Calling All Buff Guys....

[JoeClothing]

No, I am not posting to solicit man love I need help planning out a new diet. From what I have heard from many of you, 90% of what your body looks like is due to what you eat.
Currently I am 165 pounds trending towards 170 and exercise 4/5 times a week. A little bit of cardio with a lot of strength training. I have definitely gotten stronger, I just need a bit more help in the way of muscle definition. I am thinking I need some diet info.
So, for all you buff dudes out there, can you help me plan out some better meals?

[Eazyrock]

What works for me might not work for you. Saying we have different body types and chemistry. I eat mostly steamed foods and low fat high protein meals.. If you go to a gym or health club check if they have a dietitian. They usual let you pick there brain at least once before charging you.

[DesiGUY]

This my routine.

Eat more protein
Always lift heavier
Take plenty of rest
Guzzle water

[Couch]

I have limited knowledge, but am working on bulking now. 140 wanting to reach 165 <-----long term goal. My metabolism is so insane it's going to take a while.

Protein Protein Protein. Eat at least 6 times a day. Drink water and give up all soft drinks. When you decide to cut, that's when you may want to give up beer.

Oatmeal is a great way to start the day. I put cinnamon and sugar free syrup in mine. Mrs. Buttersworth owns all sugar free syrup. Even mix in a little protein powder for the hell of it.

Minimize your sugar and salt intake to as little as possible.

Bulking you also want calories. But for your goal of 5 pounds you probably shouldn't attempt to add too many calories.

It gets old, but it's good for you, eat chicken(grilled/baked). I have eaten chicken everyday for almost a year now.

Eat fish, and steaks as well. And I can't stress enough....green vegetables and fruit. They contain all the essentials. I tend to go for broccoli and squash/zuchinni usually. Raw is better as cooking takes out about 30% of the nutrients. But I'm not a huge fan of raw veggies. So I steam my broc on the stove, and steam my squash on the grill.

The biggest thing is that you may not notice any overall difference in how you feel at first. That first time you HAVE to go an extended time without hitting the gym and not eating the healthy food is when you notice how vital it is. And just how big of a good change it is to eat right.

Also make sure to take a multi-vitamin. I was taking Centrum, but after reading up just swtiched to One-A-Day Men's. Holy crap, I've noticed a difference in how I feel. It's really crazy.

Just mix up your foods though. My typical day is like this:

7am:
-Cereal
-Protein Shake
8-8:30am
-Banana
9:30-10:30
-Oatmeal

11am
-Snack of mixed nuts. Walnuts/Sunflower Seeds/Peanuts
Note: Walnuts are probably the best overall nut you can eat.

12:15pm
-one chicken breast (sometimes wrapped in a whole wheat pita)
-fruit or veggie

2pm
-More snack of mixed nuts

3pm
-one chicken breast
-fruit or veggie

4pm
-Gym

5:45ish
-Protein Shake
-Hardy carb filled meal. Lately it's been spaghetti with tomato sause with ground chuck I cooked.

8:30
-I usually have a snack of something. i.e.-cheese or yogurt.

Oh yea, only use mustard for your burger. No mayo!

Good luck man. Remember everyones different so you have to sort of play around with foods.

[JoeClothing]

^ great post...thanks!
P.S. I hate may anyways...

[GAM3OVR85]

mcdonalds 7 times a week ...........atleast it works for me.







































im serious

[JoeClothing]

^ I give you six weeks max

[Hawkeye]

I would say what you eat is only about 10% of appearance and 90% of how much energy you have and how you feel.

I eat about 5-6 times a day as well as it is better to get as constant as you can instead of having big spikes throughout the day.

I don't watch what eat for the most part and I went from 145 lbs to my current 195 lbs in about a year and a half of heavy lifting. I have been 195 for a while now and can't seem to top 2 bills but oh well, I am happy where I am.

For nutrition check out www.mypyramid.gov and www.sparkpeople.com as good resources that I use. Good luck!

[Couch]

I would check out bodybuilding.com.

