carlfiesta999

Ive been keen into weight lifting and training for around 5 years, i trained really hard, ate like a horse for 18 months and put on a good 2 stone, though i wasnt toned and had quite a stomach i did have arms that everyone looked at and a decent size chest.

Didnt train for a year because i caught a nasty virus, long story but lost a lot of what i put on, started training again in 2008 and was going through a stage in my life where i was a bit of a idiot, after the virus, loosing my job and girlfriend i just spent days hammering it in the gym and eating what i wanted, still got a good size back up, but then ended up taking oral steroids with a friend and balooned up to a silly size,this went on for about 14 months then i stopped training again because i did my hip in in a car accident.

Nearly 2 years on, i woke up the other morning and decided i wanted to start again, but this time i decided i wanted to eat properly, get a proper intake of foods with everything protein,carbs,efa's included, and see if i can do it properly without stuffing my face with shit to put weight on and roids.

I purchased a bench, and 200 kg of cast iron olympic weights off ebay, 25kg olympic bar and dumbells, for £240 after some research ive found out ive got over £450 quids worth of equipment at least, just looking for a lighter barbell and curl bar and ive got what i need.

Ive dropped from around 15 stone, down to 12 stone (77kg) (168lb) im 6 foot 2, and basically always found it hard to put weight on, however well i eat, how little, less, or often, it seems near on impossible, but i started eatin a balanced diet before christmas after being plagued with stomach trouble as advised by someone i saw at the doctors and ive managed to put on half a stone (was 11.5 before) and i dont eat half as much as i used to.

I did a lot of research last night, on eating, what foods where best and what you need, now bare in mind my goal here is to build mass and to increase weight, im not trying to loose weight or tone up.

From a few sources including one very well known bodybuilding forum, it says that you should consume 1.5grams of protein for every lb of bodyweight, which puts me in at around 250grams a day of protein, and 2.5grams of carbs for every lb of bodyweight which totals 420g of carbs. but there being good and bad carbs, you can eat 10 hobnobs and thats 100grams of carbs alone.. but how the fuck are you supposed to consume 250 gram of protein a day.. something didnt ring true with this but then when i read the similar stories on other forums i was like wtf? A glass of milk whole is about 4 grams of protein, a tin of tuna, bout 25 grams, even a protein shake only contains around 40 grams.. i just cant see how its possible. Also is the same with caloric intake, how is a guy supposed to consume 4000 - 5000 calories a day without eating complete shit?

I know people who trained and ate what they want and got big, i know people that do protein shakes and eat what they want, they got big, i know people who ate to a strict diet with shakes and still got big. Is this whole theory of ' you must eat x amount of calories/protein/carbs/efa a day or you will not grow/get big simple bullshit or? I thought the harder you trained the bigger you got? Obviously your body needs to be fuelled correctly but i still think some of these figures are a little OTT ?

Day to day things i eat/drink, apple juice, about 3-4 litres of water at work, about 2 - 3 pints of whole milk,bananas, tuna, bread, chicken, pasta, rice, baked potatoes, scrambled egg (egg white makes me gag) ,ground mince beef,turkey, broccoli, amongst other fruits and veg (fresh).

What are people opinions on all this, im just curious as ive got big a couple of times now, from taking different attitudes to training, whether its eating like a horse and banging weights out i got big, or to ignoring my diet eating what i wanted and roids, i got big, is it really all down to eating stupid amounts of protein/carbs/calories a day or is it more in the technique and routine of your training programme. Dont really want people telling me im doing it wrong because i know i have, i just cant understand the neccesities of these over eating diet plans when you can big from just eating well and training hard and properly, even if you are a hard gainer like myself?

Discuss.