Ask Dr Nerenberg | Health and Fitness

Any bodybuilders/serious weightlifters/nutrition experts out there?

Will a daily diet of .75 lbs of ground turkey, three scrambled eggs, two bowls of whole wheat pasta or egg noodles, one bowl of cereal, three potatoes plain, one cereal bar, one apple, and a small bowl of lettuce be enough to get me ripped? I’m lifting weights four times a week for about 1 hr and 15 min. Here’s my training split:

This is not a bad diet. What you have to do is determine what caloric intake works for you. Most of the guys who have crazy diets are very advanced and are likely juicing. For the rest of us, a consistent diet spread out between 5-6 meals per day is what we need. Yes, oatmeal is an excellent source of high fiber complex carb and should be a bodybuilder’s staple. Potatoes are a good food source, but are also high in starch so be careful of how much of those you eat. Though you have some good proteins listed there, you may want to consider a good whey protein powder as well, if you don’t already have one. Also, I don’t see any good fats on your menu here, be sure to include those. Flax seed oil or fish oil works great. A proper diet is more than just what we see other people eat, it’s also a long-term observation about how it works for us individually, since all people and programs are different.

“Getting ripped” is a process of building and cutting. Most bodybuilders go through at least somewhat of a building phase, where the primary goal is to pack on as much muscle as possible, then a cutting phase where the goal is to reduce bodyfat levels while maintaining muscle mass. For most people, this comes from years of hard work, where the phases take months to occur. As one advances, muscle gains come slower so it takes longer to get bigger, so this is where patience, consistency and hard work come into play.

Collard Greens Recipe: How to Cook Southern, Soul Food Collard Greens