My bulking diet - Plz need opinions/suggestions

[Malves]

I started my bulking diet 3 weeks ago and gainned 6lbs so far (I'm also on a 1-AD cycle). I never took the time to wirte in on a paper and decided to have more control over it now. I'd like some of you here to take a look at it and make comments/suggestions on it. I just wanna make sure I am on the right path.

Some data about me:
Age: 33
Weight: 164lbs
BF%: ~12.5%
Height: 5'10"
Excercise: Weight lifting ~45min 3x/week
Work: I paint houses, but it's winter now and we are working inside, which means not carrying/climbing 16-40ft ladders around and just 4-6h of work.

Sometimes, when I remember, I include a portion of vegetables for lunch and dinner. Only supplements I take are whey and a multivitamin. I also included a pic of me to better show my body type.

Morning Carb Prot Fat
4 egg whites 0.0 24.0 0.0
1 cup oatmeal 54.0 10.0 6.0
2 tsp sugar 8.0 0.0 0.0
62.0 34.0 6.0

Mid morning
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1/2 cup cottage 6.0 12.0 2.5
1/2 cup oatmeal 27.0 5.0 3.0
2 eggs 0.0 12.0 0.0
1 tbsp safflower oil 0.0 0.0 14.0
2 slice wheat bread 26.0 4.0 2.0
1 tbsp peanut butter 7.0 3.0 6.0
79.0 44.0 27.5

Lunch
6 oz chicken breast 1.0 37.0 1.0
1 cup brown rice 38.0 4.0 0.0
39.0 41.0 1.0

Afternoon - 45-60min before workout
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1 scoop whey 4.0 22.0 2.0
1 tbsp safflower oil 0.0 0.0 14.0
1 banana 32.0 1.4 0.7
49.0 31.4 16.7

Post workout
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1 scoop whey 4.0 22.0 2.0
1 cup oatmeal 54.0 10.0 6.0
1/2 banana 16.0 0.7 0.3
87.0 40.7 8.3

Dinner
6 oz chicken breast 1.0 37.0 1.0
1 cup brown rice 38.0 4.0 0.0
39.0 41.0 1.0

Bed time
1/2 cup cottage 6.0 12.0 2.5

Total 361.0 244.1 63.0
Ratio 54% 37% 9%
Calories 1444.0 976.4 567.0
2987.4

 

[Emma-Leigh]

I started my bulking diet 3 weeks ago and gainned 6lbs so far (I'm also on a 1-AD cycle). I never took the time to wirte in on a paper and decided to have more control over it now. I'd like some of you here to take a look at it and make comments/suggestions on it. I just wanna make sure I am on the right path.

Some data about me:
Age: 33
Weight: 164lbs
BF%: ~12.5%
Height: 5'10"
Excercise: Weight lifting ~45min 3x/week
Work: I paint houses, but it's winter now and we are working inside, which means not carrying/climbing 16-40ft ladders around and just 4-6h of work.

Sometimes, when I remember, I include a portion of vegetables for lunch and dinner. Only supplements I take are whey and a multivitamin. I also included a pic of me to better show my body type.

Ok - does not look too bad at all. And if your gains have been lean and consistent then you should be happy.


There is some some room for improvement.

1. You probably want a bit more complete protein in some of your meals. Esp because you are on a cycle. Stick to 1.5g per pound (250g) but increase protein in your breakfast and last meal of the day.

2. Fats - EEppp.. At the moment your EFAs (particularly your omega-3 fats) are way too low. I suggest you add these. PB is ok, but it is not really the best. Go for walnuts, linseeds/flax and fatty fish/capsules.

3. Vegetables - bulking is no excuse for poor health!

Morning Carb Prot Fat
4 egg whites 0.0 24.0 0.0
1 cup oatmeal 54.0 10.0 6.0
2 tsp sugar 8.0 0.0 0.0
62.0 34.0 6.0

Add more protein and some healthy fats. To achieve this you could add 1 whole egg and another 2 whites (total up to 38g from your eggs).

You can then add 1 to 2 tbs of ground flaxseeds to your oats to increase your omega-3s. Alternatively, you could add 3 fish oil caps.

Mid morning
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1/2 cup cottage 6.0 12.0 2.5
1/2 cup oatmeal 27.0 5.0 3.0
2 eggs 0.0 12.0 0.0
1 tbsp safflower oil 0.0 0.0 14.0
2 slice wheat bread 26.0 4.0 2.0
1 tbsp peanut butter 7.0 3.0 6.0
79.0 44.0 27.5

Ok - I would drop the bread and increase your oats instead. Either that or swap to a better bread. Sprouted bread or wholegrain pumpernickel is much better.

Now - Those two eggs? Are they JUMBO whites?? Because they are some cooky figures - a 50-55g egg is usually ~70 cals, 6-7g protein, 5-6g fat. And what PB are you using that it has 7g carbs and 6g fat per Tbs???

Anyway - I would also dumb the safflower oil. There are better fats.

Lunch
6 oz chicken breast 1.0 37.0 1.0
1 cup brown rice 38.0 4.0 0.0
39.0 41.0 1.0

Add vegetables and, possibly, a little more carb? If you take the bread out of your previous meal you could add some more rice here without altering your macro ratio's too much.

You want some fats here too - fish oil caps or some nuts.

Afternoon - 45-60min before workout
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1 scoop whey 4.0 22.0 2.0
1 tbsp safflower oil 0.0 0.0 14.0
1 banana 32.0 1.4 0.7
49.0 31.4 16.7

Drop the fat - you do not want it pre-workout.

