Universal Nutrition Forum

Hi and thanks in advance!

Im new to all this..trying to do it right this time..Ive done a bit of research and Ive worked out that I need at least 3000 cal per day to bulk..Im 5.10 145 pounds with 15% b/f.

Im beginning the gym four days a week on monday and starting the diet then. Ive been trying to come up with my 3000 cals a day on a 40:40:20 ratio p:c:f.

Im having trouble coming to the total..Im not sure what to add and where and keep it cost effective and relatively easy at the same time as I am a student and cant afford everything I would like..

Out of bed: Protein shake with (25g protein,130 cal)
2 slices brown bread+ low fat spread (5g pro,24g carb,2g fat,130 cal

Bran flakes with whole milk(11g protein,30g carb,8g fat, 249 cal)
Cup Tropicana Orange juice(2g pro,26g carb,110 cal)
2XFish softgel ( 40cal, 4g fat)
Multivitamin (centrum/vivioptal)

few hours later : tuna on wholemeal bread (22g pro,1g fat,99 cal)

Lunch/preworkout : protein shake (25g pro,130 cal)
apple: (22g carb,80 cal)
tuna on wholemeal bread (22g pro,1g fat,99 cal)

Postworkout: protein shake (25g pro,130 cal)
grapefruit (2g pro,21 carb,82 cal)

Dinner: 1/2 cup of rice (6g pro,66g carb,300 cal)
Chicken breast (27g protein,2.0g fat,143 cal)
1 tbsp olive oil (119 cal,13.5g fat)

hour before bed: protein shake (25g pro,130 cal)
danone activia yoghurt (4g pro, 10g carb,63 cal)
peanuts 28g (pro 7g,5g carb,14g fat, 170 cal)

Thats the best i can come up with so far..

Total: 214g Protein,230g Carbs,56g fat, Calories = 2205

What would you recommend?

Cheers

Welcome to the forum Jay,
Firstly a few pointers on your current diet.Id lose the cereal as most of them are refined and not very energy dense,try blend a half cup of oats with your protein instead.
Id get rid of the yoghurt as its too late in the day to be consuming simple sugars and replace the peanuts with walnuts as they provide a better source of fats. Minimising carbs in the last meal of the day is always a good idea.

Fats contain more then double the energy provided by carbs and protein so if your stuck for calories another option is to slightly increase your fat ratio.

Cottage cheese a great source of protein and a cost efficent product,a 300g tub providing almost 40g of protein is only 98c at Tesco.

Here is an example of a bulking diet I posted up in the past following a 30-40-30 ratio of pro,carb,fat.

Meal 1
Shake-1 scoop of N-large2(1/4 serving),1+1/4 scoop of Ids protein,40g oats,1 tbsp of peanut butter(organic),1 tbsp of Udo's(EFA oil).

1 banana

Meal 2
1 300g tub of cottage cheese(43g protein)
Potato salad sandwich on 100% wholewheat bread(Made with a spoon of low fat mayo,lemon juice,onions and chives)

Meal 3
Tuna pasta(see forum titled muscle building recipies)
20g of walnuts

Meal 4
Shake-2 scoops of N-large2(1/2 serving)
1 scoop IDS protein
1+1/2 tbsp Udos

1 banana

----workout------

Postworkout drink-1 serving of Vitargo, 1+1/2 scoop of IDS protein
1 banana

Meal 5
2 omeaga 3 eggs
120g chicken(cooked weight)
120g potato(cooked weight)
1 cup of green vedge

Meal 6
Shake-2 scoops IDS protein,1 Tbsp Udo's,1 Tbsp peanut butter
30g of walnuts

Total
Calories-4656
Protein-360g-30%
Carbs-462g-40%
Fats-152g-30%

Also would be no harm in browsing the diet Q+A board if you haven't already.
Hope you can make some use out of that info feel free to ask more Q

Cheers for that Howard great info there..I was down in the shop in Dunlaoghaire today and was advised to get Cytosport whey so I have a 5 pund tub of that which should last a month or so I guess..

