Doing 5x5 in one week, help on diet plan.

[Rabid_Goose]

This week I will be spending time learning all my correct form movements and 1RM on Oly Squats, Barbell Rows and Dead Lifts, bench is already known. Form for those is tuck elbows inside with hands sticking at or a lil over chest wide stance, if I watched videos correctly.

But I need help on my diet. I'm shopping tomorrow and ordering things online due to GNC being out-right Price Gouging Whores. Come on, 21 for an Animal Pak and 44 at GNC? Eat me. Anywho, at 200 even, 21% estimated body fat from online measurements so give or give a bit more higher of a %. Let us say I have around 150-160 pounds of Lean Muscle. So, I'm assuming 300g of Protien will be what I need. I was wondering on the other things such as complex carbs. I have Oats and I will be eating Kashi Cereal for breakfast in the mornings. Also, I will be asking my Supervisor at work to allow me to eat Online, Almonds, to eat inbetween my break before lunch. What should my Macro's be at?

I was going to stay at 2200 cals and do the 5x5, but I think I'm going to eat 2700cals instead. After all, my body fat % will go down as the more muscle I go down. It's not thin I want, it is the body fat % I want. I would use the diet form but I figured people know a better diet for 5x5. Screw the numbers on the Weight Scale, I want the low numbers on the Body Fat scale. Once I Get my macro numbers I'm going to just shop my arse off tomorrow looking around with a Calc and looking at everything.

I hate being long winded, my english teachers said it will always be my downfall. Sorry for the long post.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Here's madcow's Diet article. Basically, there's no special diet for 5x5 training; for your goals, just make sure a caloric deficit is present.

Definitely start a thread in the diet forum or just browse it a bit. There are a lot of "good foods" lists floating around out there that should give you an idea of what you sorts of foods to eat. John Berardi's is a particularly good and concise one.

Also, test 5RMs rather than 1RMs since that's what you'll be doing for the program.

 

[Rabid_Goose]

Oh I thought I was supposed to take mt 5RM from my 1RM, glad you told me that. I was just wondering what my macro's should be to keep muscle growing and strength gains steady, if there was a certain ratio to be achieved, ya know?

I have a hell of a lot of healthy food to eat, or can get it. Was just wondering exactly what ratio of stuff I should eat. But my job requires carbs because I need fuel to burn so it has to be up there to keep my alive and running, or atleast the ability to run full force.

What I gather from the John Beradi article is carbs should be just up to post-work out then cut out for the day? I'll post this on the diet form like you suggested and see what comes up over there and see what I should do and when.

 

[Protobuilder]

What I gather from the John Beradi article is carbs should be just up to post-work out then cut out for the day?

FWIW that's stupid, IMO. He believes in nutrient timing and all the anal retentive baggage that goes along with it. Bottom line: carb cutoffs help people reduce calories. That's it. There's no fancy voodoo involved between eating your oatmeal at 5pm versus eating it at 9:30pm. But by knocking out carbs after 5pm or whatever arbitrary time you pick, you'll pretty much guarantee your cals drop b/c you won't stuff your face w/ pasta, rice, potatos, cheesecake, poptarts, and all the other carb goodies. YOu'll be stuck w/ meat and fat, which tend to be in foods that are less calorie dense than carb sources (caveat: foods w/ fat are high calories but most also contain carbs, so your carb cutoff removes them).

Just don't eat too much and you'll achieve the same thing w/out all the hand-wringing and bullshit that BB'rs tend to sadistically enjoy.

 

[Rabid_Goose]

I think I may have written my first post wrong. I have a diet for losing weight which works great, I can stay on this plan all the way to 170. I'm wanting to know what is a good Macro Nutri Percantage to have. I'm wanting to add muscle and still cut fat so I'm going for 2g of protein to 1pound of Lean Muscle I have. I will be having Olive Oil, ANPB and Almonds as my fat and some Omega's once I look around. My Carbs will be Whole Grains and the liking, all complex and no simple carbs.

Just wondering what is a good % to have for building muscle other then stuffing myself till I gain more fat then muscle?

 

[Protobuilder]

I think that's a fairly individual question, based on your daily activity level etc., but a decent rough average might be 40/40/20 or maybe 35/40/25. I honestly wouldn't stress about this part too much though. As long as you're (a) hitting/staying within your daily calorie total, and (b) getting sufficient protein, and (c) have enough energy (carbs & fats) to do your daily job and hit the weights hard, you'll be fine. Basically, count protein grams and let the rest fall where it may, just stay w/in your calorie totals.