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Looking good naked part 2: NUTRITION
Alright! Previously I talked about weight lifting and cardio conditioning and explained three different workout routines and the exercises involved. Here I will talk more about the things that are as important as working out is, if you want to look good. This will mainly be about nutrition, ie what to eat in order to maximize muscle growth and minimize body fat basically. All health plans should have similar goals. No one needs to be too bulky, unless you're a powerlifter or compete in bodybuilding or something, but a strong, healthy body with a decent amount of muscle will make you look friggin awesome naked.
Symmetry is way more important than how much you can bench, when it comes to your looks. When you see those ripped hollywood actors on the movie screen, more often than not they basically have very good definition, which with good lighting, makes your body look super awesome. Some put on alot of weight for roles too of course, but symmetry and definition makes for a hotter body in general than a big, bulky one with uneven muscle development. IMO.
I will divide this article into four different main areas. First off I will talk about general nutrition guidelines, then vitamins, minerals and fish oil. Third I will talk about weight lifting/conditioning supplements, and finally I will talk about rest and sleep. What I write here doesn't apply for people who work out solely, but will boost anyones general health and well-being. This is especially true for vitamins/minerals/omega-3. Proper nutrition is again very important in order to build a healthy body and lead a healthy life. Proper nutrition makes your brain work better, improves memory, makes you able to relax naturally etc. Alot of people today have a pretty damn shitty daily intake of food. In Sweden anyways, kids drink more coca-cola and eat more candy than eat real food. Energy drinks like red bull and the likes are also insanely popular. This kind of diet won't do you ANY good if you want to get stronger and healthier, whatsoever. Without further ado, I'll jump right into the first part:
GENERAL NUTRITION All the food we eat consists of three main organic compounds; carbohydrates, fat and protein. I won't get into the biochemical side of it too much since honestly I lack knowledge about those things. But then again it's not important at all for the goal we are trying to attain here. Also, the point of this blog entry is to make working out and nutrition easy to understand for anyone.
Carbs So, basically carbohydrates (from here on known as "carbs") is sugar that affects our blood sugar and insulin response with different speed. I need to mention something called GI or glycemic index here, which is a very fast and easy to to describe how "fast" a form of carbs is. The higher the GI value (somewhere from about 10-130) the higher your insulin levels and blood sugar will be but the faster your blood sugar will drop as well. So if you chug a energy drink containing lots of sugar with a very high GI value, you will first get very energized when the blood sugar rushes into your bloodstream and brain but after a short while your blood sugar will sink like a stone in water and it will take quite a long time to get it back up to normal levels. Also carbs with high GI value in combination with the hormone insulin, readily store energy as body fat. This is why the combination of high GI carbs with fat, makes for obesity pretty quickly unless you're working out alot.
The drop of blood sugar that occurs after the initial raise after consuming fast carbs, also makes us cranky, annoyed and we get the munchies because the body wants to raise the blood sugar to it's normal levels. There is especially much to write about carbs because of the different trends in regards to weight loss. There is LCHF (Low carb high fat), and the people who argue for a high carb intake. To keep it short, for this purpose keep your carb intake relatively low, because this promotes a slimmer body in general in conjunction with a higher fat & protein intake. So look to eat around 100-200 grams of carbs/day. Preferrably eat fast carbs after your workouts. Eat alot of veggies (broccoli, tomato, cucumber, salad etc) which are a good source of slow carbs. Other good sources of carbs are quinoa and nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashew etc). Eat pasta and rice mainly after your workout, within 0-2 hours in order to store the energy as muscle glycogen.
The daily sources of carb I use are: Porridge, quinoa, occasionally fast carbs straight after your workout, almonds and veggies.
Fat I won't go as much into fat as I did with carbs, because there isn't that much to say in regards to this article. Fat is needed for hormones, and for alot of bodily functions in general. There has been alot of discussion regarding fat and basically the conclusion is that fat does NOT make you fat. This is something scientists uses to believe but this isn't the case anymore. Fat contains alot of energy and if you consume more energy than you burn you will gain body weight. However fat doesn't make you fat otherwise. Some diets like LCHF promote a big fat intake. I think it's very interesting and beneficial for weight lifters. Personally I eat something like 100-200 g fat/day. It's not THAT imporant, unless you're on a strict diet. As long as you cut down on carbs, fat isn't an issue unless you eat horrible amounts.
Good sources of fat: Avocados, nuts, fat milk, cheese, mayonnaise. Basically any fat is good unless you eat too much of it. Like I mentioned, the health issues with fat have been largely exaggerated.
Protein Now this is the big one for weight lifters especially. Protein is the building block of muscle and a decent daily intake of protein will make your body grow pretty fast. There is ALOT of discussion about how much protein daily that is the optimal amount to eat lol. Let me just say that my guidelines aren't a universal truth, BUT they are supported by science and less by the bulky guy at your local gym who SWEARS that you need at least 500 grams of protein daily. Science says that somewhere from 1.2-2.0 grams of protein per KILOGRAM of bodyweight (about 1 gr/protein per lbs of body weight) is beneficial for weight lifters. I would say around 2 grams/per kg is optimal. The weight lifting used in science isn't always as intense as IRL and there are many parameters that can affect the need for protein. Without thinking about it too much 2 grams/kg protein daily is considered the optimal amount in many weight lifting communities. Some bodybuilders tend to exaggerate the need for protein, and like I said there is no scientific basis for eating huge amounts of protein. Really, there isn't.
