New to flexible dieting.. HELP!!

[kidkemp]

Hi guys,

I don't post on here often or much at all. After working with a local guru coach for my first men's physique show, I was eating you know the 6x meals a day.. chicken, fish, brocoli, egg whites, 2 hours of cardio, 4 sets of everything on weights, etc. The funny thing is I am a big fan of Layne Norton and I was aware of flexible dieting and that everything I was doing was b/s. I continued to do it regardless because I was getting the most leanest I have ever been. I look back now and realize how big of a TOOL I was being, to my friends, family, girlfriend. I had to eat my meals on time, train on time, wake up and do fasted cardio on time, go to bed on time.. etc etc etc.

I recently dropped my coach and have been doing a lot of research on flexible dieting and IIFYM, as well as different approaches to training.. PHAT, upper/lower, push/pull/legs, etc. I am NATURAL and plan on staying NATURAL for the rest of my life so I want to follow the most optimal training and nutrition principles out there for an individual like myself.

So as far as training goes, I think I'm going to begin training with the PHAT style of training. The thing I am having trouble with is nutrition. I have worked out my caloric intake as well as macros for gaining and they look something like this.

My Stats:
177lbs (12-15% bodyfat)
173cms (just under 5'8)

Calculated Caloric Intake:
3650kcal

P:194g
C:444g
F:121g
(Would like to know your thoughts on this as well, I will be training 5x a week with the two power days and 3 hypertrophy days, no cardio except 60-90 minutes of volleyball on mondays)

So as far as nutrition goes, I'm so lost on what to EAT. The one good thing about working on a cookie cutter diet is knowing what meals to eat, on a daily basis. This makes grocery shopping very easy, especially for budgeting. I would love to hear some tips from you guys on what to purchase for my protein, fats, and carbs. Currently my sources are eggs, egg whites ( getting kind of expensive so I would like to avoid these), chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, steak, etc. Carbs are mainly white pasta ( should I be getting whole wheat?) brown rice (prefer over white personally), and whole wheat bread/bagels, and POPTARTS when I have them. Fats are mainly the eggs and olive oil, and animal fats from meat.

Am I on the right track? Would love your guys input on how you determine what you are going to eat on a daily basis or if you just eat whatever, whenever. I'm use to prepping the same meals over and over, etc. Which I don't mind, but I definitely would love more variety.

Thank you!!

[ironwill2008]

So as far as nutrition goes, I'm so lost on what to EAT. The one good thing about working on a cookie cutter diet is knowing what meals to eat, on a daily basis. This makes grocery shopping very easy, especially for budgeting. I would love to hear some tips from you guys on what to purchase for my protein, fats, and carbs. Currently my sources are eggs, egg whites ( getting kind of expensive so I would like to avoid these), chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, steak, etc. Carbs are mainly white pasta ( should I be getting whole wheat?) brown rice (prefer over white personally), and whole wheat bread/bagels, and POPTARTS when I have them. Fats are mainly the eggs and olive oil, and animal fats from meat.

Am I on the right track? Would love your guys input on how you determine what you are going to eat on a daily basis or if you just eat whatever, whenever. I'm use to prepping the same meals over and over, etc. Which I don't mind, but I definitely would love more variety.

What do you like to eat? Compose your meals from what you enjoy; what matters most is simply reaching your macro totals each day, and having a slant towards also getting adequate micros. Past that, there's not much else to tell you. It's just not any more complicated than that.





I followed the bro nutrition plan for 15 years. Like you, I made good progress doing so, but can recall countless times I denied myself involvement in social situations where my 'schedule' and my 'special' foods would be disrupted. Also like you, I eventually came to realize that none of it was necessary.

We learn by experience.

[kidkemp]

Thank you bro, I guess it will just take some time to figure out what I actually enjoy eatting again lol.. ugh I feel kinda pathetic! Thanks again.

[TeamBarbarian]

Hey man,

I feel you ... nutrition was always tougher for me to manage than my training. Sounds like you have more research to do, and you might not get a complete answer to all of your questions from everyone on here, but here is some info I collected on IIFYM that you might find helpful (I posted a quick video I made on the topic there too):

http://top-form-fitness.com/fitness-...-clean-eating/

And here is how I look at planning my macros and calories... for what it's worth; just take what makes sense to you and keep learning:



Good luck!