Getting my diet in order - Please help!

[caneda]

Hey Everyone!

I'm a hardgainer who finally made it to 170 lbs this week (woohoo!), but am aiming for closer to 180 - hopefully by the end of the summer. While I've got a pretty decent workout routine, I've never really done anything with my diet other than try and eat everything in sight and use a weight gainer. If I'm ever going to make it to 180 or beyond, I'm going to need to get my diet in order. It's my summer project, you could say.

So, I need help. Serious help. Which is where you come in... please critique the diet I came up with today! I'm seriously grateful for any help at all.

I finally wrote down an average day of what I was eating and discovered that it was (surprise!) less than ideal. I was getting something like 2600 calories a day, with 189g of protein, and a little over 300g carbs.

Anyway, here's the new diet:

Meal 1 (breakfast):
1.5 cup oatmeal with water
1 banana
2 eggs, scrambled
1 cup OJ

Meal 2 (post-workout):
1 serving cyto-gainer
2 cups 2% milk

Meal 3 (lunch):
1 grilled chicken breast
2 cups broccoli
1 baked potato

Meal 4 (snack):
1/2 cup cream of wheat
2 scoops (half-serving) muscle milk
1 banana

Meal 5 (dinner):
1 grilled chicken breast
2 cups green beans
1 baked potato

Meal 6 (before bed):
1 serving muscle milk
1.5 cup 2% milk

In addition, I will be supplementing with these, some of them for the first time:
multivitamin
vitamin c
fish oil
glutamine
BCAA
creatine
ZMA

The totals are 3273 calories, 236g protein, 432g carbohydrates, and 82g fat.

It's going to be tough, but I'm all in. Am I missing something? Any advice?
Thanks in advance!

[whiteman90909]

Looks like you got it together dude. IMHO, you don't need the BCAAs because you have a pretty good diet with a lot of your protein coming from solid foods.

The ZMA looks like a waste of money too if you're getting a good multi already.

[cphafner]

If you are having a tough time gaining weight you shouldn't be so picky about eating clean. You are making this more complicated than it needs to be. Take it from another skinny kid with a fast metabolism. Shove the food down. The occasional fast food meal is a great way to get in cals. Nothing wrong with eating mostly clean, but you'll have a tough time getting in enough cals to grow.

[Joe Black]

I agree with cphafner. Eating clean is good, but it's tough to get the calories and you have to be really dedicated in how much your are eating.

Considering you are bulking, I think you could make it easier on yourself and be less regimented and just carefully watch your weight. If you put on too much fat, scale it down a touch.

When your cutting, that's the time to rigidnly stick to the lean chicken and broccoli :)

Oh, also I would love to see you using Maximus (http://www.atlargenutrition.com/nutrition_detail.php?products_id=18) and Nitrean (http://atlargenutrition.com/nutrition_detail.php?products_id=1) but that's just me :) Doing so would support the forums!

[caneda]

Thanks guys! Good to know I'm on the right track.

The trouble is that I've been doing the "eat whatever I can find" thing for so long that I'm not sure how much longer it's going to work unless I put some order into it. In general, I think this is going to be a guideline more than a hard and fast rule. Also, it does cost a lot to eat out in NYC, so the more I cook at home the better. And I'm trying to learn something through this - like some discipline...

Actually, I've been using Maximus for quite a while now. I love it! I just wanted to give something else a chance for a month or two. =)

[VikingWarlord]

Thanks guys! Good to know I'm on the right track.

The trouble is that I've been doing the "eat whatever I can find" thing for so long that I'm not sure how much longer it's going to work unless I put some order into it. In general, I think this is going to be a guideline more than a hard and fast rule. Also, it does cost a lot to eat out in NYC, so the more I cook at home the better. And I'm trying to learn something through this - like some discipline...

Actually, I've been using Maximus for quite a while now. I love it! I just wanted to give something else a chance for a month or two. =)

The first step is to stop thinking so hard. It's pretty easy to split the difference between using a ramrod to shove Twinkies in your face and eating nothing but rabbit food.

Since what you're doing is well thought out and mostly clean, throw in a Double Whopper with cheese once or twice a week to bump your calories up. Everyone is concerned with prices of things so if that's not possible, add peanut butter to everything. Learn how to make good cream and/or cheese sauces and whatnot and eat that on pasta.

On a bulk, less attention needs to be paid to hitting a specific daily goal as long as you hit your minimums so what you said about using it as a guideline rather than a rule is right on the money. Go over your targets. If you start gaining more fat than you'd like, cut back a little.

Most of all, as long as your overall calorie level is sufficient with plenty of protein, you can relax and put your focus into training your ass off.

[Pimpstick]

OP, don't do a PH cycle EVER. EVER.

[caneda]

OP, don't do a PH cycle EVER. EVER.

Yeah, decided against that one pretty quick...

[Irish Pilot]

My opinion...drop the muscle milk, add some Nitrean, add some natty peanut butter (actually, lots of PB ;) ), maybe a scoop of protein to your oats, maybe some egg whites to your scrambled eggs, and get some Novus Bars to satisfy that sweets urge you are going to get with eating all those greens.

I wouldnt worry about a weight gainer for now...to me thats a road you go down when you have exhausted all other options or if you need heavy cals on the go.

Best of luck!