YAFT (yet another fitness thread) - meal plan for gaining muscle and losing fat

[TheNinja]

EDIT: see my modified meal plan @ #9 post

Typical Meal Plan (taken from Musclesurf: "I can assure you that if you follow a diet like this and train your butt off, you will have etched abs like the guys in the magazines.")

Meal # 1
1 cup of oatmeal
8 egg whites & 1 yolk
1 banana

Meal # 2
1 cup of rice mixed with 8 egg whites
1 apple

Meal # 3
8 oz. chicken breast
6 oz. red potato
a large salad

Meal # 4
1 cup of rice
6 oz. tuna packed in water
8 asparagus sticks
1 orange

Meal # 5
8 oz. chicken breast
6 oz. sweet potato
2 cups of broccoli

Meal # 6
1 cup of oatmeal
8 egg whites

It seems like quite a bit of food but it should help to gain muscle that's for sure as well as tone up. Also I would probably substitute some whey protein (in shake form?) instead of all those egg whites all the time. What do you think?

 

[Chaotic42]

Dgwaaaah

That's like a week of eating.

 

[ZaneNBK]

The quantities are fine as far as I can tell without looking up the protein numbers. You really don't need to follow any real meal plan like that. Simply eat 1-1.5g of protein per pound of lean body weight (So weight * (1-BF%)) and make sure you get enough vegetables and not too many high GI carbs (in other words, stuff like brown rice, whole wheat bread, etc..). Take a multi-vitamin just in case and keep your total caloric intake around 500 below maintenance to loose fat or +25% of maintenance to gain muscle.

Once you hit a certain point you can't loose fat and gain muscle at the same time since loosing fat requires a caloric deficit and gaining muscle requires excess food. Basically the only exception is if you're really out of shape or taking steroids (or have freakish genes). That's why pretty much all successfull "natural" body builders have bulking and cutting cycles.

Basically for cutting you eat less, do more cardio and keep your protein intake high to loose a little muscle as possible. Once you hit a BF% goal you switch to bulking.

When bulking you eat above maintenance, eat tons of protein and do less cardio until you've gained too much fat along with your muscle and then you switch to cutting.

 

[ZaneNBK]

And has been posted here and elsewhere countless times, "etched" abs don't come from weight-lifting. They come from loosing enough body fat to be able to see the muscle underneath. Generally this is done by dieting and cardio.

Weightlifting can/will increase the size of your ab muscles but that won't help at all if you're at 15%+ BF.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Um, why the hell would you eat 24 egg whites in a day? You would be better off taking a whey protein supplement instead. Cheaper and much easier.

 

[ZaneNBK]

For his purposes (as a meal) Milk Protein Isolate would be a better selection as it is digested slower. You might also try changing some of those egg whites out for low/non-fat cottage cheese. It's an excellent source of slow digesting protein.

 

[TheNinja]

thanks for the advice thus far. Also, I did not come up with that meal plan, it was in Musclesurf's latest newsletter, so all the egg whites are not my idea (it seems a little crazy to me). I think I will go into the "bulk" phase right now, seeing how fall/winter are now here and I won't be removing my shirt in public. And then cut later after I build up some muscle. For me, losing weight is much easier than gaining.

 

[Riprorin]

Originally posted by: ZaneNBK
The quantities are fine as far as I can tell without looking up the protein numbers. You really don't need to follow any real meal plan like that. Simply eat 1-1.5g of protein per pound of lean body weight (So weight * (1-BF%)) and make sure you get enough vegetables and not too many high GI carbs (in other words, stuff like brown rice, whole wheat bread, etc..). Take a multi-vitamin just in case and keep your total caloric intake around 500 below maintenance to loose fat or +25% of maintenance to gain muscle.

Once you hit a certain point you can't loose fat and gain muscle at the same time since loosing fat requires a caloric deficit and gaining muscle requires excess food. Basically the only exception is if you're really out of shape or taking steroids (or have freakish genes). That's why pretty much all successfull "natural" body builders have bulking and cutting cycles.

Basically for cutting you eat less, do more cardio and keep your protein intake high to loose a little muscle as possible. Once you hit a BF% goal you switch to bulking.

When bulking you eat above maintenance, eat tons of protein and do less cardio until you've gained too much fat along with your muscle and then you switch to cutting.

What's a typical BF% goal before bulking?

 

[ZaneNBK]

Originally posted by: Riprorin
What's a typical BF% goal before bulking?

Depends on you. Do you mean how much should you cut before you bulk? Cut to the point where you feel you look lean enough and/or you feel you've lost too much muscle or are looking too weak. If you know what BF% you want to be it just makes a more concrete goal. <=10-11% would be considered pretty lean.

When to bulk and when to cut really depends mainly on how you like the way you're shaping up. People who've been doing it for a while might have specific numerical goals.

 

[TheNinja]

My modified meal plan:

Meal # 1 - 400cal, 35g protein
3/4 cup of oatmeal
1 protein shake (milk/whey)

Meal # 2 - 450cal, 20g protein
1/2 bagel w/ cream cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 apple

Meal # 3 - avg: 600cal, 35g protein
decent lunch (sandwhich, chicken, etc. with veggies)

Meal # 4 - 480cal, 35g protein
1 banana
3/4 cup rice
1 protein shake

Meal # 5 - avg: 650cal, 35g protein
normal dinner (grilled steak, chicken, tuna, etc. with rice, veggies)

Meal # 6 - 400cal, 35g protein
3/4 cup oatmeal
1 protein shake

TOTALS: 2980cal, 195g of protein, (also normal levels of carbs, fat as far as I can tell)

I think I will follow this plan and see how it works. I'm around 190 pounds so 195g of protein is a good starting point. If I start to get to fat I'll cut out some of the rice and/or oatmeal. You guys use this as you like and modify it and let me know if you have any other good ideas

 

[PunDogg]

Originally posted by: Staley8
Typical Meal Plan (taken from Musclesurf: "I can assure you that if you follow a diet like this and train your butt off, you will have etched abs like the guys in the magazines.")

hahahahaha I could have told you that, of course if you follow a crazy diet, and train alot you will lose fat, hahaha i can't people actually write this stuff down.

DOgg

 

[TheNinja]

.

 

[emb09]

who has time to eat all of that?

I guess it is worth the time and expenses if you're competing in a body-building tournament.