Yea man thats the way to do it. People get sold on $50 bottles of supplements just because of the marketing campaign. I used to also. Not gonna lie. Then I went to school for kines. And became more educated on the subject of sports med. And realized that wasn't the best route. Many of the products out there claim certain gains. Well you may get those gains, but could have gotten the same gains if you would have just did research and figured out the active ingredients and took just those ie.. 17-hd (just an example) the bottle is about $50 and claims huge gains in test. Well, that gain is from the tribulus testerus (I think that's spelled right) you can buy just the tribulus and get the exact same gains. But will coat 50% less.
As far as proteins go... When I was on a cutting cycle, I always used nitro tech. It's really low in fat and pretty low on carbs. I was eating a HUGE amount of protein every day. I found nitro tech to be a nice bridge between My 7 daily meals. Just because it was low in everything else other than protein.
On mass cycles, I'd just use weight gainers.
I got really into lifting on my first tour to Iraq. I had a very strict diet while I was there. I did a mass cycle for the first 4 months. Went from 210-255 with 13% BMI. then leaned down for the last 4 months (just for the girls back home ) and cut down to 240.
So I think you will be able to get back to were you want pretty quickly. I would wear a support belt for that hernia though. Just to be safe.
You say you can't have a clean diet were your going... Were you going to? Not jail right? Hahahahaha jk
Hahaha. Nope not jail. But the galley isn't open all the time like some of the desert places are. Can't say exactly where I'm going. When I was lifting before I done a lot of research and found most of the "vitamins" I could just buy at Walmart. Lol. They have tons of stuff just seperatly instead of big fillers.
What kind of belt is this you speak of? I have a lift belt thats all. Also what can a person eat besides wheat? I have to eat patato bread.