Most of those guys are taking mad amounts of supplements. But their nutritional info with food is really good. Just read a lot and you can see what's b.s. and what's not.

A lot of what I eat is based off of my roommates diet. Which was given to him from his friend, and she's a female body builder. She's all natural. My diet is a little more "open" compared to my roommate. He's calmed down a bit, but for a while he was going as far as eating plain buckwheat pancakes.

They are pretty gross. Especially with no syrup.

[ATG]

Originally Posted by JoeClothing

No, I am not posting to solicit man love I need help planning out a new diet. From what I have heard from many of you, 90% of what your body looks like is due to what you eat.
Currently I am 165 pounds trending towards 170 and exercise 4/5 times a week. A little bit of cardio with a lot of strength training. I have definitely gotten stronger, I just need a bit more help in the way of muscle definition. I am thinking I need some diet info.
So, for all you buff dudes out there, can you help me plan out some better meals?

How tall are you?

Take a protein shake within 30 minutes of each work out.

Check out this program: MAX-OT

It helped me to to get from 190 to 225 bench presses in about 4-5 weeks. I also gained 6-7 pounds over 2-3 months, but then lost it due to partying too much and not following the routine ...

[Couch]

Don't focus too much on straight bench press. If you want to gain true strength begin each workout with a few sets of pull ups. Palms away from you. It's discussed in the work out thread below.

And imo, free weight incline/decline bench give better gains than flat bench.

[Brunotheboxer]

genetics also plays a huge part in how you will end up.
as far as dieting you have to eat clean. for me its lots of home cooking with high protein. at the gym you have to be consistent, you cant take too many days off.

[ArmyBimmerDude]

Originally Posted by Couch

Don't focus too much on straight bench press. If you want to gain true strength begin each workout with a few sets of pull ups. Palms away from you. It's discussed in the work out thread below.

And imo, free weight incline/decline bench give better gains than flat bench.

Incline definitely. Every musclehead I know tells me that declines only for looks(getting that cut under your chest muscles. I'd focus on free weights instead of using the bar.

[JoeClothing]

Originally Posted by Couch

Don't focus too much on straight bench press. If you want to gain true strength begin each workout with a few sets of pull ups. Palms away from you. It's discussed in the work out thread below.

And imo, free weight incline/decline bench give better gains than flat bench.

I'm 5'11.
Actually I do start off my routine with pull ups. I posted a few weeks back about not being able to do a single one.
Since then I started doing them on the pull up machine. I started with 45 pds of help then 25 pds, and now I can do a few without any help.

I have actually been using a lot of the advice I have gotten from the OT portion of this site which has helped me a lot. i.e. pullups and 5x5 sets.

[darkcloud]

Sorry to hijack but I was going to start a similar thread tonight, anyways....

I've always been an athletic guy and even though I haven't worked out on a normal basis for 3 years you wouldn't know until I took off my shirt. I'm 6'4'', 220lb. I want to get back into it cuz I'm starting to feel lazy and I'm getting married in August and want to look good for the pictures and the honeymoon.

Anyways couple questions....

-When is the best time to work out? I'm planning on doing the wake up at 6am and go. Maybe throw in a little time on the elepitical at home later in the evening. I don't have the time to dedicate 1-1.5 hours later a majority of the week which is why I'm leaning towards mornings.

-What is a good protein shake? I never really drank that stuff but my good friend always has and it seems to work for him. Which is a good tasting one, one you wouldn't mind drinking even if you didn't have to.

-Should I get back into taking creatine? Used the stuff before but it seems to have lost its appeal since I never hear anyone really bring it up.

-I'm not going to officially diet. More just be conscious of what I'm eating. I've already cut back a lot of stuff in preparation and lost 10lbs doing so. I do have a vice for some occasional fast food. Due to my job and constantly being on the run it's whats convenient but I've also made the effort and cut back by dropping to smaller portions and avoiding the notorious really bad for you items on the menus.


