Diet advice

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2005
Posts
2,887
Location
Moving...
I've been going to the gym for a few years now, started off as an amatuer trying to stay fit, then I gradually turned to weights and have slowly got more and more into it. My current goals now is solely to add size and muscle mass. I think I've got a pretty good routine sorted, but one thing I've always struggled with my diet. For last 3 years i've been at uni so I never had the drive to get it sorted as I was more worried about other things. Now I've finished uni and I work in a lame job while I'm saving to go travelling, this means I can put all my energy into training!

So basically, I would like some advice as to how I can improve my current diet. I've only been on it for a couple of weeks and I know it needs a lot of improvement so any advice would be great. Couple of things to start with: I nearly always train in the morning, soon after breakfast. I work shifts which often change so I can't get a regular eating pattern. A lot of the time I have to eat within breaks so I am rushed for time and don't always have time to cook things. I'm currently 84kg and guess my bf% to be around 16% although I've never been measured.

So...my diet!!

Breakfast: 2 slices of wholemeal toast with peanut butter, bowl of porridge, pint of orange juice

Brunch: 2 ham and lettuce sandwiches (wholemeal), banana and yoghurt

Lunch: Often scrambled eggs (3) on toast (4 slices), sometimes beans on toast, maybe homemade pizza or some rice and chicken dish if I have time.

Afternoon Snack: Protein shake; banana, few oats, milk, 30g whey protein bit of sugar

Dinner: Not usually my choice as I eat with the family, it is quite random food varying from lasagne, to pasta, to stir fry, to roast dinners. Not always ideal but very rarely 'unhealthy food'.

Evening: Couple of bits of toast and a banana/apple/yoghurt


I also have another 30g of whey protein with water at some point during the day, straight after workout if I train that day. I do sometimes vary from the list at times (brunch and lunch sometimes merge if I dont have time) but I dont eat rubbish food and I very rarely drink alcohol. I also get plenty of water during the day.

Any advice?
Thanks.
 
It's pretty decent as it is, really. Maybe lose the whole pint of orange juice and sort out the 'pre bed' meal with some slow release protein (Quark, cottage cheese, Milk Protein), but honestly it's quite good. Maybe get rid of ham for a better lean meat. I'm not an expert at diet, though.
 
If you want to add muscle, then, the ideal would be 6 meals a day, high quality protein at every meal. The body stays in saving muscle and building mode if its fed protein frequently and well. So as said, drop the level of carbs in meals, spread them out more and try to get protein as often as you can really. The key times for protein are when you wake up and before you go to bed. Morning your body hasn't eaten for ages and will start to break down muscle and energy from body, and hasn't had anything to continue building muscle in ages so thats what you want asap. Before bed, because you'll do the most building while you sleep, so protein to last as long as possible through the night.

Other than that, really just start lowish on calorie not to many changes, swap out carbs for protein first to keep same level and see how it goes. If you're not gaining add a few hundred calories and again see how it goes.

Though that totally depends, some people can add clean muscle easily, some can't, some only want to add clean muscle some are fine with cycling bulking and cutting and don't care about a little extra bodyfat for a while. UP to you really.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. You mention I should eat more protein early and late in the day, what would be a good source of protein at such times?

Would it be good idea to have some more whey protein or would 'proper' food be better?

Thanks.
 
proper food is preferable, but if you cant manage it then a shake would be fine.
 
Whey protein IS the best protein you can get. You just need to realise that meat, is a range of substances, good fats, semi good fats, even the "bad" fats aren't bad for you except in larger quantities, but it will have vitamins and other things in not only the protein.

So a whey shake, with some decent fat really is a better way to go then if you need to increase calories because you're not gaining adding some powdered oats into shakes would be a good way to go. Flaxseeds or flaxseed oil, nuts(pine nuts are jawesome in terms of quality of fats and protein), or whatever else you find easy. I personally love egg mayo even on its own so I'll often have a whey shake and some egg mayo, or nuts, whatever.

In general, fats supposedly slow the absorbtion of protein into the body, which would be ideal at night to extend the amount of time you have protein available as you sleep, milk will do the same, coconut oil is supposed to be good for it, if you can stomach it(i utterly hate coconut). Which coversely might mean a whey shake thats fairly plain in the morning first thing might be best as you've not eaten for a long time so the faster you can get protein on board the better.

I can't be bothered, yet, to have another huge tub of protein about but lots of people get cassien based protein to have as their pre sleep protein shake as it is more slowly absorbed than whey, so again another way to extend the available protein overnight.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom