Diet | Eh! Wot?

1Nov/090

Gym-age update!

Posted by Mike

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” -Mark Twain

Om nom nom

I'm currently in what's known as a "bulking phase" and I hate every minute of it. That picture is my lunch today: A sandwhich with 3 servings of turkey, fat free cheese, tomato, and lettuce, rice cake chips, carrots, trail mix, a light Muscle Milk, sugar free Jello, and water. ( o . o ) I feel like a blimp most of the day. The scary thing is all that food is only 560 calories. Eating this much food is soooorta expensive.

It's widely accepted that you can't add muscle without adding fat, so most serious gym rats do what's called a bulk/cut cycle. You "bulk" for 2-3 months which involves in eating excessive calories, then flip and "cut" for about the same amount of time eating fewer calories. Everyone has what's called a "maintenance" level of calories- it's the point where your daily calorie intake is exactly equal to what you use in a day. Granted it's hard to do that on a day to day basis, so most people use a weekly total and average it up. Since adding 1lb of muscle of fat requires 3500 calories, that easily breaks down to 500 extra calories a day for a week. If you're trying to cut, you shave an extra 500 a day. Sounds easy right?

The problem comes in determining your maintenance level of calories. Lots of people use a body mass index formula (BMI) like the one described here. The problem is that everyone is different; the formula varies by weight, height, and gender. It can take a bit of experimentation and time to figure out what your maintenance level is. For reference mine is ~2400-2800 calories a day. I started bulking two weeks ago and weighed 155. As of this Friday's weigh in I'm up to 163. I've been slowly increasing my calories until I hit ~3200 on gym days and 2900 on non gym days. I finally seem to be adding mass pretty well and increasing strength-wise, so I don't see a need to mess with the formula much more. The only downside is I'm starting to reacquire a bit of a spare tire again. I was originally going to try and hit 170, but I'm not 100% sure that that 15lb increase has a good ratio of muscle to fat. On average for most people it's 2lbs of fat for every 1lb of muscle, so starting at 170 I'd have to cut back down to ~160. It's an eternal juggling act as you lose a bit of muscle when cutting too, so I may just go for 175 before starting the cut. I'm adding in a light bit of cardio 2-3 times a week for a few weeks to see if I can't get back to a better ratio without impacting calories much.

It's a good feeling when small shirts are too small through the shoulders and chest though

Tagged as: diet, food, gym No Comments

28Sep/090

What not to eat

Posted by Mike

Over the past year I've gotten lots of questions about eating and diet. I never think I have a good answer either; there are so many factors that go into what works and what doesn't (metabolism, activity level, age, sex, etc) that it's nearly impossible to give accurate advice. It took me having an awesome trainer for about 8 months to figure it out and that's only because he gave me a good base diet to work from. That being said, I have managed to work out a few things that are pretty applicable all around.

Drink lots of water. By lots, I mean as close to a gallon a day as you can get. This does not include cokes, coffee, tea, or anything else. Be prepared to visit the little boy's (or girl's) room frequently.
Eat more, smaller meals. Right now I'm doing 7 meals a day, but that's not really necessary unless you're exercising strenuously. Even breaking things up to 4-5 a day is good, like having a mid afternoon snack of raw veggies.
When snacking, eat lots of vegetables. Fruit is good too, but be wary of the sugar content. Avoid dried fruit at all costs due to the extra sugar (dried pineapple is my kryptonite, fyi).
Don't eat out.
If you do eat out, try to eat salads. Honey mustard the condiment in the grocery store is ok to eat, honey mustard dipping sauce and dressing generally are not. Try to go with salads that have grilled salmon, tuna, or chicken on them.
Don't eat the free bread.
Do a little preemptive calorie legwork. Most big chains have their nutritional information posted online. Read up and make informed choices before you get there.
If you're like me and like Asian food, look for menu items with oyster sauce and make sure to ask for light sauce. Avoid eating rice too!
In general, avoid restaurant starches like pastas, bread, potatoes, etc. The portions are huge. Try to swap it for a side salad instead.
Many restaurants have vegetables on the menu. If they're not steamed or grilled, it's probably best to just get a side salad. Green beans aren't that healthy cooked in bacon, and neither is corn steeped in butter.
Speaking of vegetables, the order of general "good-for-you-ness": green -> red -> orange -> yellow.
Stick to lean meats as much as possible like chicken, fish, and turkey. Beef should be rarer in your diet. A good general rule of them is the fewer legs the better.
Avoid sauces for flavor. Seasoning is ok, but get the sauce on the side or not at all.
Don't go to fast food places!
Try to plan your meals in advance for the week. I've found that if I plan the menu in advance (and the nutritional info) I tend to eat out less.
Carry your lunch to work- "quick" lunches at Hooters are an easy way to pack on the pounds.
Last but not least, avoid alcohol like the plague.

There are literally tons of little substitutions you can make and never notice: light bread instead of regular, fat free cheese, fat free / light yogurt, sugar free jello, rice cakes (flavored are ok), I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. Do a little investigative grocery store shopping. Don't worry about cheating; yes you will slip up from time to time. There will be that pie, or that beer, or whatever. Try to keep it in control and cheat only about once a week. Of course all of this is tons more effective with exercise, but we're all busy people right? Worse comes to worse if you're in the Mobile area, I can recommend a guy who will sweat it off of you pretty quick.