First off, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude. I joined on June 6, 2007. T-Nation was the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I am looking for advice regarding my nutrition plan and my next training plan.
I am extremely dedicated. Nothing has higher priority in my life at this point.

My history in a nutshell:
* Until a few years ago, obese - then ran and starved myself to lose 50 pounds
* "Trained" for about 1/2 year half-ass
* Found T-Nation and have been training seriously for 13 months now.
Programs I tried: TBT, QD, BBB, Refined physique transformation, 10-10, TBT again, WM, WM on the Velocity Diet, another cycle wm, WSB, and I just finished Bill Starr's 5x5 (which I liked a lot).


I just finished Bill Star's 5x5 program yesterday and re-tested my 1RMs.
Back squat - 275 (slightly below parallel)
Bench press - 195
Bent-over row - 180
Deadlift - 405
Standing press - 135
Chin-ups - 72.5 pound dumbbell

25 years old and 5"7
Current weight: 168.4
Approx body fat: 21% (digital scale)

Off-day Menu:
Meal #1: 4 egg whites, 4 cups 1% milk, banana, 2 slices whole wheat toast
Meal #2: 2 scoops Metabolic Drive, 2 pieces of fruit
Meal #3: 8 oz extra lean ground beef, 4 spoons natural pb, 8oz vegetables
Meal #4: 2 scoops Metabolic Drive, 2 pieces of fruit
Meal #5: 4 whole eggs, can tuna, 8oz vegetables, 1 spoon natural pb
Meal #6: scoop Metabolic Drive, spoon natural pb, 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese

Training-day Menu:
Meal #1: 4 egg whites, 4 cups 1% milk, banana, 2 slices whole wheat toast
Meal #2: 2 scoops Metabolic Drive, 2 pieces of fruit
Meal #3: 8 oz extra lean ground beef, 4 spoons natural pb, 8oz vegetables
Meal #4: 2/3 serving Surge during, full serving Surge after w/ 5g creatine
Meal #5: package brown whole grain rice, 4 cups 1% milk, can tuna, banana
Meal #6: scoop Metabolic drive, spoon natural pb, 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese

I'm looking for some advice - as far as my nutrition plan,
and what program I should do next. I was thinking of
repeating Bill Starr's 5x5 again, or doing something to lose
the fat first before continuing. Opinions.. ideas?

keep up the hard work. supersetting may help if you never tried them. If your body is not acustomed to doing supersets it is very straining. try back/chest, shoulders/biceps/trices, legs/abs. Just some friendly advice.

You drink a lot of milk

Yes, yes I do. I like milk. It is tasty.

You probably dont need so much natural PB. Switch some of that out with raw unsalted nuts.

Other than that, it looks good. Make sure to get as much veggies as possible, and you should probably have a veggie to fruit ratio of 3:1 or 4:1.


As for training, its hard to say what will work best for you. You could go with a typical mass gain program, and just decrease calories to lose some fat. If you like Waterbury programs, ABBH or Quadro dynamo might be good.

I'd suggest getting your BF between 12-15% before you try to focus on muscle gain, at which point you should try to do clean bulks.

Yah I agree with dankid! Your probly gona want to get that body fat a bit lower however go about it the right way! Maby you could cut out 2 glasses of milk and 2 tbsp of peanut butter a day? thats almost 500 calories right there!...... just some food for thought

The question is what do you want to do and what are your goals. Not what everyone else thinks or want you to do.

Thanks for the input!
I think I'm going to concentrate on getting my body fat lower. Instead of significantly decreasing calories, I'm gonna take up a sport or mixed martial arts, I haven't decided which yet. That way I will also get the conditioning and cardiovascular benefits. And taking out some peanut butter and milk will be easy.. I force myself to eat this much, otherwise I don't make any gains.. in fact I usually try to eat more.

wakiki wrote:
Thanks for the input!
I think I'm going to concentrate on getting my body fat lower. Instead of significantly decreasing calories, I'm gonna take up a sport or mixed martial arts, I haven't decided which yet. That way I will also get the conditioning and cardiovascular benefits. And taking out some peanut butter and milk will be easy.. I force myself to eat this much, otherwise I don't make any gains.. in fact I usually try to eat more.

I would change alot about your diet if I was at your bodyfat and looking to cut bodyfat.

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