Critique my diet

[earthbuddy1]

I have in the past month switched from a cut type diet to a bulk diet. On my cut, I did not attain the lower levels of BF I wanted, but I got down to around 13% at 135 lbs. Im 5'2" male 44yr old. I was at 135. Been gaining on avg about 1 lb per week. I setteled into 2400 cal by trial and error. Felt 2000 to 2200 too low, and 2500 too high.

My current diet looks like this:

http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=earthbuddy1

Note that 1 breakfast is close to 900 cal. Also, the banana will be eaten around 4:00pm

6:30 am breakfast- grains, oats, PB, milk, creatine
9:30 am meal of chicken, rice, broccoli, olive oil(evo)
1:00pm same as 9:30 meal
4:00pm same as 9:30 meal + fruit
6:00pm dinner- meat, starch, veggie
8:00pm on WO days I have a pw and pwo creatine/dextrose/whey drink. On non wo days, may grab some whey in needed.
10:30pm may have natty PB, or may have granola.


Ive been thinking abut cutting some out of breakfast, and creating a true meal at 10:30pm of protein, veggie or a fat. What is the thoughts on this diet? looking to bulk but I store fat fast. looking to keep the fat storage to a min. Im going to bulk from now untill about march. Start a cut from march untill mid may. Maintain for summer. Looking to gain about 15 lb LBM. My goal is to be at least 150lb at 10% or leaner BF.

Im currently doing an HST program. When I finish and do a rest, Im thinking about doing a 5x5 routine.

[Unreal]

Protein is more then enough, fat is more then enough. Your gaining 1lb a week which is just about perfect. Sounds like it is working great. Keep it up.

[vdizenzo]

If it's working why would you want to change anything?

[earthbuddy1]

It may be working, Im gaining weight, not too much at a time I dont think, but question is, could the diet be dialed in better to promote LBM and perhaps less fat storage? In other words, the 1 lb weight gain could be .5lb fat, .5lb muscle. May even be .75 lb fat storage and .25lb muscle. My waist has increased 1 inch since I started my bulk. Legs gained .5, chest gained 1" arms still the same. Id like to work my diet to providing the full 1lb increase to muscle gain if possible. If not possible, then if I can get to a .25 lb increase in fat and a .75lb increase in muscle that would be good. I have read some about insulin spikes, fat storage, hormone creation and such but im still a tad confused. I think my diet reflects my understanding of what I have read.

My fat intake is more than I expected though. Been trying to keep it around 28% of my total calories. That would be about 74 grams. Some articles suggest fats be around 52g or about 20%

How about carbs? I love granola. Would that be bad to eat in the evening closer to bed time? I do eat it sometimes at night just to get my total calories in, but I always find that in the middle of the night, im sweating like a pig. If I eat PB, this does not happen. Why is that? Also, how much brown rice is too much with each of my meals, if there can be too much? I get 1/4 cup uncooked with each of my 3 daytime meals. I also have broccoli with it and chicken.

My conclusion is that I need to lower the fats a bit, but Im unsure about the protein. Id need to add carbs though to get my total calories.

More thoughts and suggestions?

[Unreal]

Don't lower fats. You want atleast .5g of fat/LBM so fats are good.

There is only too much brown rice or granola if it puts you over your calories. As for nutrient partioning, that is going to be genetics and how hard you train. Make sure your busting your ass in the gym and getting plenty of rest.