Need Help With Nutrition Plan!!

[BCCurt]

Hey everybody.

I used to work out pretty consistently in the gym for many years. Then over the last year I stopped going regularly and would train here and there with no consistency or plan. I lost my physique, and now I'm back consistently working out in my gym. I strength train about 5 days a week. I'm really hitting it hard and feeling very good about what I'm doing there. And after about 6 weeks consistently working out, I'm already seeing changes in my body (thank God for muscle memory!).

My extreme frustration is with diet. I know that I won't reap the FULL rewards of the gym unless my nutrition is right. To me, I feel that nutrition can make or break your hard work in the gym. So that's why I really want to get my eating habits right. I've looked at many of the bodyblogs here and they all have great information and success stories of people. At the same time, most of the blogs contradict each other. Don't eat before bedtime/eat before bedtime.......don't ever eat carbs/fat together/make sure each meal combines at least 2 of protein, fat, carbs together......eat 500 calories over your basic metabolic rate to gain/eat 20 times your bodyweight to gain (which is WAY more than 500 calories for me).........almonds are the best source of fibre and good fats/walnuts, not almonds are the best source of fibre and good fats.............you get the picture.........I just don't know where to even start to figure out what I should be eating, how much, the ratios, etc etc.........

I know that diet is not a one-size-fits-all reality. I know that it varies with your size, genetics, your goals, lifestyle, etc. So I'm not looking for a panacea to answer all my nutrition questions, but I would like some basic guidelines - a framework - through which I can craft an eating plan to get the killer body I know I can create.

SO......this is an awesome community and I want to take advantage of your collective wisdom. I'm going to list my goals and what I'm currently doing and would welcome with open arms all guidance and opinions as to what I should be doing/tweaking/adjusting with my diet.......

STATS
44 years old
6'5"
215 lbs
14% bodyfat
a body pic is on my profile

GOALS
Reduce bodyfat to 10% range by the end of 2008
Would like to increase muscle by 10-15 lbs by the end of 2008 as well (not sure if that's possible in 5 months)
Keep/increase definition as I increase size - not just size, but size with definition.
I want to get that lean, chiseled, "fit" look and not just get "big" with little or no definition. In my mind, I would sacrifice size for leanness. Maybe you can do both (?)

WORKOUT SCHEDULE
5 days a week for about 45-60 minutes
BICEPS
LEGS
BACK
CHEST/TRIS
SHOULDERS
Cardio on the eliptical trainer for about 20-30 minutes after lifting on 4 of my 5 lifting days

CURRENT NUTRITION
Eat 2700 calories
Follow roughly a 40/40/20 ratio of eating (pro/carb/fat)
Eat 6ish times a day
Eat right after my workout about 560 calories (54g/carbs (simple, fast absorbing), 70 g/pro, 9 g/fat)
Eat before bedtime - protein shake (35 g) and a handful of almonds
Eat instant oatmeal along with protein shake in the morning (NOTE: I've already discerned that I probably should switch to regular oatmeal due to the high sugar content in the instant. The instant oatmeal I use is organic whole rolled oats but it does have added sugar)
Drink lots of water. I had my hydration levels measured a week ago, and it was at 65% hydrated which I think is in the acceptable range.
I avoid white, processed flour most of the time
Drink 2-3 glasses of red wine a week with an occasional Guiness beer (2-3x/month)

SUPPLEMENTS
Multi-vitamin
Glucosamine
Omega 3-6-9 supplement
Vitamin C (1000-2000 g/day)
Greens Caplets
Alpha-Lipoic Acid
Coenzyme Q10
Creatine (inconsistent - 3 days a week)
ZMA (before bedtime about 15 min before I eat my before-bedtime meal)
Glutamine (10-15 g/day: before bedtime and mixed with my morning protein shake)

So there you go folks!! Like I said, I know that I can sabotage my efforts in the gym with incorrect eating/supplementation. So that's why I really want to make sure I'm eating enough, the right times, the right ingredients, etc, etc.

I appreciate so much your help.

Signed,

Frustrated in Vancouver
(aka BCCurt)

[derekwhitaker]

I wish everyone posted that much info! Thanks alot. Here is some of my own opinons. Take whatever makes sense to you.


Goal One- Losing 4% Body fat by the end of the year is a very good short term goal that you will not have to over exert yourself to achieve.

Goal two- Gaining 10-15 pounds of muscle will prove to be a very hard goal to achevie unless your genetics are great. Further this goal works against your first goal as you will find it impossibe due to the fact you will need to be taking in large amounts of calories to feed your muscles enough to grow that much that quickly, while you will need to cut down on calories to drop the 4% Body Fat.

Goal Three-When you say defintion do you mean clear seperation between the different muscles( Say deep lines seperating the Bicep heads from the tricep heads) or do you mean increasing the visibilty of veins? Or obtain more solid/dense muscle? There are different approaches to weight lifting for each these.


I hope I was able to hope a little bit. Good luck with everything.

[BCCurt]

Thanks Derek for the info. Regarding definition, I'm looking for those deep lines that separate the muscle groups, not so much vascularity.......any tweaks on my nutrition based on what you've read?

[derekwhitaker]

You knew what you were doing when you built your current nutrition plan. I would try and ensure you get a the old rule of tumb " One gram of Protein per pound of body weight" But take a different spin on it, " One gram of Protein per lean pound of body weight". That for you would be 185 grams of protein. I also have found that decreasing the amount of simple sugars digested after 2:30 pm to about 50 grams or less increased my fat loss numbers. Also if find that you cant get the 14% to go any lower you have room to tweak your calories down a little.