Any beginners need help, just ask

[Alex A]

yea man. i know exactly what your talking about but luckily growing up, my mom was a nurse so she had to go through all these health classes and didn't have me eating like a bodybuilder, but i grew up eating healthy and it is something i'll carry with me the rest of my life and teach my kids

Thats great bro, I think its important to start your kids off eating healthy. For me its leading by example.
My little daughter sees me eating oatmeal and now she loves the stuff too.

I am looking forward to helping her pack her lunch with stuff thats at least a bit healthier than your typical kids meals.


Junior: I like solid foods after a workout. Im usually hungry and dont like to drink my meals.
I really dont have many shakes, thats my big thing now.

I really dont drink much protein, i rather eat solid foods. Im usually eating my meals about 2.5 -3 hours apart.

[Alex A]

Alex,

Thanks. I'm far from a beginner.....been doing this 16 years now. I've built an impressive physique, but always have trouble dialing in my condition.....just hard for me to get ultra lean. I believe we never stop learning and I think you have the knowledge to where I seem to be coming up short.

Anyway, just take a look at this and let me know what you think.

I'm 5'8" 218lbs, have visible abs just carry damn lower back fat.

I've been low carbing and doing a ton of cardio and it's been eating away at both fat and muscle so I need to introduce carbs back into the diet, still burn bodyfat, and try and regain a little bit of the thickness I've lost.

Current diet I just started yesterday.

Meal 1: 8oz top round, 6.25oz yams, 4 ultra high EPA/DHA omega 3's
Meal 2: 8oz top round, 6.25oz yams
Meal 3: 40g whey, 1c oats
Meal 4 (PWO): 40g whey, 1c oats
Meal 5: 8oz top round, 6.25oz yams
Meal 6: 8oz top round, 6.25oz yams, 4 omega 3's

I take 100mg r-ALA prior to each meal for insulin management

Roughly 300g carbs, 300g protein, 35-40g fat

Cardio done first thing in the morning, I'm thinking cutting it back to 45 minutes.

I was doing 60 minutes morning cardio then another 45 minutes at night...burned alot of fat but lost some size. I was also going carbless except for my 2 PWO meals where I'd eat 75g carbs immediatly after then another 75g an hour later.

Since your just now starting this diet, i would give it a go.

But as far as your cardio goes. I would not do quite that much, butI do advocate cardio on work out days.

I believe you should do about 45min. post workout then immediately eat.

I would not do the morning cardio, unless you are perhaps in pre contest mode. Also, try changing up your cardio machines. I never do the same machine over and over, i switch machines frequently. Give your diet a go, but if your unhappy consider a moderate to high carb type diet, and very low fat. That is somthing that works for me.

I almost never add fats to my diet, pre contest or off season.

[flexingtonsteele]

Alex,

Steak four times a day? get your blood pressure checked bro.

[big_swoll]

why whould I need my BP checked?

My BP is fine..

BTW the top round is so lean it looks like sushi tuna.

well if nothing else it'd be good to switch up just for the differing aminos.
i'd do some chicken or turkey, some type of fish. whatever you like.
but you'll get tired of top round over and over and over. remember, too much of anything is bad

[Alex A]

Interesting, so you think PWO cardio is less catabolic then morning cardio? I've always thought the opposite, but I'm still trying to figure this thing out so I'll defently give your suggestions a try.

thank you

I believe cardio post work out will work for you, well. It appears that you havnt been doing it this way, which will be a bit of shock on the body. Plus your heart rate is up from training so you start burning fat quicker. As long as you pretty much right after your workout, you should be fine.

[Alex A]

Alex,

By added fats are you talking about the 8 fish oil caps I take daily? Thats really the only added fats I consume. I'm big on heavy EPA/DHA supplementation. The rest of the fat comes from the steak (not much) and the oats.

Im just one who believes in adding no fats at all! i have used flax and added fats in the past and have never been as ripped as I am without them. You get plenty of fat from your steak even if your eating it once a day like me.

