I am 18 weeks out from next show. I am currently weighing 123lbs with 14%BF with 17lbs of body fat and 106lbs of lean mass. I would like to go into my show with no less then 10%BF and weighing between 120-123lb. I will start dieting out at about 12 weeks but for these next 5 weeks I really want to put on some muscle. Here is the diet I came up and I just wanted to get some opinions on it. I am eating to much or not enough protein? Do I need to add in more carbs or fat? Here is my diet and calorie intake.

Meal 1:
1/2 cup of oats
2 scoops of MP

Train

Meal 2:
1/2 cup of oats
4 whites and 1 yolk
1 scoop of MP

Meal 3: 6oz of turkey or chicken
2/3 cup of brown rice
3oz of veggies

Meal 4: 5oz of chicken or turkey
3oz veggies

Meal 5: 6oz of chicken or turkey
6oz veggies w/1tbs of flax oil

Meal 6: 2 scoops of MP before bed

Supplements: I am taking muscle synergy twice a day and sipping on creantine and glutmamine during my training.

Calorie breakdown:
A total of 1967.5 kcal

Total Grams: Protein: 255.5 Carbs: 138.5 Fat: 43.5

%Total: Protein: 51.94% Carbs: 28.16% Fat: 19.90%

Is this a reasonable diet for gaining lean muscle?

You are going to get a lot of differing opinions on this.

I am a male that weighs around 155-160 and I take in around 230-240 grams of protein per day. Ive tried the higher protein diets with less carbs and Im flat and I dont grow any better and my strength goes down considerably unless Im supplementing like crazy.

For you Id do:

140 grams protein:
155 grams carbs non training
200 grams carbs traning
fats would be 15% of total calories from the above or around 25 grams total. You would probably get about 20 grams from foods and then neeed to just add 5 flax or fish caps throughout the day.

Id set it up so yuo eat 6 meals, and id account for protein in the carbs, your body will thank you come contest prep time as you wont have to severly cut carbs to lean out further, and you will stay lean on this meal plan.

These are my thoughts and recommendations, though they not be the norm.

As the competition nears the 155 days would become your training days and 105 carb intake would be your non. Lift 4x per week and do cardio daily and you will dial in....

Penny, even though it is higher calorie than you normally go, a 50/30/20 diet is not ideal for putting on muscle in such a short period of time.

You are dieting in 12 weeks time? If you expect to put on muscle in this time period you need to switch your diet to closer to a 40/40/20 diet. Try your best to go with whole foods as much as possible. I didn't do the math and you can play with the numbers as you like, but it should look something like this:

Meal 1:
1 cup Oats & 1 scoop MP, OR, 3 scoops Mass Maker

Train

Meal 2:
6 oz. Sweet potato or Baked Potato, 5 oz. Lean Beef

Meal 3:
1 cup cooked Brown rice, 5 oz. Chicken/Turkey
1 cup mixed salad w/ 1 tbsp Olive Oil and Vinegar

Meal 4:
5 oz. Chicken Breast
1 cup mixed salad w/ 1 tbsp Olive Oil and Vinegar

Meal 5:
6 oz. Lean Beef, or chicken
1 cup cooked Brown Rice, or, 6-8oz. Sweet potato

Meal 6:
1 scoop UMP, 1 tbsp Heavy Cream

SUPPS: 3 Mass, 3 Ultra 40 with every meal, Super Pak with post-workout meal or pre-training meal


That looks more like a diet for building muscle if that is your goal. Remember, these are CLEAN carb sources to help minimize fat storage. Keep Fats lower on this type of diet (only 20% of Cals). Give it a shot and play with the macros so that it is as close to 40/40/20 as you can be! Good luck!

Thanks guys for repsonding so quickly.

Vijay s I am not take Mass Aminos or Ultra 40's because I am trying to save money so do I need add protein somewhere in my meals to make up for the pills? I did not think it was good to consume carbs in the evening? You have me eating carbs at meal 5 which would usually be around 6pm? should I try to have that meal earlier? I will do the numbers on the diet you gave me and get back with you I also don't train that early every morning. My training sechdule is different every week. I Friday its 430am, Saturday and Sunday it's 5am. Then the rest are usually in the evening around 630pm. Do I need to change my meals around according to my workout?

Jason, I agree with you. I feel really flat whenI don't have enough carbs that is what I wanted to post my diet and get some suggestions. Right now I am working out heavy 4 days a week with only 3 days of cardio and one day of circuit training. I am going to work the numbers you gave me and try and come up with a diet. I will then post it and tell me what you think?

Vijay, with the diet you gave me the calorie breakdown is as followed:

191.5 grams of protein
223.5 grams of carb
40 grams of fat

Total Calories: 2020kcal
37%/44%/17%

Penny, Jason is helping me with my contest prep right now and his plan is very effective. I'm also about 16-17 wks out and I'm on an almost 3000 calorie diet with about 360 carbs and only and only around 240 grams of protein.

I feel full and hard everyday and my workouts are amazing. You won't gain any fat either, I know I almost freaked out when I saw 360 carbs lol.

With this plan you will get your metabolism reving real good then you won't have to cut so many calories when you get in diet mode. Try it I like it so far.

