I have gone from 195 Lbs to 182Lbs in the last 4 weeks, and now look forward to improving my physique by building up muscle whilst still reducing my body fat percentage.

I am going to continue this diet and cardio workouts but now start weight training!

so should i add a protein shake or another supplement to my diet and if so which brand / type?

Ive seen friends get all beefcake like after taking supplements like whey etc (perhaps they took it wrong/differently) and i dont want that!

7:30am breakfast-
Fruit & Fibre or Poached egg on wholemeal toast

10:30am Mid Morning Snack-
Banana and Apple

1:00pm Lunch-
Wholemeal sandwich - chicken/turkey & salad/boiled egg sliced

6:00pm Dinner-
turkey/chicken/fish with Veg

7:30pm Evening Snack-
Natural Yogurts (fat free-ish lol)

You eat like an anorexic.
I'd be surprised if theres more than 40-50g of protein there in your diet.

I wouldn't call it anorexic, but you really don't need to worry about it. Protein is just protein. Like chicken. It's not steroids. People don't get "all beefcake" just by consuming protein. Trust me when I tell you that getting huge is hard. Really hard. So don't sweat it.

I don't really follow you here..

You're eating way too little. I estimate that plan of yours at around 1200 cals. I'm surprised you had the energy to create this thread. You need to read the stickies on nutrition and weight training.

Ill happily send you $1 000 if that diet doesnt contain at least 40g.

ok guys im getting the fact you believe my diet is not strong enough so what should i add and at what times?

bere in mind im in a office 8am till 5pm with only and hours break at 1pm!

I don't see any significant source of Essential Fatty Acids...remember that there are good fats and they won't make you fat...quite the contrary.
Get yourself some fish oil liquid. Pills are okay, but it takes a lot to get as much as the liquid gives you in one teaspoon.

Easy to add in protein would be cottage cheese before bed, milk and eggs for breakfast, beef jerkey at your mid-morning snack, cheese on your sandwich at lunch. Do you know how many ounces of turkey/chicken/fish you are having? Why do you have a lack of red meat in your diet?

just bring a can of tuna with you and mix it in a salad or something. dont forget the opener either lmao

Any surplus of a macronutrient (fat, protein and carbs) causes fat gain unless used in energy expenditure. The reason your mates got like beefcakes is probably because they drank 4 a day thinking they would get muscly and then ate lots of other crap on top of that.

After reading everyones posts i have altered my diet slightly, sadly I hate tuna and cottage cheese, any other tips? could do with snack between lunch and dinner?

Is it not feesable to try eat high protein foods but keeping calories down? therefore building lean muscle but still losing fat? im new to this so not sure how it works?


I decided to go for a protein shake in the way of BSN Syntha 6? got it and had my first yesterday after a good workout!

Should i have the shake twice a day if so when else?

7:30am breakfast-
Fruit & Fibre with semi skimmed milk or 2 x Poached egg on wholemeal toast


10:30am Mid Morning Snack-
Banana and Apple

1:00pm Lunch-
Wholemeal sandwich - chicken/turkey & sliced boiled egg, mayo & salad
Natural Yogurts

3:00pm Snack -
Tuna & Salad Pita

6:00pm Dinner-
turkey/chicken/fish with Veg or Minced Beef chilli with brown rice.

Approx 8:00pm Post Workout-
Syntha 6 Protein Shake (2 scoops)

Evening Snacks -
Natural Yogurts (fat free-ish lol)


Using Fitday.com the above amounts to approx 1700 Cals

If you read carefully behind most protein formula, it clearly states, "Do not use as a sole source of nutrition or weight management." What this means is exactly what it implies. Get your protein from whole food sources. Go with cottage cheese, milk, beef jerky, eggs, etc. Whey protein is from.... milk.

But if you want the best, try ON 100% Whey Protein. It's cheap and it's everywhere.

Also, note that protein/carbs equally provides 4 calories per gram, while fat provides 9 calories per gram. So basically, drinking protein shakes will not "bulk" you up if you are starving yourself - as it seems - and will do you no good other than wasting your money and time.

He states that he is still taking in 1700 Cals that is not enough IMO anyone agree? To be working out and gaining this muscle you want you should raise that up to get the energy and fuel for your muscles.

Try to get roughly 1gram of protein per pound of body weight. If you can get this through whole foods (recommended) then fantastic. If you find this difficult then you can supplement with protein powder. I like to take mine straight after a workout as whey protein isolates are fast digesting.

Get out of the "how many protein shakes should I drink" mentality. Work out how much protein you need to consume, calculate what you can realistically get from whole foods and THEN supplement with protein powder if necessary.