Not knowing anything else about you I wouldn't be able to say if you're eating shit or not. Maybe a bit more protein would be ideal, but I wouldn't necessarily buy into 'computer generated' calculations as to how much you should eat. By that I mean stuff like, oh you weigh 165, and work out x times a week, ergo you need to eat a fucking skipfull every day. I find I eat way less than what most strength and fitness sites recommend, and have consistently gained both lean muscle mass and weight for the past couple of years. A few years back however when I did take their advice to heart I became one big fat bastard.
Basically you know how your body responds better than anyone else, and while general healthy eating guidelines are pretty much universal the finer points are very much a personal thing IMO.
The most valuable info I ever found came from John Berardi's site. He has an article called '7 habits of effective nutritional programmes' or something similar. Liie I said, it's pretty generic advice, but it's up to you to experiment within those guidelines.
Eat alot of eggs,oats,whole grains, and meats such as chicken breasts,steak,shrimp,salmon,etc and you will grow...I eat pounds of meat per day man,when on I have consumed 6000 cllean calories per day.
Drink a lotta milk as well,it will help greatly with your claorie deficit...
***Chemical Sage Responding to pager. Post e-mail address for zone pdf.'
In the meantime, most people who eat healthy don't get a huge amount of their calories from protein. Even if you're eating your lean body mass in protein, if you have a high activity level it's not going to amount to a huge percentage of your calories.
Note: the zone w/ more good fats is still the zone. It's sometimes called 'the athletes zone' but it's the same animal.
Eat lean proteins, good fats, fruits, vegetables and some starches. Try not to eat sugar or have a huge amount of your calories coming from starches (bread, rice, potatoes, pasta).
Some people can have 5-6 meals prepared and eat them throughout the day. For the rest of us, it is easier to pick up a good MRP or protein shake, or some nutrition bars such as Myoplex bars or the like.
I burn a lot of calories. At 28, I still have a pretty high metabolism, in that I have to eat to keep the weight I have. Not as bad as 5 years ago, but still. It also has to do with your activity levels. If you are lifting several times a week, plus cardio sessions and grappling/striking training, not to mention school/job, you are burning lots of calories. Adjust accordingly. I would say add slowly, so it will be easier to get your calories where you want them. 2300 might be a goal, and just work up to it. I've found that by increasing my protein and decreasing my carbs lowers my total calories, but I retain the same weight and end up leaner. But everbody's different.
ChemicalSage, I've read the pdf and what strikes me as odd is that
even for "athletic well-muscled female" they only allow 4 blocks.
That's a total of 14 blocks which is around 1085 calories.
I'm 5'6'', 136 lbs, 20 % BF,I start losing weight at 2200 calories
during an ordinary training week (judo twice, lifting twice).
You guys really need to do the math to make sure you're not
undereating.