I just wanna grub! But It's time to take it seriously! Need help!

[Jax2Swol]

I've been eating pretty clean for about 8-9 months, but I have never counted calories or macros. Instead I'd just eat clean foods though out the day.

I wiegh 185 lbs and my BMR said my calorie for maintenance was like 1,985 cals? So to bulk I'd add 300-500 cals?

I mainly eat a cup of whole oats with 4-5 eggs in the morning. Oatmeal is usually sweetened with banana or blue berries

Lunch and dinner are usually 7-8 oz of chicken or lean beef. With some kind of complex carb. Except POSTWO I eat 8 oz chicken with a a cup and half of jasmine rice.


I really need help just finding how to calculate my macros so I can divide them into 6-7 meals a day.

Isn't it 1.5-2 G of protein per lb body wieght.
2-3 grams of carbs per lb
And what about fat?

Thanks guy

[Brazensol]

A general rule of thumb for bulking is .4g fat/lb, 1.5-2.0g protein/lb and 2g carbs/lb of body weight. Best thing to do is log all meals and do periodic weigh-ins to see how it works for you and fine tune it based on your metabolism. For me this would be too high and I would put on more fat than I'd like. I'm over 50 so my metabolism is not as high as it used to be. For you, it may not be enough! Another general rule is 10-12 calories/pound for cutting and 14-18/pound for muscle gain.


I realize there are other methods and theories out there and I'm sure others will chime in to help you out.

[Jax2Swol]

Appreciate it man, I'm pretty young at 24! And I'm pretty active with school and work then lifting. I'm really just trying to log this so I see what works since I feel like My weight has stalled. Just need to know how to break it down to science! So 74 grams of fat should suffice?

[Jax2Swol]

I guess it would help to say my goal is to be 200lbs with 10% bf. if I'm 185 with 10-12% now, can I still add muscle without increasing my bf %? If so, how should I arrange my macros? Or will it be impossible to eat a bulk diet and maintain this bf%? I'm really wanting to nail my diet down and learn as much as I can.

Also if there are any stickies that you think might be beneficial to me, please point me in the right direction!

[Jax2Swol]

I ended up with

314 grams Of protein/1,256 cal
370 grams of carbs /1,480 cal
And 74 grams of fat. / 666 cal

I calculated that to be 3,402 cals

But my BMR suggested way less than that.
Are those calculations correct?

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

jax u need to find out ur body fat percentage man..

once u have that u can cal culate ur LBM and then a good rough maintenance is: LBM x 15

hypothetically lets say your 200lbs and 10%body fat

200 x .10 = 20lbs fat

200 - 20 = 180 lbs LBM

180 x 15 = 2700cals (rough maintenance)

bulk 2700 + 350

cut 2700 - 350

adjust accordingly..

[Jax2Swol]

I don't have calipers but I do believe I am in then 10-12 range because of my vascularity and muscle definition.

So lets say

185 x .10 = 18.5 lbs fat

185 - 18.5 = 166.5 LBM


So 15 calories per pound for "Maintanence" is what your gettin at right?

So

166.5 x 15 = 2,497 cals I want to add size so lets just add that 350.

2497+ 350= 2,847 calories.

Now to find out how much Protein, carbohydrates, and fats I need do I use those ratios using my LBM?
For example

166.5 x1.5 grams of protien?

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

^^ you could or u could just go with a macro split. there are a lot of options and it just depends with the individual. personally i porefer thinking about my macros in terms of percentages because i know i do better when i pay a LOT of attention to my carbs which means keeping them low.

what id suggest is maybe a 40/40/20 pro carb fat split and then see how u do.

check this pic below out to ballpark ur body composition

[Jax2Swol]

Here's what I came up with bro. I am in the 10-12 bf% been one of those little guys but not necessarily an ectomorph.

166.5 x 1.5g P= 250 Grams of Protein
166.5 x 2 g C = 333 Grams or Carbs
166.5 x .4g F = 66.6 Grams of Fat

Now then to the calories

Protein 250 Grams x 4 = 1,000
Carbs 333 Grams x4 = 1,332
Fats 66.6 x 7 = 600

Overall that would be 2,932 calories.

Does this look good so far?

All I have to do after this is divide my Protein, Carbs, Fats by 5-6 for my meal ratio?

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

^^looks pretty good for a start yes. u may wanna concentrate carbs around ur training.. if u find ur putting on more fat than u like u can also reduce carbs on non training days as well as add in cardio and keep them the same.

