My low effort, low cost mass gaining diet

[atom]

I'm just some dude but I look built and have a lot of energy and rarely crave anything so I thought I'd post my diet.

I'm not optimizing or maximizing anything, except maybe ease of shopping and ease of preparation.

The cornerstone of my diet is skim milk and cereal. I get whole grain cereals with nuts and raisins and stuff. I switch off cereals when I get tired of a brand. I like kroger brand meusli, great grains, oatmeal squares, raisin bran, whatever. All unsweetened and fortified with vitamins. I always put an entire scoop of whey protein powder in my cereal before pouring the milk for more protein and more nutirition. I am convinced putting the powder into food lessens the "gas effect."

The other thing I eat a whole lot of is cottage cheese. I've read cottage cheese is the quickest digesting protein. I buy 2% because skim just isn't as good. I always put two spoonfuls or so of low sugar jelly (apricot usually) in the cottage cheese. This is enough to satisfy any sweet cravings I get. Post workout sometimes I'll put a scoop or two of whey power in cottage cheese with applesauce to get carbs, protein, and milkfat in me quick.

I always keep raw almonds around too. I eat a small handfull everytime I walk by my kitchen, which is quite often as I live in a studio and am always in my kitchen. Fiber, good fats, protein, nutrients, and all that. Almonds are great for your poop.

About once a week I'll cook a pound of ground turkey breast with a can of veggies. It doesn't get much easier than tossing the meat in a pan, pouring a can of veggies in for salt/flavor, spinning the pepper mill for a minute, and stirring until the meat is cooked.

Lunch is usually some frozen meal or a subway sandwhich always with 2% milk. I really like the Amy's and ethnic gourmet indian meals but they are pricey.

I snack on a box of milk and either sun chips or a rice crispies treat in the afternoon.

I supplement with fish oil, centrum, and creatine. And arginine pills before dates. I drink maybe 3-4 beers a week and no caffeine.

I've been doing this for maybe 3 months and have grown muscle and feel good.

Let me know if anybody likes/dislikes or has suggestions.

[BaronVonDingDong]

arginine pills before dates.

For erectile dysfunction?

[atom]

Ha, no.

I hear girls like big muscles, so I optimize.

I bought the arginine before researching what it does and I think thats all its good for. I won't be buying another bottle.

[TheRuss]

I've read cottage cheese is the quickest digesting protein.

This is false.

[atom]

i did too read that!

is it "one of the quicker digesting proteins?"

at least "a digestible protein?"

[honesty]

Cottage cheese is high in casein, a slow digested protein...

[TxSanshou]

Whey is the fastest digesting protein it's completely separated from the slow digesting protein casein and it better stimulates muscle protein synthesis try whey instead.

[atom]

cool. its ricotta thats the fast digesting cheese then.

ricotta's just not as tasty though.

are both types in yogurt?

[honesty]

I suggest you read the stickies, do some research and look into this yourself. This has all been covered before in this forum, so you should be able to find further info.

Oh, and bend over as TeM is probably going to do very nasty things...

[TheRuss]

i did too read that!

Doesn't matter.

is it "one of the quicker digesting proteins?"

No.

at least "a digestible protein?"

Yes.

cool. its ricotta thats the fast digesting cheese then.

Doubtful.

---

What were you hoping to accomplish with this thread?

[sochin101]

I think he just wanted you to look disapprovingly at him, Russ.
And perhaps a graph or two. Or a chart.
You know you want to... ;-)

[atom]

ricotta = fermented, boiled, and filtered whey

Whats my goal? No real goal. Just sharing my diet with the world and maybe starting a conversation with strangers on the internet and learning soemthing.

Here's my formula:

Ease of preparation + no significant sacrifice = sustainable compliance

I see a lot of people trying crazy diets (caveman, anabolic, adkins, etc) trying to maximize protein synthesis or lipolysis or whatever. I am skeptical that diet is a function to be maximized.

Adkin's died early of a heart attack, right? Red meat and cholesterol may increase testosterone production but what about arterial plaques and all that?

I'm not trying to attack anybody or tell anybody to do what I do but this is one dude's easy diet with a lot of protein, fiber, and good carbs.

I'll take any charts you got.

[newbie999]

I'm just some dude but I look built and have a lot of energy and rarely crave anything so I thought I'd post my diet.

I'm not optimizing or maximizing anything, except maybe ease of shopping and ease of preparation.

