Well if you don't want to either bulk or cut cause your scared of gaining anymore fat , then you could always try a body recompostion. If you just got off of a failed cut than more than likely your bodyfat is around mid -teens?? If so this'll make a body recompostion easier , as the leaner you get the harder it becomes. A body recompostion is when you eat around maintenance calories (sometimes a little lower , sometimes a little more) , all clean foods , lift / do cardio properly and hopefully your body will gain LBM (muscle) and lose fat at the same time. This is sometimes impossible for people as theres many factors that play into this , but if your only 18 years old this is very possible for you. Be warned though , this is a very long process .. I'm currently in the middle of one and it's been 2 -3 months so far and I've lost around 2-3 % bodyfat.
You basically need to focus around eating at the proper times / CLEAN organic whole foods and lifting correclty.
So with that said , if your 188 pounds, and assuming say your bodyfat is 15% that gives you -
28.2 lbs of fat mass
159.8lbs of LBM
So in each meal you'll roughly need 30G of protein (as you eat 8 meals a day) and spread throughout the day you'll need roughly 64 - 80 G of fat a day. So if your one that's having alot of trouble eating food then I'd stick to around 64G or less as Fats slow down gastric emptying (keeping you fuller for longer) , also make sure there is as little as possible fat in your PWO and somtimes pre workout (will explain later) shake as like I said Fat slows down gastric emptying. Then adjust your carbs depending your caloric maintenance. (P.S all that eat all your carbs before 3PM or 6PM or whatever 'they' say as it's always changing is a whole bunch of crap. Spread your carbs equally throughout the day , with the exception of sometiems as little as possible right before bed , and witht he exception of eating a majority of your carbs around your workouts , or whenever your espically active as this is when your body needs the energy!)
Nate K said:
Fine I guess .. honestly I think glutamine is a waste of money
I was thinking of using it before too , but Emma gave me some facts to consider first , here's what she told me -
Emma-Leigh said:
Waste of time for most people (esp. if healthy and 'bulking'). It is basically useless so I don't recommend it at all (unless you like wasting money).....
See, most of the glutamine you take is taken up in the lining of your intestines (intestinal mucosa) and converted to other things before it even reaches your blood. So in order to get any substantial levels into your body you need to take HUGE doses... This is less so if you specifically take good doses of pure l-glutamine (>10g per serve), but up to 75% can still be removed....
Also - you turn over the glutamine in your blood REALLY rapidly!! Which means if you want those levels in your body for any time then you have to take those doses every few hours!
The only time I suggest people really think about taking it is if they are on an extremely hypocalorific diet and under immense stress in terms of your immunity or training....
But - if you want to take it then I would suggest you take it pre and post-workout, about 5-10g each serve. This will be the most useful times for it.
Nate K said:
Breakfast-9:30
1\2 cup of oats
4-5 egg whites
1 Banana or apple
4 fish oil caps
I'd increase the Egg whites here slightly. Say around 6 - 7
I'd also try and incrase the oats to at least 3/4 a cup , 1/2 a cup of oatmeal is only 35G of carbs! For someone that's 188lbs that's hardly not enough ..
I'd also incrase fats here , say add a little bit of olive oil to cook your eggs in??
Nate K said:
Pre-Workout-10:00
Creatine(Currently using V12 Turbo), Glutamine, BCAA's
Pre workout is probably the most important time to eat food! it's what's gonna be supplying your body with the proper energy to lift hard and heavy, decrease cortisol, keep you anabolic to a certant extent etc..
So a good guideline to go buy is , whole foods is you'll be working out around an hour - an hour a half afterwards. And a shake if you'll be working out around 40 minutes afterwards.
So I'm not sure as you what time you actually workout ..
Breakfast might actaully be your pre workout meal .. tell me what time you actually workout at??
Nate K said:
Post Workout- Around 11:30
3 scoops of HDT Pro blend solid gains, or N-Large 2 with water
Sometimes a Cliff Bar(good or bad?)
Glutamine, BCAA's
Once again this is where you need the majority of you carbs / food and you need it fast! You've just thrown your body into a catabolic state through your workout , depleted muscle glycogen stores etc. So you need to get your body into a recoverying state fast. Best way to do this is through a shake.
So here I'd aim for around 80 - 90G carbs , 30G of protein , as little fat as possible.
As for food choices you could have some dextrose / maltodextrin for a carb choice , even grape juice if you want. People use these to promote a huge insulin response uptaking the carbs and transporting them into your muscle glycogen store / glycogen stores quicker. Other just stick to some water (or skim milk), fruit , whey and some rolled oats.
