Extra Meals Help?

sharkDawg

Hey Guys,
I'm 20, 5'10, 71kg and im trying to put on an extra 5 to 7kg of muscle. I've been going to the gym fairly regularly for the past couple of years and although ive become stronger and my muscles more defined i haven't really increased in size. After reading the stickies (great source of info by the way) I reckon I'm not eating big enough, I'm ok for breakfast, lunch and dinner, just want to know what you guys eat at say 11am and 4pm?

g'em

A second breakfast and a second lunch.

I'm only half joking saying that Give us an idea of what a usual days' eating would be for you so that we can get a better idea of where you can improve your nutrition.

sharkDawg

Typical days eating

Breakfast - Porridge with flax seed, wholegrain bread with honey, recently started having a couple of boiled eggs too.

Lunch - Usually chicken salad roll

Dinner - Varies quite a bit from chili con carne to steak to chicken or mackerel, with either spuds or rice, and i normally have a stir fry (carrots, broccoli,cauliflower)

Snacks during the day usually consist of piece of fruit/yogart/nuts/jaffa cakes

As much as i like porridge g'em i don't think i'd manage two bowls of it.:D

g'em

Breakfast - Porridge with flax seed, wholegrain bread with honey, recently started having a couple of boiled eggs too.

Fantastic start to the day, nice one. You're providing your body with lots of complex wholegrains to fuel you for the day ahead, the flax seed (I presume it's milled? Whole seeds will just go straight through you undigested - lovely ) provides an abundance of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, honey is one of hte healthiest sugars going and has antibacterial properties as well as being damn tasty and the eggs are the perfect choice for whole protein to replenish your anabolic post-sleep metabolism.

Lunch - Usually chicken salad roll

Hopefully on wholemeal/ seeded bread?

Dinner - Varies quite a bit from chili con carne to steak to chicken or mackerel, with either spuds or rice, and i normally have a stir fry (carrots, broccoli,cauliflower)

So rare to see people actually eating mackerel these days, but it's *such* a great choice for good fats. Keep your veg intake high during htis meal as you aren't getting many at breakfast, and I'm presuming the salad is mostly lettuce/ cucumber/ tomato and the like?

Snacks during the day usually consist of piece of fruit/yogart/nuts/jaffa cakes

I have to say, your diet is really very, very good as it is. Sure, if you wanted to be super clean there are things that you could afford to replace but given that you're trying to bullk and therefore consciously eating a surplus of calories you have plenty of room to manouevre. Besides, there's little or no true "junk" in your diet so your best bet from here is simply to increase the volume of food you're eating.

Cook up batches of chicken breasts and keep them in the fridge, add cheese in your diet, throw some seeds in with your veg or on salads, add cashews to stir-fry's, have a high protein, low carb, low fat hefty snack before bed. The food you eat is good, so choose the protein and fat rich components of it and eat more of those items!

mack1

Yes, mackerel FTW! My favourite fish by miles!

As g'em said your diet is pretty good, if you are looking to add some more meals for bulking you could eat between breafast and lunch and again between lunch and dinner. I have my eggs as breakfast II, mid-morning or sometimes a chicken breast and some salad.

Then for Lunch II: The Return I usually have some tuna (lovely with some lemon juice and pepper), or, if you're not having the mack for dinner that day you can get smoked mackerel in most supermarkets (not quite as nice as fresh but still tasty).

Also, nuts are a great snack, plenty of good kcals too!

Cadrach

g'em wrote: »

So rare to see people actually eating mackerel these days, but it's *such* a great choice for good fats.

True... especially when you consider that, if you live near the coast, the things are practically jumping into your freezer during the Autumn.

Laslo

You diet seems pretty good although you may want to consider increasing your calories in order to gain size.

Also, have a look at your training regimen. If you're having difficulty gaining then you may want to up your poundages. Be sure to concentrate on power exercises too - a great way to put on size and increase your overall strength: dead lift, clean and press, squat, bench press.

sharkDawg

Thanks for the comments and advice guys

davyjose

I probably shouldn't say this (whole foods are better etc), but as g'em said, your diet is very good, and you seem to have all the bases covered nutrition wise, so maybe having a protein shake at some stage (during your biggest gap between meals) would be no harm.
I say it mainly because it won't rock the boat too much - it won't take much preparation time, you can drink it on the bus/stuck in traffic (try doing that with a chicken breast) and it'll add, what, 300 kcals onto your diet a day - of muscle building protein.

Superdub2

Has nobody suggested adding a good mass gainer shake a day there to add to the calories?? just a thought....

BossArky

Superdub2 wrote: »

Has nobody suggested adding a good mass gainer shake a day there to add to the calories?? just a thought....

Yeah they have. Food.

Superdub2

BossArky wrote: »

Yeah they have. Food.

Q Has anybody suggested a mass gainer?

A yeah they have. food

Where did you go to school? Some people have a problem taking in the extra calories they need through eating as they dont have the appetite for it and find that adding a shake a day will get them the extra calories they need to put on extra pounds.

davyjose

BossArky wrote: »

Yeah they have. Food.

I think it's easy to say that supplements are unnecessary and that food is all you need, but if someone's a hardgainer and trying to gain muscle, it's not always a viable option, and adding in protein can work wonders.
When I'm bulking I'll always have protein shakes because at the end of the day, I feel more confident that I've gotten the right number of cals and the right amount of protein, and I'm not a hardgainer.

Hanley

With everything in fitness there will be an over reaction in the short term, and an under reaction in the long term.

Points for anyone who can figure out what I'm talking about and how it applies to this thread.

BossArky

sharkDawg wrote: »

I reckon I'm not eating big enough, I'm ok for breakfast, lunch and dinner, just want to know what you guys eat at say 11am and 4pm?

As I posted on the "Starving!" thread:

• Buy a 200g pack of almonds. Munch a few per hour. Should last you approx 3 days.
• Buy a tub of grapes. Munch a few per hour. May last two days.
• Buy some bananas, apples, or oranges. Get used to peeling oranges at work.
• Buy some canned tuna. Get used to opening cans of it at work.
• Avoid starving yourself and resorting to packaged sandwiches when you are starving. Bread and sauces full of crap.
• Have a handful of nuts in the evening around 9pm, or some natural yoghurt.

Also include some more bread & pasta if you are really looking to pile on the lbs.

BossArky

Superdub2 wrote: »

Where did you go to school?

A good one.