[Alex A]

Alex,

Steak four times a day? get your blood pressure checked bro.

Junior, you just started this diet right? See i cant say, trash your diet and do my diet.

Personally I eat a lot of red meat off season, not every meal. Of course your diet is not my ideal diet, but you can give it a shot. Im just suggesting what I would do if i was doing your diet, as far as cardio. I surely would not add fats to this diet. Anyways...

[jeffgordon23]

Thats great of you Alex to start off helping people. I will be checking out your website.

[Alex A]

Yeah just started the diet.

Ok, I will listen to your advice and not take the fish oil caps.

I will do the two chicken, two top round, two whey meals.

Oats for two meals/day (1c each), 6.25oz yams for the other 4 meals. I may bump the yam up in my PWO meal to 9.5oz (75g carbs)


Is this looking better now?

I can do away w/ the red meat all together if that would be better....

This diet sounds better but i would not can the red meat, atleast once a day, occasionally two lean red meat meals could only be good for you. Mix the carbs up, oats, yams, rice. I personally have never eaten a yam before, i dont like them. I only eat rice and oatmeal, somteimes potatos

[Alex A]

BTW your brown sugar oats sound like a dream come true....I'm just scared of the sugar.

Most people are, try the low sugar ones, i eat the regular ones off season and actually pre constest i eat about four packs a day. I eat more sugar pre contest then off season. It just works for me. I get lean as fuck on the stuff. I never liked the tast of yams.

Im not trying to claim im the smartest guy in the world but my methods work from experience. On paper it sounds like crap. I used to eat carbs in the one fifty to two hundred range consisting only of brown rice, no sugar etc. and I look nothing like i do now. My condition is ten times better. from expereince I have learned what has worked And sugar is not necessarily the enemy as long as your training hard and doing cardio.

[Alex A]

So far so good. I still feel like I'm leaning out despite the 180 degree switch in dieting approaches.

I dropped the cardio to 45 minutes/day, and have roughly been consuming 2750 calories day.....bout 335g carbs, 300g pro, 20-23g fat.

One thing though....I'm always hungry on this low fat diet.....I'm more hungry eating this way at almost 2800 cal/day then I was at 2200 cal/day on pro/fat. I wake up in the middle of the night starving.....I eat like half an apple just to get something in my stomach.

I usually eat some egg whites with one whole egg along with some taco sauce or mustard as a meal at night before bed time. Shakes just dont cut it. I dont get hungry in the middle of the night but sure wake up with a good appetite. Thanks for giving it a shot

[Alex A]

No, thank you for the advice. You've been great and I'm trying not to take advantage of it.

I'll update as the weeks go on and thank you again.

No problem bro, im glad your willing to listen and make changes. That is how one grows as a bodybuilder.
By learning and not doing the same things over and over. I took advise along the way.
I still keep an open mind to suggestions about training etc. As far as diet, prep and dialing in, i really dont want to confuse what i already know.

Getting in contest shape is very easy for me. I have not gone into all the details of course, I would not do that openly on the boards but i feel the combination of training, diet and of course your " prep" makes you complete and ready come contest day. Anyone more interested should PM me. Anyways, take care bro

[scoobysnacks]

I agree with Alex, have some egg whites prior to bed, but dont do the apple in the middle of the night.

Night is where our bodies can run on fats to fuel the processes, by eating something high in fructose you release insulin and the body WILL stop using its fat stores.....

Go with the eggs prior to bed....dont eat in the middle of the night when cutting....

just my two cents, by no means trying to highjack...

Ss

[Alex A]

I agree with Alex, have some egg whites prior to bed, but dont do the apple in the middle of the night.

Night is where our bodies can run on fats to fuel the processes, by eating something high in fructose you release insulin and the body WILL stop using its fat stores.....

Go with the eggs prior to bed....dont eat in the middle of the night when cutting....

just my two cents, by no means trying to highjack...

Ss

Hey no problem bro, agreed!

[CSantamaria]

Hey Alex

whats up buddy? u get my emails ?

C