Yup, another help me meal plan thread

[huskybear]

So this outlines the diet I used to drop from 248lbs to 215lbs (yes I said 208 but that was with a 24hr cut).

First Diet - For 2 and 1/2 months I ate the same things and did not cheat at all:

Meal 1 - 6 egg whites, 2 whole eggs, fried in coconut oil with 1 cup of spinach with 1/2 cup of plain oatmeal with cinnamon

Meal 2 - protein shake with fish oil cap

Meal 3 - chicken breast, 3 rice cakes

Meal 4 - steak with green salad with oil/vinegar and/or steamed broccoli or beans

Meal 5 - chicken breast or tuna with 3 rice cakes

Meal 6 - protein shake with fish oil cap

This works out to roughly 1850 calories with 200 grams of protein.

For 3 weeks I switched to a keto diet, but frankly don't think it did much more for me other than give me the freedom of fats with things like bacon and cheese. And I totally miss having even the limited carbs.

So I can say that with the fat lost, I'm still not overly lean, but I'm in the mind now that I'd like to feed my muscles to grow without going back to being a fat bastard.

I'm not sure how to modify this meal plan to move in the right direction... diet is my biggest struggle to put together.

I think that the changes I'd like to make are as follows:

Add berries to my oatmeal

Replace my ricecakes with celery and peanut butter or cream cheese and sweet potatoe

Double the protein shakes protein content from 25-35 grams up to 50-70 grams, or add a shake with a couple of meals.

I'm also open to other ideas... the carb loading stuff seems interesting but I don't really understand it. Also have the Macro Nutrients Guide from Shelby Starnes, but don't again know how to best execute the carb rotating to be effective

An help is greatly appreciated!

[DontTakeEmOff31]

I think it depends more on what you are trying to do. If you want to continue to cut then I think the diet is pretty solid and wouldn't over think it. Unless you are preparing for a body building competition I really don't think the macros matter at all.

If you want to put on more muscle, you are going to sap yourself dry with 1800 calories at 215. I used to be of the mindset that I would put on 5 - 10 lbs of muscle with no fat. You'll have a hard time making progress doing that. You are better off cutting to a lean weight that you feel comfortable with, and then bulking. That doesn't mean you have to become a total fat ass, but you shouldn't be afraid of putting on some fat while putting on muscle.

In terms of pure looks, its really one or the other, cut or bulk.

[huskybear]

Thanks for the response!

I think you're right. For now I'll move to a more maintenance type intake of 2500-2800 calories and see how I respond while I decide what direction to head. Much appreciated!

[RhodeHouse]

Too much focus on the minutia, dude. I agree that you need to keep the diet clean to aid in fat loss. Instead of looking at the the diet, look at your training. Do some conditioning work that kicks your ass. Not walking on the treadmill, but REAL conditioning work. This will allow you to not put so much focus on the diet and just train.

I've told you this before, you have too many things on your mind that you're trying to do. Training/dieting ADD. It's going to take decades to build your body up. Building muscle is not something that comes easy, especially if you're relatively new to this.

Instead of revisiting the same threads over and over, put 5 years in doing what you have outlined. That's the only way you'll find out if it works. You have to put the time in.

You spend more time on here asking questions and changing stuff and all that crap. Get off the internet and start training/eating. Use some common sense. This isn't rocket science.

Training
-Lift heavy
-Focus main work on compound exercises (2-3 per workout)
-Variety in assistance work (2-3 per workout)
-3-4 days a week
-Give it 10 years

Dieting/Eating
-Use some common sense
-Eat tons of protein
-Eat tons of vegetables
-Eat clean carbs
-Drink gallons and gallons of water everyday
-Don't eat shitty foods (you know what's good and what's not good for you)
-Give it 10 years

It's really not any more complicated than that. Honestly.