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This is a discussion on Me? Trouble eating above maintenance? WHAT??? within the Food forums,----- Ha, ha...hope that title caught your attention! Ok, so here is the thing. I was following Tom Venuto's Holy Grail ...
Ha, ha...hope that title caught your attention! Ok, so here is the thing. I was following Tom Venuto's Holy Grail program, doing 3:2 (3 days deficit, 2 days surplus) in the hopes of gaining some lean muscle tissue (muscle was not coming as fast as I hoped and I felt maybe I was a bit too lean!). The one thing I have never tried (probably because it made me too nervous about getting fat!) was consistently eating over my maintenance calories of 2069.
So, for experimentation purposes (which I guess is the only real way to see how your body responds to things, right?) I decided to try about 3 weeks of eating over maintenance every single day. Fun, right? Hmmm....not so much! I have even kept it on the low side, shooting for just about 300 calories of my maintenance amount and I AM STRUGGLING! I can't believe it but it is true! Now, I am just coming off of a bad cold, so I am sure that does not help but would like to hear from you girls that struggle to eat more than your maintenancec calories (Matt's mom...this is you, girl!).
1) How do you get your calories up?
2) What are you eating to make sure that your gains are as lean as possible?
3) Are there times when you are eating some "cheat foods", but purposely doing so to raise your calories?
Truth is, I don't want to balloon up and get bloated, and I am not going to be competing in the near future, but I do want to see how much muscle I can realistically put on?.
Any thoughts, tips, ideas you can share with me during this experimentation would be much appreciated!
Eat More!...LOL! OK, I know you probably want to slap me for that response cuz you're Like, "Duh, Sonya, I know that!" but thats the crux of it.
2) What are you eating to make sure that your gains are as lean as possible?
Eat clean...I eat the same food I do when cutting, just more of them...with the exeption of dairy....which basicly is just adding reduced fat cheese to my morning egg white omelet and an occasional greek yogurt.
3) Are there times when you are eating some "cheat foods", but purposely doing so to raise your calories?
Sometimes...but not that often. For example I had spaghetti with regular pasta (not whole grain) and had tri-tip and pesto(watched my portion sizes!)
Maybe if you post what you eat it might be able to make suggestions as to where you could increase you calories.
__________________ "The dictionary is the only place success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must all pay for success." Vince Lombardi
Maybe if you post what you eat it might be able to make suggestions as to where you could increase you calories.
Well, mornings are either protein pancakes (made with oats, egg whites and cottage cheese) and fruit, lunch is usually turkey or chicken with brown rice and veggies, PWO is whey, fat free milk, and some carbs like rice cakes, potatoes (sweet or reg), cereal bars or banana with honey and dinner is usually beef or chicken, potato or rice and veggies. also, if I have not hit my calories for the day, then around 10pm I will make "protein ice cream" with whey, and either greek yogurt or light coconut milk and a small amount of slivered almonds.
A good way to increase cals is to up your fats...
The 'ice cream' can be made with pb and more nuts. You can make your pancakes with whole eggs, add some nut butters and I'm not sure if your dairy is fat-free or not.
Of course a simple way would be to increase portion sizes...More oats, more rice, extra ounces of turkey/chicken.
1000 cals is also a big jump pretty quickly. Why not slowly add in the extra food?
I'm confused about where you got the 1,000 calories from? I had been doing 3 days at a 15% deficit (about 1700 cal) and 2-3 days at 15% surplus (around 2300) so even the difference between that is only 600.
Just curious where the 1,000 cal came from.
I agree, though. I started off slowly, just moving up to maintenance every day!
Well, mornings are either protein pancakes (made with oats, egg whites and cottage cheese) and fruit, lunch is usually turkey or chicken with brown rice and veggies, PWO is whey, fat free milk, and some carbs like rice cakes, potatoes (sweet or reg), cereal bars or banana with honey and dinner is usually beef or chicken, potato or rice and veggies. also, if I have not hit my calories for the day, then around 10pm I will make "protein ice cream" with whey, and either greek yogurt or light coconut milk and a small amount of slivered almonds.
Does that help?
Thanks!
How many eggs in pancakes? How much oats?
At lunch how many ounces of turkey/chicken and brown rice?
