bad carb but its not the best. Sweet potatoes would be good here also add a fiberous veg
25g carbs, 30g protein, 5g fat

Pre Workout:
Granola Bar- 18g carbs, 1g protein, 2 g fat
^^ lot of carbs from sugar, not the carbs your want to be burning while you work out. I like whole wheat pasta with a little tuna fresh garlic and a tbsp of olive oil here
Post Workout:
Shake- 4g carbs, 27g protein, 2g fat
make this a minimum of 40g's of protien, an get some PWO carbs in there simple carbs would be good for bulk how bout putting that 2 cups of milk in the shake?
Dinner:
Grilled Chicken- 50g protein
Whole Wheat Pasta- 68g carbs, 14g protein, 2g fat
Sauce- 7g carbs, 1g protein, 3 g fat
a decent dinner, wouldn't mind seeing a fiberous veg here

75g carbs, 65g protein, 5g fat

Before Bed Snack:
Cheese Sticks- 10g protein, 8g fat
not the protien u want before bed. A scoup of cassien with a couple grams of fish oil would be good. 3/4 cup of cottage cheese full fat and a tbsp of natural peanut butter would be good as well.

total comes to 191g carbs, 180g protein, 36g fat
the additions and changes above would probably help get those macro's up around where you want them.

dinner would sometimes change if i was sick of it but it would all be really clean food staying around the same macros.

See bold. I'm sure base, gbrice ad others will also give you some opinions

[gthom47]

ok great thanks for the help. but does the macro/cal breakdown look good? 2550 cal 260g carbs, 230g protein, 70g fat?

[Turkish Juicer]

ok great thanks for the help. but does the macro/cal breakdown look good? 2550 cal 260g carbs, 230g protein, 70g fat?

Yeah, macro/cal breakdown looks good concerning your lean bulking goal. This new diet will allow you to workout even harder and more intense with better and faster recovery, so make the best of those extra calories at the gym.

[Gucks]

ok great thanks for the help. but does the macro/cal breakdown look good? 2550 cal 260g carbs, 230g protein, 70g fat?

whts ur age? i think 2200 maintenance cals is pretty damn low...ur small, but ur not that small :P if thats accurate then ur macros look good. personally, i wuld have more carbs (about 300g) but if u want a really lean, slow bulk like u said then see how u go with 260g for a few weeeks and adjust it accordingly.

[gthom47]

im 27. the BMR calculator i used said that my BMR is about 1800cal, then multiply by 1.2 to maintain and that comes to about 2200 for maintenance.

[gbrice75]

ok great thanks for the help. but does the macro/cal breakdown look good? 2550 cal 260g carbs, 230g protein, 70g fat?

As long as your pretty damn close with your numbers (be prepared to make adjustments +/- a few hundred calories), I like the macro split - alot.

[gthom47]

yea if i notice 2500 isnt working out anymore then i would bump up like 100-200cal and see how it goes. thanks for the input gbrice.

does the insulin spike in the morning really effect the addition of fat that heavily? all my other meals change similarly to how scotty laid it out, but i love having toast with pb for breakfast, so would that really set me back that much?

[gbrice75]

First thing in the morning is a good time for insulin activity IMO... coupled with some quality protein of course. Obviously, the cleaner the better which is why Scotty suggested oats over the toast. If you must have the toast, make sure you get a really good quality whole grain bread (not Arnold and that kind of crap) - Ezekiel would be a good choice.

Sorry, but the peanut butter will add too much fat along with the eggs (and i'd rather see you getting the amino profile from the whole eggs) - which might change your mind on the toast vs. oats anyway!

[gthom47]

yea i use Ezekiel already actually. yea i only really use the toast for pb. my main issue for food is money, going through 7 eggs a day is really expensive compared to the toast and pb and i dont have the greatest money producing job right now haha

[gbrice75]

yea i use Ezekiel already actually. yea i only really use the toast for pb. my main issue for food is money, going through 7 eggs a day is really expensive compared to the toast and pb and i dont have the greatest money producing job right now haha

I hear you on the $$$ thing - eggs are relatively cheap - do you have a Costco near you? You can get 36 eggs for like $7. Otherwise, look for a cheap-ish whey powder - again, costco, Walmart, etc.

[Nephets]

you can buy the egg whites only along with a dozen eggs. That way our only using one or two full eggs a day.

[gthom47]

i dont have a costco near me. there is one near where my parents live so i can get stuff from there occasionally but not a lot.

thats a great idea actually nephets, never thought about it. are egg white containers cheap?