My Macros -- Good for goal?

[kyoun1e]

I've been tracking my intake via Fitday for the past few weeks. Starting in mid-Feb I really started changing my diet around. I went from a guy who probably ate less than 2400 calories and never eating breakfast to someone eating more and spread out over 4 meals. I'm pretty confident that I had trained my body to store fat due to starvation mode. At 208 lbs, you'd think I could consume more calories.

I've been on a 5 x 5 training program as well for the last 2-3 weeks and I'm trying to feed this program as best I can to encourage increased strength and size.

Here's my averages for the last two weeks:

* Calories: 2,786
* Fat: 1,166 (40%)
* Carbs: 813 (28%)
* Protien: 868 (30%)

Is that a good mix of fat, carbs, and protien? Where should I cut back / increase?

I've been pretty close to 1g protien per lb of bodyweight and I've increased my carbs since the non-breakfast days.

I'm sure you'll think the calories are low, but you have to understand where I've been.

Thanks.

KY

 

[Ngordyn]

it would be much easier to help you if we had the grams of the fat and carbs and protein , try to stay away from ratios

 

[kyoun1e]

Sure.

Fat: 131g
Carbs: 207g
Protien: 213g

KY

 

[QuestionGuy]

i dont see a problem wiht it, looks like youre on your way for a cut....im 230 pounds and I have a similar diet wiht about 2100 cals a day tho...

 

[kyoun1e]

Well, for most 208 lb mailes, 2800 calories would probably be below maintenance. For me, I don't think so.

Again, my diet had been severly screwed up. I never ate breakfast. Probably ate two meals a day and ate mostly at night. And no carbs.

I think my body is slowly waking up to this new diet and slowly demanding more calories. Going from 2400 "bad calories" to 2800 or more "good calories" is progress in itself.

For example, I'm 1800 calories deep at 7:30 pm tonight and another 1000 calories between now and bedtime seems like a stretch.

Will probably take some time.

KY

 

[jhawkin1]

B U I L T can help you ...if she's up to it- she sure has led me in the right direction with my cut. Words can't even describe....okay you get the picture!

 

[kyoun1e]

You know...she already did.

The thing is though, I don't want to cut!

I decided that my previous program and diet didn't give me a chance to gain strength and size to my true potential. For that reason, I went 5 x 5 and have been upping my calories as reasonably as possible to feed this program. I'd rather build now...the right way...and then cut later.

I feel like things are moving in the right direction. Things look better in the mirror although the scale says I'm staying the same.

Odd considering I look a little stronger and I've been eating 400-600 calories more per day.

KY

 

[workhard1]

hey there! I will try and help you out here as best as I can:

First off, good job on keeping up to date on fitday. it is the best resource out there if you ask me. Now, first off, I would be your maitenance is a little higher than you believe. The whole "starvation mode" idea is overstated all the time. I assume you think you put your body in to starvation mode because you would only eat 3 meals a day and you would not eat every three hours. The thing is, you DON'T have to eat every 3 hours or so. That diet is recommended to many because it helps them remain satiated. I personally do better on 3 bigger meals a day (ouside of my whey shakes pre and post workout).

Now, if you have been eating around 2800 calories and not gaining with your current training I would be willing to say that your maitenance is probably around 2800. In fact, if you are looking more muscular now and feeling better about your looks, you might be eating under maitenance. I would recommend upping the calories by 200 each week until you start to see some gains. So this upcoming week try out 3000 calories, if no gains then try 3200, if still no gains go up to 3400 and by that point I am SURE you will be gaining. The reason for the gradual increase is to make sure you don't shock your body too much if for some reason your maitenance is really low.

Now if I were you I would add these calories strictly in protein. Personally, carbs make me hungrier, so I keep my carbs low all the time. I never exeed 150g a day even on a bulk. However, I sometimes will have upwards of 300-350g protein a day with around 100g of fat.

For a bulk I would make sure you are getting AT LEAST 1.5g of protein per pound of body mass, I even go up to 2g.

Also, eating late at night is not a sin. The truth is that the only thing that matters in a day is calories in vs. calories burned. You need to be eating more than you burn to bulk.

Also, why did you choose 5x5 workouts for the bulk? There is not anything WRONG with 5x5, but I usually lift heavy like that only on a cut and will do something like 5x4 OR 5X3. It is a common misconception that high reps = get lean and low reps = massive size and strength gains. Again, 5x5 IS ok for bulking, but many people will recommend something else usually.

I hope this helps!

 

[kyoun1e]

I was shocked this past week when the scale said no gain...and probably a loss of a pound. Between dumping hundreds more calories in my body...and feeling like two tons...and then looking in the mirror...it didn't make sense.

I've been doing what you said. It's ridiculous, but I bet I was at 2200 calories on two meals a day before I got rolling. So I've gradually upped this to 2400, 2600, and now 2800. Next stop 3000.

1.5 g of protien? Yeesh. Where the hell am I going to find another 100g! May need to take another 1.5 scoops of whey.

As for 5 x 5, I just decided that I've never given my body a chance understanding the previous diet to lay the proper strength foundation. I never even did legs for christ's sake. So 5 x 5 to start with the idea I'll move off after 8 weeks ish.

Pretty satisfied so far. For example, my stupid "pyramid" workouts of the past never got me past 225 on flat bench for 2-3 reps on my final set. Now on 5 x 5, I'm doing 5 sets of 5 AT 225. Pretty psyched about that.

I want to let this roll, build the strength, gain some size...and once this is in place, maybe switch up and go for hypertrophy.

Make sense?

Thanks much.

KY