Help with figuring out my diet for my goals?

[Jester28]

I have been working for over a year regularly now, and I have seen some gains and such, but now I am ready to start focusing more on my diet then I have ever done before. I am not going to lie, when it comes to food and what I should be eating so I don't loose my toned stomach, but also get bigger overall I am clueless...

I am have been searching the last few days and sorta came up with a plan that I think I could work with and stick to.

Specs:
-Currently 178lbs
-Lean out some, but mostly interested definition and tone.
-Recommended Daily Intake: 3170 Carbs: 317g Protein: 317g Fat: 70g
-Most of my protein is going to come from the lean broiled chicken and the carbs from whole grain rice and oats(possibly a better substitute for oats?)

Information: I am starting to look heavily into my diet now so I can improve the look and get the gains I want. I have not closely watched my diet before so this I don't have previous history of what works for me or not, but I am looking at suggestions for a busy schedule and what to eat.

My main goal is to be defined and toned out. I want to gain lean mass while not loosing my somewhat toned abs (hope to even further my definition in my abs with my better diet). I am not a hard gainer by any means, I use to be very overweight when I was younger (age 16 @ 225lbs), but worked it all off and fluctuate between 172-178, so it is rather easy for me to gain weight unfortunately its not always the good weight I want to gain....
I want to make sure I have a diet that is going to get me where I want to be, but like I said I am knew to this end of the working out,I am use to just focusing on the gym portion only.


I will not do fish or tuna which is why you wont see it on my plan lol.

This is what I cam up with but I am open to improvements since I am new to this. I am a huge vegetable lover (carrots/broccoli/spinach) and fruit lover (apples,grapes,bananas,pineapple,strawberries,cantaloupe), but not sure what I could replace/add these into the plan I set up below.

This is what I was doing for the last hour, if anyone wants to help/critique it or suggest alternatives to go with my goal I would appreciate it!

Pre-workout: (Meal 1)
Protein Shake:

• Whey Protein

1 Serving Calories: 110
Fats: 1 Gram | Protein 22 Grams | Carbs 1 Gram

• 1/2 Skim/Fat Free Milk Calories: 43

Fats: 0.10 Grams | Protein: 4 Grams|Carbs: 6 Grams

• Banana

1 Large Calories: 105
Fats: 0.4 Grams | Protein: 1 Gram | Carbs: 27 Grams

• 1 TBSP Natural Peanut Butter: 94

Fats: 8 grams| Protein 4 grams| Carbs: 3 grams

Post-Workout: (Meal 2)

• Universal Post Workout

Serving Size 3 Scoops: 302
Fats: 1.5g |Protein: 20g |Carbs: 52g

Meal 3:

• Oats

1.5 Cups Uncooked Calories: 461
Fats: 7.5 Grams | Protein 19 Grams | Carbs 81 Grams

• Egg Whites

4 Eggs Calories: 68
Fats: 0.2 Grams | Protein 14.4 Grams | Carbs 0 Grams

• Whole Eggs

2 Eggs Calories: 147
Fats: 10 Grams | Protein 12.6 Grams | Carbs 0.8 Grams

Meal 4:

• Muscle Milk Calories: 100

Fats: 3 Grams | Protein 15 Grams |Carbs 5 Grams

• Oats

1 Cup Uncooked Calories: 312
Fats: 6 Grams | Protein 12 Grams | Carbs 54 Grams

• Strawberries

2 Large Strawberries Calories: 18
Fats: 0 | Protein: 0 | Carbs: 1

Meal 5:

• Chicken Breast

4 Oz Calories: 186
Fats: 4 Grams | Protein 35 Grams | Carbs 0 Grams

• Brown Rice

2 Cups Cooked Calories: 432
Fats: 3.6 Grams | Protein 10 Grams | Carbs 90 Grams

• Broccoli

1. Cup Calories: 55

Fats: 0.5 Grams | Protein 3 Grams | Carbs 11 Grams

• Olive Oil

0.5 Tbs Calories: 60
Fats: 7 Grams | Protein 0 Grams | Carbs 0 Grams

Meal 6:

• Natural Peanut Butter

2 Tbs Calories: 190
Fats: 16 Grams | Protein 8 Grams | Carbs 6 Grams

• Wheat Bread

2 Slices Calories: 260
Fats: 4 Grams | Protein 8 Grams | Carbs 46 Grams



Workout Days
Total Calories: 2925
Total Fat: 71.8
Total Protein: 188
Total Carbs: 383.8

Non-training Days:
Total Calories: 2623
Total Fat: 70.3
Total Protein: 168
Total Carbs: 331.8

My days usually start at 8AM and end at 12pm, but some days I will go to the gym in the morning and other days later in the evening, so of course these plan will fluctuate sometimes. I also do not plan to eat anything after 9:45PM, since I go to bed usually 12-1am every night.

Supplement info:
Gold Standard 100% Whey (ON)
Assault Pre-workout (Musclepharm)
Xtend Intra-workout (SciVation)
Torrent Post Workout (Universal)

Thanks guys!

 

[jswain34]

So essentially your goal is to recomp. I and others have found that one of the better ways to do this is to what is called zig zag dieting. It means on non lifting days you eat under maintenence and on days you lift eat slightly above maintenence. It is a longer process than the more common bulk then cut phases, but it does work in the long term. At 178, without knowing your age or TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) or maintenence cals, id say that 3100 is a little high. I am only eating about 3000 on w/o days and I way 190. But in the end you know your body and it will most likely take some adjusting and experimentation on your part to figure out how your body responds to certain amounts of calories. My w/o days I eat 2800-3000 and on non w/o days I go about 2000-2200. Also, I didn't read your nutrition plan, but try and rely on whole foods rather than powders for your macros. I do realize that powders are a lot easier when in a pinch but whole foods offer much better micronutrients and are overall better than powder calories.

 

[winslow]

how tall are you?
what do you do for work/what is your non-workout activity level?
do you do cardio/do you plan to?
what is your workout plan (summary)?
how old are you?
can you get more sleep than that?

answers to these questions will make a huge difference in how accurate anyone can be in helping you plan your nutrition. as i'm sure you realize, recomp (lean gains) is the hardest trick to pull off of the three main objectives (bulk/cut/recomp). you will simply have to be more precise and adhere more carefully to whatever it is that you figure out, and be ready to change it up if necessary.