Otherwise it is ok - but you might want to add 0.5 cups of oats to this. The starchy carbs would be helpful pre-workout.

Post workout
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1 scoop whey 4.0 22.0 2.0
1 cup oatmeal 54.0 10.0 6.0
1/2 banana 16.0 0.7 0.3
87.0 40.7 8.3

Excellent.

Dinner
6 oz chicken breast 1.0 37.0 1.0
1 cup brown rice 38.0 4.0 0.0
39.0 41.0 1.0

Great. Add vegetables.

The smaller serving of carbs here are ok as your post-workout carbs are at a great level.

Adding 3 fish oil caps would also be useful here.

Bed time
1/2 cup cottage 6.0 12.0 2.5

You might want to add some healthy fats here and increase it to 1 cup.

Total 361.0 244.1 63.0
Ratio 54% 37% 9%
Calories 1444.0 976.4 567.0
2987.4

Ratio's do not look too bad - 50-55%, 35-40%, 10% is fine.

If you swap your fats to better sources and spread them more evenly they would be good and try not to let your fats drop below ~0.4g per pound when bulking (so 66g is a minimum). You could add some fish oil caps to help with this.

Carbs are good - I like higher carb bulks. They make more sense than all these people who try to bulk of protein. Your sources are pretty good too and they are spread well over your day. I would take a little out of your second meal and increase slightly pre-workout.

But otherwise it looks great!

 

[Malves]

Thank you very much for taking a look at this Emma.

Now - Those two eggs? Are they JUMBO whites?? Because they are some cooky figures - a 50-55g egg is usually ~70 cals, 6-7g protein, 5-6g fat. And what PB are you using that it has 7g carbs and 6g fat per Tbs???

Sorry, my mistake. It is actualy 2 egg whites, not whole eggs and they are extra large. PB I use is Skippy reduced fat.

You want some fats here too - fish oil caps or some nuts.

I used to have about 1oz of cashews right after lunch. Guess I should get them back. Is cashews ok here? I just love them!

 

[Emma-Leigh]

Thank you very much for taking a look at this Emma.

Sorry, my mistake. It is actualy 2 egg whites, not whole eggs and they are extra large. PB I use is Skippy reduced fat.

I used to have about 1oz of cashews right after lunch. Guess I should get them back. Is cashews ok here? I just love them!

Welcome.

I would dump the low fat PB and get real natty PB or go for walnuts - these are a better nut for you. The reason why you include the PB is the healthy fats, so it makes no sense to get the reduced fat stuff!

Cashews are ok - there are better options in terms of macronutrient content and fat profile (such as walnuts, almonds, pecans), but you have to live a little right! You can leave the fine tuning stuff for cutting.

 

[Malves]

Ok, here it is now with your suggestions. I dumped the safflower oil and included fish oil, egg yokes, and walnuts instead. Spreaded the fat more evenly thru the day avoiding too much around my workout time and bed time. Also made adjustments on carbs spreading them more evenly, and increased the before workout carb intake.

Morning Carb Prot Fat
6 eggs 0.0 36.0 6.0
1 cup oatmeal 54.0 10.0 6.0
2 tsp sugar 8.0 0.0 0.0
3 fish oil caps 0.0 0.0 3.0
62.0 46.0 15.0

Mid morning
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1/2 cup cottage 6.0 12.0 2.5
1/2 cup oatmeal 27.0 5.0 3.0
1/2 banana 15.0 0.7 0.4
2 eggs 0.0 12.0 12.0
61.0 37.7 17.9

Lunch
6 oz chicken breast 1.0 37.0 1.0
1 cup brown rice 38.0 4.0 0.0
1/2oz walnut 2.0 2.0 9.0
3 fish oil caps 0.0 0.0 3.0
41.0 43.0 13.0

Afternoon - 45-60min before workout
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1 scoop whey 4.0 22.0 2.0
1/2 cup oatmeal 27.0 5.0 3.0
1/2 banana 16.0 0.7 0.4
60.0 35.7 5.4

Post workout
1 cup milk 13.0 8.0 0.0
1 scoop whey 4.0 22.0 2.0
1 cup oatmeal 54.0 10.0 6.0
1/2 banana 16.0 0.7 0.3
87.0 40.7 8.3

Dinner
6 oz chicken breast 1.0 37.0 1.0
1 cup brown rice 38.0 4.0 0.0
1/2oz walnut 2.0 2.0 9.0
3 fish oil caps 0.0 0.0 3.0
41.0 43.0 13.0

Bed time
1 cup cottage 12.0 24.0 5.0
2 fish oil caps 0.0 0.0 2.0
12.0 24.0 7.0

Total 364.0 270.1 79.5
Ratio 51% 38% 11%
Calories 1456.0 1080.4 715.5
3251.9

 

[Emma-Leigh]

Ok, here it is now with your suggestions. I dumped the safflower oil and included fish oil, egg yokes, and walnuts instead. Spreaded the fat more evenly thru the day avoiding too much around my workout time and bed time. Also made adjustments on carbs spreading them more evenly, and increased the before workout carb intake.

Total 364.0 270.1 79.5
Ratio 51% 38% 11%
Calories 1456.0 1080.4 715.5
3251.9

Looks excellent! Nice ratio's, nice food choices and a good distribution through the day.


Just don't forget to try to get those vegetables in lunch and dinner!