I need a cleaner bulking plan

[uncleezno]

I should preface this by saying I'm not a bodybuilder and I'm not aiming for that look, but the guys on these boards are very knowledgeable. That's why I'm posting here instead of somewhere else.

I'm definitely a beginner, but I've been really good the past two months about workout and diet. I lift mon-wed-fri and do about 30 minutes of cardio on tues-thurs. I'm not a diet fanatic, but I eat pretty clean. Every morning before hitting the gym, I take two scoops of cytogainer (290 cals, 2.5g fat, 27g protein) and sip on gatorade once I get there. Immediately after working out, I take two scoops of muscle milk (350 cals, 18g fat, 32g protein). At 11:30 I eat lunch, usually chicken along with veggies and some carbs. At 4 in the afternoon every day I have a cup of oatmeal, not the instant stuff. Dinner is the dirtiest part of my day - I try to keep it well-rounded, but I live with my girlfriend and it's hard to say no to pizza or chinese on occasion.

Before I started lifting, my diet was similar. I would have a protein shake for breakfast, the same lunch, oatmeal at 4, and the same dinners. I wasn't gaining weight then. I've put on some muscle, but also a bit more fat than I would like.

My question, then, is what I can do about the protein shakes in the morning to cut down on my dirty gains. In all honesty, I'm not able to make big changes in terms of what I eat for dinner, and it seems like the shakes are responsible for the weight gain - good and bad. I'm not tied down to muscle milk products, I just use them because they came highly recommended in terms of taste and mixability. My waist has gone from 32" to 34", and that's not something I can live with : )

Thanks!

 

[onelife]

to even try to begin to help ya stating your weight would be a big help.... Your pre workout meal in my opinion should contain some sort of complex carb along with your shake. I agree with you that muscle milk is probabley not the best choice for your post workout shake, there are tons of powders out there that offer far less cals and fats. I also think it would be beneficial to add some sort of carb post workout. Also your meal at 4 needs to have more to it than just carbohydrates. But in my opinion.. if I am trying to guess where your problem lies it would be the meal that you wish not to change.

Your dinner is inconsistant and probabley a lot of times what wreaks your fat loss for the week. It's definitely a difficult situation; its always nice to be able to sit down with people you care about and have a good meal without having to worry about macros... but i guess in the end it all comes down to how bad you want to change.

consistency is the key.. taking a look at some of the sample diet logs people put up on here should really help out to!

goodluck bro

 

[uncleezno]

My starting weight was 176, now I'm at 186. It's not that I don't wish to change, it's that I'm not aiming to be a bodybuilder, and that before my workout shakes, my weight was level.

I'll drop muscle milk as post-WO, and maybe add some oats to the pre-WO shake. Sound good?

 

[JpB]

From what it seems your goal is, I would say drop the muscle milk (or use as a meal replacement at other times) and move the cytogainer to post workout. Have a normal meal 1 hour pre-workout with good complex carbs in it. Also instead of Gatorade try just water.

 

[MasterFlexx]

It looks like to me that the CytoGainer and MuscleMilk are the things that are making you gain weight. I would agree with the above post about dropping MuscleMilk, it has alot of fat compared to any other protein shake. As for the Cytogainer you have to remember this is also a weight gaining shake and has alot of carbs, calories, and protein. If you are looking to gain muscle and maintain at your same weight I would buy a regular protein powder. Something like ON 100% Whey will do good, it has only 100 cals per scoop low carbs and high on protein.

So my advice is stop taking the weight gaining shakes and substitute for a whey protein I think you will slim back down to where you were. as for the one "bad" meal per day, I don't think that will hurt your situation especially if your not attempting to get a bodybuilder type physique and just better your health.