Been a while...

So I made a quick meal plan for a friend of mine based on an existing meal plan I had a while back and rather than type every all over again, I'm just going to quote the email...

Just something I made up quickly. As with anything, you're free to substitute items that you feel would fit better into your budget or your preference (e.g. sweet potato instead of baked potato (slightly higher fiber/lower calorie), etc.)) 

Meal 1:1 cup oatmeal + protein powder  ~200 calories
1 bagel (half side honey/half side peanut butter) ~ 211/360 calories
1/2 cup fruit or banana 

Meal 2:
10 oz chicken breast
2 cups rice or 12.5oz uncooked pasta
Probably like 1000 calories give or take a hundred?
Pretty big meal 

Meal 3:
5 oz steak
2 Baked potatoes
Cup of veggies
~700 calories 

Meal 4:
Some pasta with chicken/beef
Maybe like 500 calories, I'm assuming an average portion 

Meal 5:
14 oz chicken
2 Baked potato/rice/pasta
Veggies
Another big one, should be above 1000 calories 

Meal 6:
Repeat meal 4...
Just so you can save some money, it's relatively cheap
Total is about ~4500 calories, more than enough protein/fiber/carbs for you. 

Obviously if your portion sizes are smaller, the totals diminish.
Hope this helps. Didn't include meals 7 & 8, but if you really wanted to, you could just make one up on the spot and have it repeat, or make up 2 separate additions based on how you feel your body is reacting to the increased intake.

Dieting is the absolute most important part and I don't know why, some of my friends included, people gloss over it as if it was some kind of throw in. In both my personal life and for the majority of everyone out there, dieting consists of 85-90% of bodybuilding, fitness and just a generally healthy lifestyle overall.

Pumping iron, lifting weights, i-pick-things-up-and-put-them-down, bro do you lift, isymfs... whatever you want to call it, constitutes only about an hour or two out of your day. Dieting is a 24/7 affair. For most bodybuilders, they will be scheduling their day around their diet if at all possible.. If that is not possible, you find ways to integrate your diet into your rigid schedule.

That means my day had to fit around the 8 meals I had daily every few hours apart. Sometimes, I would have to sneak in an extra meal post workout just because I wanted to maximize my caloric intake in one day. So much of it, was bland... boring food. Lots of chicken, eggs, steak, rice, oatmeal, broccoli, oatmeal, sweet potato, etc. All baked or grilled, without seasoning (salt, pepper, etc) or condiments of any kind. It's not easy to put down when you're just beginning and extremely hard to maintain without the proper motivation/dedication.

While in Sao Paulo, Brazil... I herniated a disc (in my lumbar region) and subsequently have a sciatica affliction. Fun.