TBAB compliance and the day's last meal

[Aaron Montgomery]

Hey Jordan, I've read TBAB and am on my fourth or fifth week of SS. Age 30, male, 6'1". Got put on TRT by my doctor 6 months ago because my natural T-levels were stupid low. Over the last 4 weeks I've gone from 172.4lbs (~15% bf) and a 35" waist to 182lbs with a 36.25" waist. Squat has progressed from 135 3x5 to 265 3x5. I'm eating 3700 cals a day, F/C/P are set to 100/450/250 grams.

I'd like to ask 3 questions:

1. Over the last week my weight has fluctuated a bit, but it averages out to the same as the week prior. Should I go ahead and bump up my calories by 100 since I would like to hit around 1lb per week of weight gain? My protein intake is probably a little high, so I would add calories from fat and carbs.

2. I am trying to be TBAB compliant but sometimes have issues hitting macros at the end of the day. For example, for dinner tonight I ate a decent amount of grilled ribeye (medium rare) and pan-seared scallops (late valentine's day dinner...), so now I'm needing to eat 500 more calories for my second dinner, but have already hit my protein intake amount. Should I try squeeze all the remaining TBAB carbs and fat into my second dinner, or is it better to hit a scoop of whey protein as well for increased MPS? My second dinner would be consumed at 9:30 pm, 3 hours after first dinner.

3. I'm having a hard time getting 450 carbs down a day (a number which is increasing every week or two). I find fat much easier to increase (bacon, steak, bread dipped in olive oil, cheese, heavy whipping cream in my cereal, more bacon and steak)... I've been eating a bowl of granola cereal with 2% Lactaid and downing 8oz of juice with 2 or 3 of my meals every day. Any other suggestions for downing extra carbs after a meal?

Thanks for your time and help!

PS - I saw that Alan Thrall put up some vids of you and Austin on his youtube page. Good stuff! I need to see Austin for some coaching once I get some spending money.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Aaron, thanks for the post. My responses in number form:

1) Yes.

2) I would just hit the number for the day without worrying about MPS from meal to meal.

3) More cereal, white rice, dried fruits, low fat/non fat ice creams, etc. are all pretty carb dense foods

[craze9]

Pasta! It is very carb dense and it's delicious! Whole wheat pasta if you want fiber.

[Aaron Montgomery]

Thanks Jordan!

Is there any significant difference between eating fresh fruit, dried fruit, or drinking juice?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Thanks Jordan!

Is there any significant difference between eating fresh fruit, dried fruit, or drinking juice?

Fruit juice is much different given its delivery, lack of skin, and lack of fiber.

[Aaron Montgomery]

Fruit juice is much different given its delivery, lack of skin, and lack of fiber.

Is the difference substantial enough to say that drinking 3-4 cups of juice a day is "bad", or at least, Jordan non-compliant? If it makes any difference, I typically drink juice while eating cereal, so I'm not chugging it on an empty stomach.

Also, the fruit juice I drink is called "Blue Goodness" by Bolthouse that says it has 8g of fiber (inulin), so the fiber is there. Between this drink and the granola cereal, I have no trouble hitting 40-50g of fiber a day.

I think I'm gonna start making a small pot of Jasmine rice every day, and eat a little bit with every meal. My mother-in-law gave me some bagels from Panera yesterday, those things are uber carb-dense, and rather tasty with cream cheese.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Inulin is a different type of fiber and in general, yes I would say that drinking 3-4 cups of fruit juice per day is "bad".

[Aaron Montgomery]

Inulin is a different type of fiber and in general, yes I would say that drinking 3-4 cups of fruit juice per day is "bad".

Ugh. What if I blended oranges or other fruits and drank that? I find drinking calories sooo much easier than eating them...

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Ugh. What if I blended oranges or other fruits and drank that? I find drinking calories sooo much easier than eating them...

You can do whatever you want, but that's not how I would take in the majority of my fruit.

[Aaron Montgomery]

You can do whatever you want, but that's not how I would take in the majority of my fruit.

How much fresh/dried fruit can I eat a day without it being considered "excessive"?