Dialing in Nutrition While Training for Size & Strength – What’s Worked for You?
Hey all, I've been training seriously for about 4 years now, focused mainly on hypertrophy and overall strength. I’m currently sitting at 190 lbs, 5'11", around 14% body fat. Training is consistent and solid, but I feel like my nutrition might be holding me back from making the next jump in both size and performance.
Right now I’m eating about 3,000–3,200 cals/day, mostly whole foods with a macro split close to 40/30/30 (carbs/protein/fat). Strength is climbing slowly, but I’m not seeing the size gains I was expecting—especially in my chest and back.
I’m not new to lifting, but I’m still learning when it comes to optimizing diet for both hypertrophy and strength at the same time.
Would love to hear what’s worked for some of you—macro tweaks, meal timing, favorite carb sources around workouts, etc. Also open to critique if my current numbers seem off.
Appreciate any feedback, Geometry Dash
- Bookmark
- 0
- 0
For pre-workout I usually keep fats on the lower side since they slow digestion and can make carbs hit later. Lean protein + easy carbs 1-2h before training works best for me. If I eat too much fat close to lifting I just feel heavy. Post-workout there’s no real issue with fats - they don’t block protein synthesis. As long as you’re getting in protein + carbs, having some fats with the meal (like beef, salmon, or whatever you normally eat) is totally fine.
At the end of the day it’s personal tolerance. Some guys can eat higher-fat meals and still train great, others feel sluggish. Just test and see what feels right for you.
Are you still natural right now, or on gear? Either way the answer is the same, you need to be gaining weight if you want to put on size. If you’re natty then you should be gaining at a slower rate than if you’re on gear. If you’re still natty your caloric intake should be at a level such that you're gaining around .25.-1/2lb pound a week max. So that’s like 150-250 calorie surplus per day. To maximize muscle gain and minimize fat gain. And then adjust accordingly depending on results. On gear you can eat in a bigger surplus and gain weight at a faster rate without putting on excess fat. But if you aren’t gaining weight you aren’t gaining muscle.
I don’t believe in any special meal timing. It’s more just about being consistent day in and day out, in the kitchen and the gym. I eat 6 times a day. That keeps me eating every 3hrs. I drop carbs from my last meal before bed. Try to eat relatively clean but I don’t go too crazy and make myself miserable, unless I’m cutting. 5 of those meals are real food, 1 is a shake post workout. I usually have a big meal within about 45 mins of training. Use pics to gauge progress, as well as measurements of body parts relative to your waist and stomach. Keep protein at least 1g per pound of body weight. Most of the old school guys I learned from advocate for double that. I tend to land somewhere in the middle most days. Pre workout I like some simple carbs. My go to snack is an apple and a serving of protein peanut butter. It’s light and gives me good energy and pumps throughout the workout,
You can’t really maximize strength or hypertrophy at the same time though. If you’re doing one the right way the other will suffer. It’s two very different styles of training. If you’re training for size you’ll gain strength slower than if you were purely training for strength, and vise versa.
Great info in here—definitely appreciate the real-world breakdown. To answer your question, I’m still natural for now. I’ve considered cycling down the road but want to make sure I’ve got my foundation 100% dialed in first—especially with food.
I think you nailed it with the reminder about weight gain. I’ve been hovering at this same bodyweight for months, and I was honestly underestimating how consistent I needed to be in the surplus. I’ve been too cautious about fat gain, so I’ll try bumping cals by ~200/day and monitor changes over a few weeks.
Also appreciate the tip on simple carbs pre-workout. I’ve mostly done heavier meals 90 mins out, but something lighter like fruit + protein PB might actually be a solid switch for better energy.
One quick question for you or anyone else reading—how do you guys structure fats around workouts? I’ve seen mixed opinions about keeping them low pre/post, but curious what’s actually worked for people in practice.
Heavier meal 90 mins out is fine too. That’s enough time to get past the full and bloated feeling. I had steak and potatoes about an hour and a half before I did legs today. But any closer to lifting I’d keep it light. I’ll eat an apple or other fruit as soon as 20-30 mins before, basically right before I walk out the door.
In theory it’s best to keep fats low pre workout, atleast if it’s really close to your workout. They’re slow to digest and slow down digestion of carbs. But in reality if you feel good then it’s not really a problem. If you don’t and you feel sluggish and really full then you should avoid them. There’s like 15g of fats in the protein peanut butter I sometimes eat pre workout with an apple and it has no negative effect on me. There’s no down side to eating them post workout, such as if you were having ground beef or steak or fish.
It’s definitely wise to have your diet fully dialed in before you get on cycle. That’s how you maximize gains from gear. And also gain all you can naturally. It makes no sense to start taking drugs that are not good for you and then try to figure out your diet. Then you’re just giving up weeks of potential gains and fucking up your body for no reason. Both diet and training should be as near perfect as they can be before hand. And as you said you should have a solid foundation built first and know how to gain muscle naturally. Then steroids will enhance it. But they don’t compensate for a shitty diet and training program.
I’ve found best gains I’ve made are from having a “dirtier diet”. Likely because I simply cannot eat enough clean calories so adding burgers, pizza ice cream etc has made a big difference. A lot of it will come down to metabolism and genetics. Try to eat as much healthy lean meats, fatty fish, colourful fruits and veg as possible for health reasons but adding calorie dense foods with higher fat content for me personally has helped hugely with lean gains.