I'm having trouble getting enough protein in my diet.
I just started training in San Da again and need to gain ~5kgs of muscle.
Food at local street restaurants is high in carbs (rice/noodle) but not so much protein.
Meat sold at the open air markets doesn’t looks too clean.
And, meat isn't plentiful up at the super markets in Yangpu (my location).
Do you have any suggestions?
I’m new to the area and your help is much appreciated!
Thanks in advance,

-Sam C

How about protein shakes ? or other BB supplements ?

If you're serious about putting on that much lean muscle - you will need to drastically change your diet and workouts.

Hey Sam, I am not so educated myself and started to get proper results only after spending a lot of time and research to understand some principles better than at hear say level. There is a lot of conflicting info out there so you need to be careful with that.

The best book I ever came across in the topic, and probably the most well researched book for the layman I know of is called Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, by a guy called Tom Venutto. He is a bodybuilder, but he explains you the principles, myth and reality to get lean mass and decrease fat (not weight). I myself had only mediocre results in both fronts until I stopped, re-learned a bunch of stuff and put the knowledge into action. Still ages to get where I want to though.

Tom Venutto goes into detail from the psychology of goal setting process to proper ratio of carbs/protein/fat, diets, right time to exercise, different body types and recommended diets, the right kinds of fat and where to get them, the correct number and components of each meal, etc, etc...lots of good references in this book as well.

One thing that will probably make a big difference is knowing where to find proper food. Beside good supermarkets, one place that I learned about and who the owners understand the principles of nutrition is RU? Cafe on 1521 XinZha Lu close to XiKang Lu. I was surprised to see they knew a lot about the less mainstream dietary components (such as flaxseed oil and how to put some omegas into your diet) and had dishes tailored to that. You might want to know them and talk more about this topic (they are run by a VERY passionate bunch of people, I can only see this passion taking them to success if they get known by enough people, let's hope for that...)

I know that two posters here are pretty much encyclopedias of nutrion and exercise (jenming and bluecheese) and run an extremely healthy lifestyle.
Any question I have I pass through jenming (because we work together doh!) because the guy knows his stuff to a pretty deep degree But then I am just a curious kid that talks too much

Anyway, hope useful and good luck.

I used to buy whey protein directly at my gym.

try to buy some whey proteins, ussually they may need two to three months of load time. after your desired period, you can go back to the gym and tones those grown muscles.

amino might also help.

DesertSpider wrote:How about protein shakes ? or other BB supplements ?

If you're serious about putting on that much lean muscle - you will need to drastically change your diet and workouts.

I gained 5kgs of muscle during 1 semester last year. My diet consisted of 5-6 meals a day. Meals were ½ meat and ½ carbs/veg and some fruit. My diet was great, I’m just trying to get back to it, but I need to find the protein. I also lifted weights regularly (something I don’t believe I can do here, b/c my Uni doesn’t have a proper weight room).
I’ll def look into protein powder again, your right it def helps. But I think real, solid protein is integral.
Thanks for your suggestions!

hc wrote:Hey Sam, I am not so educated myself and started to get proper results only after spending a lot of time and research to understand some principles better than at hear say level. There is a lot of conflicting info out there so you need to be careful with that.

The best book I ever came across in the topic, and probably the most well researched book for the layman I know of is called Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, by a guy called Tom Venutto. He is a bodybuilder, but he explains you the principles, myth and reality to get lean mass and decrease fat (not weight). I myself had only mediocre results in both fronts until I stopped, re-learned a bunch of stuff and put the knowledge into action. Still ages to get where I want to though.

Tom Venutto goes into detail from the psychology of goal setting process to proper ratio of carbs/protein/fat, diets, right time to exercise, different body types and recommended diets, the right kinds of fat and where to get them, the correct number and components of each meal, etc, etc...lots of good references in this book as well.

One thing that will probably make a big difference is knowing where to find proper food. Beside good supermarkets, one place that I learned about and who the owners understand the principles of nutrition is RU? Cafe on 1521 XinZha Lu close to XiKang Lu. I was surprised to see they knew a lot about the less mainstream dietary components (such as flaxseed oil and how to put some omegas into your diet) and had dishes tailored to that. You might want to know them and talk more about this topic (they are run by a VERY passionate bunch of people, I can only see this passion taking them to success if they get known by enough people, let's hope for that...)

I know that two posters here are pretty much encyclopedias of nutrion and exercise (jenming and bluecheese) and run an extremely healthy lifestyle.
Any question I have I pass through jenming (because we work together doh!) because the guy knows his stuff to a pretty deep degree But then I am just a curious kid that talks too much

Anyway, hope useful and good luck.

HC,
I’ll try and check out Venutto’s book. It seems like it’ll help me build more than just physically. I’m definitely stopping by RU? Café.
Thanx for the info, I really appreciate it!

The issue is that my diet isn’t right. I think that you first need a good diet, and then what your diet lacks you try and make up for in dietary or BB supplements.
You need to eat a certain amount of food every day to have energy and not starve.
But since a disproportionate amount of the meals here consist of carbs and have almost no meat, I’m only getting a fraction of protein I need.
I’ll load up with protein shakes, but after I get my real diet set.
Right now I think tofu is the solution to my problem.
Thanks for your suggestions and input guys!

try "floy landis's doctor" i am not sure how to write it
he will make you gain your 5kgs in a minute hahahahaha

You can get 2kg bags of skinless chicken breast fillets (and other meats/cuts) from Metro, split it into portions and freeze it. You'll be cooking yourself a lot more, but at least you'll know what'll be in your food. If you're a stickler for organic foods, they're around too.

As for protein powder, if you stick to a really strict diet you don't really need it - but who other than professional bodybuilders is going to eat chicken every day? There are a couple of reputable sellers on Taobao. They have high feedback, import from the States, and I have bought from them before so can vouch for a few of them. Of course you can just get it straight from the gym but they tend to overcharge you and sometimes only stock lesser-known brands.

if you like bean eat dry beans they are full of proteins
and nuts as well dry fruits they all have a certin amount of proteins