Mike's Diet

[Christian]

Thanks mate!

OK, this might be of use to quite a few novices at my level. To put it into perspective, I've been training on and off for years and know enough to be dangerous without the discipline and diet to see sustained gains.

So, I've turned over a new leaf and really want to lock everything down tight to see what I can achieve with discipline. I'm going to work Markos' PPP programme on Tue/Thu/Sat doing Squats/Bench/Deads and have the discipline to stick to this.

What I'm missing is a good "starting" diet that I can then put the bells and whistles on as I learn more about how my body responds.

I weigh 75kg so figure around the 1800cal mark is appropriate as my BMR technically requires 1600cals or thereabouts.

I figure if I keep it simple and go for 30gm of protein in each of my six daily meals then I get to 180gm. If I add a PWO shake then I'm at 210gm which should ensure my muscles have the material they need to grow. I'll use WPC for my shakes in the day and add Cassein to the pre-bed shake as my 6th "meal" of the day. Each meal should be a serve of protein and a serve of carbs.

My protein sources are (for one 30gm serve):
180gm chicken breast
180gm tuna/fish
180gm lean beef
5 large egg whites
900ml non-fat milk
40gm WPC

My carb sources are (for one 25gm serve):
30gm rice
30gm pasta
40gm oatmeal
1 medium potato
1 piece of fruit
240ml fruit juice

Dietary Fat sources are (aiming 10%)
6gms = 180gm skinless chicken breast
2gms = 180gm water packed tuna
10gms = 180gm lean beef
4gms = 1 whole egg
3gms = 40gm oatmeal

Dietary Fibre Sources

Dietary Antioxidant Sources

Vitamin, mineral, Enzyme Intake

My aim is to build some serious muscle mass but I want to strip the 20% body fat as I go. I'm not much into cycling the training/diet so was looking for a pretty neat starting diet that would ensure my muscles got what they needed to grow as much as possible whilst not loading the system with too much carbs or fats that I hold weight elsewhere. Pretty simple. Big muscles, low fat.

I'll tweak it as time goes by, but have to start somewhere.

Until recently I've been doing three square meals a day in big portions. Used to like my ice cream for dessert and a couple of beers or glasses of wine with dinner every night. Breakfast was a "healthy" bowl of cereal with milk, i.e. no protein to talk of. Lunch was normally some chicken breast and salad pre-prepared which was pretty good. Dinner whatever my wife cooked but could be roast, pasta, stir fry, salmon etc. Nothing before bed. Lots of white carbs, not enough meals and not enough protein. So basically anything is a good step forward...

Recently I've shifted to having a cereal breakfast with a WPC shake for breakfast including my three fish oil tabs, a multi-vitamin and dim. Last two days have been 5 egg whites fried with no oil on two pieces wholemeal toast no butter. Then cottage cheese or WPC shake with milk mid-morning. Lunch no real change. Mid-afternoon WPC shake. Workout at 5:30pm and dinner straight after. If dinner is an hour off I'll have a PWO shake. Dinner is still predominately what my wife cooks but she's cutting carbs out of her diet because of genetic high cholesterol (aboriginal decent) so that's a bonus. Pre-bed WPC shake and aim to move this to Cassein.

Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated. And I reckon there might just be a few guys out there who'd benefit from a "beginner's toning and growing diet".

Thanks for all the suggestions to date.

Cheers,
Mike

I have ameneded your headings you were missing a few very important ones...

 

[MikeW]

I have ameneded your headings you were missing a few very important ones...

Hi n00bs,

And have you amended your sig as well to add "there's more to health than fat, carb, protein ratios"?

Well, they say when the student is ready the master appears and this bloody student has been studying for 20 odd years. There's a position available if you think you've got something to add?

I'm genuinely welcome to any and all suggestions. I've laid out the bare bones and will tweak as necessary. At least those three big headings give me something to start with.

Cheers,
Mike

PS Just ordered my micronised creatine monohydrate and cassein from fitness central...

 

[Christian]

Hi n00bs,

And have you amended your sig as well to add "there's more to health than fat, carb, protein ratios"?


Well, they say when the student is ready the master appears and this bloody student has been studying for 20 odd years. There's a position available if you think you've got something to add?

I'm genuinely welcome to any and all suggestions. I've laid out the bare bones and will tweak as necessary. At least those three big headings give me something to start with.

Cheers,
Mike

PS Just ordered my micronised creatine monohydrate and cassein from fitness central...

When it comes to masters i would be looking at Fadi for infomation i just spurt out what i find and think is relevant for the rest of us to take on board.

mate i want to help everyone who is willing to help them selves..

Alot of people dont understand the concept of oxidative stress.. The more exercise you do the more ATP turn over and more oxygen you consume thus more free radicals are created and more antioxidants are needed to protect yourself from the damage they cause...

I believe and so do alot of people that all degenerative diseases are avoidable to some extent this includes cancer...

It just some people arnt willing to listen...

Im going to make a thread on basic antioxidant and vitamin protection when i have time. Keep an eye out

All the best.

 

[Marzz]

lol .. you make me laugh mate.
When work's doing my head in, I can always rely on your (lack of) understanding about 99% of dieting and training.

 

[MikeW]

When it comes to masters i would be looking at Fadi for infomation

I agree, and certainly do read all of Fadi's posts with sincere appreciation. Derkaderka and others have obviously also excelled moreso than I so warrant my attention and humble appreciation for their contributions.

