I’ve been doing a lot of research lately trying to design an optimal and affordable diet while I’m in law school; some of you might remember my “Critique My Diet” thread from a few days ago.
Something I noticed is that several authorities seem to recommend wildly different Caloric prescriptions for athletes with equivalent goals.
For an athlete of my size (235# fat free mass), Thib recommends around 4600 Calories a day in “The Truth About Bulking.”
Berardi, on the other hand, recommends that I would need 6000 every day in “Massive Eating - Part 1”
Both claim that using those numbers, one should be able to add mass while adding fat at a relatively slow pace.
How is that possible? What am I missing?
JB doesn’t seem to advocate calorie counting much anymore, save for a few advanced level people.
I don’t know. That seems like a lot of food - especially if you have to get it from carb/protein - eating and shitting all day just does not seem like something anyone should want to do…?
I have been able to lose fat and add muscle by eating considerably less food over the last four months and training whole body 3x per week - plus I am an avid bike rider. Grant it, I am satisfied with slow, steady progress with regard to strength/muscle gains. I have dropped a total of 30lbs since March, increased many of my lifts, and I am sure I have gained muscle because I just got complimented on my physique last night by a (hot young female) friend who hasn’t seen me in the last few weeks. Not saying that to brag but rather to add testimony to the downward trending scale and my unrecognizable reflection in the mirror.
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
I don’t know. That seems like a lot of food - especially if you have to get it from carb/protein - eating and shitting all day just does not seem like something anyone should want to do…?
[/quote]
??
Look, I know the trend lately seems to be posts like this, but let me assure you, any guy walking around big enough to make people stare likely got that way from doing quite a lot of “eating and shitting all day”…along with lifting.
People who only do what feels most comfortable tend to look like it.
If you’re trying to gain weight then you can follow these very easy steps:
- Figure out what your maintenance calorie # is.
- Add 300-500 calories to that.
- Consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per lb of BW.
- Account for 20% of your calories from fat.
- Fill in the rest of your calories with carbs.
Asses your weight gain after a couple weeks and adjust your cals/macros from there. If gains are too slow for you then bump up calories, of they’re too fast/you’re putting on too much fat then scale it back slightly.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
I don’t know. That seems like a lot of food - especially if you have to get it from carb/protein - eating and shitting all day just does not seem like something anyone should want to do…?
[/quote]
??
Look, I know the trend lately seems to be posts like this, but let me assure you, any guy walking around big enough to make people stare likely got that way from doing quite a lot of “eating and shitting all day”…along with lifting.
People who only do what feels most comfortable tend to look like it.[/quote]
I’ve gained 16 lbs in the last 11 weeks, and believe you me, I’m walking around feeling full most the day, creating ice bergs in the toilet and packing away some food. This is by no means comfortable 
guess I’m on the right track huh
[quote]gregron wrote:
If you’re trying to gain weight then you can follow these very easy steps:
- Figure out what your maintenance calorie # is.
- Add 300-500 calories to that.
- Consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per lb of BW.
- Account for 20% of your calories from fat.
- Fill in the rest of your calories with carbs.
Asses your weight gain after a couple weeks and adjust your cals/macros from there. If gains are too slow for you then bump up calories, of they’re too fast/you’re putting on too much fat then scale it back slightly.[/quote]
I haven’t added up my macros, but I’ll assure you that I’m probably getting 20% carbs and the majority of them from fat. Though at some point when the progress stalls I will most likely add in more carbs, but as of now my only carb sources are veggies and 1 serving fruit/day, though on weekends I still tend to eat a lot of carbs.
Fat is a great way to get a lot of extra claories without bulk, the downside is the slow gastric emptying.
By no means am I saying you’re wrong, just that there are other ways of doing it
Made a trouble shoot flowchart for you.
[quote]MattyG35 wrote:
Made a trouble shoot flowchart for you.[/quote]
nice
[quote]gregron wrote:
If you’re trying to gain weight then you can follow these very easy steps:
- Figure out what your maintenance calorie # is.
- Add 300-500 calories to that.
- Consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per lb of BW.
- Account for 20% of your calories from fat.
- Fill in the rest of your calories with carbs.
Asses your weight gain after a couple weeks and adjust your cals/macros from there. If gains are too slow for you then bump up calories, of they’re too fast/you’re putting on too much fat then scale it back slightly.[/quote]
Except that method does not work for everyone. From my experience, I felt miserable eating that way - in more than just physical health.
One does not need a scale to judge progress. For someone with little to no visible fat to lose it is the most uncertain tool to use.
You know you’re doing it right when your clothing fits awkwardly in the legs, waist, and upper torso and your coworkers start asking you for “tips”.
The difference is Berardi is considering activity cost.
Not sure how tall you are but make sure your’ being realistic about your fat free mass. Three things people seem to be wildly unrealistic about is their fat free mass, their daily activity, and how much they actually eat.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
I don’t know. That seems like a lot of food - especially if you have to get it from carb/protein - eating and shitting all day just does not seem like something anyone should want to do…?
[/quote]
??
Look, I know the trend lately seems to be posts like this, but let me assure you, any guy walking around big enough to make people stare likely got that way from doing quite a lot of “eating and shitting all day”…along with lifting.
