Protein and carbs

[thill087]

Ok so I've been doing the PHAT routine for 4 weeks now and have noticed some nice gains in strength and more definition but not so much "size" change. I know size doesn't happen over night and I am in this for the long haul. I am going to start doing high carb days on my power upper day and Chest and arms day. I will be ingesting on high days Carbs 400g, Pro 260 and and keeping fat low. Does this sound right? I have a formula i am using to get these numbers. Should I use a Mass gainer to help or proportion out with real food? I really want to stay at my 210 for now, I am 6'1". I also still have 18% bf, so i have a lot of improvement to make. Any suggestions?

 

[Mikeyjd]

3 step guide:

1. make a guess at your calorie needs
2. track daily caloric intake
3. adjust according to goals as time goes by

 

[The Solution]

3 step guide:

1. make a guess at your calorie needs
2. track daily caloric intake
3. adjust according to goals as time goes by

This, what you write for a high carb day does not help much regarding what you eat on the other 6 days of the week
does it keep you in a caloric surplus for gains?
Are your other days high enough kcals to help restore/replenish and keep you in a surplus
Are you overdoing cardio?
how active are you outside of the gym (kcals burned from NEAT or non exercise activity)
How well do you recover on the routine?

All of these play a factor. Telling us you eat X amount of carbs/fats/protein for one day out of the 7 days of the week dont really help much explain the entire week or net surplus you may be in because we dont know your body, how your progressing on the scale or in the mirror.

 

[thill087]

Thanks for the info! My kcal a day is 3500 on high days and 2100 for low days. I'm new to adding size and want to be sure I am doing it right. I'm pretty active outside of the gym I do cardio 3 days a week for 30 mins. I run ab 3 miles on those days,so a 10 minute mile.

 

[The Solution]

Thanks for the info! My kcal a day is 3500 on high days and 2100 for low days. I'm new to adding size and want to be sure I am doing it right. I'm pretty active outside of the gym I do cardio 3 days a week for 30 mins. I run ab 3 miles on those days,so a 10 minute mile.

why the hell do you drop your kcals by 1400 kcals? your basically dropping into a major deficit on off days?
It would be wiser to bring that up and even off your kcals (say 3000 for higher and 2750 or so regular day) would help 10 fold with recovery.

 

[Mikeyjd]

why the hell do you drop your kcals by 1400 kcals? your basically dropping into a major deficit on off days?
It would be wiser to bring that up and even off your kcals (say 3000 for higher and 2750 or so regular day) would help 10 fold with recovery.

Training can be 1 step forward, 2 steps back if you don't have your diet dialed in. I agree with what Bob says, you probably don't want more than a 500cal discrepancy max between work days and off days. if you're wanting to cut fairly quick I'd start at say 3100, 2700 and see how you progress. It's all about making adjustments as you go though.

 

[thill087]

A trainer at the gym i Work out at said I should do that to drop my body fat percentage since I'm stil sitting at 18%. What you're saying makes a lot of sense. That's why I was questioning it because, everything I've read says the contrary to what he said.

 

[thill087]

Ok! Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. I eat healthy but I know I need to get my kcal in check I was just lost on what do to.

 

[Mikeyjd]

A trainer at the gym i Work out at said I should do that to drop my body fat percentage since I'm stil sitting at 18%. What you're saying makes a lot of sense. That's why I was questioning it because, everything I've read says the contrary to what he said.

We aren't saying that you shouldn't drop your bf%. I think you should do that, since you're 18%. I don't want to see you lose muscle and cause metabolic issues to get there though. Body composition is a long term proposition.

 

[thill087]

When you say cut fairly quickly, what do you exactly mean?

 

[Mikeyjd]

When you say cut fairly quickly, what do you exactly mean?

At your bf% I'd say maybe .5-1% per week for the first few weeks or so. After you get down to 10-12% it may take some more drastic measures to get lower if you even want to. HIIT cardio is your friend.

 

[thill087]

At your bf% I'd say 1-2% every couple weeks or so. HIIT cardio is your friend.

Gotcha! So don't laugh but I just wanna make sure I'm getting this right. So the best thing for me is to keep my kcal at 3000 and do HIIT to help with my BF?! And this shouldn't cause me any metabolic issues?!

 

[Mikeyjd]

Gotcha! So don't laugh but I just wanna make sure I'm getting this right. So the best thing for me is to keep my kcal at 3000 and do HIIT to help with my BF?! And this shouldn't cause me any metabolic issues?!

Like I said before. 3000 calories or w/e you start with is just a guesstimate. Track your progress and see if it's where you want to be. HIIT has quite good metabolism boosting effects.

 

[thill087]

Like I said before. 3000 calories or w/e you start with is just a guesstimate. Track your progress and see if it's where you want to be. HIIT has quite good metabolism boosting effects.

Ok thank you so much! I really appreciate your help. I'm going to make the adjustments and see what happens and adjust.

 

[john.patterson]

3 step guide:

1. make a guess at your calorie needs
2. track daily caloric intake
3. adjust according to goals as time goes by

this. be consistent and accurate with your tracking