Good sources of protein: Meat, chicken, fish (salmon etc), seafood (shrimps, crab etc), milk, tuna. There are others but these are the main ones I use and most people use daily.
VITAMINS, MINERALS AND FISH OIL These small substances that our body requires aren't always on peoples agenda. Alot of people just pick up whatever when they are shopping groceries and end up with a few boxes of micro-wave food and hot dogs or whatever. The nutritional value in these kinds of products that are processed usually sucks big time. Besides the microwave heating lowers the nutritional value of any food being heated. Many people aren't even remotely interested in the nutritional aspects of food and maybe don't even know what they put in their mouths or what a carbohydrate is.
Anyways here I will list a couple of important things about vitamins & minerals:
1. Get a multivitamin Yeah, maybe you eat perfectly each and every day but most people don't, and especially people who work out alot need more vitamins than people who don't. It's a cheap and foolproof way to cover up your basic nutritional needs and the v&m will help your body make the most of your workouts. Multivitamins differ ALOT but most known ones are good, so I won't make any specific suggestions.
2. Try to eat dark leafed veggies daily (broccoli, spinache etc) and fruits every now and then
3. Get an omega-3 supplement unless you eat alot of salmon and mackerel etc.
The stuff above is highly recommended. Below I will mention some optional vitamin/mineral supplements that you can get.
Magnesium/Zink/B6 (ZMA): Helps your nervous system repair itself, promotes sleep (magnesium) and rest and mental well-being. These three compounds are synergists and boost each others effect. A rise in testosterone has been theorized but no good evidence is available. Either get the v&m separately and combine them yourself, or get the ZMA supplement.
B-vitamins/B-complex. Very important group of vitamins that helps your body convert food into energy, takes care of your skin, neurologic functioning, affects mood and stress levels positively etc. These vitamins are water soluble and therefore you need to replenish them often. I usually take a b-complex in the morning and anecdotally I feel calm, composed and focused. This supplement especially I feel more people would definately benefit from.
Vitamin D: Unless you live in a very warm and sunny place (in Sweden it's dark for like 6 months/year...) vitamin D is essential because you mainly get it from the sun. After recent research, vitamin D's importance has been highlighted. Many people have way too low levels of Vitamin D, with alot of bad effects such as depression etc. We need sufficient levels of vitamin D if we aren't exposed to the sun daily, and I recommend a supplement for this.
WEIGHT LIFTING SUPPLEMENTS First of all, you really don't *need* any supplements when weight lifting, if your food covers it. But it's pretty handy to have a protein drink with you to the gym instead of opening a can of tuna and eat it after your training session. There are ALOT (!) of different supplements, and that's an understatement. It's a huge market and I neither have time nor the energy to talk about all the supplements. Also I don't even know 90% of them from first hand experience. I will discuss the supplements I have used myself and that I recommend. I won't talk you into getting any expensive, and rather useless "performance boosters". Heck, I'm a student myself and want to be able to afford the supplements on my student loan.
Protein powder (whey): Very convenient. 20-30 grams of protein per serving, take whenever you like to add to your daily protein intake. You can get it very cheap too (cheaper than protein sources in food). This is the most common supplement anyone that works out uses, by FAR. It's no magic drink though, just cheap and very good protein in the shape of powder.
Gainers: (Optional). I would say: Don't bother. A gainer is a mix of protein and carbs, designed especially to drink right after a workout session. Recent studies have indicated though that just protein after a workout is as effective as protein + carbs. I only get a gainer supplement when I find one dirt cheap in an internet store.
Creatine: Very popular supplement as well. One of the best supplements there is actually. Our muscle contains creatine, and this supplement merely adds more creatine into your muscle usually by binding water. This supplement will make you do a couple more reps, add on some weight on that barbell bar and generally feel stronger. There is alot of scientific studies to back up the effect of creatine as well. You can search Pubmed if you like to see.
Besides these supplements there are, like I mentioned, a million different supplements. There are separate amino acids, amino acid compounds; BCAA, EAA, carb drinks etc. But the ones I mentioned above are the most important ones. Fact is, most people I know only use protein powder or protein + creatine. They are both cheap and effective supplements with no known dangers.
Disclaimer: IF YOU HAVE BAD KIDNEYS, DON'T TAKE CREATINE OR EAT EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF PROTEIN. Just to get that out there, don't worry.
REST & SLEEP Sleep and rest is essential when you work out. Lifting weights doesn't make your muscles bigger, it breaks them down so that they can be built up even stronger when you eat and rest. A small nap during the daytime also boosts your anabolic hormones btw *hint*. Don't compromise your sleep too much as it's super important in order to get good effects from your workouts. Try to get the 8 hours of sleep if possible, otherwise 7 is ok too. Not less preferrably. Of course you can sleep 6,5 hours during the night and nap for an hour during daytime. But a good nights sleep is really underrated for bodily and mental well-being. Your body needs the rest in order to promote muscle gains from your weight lifting sessions.
