Adarq.org

not enough information for reasonable/useful recommendations. see my signature for details.

Quote from: LBSS on February 17, 2011, 09:58:07 pm

not enough information for reasonable/useful recommendations. see my signature for details.

I looked at it and it was way above my head. What kind of information do you want

Fair enough. Here's a basic nutrition plan:

1. Are you trying to gain or cut? Do you want/need to do it fast or can you take your time? You may be able to do both at once if you're very flabby right now, but past a certain point it's pretty freaking hard to do both.

2. Track your diet for a few days, figure out from that how many calories you take in on a normal day and on a training day (if different). Then, based on the goal established in step 1, adjust target caloric intake up or down 500 calories or so.

3. Figure out how many grams of protein you need. To do this, multiply your lean body mass (total weight - fat) by 1-1.5 or so depending on goals. Multiply that number by four and subtract from total calories.

4. Split the rest of your calories between carbs and fats. If you do a lot of cardio, more carbs less fat. If not, less carbs more fat.

5. Make sure you get plenty of fruits and vegetables.

6. Profit

An example, to make things clearer:

1. Trying to cut fat.

2. Tracked diet and my daily intake is about 2800 calories. That means my target for daily intake should be about 2300.

3. I weigh about 180 pounds, at 20% body fat. That means I have 144 pounds of lean body mass. Protein intake should be about 173 grams. That's about 700 calories, so I have 1600 to work with.

4. I hate cardio, so I don't really need that high a carb intake. I'll try 60/40 carb/fat split and see how that works. That'd be 640 calories from fat and 960 from carbs. In other words, 70 grams of fat and 240 grams of carbs.

5. I surely know how to eat.

6. $$$$$$$$$

That's really, really basic and there are all kinds of nuances and shit. But you need to know all that info before you do anything else.

IMPORTANT NOTES

Don't get caught up in micromanaging your macros. Unless you have a very precise food scale and lots of time, you're just going to be approximating anyway. Pretending that you can track your intake to tenths of a calorie is retarded.

Mess around with things and see what works best for you. You might do better on higher carb or on higher fat, nobody knows.

You need more protein when you're dieting, to preserve muscle.

Looks fine but to be honest you need to consider portion size...don't go crazy on the nuts - A handful will give you all the health benefits while keeping your fat intake moderate Looks good though.

You just have to be creative.  Carrots are just as ways to tote around as nuts.  Don't forget about jerky and trail mix.  They are good alternatives.  But really pay attention to timing of food intake.  Just like in a workout, if you don't rest between sets your body can't catch up.  So eat, then stop, then eat again.  Don't continually snack.

Also, if you are taking in the right amount of calories, you'll naturally lose the ponch and get to an equilibrium.  Once you're down to 12% bf or less, then you can start fine tuning everything.

Gotta get more veggies man!

That is pretty widely debated, and is pretty much personal preference.  I'd say go with what is harder first.  Like if it hard for you to gain weight, then focus on that first, then cut back down.  If it's hard to slim down, do that first.  The only reason I say that is because you'll naturally want to return to your old habits, so take advantage of your current motivation level.

Well, there's lots of info out there.  And there's tons of books about sports nutrition out there.  I really like Crossfit nutrition stuff.  They have a great deal of knowledge on their message boards.  But nutrition is very tricky, it always changes from person to person.  There's a good article referenced on another thread (I'll find it and link it) that has some good simple rules but what lbss said earlier is dead on.  The basic thing is to eat as clean as possible and as much of that clean food as you can handle.  Shoot for about 500 calorie surplus (mainly from meat if possible).

I like this rule about gaining weight: If you can catch it, BITE IT!

Salads, cooked vegetables, raw or cooked fruits and juices are in this group. They supply many of the vitamins and minerals your body needs. Meats, fish, poultry, eggs are in this group....