diet help please

ok quick low down im 36 (on sunday) 5'9" 12st 10lb
ive been trying things like this
4am get up coffee
6am chicken thighs 2 of
9am tuna salad tin tuna lettice cucumber tomatoes so on
1pm 2 apples hand full of dry roasted nuts
215pm gym weights everyother day with a 20 minute cardio followed by sauna
inbetween cardio days hour cardio plus hour swim.
430pm lots green veg steak  or scrambled egg chicken breast .
7pm last meal i like porridge
is this any good aive ive been away from gym for 12 months but hit it hard the last week hardly eaten as you can see but ive put 4lb ON ??? please any help
 
 

Ok, firstly welcome to MT.
 
Secondly, you need to tell us what your goals are, and what you want.
 
The simple answer is this..... To lose weight you need to eat in a calorie deficit, and to increase weight you need to have a calorie surplus.
 
I'm guessing by your timings, you work some kind of funny shift?
 
Your diet needs improving, but this can be done easily. However you need to understand what you put in your body and why. Also, as I've already said, you need to work out the total calories, and the macro break down (Protein, carbs and fats)
 
It sounds like a pain in the arse, but it really will help your results and make things easier.
 
I would suggest eating protein and good fats with every meal and just have my carbs around the workout window. This would be a good start.

hi thanx for reply .
ok last year i got a great body 6 pack . ran a marathon dressed as a lion in 5hrs and looked good .
BUT i lost all my size shoulders went arms went  i went from lifting 50kg each hand db press to 27kg.
then when i eat i bulk up lift heavy but struggle with belly fat .
at the moment im 5'9" 12st10lb biceps 13.5 inch chest 42 inch waste 32 trousers but stomach is 46 inch not good .
am i right in thinking stick to 2500 cal a day and 60% pro 20%fat 20%carbs ??
if so back to the main question what foods and when taking into consideration i get up at 4am  go to bed around 9pm and my evening meal with wife is at 430pm.
many thanx
 

Just had a quick scan as its late but looks like when you were losing the weight you were in a big deficit of calories and this caused your muscle loss due to catabolic effects

When your gaining weight your taking in too many calories or too much of the wrong food group, I.e carbs/fat etc

Calculate your needs.

To lose weight start with 15kcals per lb of lean weight, for adding size start with 20kcals

1g of protein for every pound of lean mass,
Each gram is 4kcals,

Then the rest of the cals you need for the day get from healthy fats and carbs
Carbs at 70% fats at 30% ( of the remaining calories after protein is subtracted)

This'll be a good starting point, split the requirements through 5 meals thought it the day.
If you need more help I'll be around tomorrow :)
HTH for now

Vapor thats a massive help 2 things mate.
1 how do i work out lean body mass weight ?
2. What are ood fats ?
Im lucky enough to enjoy any food its just knowing what

Up at 4, last meal at 7? Is this due to work?
 
EDIT: Good fats - http://articles.muscletalk.co.uk/article-essential-fatty-acids.aspx
 
 

You'd need to know or at least estimate your bf% and take that away from your total weight, if you can post a pic up here we can look and estimate for you, or your gym should be able to do this for you.

Also good fats e.g

Olive oil,
Flaxseed/linseed oil,
Cod liver oil,
Other natural fish oils,
Coconut oil,

Bad fats are your saturated fats and trans fats, such as the fat on a gammon steak or fat in non lean minced beef etc etc
To give you an idea

firstly yes i drive hgv from 4am till 1 pm but lift be hand average 500 exhaust pipes each day when i get to the depot then drive back.
ok ive followed online instruction and came up with this
weight 182 lbs height 5'9" neck 15.5" waiste 36"  gives me
20.79 body fat
144.14 lean body weight  sooooooooooo.
2160 calories per day  made up of 
144g protein = 576 cals 
1108.8 cals carbs 
475.2 cal of fat and split that into 5 meals between say 5am and 7pm ? now to put that into meals lol

Yep you got it,

1g protein = 4kcals
1g carbs = 4kcals
1g fats = 9kcals

Work out a diet based on your calculations and post it up with time and serving amounts and we can critique it

Ok guys hows this ?

430am 2 shreded wheat semiskimmed milk and a banana

8am tin tuna 1 promax protein shake with water

12 noon 2 chicken thighs 3 boiled eggs rice green beans

430 pm steak brocolli green beans cauliflower peas
1 promax shake with water

7pm porridge oats semi skimmed milk

works out at 1891 cals of wich pro 119 carbs 190 fat 68 approx

smithy69


Ok guys hows this ?

430am 2 shreded wheat semiskimmed milk and a banana
add a whey shake here
 
6:30am : handful of mixed nuts, a piece of fruit i.e orange

8am tin tuna 1 promax protein shake with water
leave the shake out and have some granary bread, 2 slices buttered with an olive oil based butter and add some lettuce and tomato etc.

12 noon 2 chicken thighs 3 boiled eggs rice green beans
have basmati rice here, sauteé the green beens in butter and add some other form of fibrous veg i.e spinach, broccoli or asparagus
 
2:30pm : 40g whey protein in water

430 pm steak brocolli green beans cauliflower peas
1 promax shake with water
Ditch the protein shake, meal is good

7pm porridge oats semi skimmed milk
add some protein to this meal, if this is the last meal and its close to bed time add a slow digesting protein such as cotage cheese. If it isn't near bed time then have a slow digesting casein protein just before bed.

works out at 1891 cals of wich pro 119 carbs 190 fat 68 approx

Thats brilliant thank u very much

pictures as reqiured complete with figures. + changes from last week
neck 15"
chest 40"  dropped half inch in a week
waist (largest point) 35.5"  dropped 1" in a week
biceps 13.75"  stayed the same
thigh 21   gained .25"  in a week
weight 12st 11lb

Excellent so your losing then, how
Has your strength changed if any?

update guys new jobs has limited my time on the net but atleats im doing real hours now lol 930 am till 6pm 3 times a week anyway here new stats.
arms 14"  1/4 increase
chest 41" 3/4 increase
waist 34 1/4  2" decrease
weight  12st 7lb    4 3/4 decrease.
 lifting wise im back upto a decent lift without killing myself .
32kg each hand db incline
110 kg flat bb press
140kg deadlift
still doing atleast 30 min cardio everyday (not my best part lol )
 

Cool; keep it up

Any update smithy?

i updated few days ago mate .. im gonna be taking new pics later
cheers for all your help