Advice on Diet

[Dposey]

Hey everyone. First, I should probably give a little background information on myself. I'm 18 years old, 6' and around 180 pounds. My bf was around 17% last I checked and I don't think it's changed too much since then. I used to weight 310 pounds, but I started dieting and exercising and went down to about 175. Now I'm trying to gain muscle and strength to fill in all this loose skin while keeping my bf down. I definitely don't want to go back to the way I was before, but I don't want to be too thin either. I'm going into the military in 6 months and I want to use that time to get stronger.

As for exercise, I'm fairly new to free weights and have only been training for about 3 months. Cyrex set me straight on a beginner's 4 day split that I'm going to use until I feel I'm ready for a more complicated routine. I'm lifting on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and doing cardio (Farmer's walks for grip, interval training on the treadmill for 15-20 minutes) on Tuesday and Thursday. I also like to go on bike rides on Sunday. Also, since I'm taking P.E. this semester, I'm running the mile at school 2-3 days a week in addition to fairly small warm-ups/abwork. I also have to ride my bike 2 miles to the gym because I don't currently have my car.

My goal, as I said, is to gain muscle and strength without getting too big like I was before. My BMR is 2160 according to the BW*12 calculation. So, say I times that by 1.5 to account for all the exercise/weight training, that puts me at 3240 maintenance level correct? So, how much should I be eating to achieve my goal? Also, what should I be eating? I'm on a fairly limited budget and I like to go shopping once every 7-12 days because that's about how often I can get a ride to the cheap food outlet warehouse. Is there anything I should stay away from? Here's what I've been eating thus far, any critique is welcome:

7:30 AM: Breakfast - 1.5 cups protein cereal
1 cup low fat milk
2 slices whole wheat bread
2 whole eggs
10:00 AM: School snack - 1 bagel
1 oz cheese (Melted in between bagel)
OR (If I have to take lunch to school)
1 Tbsp peanut butter (Either cheese or pb)
12:30 PM: Lunch - 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
2-3 servings green beans/potatoes
1 slice whole wheat bread
1 Tbsp peanut butter
OR (If I have to take lunch to school, I alternate days)
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
2 slices whole wheat bread
1 oz cheese (Sandwich basically)
3:00 PM: Pre-Workout - Promax bar (300 calories/20g protein)
5:00 PM: Post-Workout - 2 scoops Muscle Milk
2 cups low fat milk (632 cals/54g protein)
6:30 PM: Dinner - 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1.5 servings rice (Not sure on how much, comes 320 calories though)
2-3 servings green beans/potatoes

This comes to roughly 3100 calories. Should I be eating more or less than that? Is the food ok or should I make some changes. The vegetables are canned because they are super cheap (2 cans for $1).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[cyrex]

Glad to hear you are doing well!

FYI for other people the other thread about weight training is here:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=454226

I'd toss the bagel and replace it with something else with more protein.
Try to make sure you are getting 180-200 grams of protein
Maybe a couple of boiled eggs or something like that

Also replace the 2 slices of whole wheat bread at breakfast with some oatmeal

 

[cyrex]

BTW there are far better people on this forum that can give diet advice. I think my suggestions will be fairly common suggestions though. I didn't bother doing the math as far as how many calories you are eating.

You may want to switch up the chicken with some lean red meat

 

[Dposey]

Thanks Cyrex! I'm on week two of that program and it's been working well so far.

The bagel has 11g protein but I'll see if I can get something else. Also, I'm getting around 240g of protein if I added correctly. Oatmeal sounds good at breakfast to go along with the cereal. What I'll do is use up what I have and the next time I go shopping try for something new.

Hopefully that means the rest of my diet is good enough. We'll see!

 

[cyrex]

but a typical bagel has 70+ carbs and typically high GI

 

[jmt24]

ok, heres my advice.

700-ditch bread and eggs and drink a protein shakewith udo's choice with your cereal.
1000-snack, ditch the bagel with cheese and go with a protein bar.
1230-ditch the potatoes and have either ww bread/yams/brown rice.
preworkout-protein shake with udo's choice
post workout-protein shake with bcaa's and dextrose. no muscle milk post workout. the fat will slow the absorption of the protein which you do not want. your muscles are craving nutrients post and a shake with just protein and carbs is much better.
600-dinner, id ditch the potatoes and rice and eat a small serving of yams or brown rice. i don't like to eat complex carbs this late.
you also need a meal at 830 and before bed possibly depending on what time you go to sleep. id eat a chicken breast with some greens here. and before bed, id have some cottage cheese, milk and some natty pb. you can also have some eggwhites also. you need to eat before bed to prevent catabolism. cassein protein is the best for this because its the slowest to digest. cassein comes from things like milk and eggs. hope this helps and good luck. you may want to take some sesapure to assure that you won't gain bf. you can also look at some of the other af store supps but dont take anything that will affect your apetite

i would do another chicken

 

[Dposey]

UDO's choice?

 

[jmt24]

do a search for it online or they have it at vitamin shoppe. its has flax and some other things in it. tastes much better than reg flax. mr x got me on it.

 

[Dposey]

Hmm, I don't want to go too crazy on the supplements. Like I said I don't have a whole lot to spend. I will consider a lot of those changes though, and I'm thinking of getting some Whey protein instead of muscle milk due to price. So I guess, with the minor changes, my diet will look something like this:

7AM: Protein cereal with milk, oatmeal, eggs
10AM: Protein bar (If I could find something else to put here I would)
1230PM: Chicken, veggies, bread, 1 Tbsp peanut butter or Chicken sandwich with apple
3PM: Protein shake (How many scoops of whey here? In milk or water?)
5PM: Protein shake (Again, how many scoops and in milk or water?)
630PM: Chicken, veggies, possibly throw out the rice or replace with brown rice
830PM: Cottage cheese, eggs, milk, or peanut butter. I'll have to see which is easiest.

I wake up at 7AM and I go to bed around 1030/11PM by the way, so I get around 8 hours of sleep. I'm also thinking of cutting back my cardio on Tues/Thurs because I think I might be doing a bit too much of it. I run the mile in PE 2-3 times a week and I ride my bike to the gym every day, that should be enough without doing HIIT twice a week, right?

By the way, seeing some good gains on my beginner/intermediate split. Bench and squat both went up 5 pounds this week. Thanks again for that advice Cyrex. Can't wait til I can start the SF 5x5!

 

[cyrex]

congrats!

 

[Dposey]

Thanks! And one more question to add to my plethora of others. Should I eat the same amount of food on cardio/rest days that I do on weight training days?

 

[jmt24]

if you don't want to buy supps, then i would add 1 tsp of natty pb to you pre shake. as far as scoops it depends on what you have. protein should be at least 25-40 grams. post workout, no milk. it will slow the absorption of protein. i didnt see where i suggested a lot of supps?

 

[Dposey]

Didn't mean to say a lot, I just saw things like UDO's choice, bcaa's and dextrose and thought I was being suggested to go on a total BB diet. Didn't mean anything by it.

I'll probably get whey protein by Optimum Nutrition, 1 scoop = 110 cals/23g protein I think.