Totally Confused: Eat More, Eat Less?

[TRayburn]

Greetings

About a year ago, I started lifting seriously for the first time in my life and minus a spell with a broken arm, I have stayed consistently doing it for 3 - 4 days a week with some additional cardio/ maintenance days also in.

I am naturally a pretty thin guy, so everyone tells me to eat more. I do need to bulk up chest and arms, but I have that slight spare tire that no matter what I can not get rid of around my lower abs. Do I need to eat less?

Do I need to eat more, but just increase my cardio even harder?

[zachattack83]

Its more about the quality than just the quantity.

You should be eating a lot of calories to gain weight. These calories need to be healthy ones and not just empty ones. You should be avoiding bad carbs (sugars) and bad fats (saturated, trans). The calories you want come from protein and complex carbs. You need to make sure that you're eating a lot of good carbs everyday.

Also, keep your fat intake low and keep your fiber intake up. This will help you lose your spare tire.

[TRayburn]

My general Day is this:

1 Cup Koshi Cereal with 2% MIlk (can't go skim ..... gross)
2 Egg Whites

Lunch - Split into 2 meals
2 Chicken Breast
Spinach
Low Carb / Low Fat Wraps

Dinner
1 Chicken Breast
1 Green Beans

Dessert
Fiber One Brownie

Plus Protein Shake and Pre-workout shake of CReatine and No Xplode

I would say generally, pretty good. I give myself 3 cheat meals a week but even then I do not go overboard (Hard when I have pizza.)

[Robertrogo]

My general Day is this:

1 Cup Koshi Cereal with 2% MIlk (can't go skim ..... gross)
2 Egg Whites

Lunch - Split into 2 meals
2 Chicken Breast
Spinach
Low Carb / Low Fat Wraps

Dinner
1 Chicken Breast
1 Green Beans

Dessert
Fiber One Brownie

Plus Protein Shake and Pre-workout shake of CReatine and No Xplode

I would say generally, pretty good. I give myself 3 cheat meals a week but even then I do not go overboard (Hard when I have pizza.)

I would have to say that is a pretty good diet right there if you think about it, the koshi cereal has fiber which is great to kick start your metabolism and get your body energized for the day ahead of you but the only thing is the 2% milk contains saturated fats that you don't want for your body, i mean it is good but in moderation as I typically drink skim milk. there actually is Skim Plus which tastes just like 2% but is pretty pricey or you could even go for 1% milk which still contains that creamyness that 2% has.

The only thing that I think might be would be the cheat meals possibly? When bulking up and wanting to put on mass you want to make sure you are taking in double the amount of protein compared to your body weight, so lets say you weigh 150, then you want to take in around 300grams of protein a day and also eat more carbohydrates. BUT HEALTHY CARBS, not white rices or white pastas as that will put on unwanted weight gain and make you feel like garbage at times.

I try to eat whole wheat pastas and whole grain pastas, brown rice, sweet potatoes and on occasion even a baked potatoe to get those extra carbs, oatmeal is always great for you, some fruits of course like bananas, apples and so forth, beans such as black beans, kidney beans and cick peas are always a benefit as well to get extra protein, carbs and fiber in your diet.

Having a cheat meal every once in a while is a good thing because you confuse your body while dieting so your not constantly eating the same thing and your body getting used to that diet. I try to keep it at 1 cheat meal a week whether its pizza, a burger, a burrito or something heavy.

Keep at it with the protein, creatine and NO Xplode as that will help your gains as well, especially protein and creatine.

One thing you have to do is make sure you are eating a bit extra calories but healthy calories to put on that extra weight you want.

[TRayburn]

I do make some healthy wraps with spinach, black beans and chicken quite often, i usually stick to whole wheat pasta (not by choice) and I do eat grapes and apples as snacks, but not as often as I need too!

Wish I could cut down to one cheat meal ..... doesn't work out with wife and friends. Just trying to limit the damage when I do go that route.

BTW, thanks for the encouragement!

[Deviation]

I am naturally a pretty thin guy, so everyone tells me to eat more. I do need to bulk up chest and arms, but I have that slight spare tire that no matter what I can not get rid of around my lower abs. Do I need to eat less?
It's called "skinny-fat". And it's going to be a pain to get rid of.

[femaveeick]

Best approach is to build muscle to help burn that off. One approach you can do to help is a bit of calorie/carb cycling.


Training days: +20% calories, 1g/lb body weight in protein, higher carbs
Rest days: -20% calories, 1g/lb body weight in protein, lower carbs


As long as you train 3 days per week, you will be able to increase your lifts while running a net deficit calories which will eventually reveal the abs underneath.