Hey there.

I think you are overly complicating this.

You need a good foundation to build upon before you can start sculpting. That means getting all your lifts up and focusing on strength training for at least one full year prior to any sort of specialized routines. The best idea would be 3 months of upper/lower splits, then 1 year of 5x5 or 3x5. After that time, you can begin hypertrophy alternating with 5x5/3x5 for optimal gains.

Yes. Assuming you scrape the sides of the cup/blender and get all of the fiber that gets left behind.

Hey there.

Congratulations on the massive fat loss! You've done a great job and you will serve as an inspiration to us all! =)


OK here is what you should do.


Meal 1 - within 30 minutes of waking up

Meal 2 - 2 hours later (5pm)

Meal 3 - 2 hours later (7pm)

Meal 4 - 2 hours later (9pm)

Meal 5 - 2 hours later (11pm)

Meal 6 - (Protein shake or cottage cheese would be optimal here) - right before going into work.


As far as the workout goes, depending on how long the workout is, I would recommend doing it whenever you feel the most comfortable doing it. Listen to your body and do what it tells you. If you feel most energetic around 5pm, go then and eat a nice dinner afterwards with your family.

Just remember to keep your calories as well as fat/protein/carbs in order!! Use a BMR calculator if you have to. 40/40/20 is a good ratio (40% protein/40% carbs/20% fats)

You actually fit into the standard bulking diet category with your stats.

You will want approximately 40/40/20 as far as caloric breakdown (40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fats). Each gram of protein or carbs has 4 calories whereas each gram of fats has 9 calories. So out of 3,000 calories - 600 calories (20%) will be from fat, or approximately 66g (round it up to 70 for our purposes). Carbs and protein will be 1,200 calories each for a total of 300g each.

So a 3,000 cal diet lean bulking diet would be 300g carbs, 300g protein, and 70g fat.


A sample meal plan for you would be:


Meal 1 - 3 whole eggs + 1 cup oatmeal + 1 large serving of fruit (any type)
Meal 2 - 2 slices whole grain bread w/ 4-6 oz sliced low-sodium meat (turkey/chicken/ham) and cheese (2% reduced fat and low sodium) w/ veggies made into a sandwich
Meal 3 - Protein Shake (any brand, make sure to get approx 40g protein) + 1 large serving of fruit + handful of mixed nuts
Meal 4 - 1 large chicken breast or lean steak + 1 cup brown rice + 1/2 cup black beans + large serving of veggies
Meal 5 - 1 can of tuna + whole grain crackers + mayo/mustard + veggies or salad
Meal 6 - 1 cup cottage cheese + cinnamon + mixed nuts


If you start noticing fat gain, slash about 300-500 calories. You can drop about 50g protein, 50g carbs, 10g fat.

Of course you can mix up the diet as much as you like as long as the macros are in order. That means swap out ANYTHING you want as long as it's a similar food. IE: Substitute meal 1 (eggs + oatmeal + fruit) for something like Ham + protein shake + shredded wheat + berries.

can you recommend a good "mixed nuts" to get ?

Hey there SKC.

I wanna start building muscle mass, and i've seen you recommend certain diets when doing this. But the only problem is that i don't come from a
very wealthy family and it would be kind of difficult to ask her to get me all these foods just for me.

could you offer any other advice to try and get away around this?

i know this sounds silly but i really would like to start gaining muscle mass.

Certainly. Try Planter's Natural or Emerald Natural

Hey there.

Please tell me how much money you have to spend on food every week.

Alternatively, tell me all the foods you have available to you.

so it's been like 5 months or something since i hurt my wrist (i think i pulled a muscle in my forearm but my wrist hurts) and i've lost a bit over 30 lbs and 2.5 inches on my arms... and my wrist still hurts to do any lifts. i got an ultra sound on it and they didn't see anything so they said the next thing they could do is do an MRI or something, but i just didn't bother... that was 3 months ago.

do you think this will be permanent? it seems so.

could you spot me on meal planner that would bring in about 2200 calories? i am doing hardcore strength training but am looking to drop a bit of weight while going on strong with the strength training but bringing in around 300 grams of protein is alot of calories

or could you give me an idea of how many calories i should consume per day to make good strength gains and able to still lose weight ( i dont mind if its simple as losing 3 pounds a month) as long as it doesnt disrupt my strength training too much i realize any amount of weight loss while doing this is going to affect my gains but im looking for a good trade off

/e i got to thinking and i guess i left some important things out i am 6'2 240lbs i am completly unaware of what my maintance count of calories would be

This post was edited by VVoW on Feb 20 2012 04:30am