Never Understood Till Now

Training Beginners
1

First off, little background info. Started getting into lifting when I was around 14 because I had been chubby as long as I could remember. Did so for about about 7 months, but I knew nothing of what I was doing. I was 14 and pretty intimidated by what I saw in the gym. So I stayed away from free weights and pretty much did curls in the corner and at least my arms grew a bit.

I stopped for a couple of years and was pretty lazy until I started using my dads bowflex when I was about 16. Did that for a summer, but didn’t focus on the diet aspect or anything nutritional. At the the time I didn’t think it was a big deal nor did I care. I thought if I kept working out I would see results (still was chubby). Gave up after a month or so because I didn’t see a change. I could feel the muscle underneath, but I had that fat on top which never seemed to go away.

I picked up working out again over a year ago, where I started on some creatine to hopefully build muscle mass. Still was chubby, but I thought if I worked out my muscles enough, it would push through. Again, didn’t pay much attention to nutrition. I did, however, cut off on chips, pop, junk food, etc. I realized in the least that those are bad for you. I also took a job in a warehouse for a furniture store, where I still currently work. While I muscled up a bit, I still had the fat on me. It just wouldn’t go away. I weened off the creatine and stopped working out all together.

The good news was that I am a hockey player, and have played hockey all of my life (15+ years of playing). I have a love for the game and I still play to this day. Albeit only once a week, but it is still good cardio in my opinion.

Going onto today, I am now 20. While I have a bit of muscle, I still have the fat. I haven’t been able to shake it since I started over 6 years ago. I recently bought a exercise bike in hopes of doing extra cardio to burn the fat. After all these failed attempts, I’m finally ready to do it all. I don’t know how stupid I was, but I now realize how huge nutrition really is.

My goal right now, before I bulk up is to lose a bit of fat first. I do have some muscle built on me, but it is underneath the fat. After reading hours upon hours of this site, I have come up with this for a plan:

Diet:

Being a newbie, I stumbled upon T - Dawgs 2.0 Diet. This sounded good and seemed to be what I needed. Went groceries today and my purchases consisted of:

  • Turkey Sausages
  • Chicken Breasts
  • Cottage Cheese
  • Organic Peanut Butter
  • Oatmeal
  • Veggies (lots of cucumbers and broccoli)
  • Eggs
  • Lean Beef

I’ve filled out almost all the food recommended in the Diet. I also plan on adding these supplements:

  • Metabolic Drive COMPLETE, 15 servings Flavor: Vanilla
  • Surge Post-Workout Recovery Drink, 16 servings Flavor: Raspberry
  • Fish Oil 1000mg (1g) capsule
    EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid) 180mg
    DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) 120mg

I am still new to this dieting stuff (and working out in general), so this is what I have come up with from my readings. Any tips would be helpful.

I am pretty sure I should be intaking about 3000 calories per day, and my protein intake should be about 300g.

My Stats:

Age:20
Sex:M
Height:5"11
Weight: 204 lbs
BMI: 28.4

Questions:

  1. Following T - Dawg’s Diet 2.0, there is a planned out meal day. I would like to stick to this, but I am unsure of portion sizes, as none are listed. How much should I be eating per portion?

  2. Cardio. Being a hockey player, I would like to build up my endurance and burn off fat. How much cardio should I do per week (exercise bike)? I’ve started off doing 6-7 miles on it and some days I’ll push it a bit further to 10-12…unsure of how much I need.

3)I play hockey once a week, 60 minutes and I’m on the ice alot. Do I workout on this day?

  1. My job is alot of physical labor, I am not sure if this should have an impact on my calculations. I work the warehouse for a furniture store so I am moving alot of dining tables, desks, couches, etc.

  2. Any other tips in general?

2

glad you realised “you are what you eat”. counting caloies is by far the most important thing i can stress. its hard work. i think dieting to me is alot harder than weight lifting.

3

100Congradulations on making a decision to do something positive for yourself. I know there is quite a bit of info out there and it can be a lot to go through.

That being said I am happy to help you, as I myself have been fortunate to have people to answer my questions and credit their willingness to help with the progress I have been able to make and help others make.

Question 1 response:

I would go with about 11 kcal/lb so from that you can sumize the following:

11*204= 2244 kcal/day
you will want to go with about 1.5g protein/lb or 306grams
(this will account for 1224 of the 2244kcal) split across 6 meals you will be eating 51 grams or appx 7.5oz of protein per serving

your fats can be set at 66 grams per day this equals 11grams per meal
and 594 kcal daily these can be spread across each of your meals but I would leave them out of your immediate post workout meal or shake because you want that to be absorbed as quickly as possible.

the remaining calories to equal your daily total will come from carbs of which I would split between breakfast and peri workout nutrition on training days and taper from breakfast down on other days. This amount will be 426 kcals and 106grams of carbs
dont count vegtables they are free food the more you eat the better!!