So whatever your choice. I usually have a shake of fat free or sugar added yogurt (as the bacteria cultures in it help soothe my tummy as I have IBS) oats , whey and welch's grape / strawberry juice.
Nate K said:
Lunch-Around 12:20
Chicken breast or Tuna-Around-around 30g of Protein
Rice or pasta
4 Fish Caps
Ok good this meal is around an hour after your PWO shake , just don't go under 45 minutes ..
here once again is one of the best time to eat lots and plenty of carbs.
I'd eat around 70G of carbs here.
As for your food choices .. hmm they look alright.
Add some veggies here , say make a salad out of your chicken or tuna?
I'd add some more fat here , say olive oil?? use it as a salad topping, mixed with some vinnegar ..
Also if your gonna be eating Rice , make sure it's
long grain brown rice or
whole wheat pasta. I'd stick to the brown rice over the whole wheat pasta. Whole Wheat pasta isn't an ideal carb choice as it's more processed and lack the necassary fibre / vitamins / minerals that other carb choices hold. Which are very important.
I'd also add some fruit here , if you wish. Maybe an apple , strawberries , blueberries , apple??
Nate K said:
Snack- 2:00
Tuna or Natural PB Sandwich
Take creatine sometime in here
K if your making a PB sandwhich where would your protein be?? and if your making a tuna sandwhich where would your fat be??
Ok honeslty you need to drop the bread. Or if your gonna be using bread try to go for a sprouted type , or rye bread ..
Whole wheat / white bread are so unbelieably processed / lack fibre, vitamins, minereals / bad for fat loss (as being VERY high on the GI index , white bread has the same ranking as refined white sugar does.) it isn't even funny ..
I'd have the tuna here and also the natural peanut butter (Or walnuts , almonds .. walnuts would be best). Try mixing them together?? I love tuna + PB mixed togehter , but I'm weird like that.
And change your carb source to something else ..
Say sweet potato? More oatmeal? Pearled barley? Yams? Brown rice? Scotish / irish oats? Lentils? Legums?Buck wheat? wheat bran? Oat bran? Quiona?n etc..
Also add a serving of veggies here??
Nate K said:
Snack- 4:30
About 4-5 slices of turkey on a slice of bread
About 20 almonds
Okay once again drop bread and replace is with something else , the turkey's fine (as longa sit's around 30G of protein) and so is the almonds.
Also add a serving of dairy in here? Dairy is really really healthy for ya!
Nate K said:
Dinner- 7:00-7:30
Always different. Try and have lean meat, veggies and a good carb source like pasta or potatoes.
4 fish oil caps
K sounds alright. Depending on how lean your meat is , you'll probably want to add some more fats here. Have around 30G of protein. Veggies are great and make sure if your having potatoes is
Sweet potatoes , REALLY REALLY better. And like I said before try not to have the pasta but if you do have Whole wheat.
Nate K said:
Before bed- around 11:00
3 scoops of same as post workout w/1% milk instead of water
Right before sleep- Glutamine and currently finishing some ZMA.
K I know you said Cottage cheese make you want to puke , but have you tried different things with it?? I don't like it myself alone , but mixed with things , OMFG soo yummy! one of my favorite things to eat!
Also you have no fats here (aside from the milk and those are all 'bad fats' ..)
So maybe try some Cottage Cheese (skim would be best) mixed in with some Peanut butter and some Sugar free Akins type maple syrup (really good) or you could try eating the cottage cheese with some cinnamon , splenda , and SF maple syrup mixed in it. (really yummy too) and jsut eat the Peanut butter seperate (or almonds , walnuts ..) Or you can mix Cottage cheese , chocolate whey powder and some xanthan gum (just a little!) and it makes a pudding type thing.
If not try and get a casein type powder , or drink some skim milk , or some red meat etc.
Cottage cheese (or the casein powder) though would be by far best ..
Also in all your other previous meals I'd reduce the fish oil caps to 3 , then have 3 in this meal here.
Hope that helped.
.
. Then for other meals throughout the day get the 'rolled oats'), some Whey powder and some type of fruit (banana , strawberries , blueberries , rasberries etc..)
, it's been linked to promoting the growth of LBM while decreasing fat mass! I currently eat 3 and 3/4 a cup of yogurt and 1 cup of Cottage cheese a day , I love my dairy.
.
. If your gonna make a shake before bed try some Casien protein powder with the skim milk and some type of nut / nut butter and your fishies.