Okay guys i've been trying to eat healthy and follow a good meal plan, but i need help cause i have a hectic schedule, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Help is all around you bro - all you have to do is read. Almost everything that you can think to ask has been asked and answered several times on a board somewhere on the internet. Read, read and then read...
i recently turned 18yrs old and am a senior at Dalton High School, i have two part time jobs. One is for 4 days a week monday through friday. as an apprentice engineer at the big Utilities company in my city i work from 12:00p.m.- 5:00p.m, also at this job i just sit at a desk in my cubicle and work on the computer the whole time, so i am pretty much inactive. and the second one i work at only on the friday and saturday, i work third shift at a gas station 10p.m.-7a.m at this job i am standing most of the time and am pretty active. i total a little over 40 hours a week with both jobs.
I am not going to say that you don't have it rough but try factoring in flights, photo shoots, guest appearances etc on top of what you try to do and you might think you have it rough then. In other words, it is mind over matter, finding what works for you and being determined enough to reach your goals.
well i am currently bulking, i am already pretty big, but want to go for a little longer, and then begin to cut. my problem is that i also want to get rid of a little fat around my abdomen, more over on my sides than the actual stomach. i am currently 235lbs, and am 6' 3''. i don't know what my body fat percentage is, and just to let you know i am pretty content with the way everything else on my body is right now, except for like mentioned before my sides, abdomen area.
i train two days on one day off. and do abs and cardio two days a week.
First of all, let's try a diet that is very clean but still allows you to maintain size. That should help with your bodyfat but let you keep the muslce mass you currently have. However, after reading that you "play basketball" and shoot the breeze with your workout partner I am going to say that you need to get your shit together. You can't have a fun laid back experience at the gym and expect to get any type of great gains.
this my schedule:
monday through thursday: 6:00 a.m. wake up get ready for school
7:15a.m. class begins
11:15a.m. lunch break
11:45a.m. get out of school head to work
12:00p.m. start work
5:00p.m. get out of work
5:15p.m. get home change and get ready to work out. (on non work out days i do different things).
5:45p.m. get to gym
6:00p.m. begin workin out
between8:00-9:00p.m finish workin out
9:00p.m. get home
9:15p.m eat meal
9:30-12:00p.m. homework, watch tv.
12:00p.m. go to sleep
then the day begins again
on fridays it's the same up till when i get out of school, if i don't have to make up time for being out or late during the week from work i head home at 12:00p.m.
then i hang out for about three and half hours, in this time i eat lunch and then go workout at 4:00, i usually get out by 6:30p.m. and then go home and chill for 2 and a half hours, at this time i eat a meal, at 9:00p.m. i get ready for work and at 10:00 i begin working, i have a snack or two between 10:00p.m. and 7:00a.m. i get home at 7:30a.m. if my rotating workout schedule has me working out on saturday, i go workout at 8:00a.m. and get out at 10:00a.m. i get home, and go to sleep at 10:30a.m. i wake up at around 7:00p.m. and the chill and eat a meal until 9:00p.m. i get ready for work and then i begin workin again at 10:00p.m. i do the same as the night before and then i get out at 7:00a.m. and get home and eat a meal and then go to sleep at 8:00a.m. i get up around 4:00p.m and if i have to go work out that day i go workout, i get out of the gym around 6:30p.m. i get home and from 7:00p.m till 11:00p.m. i do homework and get ready for school the next mornin as well as eat a meal, and chill, then my monday through thursday schedule begins again.
I refuse to write a diet based around this schedule - I will right out a workout day diet and a non-workout day diet that says when to eat. If you have conflicting appointments then make it work. You can eat a meal consisting of 8oz chicken, 1 cup of greens and a sweet potato in less than 10 minutes so it isn't THAT damn bad. If you can't eat in class, behind the gas station counter, or in your cubicle then step away for a few minutes and eat in your breakroom/car. MAKE things work for YOU and it will all fall into place. My schedule changes all the damn time but I know what I am eating within an hour of waking and then EVERY two hours after that. Just make it routine and get past any mental obstacles you THINK you are facing.
just a note:mon.-thurs. i eat a small breakfast consisting of a bowl of cereal or a glass of milk and some sort of bread. my lunch is school lunch so it's not too good, i eat a chicken sandwich, a bag of dorito chips, and 2 small cartons of skim milk. at work i eat an apple, orange, or some other fruit, then after workin out i eat something like boiled pinto beans, rice, or chicken, tuna, or somethin else, and drink water or sometimes a soft drink.
on saturdays and sundays i usually only manage to squeeze in about two real meals.
This right here screams to me that...
