Nutrition Help for Job & Training

I’m a 6’1 230 pound college linebacker. This is my summer going into senior year. Ideally Id like to just train and say screw working but I need to pay rent and tuition.

I gut houses monday through friday. I lift for football monday tuesday thursday friday. We also run hard on mondays and wednesdays.

So I’m looking for nutrition advice for my job and workouts so I can actually get something out of my workouts by the time Im done with demolishing houses with heavy crowbars and sledges for 9 hours.

I eat properly 6-7 times a day but I’ve never really dealt with this type of all day ass kicking that my current routine has me in.

I can’t afford to lose any mass. Id like to come in as a solid 235-240.

Thanks for any help, I’m really interested in the timing of my food.

I eat at:
545 am (wakeup)
9am (short break)
12 (lunch break)
330 (ride home/pre workout)
530 (post workout)
then depending on whats left in the day I get in 2 more meals

(mondays and wed I eat at 8 after speed school from 630-8)

Thanks again, It’s all about will power I guess

You already eat frequently enough, plus you have a blue-collar job which means you can’t grab food anytime you want like an office job. This means that when you do eat you need to make sure your caloric density is high enough to off-set all the physical activity.

A short answer would be to just eat more food when you can eat, preferably adding some fats in the form of peanut butter, nuts, cheese on sandwich and milk or juice instead of water.

A better answer would be to approximate your caloric needs for maintenance (RMR) which might be something like 12XBW, which is about 2800 cals. Then factor in several hundred for both your workout and job, say 500-800 additional cals (at least) a piece. That puts you at 3800-4400 total cals, JUST to maintain your 230 lbs. If you want to add even more beef you would need to add a couple hundred MORE per day, which puts you at 4000-4600 roughly (very roughly).

Since you eat about 6-7 meals per day, you will need approx 700-800 cals PER meal, including your workout shakes. This is A LOT of food, which is why you will need to add fats and calorie dense beverages to get it all in.

Also, keep in mind that you don’t need to go over-board on protein which is a common mistake. You need lots of protein, but if you provide enough cals from fats and carbs (sometimes called protein-sparing calories) you can get by with 1-1.2XBW in grams per day (230-275 grams). Eating more protein might actually oppose your efforts to eat enough sheer cals as protein increase satiety which tends to lower your appetite from hunger and a volume standpoint.

So, 40 grams of protein per meal should be plenty, and then you’d be looking at approx 80 grams carbs and 30 grams of fat per meal. This comes out to about a 21%/43%/36% (P/C/F) diet, which are decent rations for an athlete. Of course this assumes every meal is identical which won’t be the case due to workout shakes and possibly eating less carbs vs. more fats and proteins at night. It should still give you a good starting point from which to plan from.

Even though fruits and veggies are not as calorically dense as processed grains, fats, and juices, don’t neglect these foods. You may want to juice some veggies or buy something like V8 and/or a “greens” powder. You might also need a fiber supplement since you will be eating a decent amount of processed food.

Hope this helps,

TopSirloin