Well any pointer would be great. Thanks and again sorry for the thread hijack.

[BayAreaE92]

Originally Posted by ArmyBimmerDude

Incline definitely. Every musclehead I know tells me that declines only for looks(getting that cut under your chest muscles. I'd focus on free weights instead of using the bar.

+1

I'm 6' 208 w/12% Body Fat

Eat high protein meals, high mono-poly unsaturated fatty acids, high complex carbs from whole wheat sources and use whey protein immediately after workouts to facilitate immediate muscle recovery [working out damages muscle tissues and body rebuilds the tissue by replicating muscle cells with higher mass and density].

Make sure you go heavy for slow twitch muscle and light i.e. push-ups for fast twitch.

Stay away from random suplements...there's no substitute for hard work

[just4kickz]

lots of water, protein powder, fish, poultry, fish, brown rice, nuts, vegetables, a little fruit, grains, supplements... haha i dont diet... i did it for 2 months and was miserable.

[BayAreaE92]

Originally Posted by darkcloud

Sorry to hijack but I was going to start a similar thread tonight, anyways....

I've always been an athletic guy and even though I haven't worked out on a normal basis for 3 years you wouldn't know until I took off my shirt. I'm 6'4'', 220lb. I want to get back into it cuz I'm starting to feel lazy and I'm getting married in August and want to look good for the pictures and the honeymoon.

Anyways couple questions....

-When is the best time to work out? I'm planning on doing the wake up at 6am and go. Maybe throw in a little time on the elepitical at home later in the evening. I don't have the time to dedicate 1-1.5 hours later a majority of the week which is why I'm leaning towards mornings.

-What is a good protein shake? I never really drank that stuff but my good friend always has and it seems to work for him. Which is a good tasting one, one you wouldn't mind drinking even if you didn't have to.

-Should I get back into taking creatine? Used the stuff before but it seems to have lost its appeal since I never hear anyone really bring it up.

-I'm not going to officially diet. More just be conscious of what I'm eating. I've already cut back a lot of stuff in preparation and lost 10lbs doing so. I do have a vice for some occasional fast food. Due to my job and constantly being on the run it's whats convenient but I've also made the effort and cut back by dropping to smaller portions and avoiding the notorious really bad for you items on the menus.


Well any pointer would be great. Thanks and again sorry for the thread hijack.

No better way than to kick start your metabolism in the morning than with a workout! It's when I workout 5 or 6 am every morning.

Myoplex, MeRX, MRI's Pro-Nos have always worked for me...I do Myoplex because EAS is very respectable company and the first to bring creatine to the market

I still use Creatine, it's just lost the hype because it's now an integral part of athletic training

I also have no specific diet...I just avoid what's obviously bad.

[darkcloud]

Originally Posted by BayAreaE92

Myoplex, MeRX, MRI's Pro-Nos have always worked for me...I do Myoplex because EAS is very respectable company and the first to bring creatine to the market

I still use Creatine, it's just lost the hype because it's now an integral part of athletic training

Any specific flavor of protein? Do you get the premixed drinks or the powder?

Same with the creatine, do you mix it into your protein shake or drink that separately via another pre-bought drink or mixed into water or gatorade?

If you wouldn't mind linking a couple specific products from www.gnc.com ??

[Couch]

Originally Posted by darkcloud

Sorry to hijack but I was going to start a similar thread tonight, anyways....

I've always been an athletic guy and even though I haven't worked out on a normal basis for 3 years you wouldn't know until I took off my shirt. I'm 6'4'', 220lb. I want to get back into it cuz I'm starting to feel lazy and I'm getting married in August and want to look good for the pictures and the honeymoon.

Anyways couple questions....

-When is the best time to work out? I'm planning on doing the wake up at 6am and go. Maybe throw in a little time on the elepitical at home later in the evening. I don't have the time to dedicate 1-1.5 hours later a majority of the week which is why I'm leaning towards mornings.