The cornerstone of my diet is skim milk and cereal. I get whole grain cereals with nuts and raisins and stuff. I switch off cereals when I get tired of a brand. I like kroger brand meusli, great grains, oatmeal squares, raisin bran, whatever. All unsweetened and fortified with vitamins. I always put an entire scoop of whey protein powder in my cereal before pouring the milk for more protein and more nutirition. I am convinced putting the powder into food lessens the "gas effect."

The other thing I eat a whole lot of is cottage cheese. I've read cottage cheese is the quickest digesting protein. I buy 2% because skim just isn't as good. I always put two spoonfuls or so of low sugar jelly (apricot usually) in the cottage cheese. This is enough to satisfy any sweet cravings I get. Post workout sometimes I'll put a scoop or two of whey power in cottage cheese with applesauce to get carbs, protein, and milkfat in me quick.

I always keep raw almonds around too. I eat a small handfull everytime I walk by my kitchen, which is quite often as I live in a studio and am always in my kitchen. Fiber, good fats, protein, nutrients, and all that. Almonds are great for your poop.

About once a week I'll cook a pound of ground turkey breast with a can of veggies. It doesn't get much easier than tossing the meat in a pan, pouring a can of veggies in for salt/flavor, spinning the pepper mill for a minute, and stirring until the meat is cooked.

Lunch is usually some frozen meal or a subway sandwhich always with 2% milk. I really like the Amy's and ethnic gourmet indian meals but they are pricey.

I snack on a box of milk and either sun chips or a rice crispies treat in the afternoon.

I supplement with fish oil, centrum, and creatine. And arginine pills before dates. I drink maybe 3-4 beers a week and no caffeine.

I've been doing this for maybe 3 months and have grown muscle and feel good.

Let me know if anybody likes/dislikes or has suggestions.

I have a few issues with your diet. The first is the cereal and your skim milk. My first concern is too much sugar. Check the sugar content of your cereal and skim milk. If you have regular skim milk I'm betting it's loaded with sugar. I would try Steal Cut Oatmeal or Quick Oat vs. cereal due to the sugar content plus I believe it's cheaper XD.

Cottage cheese is not a quick digesting protien. I have no idea where you got that but that is casein protein, one of the slowest digesting protiens. You should do a bit of research on types of protien and nutrion timing. A slow digesting protien is great at night time to minimize the period your body goes into a catabolic state while your asleep.

Also, anything you buy canned I highly suggest washing the hell out of it to clean out all the excessive salt from the food. Can food tends to be loaded with sodium which = high blood pressure + bloat. You can also sub ground turkey with less lean beef by learning how to wash out the fat correctly. I think you can get instructions on how to do that on-line. Personally I just buy 96% lean ground even though I know it's uber expensive. For veggies, try frozen veggies...slightly more expensive then canned, but less sodium and the product is freshner as often times the veggies are picked and immediately frozen from the farms they are taken from. Frozen berries are a big time money saver as well especially blueberries.

If you can somehow avoid eating out you should also save a ton of money. Subway is going to cost you like $6-7 a meal whereas if you cook you should be able to drop that to $3-4 or less. Avoid lunch meats also, they are loaded with sodium and preservatives. Stuff like sunchips are not ideal as well...they more like filler calories. Try something esle.

Lastly, ditch the beer. Alochol wrecks havoc on the system. Dehydration, useless calories, catabolic state, etc etc. Just ditch it or drink far less then 3-4 beers a week. You will progress much better this way. Try to aim for eating at least every 3 hours

[atom]

Re: canned vegetables

If I am getting seriously sweaty like 6 days a week lifting weights and choking people, do I have to worry about salt intake? Now I know I've read that sweating regulates sodium in the body.

[Emevas]

ricotta = fermented, boiled, and filtered whey

Whats my goal? No real goal. Just sharing my diet with the world and maybe starting a conversation with strangers on the internet and learning soemthing.

Here's my formula:

Ease of preparation + no significant sacrifice = sustainable compliance

I see a lot of people trying crazy diets (caveman, anabolic, adkins, etc) trying to maximize protein synthesis or lipolysis or whatever. I am skeptical that diet is a function to be maximized.

Adkin's died early of a heart attack, right? Red meat and cholesterol may increase testosterone production but what about arterial plaques and all that?

I'm not trying to attack anybody or tell anybody to do what I do but this is one dude's easy diet with a lot of protein, fiber, and good carbs.

I'll take any charts you got.

1: It's ATkins, not Adkins.
2: He slipped and fell on some ice you retard.

The reason I'm so harsh with you is that spreading around that kind of bullshit over the internet is what has made diet such a confusion variable in the first place. Do your research before you make ANY claims.