People who only do what feels most comfortable tend to look like it.[/quote]
I don’t disagree with you, mostly. I just think there are more effective methods that don’t have to be “painful” - especially concerning diet.
Does it seem natural that we should have to constantly question the food we are eating if we were eating “healthy”?
It seems to me that eating healthy would naturally tend toward healthy weight gain - as long as one is making consistent efforts to improve athletic/strength performance and maintaining an otherwise healthy lifestyle.
As far as energy requirements go, if one is eating the right fuel the body will tell it when to stop. If one cannot stop eating then the body must be being fueled incorrectly - and I bet it slows down progress more than it helps it.
I know bodybuilders have to do unhealthy things to get freakish big but that ain’t in my bag.
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
I don’t know. That seems like a lot of food - especially if you have to get it from carb/protein - eating and shitting all day just does not seem like something anyone should want to do…?
[/quote]
??
Look, I know the trend lately seems to be posts like this, but let me assure you, any guy walking around big enough to make people stare likely got that way from doing quite a lot of “eating and shitting all day”…along with lifting.
People who only do what feels most comfortable tend to look like it.[/quote]
I don’t disagree with you, mostly. I just think there are more effective methods that don’t have to be “painful” - especially concerning diet.
Does it seem natural that we should have to constantly question the food we are eating if we were eating “healthy”?
It seems to me that eating healthy would naturally tend toward healthy weight gain - as long as one is making consistent efforts to improve athletic/strength performance and maintaining an otherwise healthy lifestyle.
As far as energy requirements go, if one is eating the right fuel the body will tell it when to stop.quote]
Thus the need to go past the point of comfort
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Thus the need to go past the point of comfort ;)[/quote]
A few extra grams of protein per day is all that is needed to add muscle at a reasonable rate. Without anabolic aids it is questionable how fast it can happen. Self experiment, I guess.
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
I don’t know. That seems like a lot of food - especially if you have to get it from carb/protein - eating and shitting all day just does not seem like something anyone should want to do…?
[/quote]
??
Look, I know the trend lately seems to be posts like this, but let me assure you, any guy walking around big enough to make people stare likely got that way from doing quite a lot of “eating and shitting all day”…along with lifting.
People who only do what feels most comfortable tend to look like it.[/quote]
I don’t disagree with you, mostly. I just think there are more effective methods that don’t have to be “painful” - especially concerning diet.
Does it seem natural that we should have to constantly question the food we are eating if we were eating “healthy”?
It seems to me that eating healthy would naturally tend toward healthy weight gain - as long as one is making consistent efforts to improve athletic/strength performance and maintaining an otherwise healthy lifestyle.
As far as energy requirements go, if one is eating the right fuel the body will tell it when to stop. If one cannot stop eating then the body must be being fueled incorrectly - and I bet it slows down progress more than it helps it.
I know bodybuilders have to do unhealthy things to get freakish big but that ain’t in my bag.[/quote]
Wait…so you think the human body casually WANTS to be over 220lbs of mostly muscle on someone of average height? have you considered that to become extremely developed, extreme measures will be needed?
No one “casually” gets that big unless they have genetics like a 1 in a million NFL prospect.
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Thus the need to go past the point of comfort ;)[/quote]
A few extra grams of protein per day is all that is needed to add muscle at a reasonable rate. Without anabolic aids it is questionable how fast it can happen. Self experiment, I guess.[/quote]
? You are making me wonder just how “huge” you are if you think like this. I am waiting to find the guy who became fucking huge from “a few extra grams of protein a day” alone.
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
JB doesn’t seem to advocate calorie counting much anymore, save for a few advanced level people.[/quote]
That doesn’t mean that JB thinks counting calories is a waste of time.
Fact is, counting kcals provides a truly objective approach while also completely eliminating any mysticism surrounding fat loss/muscle gain. And for the vast majority, it’s a completely foolproof way to achieve physique-related goals in either direction.
Sure, it takes a little effort up-front and there’s a learning curve involved and many, many folks aren’t willing to do all that, but that’s no different than most things in life, really.
(edited)
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Thus the need to go past the point of comfort ;)[/quote]
A few extra grams of protein per day is all that is needed to add muscle at a reasonable rate. Without anabolic aids it is questionable how fast it can happen. Self experiment, I guess.[/quote]
? You are making me wonder just how “huge” you are if you think like this. I am waiting to find the guy who became fucking huge from “a few extra grams of protein a day” alone.[/quote]
This is the supplements forum. Around these parts “fucking huge” is 180lbs.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Wait…so you think the human body casually WANTS to be over 220lbs of mostly muscle on someone of average height? have you considered that to become extremely developed, extreme measures will be needed?
No one “casually” gets that big unless they have genetics…[/quote]
Yes, I get that but I assume most people have not even begun to tap into their own genetic potential.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Thus the need to go past the point of comfort ;)[/quote]
A few extra grams of protein per day is all that is needed to add muscle at a reasonable rate. Without anabolic aids it is questionable how fast it can happen. Self experiment, I guess.[/quote]
? You are making me wonder just how “huge” you are if you think like this. I am waiting to find the guy who became fucking huge from “a few extra grams of protein a day” alone.[/quote]
I forget about you bodybuilders.
You don’t care about being healthy.
