i just started with a food log today, because i feel if i dont theres no point in hitting the gym
i was looking at all the different diets on this site, but im not sure which one is best for me
im 16 and 145 pounds, and also confused on how many carbs i should be consuming daily
[quote]droozie wrote:
i just started with a food log today, because i feel if i dont theres no point in hitting the gym
i was looking at all the different diets on this site, but im not sure which one is best for me
im 16 and 145 pounds, and also confused on how many carbs i should be consuming daily[/quote]
If there’s one thing this site is good for its providing a wealth of information, so much so that it’ll make your head spin. I spent way too much time trying to plan out the perfect diet, in calories and balance of carbs and protien etc., if I wasn’t doing that I was trying to plan or follow the perfect routine.
As soon as I figured out which routine I wanted to do, another one would pop up and I would switch focus. Look, don’t beat yourself up over how many carbs or how many calories to eat every day, nor which so called perfect routine you should do is. If you go to a typical gym, which the majority of people do, and you look around at the same type of guys that work out in all the typical gyms who are doing things “improperly” as you may have read in the myriad of articles on this site, yet they all seem to be bigger than you and making more progress than you, or I for that matter. Its because they have been putting their time in and just doing it.
They don’t worry about how many calories they eat or the balance of them, they just know to eat, and a lot. There belly tells them that. Wether or not they are doing a perfect routine or eating perfect they are doing it and consistently. Thats what really counts in my opinion.
With that aside, I’ll try to answer your question that really has no right or wrong answer per se. Low carb, no carb, is a cool approach, but considering you’re young and probably lean, just fucking eat. You probably know what clean foods are, so eat as much of it as possible to gain weight, that means carbs too, its a reall easy way to get large amounts of calories easily. I’m not saying get fat, but eat so that you gain weight at a steady pace while lifting. Like 1Lb. a week plus or minus, it doesn’t have to be exact.
If your worried about getting fat, do some sort of activity on your non training days. You are young and don’t have to worry about all the minutia, just eat and lift, get some experience and it’ll all clear itself up. Don’t do like I did and worry about all the small stuff.
[quote] Damici wrote:
One caveat: If you’re a male under the age of 22, still in your prime hormonal phase, crazy metabolism phase and overall “growing” phase, unless you’ve got very endo-like genetics, YOU guys should be shoveling in everything under the sun almost without restraint! You’ve got a few-year window of opportunity that you’ll never see again to make natural gains; you’ll never have this opportunity again.
Start building that foundation now by shoveling in the food. Your metabolism and hormonal profile are in a state now where lots of it will become muscle, and less of it will become fat than will be the case when you’re older. I made gains in my late teens and early twenties that built a foundation that I probably couldn’t have re-created had I waited until my mid-twenties to start doing so.[/quote]
Damici posted this in the T-cell, but I felt it was appropriate here. It’s good advice.
I’m also with RedKevin, in that the minutia are not important. Here are some general guidelines though-
-Start eating at bodyweight x20 calories each day. If you’re gaining weight, great. If not, eat more.
- Get at least 1g/protein per pound of bodyweight. More is better.
That’s it. I really wouldn’t worry about whether the calories come from carbs or fats- eat what you like, hit the gym hard and get great sleep.
Good luck. I’m hoping to see good progress for you.