2.with regard to the cardio do NOT do steady state cardio!! Focus on a solid training program e.g.german boy comp and ideally use sled work or other like energy system work. Charles poliquin and Art McDermott penned an EXCELLENT book on strongman training that covers sled work better than any other text I have found www.charlespoliquin.com and sleds can be purchased relatively cheap from Dave Tate’s web site www.elitefitnesssystems.com this will strengthen your vmo develop outstanding muscular coordination which will directly transfer to sport AND burn fat without raising cortisol.

3.I would train on other days personally.

4.Generally speaking this will nescessitate more kcals but without knowing your present food intake it is hard to say how much more if any, some people have not been eating as much as they thought they were and 11kcals/ lb although a standard protocol for leaning out ends up actually being an increase and the gain a bit of muscle at first, keep track of your progress, you will be the best judge of this. If you feel flat and tired all the time I would start by increasing everything by 10%; do that for 5 days and then increase again as needed. You should strive for about 1-1.5lb fat loss/ week.

  1. No real tips at this point other than you are on the right track with this site. T.C. and staf provide us with arguably the best info out there and there are very knowledgable staff and members alike. Don’t be discouraged by an occasional troll and most of all DON’T be afraid to ask questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question, that is how you learn and it takes a more intelligent person to ask one in the first place -it shows that they are processing and applying what they are learning.
    All the best and please don’t hesitate to PM me or post if I can answer anything else for you.
4

Wow. LaRoyal gave you pretty much all the info you need. I’ll add two points

  1. I think in the actual T-dawg diet article they mention a starting point of bodyweight x 15 in daily calories as a starting point. I agree with this. Stick with this range to get used to the diet, and if you’re not dropping fat at it, lower the kcals then.

For the sake of simplicity, I would avoid carbs except for PWO and get 1.5g of protein each day, filling the rest of the diet up with fats. It just seems simpler than finding the exact number of grams of carbs and fats allowed and stuff. ust my opinion, LaRoyal’s advice is also good.

  1. HIIT is good for hockey. Poloquin wrote an article not too long ago about training speed-skating to improve cardiovascular fitness, and how HIIT actually worked better than running straight out. So… I’d recommend sprints on the ice.

Good luck.

5

So my targets should be:

Targets:

2200 Calories per day
300G of protein per day
66G fats per day

366 Calories per serving
51 grams of protein per serving.

I just rounded it so I could do the math in my head real quick, I’ll be sticking to the exact numbers.

Also, what would you guys recommend for a pre-game meal? I had been eating pasta but a friend of mine told me white pasta wasn’t a good idea to eat (which is what I’d been eating.

Thanks guys for the great advice, this is becoming easier to understand already!

6

There are several things to consider in terms of what costitutes a good pre-game meal:

  1. What do you need to be able to do:
  2. Which energy systems will you be using
  3. What is your budget

I would eat your regular meals prior to the event with an emphasis on red meat and eggs because of their high naturally occuring amounts of tyrosine.

Try to have solid meals consumed 1.5 hours before the event. about 20 minutes prior to the event I would have a scoop of Surge and during the event sip on a mixture of powdered gatorade, branch chain aminos and glutamine and then after the event 2 scoops of Surge.

45 minutes after that resume your regular eating plan. If you need a little extra kick I like Ephedra tea but LIMIT YOUR USE!! too many stimulants deplete the adrenals increase cortisol and ultimatly sabatoge your fat loss goals (especially in the abdominal region).

Make sure you are staying well hydrated and be aware that you may find it beneficial to supplement vitamins B and C (both water soluble, important and easily depleted through sweat and excersise).

Hope this helps.

Also yes on the calories you figured. Again you are on the right track and we will look forward to hearing about your progress.

7

More specific to your situation and in terms of a good food meal (again to be consumed about 1-1.5 hrs prior to event:
4 oz sirloin
3 whole omega 3 eggs
1 cup of blueberries
1 cup of fresh spinach

8

Thanks a ton man. To answer your questions:

  1. Have a high amount of energy
  2. I’m not really sure, I just know it’s alot of HIIT with it being hockey.
  3. Money isn’t an issue

I play at nights too (usually 10pm or 11pm) so it won’t interfere with my daily meals. I usually eat around 3 hours before game time to ensure proper digestion, but this might be too long?

