Sport I guess I need to figure out what sort of diet

[prodigymytch]

I think my lack of education in the health area has really been showing off lately. Fortunately, a few members have been very kind to me on these forums, and I'm hoping I can get a little more.

Some have probably already seen some of my posts/questions... but. I'm 5'7, 125 pounds. I think I need to be at about 145 lbs? And obviously, I want it to be muscle. I still want to be a slender figure, and I don't want to be stocky.

As far as my eating goes, my regular diet was completely random. I'm a 21 year old single guy, so sometimes I'd get like 800 calories, sometimes I might get 2200. So I've recently been aiming closer to 2500 calories now that I'm back on a health kick. I drink a lot of Lipton Green Tea which is 170 calories a bottle. This Nutritional Shake Plus which is 350 calories, and 13g of protein. A protein bar. And of course regular meals. I'm trying to figure out a more consistent diet, that is like every day... for instance, everyday, for breakfast, what should I have.... lunch... and so on. I know that poultry for instance is good for protein. How much should I have? Is 2500 calories enough or too much?

My work out routine consists of 45 minutes of walking/sprints so I feel like I should probably eat 300 more calories. Also, what is a good cereal for me to get?

 

[Kutusov]

Hi,

I'm no expert on this, so wait for a more senior member to answer you back before taking what I'm going to say as a fact.

I'm looking at a "Desirable Weights for men" table from Weale book "Fighting fit - the complete SAS fitness training guide" . It's supposed to be a good book, so bare with me... You ideal weight depends on your body frame (skeletal). You say you are 5 7 (1.70m), so the weights should be as follow:

Small frame: 58-62.5 kg (127,86 - 137.8 pounds)
Medium frame: 61-69 kg (134.5 - 152.11)
Large frame: 64.5 - 73 Kg (142.2 - 160)

This are values for SAS candidates, this guys are not as big as paras or your marines. But they should be extremely fit and strong enough to haul their entire kit for miles and miles. So I'm guessing this is more or less your goal in fitness.

Regarding nutrition, unless you are planing to bulk up, forget sodas. They have plenty of sugars and kcals but quality also matters. It's more likely you put on fat then muscle. To put on muscle you need good quality proteins on a regular basis. The body is a machine that doesn't shut down (except when it dies), so your nutrition should be ideally planed on a daily basis, not monthly or weekly. If you eat big on day but starved the previous days, food will be used to replenish your reserves and maintaining your current need and won't be so readily available to be used in tissue reinforcement (growth).

And you also want to put on muscle... well, you need to lift weights for that. Running is a very unbalanced exercise, that puts a lot of effort on your legs and joints. Besides, there's this principle that if you exercise only a part of your body, that part will develop but then it will stop based on a balance principle. Basically, your legs will wait for the rest of your body to catch up.

So you should exercise the rest of your muscles, legs alone won't do the trick. Plus, by stimulating growth, the joints will also be reinforced. So you definitely want that.

Check the weight lifting sub-forum stickys for calculators of your calorie and nutrition needs. See how much you need to make to your goal and then eat "clean" food. To put that food to good use, begin lifting weights, a full body workout should be the best thing for you. This will exercise your whole body, compelling the body to reinforce and repair muscular tissue teared during the fbworkout.

Cheers!