Bodybuilding Forums

Hey guys. I'm 26 years old, 6'1" and a miserable 68kg's on a good day. I have always been skinny and have always hated it. I have been training on and off for about a year and have tried a few different diets but have never tried keto or any type of low carb diet. I have eaten everything from 2500 to 4000 calories a day and 250g of protein, 380g of carbs and 100g of fat and have never made any real improvements. Workouts are typically basic compound movements, 4 sets per exercise, hitting failure between 4-8 reps. I have decided to give the MANS diet a go and I have a few questions which I couldn't find answers to. If these have been answered before I apologize and could you please give me a link

1. I have calculated that I need 3512 calories per day to bulk. How much of this is made up of fat, protein and carbs? Obviously carbs will be very low (around 30g) but do we have a set target for fat and protein?

2. Do we pretty much just design our own workout using all the basic compound movements in the same format provided in the e-book? Example, legs and back on Day 1.

3. Is meal frequency or total number of meals per day important?

4. Are BCAA's ok during workout?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

deniall wrote:1. I have calculated that I need 3512 calories per day to bulk. How much of this is made up of fat, protein and carbs? Obviously carbs will be very low (around 30g) but do we have a set target for fat and protein?

Carbohydrates 4kcal/g: 30g (120kcal)
Protein 4kcal/g: 2.75g per kg of lean body weight, or 1.25g per lb of lean body weight. You need to know your body fat percentage to figure this, but based on the assumption that you're very lean, you should be ingesting around an absolute MINIMUM of 150g of protein per day. Let's go with 188g protein as your starting figure; you'll adjust this upward if needed, and probably should as you're ecto. 188g protein == 752kcal.
Fat 9kcal/g: You've 2640kcal/day left. That's approximately 294g of fat.

If it were me, I'd bump the protein up to around 200g/day minimum so I'm eating a bit less fat. Remember, though, that dietary fat doesn't create body fat. Carbohydrates can, and protein can if you eat enough of it, but fat mostly gets burned or wasted by the human body. Eating plenty of fat prevents protein from getting burned for energy as much, though.

2. Do we pretty much just design our own workout using all the basic compound movements in the same format provided in the e-book? Example, legs and back on Day 1.

I vary it based on my needs; you should, too. Just remember to try to avoid working a body part directly the day after you've worked it indirectly or vice-versa.

3. Is meal frequency or total number of meals per day important?

I like 6 meals per day as it keeps me on-plan much better than 3. YMMV.

4. Are BCAA's ok during workout?

No opinion, really. I have a full meal about an hour to 2 hours before hitting the gym, usually sip my protein shake along with water during my workout, and then chug down the rest post-workout. My suggestion is only this: whatever you're going to do, do it consistently for at least several weeks (preferably a few months) before you change it, otherwise you'll have no good gauge on the performance of a supplement or routine.

Biggest piece of advice: stop worrying about specifics, just go get under the bar and try to eat right, particularly by getting enough protein. Additional knowledge comes with time and experience, not via hanging out on message boards

Hypocrite alert: I was around fifty pounds heavier and completely out-of-shape eight months ago, and while I know how to diet, I'm a newbie lifter. You may want advice from someone with years under the bar rather than months. Then again, I read a lot, and love motivating and being motivated by others... on message boards like this one

--Matt B.

redgiki wrote:Biggest piece of advice: stop worrying about specifics, just go get under the bar and try to eat right, particularly by getting enough protein. Additional knowledge comes with time and experience, not via hanging out on message boards

I think this needs to be a corollary to MEMAR.

redgiki wrote:My suggestion is only this: whatever you're going to do, do it consistently for at least several weeks (preferably a few months) before you change it, otherwise you'll have no good gauge on the performance of a supplement or routine.

We could all stand to be reminded of this no matter how long we've been at it. I see the gains on the scale since I've done two carb-ups and I'm already getting itchy feet. I needed to be reminded, "Patience, Grasshopper!" I'll stick it out and if I really do gain 10 lbs. or so in that time and it's not all muscle, is it really that big a deal? I've lost fat before and I can do it again. I need to ask myself, "When I was below 140, could I do a pull-up? Could I dead-lift my husband's body weight? OK, now you can, so forget about that gain, whether it's temporary or not."

My point to the OP is that even when you seem to be moving in the "wrong" direction you may still have some little victories to celebrate.

Thanks guys.

I certainly do have a lot of victories to celebrate. I have quit smoking and have added a couple of kg's as well as a heap of strength in the last month or so. I guess i'm just getting impatient. I have been skinny for my whole life and I hate it. I just want to know the best diet and training method for my body so I can start gaining some quality mass and stop wasting my time.

deniall wrote:I just want to know the best diet and training method for my body so I can start gaining some quality mass and stop wasting my time.

Look, the vast majority of those amazing "before and after" photos you see where people put on a lot of mass quickly are people who have put on the muscle mass before. They're just getting back their former level of muscularity. This is part of the reason former fatties -- like me -- put on mass relatively easily: we had large muscle mass just to haul our fat asses around the planet before and do everyday things! We're just maintaining it or getting it back when bulking after dieting.

So my advice stands: follow the program as outlined for at least 4-6 weeks, then evaluate your measurements against your former measurements. If you aren't gaining size and maintaining or dropping body fat, adjust your diet and/or lifting regimen, then go another 4-6 weeks before making drastic changes again.

I've just reached the six-week point in my evaluation of a modified MANS/half TSPA eating and lifting regimen over the past six weeks, and I'm disappointed to measure that I've lost only 2 lbs of fat, and lost 1lb of muscle in that same time. This tells me that what I've been doing isn't working, and I need to tighten up the diet and tighten down my exercise regimen if I hope to keep my losses going without losing muscle. Two weeks or so just isn't long enough; your measurements will usually be within the margin of error (unless you're a big, fat fatty like I was, and you drop 10-15 lbs right away). 4-6 weeks is long enough to be able to measure something.

--Matt B.