Is my current nutrition enough to support my body building goals?

Question

I am new to to bodybuilding. Though I have worked out previously for more than 6 months on and off, I haven't really followed a proper schedule or had the right nutrition. My goal is to have lean muscle while being decently bulked up. I do not want to look huge, but my goal would be to look ripped. My height is 177cm and I weigh 160 pounds and I am 28 years old.

I find this daily requirement for a person in terms of carbs/protein/fat very confusing because there is diverse information about it on the internet and it is hard to figure out for a beginner which one exactly to follow.

I work out for 1 hour a day, 4 days a week. I spend a 5th day of the week on cardio. My current daily food intake includes

• Breakfast: 1 cup oats/cornflakes with 250 ml milk, 2 medium bananas, 5 eggs(2 whole, 3 whites)
• Morning Snack: 2 slices watermelon, 50gm of peanuts
• Lunch: 8oz chicken(part of whole chicken), 150gm of mixed veggies(broccolli, beets, carrot, beans, peas), 4 slices brown bread
• Evening Snack: 2 oranges small, 1 teaspoon peanut butter
• Dinner: 8oz Chicken(part of whole chicken), 1 cup brown rice, 150gm of mixed veggies(broccolli, beets, carrot, beans, peas), 2 egg whites Before Bed: 250ml milk, few nuts

Is this enough nutrition? Do I need to modify my intake? Any insights will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

For starters, I don't know how tall you are but if you're 160lbs you probably could stand to have a lot more muscle packed on before you start worrying about being shredded.

It's terrific that you're tracking your food. You need to use a site like dailyburn.com or myfitnesspal.com to track the nutrients you're consuming. If you eat a lot of the same things day after day, you will quickly pick up on what macros come from what food.

Your protein looks good; I imagine you're in north of 160 grams per day, which is a good rule of thumb (1 gram of protein per 1 pound of bodyweight). The veggies look great too. I'd ditch the cornflakes, and 4 slices of bread. Replacing them with something that doesn't have refined flour.

But really you need to track everything and make sure that you're getting enough protein and fat, and carbs generally sneak in more than you need anyway. Lyle McDonald is a great resource out there for fitness nutrition, read up on some of his articles which are backed up by current research.

The only other thing I'd add is that although I think a lot of people (including myself) find it helpful in the beginning to watch your diet like a hawk and measuring everything to the ounce, you may find that it gets a little old after a while. Look for "normal" food that you can eat that has terrific macros. The more you can make your normal diet resemble optimal nutrition the easier it will be to stick with (long term).