need help with calorie/protein/etc intake [Forum Archive]

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need help with calorie/protein/etc intake

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Posted by: nimowns

i am 23 years old and just started working out around 2 weeks ago. i weigh 125 pounds and am about 5'6 tall. I normally eat 3 meals a day of pretty big portions but i do not ever eat any junk food. i have whey protein shakes (40grams), and weight gainer 1850 (about 400 calories in a cup). about how many calories/grams of protein should i be taking in a day and what are the proper times to take these supplements? ive also heard people say weight gainer is not a good source of calories, is this true? my goals are to gain as much strength and muscle as possible.

Posted by: Emma-Leigh

Quote:

Originally Posted by nimowns

i am 23 years old and just started working out around 2 weeks ago. i weigh 125 pounds and am about 5'6 tall. I normally eat 3 meals a day of pretty big portions but i do not ever eat any junk food. i have whey protein shakes (40grams), and weight gainer 1850 (about 400 calories in a cup). about how many calories/grams of protein should i be taking in a day and what are the proper times to take these supplements? ive also heard people say weight gainer is not a good source of calories, is this true? my goals are to gain as much strength and muscle as possible.

For someone of your weight I would think that 190-200g of protein/day is a good target - that is ~1.5g of protein per pound of body weight, which is MORE than enough to provide the amino acids needed for growth. Anything between ~1g and 1.5g is usually fine, but I tend to aim for the higher level.

Calorie wise - Do you know how many calories you are eating now? As to how much you SHOULD eat - Well, it is very individual in that it depends on your age, body fat %, your activity level and your genetics/metabolism...

I would think that your maintainence might be around 2500 (as you are 'smallish'), but as a young, active male it could be much higher...

You can use a simple formula to calculate your rough calorie needs - which is:
If you take your BF to be average (say, ~15%)
Your lean mass is 106
That is kg = 48.3
Your BMR is therefore ~ 1450
If you are moderately active (gym 3 to 5 days a week, generally active during the day) then you need to times this by ~1.5 to 1.6 = 2170 - 2300.
You then want to add your TEF ~ 150
Total maintainence ~ 2300 to 2500

So I would think that 2500 would be a good guide to how much you should eat to maintain your weight. Therefore, if you are looking to add some weight you want to eat more than this - I would start at ~2700 cals and see what happens over 2 weeks. If that is not enough then increase this by 100-200 cals and wait another 2 weeks. Repeat until you get your desired results.

Of course, for the simple, no fail method you could simply calculate how much you are eating now to maintain your weight and then add calories from there!

Now - you also want to try to eat more regularly than you are eating now. 3 meals a day is not really going to cut it, especially if you are trying to eat clean and eat big. Aim for at least 5 to 6 meals a day. These should be smaller, well balanced meals. That means you want a complete protein (lean meats, cottage cheese, eggs, chicken/turkey, game meats, seafood, tofu/soy or protein powder) AND something else (carbs or fats) in each meal. Try to devide your protein evenly in each meal (so 200g for 6 meals is ~ 33g per meal). Although your post-workout shake should have a little more (~0.33g per pound, so in your case that means ~40g of protein). Oh, and on a side note, your PWO shake should also contain a good amount of nutritent dense carbohydrates. Things like Bananas, milk (this is VERY anabolic!!) and thinly ground oats (or quick oats) are good examples of these... Aim for ~0.5g per pound. Which is ~ 60-65g of carbs for someone like you.

For carbs you want to focus primarily on those that are higher in nutrients, higher in fibre and lower in glycaemic index/insulin index. This means things like whole or rolled grains (oats, barley, rye), brown/basmatti rice, sweet potato/yams, legumes (chick-peas, kidney beans, lentils, chana-dal), fruits (apples, pears, stone fruits, berries, citrus, bananas are ok around workouts too) and skim dairy (skim milk, sugar-free skim yoghurts). Some breads (sprouted bread or pumpernickel breads) are ok too. Some guys are also ok with whole-wheat pasta as a good, calorie dense carb source when they are trying to add mass, but I tend to stay away from this (I am also a smallish female... so that might mean crap in terms of relavence for you).

For fats you want healthy fats - this means primarily poly-unsaturated fats and mono-unsaturated fats like those found in nuts/seeds, olive oil, avocado and fatty fish. You want to try to increase your omega-3 fats especially, and these are best found in walnuts, linseeds/flaxseeds and fatty fish such as salmon.

Oh yeah, you can also endulge in as many green or non-starchy vegetables as you like!

So eat up!!

As for weight gainers - What you have heard is partially true... They are a 'good source of calories' - that is, they PACK IN the cals!! The bad news is that those calories are from poor choices. They are packed with sugars and have little nutritional benefit for your body. You are better off making your own with things like oats, fruit, skim milk, protein powder and nut butters.

Anyway - If you devise up a diet for yourself and post it I can help you tweak it if you want.

Posted by: nimowns

thanks for all the information. it helped a lot. i will try to come up with a diet and post it shortly. i work 8 hours a day a few days a week which makes 5-6 meals a day hard. is there anything you could recommend brining into work to snack on during thouse hours?

Posted by: Emma-Leigh

Quote:

Originally Posted by nimowns

thanks for all the information. it helped a lot. i will try to come up with a diet and post it shortly. i work 8 hours a day a few days a week which makes 5-6 meals a day hard. is there anything you could recommend brining into work to snack on during thouse hours?

Try this thread:
Snack Ideas
I made a lot of suggestions there if you scroll down to my post.

You can also check out the recipe forum and look for bar ideas.

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