Advice on My Nutrition Plan

Hi,

I have been reading articles on here about building, nutrition, supplements, etc. I have been working out for the last 4 months and while I have good results I feel that for what I’m doing they’re not enough. I’m trying to build muscle but sill stay lean and I have a feeling something in my nutrition plan isn’t right for what I want.

I also read this article here, which basically says that if I can control my insulin levels throughout the day that I can actually bulk and cut on the same day:

I thought I should just tell you all what my daily regiment is like and hopefully someone may notice something off or tell me how I can modify it to be able to control my insulin levels to do both bulking and cutting at the same time.

Here is my typical day as detailed as I can be:

I wake up at bout 6, sometimes I will take a serving of source naturals muscle mass ~30 minutes before my workout (
nutrition label: Vitamin C 100 mg, Vitamin B-6 (as pyridoxine HCl)40 mg, Pantothenic Acid (as vitamin B-5) 40mg, Iodine (as potassium iodide) 115 mcg, Arginine Pyroglutamate 1.436g, L-Lysine (as L-lysine HCl) 1.15g, Lipotropic Factors (as inositol 200 mg, choline bitartrate 167 mg, L-methionine 60 mg & betaine HCl 60mg) 487mg, L-Ornithine (as L-Ornithine HCl) 397 mg, Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA’s) (as L-leucine 200mg, L-valine 88mg, & L-isoleucine 60mg) 348mg, Glycine 120 mg, trans-Ferulic Acid 120 mg, L-Carnitine (as L-carnitine fumarate) 20 mg, Proprietary Herbal Blend: Saw Palmetto Berry, Sarsaparilla Root, Wild Yam Root, Astragalus Root, Asian Ginseng Root, Kudzu Flower, and Licorice Root. 1.18g
)

I then drink 1 serving of optimum nutrition whey protein mixed with creatine (I’m thinking of switching to hydro whey). about 5 minutes before I workout.

After about an hour - hour and an half of working out I stop, take 1g Leucine, 1g glutamine 500mg Isoleucine, & 500mg Valine. I shower for about 15 minutes and then take some optimum nutrition oats and whey which has fiber and some carbs in it, which I mix with garden of life perfect food raw and a serving of creatine.

About 15 minutes later (about 8:30) I’ll have breakfast, which usually is kashi go lean cereal with whole milk. I then take my morning vitamin regiment which is as follows: CoQ10 100mg, Krill Oil 500mg, Phosphatidylserine 500mg, Ginkgo Biloba 120mg, Zinc 30mg, r-lipoic acid 100mg, Phosphorus 125mg, Calcium 250mg, Magnesium 250mg as well as 2/3 serving of alive whole food energizer multivitamin (the nutrition label is long, but you can find the info here: naturesway.com/Products/Vitamins/14931-Alive-Multi-Vitamin-No-Iron-Added.aspx [difference is mine has iron in it])

at about 11 - 1330 I’ll take two servings of amino balance (couldn’t find a good nutrition label online but its 1.5g mixed amino acids per serving)

At lunch (about 12, and I’m usually at work) I will have pasta and about half a pound of smoked salmon along with my afternoon regiment: Cat’s claw (concentrate equivalent to 5000mg), N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine 300mg, Phosphatidylserine 500mg, 1 serving lycopom, alpha gpc 500mg, gotu kola 500mg, Thiamin (as vitamin B-1)125 mg, Riboflavin (as vitamin B-2) 125 mg Niacinamide 100 mg, Niacin 25 mg, Vitamin B-6 (as pyridoxine HCl) 125 mg, Folate (as folic acid)800 mcg, Vitamin B-12 (as cyanocobalamin) 125 mcg, Biotin 125 mcg, Pantothenic Acid (as calcium D-pantothenate) 125 mg, Choline (as choline bitartrate) 125 mg, Inositol 125 mg,PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid) 125 mg).

At about 330 - 4 I’ll have either a protein bar or a breakfast bar for a snack

At about 530, when I get home I will have another protein shake which is a mix of two servings of garden of life raw protein and perfect food (regular not raw).

