I've got a question. I lift about 6x a week, and I take it seriously when I do. Unfortunately, I feel like I don't have the money to have a great diet. I know I need a gram of protein for every pound I weigh to see maximum improvement, but protein shakes are expensive. If I continue to lift with a subpar diet, what can I expect the result to be, only increases in strength without increases in size? I'm already 6'6", 190-200 lbs, so my limbs are long, and I expect growth to take longer.
Good lifting, bad diet
- Thread starter Fatwad
- Start date
Drveejay11
Community Veteran
Moved to the appropriate forum......You'll get a lot more responses here brother....good luck. 
By the way........CANNED TUNA + RICE = DIRT CHEAP!!!!
By the way........CANNED TUNA + RICE = DIRT CHEAP!!!!
Last edited:
Frosty
Pro Bodybuilder
You can definitely get stronger on a bad diet, and you should see some improvements in your physique as well.
But to maximize your gains, that's where diet becomes crucial.
If you're on a budget, I have some suggestions.
-Eggs - dirt cheap and good for you. A dozen a day can cost a dollar or less and that gives a lot of calories, protein, and nutrients.
-Bulk chicken breasts - you can buy them bulk for pretty cheap. Add to that a cheap George Foreman grill and you have fast cheap meals.
-Look for sales on ground beef. Ground beef can be pretty cheap, sometimes $1/lb. Fatty beef is cheaper and it's fine. Lots of calories.
-Rice is very cheap. You can use this as a main carb source.
-As mentioned, tuna is pretty cheap, although I wouldn't make this the main protein in your diet.
-If you can handle it, milk is fairly cheap. Go for the whole milk.
Following this, you should be able to put together a pretty good diet for a pretty reasonable price. If you use protein powders, all you need it for is one shake post-workout. The rest can be made up with meat, eggs, or milk.
But to maximize your gains, that's where diet becomes crucial.
If you're on a budget, I have some suggestions.
-Eggs - dirt cheap and good for you. A dozen a day can cost a dollar or less and that gives a lot of calories, protein, and nutrients.
-Bulk chicken breasts - you can buy them bulk for pretty cheap. Add to that a cheap George Foreman grill and you have fast cheap meals.
-Look for sales on ground beef. Ground beef can be pretty cheap, sometimes $1/lb. Fatty beef is cheaper and it's fine. Lots of calories.
-Rice is very cheap. You can use this as a main carb source.
-As mentioned, tuna is pretty cheap, although I wouldn't make this the main protein in your diet.
-If you can handle it, milk is fairly cheap. Go for the whole milk.
Following this, you should be able to put together a pretty good diet for a pretty reasonable price. If you use protein powders, all you need it for is one shake post-workout. The rest can be made up with meat, eggs, or milk.
gotgear
New member
imo diet is more important than training, if u have a good diet even a bad training program will yield decent results, on the other hand with a bad diet even the greatest plan may do little to make u bigger or stronger
as far as protein supps go they may be expensive as an absolute price but per serving they are cheaper than pretty much any food and especially cheap when u compare them to steak, eggs or chicken on a relative basis
as far as protein supps go they may be expensive as an absolute price but per serving they are cheaper than pretty much any food and especially cheap when u compare them to steak, eggs or chicken on a relative basis
Thanks for the info, guys. Frosty, I'm glad you mentioned that diet is more important training for health. Health is my first priority, so I'd like to keep my fat intake low, which will probably prohibit me from eating a lot of beef and milk. I do thirty minutes of cardio several times a week after my weight workouts because I want a healthy heart. Can I still expect to gain size with all of the cardio?
Frosty, I've been reading a lot of your posts, and they have been invaluable. I don't know what your background is, but you've obviously done a lot of reading on this subject, and I appreciate your sharing your knowledge. An hour and a half ago, I thought that eating fats was unhealthy, but that was before I read up on the issue. I'm obviously a newbie when it comes to nutrition, and after I plowed through a bunch of posts on minute details on nutrition, I've decided to go with your advice and keep it simple for now.
Honestly, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that I've read. Just three days ago, a co-worker of mine who sees a nutrtitionist dispelled for me the myth that whole eggs' high cholesterol is unhealthy. Here's what I've been going by that I heard secondhand from a doctor: if a food's "calores from fat" is 50% or more than that food's calories, I shouldn't eat it. That has been my main guideline for fat intake.
