Jthsiao -- Dietary Critique

Nutrition
61

My goal for right now is to be leaner than I’ve ever been. I was skinny before, but never really lean. I haven’t decided at what weight that means, but for now, I’m thinking of slowly going down in weight still. I think I dropped a bit more weight than I’d like this week, and I plan to continue up’ing my calories.

If you ate enough calories to maintain your weight, but created a slight caloric deficit for part of the day and a slight caloric excess following resistance training, you would continue to lean out. You can lean out a bit whether you’re bulking, cutting or maintaining. That’s exactly what happens when scale weight stays the same, but inches drop (in the right places!)

When you eat at a caloric deficit, dietary fat is not stored. It’s burned … especially in the case where someone is eating their fat outside of the presence of insulin-producing carbs. Have red meat, butter and eggs.

Remember there’s a Nutrient Search Tool under Tools on www.nutritiondata.com that would provide you with that information and let you know what all your options are.

I’m not sure where I can find a person to do that. I lift at a LA Fitness right now (local commercial gym), so it’s not stocked with really knowledgable people when it comes to bodybuilding.

Expand your search. In other words, look outside of the gym where you currently work out. Call a few hardcore or powerlifter gyms to see if they know any old-time (i.e., “experienced”) body builders who your could pay to test your body fat. It doesn’t take long. They should be willing to do it for $10 or $15. It does need to be taken by the same person every month, though.

The BodPod site lists people who own their equipment and who are usually willing to test people for a small fees. There’s one person in my area that charges about $30 or $35 per test.

Of course, if you’re happy with the information provided by the mirror, that works, too! (grin)

62

[quote]Tampa-Terry wrote:
If you ate enough calories to maintain your weight, but created a slight caloric deficit for part of the day and a slight caloric excess following resistance training, you would continue to lean out. You can lean out a bit whether you’re bulking, cutting or maintaining. That’s exactly what happens when scale weight stays the same, but inches drop (in the right places!)
[/quote]
What is your opinion about the traditional prolonged bulk/cut phase, as well as the bulk for a few week and cut for a week plan? I thought gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time were more suited for someone who is relatively new to bodybuilding, but once a based is developed, trying to do both is hard? And, I thought that while bulking, nutrition can keep fat-gain in control, but not to the point of actually losing fat?

[quote]Tampa-Terry wrote:
When you eat at a caloric deficit, dietary fat is not stored. It’s burned … especially in the case where someone is eating their fat outside of the presence of insulin-producing carbs. Have red meat, butter and eggs.
[/quote]
The dietary fat that you’re referring to in this case, does that include functional fatty-acids such as Omega-3? I don’t think that’s what you mean, that we’re using up our FFAs and not allowing it to work, but I’d like a clarification if possible. :slight_smile:

Since we’re on the subject of fats, what’s your impression of the Anabolic Diet now? I think you mentioned that you were giving it a test drive. Have you had enough data to see a trend yet? What insights have you gained about the diet so far?

63

Here’s a mini update regarding my gym session.

I hit a new PR in my deadlift today, pulling 335lbs at a bodyweight of 162.5lbs. Well, the bodyweight figure was from yesterday morning and after my cheat meal last night, I’m sure I’m a bit heavier than that. But I’ll still use the 162.5 weight as my official weight this week. :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyhow, the point is that I pulled double my bodyweight for the first time ever! Of course, dieting and lowering my bodyweight makes this task quite a bit easier. :stuck_out_tongue:

64

[quote]jthsiao wrote:
JuicyLucy wrote:
Do you think you have lost any muscle while dieting?

Without having an accurate bodyfat test, it’s hard to tell. I know my measurements have gone down, but I’m not sure how much of that is fat versus muscle. The only indication that I have are from my lifts at the gym, and after the bad week after transitioning off of the Velocity Diet, I haven’t noticed any decline in gym performance. I think I “look” more built, at least with the shirt off. :-P[/quote]

Hmmm… I like big guys …and girls ( I’m not racist) :))
I’ll be checking Physique and P Photos for yours;-)

65

[quote]jthsiao wrote:
Here’s a mini update regarding my gym session.

I hit a new PR in my deadlift today, pulling 335lbs at a bodyweight of 162.5lbs. Well, the bodyweight figure was from yesterday morning and after my cheat meal last night, I’m sure I’m a bit heavier than that. But I’ll still use the 162.5 weight as my official weight this week. :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyhow, the point is that I pulled double my bodyweight for the first time ever! Of course, dieting and lowering my bodyweight makes this task quite a bit easier. :-P[/quote]

Well done, mate. I wish I could do that. My coach would not be too happy 'cause every time I do something different/new I get injured. I even got injured doing yoga!

