Nutrition Advice

Hello everyone,

I've only recently joined the community but have been an anonymous reader for quite some time now. I have to say the people on this board are so open-minded, kind and willing to help, at least from what I read, which is quite an unusual attribute of an online community and I'm very glad for that.

A bit of background on myself:

Male

28 yrs (1st of January 2012)

6'2''

182 lbs

5% BF

Past sports: 9 years of professional basketball, 2 years karate

Sports today: Competitive short distance running, beachvolleyball, rock climbing

Goals: Increasing performance and recovery, increasing strength (not really looking for mass gain but if I do gain a few pounds in the process I can sure live with it)

After having read a couple of posts on nutrition, especially Josh's "Perfect Pre, Mid, and Post Workout Nutrition" one, I've tried to put together a sample menu for one day from all the information I've absorbed from the posts. Would you guys mind taking a look at it and telling me whether I've got the grasp of it or not and maybe pinpoint areas that still need tweaking?

If there's anything missing that you require to provide a critical opinion let me know and I'll be glad to answer.

Thanks a lot in advance!

BREAKFAST

4 eggs

Cucumber 100g

Pineapple 100g

Brazil nuts 10g

457 kcal 30g P 20g C 30g F

PRE-WORKOUT MEAL

Turkey breast 100g

Sweet potato 100g

Courgette (Zucchini) 150g

Peach 125g

Pumpkin seeds 10g

333 kcal 30g P 40g C 6g F

WORKOUT NUTRITION

-0:20 BCAA, berries, green leafy veggies, 15g whey isolate + 20g dextrose in 250ml water

DURING Grapes, water (1+ liter)

END BCAA, berries, green leafy veggies, grapes left (if any)

+0:15 15g whey + 20g dextrose, banana, coconut, cinnamon

+0:45 Chicken breast, basmati rice, broccoli (100g each)

+1:15 15g whey + 20g dextrose, banana, coconut, cinnamon

+1:45 Tuna, whole grain pasta, tomatoes (100g each)

+2:15 30g whey + 45g dextrose in 500ml water

POST-WORKOUT MEAL

Salmon 100g

Quinoa 100g

Green string beans 100g

Sundried tomatoes 20g

353 kcal 32g P 43g C 13g F

TOTALS

2900 kcal 235g P 320g C 90g F

Other supplements: 3g of fish oil, calcium, magnesium, zinc and a multivitamin

Best,

Roman

My main concern would be too much protein in that diet. 1.8g of protein per kg of body weight is the standard recommendation for strength athletes, though of course going over it a bit won't hurt. But since 148g of protein would be all your body really needs, 235g is overkill. There's a few health risks with consistent excessive consumption of protein, but mainly it's good to keep in mind that any protein the body doesn't need for building blocks, or for energy, gets stored as fat.

Something interesting I remember hearing was that Louie Simmons himself eats about 150g of protein/day. Then again, he does use anabolics.

Of course, he is pound for pound probably stronger than any of us. At best it would be like comparing a gorilla (him) to a chimp (gymnasts).

My main concern would be too much protein in that diet. 1.8g of protein per kg of body weight is the standard recommendation for strength athletes, though of course going over it a bit won't hurt. But since 148g of protein would be all your body really needs, 235g is overkill. There's a few health risks with consistent excessive consumption of protein, but mainly it's good to keep in mind that any protein the body doesn't need for building blocks, or for energy, gets stored as fat.

[citation needed]

Also, it's darn hard for protein to be converted into fat. Much, much harder than carbs, and plain fat is even easier. Eating more protein will just increase protein usage for energy.

Aurele said:

My main concern would be too much protein in that diet. 1.8g of protein per kg of body weight is the standard recommendation for strength athletes, though of course going over it a bit won't hurt. But since 148g of protein would be all your body really needs, 235g is overkill. There's a few health risks with consistent excessive consumption of protein, but mainly it's good to keep in mind that any protein the body doesn't need for building blocks, or for energy, gets stored as fat.

Thank you for your response, Aurele. I'm glad you've brought the protein intake up as it was one of my primary concerns as well. What I was trying to achieve is to have protein in each meal but since my intake from the PWO nutrition yields around 140g of protein alone I might let go off that idea. What would your (or anybody else's) approach be? Reduce the number of meals? Reduce the amount of protein in each food, except the PWO ones and have only carbs and fat?

Thanks in advance!

Best,

Roman

Uzeeh said:

[citation needed]

Also, it's darn hard for protein to be converted into fat. Much, much harder than carbs, and plain fat is even easier. Eating more protein will just increase protein usage for energy.

A citation for which part?

So long as one's total caloric intake with the excessive protein is still in the range of what their body needs, then yeah the body will simply create glucose from the carbon skeletons and use it as fuel. But for the average American's diet, where both caloric intake and protein consumption is too high, that extra protein does simply get stored as fat, and it is an issue.

Even for people whose bodies will simply use the protein for fuel, though, excessive protein is a waste financially (protein being a more expensive source of calories than carbs or fats) and an unnecessary health risk.

Roman ÄŒupera said:

Thank you for your response, Aurele. I'm glad you've brought the protein intake up as it was one of my primary concerns as well. What I was trying to achieve is to have protein in each meal but since my intake from the PWO nutrition yields around 140g of protein alone I might let go off that idea. What would your (or anybody else's) approach be? Reduce the number of meals? Reduce the amount of protein in each food, except the PWO ones and have only carbs and fat?

My personal approach to protein intake is the "protein drip" method that Sliz has talked about on here before, and that a lot of athletes and bodybuilders use. The basic idea is to provide your body with a constant source of protein to use as building blocks throughout the day, while not consuming so much at any given time that your body would end up using the protein as fuel instead. 10-15g per hour is a good mark to shoot for, though it can be harder to measure if you're getting the protein from solid foods rather than drinking protein powder. I've had the most success in my training with the protein drip method, but I haven't really looked into any research behind it to see if in reality it's more effective than just consuming larger amounts fewer times per day. If you're eating tons of high protein foods like meat, dairy, eggs, and legumes throughout the day, then adding protein supplements into the mix is probably going overboard. 44% of your calories are from carbs, which is slightly on the low side, so I would just replace some of your high protein foods with more carb-rich foods.

Aurele said:

My personal approach to protein intake is the "protein drip" method that Sliz has talked about on here before, and that a lot of athletes and bodybuilders use. The basic idea is to provide your body with a constant source of protein to use as building blocks throughout the day, while not consuming so much at any given time that your body would end up using the protein as fuel instead. 10-15g per hour is a good mark to shoot for, though it can be harder to measure if you're getting the protein from solid foods rather than drinking protein powder. I've had the most success in my training with the protein drip method, but I haven't really looked into any research behind it to see if in reality it's more effective than just consuming larger amounts fewer times per day. If you're eating tons of high protein foods like meat, dairy, eggs, and legumes throughout the day, then adding protein supplements into the mix is probably going overboard. 44% of your calories are from carbs, which is slightly on the low side, so I would just replace some of your high protein foods with more carb-rich foods.

Hi Aurele,

thanks again for your response and my apologies for taking so much time to reply. However appealing the "protein drip" method sounds I don't feel it would fit my work schedule. I'd therefore proceed with lowering the protein intake by replacing the protein in the meals outside of the post-workout window with carb-rich sources, as you've suggested. Just as a sidenote, I currently do not eat dairy nor legumes. Not that I'd have a problem digesting them though.

Best,

Roman