Bodybuilding Diets During Beginner Gains

[BendtheBar]

I want to hear how folks ate during the first year or two when they make the most muscle gains.

Let's hear your specifics...

[kitarpyar]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I want to hear how folks ate during the first year or two when they make the most muscle gains.

Let's hear your specifics...

Start 135 lbs ---> after 4-5 months, 155 lbs.
Primarily eggs, chicken, rice, some veggies, lentils, peanuts. Beef and pork depending on when I could get them. Basically, ate anything that was available, as often as I felt hungry - absolutely unsystematic and go with the flow. Didn't start protein shakes until around end of 1st year.

But then, I was significantly underweight AND sedentary to begin with, so perhaps with exercise and enough food, the gains were bound to come.

[thumpinos]

I stuck to GOMAD my first year and gained 42 pounds. I was a twig no lie.

[Chillen]

When I started, I was a weak, middle aged fat ass, with a very troubled lower back giving me a lot of pain. Had a physical checkup (including hormonal properties) and everything was within normal ranges (some higher, but a healthy higher), and was just told to get off my ass and lose some fatness. I was nearing 200lbs (at a small 5' 7", and had very little muscle underneath this fat tissue). Had a good set of man-boobs, trust me.


When I first began, I didnt know jack shit on how to lose fat tissue, let alone grow any muscle. I just reasoned......that this needed to be fixed first. To make this short, this is what I did, I just educated myself on what I wanted, in order to get started, and let my body tell me if I am doing the right or wrong things along the way, and teach me as I move along. If I didnt know something, I looked it up, and applied where necessary.

I had no training equipment, and didnt want to train in a gym (for a variety of personal reasons). So I bought OLY equipment, weights, etc, and set up a home gym.

I just set up calories (using Harris-Benedict) according to my personal particulars, but I didnt like the multiplier usage much, because my activities varied per day, and likewise calorie MT-Line would vary, and it (meaning Harris-Benedict) sort of blanketed calories per day according to the multiplier used. So I tweaked this a bit, after doing some studying on calorie expenditure (approximations) dependent on activity according to a persons particulars (age, sex, weight, etc). Afer configuring this, I just set the standard -500 calorie deficit from the MT-Line. Protein was set at about 1g per my total body weight, and I filled the rest mostly with carbohydrates, and the minor with fats. Had absolutely no trouble in gaining strength, losing fat tissue and progressing (in weight in the gym) for a least 6 to 10 months. It was an incredible period for running calorie deficits. But.....I know why this was occuring (read here for more information:ECA Stack homemade?). Each calorie allotment were setup in 24 hour segments, which overlapped at regular intervals, and changed dependent on working hours (eveing or night shift for example).

No over the counter supps, exception was Whey Powder, Fish oil, and Fiber. Diet was high in fiber, protein was hard (long time digesting) meat. Didn't worry about meal frequency or meals before or after training. I just ensured I met my limitations within the 24 hour period. I fretted more about the larger picture than the trite little things. Drank lots of water during the day and during training. Changes in diet (eating habits, etc) occurred later when BF got low, and I started to have some plateau issues due to metabolic slow down.

For the most part of the start of my fitness (fat loss), I did a full body workout, and its was very traditional. Back Squats (lunges, step ups), Ham Curls, Calf-raises. Bench press, Military press, Decline tri-exentions, CGP's, Front/side/rear delt work, BOR (and T-bar rows), (no deads at the time, as my lower back was still giving problems at--the beginning), weighted pull-ups (underhand palm facing), and some cycle cardio 3 to 4 times weekly.

THIS IS a VERY BREIF description. But, I dropped over 40 pounds, and the result is in my PICS below where I ended up about 152/154 pounds, from nearly 200lbs of nearly ALL FAT, and the one to the right is the recent one.


The iron has PROVEN its worth to me, in an aging, declining middle aged man, and I will forever be grateful for its rather brutal honesty forever.

[Rich Knapp]

I ate every 2-3 hours.
chicken breasts, Yogurts, tuna, lean beef, raw eggs (till I learned they need to be cooked to release full protein value).
Grape Nuts, cheese, potato's, breads, noodles, rice, fruits.
And also weight gaining protein that was 5000 cals a serving.

If I was hungry I ate. If not, I nibbled. I didn't track anything just made sure I hit my protein macro's.

Went from 115 to 168 lbs. at 5' 8" tall in less than 5 months. Good gains in power but it became hard to breath, I started to have heart palpitations and tie my shoes was imposable to do while breathing, ended up holding my breath because of cutting off my air.

Even though made OK gains I didn't feel healthy. I over did the eating part.

I was a newbie that took the "Eating Big" in all the Hard Core BBing mags the wrong way and did more damage than good with my eating. At one point I was taking in 10,000 cals a day counting my weight gainer and only doing 1 w/o a day 5 days a week. I would tier out before my muscles would be stressed.

Back then web and forums weren't out there as much as they are now to do research and get help, like newbies can on forums like this now. Newbies to the sport, thank Steve for bringing a real world knowledge forum and site out for you to learn and research thinks like diet.

I'm making more and better gain now at 45 than I did in my 30's. Just by real world research and not falling for all the hype in the big name BBing mags.

[SeventySeven]

I ate people.

[Chillen]

Originally Posted by SeventySeven

I ate people.

I ate persistence and consistency, and the anal discharges I got was seeing my goal to its end. This diet is under rated.

[BigFiveFive]

Lots of meat, any kind would do, didn't really care if it was lean or not. Lots of milk and cottage cheese. Only carbs I ate were leafy veggies or potatoes, hardly any bread or grain.

That's what I ate to gain mass while losing weight during my first 2 years of training.

[BigFiveFive]

Originally Posted by BigFiveFive

Lots of meat, any kind would do, didn't really care if it was lean or not. Lots of milk and cottage cheese. Only carbs I ate were leafy veggies or potatoes, hardly any bread or grain.

That's what I ate to gain mass while losing weight during my first 2 years of training.

And not a lot has changed.