Is that udo oil easy to come by and is it pricey?Is that a better alternative to flax seed oil? What is Vitargo and where can I get it?

Do you have any recommendations for a beginners routine im going for the gym induction tommorow so will need to tell them what I want..Someone suggested the rippetoe starting strength plan?

Lastly do you know of an affordable decent multivitamin..I cant afford animal pack right now.

Sorry bout all the questions so much info so little time..

Cheers

Howard,
Could you have alook at this and see what you think?
I think i may change to the cutting diet that you have posted previously, also i must get the multivitamins and add them to the diet also.
I have posted this in my Journal but didn't get any replies!!

My workout & diet

Monday:

Morning
5 min warm up

Legs:
Squats (on Smtih machine) 3 x 8
Leg Press 3 x 8
Stiff Leg Dead Lift 3 x 8
Leg exstension 3x 8
Leg curls 3x 8
Calf Raises 3x 8

15 - 20 mins on bike

Evening:
30 - 40 Mins cardio (keep BPM below 130)

Tues
Morning
5 min warm up

Chest & Bicep
Bench Press 3x8
Incline Dumbell press 3x8
wide Grip Dips 3x 8
Pec Dec 3 x 8
Ez Bar Curls 3 x 8
Seated Dumbell 3 x 8
Cabel Curls 2 x 5-7 (to failure)

Evening:
30 - 40 Mins cardio (keep BPM below 130)

Wed:

Morning & Evening
30 - 40 Mins cardio (keep BPM below 130)

Thurs:
Morning
Back & Abs
Dead Lifts 3 x 8
Wide Grip Chin Up 3 x 8
Bent Over Barbell Row 3 x 8
Dumbell Shrug 3 x 8
Cable Crunch 3 x 8 (probably changing this as i think i will get more from something else)
Twisty thingy 3 x 8
Leg Up
} Superset 2 x 15
Crunch
Swiss Ball Crunch (with dumbell) 2 x 15

Evening
30 - 40 Mins cardio (keep BPM below 130)

Friday:
Shoulders & Triceps
Machine Press 3x8
Seated Overhead Dumbell Press 3x8
Standing Lateral Raises 3x8
Dumbell Front Raise 3x8
Cabel Push Downs 3x8
Dumbell Kick Backs 3x8 each arm
Dips 2 to failure

10 - 20 mins Bike

Sat & Sunday
I try to get up and do a bit of cardio! or just head out for a walk or something!!!!!

Diet is as follows:

Monday:
6.20 - 1/2 cup porridge, i loplyze
6.45 - 3 aldri creatine tabs
7.15 - workout
8.20 2 scoops ids whey isolate + tbsp peanut butter
1:00 - Lunch (chicken/tuna wrap with salsa)
5.30 - 3 x aldri
6:00 workout
6.45 1 scoop ids whey isolate
7.35 - dinner
9.30 - 1 scoop whey or ryvita with tomato & feta cheese

Tues:
as monday

wed:
breakfast is taken at about 10am
the rest is the same

thurs:
as tues

Fri:
as thurs

Sat & sunday
as much like the others as possible.

A couple of questions;

should i be taking another meal at 11 am and 4pm?

Jay,
Udo's is quite expensive,works out around 25.99 or so for a 500ml bottle.Taking 3 tbsp daily spaced out throughout the day your talking about an 11 or 12 day supply.
The udo's is a blend of various oils such as flaxseed,sunflower,seasame and evening primrose.

Vitargo is a post-workout carb drink,Im using the species nutrition carbolyze at the moment instead its a waximaise product.Its purpose is to replenish the depleted glycogen lost during a workout.I usually have a scoop or 2 in a shaker along with some whey in my gear bag and shake it up in the locker room immediately after the workout(weight training only).both products can be gotten in Universal Nutrition off the site or in-store.

In most health stores you can find a basic multi-vitamin from 12-15 euro

Here is an example of a free weights routine to get you started remember concentrate on form to avoid picking up bad habits.