1. You are still a "kid"
2. You don't know diddly about diet
However, it can be fixed IF you listen and make it work for you.
my supplements:
mon.-thurs. i take my multivitamin in the morning when i wake up and then i at night before i go to sleep, on workout days i take my creatine and protein before my workout and then take my creatine right after workout, my protein i take again before goin to sleep. on non-workout days i drink my multivitamins the same and i drink my creatine once a day, and my protein before goin to sleep.
on fridays and saturdays instead of takin my protein before goin to sleep i take it instead before goin to work.
What kind of protein? I suggest ON's 100% Whey for you to get started. As for creatine and multivitamins, find something on a good website so you can save yourself (or parents) some money but still maintain quality. I am not familiar with who this board favors so I won't any names out yet.
You are also going to want to throw in a few capsules of either fish body oils or flax seed oils as this diet will be pretty "lean" and you will need to the "healthy" fats the oils will provide.
Also, the increase protein will make your stomach upset for about a week but IT WILL PASS. I would advise a digestive enzyme taken with each meal to help absorb all the protein more efficiently and to help with the stomaching of the protein.
Last supplement tip, AT LEAST A GALLON OF WATER A DAY - NO LESS!!!!!!!
so as you can see i have a pretty busy schedule, but bodybuilding is important to me so i try my best, but i need a little help making a meal plan. i would much rather take in fewer calories if possible and burn more so that i can lose that gut area.
Try this, your workouts must be INTENSE and shouldn't last more than an hour unless your are hitting legs or back. Other than that, you should be in and out of the free weight section.
Also, to help you lose your love handles I will reccomend 30 minutes of cardio AFTER your workout. You probably can't pull off cardio first thing in the day so just stick with this scenario for now. Your cardio should consist of something similar to the treadmill, incline set at halfway to the top, and a speed of 3.5-4.0 (trust me, at your height that should be too bad).
I want to see your workout program (sets, reps, particular exercises and machines etc, along with weights) as soon as you have the time to post it. Chances are that you are either over training or half-assing it with mediocre exercises (I don't want you to think I am being condescending - I am just basing my opinions off of what you display in your posts).
Next, I don't know your BMR but we can start with a ballpark of 3000 maintenance calories and since your diet is so poor now we will leave you around this mark to see what happens for the next 3-4 weeks. I am sure you will see some changes IF you do as directed.
Now, once you read the diet you are going to ask yourself - HOW IN THE HELL DO I FIX ALL OF THIS FOOD AND STILL HAVE TIME FOR MY OBLIGATIONS? Don't worry bro. Find 2-3 hours out of one day (maybe a Sunday afternoon or early morning before or after your nap from the night shift) and prepare EVERYTHING. It takes me a total of 3 hours to prepare ALL of my meals and I am in the middle of a contest diet so things ARE STRICT and everything has to be prepared. It takes 2-3 hours to cook 30-60 chicken tenders (half a breast), several cups of rice and sweet potatoes. Greens can be cooked in no time too but since they are so simple it is best to cook them a day or two ahead of time as opposed to letting them get soggy in the fridge for the entire week. Invest in some cheap "gladware" or the generic brand (I say invest not because it is expensive but more because you need a TON of it and you will lose some along the way etc).
Diet - Make this fit your schedule. Wear a stop watch set to go off at 3 hour intervals if you have to but work it around your life - no exceptions.
Workout Day...
IMMEDIATELY Upon Awakening - that means no more than 10 minutes
Meal One: Protein Shake (40 grams whey) mixed with water
Half and Hour Later
Meal Two: 8-9 Egg Whites and 1 Whole Egg, 1 cup of either brown rice or oats
3 Hours Later
Meal Three: 8-10 ounces lean meat (see tuna, chicken, fish, lean ground beef, lean cuts of steak, ground turkey breast, veal, buffalo etc etc etc), 1 cup of brown rice/or oats/or 1 sweet potato, 1 cup of greens
3 Hours Later
Meal Four: See Above
One Hour Before You Workout
Meal Five: 4-6 ounces lean meat and 1 cup of brown rice/or oats/or 1 sweet potato
Immediately Following Workout
Meal Six: Often Reffered to as PWO (Post Workout Meal)
40 Grams of Whey mixed with water and 60-80 grams of carbs (studies can't decide whether low glycemic or high glycemic work better so...) either Dextrose and MaltoDextrin (see "CarboGain and Dextrose") or 1.5 - 2 cups of oats - you decide...
Within an Hour of PWO Shake
Meal Seven: 8-10 ounces lean meat, 1 cup of greens (either green beans, brocolli, spinach - something of this nature if I didn't mention it already), and some healthy fats (either a cup of nuts - see peanuts, almonds etc OR 2-3 tablespoons of peanutbutter etc).
2-3 Hours Later (Don't eat this meal within an hour of bedtime)
Meal Eight: same as above
FINISH 
Now - on non workout days, sub in another meal where your pre and post workout meals would be and rest your body. It gets more critical to do things differently on days off the further into the game you get but don't worry about that now. 
