How to eat enough food!!!!!

[greaseywrench1]

I am struggling with putting on and keeping weight. I have always been a smaller dude, 5'8" 140 lbs when i started lifting. Naturally I got to 165/170. I've run a few cycles, mostly just test or test and deca (not over 500mg either or). I was hoping to get any pointers on my diet and as to why I cant break 185lbs, I've gotten to that on my last 2 cycles and within weeks dropped back to 175lbs. According to my size and weight, 3100 calories a day should be maintenance. With this diet, I am eating to the point i feel stuffed all day and at the end of the night I am totally bloated with a large belly. Sometimes I'll have some random snacks throughout the day or have a cheat meal in place of a lunch or dinner.

Typical Day is:

8am- 6 eggs scrambled, slice of american cheese, 3 brown n serve sausage links and 16 oz milk --- 1070 calories
11:30/noon - 8 oz ground turkey,1 cup rice and 1/2 cup broccoli --- 600 calories
1:30 - Protein shake with HBCD --- 300 calories
3:30/4 - 8 oz ground turkey, 1 cup rice and 1/2 cup broccoli --- 600 calories
7/8pm - 6 oz chicken breast, 1 cup roasted potatoes 1 cup green beans and 16 oz milk --- 635 calories
8pm - protein shake (protein, peanut butter, banana, oats, flax seed, milk and granola) --- 1200 calories

Total calories: 4300

Macros:
Carbs - 357g 34%
Fats - 148g 32%
Protein - 360g 34%



Am i not eating enough? Do i need more consistent calories midday? Also, is there any high calorie clean(ish) foods I should be substituting in or adding?

[GearHeaded]

ok , your not eating near as much as you think you are.

if I look at your diet, and I totally ignore the calories and macro numbers that you calculated, and I only look at your meals through the day,, this looks like a cutting diet, not a bulking diet (other then the milk).

looking at your carbs for ezample. your only eating 2 cups of rice and 1 cup of potatoes for the whole day. thats it !!! ? thats only 105 grams of carbs from starches. thats not shit for a bulk. note - the carbs in your fiberous veggies don't count (they aren't getting used for muscle glycogen).

so your supposed, 357 grams of carbs per day you wrote down is deceiving you. your really only getting 105 grams of usable starchy carbs.

now look at your protein. i.e, DIRECT sources of protein.
you only have a few meals for the day that contain quality meat. thats around 150 grams at the most of meat/direct protein (counting the sausage links, that probably adds about 12 more)
then you have two whey shakes. not sure of how many scoops your doing, but lets just say your doing the standard one scoop. thats 25 grams of protein per shake.
ok so now your at 200 grams of protein total.
lets go ahead and add the milk protein in now (which is not as good as meat or whey, but we can still count it). your getting about 40g of protein from the roughly 40oz of milk your drinking per day.

ok, so your DIRECT sources of protein , your total is about 240 grams per day (thats a far cry from the 360 grams you listed.


so far your macros are at
240g protein
105g carbs (ie, starchy carbs.. not fiber or fructose)

now lets look at DIRECT sources of fat..
your 40oz of milk per day gives you 15 grams per day..your cheese and peanut butter gives you another 10 or so.
ok, so diret sources of fats , your at 25 grams for the day (this is NOT counting the trace fats found in your animal sources).

so when you look at DIRECT sources of macros only this is where your at
240g protein
105g carbs
25g fats

= 1,605 colories

^ thats a bikini girl cutting diet . not a bodybuilding bulking diet


now sure , ok , your "my fitness pal" app on your phone or whatever is spitting out all these high numbers. but they are worthless numbers. all that matters is your direct sources (especially when trying to bulk). the calories and macros that are coming from broccoli and green beans your eating aren't shit. they don't count. and neither does the protein that your app is saying is in the oats you eat.. that fiberous shit is not going to be utilized for muscle building or muscle glycogen.


I've written 100s of diets for clients over the years. I've always only wirtten diets out based on DIRECT sources of macros (except for some clients in contest prep)..
I do this because its much more efficient to track the nutrients that actually matter and are easily trackable and adjustable.


again, when you look at your diet, your only getting 105 grams of starchy carbs (rice and potato) .. your NOT ever going to grow and put on size with that.

you need to really revamp your diet if you want to break past this plateau. your really not eating enough at all of the stuff that matters.
heck, your trying to grow and you don't even have starchy carbs in meals 1, 3, and 6 .. lol thats not bulking brother.

simple fix.. ditch the bullshit.
eat 6oz of steak or ground beef 6 meals per day , and add 2 cups of rice or 3 cups of potato with each one of those 6 meals. then you'll be closer to the macros you actually thought you were at.


