More food required ??

[papa bear]

Hoping you good people might be able to help me with advice on food intake.

Brief run down on what Im doing...(im at the very start of body building) 1 day cardio, 1 day weights etc etc for 6 days, then 3 rest days (odd I know but works with my shift work). Iv just been working out how much im eating and its about 2300 calories (plus 2 scoops of whey protien) per day for the six days and about 1800 calories per day on rest days.

 

Am I on the right track ?? I am finding the whole food thing bloody hard to work out.

 

Any advice / thoughts would be most welcome. Thank you.

[Ben0]

Need a bit more info, age , height, b/f %?

[papa bear]

Thanks BenO.

 

 40y/o, 169cm, dont know b/f%. I have lost a lot of weight (65kg) this year and I dont know at the moment what is b/f and what is to much skin. not sure when to start doing that and I think if would just confuse things even more at the moment.

[Clueless]

 

What are your goals as well?? Weight loss or muscle build?

Have a look at myfitnesspal.com

Has a calorie calculator there to let you know how much to eat in calories approx (will vary person to person so use as a gauge)

Also can track calories there as well. Either via the web page or app on phone.

Weight out rice/meats as uncooked and put values in. Most NZ foods are already programmed in

 

Have a read here too http://www.reddit.com/r/bodybuilding/wiki/index

[papa bear]

goal is to build muscle now.

 

my pyhsio told me about myfitnesspal just the other day so went there to work out what my intake is....going by them, im on track to loose more weight ! Hence why I thought I would see what I could learn from the good people on here.

See I did cardio today, weights tomorrow, so im about to cook up about 1/3 - 1/2 packet of spaghetti, 200gm mince, 1/2 can of tomatoes. In my mind that would be a good meal to be having. During my six days, that would be my usally meal. Most of those days I would cook up 2 of those and eat them as 4 meals plus 1 cup of oats in the morning. If its not that then it would be 2 cups of rice, 2 cans of smoked tuna, eaten over 4 meals plus the 1 cup of oats for breaky.

My rest days I have a big lettuce/tomatoe etc etc salad with 400gm mince spread over 4 meals and the cup of oats in the morning.

.......oh then there are the extras - in a week I would also sneek in say 3 cans of baked beans, 1/2 loaf rye bread & 15 fried eggs.

am I even close to how im ment to be eating ????

(unfortunitly for me, I have no one around me who is also body building and my gym is, well, bloody hopless - so Gymnation is where im gathering ALL my information)

(current weight 82.2kg)

[Ben0]

First up, congrats on the weight loss, thats huge *clapping*

I would think at 2300, (prob more 2540 with the protein shakes) would still be around your maintanace level. Are you losing/gaining/maintaining weight at those cals? Work out your maintance by gauging your weight at a set amount of cals, then change up/down untill you get a slight weight gain each week.

Myfitness pal is great - but dont give the recommended cal intake/macro spilt to much weight. Try and put your protein at at least 1g per pound of body weight, fats at a lowish level and fill the rest with carbs.

Good luck!

[Gymaholic]

You can put a photo of yourself up so pros around here can tell you your bf%. If its still a bit too high like mine is you probably should cut first to get down to around 12% (my personal goal also) then you can put on lean muscle more easily. Other than that i dont realy have any good advicd because im  a beginner too. Good work with your huge weight loss and good luck with your future progress.

 

[Gymaholic]

You can put a photo of yourself up so pros around here can tell you your bf%. If its still a bit too high like mine is you probably should cut first to get down to around 12% (my personal goal also) then you can put on lean muscle more easily. Other than that i dont realy have any good advicd because im  a beginner too. Good work with your huge weight loss and good luck with your future progress.

 

[papa bear]

You can put a photo of yourself up so pros around here can tell you your bf%. If its still a bit too high like mine is you probably should cut first to get down to around 12% (my personal goal also) then you can put on lean muscle more easily. Other than that i dont realy have any good advicd because im  a beginner too. Good work with your huge weight loss and good luck with your future progress.

 

...not sure the mods would alow images like that on this site *stop*

[Dinahlady]

No harm in trying it... Add 100 cals every week or every other week for a few weeks and see what happens... if you feel like you're getting fat or bloaty and its not "muscle" then stop adding the cals, maintain for a bit or drop out 100 cals then maintain it, or come back down to where you are now.... You can be responsive and switch things round a tiny bit.

A few weeks higher cals (if that's all it ends up to be) isn't going to be the end of the world or do anything bad for you especially if its the nice foods you've mentioned, you can always come back down.

 Try not to look at/pay attention to the scale too much -  go by how you're muscle/body fat ratio looks in the mirror and how your training sessions are feeling and day to day energy. 

[papa bear]

No harm in trying it... Add 100 cals every week or every other week for a few weeks and see what happens... if you feel like you're getting fat or bloaty and its not "muscle" then stop adding the cals, maintain for a bit or drop out 100 cals then maintain it, or come back down to where you are now.... You can be responsive and switch things round a tiny bit.

A few weeks higher cals (if that's all it ends up to be) isn't going to be the end of the world or do anything bad for you especially if its the nice foods you've mentioned, you can always come back down.

 Try not to look at/pay attention to the scale too much -  go by how you're muscle/body fat ratio looks in the mirror and how your training sessions are feeling and day to day energy. 

Today was the first time I ran out of fuel. Couldnt finish my cardio. sure made up for that with the size of the feed I just had !!

Today was the first time in weeks I got on the scales, only did it so I could provide information for my questions.

...So going by only increasing body weight by about 5kgs ...apart from today, always fell like im eating about the right amount to get me back to gym each day, starting to see some of the right changes going on then I wont worry to much that I may not be eating quite enough, just increase by small amount & see what happens.

Excellent. still open for any ideas...........

 

[papa bear]

emm, normally Ill have a 100% Whey Protein WPC/WPI shake pre & post cardio/gym. Maybe I change to having that just PRE with 3 BCAA Capsules & have a Massive 70:30 shake with 3 BCAA Capsules POST ?? *WRITE*

 

[Pseudonym]

...not sure the mods would alow images like that on this site

On the contrary, Papa bear... We love seeing transformations, and a 65kg weight loss sounds like a strong contender for Photo of the Month. Well done!

[papa bear]

...not sure the mods would alow images like that on this site

On the contrary, Papa bear... We love seeing transformations, and a 65kg weight loss sounds like a strong contender for Photo of the Month. Well done!

If I was to post a couple of photos Pseudonym *NO* , would I just put them on this thread ?? *blush*