You don't have a mid morning or afternoon snack?
Instead of whey protein before bed you should switch to casein.
Also, the other part of the equation of building muscle is to lift heavy. I started taking creatine a month ago and am blown away with my strength increase in the gym!
How many eggs in pancakes? How much oats?
At lunch how many ounces of turkey/chicken and brown rice?
You don't have a mid morning or afternoon snack?
Instead of whey protein before bed you should switch to casein.
Also, the other part of the equation of building muscle is to lift heavy. I started taking creatine a month ago and am blown away with my strength increase in the gym!
Eggs in pancakes - 3 egg whites
turkey/chicken at lunch - 5 oz, and about 1/2 -3/4 cup rice
Sometimes I have a mid-morning snack if I will not be eating lunch until about 2pm (snack is usually apple with an Ostrich Jerky stick)
Can you tell me the advantage of using casein instead of whey before bed?
I have been taking creatine for about 3 months now. My strength is there, no doubt. I think the only reason I have not been packing on more muscle is that there were too many days where I was not eating at a surplus (I was doing 3 deficit days and 2 surplus days), I think I need to change the deifict to maintenance and the number of surplus days (300 cal's over) to 3 as well.
Right now, I am lifting 5 days a week (started a new program, was due to change it up). My split is Ch/Back/Bi/Tri, then Delts (*own day), then Legs/Abs/Low back. and I rotate through that to make up 5 lifting days per week. No cardio yet but will be doing 2 HIIT sessions per week soon.
Eggs in pancakes - 3 egg whites
turkey/chicken at lunch - 5 oz, and about 1/2 -3/4 cup rice
Sometimes I have a mid-morning snack if I will not be eating lunch until about 2pm (snack is usually apple with an Ostrich Jerky stick)
Can you tell me the advantage of using casein instead of whey before bed?
I have been taking creatine for about 3 months now. My strength is there, no doubt. I think the only reason I have not been packing on more muscle is that there were too many days where I was not eating at a surplus (I was doing 3 deficit days and 2 surplus days), I think I need to change the deifict to maintenance and the number of surplus days (300 cal's over) to 3 as well.
Right now, I am lifting 5 days a week (started a new program, was due to change it up). My split is Ch/Back/Bi/Tri, then Delts (*own day), then Legs/Abs/Low back. and I rotate through that to make up 5 lifting days per week. No cardio yet but will be doing 2 HIIT sessions per week soon.
These are just suggestions...
Increase your protein at breakfast.
Add in mid morning snack. EX: protein shake, banana, almonds
Increase your carbs at lunch
Do you have a carb before your workout in the afternoon?
Whey protein gets into your msucles much quicker where casein takes longer so your muscles are sustained while sleeping.
These are just suggestions...
Increase your protein at breakfast.
Add in mid morning snack. EX: protein shake, banana, almonds
Increase your carbs at lunch
Do you have a carb before your workout in the afternoon?
Whey protein gets into your msucles much quicker where casein takes longer so your muscles are sustained while sleeping.
Ok, good ideas. Will add some protein in AM, and start doing a mid-morning snack.
I am having carbs at lunch, usually around 2:00pm, about an hour or 90 minutes before my workout at 3:30.
Also, since the PWO meal is the most "forgiving" in the sense of calories and the need for replenishment, what would you suggest would be a good PWO mini-meal for right after my lifting, but before my dinner (which comes at about 7:00pm)?
Also, since the PWO meal is the most "forgiving" in the sense of calories and the need for replenishment, what would you suggest would be a good PWO mini-meal for right after my lifting, but before my dinner (which comes at about 7:00pm)?
I take a post-workout supplement...2:1:1 Recovery. The most important thing after your workout is to get those fast acting carbs into your body as soon as possible.
I take a post-workout supplement...2:1:1 Recovery. The most important thing after your workout is to get those fast acting carbs into your body as soon as possible.
Well, my preference is to eat my carbs PWO, so I have been shooting for banana with honey and a whey protein shake, or white rice, or potato. Based on my food journal and tracking, this seems to put me at somewhere like 25-30g protein and anywhere from 40-50g carbs.
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Me? Trouble eating above maintenance? WHAT???
Re: Me? Trouble eating above maintenance? WHAT???
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