It's fine to eat whatever you want with your protein. The most important thing is to get your macros right.

The only thing I'd watch out for is that the loaded baked potato PLUS the steak probably put you way over your fat macros for the day. Which is fine, but it's something to be aware of.

Ok yeah, I've been working a 65/30/5 fat/protein/carb diet for a while and its hard to get away from fat.

I don't even know what I should aim for with my macros now.

40/40/20

Carbs/Protein/Fat

By calories right?

Percentages of your overall calorie goals for the day, whatever those are.

I'm still not sure if you're trying to lose weight or gain muscle.

Just wanted to make sure that those macros were by calorie and not by weight.

I do want to gain muscle, I also want to lose fat. I like my size, I just want to replace my fat with muscle.

But I'm guessing it's near impossible to do both at the same time....

It's more efficient to do one at a time. It's not impossible; it just takes longer.

Lose the fat first, then build the muscle.

Your lean enough now to eat slightly above or right at maintenance calories and just work on getting stronger! Your body recomp will start to show even if you bodyfat stays the same. Plus, you are getting the newb gains from lifting so I'd eat a bit above maintenance. I don't mind Silock's 40/40/20 split, but I myself do well with higher protein/fat and dropping the carbs a bit more. Personal preference but never cut carbs out completely again, Buck.

By the way lewdog, am I supposed to do those lifts in the order they are on the sheet?

I had to do bench press last because the benches were taken.

Preferably yes. And by preferably it is an absolute must to at least start the workout with the major lifts. You can mix them up after that. I'd rather have you focus on gaining strength on main lifts like bench, squats and deads. Those should be the focus of your energy and where you push. The rest is assistance work designed to increase hypertrophy but also build strength towards the main lifts.

I care what you deadlift, squat and bench. I could give two shits how much you curl. You'll thank me later. I wasted years giving shits about extensions and curls. Now I do a few sets of curls a week and my biceps are doing fine. I wasted a lot of training majoring in the minors of all the lifts available you can perform in the gym.

Okay cool. I was definitely tired by the time I did the bench press. Could only put up 125 as opposed to 135 on Saturday.

Since we are discussing diet... what are good reference materials for constructing a diet? Any books or online materials that you recommend? I'd be interested to read materials related to both ends of the spectrum (bulking diet, and fat loss diet).

I'm down 13 pounds in a little over 5 weeks. I'm doing about 45 minutes of cardio on it's own 2 times a week on my treadmill and lifting followed by cardio 3 times a week at the gym. Feel really good.

This