If you have trouble sleeping, try this advice:
1. Limit caffeine intake. Preferrably stop it completely
2. Try to have your bedroom silent, cool and dark. Don't watch TV or do homework in bed.
3. Try ZMA for sleep. Many people get very good results. (or magnesium only)
4. Cut down on sugar, fructose syrup, candy, soda etc. Stimulants don't make you sleepy
WHAT I EAT DURING A TYPICAL DAY: You don't need to calculate calories excessively, just watch what I eat and try to eat the same amount of different stuff. I could go more into the calorie aspect of nutrition but I feel that it would be too hard to explain and people would get discouraged to calculate that stuff, so do this: If you want to gain weight, eat more. If you want to loose weight, eat less. BUT try to calculate your daily protein intake at least and have it be around 1 gr/lbs bodyweight or 2 gr/kg bodyweight.
Breakfast: 100 gr oat meal as porridge. A sandwich with shrimp + avokado + mayo
After workout: Protein shake
Meal 3: 50-200 (in this example it's after workout so 200 gr, otherwise 50-100) gr pasta/rice/quinoa (carbs) with any source of protein (fish, meat etc) + veggies (broccoli, spinache etc). This the basic composition of any larger meal; some form of animal/bird/fish meat, carbs + veggies
Meal 4: Protein shake (or a can of tuna or chicken or fish etc)
Meal 5: Can of tuna mixed in mayo (awesome protein + fat and no carbs meal). You could mix any source of protein in mayo ;D It doesn't really matter other than your taste preferences.
Meal 6: Almonds (or cashews, or walnuts etc)
Something like this. If I'm very active during the day and work out hard I add more carbs, ie more porridge or more pasta/quinoa/rice OR more fat in the form of mayo, a fat sauce, or more nuts. These three are all high in calories and a good way to eat more calories. You can eat these meals whenever you like and in any order you like. It's not THAT important how many times you eat or when you eat, your daily calorie intake will still be the same. For the sake of your blood sugar levels eating many times during the day is good though.
Finally, do yourself a favor and start educating yourself about the food you eat. Look how many calories it contains, how much protein/carb/fat. Soon you will be able to calculate in your head how many calories there is in the food you eat and thus know how many calories you will need to eat during the day, depending on your goals; weight gain or weight loss.
Good luck! And ask if you have any questions.
Btw, this is probably full of typing errors and stuff and I will correct it when I find them.
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Thanks that's a lot of useful info in one place :D
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Good guide! eggs are also convenient. smoothies one glass is like 2 of your 5 a day... If your skinny like me and a hard gainer it is really difficult but you have to keep eating even when full to see any gain. I recommend full fat milk with your whey protein as well... try to vary food one sandwich I make is baguette, tomatoes and mozzarella with some salt and oregano > in the oven. Scrambled eggs taste good with some creme fraiche mixed in...
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Nice read, definitely very motivating and helpful for me
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Nice guide, its refreshing to see someone that actually knows what they are talking about and isn't spitting out the latest diet fads or weightlifting "miracle supplements", and someone who has an accurate knowledge of how creatine works.
I'd like to mention, however, that if you eat a decent, varied diet you almost assuredly get all the vitamins you need with this being especially true if you eat a fair amount of foods that are heavily fortified (cereal, milk, etc.). However, there is generally nothing harmful about taking vitamins if you are getting sufficient amounts, it just makes for some expensive urine. As far as vitamin D goes, 30 minutes about twice a week is sufficient for most of the population to get all the vitamin-D they need. Some products, like milk, are vitamin D fortified as well. However, if you really never get outside at all, or live in a place where it is dark almost all day, then considering a vitamin-D supplement might not be a bad idea as vitamin D is crucial for bone remodeling, and has been suggested to play a role in fighting/preventing cancer.
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Ah yes, forgot about eggs lol. Eggs are an awesome source of high quality protein
Yeah, actually latest research shows that alot of people are vitamin D deficient because they live in a place where winters are long and dark. The new guidelines here (Sweden) are changing to pretty big amounts of vitamin D daily in order to get the full dose.
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you could also differentiate between types of protein: most notably whey and casein.
the period from 30-60 minutes after your workout is the optimal time for taking in about 40-60g of protein, as these are when your muscles are in recovery and need it most. most people take whey during this time as whey digests faster and as a result gets to your muscles faster. casein is generally taken before bed, as it's a slower-digesting protein and helps make up for the catabolic effects of sleep.
i'm sure most people who are into fitness will tell you that the most important part of gaining strength/muscle isn't what you do in the gym, but your diet as well as the amount/quality of rest that you get.
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The one thing I'd change is creatine is iffy. I used to take it, not saying it's bad, but there hasn't been THAT much research into it yet. I just stick with Whey protein now.
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TheMusiC: 40-60 g of protein is way more than you need in a single serving. In order to stimulate anabolic processes after a workout you only need somewhere like 15 g protein. Yeah caseine might be good to take before bed but you really don't need to. After all it's your daily intake of calories and protein that matters and the only main ee-han timing to look for is right after your workout.
DeathByMonkeys: There has been ALOT of research on creatine. It's the most researched supplement of all the supplements available.
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Careful with the canned tuna, too much might give you mercury poisoning.
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If the conclusion of this this lengthy blog series is just the word confidence, I will laugh, since I remember catching the end of one of those terrible list shows, with the very same title, and that was the number one tip, just ahead of shaving your bush (guys only).
