My Mass Gain Diet

Posted by Coach Todd on Nov 7, 2011 in Nutrition | 0 comments

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For the next 60 days leading up to my start date for P90X2, I am going to be focused on GAINING MASS with P90X! Everyone wants to build muscle and that will be my primary goal. I have focused on losing fat and getting in the best shape of my life, but now I want to put on between 6-8 pounds of muscle before I start P90X2. During P90X2, I will be on a maintenance diet so that I dont lose any muscle mass, then the last 30 days of P90X2, I will cut up and drop my body fat way down for the after photos! During this mass gain phase though, I dont want to get fat. I will sacrifice a small amount of body fat, but like I said, I cut during P90x2. I currently weigh in at 180lbs and about 6.5% body fat. By the end of my mass gain, I hope to be in the 186-188lbs range.

You are going to notice some differences in my mass gain diet plan and a standard P90X diet plan.

#1 Calorie/Nutritional targets – These will vary, depending on the training day.

Lift Days: (3x per week) 3200 calories/day
Cardio Days: (2x per week) 3000 calories/day
Rest Days: (2x per week) 2800 calories/day

This will allow me to fuel my muscles with everything they need to grow on lift days, while not overdoing it on the calories during a cardio day or rest day. With this plan, I should be able to add about 1lb of muscle per week which will be right on target for my goal. I will continue to take weight/body fat measurements and adjust my nutrition totals if needed.

#2 Keeping Track – I will be using an excel spreadsheet to “check off” the items as I eat them. I will still be using the MyFitnessPal app for weekend or times when my diet may vary, but for the next 60 days, I plan on eating the same thing for almost every meal aside from dinner. I dont mind eating the same things everyday, as long as I have a couple choices for variety. I have created an excel spreadsheet (for each training/rest day) for your use. You can follow exactly what I did or edit the document for your own use. Either way, planning will be key in my success here.

#3 Nutritional Intake Ranges – When you are on My 1900 Calorie Diet or the P90X phase-2 diet, then your nutritional intake percentages are very regimented. For good reason too!!! It works! In order to give myself some room for variety and substitutions though, I will be hitting a range, rather than a target for my daily intake percentages. My protein goal is 30-35%, carbs 50-55%, and fat 15-20% on any given day.

Documents for your use – See tabs on the excel spreadsheet for the type of training day

Download My P90X Mass Gain Diet Here (Excel):

Coach Todd’s Mass Gain Diet

Download My P90X Mass Gain Diet Here (PDF):

Coach Todd’s Mass Gain Diet

#4 My Mass Gain Diet Explanations – Here are some explanations of the items found on My Mass Gain Diet.

Lift Days – Its very important that I eat EVERY 2.5-3 hours or it is going to be very difficult to meet my daily ranges if I am late on a meal. Planning and timing will be my success.

Cardio Days – To reduce my calorie intake I took out the greek yogurt/berries/honey for lunch and also reduce the amount of almonds I eat for lunch from a 16ct to 8ct.

Rest Days – On rest days, my diet is identical to Cardio Days except I will not be consuming the P90X Results & Recovery Formula.

Food Explanations:

Chocolate PB Banana – Shakeology: This is the shake I drink every morning for my Breakfast (Part 1): 1 scoop – Shakeology, 1 cup – unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbsp – natural peanut butter (I use Adam’s brand), 1/2 a banana.

Whole Wheat Bread: I use Franz – Oregon Trail 100% Whole Wheat bread. This is a local brand and doesnt include ghigh fructose corn syrup. You would be surprised what the put in bread. Read the ingredients!!!

Peanut Butter: I use Adam’s Peanut Butter. We get it at Walmart, but I am sure its available at most stores.

Natural Jam – I use Welch’s Naturals Jam. It does have 8g of sugar per tbsp, but I only use one tbsp. We also use Smucker’s fruit spread which is really good too.

Homemade Protein Bar: Check out my Homemade Protein Bars recipe. I have since replaced the whey with pea protein. Pea protein is much more cooking friendly.

Natural Honey: We get ours from Walmart. Its just the Great Value brand Natural Clover Honey. I use this in very small amounts and its a great way to naturally sweeten things like plain nonfat greek yogurt.

Lean Meat: Includes – chicken, tuna, salmon, white fish, turkey, lean ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, egg whites, lean pork loin and lean steak. Its important for me that I have these options because I really dont know what my wife is going to cook until I get home from work. Either does she usually, lol.

Veggies: Fresh produce, most often steamed. We use a lot of broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, spinach, spring mix

Greek Yogurt: I buy this in bulk from Costco. I think Sam’s Club is the same thing. But its Kirkland brand and it comes in two 4cup containers for only $5!!! It is plain/nonfat greek yogurt though.

Berries: I also buy these from Costco and they come in a bulk frozen bag. They are Radar Farms – Three berry mix. I boil the berries with a little bit of water and put these on my greek yogurt for flavor along with a little bit of honey for sweetness.

String Cheese: I get these at Walmart and they are Frigo – Light String Cheese. A great snack!

Almonds: Raw! I always buy raw almonds because I dont need all the extra sodium. I can get sodium from other sources and I dont need to overdo it with salted almonds.

H2H: This is Kashi Heart to Heart cereal. I buy the Honey Toasted flavor and it adds a good mix to the bland Cheerios.

Pea Protein: I get my pea protein from a company down in Arizona call Nutrasumma. This stuff is great if you are trying to avoid a lot of dairy or have allergies, plus it tastes phenomenal and is sweetened naturally. It also makes a great flour substitute: pancakes, protein bars, cakes, muffins…all the good stuff. I usually just mix this with water for a high protein snack.

Beans: black beans or pinto beans. I usually only eat these with dinner and I try to make sure I get a 180 calorie serving to meet my targets.

#5 Supplements – My supplements will be fairly simple, but it includes: