Problem: Getting Weaker With Diet

Nutrition
21

[quote]El_Won_foolio wrote:
ok well instead of fucking doggin on me can anyone actually tell me what a healthy diet would look like? this website is full of “eat fats but dont eat carbs, eat protein but not this” but i can’t find where it says what exact foods are ok to eat.[/quote]

This is because you haven’t bothered to read any of the articles. Chris Shugart recently had an article posted that had some recipes of good, healthy meals. There is a thread just for recipes by Chef Lisa. Shugart has Cooking for Manly men, in his section of the site. And there are a whole lot more.

[quote]
I am worried about putting on more fat if I eat too many calories even if i am lifting diligently. I really do weigh 190 but i am not skinny/fat, i still feel like i have a large frame with nasty flab handles and i don’t want my flab to be amplified with more calories and lifting.[/quote]

You have this stuff hanging off you because you have no muscle mass. Add some and then you are going to start looking much better. If you are truly worried that you are going to get fat by eating a more calories, get some help. You are going down the path of an eating disorder.

22

I forget who said it on here, but to make it easy…

  1. Eat 6 times a day (not including post work out drink)

  2. have 4 to 6 ounces of protein per meal, be it chicken, lean beef, buffalo, horse, tune, salmon…

  3. have a green veggie with each meal.

  4. take 7 to 9 fish oil pills a day.

just do that, and you’ll be fine. happy eating.

23

[quote]El_Won_foolio wrote:
but i can’t find where it says what exact foods are ok to eat.
[/quote]

Meat, vegetables, and non-processed carbs.

24

Throw is a handful or two of almonds,walnuts,peanuts etc and thats an easy way to bump up the calories and get healthy fats in. Natty peanut butter is great also.

Just make sure they are plain nuts and enjoy

25

[quote]El_Won_foolio wrote:

I am worried about putting on more fat if I eat too many calories even if i am lifting diligently. [/quote]

If you are eating enough and lifting “diligently” (I suppose this is the new word replacing “heavy” and “balls to the wall” or other words like that which indicate that you actually plan on lifting the heavy weights and sweating during a workout) then you should be gaining muscle mass. Worrying about gaining any body fat at all is ridiculous. Body fat can be lost much easier than significant muscle mass can be gained.

There are millions of skinny guys who apparently have eating disorders or some form of anorexia.

That’s not a good look.

26

[quote]El_Won_foolio wrote:
<<< I am worried about putting on more fat >>> [/quote]

Nobody’s doggin you, but this is exactly what I’ve been talking about forever. As long as you are WORRYING about putting on more fat you will get nowhere. You’re mind is wired wrong. I’m not saying throw common sense to the wind and gorge yourself, but you are more than lean enough to not have to WORRY about putting on more fat. Something you may not want to hear is the fact that if you plan on getting very much bigger and stronger you will not do it by WORRYING about putting on fat.

Here’s another thing. If you expect someone else to write your diet for you you’re wasting your time with this whole enterprise. Because figuring out what to eat is one of the easiest parts of this game. Somebody asking to be told exactly what to eat eat is not very encouraging. I’m not calling you stupid, but everybody else who gets anywhere finds a way to figure this stuff out. Asking questions is one thing, but nobody is going to spell out a calorie precise diet for you.

The article Scott referenced would be a good place to start.

27

This is exactly what my 5’2 GF eats when we go to the gym.

Honestly you need to re-assess your applied nutrition al focus. No need to loose the fat first, just start a healthy diet for 6 months while you work hard on building muscle and some light cardio for the heart. After the 6months revaluate and change “a little”.

Consistency is the name of this game.

[quote]El_Won_foolio wrote:
heres what i eat on an average day
breakfast:
1 egg
1 fruit (orange, apple, banana, etc.)

brunch-ish:
handful of carrots

lunch:
small piece of chicken (maybe 6 oz.)
1/4 cup of rice (if even that much)
1 fruit

afternoon:
1 fruit or
some beef jerky

I usually work out about now then have a protein shake.

dinner:
1 chicken breast
small salad
steamed veggies

So i figure this adds to about 2000 calories…unless i really suck at math or just don’t get what foods are full of what. I guess im just really confused about what exactly i should be doing. If i really am screwing up that bad please be constructive.

[/quote]

28

This whole “get lean before you dare add any muscle” thing is going to make blood squirt out of my eyes.

Most newbies should hit the weights hard, cut the crap out of their diet, eat plenty of protein and not even dream of cutting calories until they have a at least few months into it and probably more than that.

It takes fuel to do this stuff.

Newbies can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. It won’t last forever so they should enjoy it while they can.

29

I was on the same boat: oh, I’m skinny now, but “I have a good base.”

If you’re new, and you’re saying “I have a good base…” well, you probably don’t know what you’re talking about.

And that base is probably flab on a skinny, low-muscle frame.

Like someone else said: stick to Berardi’s 7 Habits. For me, that plus Rippetoe’s have yielded tons of gains…and I’ve only been in this since October.

30

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
This whole “get lean before you dare add any muscle” thing is going to make blood squirt out of my eyes. [/quote]

We won’t hear any authors respond directly to that. Instead, we’ll get hyperspecific numbers that cause newbies to think they all need to be less than 10% body fat before they gain any muscle.

31

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
This whole “get lean before you dare add any muscle” thing is going to make blood squirt out of my eyes.

We won’t hear any authors respond directly to that. Instead, we’ll get hyperspecific numbers that cause newbies to think they all need to be less than 10% body fat before they gain any muscle.[/quote]

People take some of that stuff way too seriously. I wonder how many newbies actually spend the money to work with a top level strength coach. People don’t realize that many of these recommendations are based on experiences with athletes and veteran lifters, not normal guys that finally decided to get in shape.

32

X, do you suggest taking a “day-by-day, see how training affects the new guy” approach?

I remember being told that “while you bulk, if you get a big gut, eat less; if you don’t, eat more.” Do you believe in that approach, where you just watch and see how your body responds?

33

[quote]breakz wrote:
X, do you suggest taking a “day-by-day, see how training affects the new guy” approach?

I remember being told that “while you bulk, if you get a big gut, eat less; if you don’t, eat more.” Do you believe in that approach, where you just watch and see how your body responds?[/quote]

Yes, however, it isn’t just “day by day”. If you are going to make progress, it requires an almost obsessive level of consistency, a level that most people on this board apparently don’t even come close to. You have people rushing to diet down before they build any muscle mass at all and they are basing this on what they read from some author who in most cases has never seen the individual and in rare instances is some author who has never even proven his own track record through pictures of who he has trained or of himself…but I digress.

The bottom line is, building the muscle is the hard part. That is the part that takes YEARS of effort. Dieting some weight off takes weeks or months. It is simply retarded to approach this as if body fat should be the major concern UNLESS you are starting this as an obese person or are extremely out of shape.

34

so basically im getting this…don’t worry about getting to a low bf %, just hit the weights hard and eat enough to sustain my body weight. If i misunderstood this please correct me.

I will bump up my calories, 3000 seems like a number i see alot so i will try that, it just seems that in order to eat healthy I kind of have to eat a lot to reach that many calories, but Ill trust you guys cause apparently i have been screwing up, im gonna try to get some pics on here so you guys can see what im dealing with.

35

Getting to 3000 clean isn’t that hard, especially if you target grains around your workout.

Remember that almonds, olive oil, and protein powder are your friends. Also, fish oil counts as calories too (10 g = 90 kcal).

Over six meals a day, we’re talking 500 calories. That’s three eggs, a glass of milk, and a slice of toast or a serving of cottage cheese.

36

If you are going to increase your calories, do it slowly. Don’t go and just start gorging yourself. That can lead to all sorts of problems. Take it slow, about 500-700 additional calories per week until you hit your goal. It should allow you metabolism to adjust to the new amount of food.

37

X, thanks for the suggestions btw. I’ve recently realized that building the “good muscle base” new guys talk about (but don’t have) takes a long time (8-12 months, maybe more).

OP, do like Arioch said: ramp your calories up slowly (so you don’t get sick or save the calories as fat) and get ready for a long haul. Just remember that, in a year’s time, you’ll be a different person.

38

[quote]Professor X wrote:
breakz wrote:
X, do you suggest taking a “day-by-day, see how training affects the new guy” approach?

I remember being told that “while you bulk, if you get a big gut, eat less; if you don’t, eat more.” Do you believe in that approach, where you just watch and see how your body responds?

Yes, however, it isn’t just “day by day”. If you are going to make progress, it requires an almost obsessive level of consistency, a level that most people on this board apparently don’t even come close to. You have people rushing to diet down before they build any muscle mass at all and they are basing this on what they read from some author who in most cases has never seen the individual and in rare instances is some author who has never even proven his own track record through pictures of who he has trained or of himself…but I digress.

The bottom line is, building the muscle is the hard part. That is the part that takes YEARS of effort. Dieting some weight off takes weeks or months. It is simply retarded to approach this as if body fat should be the major concern UNLESS you are starting this as an obese person or are extremely out of shape.[/quote]

I am praying, almost literally, that one of these pudgy, scrawny kids winds up being from my area just so I could demonstrate once and for all how unbelievably simple that first year is. Not easy, but simple. I’d do it for free, just as a public service. The only condition would be I get to beat them with a dumbbell if they don’t do what I say. Not that I have any super superior knowledge which is the damn point. It doesn’t take any.

For poorly conditioned, fat, outta shape young people just about any decent beginners program worked like you @%$&%#@ mean it combined with nutrition that’s even ballpark close will bring dramatic results. Once you start to get somewhere it makes sense to begin to be more precise about how to proceed. Here’s the REAL kicker boys n girls. The worse shape you’re in the less it matters exactly what you do as long as it’s CONSISTENT and half ass sensible.

I get PM’s from guys sometimes acting as if I were some advanced towering guru of training knowledge. Nothing I have ever said here is any more profound than long standing basic foundational principles which will keep people progressing for years if they learn how to apply them to themselves at some point.

39

You could always set up a recruitment for out of shape young kids, just be careful they don’t think you are a weirdo haha.

40

[quote]Professor X wrote:
but I need to cut my body fat before I worry about my muscles

This was a gem also. Whatever author/trainer/mollusk made you believe that should be left off of your myspace friends list.[/quote]

"So here are some general rules for the FFB who wants to add mass without having to break out the “husky” pants:

  1. First and foremost, the FFB shouldn’t bulk until after he’s ripped. That may seem like paradoxical advice, but it’s just the rules of the game for the FFB.

You see, when a guy who’s already chubby goes on a mass diet, he’ll usually gain about four pounds of fat for every pound of muscle he puts on. A really lean guy doesn’t have that problem. He can usually “get his bulk on” without excessive fat gain."

http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=05-118-diet