[Jax2Swol]

Ill eat some starchy during post workout and keep most of my complex in the morning and lunch.

I always heard jasmine rice was good for post workout. But what about pre workout? Should I eat complex or starchy. I have very little knowledge on when to eat carbs but I read on some threads as long as you hit that macros your good. But man you've Been a lot of help to me! Definitely gonna rep! Thanks alot bro!

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

^^ur welcome man

dieting is as much art as it is science especially when it comes to figuring out what works for you. there are so many things and ways to manipulate it.

youre doing best IMO when u establish your maintenance thru trial and error before venturing into a bulk to keep unwanted fat gain to a minimum, but if u have managed to stay around 10-12% without knowing a lot about diet ur probably ahead of the game in this regard.

next u would do well to keep it simple in the beginning. have carbs in meals 1, pre workout, pwo and maybe ppwo..

i would have starch definitely pre and post for mass gain.. the rest u can kind of play with. i gave u 4 meals which IMO would be fine to include them. i have had carbs pre workout, post workout, before bed, first thing in the am, and everything in between. IMO the most important thing is your macro split and ur total cals for the day.

too great of a percentage of carbs and fat and u gain fat.. too little and ur training and recovery suffer. i think the macros u have now will work. id split the carbs up into the 4 meals above and throw some veggies in there wherever u can fit them.

[Jax2Swol]

What is PPWO? The meal after the PWO? And so let's say

Complex carb in the morning would be oatmeal

Then eat sweet potato for lunch

Pre workout carb could be maybe rice (or white potatoe) and same for post workout.

And with my other meals throw in fibrous carbs such as spinach, kale or broccoli?

[Jax2Swol]

I guess it would help to say I train 6 days out of the week as well.

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

What is PPWO? The meal after the PWO? And so let's say

Complex carb in the morning would be oatmeal

Then eat sweet potato for lunch

Pre workout carb could be maybe rice (or white potatoe) and same for post workout.

And with my other meals throw in fibrous carbs such as spinach, kale or broccoli?

ppwo = meal after pwo yes

the rest sounds good ..

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

I guess it would help to say I train 6 days out of the week as well.

hmmm .. maybe throw an off day on day 4.. ?? u know rest and recovery are where u grow!

so like:
day 1, 2, 3 off 5, 6, 7, off repeat..

what kind of training split do u do??

[Jax2Swol]

I usually hit one body part a day for example starting on Monday would be
Arms/Legs/Shoulders/Back/Chest then usually on Saturday ill do some cardio and maybe some abs and whatever else I feel like pumping that isn't sore lol. Sunday is my off day. But I just changed to this split.

[Jax2Swol]

Meal 1 breakfast
40 G P
84 g C
11 g F

Meal 2
40g P
11 g F

Meal 3 lunch
40g P
84 g C
11 g F


Meal 4 pre work
40 g P
84 g C
11 g F


Meal 5 PWO
40g P +20g Whey
84 g C
11 g F

Meal 6
40 g P
11g F

This is kinda just thrown together but does this look optimal or is the carb intake wrong. That's not included any veggies I throw in or should I count them as well. I'm thinking about most of those carbs coming from Sweet Potatoes, Jasmine Rice, Oatmeal and maybe some lowfat Greek yogurt.

[Jax2Swol]

Bump

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

Bump

lol..have a little patience dude

looks fine.. i would not worry about counting veggies at this point..

[Jax2Swol]

Haha I was just trying to find out! I was about to go grocery shoppin!


7 a.m.
1 1/2 cup oats
1 whole egg 4 whites

10 am
6oz tilapia
1 tsp olive oil

12:30
6 oz chicken breast
10 sweet potatoe

3:00 pm pre workout
6 oz chicken breast
1/2 cup jasmine rice

4:30 Post workout
6oz tilipia
1/2 cup jasmine rice

7-8 last meal
1 1/2 can of albacore tuna plus whey/Caesin mix and 1/2 cup of yogurt

250 Grams of Protein
333 Grams or Carbs
66.6 Grams of Fat

2,932 calories

[Jax2Swol]

Post workout includes shake too I forgot to add that

[chi-town]

This set of videos really helped me to set up a diet plan, and figure out how to do macros. Take a look and see what you think...wont let me link, its titled "So you wanna learn how to Diet?"