Need No Nonsense Advice for Gaining

I’m planning to gain some muscle this summer. After reading a bunch of tnation articles and posts, I’ve just gotten more confused from a lot of contradictory information.

I’m 170lbs at a rough estimate of 18% BF. That’s about 140lbs LBM.

Here’s my rough plan
16*LBM+20%=3200 cals per day
1.5x BW protein = 255g+ protein per day
~300g carbs, ~100 in morning, and 200 around workout time (most of it a meal or two after workout)
fats = whatever is in my foods. 6-8g fish oil, natty pb and almonds are included in my diet.
some veggies in broccoli, onions, spinach. if some big guys can tell me a reason to eat a lot of these, i’m all ears.

protein mainly from eggs, beef, chicken, cc and tuna. some protein powder. will have 1cup of CC with 1-2 tbsp EVOO and 1 can tuna pre-bed. then a magnesium to ensure good sleep.

easy steady state cardio on off days for 20-30 mins. (how fast should a ‘walk’ be in this case)

i’ve been more of a powerlifter in the past so i’m still trying to design a program, but mainly focusing on compounds like squats, deads, bench, press and their variants.

please critique. i’d like to have a good nutritional plan set and follow it since in the past i didn’t eat (and stayed 170lbs and fat)

  1. Just lift hard.
  1. Eat as much protein as you can get your hands on.
    C. When you’re full (of protein) then eat desert.

What exactly are your goals?
At 18% bodyfat I would consider leaning out. You are most likely not very insulin sensitive at that bodyfat, and your probably producing alot of estrogen (lower testerone levels as a result) as well. Both are going to make it difficult to add lean muscle mass without adding more fat.

my goal is to gain some controlled muscle weight over the summer.
i have considered leaning out, but 140 LBM is not a lot for a 5’9 male.

insulin sensitivity wise i believe i am fine, as i used to do low/timed carbs, but have been rather fat before getting into training.

i do not know much about the estrogen stuff though. other than a blood test, any ways to gauge test? never seemed to have low-test symptoms.

thanks for your input

hmnn yeah, 140 lbs is seriously lacking for 5’9 (I’m 5’8, and looked seriously skinny at 150 lbs when I started lifting!). I would suggest a diet where you are close to your maintainence level of macros/cals, but lift for growth (don’t worry about excessive cardio,… small bits won’t hurt you though). Don’t think “bulk” or “cut” though,… just try to get some hypertrophy going, which if done correctly, will up your metabolism without worrying about any cutting from your diet.

S

[quote]colinphenom wrote:
What exactly are your goals?
At 18% bodyfat I would consider leaning out. [/quote]

That would be why you don’t just focus on a freaking NUMBER on a body fat percentage to decide what someone should do.

I mean, really, how many times do we need to go over this?

Most of the numbers you guys quote for bf are OFF anyway unless a bod pod or under water weighing are used.

looks like ~2600 is maintenance for a few calculators so 3100-3200 is my target.

otherwise does anything look off or anything i should add?

thanks for the suggestions.

i advise you to eat plenty of bandersnatches, and jub-jub birds. wait, you said “no” nonsense?