Nice numbers and they are going to go up and up and up…

66

What is your opinion about the traditional prolonged bulk/cut phase, as well as the bulk for a few week and cut for a week plan?

Well, I’ll admit I had to think about this one a bit. When I first went to respond, it was to say that I preferred longer bulking and cutting phases, separated by a maintenance phase. But then again, I’m cutting during the week and eating at a caloric excess on the weekends. Honestly, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and whether you’re bulking or cutting, you should get decent results if you evaluate every week and do Berardi’s “Outcome Based Decision Making.”

I thought gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time were more suited for someone who is relatively new to bodybuilding, but once a base is developed, trying to do both is hard? And, I thought that while bulking, nutrition can keep fat-gain in control, but not to the point of actually losing fat?

I agree that it’s hard. It depends on the precision with which things are done, age, genetics and a few other variables. See if you can find a copy of Faigin’s “Natural Hormonal Enhancement.”

The dietary fat that you’re referring to in this case, does that include functional fatty-acids such as Omega-3? I don’t think that’s what you mean, that we’re using up our FFAs and not allowing it to work, but I’d like a clarification if possible. :slight_smile:

If you deprive the body of carbs, it will use fat – dietary and stored – to meet energy requirements. On a higher fat diet, some of the dietary fat (mono, poly and saturated, all) is used for energy and some is used for building and repair (myelin sheath, the membranses of cells, hormones, etc.)

Since we’re on the subject of fats, what’s your impression of the Anabolic Diet now? I think you mentioned that you were giving it a test drive. Have you had enough data to see a trend yet? What insights have you gained about the diet so far?

That I’m taking in almost twice the calories I normally do while dieting and still losing weight. That’s it’s incredibly flexible and can be used to manipulate the most stubborn of metabolisms. That it’s an excellent plan for someone who has a problem with cravings. My “thing” is breaking people’s weight loss plateuas. But there are a very few people who play by all the rules, yet don’t/can’t lose weight. The Anabolic Diet provides me with another tool to work with difficult metabolisms. My only conflict is that I really believe in the health benefits of fibrous green veggie carbs, fruit and beans. Why don’t you check out the thread, “My Experience on the Anabolic Diet”? It’s a monster thread, at over 200+ pages.

I just now saw your post on your new PR. That’s awesome!!! That’s seriously respectable. (grin) Positive experiences on the AD aside, carbs have their place, and I’m glad you increased 'em and optimized PWO nutrition. And I’m glad you decided to start having at least the occasional cheat/treat/free meal.

That is really, really really cool, jthsiao!!! I’m so proud of you and all you’ve accomplished!

67

I’ve been tinkering with the flax muffins as I need an extra meal into my diet (late afternoon). This last batch I made was a lot better than before, so I thought I’d share it with others.

Flax Muffin
1 egg
30g of milled flax seed
.5 tablespoon of olive oil
3.5g of coconut oil
Cinnamon to taste
Splenda to taste
Some baking powder
1/2 scoop of Grow! whey

Mix all of that thoroughly and this time, BAKE it. :slight_smile: Pre-heat your oven and let it bake for 12 minutes at 425*. I found the baked version is a bit more crusty on the outside, and yet soft and tender on the inside. Although the microwaved version is not too bad, the baked version is so much better!

The above recipe comes out to 368 cal, 10.6C, 24.9P, 27.2F, 7.3 Sat, 9.2 Poly, 9.1 Mono, and 9.2g of fiber.

Another thing I’ve been trying is something I dug up from one of Tampa-Terry’s other posts. It’s a carb-friendly pudding!

Pudding
4 serving pack of Jell-O sugar-free fat-free pudding mix
4 tablespoons of flax oil
3 scoops of Grow! whey
2 cups of water

Mix the above thoroughly and you’ll get a 8-serving snackable size of watery pudding. I’m still tinkering with this so this recipe might change. However, I find that this “pudding” is a great dip for the flax muffin I mentioned above!

Each of the 8 servings for the above pudding comes to 117.5 cal, 4.8C, 8.3P, 6.3F, 1.1 Sat, 4.0 Poly, 1.0 Mono, and 0.5g of fiber.

Give these a try and enjoy!

68

Sugar Free Instant Pudding comes in a lot of different flavors!

  • Pistachio
  • Butterscotch
  • Dark Chocolate
  • White Chocolate
  • Lemon

I’ve got to tell Chef Lisa Marie about the muffin recipe. (grin) I can’t wait to get back in the kitchen and play with your new-and-improved muffin recipe. I bet the coconut oil is yummy!

