outside food for bodybuilding

sursupratim86

Hi folks,
For the job purpose i stay in hotel and have to rely on supermarket or restaurant foods only.
I worked out 5 days a week and struggling to maintain a clean diet, as a result gaining more fat than muscle.

Most of the restaurant food are full of oils and other unhealthy ingredients. I used to take 250 gram of chicken bbq or grilled along with bread as carb source daily as post workout meal but they are having too much oil and seems depositing fat in my body.

in day time i consume mixed cut fruits, boiled eggs, rolled oats, greek yogurt and dry nuts and fruits and canned mixed vegetables and 1 scoops whey in my breakfast and lunch.

if i stop taking chicken bbq i am not getting my daily protein intake that is. 110 gm.

I was checking tofu or cottage panner as alternate but to complete the rest of the protein intake the quantity i have to take surplusing the calories too much.

seeking you guys help to get some healthy lean protein i can consume from supermarket may be ready to eat?
please guide.

yirara

With canned tuna take care of the oil. If it's tuna in oil then the calories on the tin will likely be for the tuna without a single drop of oil. Which sounds difficult. Check the tin for that. And otherwise buy tuna in brine.

Retroguy2000

Uggh. Tuna in water for me, every time.

zebasschick

non-fat greek yogurt, tofu, egg whites and cottage cheese are great protein. nuts are about half fat, so if you're looking for protein, nuts aren't your best option. me, i use a lot of protein bars and protein powder. it's fast, clean and easy.

if you're gaining fat, you're not eating at a deficit, and no kind of eating clean can fix that. eat less calories - you gotta eat less than you burn or your body stores anything you eat as fat.

but how do you know you're gaining fat?

Retroguy2000

What do you weigh? Asking because 110g protein goal isn't a lot, unless you're about 150 pounds or less.

As zebas said, nuts are high calorie. It's not the oil in your food that's adding fat, it's you being in a calorie surplus, probably because of eating out so often and snacking on things like nuts.

To add to zebas' list, cans of tuna. Fantastic protein source, easy to have as is, or put in a sandwich or salad. Getting enough protein should be easy, unless you have an issue with protein powder.

mtaratoot

If you are gaining fat, it's not from eating "unclean." It's from eating more than you burn. It's not the oil depositing fat in your body, but it might be that the oil is laden with excess calories. If you have to rely on restaurant food, you'll likely have a challenging time to log completely and accurately even if you do log honestly. You likely don't have access to a food scale, and if you're eating greasy stuff then yeah - lots more calories.

If you can eat from the grocery instead of eating out, look for things that will fill you up that are lower in calories, and make sure you limit your consumption to no more than the calories you expend.

yirara

What the others said on clean eating.

Can you get accommodation with a small kitchen? Or bring a simple cooking plate with you and have a fridge in the room? Then you could prepare your own food and don't have to rely on restaurants and ready-made food.

sursupratim86

Thank you all for your comment and ideas.
I am 5 ft.only and weight 130 lbs , and trying to take 1900 cal per day to gain some strength and loss fat.

I do have a kitchen weighing scale and mini fridge in my room.

As you mentioned those restaurant greedy staff i assumed calories seeing in the MyFitnessPal app must be much more calories than estimated and thus inturn make me calories surplus.

Canned tuna is great idea.Although never trued but today i will grab some from the supermarket.

sursupratim86

ohh reading your comment just after buying the tuna in oil 😁. Next time i will go for tuna in brine. Thanks for the tip.

zebasschick

If you're trying to lose fat and be muscle, you don't want to lose weight - you want to work out and build muscle. If you eat it a deficit, you'll lose weight in the short term but you'll have a lot more trouble putting muscle on if you can do it at all.

But I ask again, why do you think you're gaining fat? If, by chance, you're using one of those body percentage scales, be aware that they're unbelievably inaccurate, and mostly just measure how hydrated you are.

sursupratim86

zebasschick wrote: »

If you're trying to lose fat and be muscle, you don't want to lose weight - you want to work out and build muscle. If you eat it a deficit, you'll lose weight in the short term but you'll have a lot more trouble putting muscle on if you can do it at all.

But I ask again, why do you think you're gaining fat? If, by chance, you're using one of those body percentage scales, be aware that they're unbelievably inaccurate, and mostly just measure how hydrated you are.

yes i know body fat percentage is not accurate, but i can see visible fat in my belly and face area which is bulging out , which earlier before my bulking start was not there.
I assume because of my restaurant food i estimated all the calories wrongly in the app and in actual it may be way more than that.
I definitely gained muscle but also gained more fat with that and i am trying to cut it down.

mtaratoot

This is from the "Most Helpful Posts" section of the Getting Started discussion area for anyone looking for a visual estimate of body fat:

(and maybe the BIA thingy on my scale actually is fairly close now that I look at the images)