My diet. need suggestions

[PoutineEh]

about 5'10
175 lbs
goal is to just gain more muscle. dont care about cutting

be gentle with me. i have only gotten serious about gaining muscle for the past 4 months or so. id like some helpful suggestions like if i am eating enough etc. or if i need to eat more or less (doubt less since everyone says MORE MORE MORE)
anyways, here is my day

morning:
roughly 3-4 cubs go lean crunch for breakfast
perhaps zone perfect bar or powerbar if i am still hungry
(classes are in morning, so i dont have time to go to cafeteria and eat better than whats in my room)

workout for about an hour or more

drink protein shake (about 30g protein). i also put a spoonful of natty peanut butter in the shake for flavor, so thats going to add to the fat/protein. othertimes, i use a banana if available

lunch:
(the cafeteria foods have nutrition facts by the foods. i go for the food with highest protein i can find. unless its something like chicken nuggets that have lots of protein, but just as much fat. i stay away from those)
i eat usually a plateful of high protein food. usually chicken or beef. sometimes go for seconds (im a big eater in my opinion).
if steam vegetables are offered i will grab some
also grab fruits like peaches, pineapple, or pears if served
drink about 8oz. of milk

sometimes i will drink a protein shake (about 30 g protein) in between lunch and dinner depending on the time i have

dinner:
pretty much the same situation as lunch. i try to eat as much protein as i can get

i eat a handful of almonds somewhere in my day, sometimes a bit more.
i take a cotsco multi-vitamin along with cotsco fish oil capsules after every meal

if i get a random hunger spike during some part of the day, i may make myself a natty peanut butter sandwich with 7 grain bread (mmmm...)

i will also drink a muscle milk before bed at night

i always stay away from the cakes/frozen yogurt served in the cafeteria. i am mostly concerned with eating foods that will give me lots of protein (mostly meats and shakes) and vegetables during lunch and dinner if served. the thing you could classify as junk in my diet would probably be my powerbars and zone bars i have about once a day. i will have a cheat day once a week (usually weekends) where if i am out with friends and we may all split a pizza.

sorry i couldnt give amounts for how much i eat at lunch and dinner in a more accurate way. if needed, i could pay attention more. there a good way to ballpark this? please tell me if there is

truly appreciate the help

[Built]

Go to www.fitday.com and enter a few "typical" days as best you can.

Post up the average grams of P, C, and F, and total cals, and we'll take it from there.
Oh, and ditch the bars - eat more natty PB instead. Try it on apple slices, in your oatmeal ...

Think of pb as a fat source, not a protein source.

Eat more protein for breakfast.

:)

[PoutineEh]

ill post an update when i can get a regular dinner in to show how i usually eat.

[malkore]

doesn't sound too bad, but as Built said, get 30g of protein in at breakfast...you've been starving for 8 hours as you slept. you need protein.

[PoutineEh]

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=poutineeh

alright, i added my breakfast and dinner to fitday (unfortunately i didnt write lunch down). ill probably add what i have for tomorrows lunch as todays lunch so you get an idea of my entire days eating. my guess is it will add about another 500-600 cals in about a 30-30-40 ratio of protein-fat-carbs.
sometimes i may eat more than whats posted, sometimes less. i just try and eat till im full and get as much protein as i can.

am i lacking in the fat department? id eat more fat, but the things that contain more fat in my schools cafeteria are fried things like chicken nuggets etc. i try and stay away from them. should i just scarf down more natural peanut butter?

hows my diet look so far (w/o lunch posted)? ive been a big eater my whole life so its nice to know you have to eat alot when bulking. about a year and half ago i weighed ~190 lbs and had no muscle. i dropped down to ~165 lbs by doing cardio and minor weight lifting about a year ago and now im ~177 lbs and only doing weight lifting and i have more muscle... ill post some pictures in probably 2 months when im satisfied with my results of some before and after...

[Spartan936]

I'd say you know what you're doing. My only suggestion would be to eat breakfast, and also read up on post workout nutrition (you want proteins and fast acting carbs after a workout). Then just make sure you have a solid lifting program. And nice job with the weightloss btw. Good Luck!

[PoutineEh]

yea, i took the suggestion of eating a better breakfast. i usually eat eggs (starting to switch from whole eggs to mostly egg whites), some type of potato dish they serve, yogurt, biscut, and occasionally a bagel. i always make a protein shake the night before when i know im going to workout in the morning so i can just grab it and go when im done. dont usually eat complex carbs post workout though... perhaps i will grab some bread on my way out. thanks for the suggestion

[Spartan936]

You want simple carbs and protein post workout. Most people use dextrose and whey protein powder. Other things work as well. :thumbup:


EDIT: the reason you want simple carbs is because the body becomes a sort of sponge post workout. You want instant energy (carbs) and protein to flood into the muscles. The rest of the day focus on complex carbs.

[PoutineEh]

my bad. should i buy some dextrose, or is my atlarge/cytosport mix of protein enough to spike my insulin?...

[Built]

If you've had adequate carbs before and possibly during your workout, the fast insulin spike post workout isn't as crucial - you already have carbs trickling into your bloodstream. If your pre-workout nutrition wasn't there, make SURE your post-workout nutrition is.

I personally prefer slower carbs pre and post workout, but I'll be fiddling with the fast ones for post-workout a bit sometime during my upcoming bulk.

Not sure what's in cytosport. Is there dextrose/malto in it? How much?

I seem to recall reading that the standard guidelines for pwo nutrition are 0.8g/kg carbs:0.4g/kg protein. Check what's in your cytosport and dose yourself accordingly.

In terms of your diet, well, please get away from thinking of your diet in terms of ratios - they really don't get at what's important, which is that you have LBM-dependent "doses" of protein and fat that are required by your body: at least 1.0g protein per pound LBM, and at least 0.5g fat per pound LBM. You seem to be hitting these targets, so just proceed from here and see how you gain.

[PoutineEh]

alright cool. this is my first bulk ever and i think im slowly gaining weight which is good. its only been about 2 weeks but i think i see noticeable differences. ill see in another 2-4 weeks whether i am eating too much or if i need to change some things.
cytosport is a company that makes some nutrition products, like muscle milk. i bought their whey protein. i basically get no carbs in my PWO shake (cytosport has like 3g carbs and atlarge is <2g). i am probably going to buy a bag of dextrose and start adding it to my PWO shake

appreciate the tips everyone. love this forum and how nice people can be to the new people here

[Built]

A lot of the guys here grind up oats into a flour and add it into their shakes, too. But this is a slower carb. Dex really is best for what you're after. Half dex and half maltodextrin is even better if you can get your hands on maltodextrin. I purchase both at a U-brew. The malto is sold as a beer conditioner called Brew Body in the U-brew I go to.

Good luck! Enjoy your bulk!