69

Here’s an update of my progress since today is my measuring day:

Last three week: 5/13, 5/20, 5/27
Body weight: 163, 161.5, 162
Avg. Cal.: 2463.1, 2559.4, 2666.4
Avg. Carb: 199.5g, 203.7g, 212.3g
Avg. Prot: 242.7g, 224.5g, 229.2g
Avg. Fat: 82.6g, 101.9g, 103.9g

I’m still on my goal of getting back to maintenance level while slowing raising my caloric intake. My diet plan hasn’t changed much except that I’ve been playing around with different flax muffin recipes.

For the next couple of weeks, I plan to increase the fat portion of my diet by having bigger servings of flax muffins. I’ll see what the results are and go from there. Good ol’ “Outcome-Based Decision Making”, eh? :slight_smile:

70

Talk about precision!!! (grin) You actually make it look easy, jthsiao.

Boy, I’m loving those numbers!!!

Hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend and that you partake of a cheat/treat/free meal to honor our fallen heros.

Always trying to talk you into that cheat/treat/free meal, huh? (grin)

71

[quote]Tampa-Terry wrote:
Hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend and that you partake of a cheat/treat/free meal to honor our fallen heros.
[/quote]

Yes, I had a good weekend. I was visiting my parents this weekend and my cheat “meal” turned more into a cheat weekend, of sorts. Since I wasn’t in my kitchen most of these past couple of days, I wasn’t able to make food to carry with me. Most of my food are usually stored in tupperwares and microwaved when used. But since I’m out and about, that strategy doesn’t work as well.

Instead, I just tried to eat similar to my regular diet, meaning P+C-ish when I usually have my P+C meals and P+F-ish when I usually have my P+F meals. The portions are a bit off, but I think I’m close in general. I did somewhat cheat today, having spaghetti for lunch and a dessert during dinner, but I think I’ll survive. :stuck_out_tongue:

After having my diet thrown into chaos this weekend, it’ll be nice to be back on on track tomorrow and for the rest of the week. :slight_smile:

72

One thing that I’ve been reading up on are the different oils that I use. I’m trying to figure out the differences between different oils aside from their nutritional data. I’ve read that oils like flaxseed oil and EVOO do not do well with high temperatures. Canola oil seems to be a good candidate with some omega-3 content but people still recommend olive oil over canola oil.

The question is, what is an oil with a high polyunsaturated fat content that can be used in higher temperature, i.e., those that I can use for baking?

73

That’s a great weekend!!! You handled it well. You did the best you could under the circumstances, without letting it detract from the enjoyment of spending time with people you care about.

Good job!!!

I recommend olive oil and flaxseed oil for their health benefits. Flaxseed oil should never be cooked with, though you can add it to hot freshly steamed veggies when they’re done cooking.

Olive oil has a higher smoke point. I use it for cooking. I also use coconut oil for cooking.

Why don’t you send Chef Lisa Marie a PM and ask her to stop by and comment on which oils to use for cooking. She’s really good on questions like that.

74

[quote]jthsiao wrote:
Canola oil seems to be a good candidate with some omega-3 content but people still recommend olive oil over canola oil.[/quote]

Here’s an article from T-Nation that addresses this:

https://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=06-066-diet

Basically, even though canola oil has some omega-3’s, it also has a greater than 2:1 ratio of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats. Meanwhile, most of the fat in olive oil is monounsaturated fats and has very little omega-6 fats. This would allow the other parts of one’s diet to balance out the omega-6:omega-3 ratio.

75

I’m not sure I have much to add into this discussion. I do know that ground flax can be used for baking if you want to try to get more flax fat into your diet. Just substitute some of the flour for flax meal.

Also, don’t cook at high temperatures with Extra Virgin Olive Oil since it also has a low smoking point. Just use it on already cooked foods.

You can bake with olive oil also if you want just get the “light” version. It’s light in flavor not in fat content.

I wrote a bit about oils in my thread Recipes With Photos.

76

I actually have two olive oils I use. One’ is the fancy, expensive stuff from the Cork & Olive that is extra virgin. I add it to food after it’s been cooked. It has a lot of flavor, body and bite.

For cooking I use Pompeian Classic Mediterranean Olive Oil, which is not extra virgin. It’s milder in taste. The reason I got that brand is because it is filtered and not refined. I avoid refined olive oils because of the chemicals used in the refining process. The filtering done by Pompeian is done with cloth.