I've been a believer for years that eating fats will make me fat. A few years ago, I increased my caloric intake from 2,000 to 3,000/day and quit cardio altogether in an effort to get bigger, and after seeing my bodyfat % go up by 1.5, I hastily decided the extra eating was a bad idea. As a second semester senior in high school who hadn't exercised since running cross country in the fall, I had my body fat measured at 3.5%. A couple years later, while attending aerobic classes 3x a week, my bodyfat was 5.3%. I'm under the impression that it's normal for my bodyfat to gradually increase as I get older and heavier. I don't measure it anymore, as I'm most concerned with my appearance.
Now that I've put my history down, I'll give me thesis. My goal is to gain lean muscle mass while eating healthily and doing cardio as often as I can, which is 4-5 times a week. I'm 6'6", 193 lbs, and I'm not sure what a good caloric intake/diet will be for me.
Honestly, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that I've read. Just three days ago, a co-worker of mine who sees a nutrtitionist dispelled for me the myth that whole eggs' high cholesterol is unhealthy. Here's what I've been going by that I heard secondhand from a doctor: if a food's "calores from fat" is 50% or more than that food's calories, I shouldn't eat it. That has been my main guideline for fat intake.
I've been a believer for years that eating fats will make me fat. A few years ago, I increased my caloric intake from 2,000 to 3,000/day and quit cardio altogether in an effort to get bigger, and after seeing my bodyfat % go up by 1.5, I hastily decided the extra eating was a bad idea. As a second semester senior in high school who hadn't exercised since running cross country in the fall, I had my body fat measured at 3.5%. A couple years later, while attending aerobic classes 3x a week, my bodyfat was 5.3%. I'm under the impression that it's normal for my bodyfat to gradually increase as I get older and heavier. I don't measure it anymore, as I'm most concerned with my appearance.
Now that I've put my history down, I'll give me thesis. My goal is to gain lean muscle mass while eating healthily and doing cardio as often as I can, which is 4-5 times a week. I'm 6'6", 193 lbs, and I'm not sure what a good caloric intake/diet will be for me.
Frosty
Pro Bodybuilder
My Basic diet planning post should be helpful with those goals. Not only is the Metabolic diet good for gains, it's also very healthy (so long as you have a healthy selection of foods). It does no good for a "carb type" to go around trying low carb diets, just as it makes no sense for a "protein type" to go around eating low fat/high carb diets. Both would not be optimally healthy or make optimum gains.
I'll say this much about myself. I'm more of a "protein type." I do absolutely fine on low carbs. In fact, while some people would feel like crap if they went from eating hundreds of carbs a day to zero, I feel perfectly fine. I also am able to digest huge amounts of fat and protein without a problem 600+ grams of fat in a day? Doesn't phase my digestive system. Now, for a "carb type," that much fat would likely overload their digestive system, and eating low carbs would make them function poorly. And of course, there are people inbetween. Also note that for me it's I have to eat a tremendous amount of fat calories to gain a significant amount of weight. We're talking 7,000 or more if I'm doing low carb.
Now, one doesn't have to eat high fat in order to benefit from fats. For example, if you find you're mostly a carb type, that's fine. You still take in important fats that provide nutrients and fatty acids that you need to live - just in smaller amounts.
The one thing common across all people is the need for fat soluable vitamins, EFAs, and just fat needed for hormonal maintenance. Low fat diets, and especially diets based around plant fats, can interfere with those needs, especially in today's environment when people's bodies probably aren't functioning optimally.
I'll say this much about myself. I'm more of a "protein type." I do absolutely fine on low carbs. In fact, while some people would feel like crap if they went from eating hundreds of carbs a day to zero, I feel perfectly fine. I also am able to digest huge amounts of fat and protein without a problem 600+ grams of fat in a day? Doesn't phase my digestive system. Now, for a "carb type," that much fat would likely overload their digestive system, and eating low carbs would make them function poorly. And of course, there are people inbetween. Also note that for me it's I have to eat a tremendous amount of fat calories to gain a significant amount of weight. We're talking 7,000 or more if I'm doing low carb.
Now, one doesn't have to eat high fat in order to benefit from fats. For example, if you find you're mostly a carb type, that's fine. You still take in important fats that provide nutrients and fatty acids that you need to live - just in smaller amounts.
The one thing common across all people is the need for fat soluable vitamins, EFAs, and just fat needed for hormonal maintenance. Low fat diets, and especially diets based around plant fats, can interfere with those needs, especially in today's environment when people's bodies probably aren't functioning optimally.
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