tl;dr version: I use to be fat, lost weight, put some back on, trying to get healthy, please critique my diet if you can, thanks.

HI

I just wanted to introduce myself, my name is Matt and I've been lurking this forum for quite sometime on and off.

A little background about myself: In high school I was overweight, I topped off around 289 lbs. I graduated high school, moved onto college and decided it was time to do something about it. My sophomore summer break during college I stumbled upon this site and I was motivated to lose some weight. That summer I ran a good bit everyday, changed my diet around, and by the time everything was said and done I was down to 210 lbs.

During my last two years of college I didn't focus enough on exercise / eating right, as there were too many distractions. I had two relationships that lasted a few months each which didn't help me to motivate to work out (which is dumb). I also joined a fraternity, which led to some nasty habits (pot smoking and drinking).

I graduated college this passed May, moved onto my first job in my career and since then I've been hitting the gym. When I graduated college I was back up to around 240 lbs. For a few months I didn't take the gym seriously, going on and off and my diet wasn't nothing to be proud of. Since November I started lurking here again and got my motivation back. This forum has helped me a great deal, as it spawned into me doing a bunch of different research on health and getting in shape. I've read the stickies here 2-3 times over and now I'm serious about getting myself into a healthy lifestyle. I'm down to around 230 lbs since November, but I'm not sure how much of that is lean muscle or fat. I now see that diet is key to losing body fat.

Now I need some help with my diet, I'll give you a basic rundown.

7:20 am: Whole Wheat Cereal + Skim Milk
9:30 am - 10:00 am: Carrots + natural peanut butter
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm: Turkey on whole wheat w/ two slices of Cheese
3:00 pm: apple + natural peanut butter

Now this is the part where I really need some advice. I started taking a protein blend. The directions tell me to take one serving before working out, one after working out, and one before.

So this is what I've been doing

4:30 pm: Protein Shake
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Workout routine
After workout: Protein shake
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Chicken Breast + Veggies
10:30 pm: Protein Shake

I'm not sure if I should keep taking the blend that many times. Right now I'm still deciding if I even like the stuff I'm taking, I'm giving a month to decide. It's this stuff: http://www.cytosport.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=1

As you can see it looks like it has a good bit of Saturated Fat, but according to the fine print at the bottom: "80% of saturated fats are in the form of medium chain-triglycerides(MCTs). MCTs are typically burned as energy and show little or no propensity for storage as body fat or as a contributor to arteriosclerosis."

I google searched these so called MCTs and from what I can tell this information is true. If you're wondering why I decided to use this brand of blend it's because it was recommended to me. I'm new to this so I'm trying to find what works for me.

Any advice on anything is appreciated.

Stats:
Height - 6'0 inches
Weight - 230 lbs
Age 22

If I calculated correctly, my body needs 3489 calories to maintain my current weight.

Thanks!

you don't need protein shakes to gain muscle - they are just a supplement. personally i take a protein shake once a day at most, generally after my workouts. I would focus more on your macro break down, the (e.g.) 40%/40%/20% split between carbs/protein/fats and make my meals work out to whatever macros you are looking for. I use fitday.com to figure out how my calories pan out throughout the day which allows you to have the "correct" balance in macros & calorie count. Protein shakes aren't that important to be honest - i'd eat some lean meats in stead of 1 or 2 of them if possible. There are also things like yogurt, almonds, eggs or egg whites, cottage cheese, etc. that you could use to get your protein to where you want it to be. I'm sure that the protein powder company would love for you to take their shakes for every meal so that they could make more money :)

Overall, I think that you've started off in the right direction, for sure.