Five stars.
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The one thing I'd change is creatine is iffy. I used to take it, not saying it's bad, but there hasn't been THAT much research into it yet.
Eh, it's pretty heavily researched, just do a search on a place like Medline or Pubmed or whatever and you'll turn up quite a bit of stuff. As far as what creatine does, what Foucault has in his post makes perfect sense.
When you take in creatine you are usually taking it in the monohydrate form, meaning it comes with a molecule of water. This gets removed in digestion and the creatine is left to cycle in the blood stream to wherever. This "wherever" is usually skeletal muscle, as 95% of the bodies natural creatine is found there, with minor concentrations in the brain and heart. The idea is, when you take in a fair amount of creatine, you will increase your bodies natural saturation of creatine so you have more stored. A typically thrown around value is a 15-20% increase in Creatine monophosphate.
The general claim around creatine is that it helps you get bigger faster, and this is essentially true. What creatine does in the body, is to help the phosphagen energy system. Im order to produce contractions of muscle, your body hydrolyzes ATP to ADP (removes a phosphate) and their is energy release which causes a conformational change in the myosin cross bride, which results in it pulling the actin over the myosin shortening the muscle. When you do high intensity excersise such as weight lifting, you start to run out of ATP that is readily available (10-20 seconds), and your body has to switch over to glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation for energy., The downside is that these process are slower, and glycolysis, when performed in anaerobic conditions results in a buildup of lactic acid, which decreases the efficiency of both continued glcolysis and muscle contractions.
Heres where creatine comes in. Creatine acts as a phosphate donor, and allows your body to turn ADP back into ATP without having to do glycolysis, by donating a phosphate. With a little more creatine you can go a little longer at near maximal exertion. As glycolysis kicks in the process isn't as fast and doesn't allow the person to maintain maximal level exertion, so by having extra creatine you can get a little more time using the faster, more powerful phosphagen energy system. This allows the lifter to potentially squeeze out an extra rep or two in a set, and fatigue his muscles all the more, resulting in better gains. Creatine isn't going to make you lift more for your 1RM or make you bigger (well, you might store a bit more water), but it will allow the lifter to get a bit more out of his training sessions and subsequently experience faster gains in hypertrophy.
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I always wanted to herring, even though its inexpensive. The canned stuff here even in oil is shitty. :/
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On March 05 2010 05:50 Foucault wrote:
Multivitamins differ ALOT but most known ones are good, so I won't make any specific suggestions.
Actually, Centrum Silver and Kirkland signature is some of the worst things you can put in your body. [Especially Kirkland. 500 pills for 20 bucks? You only have one body. Don't go cheap on your health products.]
Go do some research. Statistically, people who take synthetic multivitamins [such as GNC, Puritan's Pride, etc.] live SHORTER lives than people who don't. Make /sure/ the vitamins that you buy are backed up by third party studies that prove that they help you.
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frogmelter: Yeah I know, actually I'm veeery interested in different forms of vitamins, which forms are better etc, I just had to make it easy in the guide because 1)It would bore people the hell out and 2)I don't know about the brands you have in America, except for Jarrows which is awesome
People who take synthetic multivitamins live shorter? rofl that's some statistical bullshit imo. I have an extremely hard time believing that 1)Multivitamins have been around for that long in the general population that you can claim such results and 2)That they do SHIT when it comes to life expectancy.
If you make a super dubious claim like that, please back it up with references. Not that I think you will find any, no offense.
L_Master: nice, good description of creatine!
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I'm interested in starting a diet/exercise routine. I don't have access to a gym and I have a fairly low budget. What are the best non-equipment exercises I can do at home and around the neighborhood?
I'm looking mostly to cut body fat. I have a fair amount of muscle but more body fat than I'd like. I really need some structure in my life and I think exercise might help before I hit rock bottom.
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Alright, well follow the diet I outlined and you'll be fine with body weight exercises.
You can do pushups, why not try this challenge? http://hundredpushups.com/
You can do sit-ups, squats with something heavy in your hands or just without any weights. If you don't have any equipment whatsoever it's a bit tricky...I mean even just a couple of dumbbells take you a long way because you can then work on your shoulders, chest, arms etc.
You should check out the ghetto workout videos on youtube. Actually you can do alot of great exercises if you have a playground or something near where you live; dips, pullups/chins etc. Or you can find a nice tree and do chins on a suitable branch
Oh...and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyweight_exercise
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Thanks for the suggestions Foucalt :3
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marcoso
Brazil818 Posts
On March 05 2010 22:06 DoctorHelvetica wrote: I'm interested in starting a diet/exercise routine. I don't have access to a gym and I have a fairly low budget. What are the best non-equipment exercises I can do at home and around the neighborhood?
I'm looking mostly to cut body fat. I have a fair amount of muscle but more body fat than I'd like. I really need some structure in my life and I think exercise might help before I hit rock bottom.
I'd recommend aerobic exercises. Since you don't want to spend much money, start by walking, running/jogging, and remember to increase the exercise intensity over time. Just make sure you get appropriate sneakers to avoid/lower impact chronic damage. About 40-60 min/day is good enough.
The thing is, aerobic exercises main source of energy is FAT. Weight lifting exercises are much more intense and have short duration, and for that your muscles need immediate energy: glycogen and creatine-phosphate.