9

3 hours would be a bit long. I wouldn’t recomend the Ephedra Tea (as it will keep you up and sleep is IMPORTANT) your energy should be fine by just focusing on the above recomendations, if you need a little extra boost maybe 1 cup of coffee owuldn’t be too bad.

Do try to get a solid meal in before you go to sleep after the game or (since money is not an issue) keep a mixture of branch chain aminos and glutamine mixed in about 1 liter of h20 and sip it after your Surge and if you wake up at night. For BCAA’s I like scivation’s extend and I use VPX for glutamine (although any glutamine will do).

10

2200 might be too low since you seem really active - but it also depends on how long you want to diet for. If you only want to drop 8 lbs I think that’s reasonable - but if you want to drop 30 lbs then you might want to start at a higher number and then slowly drop it down if you don’t see any results since you are really going to need your metabolism intact for a long time. It’s probably good to actually know how much fat you want to lose in the first place so you can better plan it a few months in advance.

11

If your going by 1.5g protein, that is for lean body mass and does not include fat, you would need around 225g protein, not 300.

12

What should I look for in a post workout drink?? I was gonna order from the site, but the shipping charged to Canada are like 40$ and I really don’t want to spend that much on just shipping.

Money isn’t an issue for foods, but supplements I have my limits :stuck_out_tongue:

A friend of mine who is heavy into lifting recommended www.trueportein.com. One of their Post work out drinks lists the following:

Product Information ^ back to top

30% Maltodextrin
30% Dextrose
25% Hydrolyzed Whey Protein High Grade
10% Glutamine Peptides
5% Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA’s)
trueprotein.com/Product_Details.aspx?cid=44&pid=538

Would this be good?

13

That would definately work. I have dealt with true protein myself and they are fast reliable cheap and good quality!

14

[quote]MtbKid wrote:
If your going by 1.5g protein, that is for lean body mass and does not include fat, you would need around 225g protein, not 300.[/quote]

When writing a diet for someone who is trying to lean/gain or loose fat I go by total weight not lean mass. The reasoning behind this is that it is so costly for your body to convert excess protein to fat that it becomes HIGHLY unlikely for it to be an issue and the excess protein makes it less likely that you would start to break down muscle (which would ultimately slow your metabolism down in the long run). If I myself had measured a clients bodyfat and knew the exact number and I had ruled out anything that could effect protein absorption negatively ergo; low HCL or food allergies I would be more precise about that number but for the intents and purposes in this case I feel like 300 is a better number for you to go by. I am not saying you are wrong MtbKid, just in this situation he will WANT to err on the side of slightly more protein than risk too little.

15

So far so good. I changed my diet a little bit, to include some chicken bacon, started eating a ton more fruit, and working out every second day. Still waiting for my supplements, but they should be here soon. Not putting alot of stock in this but I dropped about 2 pounds so far according to the scale.

16

Nice work keep it up!
I would limit fruit like bananas and stick to fruits like berries. Studies that focus on food and memory suggest that the more overall produce you eat, the better. But when it comes to fruit and your memory, berries rate number one! Berries have some of the highest antioxidant concentrations among fruit, and ALL berries are rich in healthy compounds called anthocyanins and flavanols�?� which may help protect against the breakdown of brain cells.

Plus these days, it seems you can�??t say enough about the health benefits of blue-berries. What makes them so powerful? Their deep blue hue �?? caused by flavonoids �?? those natural compounds that protect the brain�??s memory-carrying cells (neurons) from the negative effects of oxidation and inflammation. Blueberries are one of the best sources of flavonoids around, and encouraging animal studies suggest that diets rich in flavonoids may help reverse memory loss in humans. In fact, a new British study, published just last month, reveals eating plenty of blueberries can enhance spatial memory and learning.

Buy firm-fleshed berries from a farmer�??s market, local supermarket, or health food store. For off season months, take advantage of frozen, unsweetened varieties.

17

Would fruits like apples and oranges be a good idea if I’m trying to lean out?

Thanks for the tips on the berries, will def. pick some up.

18

[quote]csamp wrote:
Would fruits like apples and oranges be a good idea if I’m trying to lean out?

Thanks for the tips on the berries, will def. pick some up.[/quote]

apples and oranges are ok, I perfer grapefruit or pumela to oranges because of the fiber to sugar ratio.

19

Down to 194 according to my scale. Been taking pictures every week, and I’m in my second and a half week I believe, maybe a bit less. Will post the pictures soon.

What’s your guys opinion on cheese?

20

if you’re talking about lactose-free cheese (mostly fat + protein on the nutritional information) then it should be fine for you in moderation provided you don’t have a casein or whey sensitivity/allergy