Hey guys,

I've just joined the club! As you would presume; my question is, is it possible to effectively put on size and muscle without supplements such as protien powders etc. in the long run. I have been training for almost a year now and I have gained size and put on some muscle but i am having a really hard time getting those proteins. That's not the issue though i can manage that but will it be enough is the question. I m eating 5 times a day. Lots of carbs in the morning and then a more balanced diet throughout the day. My lunch and dinner aprroximately consist of 30 grams of protein. So if I keep this up will I be okay? Am I doing something wrong? And lastly is it possible to have a really nice big body(not a pro-competition body) without inorganic supplements. Thanks A LOT guys! I hope i didn't mess up my first post.

With respect

Bill

Hey man! First off, welcome to the site! You are going to love it here and our app will be out in about 4 weeks!

as for your question, of course bro! Just need to focus on food.

Can you give us a breakdown of your daily macros?

Also, here are some great foods to get that protein in.

Chicken, Fish, Steak, Greek Yogurt, Eggs, Egg Whites, Cheese, Milk, Nuts / Almonds, Beans

Are those on your menu?

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Im getting almost 30 grams of protein each meal. It's like 25-30 grams per meal. As for carbs I get about 300 grams each day which worries me a bit, is it too much or vice versa? In all honesty i didnt see fats as a crucial element up until this week :) so i dont have a count for them but i just bought nuts and almonds thinking of eating a handfull of each in the morning, if that's a good idea of course. And yes i eat almost everything you mentioned expect for yogurt which i know is really important but i just couldn't make peace with that flavor so if you have any advice on that I'd actually be very glad.Thanks bro! :)

150-200 gram carbs are okay and still on maintain level. 300 gram are going towards gaining mass /muscles.

But if your daily complete caloric intake is smaller than what you burn away, you will still loose weight.

So depending on your goals this can change.

And i am glad you finally figured that fat is "essential" and vital !

Please don't ban it from your diet. Eating no fats at all will make you very very sick very soon.

Nuts are a good source in addition to 2 fishoil capsules for the day, and olive oil, sesam oil, walnut oil etc.

Fats don't make you fat. A too high caloric surplus will make you gain weight. A good ratio for all makros is aboiut 50 carbs, 30 protein and 20 fats. (unless you wish to cut, then i'd shift some carbs towards the proteins)

I'm trying to put on mass but I didn't know if that was enough so thanks! Without the protein powders etc. eating constantly is actually feels a little bit off.So an off-topic question; as I said, I eat 5 meals and none of them are snacks they are serious meals so that I can get my proteins. And the digestion process of this cycle is a bit of a problem. The intervals between two meals are often times 2 hours so I think I can never fully digest a meal before having another one. So this must put stress on my liver etc. So is this a bad thing? Any other solutions to get my carbs, proteins and fats other than full meals? Thanks again, wonderful community!

Hey bro.

If you can, figure out all of your macros.

As for your concern about how regularly you eat - don't worry about it. Your body will eventually digest food, and 2 hours is plenty of time anyway.

You don't need to be having full meals - snacks are fine. If can have some fruit as a snack for carbs, nuts as a snack for fat, greek yoghurt as a snack for protein, pretty much whatever you want to eat can be a snack.

You don't need to have a huge meal to get some protein in - a cup of greek yoghurt as a snack can give you 20g.

Watch this video too, it might help you:

Jordan

Hey :) no problem.

Also what makes you think it causes issues with your liver?

Or is it maybe just the stomach / bowels still being as bit full?

Can you maybe make a list of what exactly you eat all day? Thanks!

It took me a while to really sort out my eating properly at the beginning! (My problem is i love food) These are a few more simple tips which helped me greatly along the way:

-Start reading the labels on the food you eat: at least be aware of what you are eating, it helps understand what to tweak in the future and become more aware!

-Find healthier snacks and treats protein rich to help you get in your protein needs! Swapping out that packet of chips for some almonds is always a bonus!

-My biggest tip would be : Ease into your new eating habits slowly! If you all of a sudden change your diet completely to a new regime, you will more than likely give up and return back to your old habits! Make it a gradual change so you dont feel forced into eating in such a way. Many times in the beginning of my training id start a new diet regime and after 2-3 weeks id be back to my old ways! Ive taken the time to slowly add changes to my diet, and now its just normal to me!

Also the key word in this post is "Supplements!" this is an addition to something, not a replacement, ofcourse you can have a great body without supplements! they just help you out! :)

Bill,

You do not need to eat many small meals every 2-3 hours. That is a nutritional myth that was debunked years ago. Your body processes calories the same regardless if it gets them in 1 meal or 7 meals. Your liver only gets stressed if it is also strained by alcohol and poor eating habits including lots of simple and processed sugars and food. I eat only 3 meals a day and I eat when I am hungry. I don't force food in when my body doesn't want it. Your body is great at telling you when it needs nutrient replenishment.

Supplements help supplement a macro intake as there is only so much food one can eat in a day. To put on size, you need to consume lots of quality calories. Protein is most critical, along with healthy fats, and then carbs. Supplements help fill in the gaps but are not needed to build a strong body and bigger muscles.

John

Oh god, guys thank you all! I'll try to adress everything so here goes.

First off, yogurt is essential I know but i can't eat it somehow it makes me vomit I don't know if anyone experienced such a thing but if you did you can tell me how you managed to eat it.

As for the liver issue, I don't consume alcohol. Infact I have a very good diet in terms of health. I don't consume almost anything that has sugar. But because I cant eat yogurt I just end up eating meat and meat and meat... that makes it hard to digest i think. My meals are as follows; breakfast, eggs milk cereal nuts and almonds. The other meals are like this some sort of meat potatoes rice nuts.

One more question, there are flavored yogurts that i can barely it. Like strawberry yogurt for example. I thought about getting used to the taste with them but they didn't have a lot a protein in them and they have a lot of sugar so what do you think about this?

Thanks again! This community is great :)

i don't know who told you that yoghurt is essential, but..

if you decided to have dairies in your diet then you can eat whatever diary product you wish. It can be Milk, it can be greek yoghurt it can be a bit of cotton cheese, or skyr, and so on and so forth.. the list is long. With some of them you just have to take a bit care and count in your macros for their fat content, and adjust what else you eat on that day. (in case you strictly pay attention to your macros) but that's all of it.

Most people eat diary products for their prothein content and the calcium and the vitamins. No one is forcing you to limit your dairy intake to yoghurt only >.>

I also miss a bit of the "veggies" in your list of meals ^^ unless you count them in on the rice&meat meals. If you don't have any in there, you really need to add them !

Avoid those yoghurts loaded with sugar. Yoghurt is going to have some natural sugar in it, but that should be pretty much all the sugar you get from it.

I would say to flavour it up with protein powder..but if you aren't taking supplements that will be difficult haha. So you can always throw some berries in there to give it extra taste.

Although I guess that's all pointless if you can't eat yoghurt without vomiting...so for your protein you've got plenty of other sources that @Scott_Herman listed.

Jordan

Of course brotha! The name says it all. Supplements are just used to supplemet a well planned diet (in fact, it says this right on the side of most supplements)! As long as youre gaining muscle and starting to get closer and closer to your goal, keep going with it!

With that being said, there are supplements that will help you make gains faster. Proteins, fats, and carbs are best to get from whole foods. Things, such as creatine, are best to get in supplement form and will help add on size quicker.

If I had to choose only a few supplements to take, I would say creatine and bcaa's are the neccessities along with a good multi-vitamin.