About your diet, I won't say how much you should eat and when, because I'd need individual info.
What to avoid: industrialized food (sodium and fat rich), fatty meats, sweets, sodas, fatty cheeses. Almost forgot alcoholic beverages :D What is better: vegetal products (grains, beans, veggies, fruits), preferably whole, with skin/peel and fresh; low fat milk, dairy products and meats (e.g.: chicken breast)
+ Show Spoiler [additional info] + Eat and vary your veggies and fruits (in most cases, raw is the better option), you need color! dark green, orange, red, yellow, purple, white. Not only they differ on vitamins/mineral content, they have additional non-nutritional substances called phytochemicals that promotes health. Phytochemicals content vary from each vegetal product and each have different benefits. This is what separates multivitamins from natural sources of vitamins, in addition to what Foucault posted. Drink water, at least 1.5 L/day; Green tea will help your fat loss, as they increase body heat production by burning some stored fat (not your miracle beverage, but it helps a lot). 2 cups a day is fine. Of course, drink it fresh and without sugar/honey. Pepper also increase body heat.
To OP: almonds, nuts and veggies as carbs sources? Although nuts and almonds have good share of carbs, they are mainly fat and protein, and veggies rarely have significant amount of carbs to call them "source". But I do like your recommendation of quinoa. Is it highly available in Sweden? It's so hard to find and expensive here about fat: fat does not make you fat? I know what your point is, but be careful with your words. Also, you don't want to make people unhealthy by recommending fat as half their calories need, and by telling them cheese, whole milk and mayo are good sources of fat. Avocados and nuts are very good sources, but the others are not. There are types of fat and they have different behavior. So what you said works fine too (although it could be better) but it's just that I always put health as priority. High protein intake should be avoided by everyone, not only people with kidney issues. About 1.2 g/kg of body mass/day is fine, unless the individual is an high performance athlete and 1.8 would be okay.
But overall what you posted is very good for the weight lifting population.
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Great input marcoso
Yeah, I'm a bit more on the LCHF-side though and that's why I don't recommend eating hundreds of grams of carbs daily unless you're an athlete in hard training. To each his own though. Personally I've gotten much better results with less pasta, rice etc and more nuts/veggies. Better definition, clearer head etc. I like quinoa alot because it has great protein! The protein in quinoa is just above the "complete" line, meaning it is as good a source of protein as meat, milk etc. So quinoa is one of the few non-animal sources of protein that contains all the essential amino acids for humans.
Quinoa is highly available here yeah. It's not that cheap but still quite cheap. Really? That's odd, you'd think it would be easier to find in Brazil than in Sweden.
I don't agree about what you said about fat and protein. Fat does not make you fat, period. Excessive fat makes you fat, just like excessive carbs do. I think we speak from different perspectives, you from the classic point of view advocating lots of carbs, little fat and moderate amount of protein. I'm more on the low carb, moderate/high fat, high protein side.
Mayo is an excellent source of fat, so it whole milk and cheese.
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marcoso
Brazil818 Posts
I'll be clearer now: mayo, whole milk and cheese are indeed sources of fat, but there are healthier options, like avocado, nuts, seeds, fish oil, and olive oil. They are rich in unsaturated fat.
And yeah, I know fat in appropriate amount doesn't make you fat. What I meant is that some people might get confused.
High protein and lower carbs diets are good aesthetically for weight lifters because your muscles end up storing less water, making them more defined (not sure if this is the right expression). In this matter I totally agree with you. But there's also protein that will not contribute to muscle protein synthesis and repair. That excessive protein is not really good for your health and is also more expensive than carbs. But again, I'm more concerned on the individuals health. Also, recommendations pass on, and what works for one person may not work for another. If you clearly state that some things may not be really healthy, then there's no problem.
if you like quinoa, you might like amaranthus too (if you're not already familiar with)!
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Well high protein, high fat and low carb is not only good because you store less water. Your body will also choose body fat in a higher degree as fuel when you are low on carbs. Hence the title of this blog was "How to look good naked".
2 g protein/kg really isn't excessive imo. 3 g/kg would definately be. But yeah you can probably build just fine on 1,5 g protein/kg or even lower. I'm not putting down THE truth here, I'm just saying what works for basically anyone. You might get the same result with a high carb diet but many people don't handle carbs all that well, resulting in an increase in body fat. Talking about excessive protein, what about excessive carbs? People in general eat way too much carbs for their needs.
Yeah, I will try amaranthus but it's not as common here :/
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marcoso
Brazil818 Posts
you use more fat but you also eat more fat. You recommended 100-200 g of fat/day. An individual with daily 2000 kcal requirement needs around 56 g of fat. That's a huge difference even if you prefer a high fat diet... 200 g of fat for my example would be 1800 kcal, or 90% of his total energy demand!! Maybe you miscalculated. That's for the general population with 2000 kcal/day need. Preferably, the source of this fat should be mainly unsaturated fat (poly or mono). That means most animal products fat should be avoided (fish is different because its rich in polyunsaturated fat).
