Need some help with my diet.

[99JT]

decided to change up my diet a few days before starting my cycle and need to make sure im getting enough calories. im 6' 195 lbs was previously maintaining at 4200 calories some of my meals (from a meal prep place) were questionable as far as accuracy of calories goes so i decided to do all my meals myself weighing and measuring everything. i started my current cycle on October 10th and it has been 500mg/wk test e, 500mg/wk deca with 350mg/wk npp front load, 150mg/wk tren ace, and 40mg/day dbol attached is my current diet and weight i upped my calories by 250 on the 15th and have been putting on weight but obviously some of it is water retention.

[JaneDoe]

decided to change up my diet a few days before starting my cycle and need to make sure im getting enough calories. im 6' 195 lbs was previously maintaining at 4200 calories some of my meals (from a meal prep place) were questionable as far as accuracy of calories goes so i decided to do all my meals myself weighing and measuring everything. i started my current cycle on October 10th and it has been 500mg/wk test e, 500mg/wk deca with 350mg/wk npp front load, 150mg/wk tren ace, and 40mg/day dbol attached is my current diet and weight i upped my calories by 250 on the 15th and have been putting on weight but obviously some of it is water retention.

Greetings !!!
Well, you should closely monitor how your body is reacting daily.
Many things influence the TDEE that makes us maintain our body weight.

Weather and the use of anabolic steroids, for example - will make us burn more calories - and sometimes we will need to eat more calories than normal to maintain body weight.

A good starting point for reaching an estimate of maintenance calories is to multiply body weight in pounds by 18.

After that, closely monitor your weight on the scale and see how your body is reacting with daily caloric intake.


Regarding your diet, I think you are consuming too much sodium ... You should also balance this in your diet.

[Windex]

Sodium is actually way too low need to be increased.

Which meal are preworkout and post workout ?

You barely have enough potassium to fuel performance and build muscle (only one serving of spinach and orange juice.)

- Almost all your carbs are empty (either sugar or provide no micro nutrition like rice).

- Missing several vitamins and minerals from fruits / vegetables.

- The greek yogurt with fruit in it is not fruit - it's flavored corn syrup

- Calories are too low

- Need saturated fats, missing lots of micronutrients because of that such as from eggs, full fat dairy, steak etc

- Woildnt be using a carb powder at your stage, least of all in the morning

[99JT]

Sodium is actually way too low need to be increased.

Which meal are preworkout and post workout ?

You barely have enough potassium to fuel performance and build muscle (only one serving of spinach and orange juice.)

- Almost all your carbs are empty (either sugar or provide no micro nutrition like rice).

- Missing several vitamins and minerals from fruits / vegetables.

- The greek yogurt with fruit in it is not fruit - it's flavored corn syrup

- Calories are too low

- Need saturated fats, missing lots of micronutrients because of that such as from eggs, full fat dairy, steak etc

- Woildnt be using a carb powder at your stage, least of all in the morning

The egg whites and poptarts are at 2am (it's my easy snack when I get up to go to the bathroom. Then I just have a banana pre workout (I workout right after I wake up) and dextrose intra workout. Post workout I have a protein shake on my way out of the gym and chicken, rice, and a veggie shortly after. I usually get the Greek yogurt with the real fruit. Figured the calories were too low thought I'd trust someone else's advise on diet but started having second thoughts especially since his meal plan was 500 calories less (I added some because I knew that was way too low)

[Windex]

The egg whites and poptarts are at 2am (it's my easy snack when I get up to go to the bathroom. Then I just have a banana pre workout (I workout right after I wake up) and dextrose intra workout. Post workout I have a protein shake on my way out of the gym and chicken, rice, and a veggie shortly after. I usually get the Greek yogurt with the real fruit. Figured the calories were too low thought I'd trust someone else's advise on diet but started having second thoughts especially since his meal plan was 500 calories less (I added some because I knew that was way too low)

What time specifically are you training at?

You can defend the food choices but it doesn't change the fact that there's room for improvement.

[anabolictheviking]

Too much sodium will fuck you causing problems like high blood pressure. Excessive fluid retention increases blood pressure, which is bad for the body, overloads the heart.

[Windex]

Too much sodium will fuck you causing problems like high blood pressure. Excessive fluid retention increases blood pressure, which is bad for the body, overloads the heart.

Tell that to third world under developed tribes that consume 20+ grams of sodium per day as they still use traditional salting for curing meat. Those same people also have some of the best cardiovascular profiles.

2 grams of sodium is not high. Tons of high performance athletes will consume 5000-10,000mg of sodium per day.

The average person will sweat out almost a gram of sodium with modest activity level over a 1 hour person.

Sodium is one of the most anabolic nutrients.

My blood pressure is routinely 117/79 at 7000mg of Sodium per day with 4500mg Potassium and 7L of water.

[99JT]

What time specifically are you training at?

You can defend the food choices but it doesn't change the fact that there's room for improvement.

