Diet check please...

6'4, 72kg, 24yo, just starting (literally, last week). Following Rippetoe's Starting Strength program. Chasing strength more than bulk (if there's a difference)

As you can tell, I'm not really used to eating much at all, so help me out here...

MORNING:
- Shake (1 egg, 100g almonds or peanuts, 2 bananas, some honey/milo and topped up to 1L with milk)
- 3000mg Omega 3 Fish Oil (as gel caps)

BREAKFAST:
- Porridge (not sure on the weight and I'm out of it at the moment)
OR
- 200g ravioli with sauce (that Latina Fresh stuff)
OR
- Omelette (4 eggs, 50g spinach, 75g red capsicum, handful of leg ham, 30g butter, 30g cheese)

LUNCH
- Steak pie, chips, small tub of yoghurt, cake (yeah, really should start taking lunch to work rather than relying on site caf...)

DINNER
-Pasta as above
OR
-Omelette as above
OR
-Chicken burrito
OR
-2 small/1 large chicken breast, fried in butter/soy/mirin
OR
- Steak (what, a few hundred grams or something?)

POST-WORKOUT
-Shake, as above

And another 3000mg fish-oil and a glass of milk before I sleep.

So, how bad is it and what're the easiest/most obvious fixes? And would adding a scoop of whey to the shakes be worth it? Should I just drink a whole lot more milk? (Not an issue, since until my late teens I was going through a litre and a half of milk a day and not eating a great deal of proper food)

How many calories is it? If you really want to get your nutrition on key and want to make consistent gains you have to track your calorie intake mate. I would be aiming at around 3500 calories per day at your current size and weigh in once a week and see how you go, try to aim for around 1kg weight gain a month if your more interested in lean gaining.

But overall your food choices are good, lots of fats and natural foods, cut away the pie and chips or keep it to a once or twice a week treat if you can and throw in some veggies like broccoli and other greens otherwise your diet is great. Keep that up, just get your calories on point.

Cheers mate, I'll do a diary for a week and see what I'm actually getting.

Thing is I'm having trouble upping my calories without going for unhealthy stuff; veggies seem great for everything but that.

If I'm short on calories and don't like eating is milk the best option?

Use myfitnesspal to track what you're eating. It's easy.

You're actually probably around 3500-4000 calories with what you've listed there.

Milk is easy, so is eating peanut butter out of the tub with a spoon.

Sam said:

Use myfitnesspal to track what you're eating. It's easy.

You're actually probably around 3500-4000 calories with what you've listed there.

Milk is easy, so is eating peanut butter out of the tub with spoon.

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Oh, sweet, I'll give it a shot.

[MENTION=7135]NJA82[/MENTION] I notice you're in the NT; can you recommend anyone if I wanted to get a little initial coaching on the basic lifts? I just joined Time Out in Cullen Bay (prefer working out around as few people as possible) but I don't know if any of the PTs I've seen are much into lifting.

*EDIT* Dayum... one of the shakes with 30g whey is ~1300cal and 80g fat, 80g protein (with whey) and 85g carbs... Guess I won't have trouble getting after all; if anything I'll need to watch I'm not eating too much...

If I gain weight too fast I suppose I should cut out the morning shake or have that for breakfast and just smash veggies for lunch?

So, how bad is it and what're the easiest/most obvious fixes?

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Steak pie, chips,

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Just a guess.