Like fat, there are different kinds of carbs. Mono and disaccharides is what people need to avoid. Using carbs as energy source is better than fat because it does not produce ketonic bodies. While ketonic bodies are needed in small quantity, its excess is not good. What you need is low GI carbs sources (complex carbs with fiber, whole grains etc.) and to eat more times during the day (5 or 6 times). Diets rich in simple sugars (candies, honey, sweets, colas, juices, jellies etc), even if the total carbohydrate of the day is adequate, will indeed be harmful and fat storage happens quickly. What people need is to change the quality of their diets. The USDA recommends 100% of your carbs be in complex form, with at least half of it whole products. For physical exercises, high GI foods are good after training and you explained well.
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I'm interested in starting a diet/exercise routine. I don't have access to a gym and I have a fairly low budget. What are the best non-equipment exercises I can do at home and around the neighborhood?
I'm looking mostly to cut body fat. I have a fair amount of muscle but more body fat than I'd like. I really need some structure in my life and I think exercise might help before I hit rock bottom.
If you wanna lose fat, it pretty much follows that you have to lose weight, and the only way to do that is to eat less than you burn. To lose one pound you have to eat 3500 less calories than you burn. So if you have about a 500 calorie deficiet per day, you will lose around one pound per week. Anything more than a 1,000 cal per day surplus is pushing the limit of healthy weight loss, trying to lose any faster will result in signifcant muscle loss, and can actually cause your metabolism to slow down. Obviously it helps for losing weight if you're burning some calories from exercise and to that end some form of decent cardiovascular excersise tends to be the best, because of its longer duration. An intense weight lifting session might burn 300 calories if you're really going at it with minimal rests between sets; whereas an hour run of 9 miles can burn anywhere from 900-1200 calories depending on your weight. For some very rough approximations running burns about 120 calories per mile for someone around 160 pounds, biking is around 30-35 per mile assuming a speed of around 10-15 mph. While you don't have to get super scientific about losing weight, a fair number of people don't lose weight if they try to just eat by what feels right, or what is just a little less than neccesary.
you use more fat but you also eat more fat. You recommended 100-200 g of fat/day. An individual with daily 2000 kcal requirement needs around 56 g of fat. That's a huge difference even if you prefer a high fat diet... 200 g of fat for my example would be 1800 kcal, or 90% of his total energy demand!! Maybe you miscalculated. That's for the general population with 2000 kcal/day need. Preferably, the source of this fat should be mainly unsaturated fat (poly or mono). That means most animal products fat should be avoided (fish is different because its rich in polyunsaturated fat).
I'd say 100g of fat per day is a but high and 200 is too high for just about anyone. I mean, that would be 1800 calories alone on fat, which is a typical sedentary males BMR on fat calories alone. I like the 45-65% calories from carbs, 10-25% from protein, and the remaining 10-35% from fat. If you're fairly into aerobic excersise higher on the carbs is a good thing, if not the lower end is probably a little better. As an endurance athlete you really need the carbs for your daily runs/bikes/etc. I'm not a fan at all of the super low carb diets (25-100g [5-20%]carbs/day), they are just not that good for you. On those low levels of carbs, your body pretty much has too turn to the other two energy sources for fuel: fat and protein. Sounds pretty good right, don't eat any carbs and my body will have no choice but to burn the fat. Problem is, fat isn't the preferred choice, the body will actually start breaking down lean muscle before fatty acids which means that if you do lose weight, more of it will be muscle loss than fat loss, which results in a weaker, less healthy you that doesn't neccesarily look that much better when you stop dieting. Addtionally, people that use that method see some seeming amazing wieght loss results in the first week or two, but this is just water weight as the bodies glycogen (generally hydrated) is used up. As soon as you stop the diet, the weight immediately returns. Finally, super low carb diets will certainly put you in a state of ketosis (this means your body is breaking down fats for energy, and as a result a biproduct from accumulation of Acetyl-CoA on the Kreb's cycle is ketone body formation). Ketosis in low levels isn't a huge issue, but if it gets severe it can lead to a very serious, theatening state of ketoacidosis in which your blood pH actually drops below anout 7.2 which is absolutely horrible for your health. Ketosis is also very hard on the liver.
Using carbs as energy source is better than fat because it does not produce ketonic bodies. While ketonic bodies are needed in small quantity, its excess is not good.
I cant say I really agree with that statement as it's a bit misleading. Fatty acid metabolism doesn't neccesarily produce Ketone bodies. This only occurs when the fatty acid chains, broken down to Acetyl-CoA (2 carbon chain used in Kreb's cycle) have no oxaloacetate to bind them (common when on an extremely carb restricted diet, as oxaloacetate its converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis). If you have a reasonable carb intake your not going to be making a noticable amount of ketones, even if you're consuming a significant amount of fat. Everything else marcoso I'd agree with, especially what kinds of carbs/fats/proteins you want to take in. You should try to keep the amount of saturated fat, and even worse, trans fat, relatively low. Also, having more complex carbs is generally good as a bunch of simple carbohydrate/sugar consumption leads to big spikes in blood glucose levels, which isn't conductive to good function throughout the day, nor to dieting since this generally results in bouts of hunger whereas the complex carbs are broken down more slowly and result in a slower realease of sugar that keeps your blood sugar much more even throughout the day.
2 g protein/kg really isn't excessive imo. 3 g/kg would definately be. But yeah you can probably build just fine on 1,5 g protein/kg or even lower.