I usually have dinner (about 6 -7) after which is usually some kind of fish, with something else that isnt high in fat, but it usually varies. I take my dinner vitamin regiment which is: 1/3 serving alive whole food multivitamin, Phosphorus 375mg, Calcium 750mg, Magnesium 750mg, alpha gpc 500mg, Phosphatidylserine 500mg, Krill oil 500mg, Zinc 30mg, r-lipoic acid 100mg.

the only variation in y schedule is that on tuesdays and thursdays I do an additional workout at 730 for an hour which is a mix between bikram yoga and interval training. So on those days I postpone my dinner until afterwards and only eat soup and bread (because its usually 930 and night and I dont want to eat too much so late) along with my vitamin regiment.

just before bed (about 10-1030) I will drink a serving of optimum nutrition casein protein, take an additiona; 2g lysine, 2g aacetyl carnitine, and a serving of amino night [Vitamin C (as calcium ascorbate) 34 mg Vitamin B-6 (as pyridoxine HCl) 15 mg Calcium 190 mg Chromium (as GTF polynicotinate [ChromeMate�®]) 50 mcg L-Arginine L Pyroglutamate 900 mg, L-Lysine (HCl) 720 mg, L-Ornithine (HCl) 500 mg, L-Carnitine (as L-Carnitine Fumarate) 10 mg]

During my workouts I stay hydrated with coconut water and I drink that throughout the day along with water and kombucha tea (I often let it sit out to reduce the carbonation). I also do Bikram Yoga on Saturday and Sunday Mornings after my workout.

Any help you guys can give me on this would be greatly appreciated.

Holy shit balls batman, that is a LOT of pills you must swallow in a day.

I noticed you seem to eat very little food. A bowl of oats, some salmon, pasta, some other fish, and thats it…
I’m not against supplements at all, just seems like you might be missing the boat by trying to get in EVERYTHING from a pill or powder, instead of actually eating food. Heck, even the oatmeal you are eating is a supplement.

Might be easier to evaluate if you wrote down your actual food intake seperate from the vast array of supplements you take…

I also saw you mention that your Multi has Iron in it. Any particular reason? I’ve never once seen anyone recommend iron supplementation to anyone beyond a 20 year old anemic vegan female.

I am a pescatarian so that’s why the iron. it’s not as many pills as it sounds though. I take a lot of multi supplements/vitamins so the amount of pills isnt to insane, I just thought it made more sense to list the contents of each rather than what the vitamin/supplement is actually called.

I only really talked about meals in that post. I do snack on fruits and cliff bars. I tend to not like eating vegetables (weird for a pescatarian) so that’s why I drink the perfect food shakes.

Although after writing that post it does seem like I don’t get enough calories in my diet.

For multi vitamins, you are going to get a lot of conflicting advice. Some say they are mandatory, others say they are detrimental. As long as you know the potential pros and cons, and have made your decision on the matter, then cool.

I really can’t comment much on the rest of your diet since you are pescatarian. That is just a whole new world that I’m not even going to attempt to try and say I understand the needs of.

Good luck.

You also quoted an article, but I doubt you read it.

How are you manipulating insulin with that “diet”?

I’m not saying that I am manipulating my insulin levels with this diet, but I would like to know how I could.

The article says on the second page:

Insulin is like a switch that controls from moment to moment whether we’re burning fat or building muscle. It doesn’t take a whole day for this change to occur. In fact, it only takes minutes!

What this means is that you can plan your day to have periods of time focused on building muscle and periods of time focused on burning fat. And you can manipulate the length of these periods to alter the rate at which you gain muscle and lose fat.

I re-read your “diet”. You are not eating. Hell, cancer patients don’t take as many pills as you do.

I also take supplements, but I feel you are making a mockery of the whole thing.

correct me if I’m wrong, but if you take your supplements away, you eat a bowl of Kashi, smoked salmon and some non-fat fish at night? And a shake?

Go to “Ask Modok” thread and post this. He has the knowledge to hopefully help you.

Good luck.