Off season - Mass gaining/Bulking diet!!

I'm preparing for my first ever bodybuilding competition in the first week of July this year. So my diet had to change to cater to my goal of achieving as much muscle mass as possible, to do this my Carbohydrate intake has pretty much gone through the roof. For the way it makes me feel, to say I overdose on Carbs is an understatement, I've become so familiar with that bloated feeling it's almost normal.

21/01/13

I'm currently 7 months out and i'll be on this mass gaining diet until 10 weeks out of my competition (Mid April) when my diet will have to change again so I can lower my body fat % and look as ripped as possible whilst on stage at the competition.
A lot of bodybuilders go on what's called a "Dirty bulk", this is when they eat literally everything in sight in an attempt to meet their calorie intake target for the day. It's impossible to do that and gain pure muscle mass without an increase in body fat % also. Whilst bulking an increase in body fat %  is almost certain, but how much by is completely down to you! You can probably tell I don't promote this at all and what I'm doing is the opposite, a "Clean bulk" If you will.
The way I've approached it is to keep my Carbs high and clean. The foods which i'm talking about when I say Carbohydrates for those that don't know are as follows:

• Sweet Potato
• Rice/Wild Rice
• Brown Pasta
• Brown seeded bread
• Mass gaining shakes

I shall attempt to keep this as straight forward as possible, nutrition can get messy so pay attention!
My maintenance calories intake are the amount of calories I need to have per day to ensure I don't lose weight. To calculate this I multiply my weight in pounds (174lbs) and multiply that number by 16 calories per pound body weight. (15 for females) 174lbs x 16kcals = 2784kcal. (Macdonald, 1998) 

To gain weight I need a calorie excess on my 2784kcals maintenance. the calculation to work out how many calories I should increase by is the same but instead of 16kcals per pound of body weight, it's 20kcals. 174lbs x 20kcals = 3480kcals An increase of 696kcals.

Macro Nutrients

Carbohydrates/Protein/Fats are the three primary macro nutrients. Carbs are important because they're our primary source of glycogen. Glycogen is the energy source our muscles use when training. (Chiras, 2011) The higher the glycogen stores, the harder your muscles can train, the harder you train the bigger you get, easy! Protein has many roles in the human body namely: Digestion, protection from disease, transport of nutrients and more. Protein is also responsible for muscle tissue repair, which after weight training is very important for building muscle back bigger and stronger! Fats are something many people consider a huge no go but fail to understand there are different types which can be good or bad for you. Trans fats are man made fats that are used in processed/fried food. (Avoid) Saturated fats are the fats from animals. The white fat on red meat, underneath poultry skin, whole milk, cheese, butter and such. In off season i'm much more lenient with Saturated fats but still don't over do it. The fats which are good are unsaturated fats. Nuts, vegetable oils, fish, flaxseed.

• Meal 1 - 7am | Mass gaining Protein shake with full fat milk |

Calories = 811kcals. Carbohydrates = 139g. Protein = 35g. Fat = 10g.

• Meal 2 - 10.30am | Pancakes | 

3x Large eggs, 100g Quaker Oats, 100ml Full fat milk, 10 Raspberries, 10 blueberries.

Calories = 800kcals. Carbohydrates = 70g. Protein = 33g. Fat = 24g.

• Meal 3 - 2pm | 200g Chicken breast & 300g Sweet potato |

Calories = 618kcals. Carbohydrates = 78g. Protein = 58.5g. Fat = 4g.

• Meal 4 - 5.30pm (Pre workout) 200g Chicken breast & 300g Sweet potato |

Calories = 618kcals. Carbohydrates = 78g. Protein = 58.5g. Fat = 4g.

• Meal 5 - 9.30pm (Post workout) 200g Chicken breast & 400g Sweet potato |

Calories = 694kcals. Carbohydrates = 104g. Protein = 60g.  Fat = 4g. 

• Meal 6 - 11pm | Mass gaining Protein shake with full fat milk |

Calories = 811kcals. Carbohydrates = 139g. Protein = 35g. Fat = 10g.

Total Calories - 4352kcals
Total Carbohydrates - 608g
Total Protein - 280g
Total Fat - 46g

(Meals 3,4 & 5 always include peppers, red onions, garlic & spinach. Sometimes jalapenos; Values not included in totals)
I'd say only up to 10% (If that) of the 46g of Fat in my diet is saturated. From the full fat milk and whole eggs and little bits here and there, the majority is unsaturated.
As mentioned earlier, 3480kcals is my calorie intake target. (696kcals above my 2784kcal maintenance) I'm actually having 4352kcals, which is a lot more, but because It's clean It's not something to worry about, in fact it will work to my advantage! I have 4 meals and 2 meal replacements (Protein shakes high in carbs) The protein shake I'm currently having is 2 half portions of Optimum nutrition's Serious Mass. It's the best one in my opinion, for taste and nutritional value.

I'm still taking Kre-Alkalyn creatine pre and post workout. Also flaxseed tabs during any 2 meals of the day.

If I feel like snacking I either have a piece of fruit or more likely have a peanut butter and jam sandwich. (Brown seeded bread, organic crunchy peanut butter)

Calories = 487kcals. Carbohydrates = 55g. Protein = 17.5g. Fat = 21g.

Or a Tuna sandwich (Brown seeded bread)

Calories = 404kcals. Carbohydrates = 36g. Protein = 41g. Fat = 8g.

I'm always drinking water! Very important! I try to drink 4 litres a day and I'm sure that's not enough. Variations in my diet include having mince beef instead of chicken, or brown pasta or wild rice instead of sweet potato. It can get quite repetitive, as you can see there's little variety but I guess I've become used to eating more for function than pleasure. Plenty of time for eating for pleasure when I have a cheat meal but it's either the junk food I've craved for an hour or the body I've craved for a lifetime. Simple.


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References

Chiras, D. (2011). Human Biology. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Denver.
Macdonald, L. (1998). The Ketogenic diet: A complete guide for a dieter and practitioner.