Strongly agree, unless your downing steroids like theres no tommorrow and working out for 8 hours a day, 2 g protein/kg body weight if going to be enough protein for just about anyone. Honestly for people that aren't weight training seriously and regular 1.2-1.5g/kg of body weight is more than enough. However, betting some protein at each meal is definitely a good thing since protein is helpful in controlling appetite.
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On March 07 2010 15:06 thedeadhaji wrote:you forgot eggsssssssssssssssss
True, I did forget eggs. Eggs are awesome everyone; one egg has like 7-8 grams of high quality protein. They are pretty cheap and taste good as well. Win-Win
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good stuff, finally good around to reading this. I think you could have mentioned bean sprouts+tofu as decent protein sources too (also soy milk is great if youre lactose-intolerant)
I stopped taking Protein Shakes though because for some reason I seem to get Diarrhoea from them :S Though I feel like they are not that great for the phase of definition anyways since they do seem to always have quite a lot of energy (slightly more so than meat when I compared the two a few months ago)
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On March 05 2010 22:03 Foucault wrote: If you make a super dubious claim like that, please back it up with references. Not that I think you will find any, no offense.
Reference: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080526174140AA7Fifg
+ Show Spoiler +Centrum vitamins are junk. Sorry to tell you that. In fact, people who take multivitamins statistically live shorter lives than those who don't. The actual number is 5% in the study.
There is a very good reason for this. Synthetic vitamins are just chemical activators, not vitamins. In nature, vitamins and minerals are packaged in food with "co-factors" that are integral to the vitamins to make them work in your body. If the food is grown in good fertile soil, it will contain the vitamins with the co-factors. If they are made in a laboratory, they are made as "single elements" that have no cell resonance. A good example of this is the Centrum "B" vitamins are made from the petroleum distillate, Coal Tar. These are dead chemicals that your body will recognize as toxins. It does take the body a short time (a few days to a few weeks) to reject them completely, so they have an effect for a few days, but then damage your DNA of each cell. When the DNA is damaged, it shortens your life; simple as that.
Additionally, ALL pills contain Magnesium Stearate that is a "Trans FAT," immune suppressant, and inhibits the absorption of nutrients into the body by up to 80%. They always put about 5% of the total milligrams in the bottle (you have to add them up). So if you have 1,000 milligrams in the bottle, 50 milligrams will be this trans fat. Additionally, they all use talc to make the pills. This is a carcinogen. There are other excipients they put in that are just as bad for you.
The time to dissolve is important as well. Typically it takes them about 45 minutes to dissolve. That generally means that the bulk of the pill goes into your intestines and does not break up in your stomach. Since you need to have fat in your diet to digest the fat soluable vitamins, most of those fat soluable vitamins do not get digested.
They use ascorbic acid in Centrum and call it vitamin C, but it isn't. Same issue, ascorbic acid is a single element and it ends up extracting the co-factors from your body to make an attempt to complete the complex as found in nature. Ascorbic Acid won't even cure scurvy. It also depletes your body of calcium.
The calcium in that garbage is of very low, poor quality and generally ends up as toxic to the body being dumped into bone spurs, cataracts, or kidney stones.
If you look at about 97.5% of all vitamins, health food stores are no exception, they all contain junk and most are of the poor grade 1 or 2 herbs and many are not mixed properly with the right combination of ingredients and most of the so called natural vitamins are fortified with synthetic chemical activators to boost the potency.
GNC, Centrum, Puritan Pride, are all the same garbage. If you ask them to give you a professional lab test that shows how much of the garbage is digested when you take them, they won't do that and would be ashamed to see how much just does not get into your body.
This is why food is your best source of vitamins and minerals, but only if grown in fertile soil. The chemical fertilizers used on farms and insecticides have reduced the nutrient content by over 25% in the last 25 years and the antioxidant content is down by 50% in the last 25 years.
IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO BE HEALTHY IN AMERICA TODAY.
If you want to see the benefit pills are giving people, just ask your local sewer disposal plant to show you all the pills they find or just take some "B" vitamins and look at your yellow urine to know what your body thinks of them. It's all junk. Medications are no better. They contain the same magnesium stearate, talc, and excipients as vitamins. All this stuff creates lots of free radicals in the body. Quantum Physics experiments done in Germany have photographic proof of what synthetic chemical activators do and how vitamins provided in nature work like they are supposed too.
Just look around at the genetically engineered foods now that are not labeled (thank you FDA) that do not allow you to trace where they came from if you get sick from them, and many people are getting sick. Every other country in the world labels GMO foods and people are rejecting them for good reason.
I have found only one company in my practice that makes and sells supplements that have good cell resonance and NO excipients and grade 10 herbs. By the way, they really do work as well. That can be found at: (800) 370 - 3447 and they will ship to you.
CorelPainterfriedmybra -- sorry, but those vitamins from that company may be only slightly better than the others. If you do QRA testing on them, you will find they have NO cell resonance and your body will not use them well. Try the company I suggested and I think you will see a huge difference. The best way to go is to be tested to find out what vitamins and minerals your body needs specific to you. When you get tested, you will know what will work and how much you need. It takes all the guesswork out of the process. Find a good Certified Nutritional Therapist in your area and they can help you.
