atamas

From my research at night it is best to avoid eating bad carbs after 6pm. Instead focus on fruits, vegetables and taking in lean Protein. For Protein, it should be casein protein which is slower to digest than the typical protein shakes. A very good choice is fat free cottage cheese. You can research this point further on…

Consider having some healthy whole grain carbs for energy before your workout... say 30 minutes before. Try a slice of whole grain bread with a tablespoon of Olive Oil or have half of a sandwich. That should help give you energy to get you through the workout better. Make sure to not eat too much though otherwise you…

Whey Protein mixed with water is the healthiest. I found that using a shaker works well. You'll get the consistency of chocolate milk that way otherwise the drink will be lumpy. Costco has the Muscle Milk Whey Protein 6lb bag for $35 or so.

Thanks JLopez, I agree. Before the morning workouts I started eating a slice of whole grain bread with a tablespoon of Olive Oil in order to give me energy. I try to eat little or no carbs after lunch so the hours during the evening and overnight drain my energy. It's not helpful when I start shaking at the gym because I'm…

VictorinoDennis, it's great to see another person with similar goals to mine. I see that you spend more time in the gym than me. I'll try the body fat % calculation site later, I looked at it and it is asking for measurements but I don't have a tape measure at work. Regarding Protein intake, I think that in order to build…

dmaster555, I think it can be done although admittedly it won't be easy and I realize I won't be as effective as a professional bodybuilder who goes through a bulking phase and then a cutting phase before a contest. I don't intend to go to any competitions. There are some articles out there which show how to do it like…

jwillie92, thank you for the suggestion but I have researched the suggestion to do Cardio first quite a bit and concluded that it should be done at the end of a workout. I actually used to do it first to get it out of the way but changed after the research. For my goals anyway, it appears to be better to do the weights…

While Chocolate Milk has some good protein in it, the overall Calorie and most importantly Sugar content renders the food less than desirable as part of a healthy diet. The point about Protein is however valid. One should have an easily digestible Protein food immediately after a workout. Whey Protein is the best.

In my opinion, it is not good to work work out within an hour of a meal. That's because your stomach has not had enough time process the food and under stress it will likely make you feel nauseous and might reject it (if you know what I mean). Furthermore the energy from that recently eaten food is not in your system yet.…