My Diet - need help bulking!

[hellboy]

My weight gains have tapered off. I'm having trouble breaking past 160-162 on the scales. My strength is still going up in the gym though so I'm happy about that.

I need help designing a new/better bulking diet that hopefully won't add 'too much' more to my current love handle situation. ;-)

Here's an outline of what I'm thinking of. ANY help or comments are Masively appreciated! I hope the formatting comes through ok.

8:30 PreBreakfast
Cup of yogurt
1 tbsp Flaxseed oil

9:30 Breakfast
2 scrambled eggs w/cheese
1 link smoked sausage

12:00 Pre-Workout ??? Not sure what I should eat here

1:00 GYM TIME. Workouts last about an hour.

2:30 Post-Workout
Half gallon skim milk.
Note - this takes 1.5-2 hours to drink.

4:30 Office Snack
Low Carb Protein Bar

6:00 Home Snack
1 Can of Sardines, OR
1 Cup Yogurt and some Nat Peanut Butter

8:00 Dinner
Steak or Chicken breast or Pork chop AND
Raw veggies (carrots or radishes)

10:00 Bedtime

 

[BodyByFinaplix]

Overall its not a bad plan. I think adding a couple more meals might benefit you, however 8 meals is not bad. Since you are not doing a true keto diet, I would hit some very low GI carbs, perhaps some plain yogurt, the full fat type. Ideally, I would like to see more veggies as well. Not in the form of tubers (carrots and radishes), but rather leafy greens. Romaine lettuce, brocolli, etc. Granted, for some they add volume to the diet and making taking in enough calories difficult for these individuals, but the nutrients they provide make them very beneficial to your recovery and growth. Do you have an estimate of yorr caloric intake? Since you are not in ketosis, but still keeping carbs in moderation, you will need a carbloading day each week. Since you are 162, I would recomend about 500-700 grams of carbs on this day.

The fact that you are gaining strength is positive. Often times one sees an increase in strength just before a sudden gain in lbm.

 

[hellboy]

Thanks for the input BBF.

On the weekends I eat a ton of carbs so there's no prob with that. Lots of itallian food - spaghetti, lasagna, pastas, sweet potatos. Also lots of cookies and snicker bars. Heh - the munchies will take care of that.

Adding two more full meals would be tough because my stomach can only hold so much food. But I may be able to add in a bit extra peanut butter or something. Maybe another tbsp of flax seed oil when I get home from work. And thanks for the info on the veggies. I can make a small spinach / lettuce salad to go with my dinner or replace the carrots and radishes with broccoli or cauliflower. On my non workout days I'll be sure to eat a salad or something with my normal lunch.

Thanks again man! I appreciate it. Lifting the weight is easy. Gaining the weight is hard.

 

[Burning_Inside]

Man if I looked at that diet without you telling me it was a bulking plan, I would think it's a cutting diet, except for the drinking of the 1/2 gallon of milk post workout.

Look, you need to eat. M_O_R_E

Take your bodyweight and times it by 20, and there's how many cals per day you should be getting on average. Then use a 40%30%30% ratio of protein/carbs/fats for the breakdown.

 

[hellboy]

Burning inside:

Yeah I would make better gains if I could get more food inside me. But I'm just not big enough to fit that much food inside me. This diet is around 2800 calories according to my math. 160x20=3200 so I'm close.

As for the Zone diet it's just too much counting for me. I'm gonna try this one for now. Gonna try and add in more snacks here and there and also possibly replace the milk with a 1000 calorie 50g protein carb/protein shake (american body buildings Extreme XXL) if I can afford them. That would bump my calories safely into the 3k/day range.

I know I need to eat more. But man it's hard.