Locking in my diet

[MeatyMan]

I am a 31 y/o male. 6'4" tall and currently weight 224.

I've been running the NLP for almost 3 weeks now and have gained 14 pounds already. I know that "big = strong" but I'm worried that I'm just using training as an excuse to overeat.

When I started the program I was at 210, and had lost over 115 pounds since February of 2020. Yes, I was a big fat meaty piece of shit. I really don't want to go back to that state.

Here's an example of a typical days calorie/macro intake (maybe a little more snacking this day but I want to show my habits at their worse):

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Is there any obvious changes I should make to my diet to stop myself from gaining so quickly and becoming a fat fuck again?

[Robert Santana]

Fat could be a little lower but it honestly isn't terrible for a guy your size. I'd like to see 450 g carb and 125 g fat instead. Better use of resources. The more important questions is: are you progressing? Have you missed lifts or struggled to complete sets? How much are you currently lifting? Let your lifting guage your eating but remember you are a tall male and likely large frame given your propensity to gain weight so your baseline calorie needs will be higher than the average person so 4k for you isn't "insanely high."

[MeatyMan]

Fat could be a little lower but it honestly isn't terrible for a guy your size. I'd like to see 450 g carb and 125 g fat instead. Better use of resources. The more important questions is: are you progressing? Have you missed lifts or struggled to complete sets? How much are you currently lifting? Let your lifting guage your eating but remember you are a tall male and likely large frame given your propensity to gain weight so your baseline calorie needs will be higher than the average person so 4k for you isn't "insanely high."

Hey Robert, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my question! I've taken what you said to heart and tried to adjust my diet to reach the carb/fat targets that you set for me.

To answer your question; yes, I'm advancing pretty quickly. I've been able to add 15 lbs to DL (135-220), 10 lbs to Squat(135-195), 5 lbs to Bench(135-150) and Press(65-85) every training sessions (3 weeks training). I realize that this is probably a little too fast of a progression though and will be cutting down to +10 lbs for DL, +5 squat, and +2.5 bench/press starting tomorrow.

Here's a collage I put together of the past 4 days calories/macros. Hopefully this looks more in line with your suggestions. I also included some pictures of my body composition so you can get a better idea of my frame/build:

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

I know this is probably a difficult question to answer but what do you think a good target range for weight would be for someone of my height (6'4") and age (31) would be; and how quickly should I be trying to reach that weight? I've heard Rip say that you should focus on gaining weight as fast as possible and that eventually the training will sort out your body composition as you put on more lean muscle mass. Is that what you would recommend as well?

[Robert Santana]

Looks reasonable to me in terms of choices and macros. Once you do that for a few days you'll feel it in the gym pretty quick. I think you should weigh at least 230 lb in the short term given your current level of strength. Eventually that will need to be 250, possibly 275 depending on how long you train for and how strong you get. If you gain that weight and are squatting 225 then you can imagine what that will look like. If you are squatting 425 and pulling 525 that will look different of course. You need to speed up your deadlift you mistakenly started it too light. No way that you were deadlifting and squatting 135. You probably had 185-205 in you on day 1 and sand bagged it. Standard deal.

[alfredtom]

I was looking for related information. Thanks! This helps. The community is quite resourceful.

[Robert Santana]

You are welcome