3 DAY SPLIT

Session 1(Chest,shoulders,triceps)

Bench press 3 sets (increase weight each set)
Chest flyes 3 sets
Shoulder DB press 4 sets (increase weight each set)
Lateral raises 2 sets
tricep pushdowns 4 sets

Session 2(legs)

Squats 5 sets (increase weight each set)
Leg extensions 2 sets
Dead lifts (stiff-legged) 5 sets
Calf raises(smith) 4 sets

Session 3(Back biceps)
Pull-ups normal grip (to failure)
Bent over Barbell rows 5 sets
Shrugs barbell 4 sets
Bicep curls 5 sets

instead of udos oil try fish oil caps and evening primrose oil, its cheap as hell, you can get some great deals in health shops.

JammiGit,
A few pointers with the training.

On your legs try doing the leg extensions before the stiff-legged dead lifts as there's not much point in working at your quads then moving on to hams and back to quads again. so it would be as follows
squats,leg press,leg ext. then dead lifts,leg curl etc
as opposed to
Squats,leg press,deadlifts,leg ext etc.

also try the lateral raise after the frontal raises,same principle.

From a dietary perspective
insure you are consuming a protein source every 3 hrs such as lean meat,whey,eggs or low fat cheese(cottage cheese).In your dietary breakdown there are 5 hr gaps between some of your meals.I wouldnt do a session of weight training unless you had a high protein meal within an hour or two.
Since your cutting I would eliminate breads such as the wrap in your 1 o clock meal,brown rice is a good alternative.

Look into those minor changes Jammi,feel free to post any more questions and queries.

Cheers Howard,
I'll make those changes and
I think i'll jump onto the cutting diet you have posted.
The breakfast you have given an example of:
is that loat into a blender and mix it up? oats un cooked?

Yep jus toss it all in the blender and blend away.I usually eat the banana separate but feel free to toss it in aswell.
Good luck,post up your progress every few weeks or so

Thanks for that Howard..I started today and it went ok but not great..my technique is all over the shop..I went down with a print out of rippertoes starting strength and told the trainer to show us that.. this is what it consists of..(it comes highly recommended)

It consists of 3 days a week..Mon,Wed,Fri

Two routines: A:3x5 Squat,3x5 bench press,1x5 deadlift,2x8 dips,
B:3x5 squat,3x5 lat pull down,3 x 5 one arm row,

Each week I change from A(mon)B(wed)A(fri) to BAB

Abs every routine which includes: Plank,back extension,balance on swiss ball (these were what the instructor set for me as rippertoes starting strength does not recommend ab excercises I dont know if they are the best excercises for abs and what I need?)

5-10 mins of jogging or bike before and after weights..

I can now see how technique plays such a huge part..I was shown how to do the above but when I tried again on my own Im sure I was doing many things wrong..

How do I figure out what weight I should start on?

cheers

venom wrote:

instead of udos oil try fish oil caps and evening primrose oil, its cheap as hell, you can get some great deals in health shops.

Thanks venom when should that be taken in the morning? And about how many caps per day?

consume about 6000mg which is 6 1gram fish oil caps. take 3 evening primrose caps per day, id split them up with each meal, breakfast 2 fish caps next meal primrose oil next meal fish oil so on and so on, glad to see your putting so much effort into the diet and nutrition end.

howard,
what liquid do you put in the shake? just water?

Start off on whatever weight feels comfortable Jay not too light but not too heavy as such that your form will suffer.Try add on the weights by the week or strive for that extra rep.Always aim to beat your personal best.

Yep just the water in the shakes Jammi.

venom wrote:

consume about 6000mg which is 6 1gram fish oil caps. take 3 evening primrose caps per day, id split them up with each meal, breakfast 2 fish caps next meal primrose oil next meal fish oil so on and so on, glad to see your putting so much effort into the diet and nutrition end.

Well as they say if anythings worth doing its worth doing right and I think this especially applies to bodybuilding..made too many mistakes before annd made no gains just from over working and not eating right..