-What is a good protein shake? I never really drank that stuff but my good friend always has and it seems to work for him. Which is a good tasting one, one you wouldn't mind drinking even if you didn't have to.

-Should I get back into taking creatine? Used the stuff before but it seems to have lost its appeal since I never hear anyone really bring it up.

-I'm not going to officially diet. More just be conscious of what I'm eating. I've already cut back a lot of stuff in preparation and lost 10lbs doing so. I do have a vice for some occasional fast food. Due to my job and constantly being on the run it's whats convenient but I've also made the effort and cut back by dropping to smaller portions and avoiding the notorious really bad for you items on the menus.


Well any pointer would be great. Thanks and again sorry for the thread hijack.

IMO, I'd stay away from creatine. If you want creatine, eat steaks.

Check out these bb theads:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=694992
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=54204

As far as protein powder/whey's, I mix up the brands I use. These are what I've used thus far:
-Muscle Milk vanilla - taste good
-BSN Syntha 6 vanilla - also good
-Champion Nutrition Banana Creme - good
-Labrada V60 - didn't like it. I use to use his Lean Body and it was great though.

Stay way from GNC. They suck and try and force sell you products.

You really have to play around with the powders. Some may upset your stomach or give you excess gas. lol But I don't advise taking these as a "meal". I take one in the morning and one at night. Some people get extreme and do 3 or 4 a day with 4 scoops in each shake.

I work out after work. I think working out at the time it fits in to your schedule is the best time. It's a personal thing when it comes down to it. No matter what studies say.

Oh and most important with eating right is preparation. Do everything on Saturday or Sunday for the week. Separate into baggies Mon-Friday and each morning you can just grab and go. It's a bit odd at first but after a few weeks it's second hand.

[Couch]

Originally Posted by BayAreaE92

Make sure you go heavy for slow twitch muscle and light i.e. push-ups for fast twitch.

I like that. Never heard it put that way before.

[E82tt6]

My 2c?

Cut out all simple sugars, for a start. Dextrose, and limited amounts of fructose are the exception.

Calculate your BMR. Figure out how many calories you need to maintain your bodyweight (an online BMR calculator will do this for you).

From that point, you want to tweak macro-nutrient ratios. I try to stick to under 35g of fat a day, unless I'm cheating that day (everyone has to go out and beer and pizza with the boys now and then).

For my remaining daily calories, I try to stick to 70% protein, 30% carbs, and eat 200-400 calories over maintainance a day. In my experience, eating this way, you'll slowly improve body compositon, while still building some lean mass.

I reccomend eating most of your carbs in the morning, and/or around workout time, this is when you need them the most. Taper off carb consumption over the course of the day, so you don't have anything carb-based within 4 hours of bed.

I agree with what the previous poster said about supplements. IMO, all you need supplement wise that's all that helpful is a good multi-vitamin, and maybe some fish-oil, if you aren't getting all your EFAs and such through normal fat consumption. I keep nearly all fat out of my diet, so I do supplement with fish oil, but a lot of people prefer to eat a bit more fat, and skip it. Peanut Butter is a good source of most EFAs, and good fats!

Darkcloud:

I prefer morning workouts. Generally, morning is the best time to do carido, because you can give your metabolism a little jump start for the rest of the day. Some people like doing morning cardio on an empty stomach to try to force fat burning. Works great for many, but not all. IMO, it's better to do 20 minutes of cardio in the morning, than do strength training then and cardio later.

Look into HIIT cardio (High Intensity Interval Training), you can get an AWESOME cardio workout in 20 minute using this approach, just be sure to ease into it if you've been out of the game lately.

No harm in doing weight training in the evening. Just make sure you get a dose of carbs before and after to keep muscle glycogen up, and make sure you get some protein before bed to help recovery while you sleep.

For protein shakes, I like Optimum Gold Standard Whey. I'm a fan of strawberry. I like it because it tends to dissolve real well, without chunks, or excessive viscosity.

Creatine is up to you. Definitely optional, not required, but it will make you look a little bigger, and make you a little stronger pretty quickly.