diets and meal plans - your thoughts?

[malloryjade]

Hey peoples,

I'm going to enter Max's Muscle Up Challenge 2012 and will be training with a program 3-4 times per week. I want to gain muscle and keep my diet high protein and low carb so I can shred some body fat too. I'm fairly undisciplined with my diet so I figured this would be a good way to go about it.

Check out what I've planned for myself - do you think this would be sufficient in calories/macronutrients for a 64kg/164cm tall female?

I've tried to keep it well rounded but any thoughts/advice for me?


Breakfast:
- Smoothie - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes w/ 30g scoop chocolate soy isolate protein, tbsp of LSA and 200ml almond milk.
- Either bowl of raw muesli w/ shredded coconut and 100ml almond milk and 1 tbsp LSA, or 2 slices of organic wholemeal multigrain toast w/ peanut butter.

Snack:
- 3-4 pieces of fruit.
May sneak in a cup of strong organic black tea w/ stevia and almond/soy milk

Lunch:
- Either beans, quinoa, tofu and/or lentils and chickpeas.
WITH
- Soy garlic vegetables (broccoli, capsicum, beetroot, mushroom, carrot, bok choy, eggplant, zucchini, onion) cooked w/ 1 tbsp organic coconut oil.
OR
- Salad (fresh kale, spinach, avocado, carrots, capsicum, mushroom, tomato, most ingredients will be organic). *Anyone got a good recipe for dressing?

Snack:
- 2 pieces of fruit and handful of soaked almonds.

Dinner:
- Smoothie; 30g scoop of aforementioned protein powder, 200ml almond/soy milk, banana and a tbsp of LSA if I didn't have it with my muesli in the morning.
- Maybe soup? More beans? Open to ideas here... may have to trawl for recipes depending on the suggestions I get.


Thanks in advance.

[blinki]

I'd guess that's at about 2300 calories and 90g protein plus whatever you have for dinner. So assuming I'm guessing right I'd say that sounds about right- or at least around what I was eating at 64kg to gain muscle. If you keep all that fruit and veg mixed then I don't think there's anything you'd be majorly lacking.

For dinner I'd suggest you pick your protein and plan around it. If you are at 90g then you probably want to get in another decent amount. Find a few recipe sites which you can search by ingredient might be helpful. My basics are things like chilli (beans & TVP), dahl, shepard's pie (green lentils or tvp), bean burger and burritos with refried beans and tofu.

[malloryjade]

I'd guess that's at about 2300 calories and 90g protein plus whatever you have for dinner. So assuming I'm guessing right I'd say that sounds about right- or at least around what I was eating at 64kg to gain muscle. If you keep all that fruit and veg mixed then I don't think there's anything you'd be majorly lacking.

For dinner I'd suggest you pick your protein and plan around it. If you are at 90g then you probably want to get in another decent amount. Find a few recipe sites which you can search by ingredient might be helpful. My basics are things like chilli (beans & TVP), dahl, shepard's pie (green lentils or tvp), bean burger and burritos with refried beans and tofu.

That sounds awesome. Thanks for that.

I'm not much of a cook but I do have a couple of vegan cook books at home, I'll have a browse and get experimenting.

[Lordmuppet]

My first spam deletion! Feels good

thanks for the report guys

[Lordmuppet]

also for supplementation might want to think about the following (if you haven't already)

creatine (monohydrate).
Vitamin D (depending on where you live)
Omega 3 DHA supplements

*waits for the anti-supplement police*

edited to add: say your location. You are probably alright without the vit d!!!

also edited to add: think about adding some ground flax seeds to your shake and about (for varieties sake) using different protein powder (i use a hemp/pea blend right now, brown rice is the cheapest).

[Promesas]

You do NOT need to eat low carb to shred fat. Please don't suscribe to this incorrect assumption which has no basis in science. I eat 80-90% of my calories from Carbs and I've been able to shred 10kg of body fat in the last 3 months.

[malloryjade]

Flaxseeds = linseeds so I already get some of them with my 2 tbsp of LSA... should I add more?

In terms of supps, I was thinking of adding BCAA's - creatine will definitely be added eventually; this will have to wait until next month though. Getting paid monthly is the bane of my existence... Was also going to look at new proteins, there are soooo many I want to try. Anything else that may be beneficial?

Excellent to hear about the low carbs to shred fat myth. I would be so sad to give them up (I don't think my diet has a heap of carbs, simple or complex, anyhow?)

[Lordmuppet]

Flaxseeds = linseeds so I already get some of them with my 2 tbsp of LSA... should I add more?

In terms of supps, I was thinking of adding BCAA's - creatine will definitely be added eventually; this will have to wait until next month though. Getting paid monthly is the bane of my existence... Was also going to look at new proteins, there are soooo many I want to try. Anything else that may be beneficial?

Excellent to hear about the low carbs to shred fat myth. I would be so sad to give them up (I don't think my diet has a heap of carbs, simple or complex, anyhow?)

what does LSA stand for? Oh might want to look at cycling in more nuts than just almonds (again just for varieties sake), though you should buy these in bulk as otherwise it gets really expensive. I like having a bucket of mixed nuts which, with some grabbed veg, are my on the go running out the door food.

Should you have more flax?

Okay well here is the theory as far as I know ...

Well that depends on how much Omega 6s you are having. Regarding flax/linseed and Omega 3s, the ratio of Omega 3s to Omega 6s seems to be as important as the number of Omega 3s. Also the reason I recommend the algae DHA supplements is that they provide the same type of important omega 3 as fish (without killing any fish ). Now your body can make this DHA from the ALA it gets in the flax but the consensus right now seems to be that it does this pretty inefficiently for a lot of people (though incidentally I think I read women may be better at converting it than men).

There are so many omega 6s in so many things that to get the balance one needs to cut back on certain things while increasing the Omega 3s.

I tried this though and realized life was too short and I just loooooove wolfing down many things that are drenched in Omega 6s like Olives loooooove olives so I gave up on obsessing over the 6s and just wolf down as many Omega 3s as I can.

Anyway you can find an article on the subject and make up your own mind what, if anything, you want to do I would link to one but the only two I have read are a) on Precision Nutrition where you'd need a log on and b) on T-nation where as usual it's so relentlessly anti veg*n and sexist that it would probably just piss people here off to link to it.

I know almost nothing about BCAAs but was meaning to look into them myself so would be interested to hear what people think about that.

[Talyn]

Seperate BCAA supplements are a waste of money and should be avoided at all costs. A variety of different types of protein in your diet will give sufficient BCAA's.

[malloryjade]

Ok so scratch the BCAA's idea.

LSA is linseed sunflower seed and almond meal. Good for fiber and protein.
I went through a lot of raw mixed nuts and seed mixes recently and gained weight because of it (not the good kind) - they are too easy to snack on and I lose track of my portion sizes. It's easy for me to sprout almonds and control my intake.

I do have flaxseed oil at home, I'll start adding this to my smoothies every day. How much do you think if I'm having 2 per day? Tbsp? Tsp?

Loving the advice/comments, keep them coming

[blinki]

I went through a lot of raw mixed nuts and seed mixes recently and gained weight because of it (not the good kind) - they are too easy to snack on and I lose track of my portion sizes. It's easy for me to sprout almonds and control my intake.

Maybe if you want to mix up your nuts you can buy them in bulk then portion them into little bags or tubs? That way it's clearer when you are eating twice as much as you should be rather than being more 'just one more nut'

[malloryjade]

Yeah that makes sense.

Duh, hahah.

[happy bunny]

how about walnut oil and lemon juice for that salad dressing... yum!