Im going to make a thread on basic antioxidant and vitamin protection when i have time. Keep an eye out

Eyes peeled. Look forward to reading that thread.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Christian]

lol .. you make me laugh mate.
When work's doing my head in, I can always rely on your (lack of) understanding about 99% of dieting and training.

What are you tlaking about?

I just did a 220kg deadlift...

If you can do better please produce results..

 

[dave]

What have you got against egg yolks mike? Also you have your BMR as 1600 and you added 200 on, what about the rest of your daily activity, mental activity, addition of weight sessions, increases thermogenisis from your higher protein meals have you added those into the equation? You may find you are a bit more under than you want to be.

Personally at 20% bodyfat I would focus on consistent training coupled with a clean diet with approximately your maintenance needs and do that for 12 weeks. You should notice a increase in strength and muscle mass and a decrease in fat mass. You could drop down to 15% bodyfat without losing much in total weight and then work from there to drop more bodyfat to get into the low teens.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[MikeW]

Personally at 20% bodyfat I would focus on consistent training coupled with a clean diet with approximately your maintenance needs and do that for 12 weeks. You should notice a increase in strength and muscle mass and a decrease in fat mass. You could drop down to 15% bodyfat without losing much in total weight and then work from there to drop more bodyfat to get into the low teens.
Posted via Mobile Device

Dave,

That's precisely where my head is at. Start with a simple clean diet at around target calories and get discipined in both eating and lifting. Give it a full cycle of Markos' PPP then re-evaluate diet to tweak.

Any formal diet would be better than the haphazard approach to date.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[dave]

If that is the case, reread my first part. I think you may be underestimating your total calorie needs. I find some structure is good but allow deviation if need be. When I go too hard I end up screwing it up and fall off, NOT GOOD!

I can not find all your exact details like height and age and I do not know what you do for work, how much walking you do, chores etc so I can not be sure you are underestimating your calorie intake.

I still think you need to add some more fats to your diet too, you produce hormones from fats and test from cholesterol specifically. So that means if you are having an inadequate amount of fats your test levels can be affected.

 

[chrisp]

After all that,,,,,,,, when i want to cut down after a bulking phase i never lower my calories .
I up my protein, consume most of my carbs around my workouts ,and do 100 push ups ,and 100 burpees aswell every morning first thing, it works for me .
I let myself go up to around 20-22% and cut down to 12-14%.
Id also be getting some flaxseed into that diet mike

 

[MikeW]

Chris,

Sounds like bloody good advice. Fadi was also into me to up my aerobic exercise in a targeted HIIT way. I spend most of my time sitting at a desk in front of a computer so really should invest some more time in aerobic to stay lean. I don't want to starve my system as I'm bulking, but at 2000cals I don't feel like I am. Hit a bit of a flat spot around 2pm today so snacked on some almonds and dried fruits which gave me a big lift. So Fadi might be onto something with the whole insulin levels and dietary fats.

Having said that, I can already feel the fat levels dropping and I'm down a belt notch or two. Muscle bulk is up too. So even the basics of a formal diet seem to be moving me in the right direction. I'll persist with it and tweak as necessary.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[dave]

In this time has your weight changed?
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[chrisp]

Personally mike evryone is different and different things work for different people.
youve started right. build a sound , varied diet of unprocessed clean foods, count your calories and take your weight , bodyfat% and water %.
Stick to that diet monitoring your wieght and %s .
Only buy doing this for 4-8 weeks will YOU find out wot works for YOU.
Try some hiit in the morning for a few weeks ,a fast 20 min walk after your workout, or an extra workout 4 instead of 3.
If your fat% goes down and your happy with muscle gain/slight loss keep to it, if you lose to much muscle add calories .

Its this part that kept me going, its interesting, read articles and take some off the very good opinions that your find here but wot your ultimatly asking only you can find out with experimention.

 

[MikeW]

Try some hiit in the morning for a few weeks ,a fast 20 min walk after your workout, or an extra workout 4 instead of 3.

Chris,

Yep, everything in your last post is right where my head is at. I've got to at least put a strawman diet together and stick to something. That will build the discipline and I can amend it as I see how it pans out.

I did my squat PPP workout today and then had dinner and have now just got back from a very fast 30 minute walk with the dogs around the steep hills in Bardon where I live. I do that almost every day. Sweaty again now with elevated heart rate. And I've already had a shower post workout! Shedding the fat% shouldn't be too hard if I stop consuming the crap I used to.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[MikeW]

Whoa, just had a dizzy spell.

3:30pm in the afternoon and getting ready for my 5:30pm workout and I had a real dizzy spell. Went and had a couple of drinks of water and got a bit hot flushed.

Diet today wasn't crazy...

Breakfast was 5 egg whites and half a yolk with onion fried and served on two pieces of wholegrain toast. Glass of water.

Mornos was a small yoghurt and a banana.

Lunch was about 250gm of steak and some roasted zuchini, capsicums and onions.

Mid-afternoon was a WPC shake with full 150ml full cream milk.

But no real water to talk about. Working in the warehouse today and been on my feet the whole time. Maybe just a bit dehydrated. Will down a litre of water now and see how I feel. Might also have some cottage cheese before I head off to workout. Wierd sensation that head spin.

Cheers,
Mike