Source(s): CNT, B.A. biology & chemistry advanced nutritional research
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On April 11 2010 16:32 frogmelter wrote:Show nested quote +On March 05 2010 22:03 Foucault wrote: If you make a super dubious claim like that, please back it up with references. Not that I think you will find any, no offense. Reference: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080526174140AA7Fifg+ Show Spoiler +Centrum vitamins are junk. Sorry to tell you that. In fact, people who take multivitamins statistically live shorter lives than those who don't. The actual number is 5% in the study.
There is a very good reason for this. Synthetic vitamins are just chemical activators, not vitamins. In nature, vitamins and minerals are packaged in food with "co-factors" that are integral to the vitamins to make them work in your body. If the food is grown in good fertile soil, it will contain the vitamins with the co-factors. If they are made in a laboratory, they are made as "single elements" that have no cell resonance. A good example of this is the Centrum "B" vitamins are made from the petroleum distillate, Coal Tar. These are dead chemicals that your body will recognize as toxins. It does take the body a short time (a few days to a few weeks) to reject them completely, so they have an effect for a few days, but then damage your DNA of each cell. When the DNA is damaged, it shortens your life; simple as that.
Additionally, ALL pills contain Magnesium Stearate that is a "Trans FAT," immune suppressant, and inhibits the absorption of nutrients into the body by up to 80%. They always put about 5% of the total milligrams in the bottle (you have to add them up). So if you have 1,000 milligrams in the bottle, 50 milligrams will be this trans fat. Additionally, they all use talc to make the pills. This is a carcinogen. There are other excipients they put in that are just as bad for you.
The time to dissolve is important as well. Typically it takes them about 45 minutes to dissolve. That generally means that the bulk of the pill goes into your intestines and does not break up in your stomach. Since you need to have fat in your diet to digest the fat soluable vitamins, most of those fat soluable vitamins do not get digested.
They use ascorbic acid in Centrum and call it vitamin C, but it isn't. Same issue, ascorbic acid is a single element and it ends up extracting the co-factors from your body to make an attempt to complete the complex as found in nature. Ascorbic Acid won't even cure scurvy. It also depletes your body of calcium.
The calcium in that garbage is of very low, poor quality and generally ends up as toxic to the body being dumped into bone spurs, cataracts, or kidney stones.
If you look at about 97.5% of all vitamins, health food stores are no exception, they all contain junk and most are of the poor grade 1 or 2 herbs and many are not mixed properly with the right combination of ingredients and most of the so called natural vitamins are fortified with synthetic chemical activators to boost the potency.
GNC, Centrum, Puritan Pride, are all the same garbage. If you ask them to give you a professional lab test that shows how much of the garbage is digested when you take them, they won't do that and would be ashamed to see how much just does not get into your body.
This is why food is your best source of vitamins and minerals, but only if grown in fertile soil. The chemical fertilizers used on farms and insecticides have reduced the nutrient content by over 25% in the last 25 years and the antioxidant content is down by 50% in the last 25 years.
IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO BE HEALTHY IN AMERICA TODAY.
If you want to see the benefit pills are giving people, just ask your local sewer disposal plant to show you all the pills they find or just take some "B" vitamins and look at your yellow urine to know what your body thinks of them. It's all junk. Medications are no better. They contain the same magnesium stearate, talc, and excipients as vitamins. All this stuff creates lots of free radicals in the body. Quantum Physics experiments done in Germany have photographic proof of what synthetic chemical activators do and how vitamins provided in nature work like they are supposed too.
Just look around at the genetically engineered foods now that are not labeled (thank you FDA) that do not allow you to trace where they came from if you get sick from them, and many people are getting sick. Every other country in the world labels GMO foods and people are rejecting them for good reason.
I have found only one company in my practice that makes and sells supplements that have good cell resonance and NO excipients and grade 10 herbs. By the way, they really do work as well. That can be found at: (800) 370 - 3447 and they will ship to you.
CorelPainterfriedmybra -- sorry, but those vitamins from that company may be only slightly better than the others. If you do QRA testing on them, you will find they have NO cell resonance and your body will not use them well. Try the company I suggested and I think you will see a huge difference. The best way to go is to be tested to find out what vitamins and minerals your body needs specific to you. When you get tested, you will know what will work and how much you need. It takes all the guesswork out of the process. Find a good Certified Nutritional Therapist in your area and they can help you.
Source(s): CNT, B.A. biology & chemistry advanced nutritional research
Wow this was interesting. I think it's not entirely accurate though since many new multivitamins contains the active form of the vitamin; i.e pyridoxal 5'-phosphate instead of B6 etc. But yeah, the majority of multivitamins don't contain the active form of the vitamin. However there is a reason the multivits should be taken with food because the food you eat helps to release the vitamins in the multivit pill.
There is a huge difference in biological availability with different brands and different forms of a vitamin, and while I know a bit I'm still not a professional.
The claim that people will live 5% shorter lives due to a multivitamin is quite stupid though, since the lack of vitamins will also shorten your life. If you're deficient in B6, B12, Magnesium, Potassium, Folic acid etc you are at a greater risk for cardio-vascular disease, depression for instance, which may shorten your life even more.
These kinds of statistical claims always confuses people, and alot of times semi-misses the target. It's like looking at something from only one angle.
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