well here is when things come together,i am goingto say that whole food is your best option,stick to minimal shakes for optimum growth...you will need the following : good multivitamin, post work out drink(vitargo from juggernaut is the best option and staminade from muscle science works well as a substitute)creatine monohydrate and glutamine, and whey protein. those should be on your monthly shopping lists as far as supplements go. post work out you need to take something with a simple sugar base in order to get your body to give u an insulin spike in order to shuttle nutrients into your muscles. so bang your vitargo / staminade within 30mins of training,20mins later have 40 -60 grams whey protein. in your post work out drink throw in your creatine(if you are using vitargo then dont stress there is creatine in it) and with your whey throw in 10grams or so of your glutamine. this will all aid in your body's natural repair process after the trauma of training... your can have a serving of staminade with glutamine and creatine pre work out to give u a work out boost if u like but i would have that within 20mins of training.
food. this is where things get interesting,if you are bulking u could end up getting fat if your diet is not clean, if you are cutting u are going to battle to get lean if your diet is 100% clean! when i say clean i am talking junk food,chips,sweets,chocolate,all the goodies that are so good on the pallet and on the mind. give your self 2 cheat meals in a week to keep your self sane. keep them 72 hours apart from one another.
working out your calorie intake is the first thing you need to do. once u have read up on how to do this u will come up with your BMR(Basic metabolic rate)This equation is quite accurate for most, but is not a good choice for extremely fat or muscular people. It will overestimate calorie needs for fat people, and vice versa for muscular
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
Calculating maintainence calories
Multiply your BMR by an appropriate activity factor
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9
If you only exercise 3-4 days per week, but do weight training + full session of cardio, you would be in the 'very active' category.
BMR is the number of calories u need in order to maintain your body weight. once you have this figure u need to asses what u are looking to do. if you are looking to cut body fat then you subtract 500calories from that total. if you are trying to gain weight then u add 500 calories to that total. that is the amount of calories you will need in a day to either gain weight or loose weight depending on if you added or subtracted calories. then this is where things become interesting, you need to work out your macro nutrient ratios.
so for instance u are 100kg,180cm tall and 25 years in age and u work out 5 times a week for 1 hour each time u are going to need to take in 3374 calories to maintain body weight. you decide you want to put on some muscle so u add 500 calories to that so that makes it +/-3900calories per day. now you need to split that up into your macro nutrient ratios. i would go for either 40% protein,40% carbs and 20% fats. or 30%protein, 50% carbs and 20% fats. they both work well its just up to you on how much carbs and protein u would like to take in. so 3900 calories devided up in to macro nutrients should be 403grams of carbs, 241 grams protein and 73grams of fats. split up into 6 meals a day. so you need to get in 650calories per meal. 50% from carbs(325 calories/ 81grams) 30% protein (48grams of protein) and 20% fats (190cals/14.4 grams) this is all you need to take in with in 24 hours. in order to potentially grow. now if you start picking up fat quite fast then drop the calories by 200calories or up the intensity of your work outs to try and keep u lean.
now if you are taking in a post work out concoction your post work out shake should be on a 40/60split. if you are taking in 40grams of protein post work out u need to be taking in 60grams of fast acting carbs with that.. so 60grams whey protein and 70grams of staminade should do the trick. now those calories must be taken out of allotted calories in a day. so if you are taking in 3900 (403grams of carbs, 241 grams protein and 73grams of fats) subtract 60grams from your 403 carbs, and 40 grams from your protein and 4 grams from your fats (whey has minimal fat in it) and then divide your macro's into 6 meals a day. 343carbs,201 protein and 69grams of fats.
this is the best i can explain it,i hope that it is what u where looking for.
