The Garage Gym Online

Since I did a detailed post on my diet while I was trying to lose weight, it seems only right that I should do the same when I’m trying to gain weight.  It’s not really that different, except in terms of quantity and the addition of a large protein shake that I make each morning.

My custom protein shake

I make the protein shakes up myself as 30g of Natures Best chocolate whey protein, 30g Myprotein egg yolk powder and 10g Myprotein cold milled flax seed.  Together, each shake gives me 370 calories, with 35g of protein, 23g of fat and about 6g of carbohydrate (most of which is fibre).

My meal plan

So my meal plan looks something like this…

Pre-Breakfast shake

• My custom protein shake
• 370 calories, 35g protein, 23g fat and 6g carbohydrate

Breakfast

• 5 eggs
• 50g broccoli
• 413 calories, 33g protein, 28g fat and 6g carbohydrate (most of which is fibre)
• +3 fish oil soft gels (2,100mg DHA/EPA), 500mg glucosamine

Lunch

• 2 eggs
• 50g hard cheese
• 100g sliced meat
• 130g corned beef
• 1 stalk celery (chopped)
• 1/5 cucumber (chopped)
• 715 calories, 62g protein, 49g fat and 7g carbohydrate (most of which is fibre)

Afternoon snack

• 1 tin tuna
• 1 cup raw cabbage (about 1/8 of a white cabbage)
• 1 tablespoon full-fat mayonnaise
• 378 calories, 40g protein, 23g fat and 3g carbohydrate (most of which is fibre)

Pre-workout snack (only on workout days)

• 1 banana
• 3 stewed apples
• 3 stewed plums
• 250g live yoghurt
• teaspoon of honey to taste
• 30g whey protein powder
• 646 calories, 35g protein, 11g fat and 109g carbohydrate

Dinner

• 125g beef mince (chilli, curry or Bolognese) with onion and pepper
• 50g broccoli
• 470 calories, 37g protein, 25g fat and 17g carbohydrate (most of which is fibre)
• +3 fish oil soft gels (2,100mg DHA/EPA), 500mg glucosamine

Summary

So that works out as 3,296 calories on a workout day with 275g of protein, 165g of fat and 176g of carbohydrate (plus 72 calories for the fish oil).  On a non-workout day, it comes to about 2,749 calories with 242g of protein, 172g of fat and 52g of carbohydrate.  Note that the carbohydrate figures are gross of fibrous carbohydrates, so its probably closer to 40g of net carbohydrate on a non-workout day.

I’ll need to ramp those calories up over the next 2 months if I want to put on some more muscle over the winter.  3,300 calories probably isn’t going to be enough to put 5kg of muscle on by Easter.

However, I don’t want to get hugely fat in the process, so I’m going to increase calories gradually by a couple of hundred a week.  I’m already tipping 77.5kg on the scale and I was down at 72.5kg only 3 weeks ago!

In short, my diet could be better but it could also be a lot worse.  Brian St. Pierre did a great article a while back on his diet and he puts me to shame.  I suppose that’s what happens when you get a nutrition degree, though… Anyway, if money were no object, then I would probably eat a lot more different kinds of fruit and vegetables and improve the quality of my protein sources. 

This is my (adopted) cat, Jake.  Jake always gets good protein sources.  And then usually falls asleep in my box of cycling kit.

For example, if I had unlimited funds, I would almost certainly: 

• have a mixed vegetable omelette rather than plain eggs and broccoli for breakfast;
• load up on blueberries, blackberries and other fruits high in anti-oxidants for my pre-and-post workout snacks;
• cook up organic lamb chops instead of sliced meat at lunchtime;
• prepare smoked salmon and vegetables for my mid-afternoon snack; and
• take more supplements.

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Tags:   Diet5 Comments