Jason here is a diet I came up with, with the nunbers you gave me:

Meal 1: 2/3 cup of oatmeal
Meal 2: 4oz lean beef and 6 oz sweet potatoe
Meal 3: 5oz chicken, 1cup of veggies and 6oz SP or 1 cup of brown rice
Meal 4: 4oz chicken, 4oz veggies (3oz=1cup)
Meal 5: 5oz chicken, 8oz sweet potatoe on training days and on non-training days take out the sweet potatoe and 2 cups of veggies
Meal 6: 1 scoop of UMP before bed

Calorie breakdown for training days:
146 grams of protein
201 grams of carbs
28 grams of fat

35.63%/48.89%/15.48%

Total: 1645.7kcal

Non-training days:
146 grams of protein
150 grams of carbs
28 grams of fat

40.68%/41.66%/17.67%

Total 1441.7kcal

Now like I said before. I don't train the same time every day. Friday's is 430am, Sat and Sun it's 5am. Then the rest of the week its in late evening? How do i arrange me meals around my workout schedule? Or should I.

The supps I am taking before triaing is 8 synergy, 1 scoop of creatine and 1 scoop of glumtamine.
During training I am sipping on 2 scoops of glutamine and 1 scoop of creatine.

Jared I didnt even begin to give Penny those numbers as I figured over a board she would freak. But, based on your numbers currently her diet would look like:

135P/256CHO/25F if she was on the same macro plan I have you on. I cut her down by 50 carbs on training days and 100 carbs on non, so it wasnt such a shock.

And two days in a rown Jared has reported losing a little morning weight but feeling and lookng bigger....when I do cut him at around 13 weeks out he should coast into the show and look like he is cut from granite.....no reason to suffer, everyone suffers way to much to get ready for a show. Hard work yes, suffer on diet no, well maybe the final 2 weeks gets rough on any plan.

Penny there is no reason you cant have carbs in the evening, pure myth. For my last show I ate them all the way up to bedtime, including around 60 grams of carbs from white potato after workout around 9pm. Just something for you to think about.

Yeah the carbs at night won't effect you. You might feel a little puffy after you eat them, but I wake up feeling just as lean in the abs area as normal.

Jason, what would it take to get you to help me prepare for my next show? I am figure compeitor and don't know if you just work with body buidlers or not but it sounds like you know your stuff. I just had a baby 10 weeks ago and I really want to go into this show looking my best.

Did the diet I laid out look ok?

should I always try and have a carb after my workout no matter what time?

Yup, that diet looks about right. Has roughly the 40/40/20 ratio that you would need. J is a master at manipulating carbs and what he is having you do is basically the 40/40/20 ratio with inflation on training days....

Don't worry about late night carbs. Those are quality carbs and do not store as fat as easily as you may think!! Now, if you ate breads and sugars at night, kiss your abs goodbye and welcome your spare tire.

You will do well with the noted changes to your current diet!

quote:

Originally posted by PENNY MCCLUNG:
should I always try and have a carb after my workout no matter what time?

As a general rule post weight training, you want to have some sort of complex carb and protein no matter what time it is, it will be utilized very efficiently. Don't worry about changing up the frequency of your meals... in the end, the most important aspect is that you get in your TOTAL for macros during the course of the day!

quote:

Originally posted by PENNY MCCLUNG:
Jason here is a diet I came up with, with the nunbers you gave me:

Meal 1: 2/3 cup of oatmeal
Meal 2: 4oz lean beef and 6 oz sweet potatoe
Meal 3: 5oz chicken, 1cup of veggies and 6oz SP or 1 cup of brown rice
Meal 4: 4oz chicken, 4oz veggies (3oz=1cup)
Meal 5: 5oz chicken, 8oz sweet potatoe on training days and on non-training days take out the sweet potatoe and 2 cups of veggies
Meal 6: 1 scoop of UMP before bed

Calorie breakdown for training days:
146 grams of protein
201 grams of carbs
28 grams of fat

35.63%/48.89%/15.48%

Total: 1645.7kcal

Non-training days:
146 grams of protein
150 grams of carbs
28 grams of fat

40.68%/41.66%/17.67%

Total 1441.7kcal

Now like I said before. I don't train the same time every day. Friday's is 430am, Sat and Sun it's 5am. Then the rest of the week its in late evening? How do i arrange me meals around my workout schedule? Or should I.

The supps I am taking before triaing is 8 synergy, 1 scoop of creatine and 1 scoop of glumtamine.
During training I am sipping on 2 scoops of glutamine and 1 scoop of creatine.

Penny,

You have the macros right but I NEVER just eat carbs alone.

Set it up like this:

Meal 1: egg whites/1 whole/oats
Meal 2: turkey 99%/white potato
Meal 3: MP and brown rice
Meal 4: turkey and oats
Train
Meal 5: top round/white potato
Meal 6: MP/oats

Green veggies are free and I usually add twice daily.

See Kellys thread in I believe Contest prep, the above is a roadmap and she even gave away my formulas so that thread will definitely get you going. IF after looking at that you want help, PM me.

Take care,

J