note- I've got a thread on here where I break down some bulking diet tips . I'll come back and post those links here

note- now sure I'm exaggerating some things here and down playing some stuff with your total cals and macros, but thats just to drive home a point

[GearHeaded]

and on a side note -- if your getting bloating and full filling, from such a low calorie low amount of food diet like this .. then you need to lay off all the broccoli, green beans, oats, and flax seed . all that shit fiber is whats filling you up and making you bloated ,, your not getting bloated from eating real food like steak and potato, your getting bloated from un-digestible junk filling up your gut

[GearHeaded]

heres a very simple one here -
https://forums.steroid.com/diet-nutr...ders-diet.html

heres one with tips on how to add quality calories and eat more -
https://forums.steroid.com/diet-nutr...h-bulk-up.html

heres one for hard gainers or more extreme bulking -
https://forums.steroid.com/diet-nutr...king-diet.html

[Sark]

Interesting post GH.

I too have always had issues gaining weight even with those "apps" telling me I'm eating a lot of calories. I'm going to focus more on what you mentioned and see how things go. Thanks for the different viewpoint.

[JaneDoe]

.Thanks GearHeaded for sharing your knowledge ... Few guys are like you. I appreciate what your posts educate people ... Well, direct and indirect macronutrients ...... Very good to talk about it one more instead ... Counting macro traces is not worth doing as you said hundreds of times here on the forum .....

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[greaseywrench1]

Once again, great advice GH. Straight to the point and cut my fucking heart out ☠️☠️☠️. I appreciate the straight forward advice. Gonna send you a PM

^ thats a bikini girl cutting diet . not a bodybuilding bulking diet

[AR's King Silabolin]

I am struggling with putting on and keeping weight. I have always been a smaller dude, 5'8" 140 lbs when i started lifting. Naturally I got to 165/170. I've run a few cycles, mostly just test or test and deca (not over 500mg either or). I was hoping to get any pointers on my diet and as to why I cant break 185lbs, I've gotten to that on my last 2 cycles and within weeks dropped back to 175lbs. According to my size and weight, 3100 calories a day should be maintenance. With this diet, I am eating to the point i feel stuffed all day and at the end of the night I am totally bloated with a large belly. Sometimes I'll have some random snacks throughout the day or have a cheat meal in place of a lunch or dinner.

Typical Day is:

8am- 6 eggs scrambled, slice of american cheese, 3 brown n serve sausage links and 16 oz milk --- 1070 calories
11:30/noon - 8 oz ground turkey,1 cup rice and 1/2 cup broccoli --- 600 calories
1:30 - Protein shake with HBCD --- 300 calories
3:30/4 - 8 oz ground turkey, 1 cup rice and 1/2 cup broccoli --- 600 calories
7/8pm - 6 oz chicken breast, 1 cup roasted potatoes 1 cup green beans and 16 oz milk --- 635 calories
8pm - protein shake (protein, peanut butter, banana, oats, flax seed, milk and granola) --- 1200 calories

Total calories: 4300

Macros:
Carbs - 357g 34%
Fats - 148g 32%
Protein - 360g 34%



Am i not eating enough? Do i need more consistent calories midday? Also, is there any high calorie clean(ish) foods I should be substituting in or adding?

Jupp. If u like it and tolerate it, hole milk. The most anabolic component in the world. I ran it and had a natty impressive physic. Then i dropped it some days because i started tren and wanted to cut.
It ruined my physic even on tren.
Now im back at it. Like 4 litters a day. And i feel swollen again.
If getting fat, dont drop cals, milk. Increase cardio and sets. Piana always said that.
If not getting some 3000 cals from milk aday. Stay the fuck away from the gym. U have no business going there.
Brian Shaw on youtube. He wanted a good wo next day. BUT.. If he didnt do his home work, for him eating 15000 cals the day before, there was no use for him to get even close to the gym for his PR wo. He migth aswell be staying in bed jerking off.

My message is sharpened, but i hope u get the idea.

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[SingNirvana]

this place is a great place to stay with...tons of superb advice and tips! thank you so much, guys.

[HoldMyBeer]

Switch out the turkey and rice for beef and pasta. Switch out the chicken breast for chicken thighs. Make sure you're still matching the protein
You must work a manual labor job if 4.3 kcals isn't adding weight

[AwareXx]

It is always best to eat unlimited vegetables and fruits until you are full.

[Juced_porkchop]

I highly rec grabbing some ginger powder pills, take 1 in am with meal and one in afternoon . safe, simple and helps hunger.
also google "calorie dense foods"
AND if you havent, get your thyroid function checked by the doc.