Establishing Nutrition Guidelines

[RPB]

Sex: Male
Age: 22
Program: Starting Strength (for approximately 4 weeks now)
Weight: 175
Height: 6' 3"
Current Calorie and Macro Total: Not sure, I'm very new to this

First, I just want to say thanks to Jordan and everyone on this site because already it's been an extreme wealth of knowledge and I'm doing my best to soak it all in.

Now to my question, I am attempting to set up nutrition parameters in order to make the most out of my training. Like most people my goal is to increase strength and gain as much muscle as I can with the least fat possible. After reading To Be A Beast I believe the best thing for me to follow would be the skinny novice measured (350g Protein / 350g Carbohydrates / 130g Fat) coming in at a little under 4000kCal a day. As I said before my goal is to get as big and strong as I can with as little fat as possible. Possibly I'm just being unrealistic but I don't really want to put on lots of fat to gain muscle if I could more strictly adhere to nutrition guidelines and gain the size and strength with less fat. So basically what I am asking here is if using this template is what you feel would be the best plan of action for me or if you have anything that you would suggest modifying.

My other question is about supplements. I read that the only supplements you believe should always be used are whey, BCAAs, Creatine, and Beta Alanine. Is this an accurate list? Can you please explain the best way to utilize each of these (timing, amount, what to take them with, etc.)?

Thanks!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

No need to post this twice, as this is a moderated forum and so I have to approve all the posts.

Now to my question, I am attempting to set up nutrition parameters in order to make the most out of my training. Like most people my goal is to increase strength and gain as much muscle as I can with the least fat possible.

You're 6'3, 175, and 22 years old. We've got to get you over the "fear of gaining fat". It's going to happen but you're not going to get fluffy. Just part of the process. Start thinking in terms of 230lbs.

After reading To Be A Beast I believe the best thing for me to follow would be the skinny novice measured (350g Protein / 350g Carbohydrates / 130g Fat) coming in at a little under 4000kCal a day.

This may be appropriate or it may by wholly inappropriate, depending on what you're eating now.

Possibly I'm just being unrealistic but I don't really want to put on lots of fat to gain muscle if I could more strictly adhere to nutrition guidelines and gain the size and strength with less fat

Yes you are. You can gain ~25lbs of muscle in a year, with maybe a total gain of 50lbs (25 muscle, 10-15 of other LBM tissue, and 10-20 of fat depending on a thousand things). Gain the 50lbs.

My other question is about supplements. I read that the only supplements you believe should always be used are whey, BCAAs, Creatine, and Beta Alanine. Is this an accurate list? Can you please explain the best way to utilize each of these (timing, amount, what to take them with, etc.)?

There's a whole sticky on supplements at the top of this forum.

[RPB]

Thanks for the response. Sorry I didn't mean to post twice. You are 100% right I just have to get over the fear of gaining fat, I think I may have just needed someone to do what you did and say I'm being unreasonable. In terms of where I should start, a normal day for me consists of a smoothie in the morning with fruit, nuts, veggies, and yogurt and also peanut butter toast. Then for lunch I usually eat two sandwiches (turkey, pb&j, etc.), some almonds, fruit, and veggie. For dinner I eat about a chicken breast sized portion of meat, same amount of starch, a vegetable, and fruit. I eat a pretty varied diet but I'm hoping this is the best way to break it down and covers what an average day of eating for me looks like. Hopefully this can help you give me a solid estimation of where to start nutritionally. Thanks again for your help.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I still need more information. Figure out how many kCal you're taking in right now, then add 100-200kCal every 4th day to that until you get up to 4000, then see what's happening.