I get up at 530 work out at 630. Working out after eating I just feel like shit. I Know theirs a lot of room for improvement that's why I'm asking. If I would post my died from a year or two ago I'd probably get some harsh responses (lots of subway, mass gainer, and meal replacement bars).

[Wannabhuge14]

Sodium is actually way too low need to be increased.

Which meal are preworkout and post workout ?

You barely have enough potassium to fuel performance and build muscle (only one serving of spinach and orange juice.)

- Almost all your carbs are empty (either sugar or provide no micro nutrition like rice).

- Missing several vitamins and minerals from fruits / vegetables.

- The greek yogurt with fruit in it is not fruit - it's flavored corn syrup

- Calories are too low

- Need saturated fats, missing lots of micronutrients because of that such as from eggs, full fat dairy, steak etc

- Woildnt be using a carb powder at your stage, least of all in the morning

Not at all questioning your expertise, but you don’t think 4200 calories of proper nutrition is enough for someone at 195 to grow on?

[Couchlockd]

Not at all questioning your expertise, but you don’t think 4200 calories of proper nutrition is enough for someone at 195 to grow on?

Yes it is enough to grow on.

The rate at what you grow will be slightly slower, but it won't add any spill over to body fat

I don't respond well to bulking diets. I gain too much superfluous fat when I eat outside my comfort zone.

[Couchlockd]

My pro tip (not a pro at all by the way, just figure of speech)

Don't worry Bout kinds of fats , I mean don't drink bacon grease, but don't avoid good 90/10 10 oz burger either.

Also a 900 calorie box of Boston baked beans post workout with your post protein

[Windex]

Not at all questioning your expertise, but you don’t think 4200 calories of proper nutrition is enough for someone at 195 to grow on?

Adding fruits and veggies would only add a couple hundred calories - well worth the trade off for micro nutrition. I was not implying to add a tablespoon of peanut butter to every meal or something.

[HoldMyBeer]

Adding fruits and veggies would only add a couple hundred calories - well worth the trade off for micro nutrition. I was not implying to add a tablespoon of peanut butter to every meal or something.

What do you think about stan efferding recommending to eat only fruits and not veges to get your micros? Apparently veges have anti-nutrients

[Windex]

What do you think about stan efferding recommending to eat only fruits and not veges to get your micros? Apparently veges have anti-nutrients

His philosophy is based off a few points

1) Majority of people already have poor gut health either from eating junk, processed foods, etc so a lot of high gas vegetables will add digestive stress. It's not like people start bodybuilding diets at 12 years old unless their parents came from that space or a professional athlete.

2) The majority of vegetables that avoid point 1 are either seasonal (example = squash), expensive (swiss chard, baby gem lettuce, etc), or not easily available (a lot of his clients are international).

3) Fruit is very easy to eat. No cooking, prep, or anything. Most people would also sooner drink a smoothie than a "green juice". The average grocery store is also going to have more fruit options over vegetables.

I would take a similar approach if I was in his shoes coaching clients. Myself personally, I started with 99% vegetables 1% fruit when I first started back when propaganda was running wild for fruit being the devil. Now I'm about 60-70% fruit with vegetables as the rest. Some meals for me just feel incomplete without vegetables - such as a stir fry.

[Windex]

The egg whites and poptarts are at 2am (it's my easy snack when I get up to go to the bathroom. Then I just have a banana pre workout (I workout right after I wake up) and dextrose intra workout. Post workout I have a protein shake on my way out of the gym and chicken, rice, and a veggie shortly after. I usually get the Greek yogurt with the real fruit. Figured the calories were too low thought I'd trust someone else's advise on diet but started having second thoughts especially since his meal plan was 500 calories less (I added some because I knew that was way too low)

There is no such thing as yogurt with real fruit because it's not stable. The bacteria cultures of the yogurt would feast on the sugars in the fruit. What you are buying is condensed fruit purée suspended in corn syrup.

[JaneDoe]

5000-10.000mg of sodium a day ??
Too much sodium .. Will double the water retention, crazy thing.
I know great bodybuilders like Dorian, Ronnie Coleman - I defended this idea of ​​large amounts of sodium - but, in my opinion - I don't see the need to consume extreme sodium levels ...
I try not to exceed 2,300 mg - and when I spend a little of it - I try to control it.
I am not a fan of water retention. I never wanted to be a walking bladder, I just chose the aesthetics! I'm not a bodybuilder ..Hug

[HoldMyBeer]

5000-10.000mg of sodium a day ??
Too much sodium .. Will double the water retention, crazy thing.
I know great bodybuilders like Dorian, Ronnie Coleman - I defended this idea of ​​large amounts of sodium - but, in my opinion - I don't see the need to consume extreme sodium levels ...
I try not to exceed 2,300 mg - and when I spend a little of it - I try to control it.
I am not a fan of water retention. I never wanted to be a walking bladder, I just chose the aesthetics! I'm not a bodybuilder ..Hug

I agree 10g is too much. But 5 is fine. You just have to increase water consumption to match the sodium intake. The only reason 10 isnt is because you can't drink enough water to keep up w that