Beginners Nutrition

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imported_electric

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I am sure that this has been asked over and over. I have searched the forum and found all kinds of answers and was wondering if I could concentrate some of them.
I am a beginner in bb/weightlifting and would like to follow a simple yet effective bulking nutrition plan. I have a hard time counting calories let alone protein and fat, it is really difficult to have more then 3 meals a day (due to working).
I supplement with a pre and post workout shake, these shakes have around 25g isolated whey, 30g maltodextrin each, the pre has 5g l-glutamine (which I've read in the foruns here that is only good for the imune system) and the post has 5g creatine. I usually mix the pre with water and the pos with milk so there goes some more protein and carbs.
I usually don't have much control for the regular meals, for breakfast I usually have some yogurt or a grilled cheese sandwich with a cup of coffee with milk, for lunch I try to eat plenty of meat, dinner is whatever is in the refrigerator and I usually take a glass of milk before bed.
I am a hardgainer, any easy suggestions to improve my nutrition for bulking or there is no other path then starting counting daily calories, proteins and carbs? (Just as a sidenote I am 5'7", 152lbs @ ~10% bf).
 
As for the post-WO-shake, the milk slows down digestion a bit, don't know if it's that big a deal though. I'm also very much of a hardgainer, and I have 1g of carbs per kg of bodyweight (ie about 0,5g per lb) after WO. Also, I was told on a nutrion seminar that mixing the creatine with your shake might be a mistake - it will then have plenty of time to break down to creatinine before it reaches your blood stream. Better to take on an empty stomach a couple of minutes before your pre-WO-shake.

If you find it hard to get more then three meals, you might consider using protein shakes for more than pre/post-WO.

A good rule of thumb is, if you're not gaining weight, you just have to eat more.
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Eat what you normally eat, provided you are currently maintaining a semi stable weight with your current diet, then add 1 quart or more of whole or 2% milk everyday. Simple... effective.

"Also, I was told on a nutrion seminar that mixing the creatine with your shake might be a mistake - it will then have plenty of time to break down to creatinine before it reaches your blood stream."

Depends on how long you let it sit. If you make your PW shake directly after working out then its not gonna have any significant conversion. If you make it before your workout and put it in the fridge, again you will probably be okay, however most of the creatine will pop out of solution. Making it then letting it sit at RT for an hour or two could be kinda nasty in terms of the milk, but still wouldnt have significant conversion. The only issue would be if you make your shakes a full day in advance. Then you might run into some issues.
 
I already drink some milk, but I drink skim. Maybe I should replace for whole or 2% to increase calories and fat intake while bulking.
bgates, you mention semi stable weight. I am not sure if this is relevant but my weight greatly varies from one day to the next. The differences some times are up to 1kg (2lbs) up or down from the previous day (for a 69kg - 150lbs body weight).
 
electric.

just a few thoughts.
if you want to add wgt (muscle) then your going to have to begin doing/eating "more". it sounds like you have been doing some reading so i dont see any reason to re-hash or emphasis a lot of stuff thats already been written.......youve already read it or will be soon.

my recomm....
try to start eating more. shakes are OK but solid food is better. add another meal or a little more to the meals you have. nothing is going to change overnight. your not going to add 1000cal to your diet in a day and not feel ill. just try to add some over time. work on getting an idea of the value of what you eat (cals and protein espec.) as time goes on and try to think of ways to improve your eating and lifting as opposed to focusing on how hard it is for you to do whats necces.

weve all been there. everyone works or is in school (or both). most started out thinking they were hard gainers.......its all a matter of finding a cal level that you will grow at. when i started (early 20s) i was 6' 145lbs and probably ate at least 500 more cals then it looks like your taking in (guess) and still had trouble growing. its all relative and it doesnt really matter......you cant switch your metab. with anyone else so no sense worrying about it.

small steps with both your w/o and diet will lead to results over time. keep reading and youll hear most of the same stuff repeated over and over again. thats the stuff that works. from there its up to you.

good luck
 
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(electric @ Apr. 15 2008,11:29)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I already drink some milk, ... up or down from the previous day (for a 69kg - 150lbs body weight).</div>
Switching completely to 2% or whole would be great. Dont forget to add a quart or more on top of what you already drink. That is all you really need to do to start growing. You are basically adding another 500cal and some good protein on top of your current diet. Its as simple as you can get and its effective.

When I was talking about a semi-stable weight, I was simply saying that if you are not already trending up/down in weight, this would work for you. If your weight is trending down then I would suggest 2 or more quarts. If your weight is trending up I would suggest a half a quart or less since you are already moving in the right direction.

My definition of a semi-stable weight would be 3 weekly body weight averages all within 2% of each other.
 
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