I know I post alot of nutrition jargon which I'm sure half of you don't read, but given Ed just asked, probably a good time to re-post some basic philosophy about Nutrition which are the key to unlocking your gains in the gym. Although there are some who are naturally ripped and muscley, the majority of us need to work hard to stay lean and also put on muscle. I'm sure most of us have one or more mates who are just naturally ripped and we all envy them, to be honest, personally I'm glad I'm not one of them, because not being one of them got me into the gym and into nutrition and turned my life around. If you really want to unlock gains in both your own personal health and also transforming your body in the gym, then a solid diet/nutrition plan is what you need. Unless you have the body of someone I just described who is naturally ripped/built, then without a proper nutrition plan, your full potential can not and will not ever be realised. I have coached a vast number of people in nutrition all starting with myself and you can trust me on my knowledge and I practice what I preach. Alot of people seem to have the misconception that a nutrition plan is: Too hard to stick to (you need to learn commitment and re-evaluate what you want to achieve in the gym) Too expensive (I eat 7 meals a day and spend $60-$70 on food a week. Most people who buy junk food every day and eat 3 meals a day spend $300+ a week on unhealthy food which does not help them achieve their goals Too restrictive (I can't eat my favorite things) - trust me on the fact that with a little understanding of food, you will soon be able to fit anything you want to eat into a daily nutrition plan and still acheive your goals. Anyway. Nutrition 101 Basic Terminology 1. BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) - The amount of calories you need to consume to maintain your body if you were comatose (i.e. zero exercise) BMR Calculator Calculated using: - Age - Sex - Height - Weight 2. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) - The amount of calories you need to consume to maintain your body in an active lifestyle (i.e. regular exercise, physical/non-physical job, regularity of physical activity etc) TDEE Calculator Calculated using: - Age - Sex - Height - Weight - Type & Regularity of Physical Activity Calculating Calories to Determine/Manipulate Body Composition Essentially there are three types of dieting. Bulking (putting on muscle/weight) Maintenance Cutting (stripping body fat) The most important thing to think about in dieting in any situation is CALORIES IN vs CALORIES OUT The basic philosphy behind each is: Bulking - Calculate your TDEE and add 500 calories or 15-20% on top of your TDEE. This is the total amount of calories you need to eat every day to put on lean muscle Maintenance - Calculate your TDEE and this is the amount of calories you need to maintain your body mass based on your stats and your current physical activity levels Cutting - Calculate your TDEE and subtract 500 calories or 15-20% off your TDEE. This is the total amount of calories you need to eat to burn off body fat whilst preserving maximum amount of lean muscle as possible. (Note, that 0.5kg loss per week is quite normal - the lower your body fat gets, the more strict and different diet techniques need to be employed to keep cutting) - metabolisms are quite fragile and easily become stagnant with prolonged periods of the same eating patterns. I will cover this in a more advanced post on dieting. Calculating Macronutrients To Determine/Manipulate Body Composition Macronutrients are the 3 major types of foods (I have described them and given some traditional examples) 1. Protein ALL Meats Egg Whites Fish Whey Dairy Products (Milk/Cheese) 2. Fats Avocado's Egg Yolks Almonds/Peanuts (Almond/Peanut Butter) Dairy Products (Milk/Cheese) Coconut Flesh/Milk Olive Oil 3. Carbohydrates Rice Pasta Bread Potato's Vegetables Sugar Essentially, you need a fixed balance of your Macronutrients each day in order to maximise your bodies growth and hormone production. Protein 1.4 - 2g of Protein per kg of Bodyweight Fats 1-2g of Fat per kg of Bodyweight Carbohydrates There are various calculations on amounts of carbs 'needed' but carbs are the least important of the 3 macros and various people need more carbs and some need less carbs. Essentially, fill up the remainder of your calorie requirements with carbs after meeting your protein and fat requirements. FAQ's How do I count Calories & Nutritional Values of foods? - Google the type of food you are eating and put 'nutritional information' after it e.g. '250g chicken breast nutritional information' this will give you a loose idea of the calories/macronutrient breakdown of any food you are eating. Questions?
Excellent write up hama When bulking I go on sort of a see food diet . If i can see it and As long as its clean I'll eat it . And when cutting I just use the 1900 rule but all that info is excellent . Found this also
Haha, so you are a 'Dirty Bulker'? I've tried that before and ended up just putting on too much bodyfat. Personally I prefer the 'clean bulking' approach, small calorie surplus over your TDEE. The scales won't go up as quick but the majority of growth will be lean muscle tissue rather than bodyfat. What's the 1900 approach?
You must have misread mate .. I said as long as its clean I'll eat it .. So just my normal meals but lots larger .. heaps of chicken rice tuna meat sweet potatoes broccoli etc . That's all thats in my cupboard really haha . But if I think I'm full I'll just eat that little bit more . Gone from 82-93 in a good 2-3 months . Body fat has gone up but not fussed just strip that off .. I do seem to get cranky now if I miss a meal or get hungry so this next cut will be a challenge . 1900 calorie cut . Inc shakes . It's hard and food proportions have to be selected and weighed right . **** loads of water Got a mate who is dirty bulking he was about the same as 81-82 cut . But real vascular .. bastard he has been bulking same time as me and has just hit 101 . He is planning to keep bulking and strip to see if he can compete in through bodybuilding section . I think he has about another two years till he has the mass But he is just one of those people ... awesome metabolism and his legs grow easy ... they are huge now has to wear stretchy shorts on leg press cos he just keeps ripping them open haha
No I read you correctly A bit of a terminology misunderstanding. FYI, - Dirty Bulking = not following a calorie plan or a set macronutrients calculation. I.e you eat anything on sight, regardless of whether its 'clean' healthy foods or whether its junk food. - Clean Bulking = following a set calorie and macronutrient plan with a set small calorie surplus over your TDEE/Maintenance. Does the 1900 calorie cut work for you? I would have thought that would be far too low and would lead to a slow down of metabolism and stagnant fat loss/if not muscle loss
I consider what I'm doing clean bulking and something like macro bulking to be dirty. Where you substitute a chicken breast with a burger. I still eat exactly the same as what I eat when Im cutting just larger portions . . Soooo many different ways to look at or interpret health and fitness ey . Doesn't matter anyway . I'm growing =D . What ever works . I'm Just dieting the same as my mate's who do inba they are both brothers . One didn't place last year the other got first in Tassie and second in nationals ... so I listen to them haha .
Yeah I know what your saying. I used to associate 'clean' and 'dirty' with healthy and unhealthy food etc. Essentially to put weight on you need a calorie surplus, your body will put weight on regardless of whether its a fat saturated burger or a lean chicken breast and rice. A calorie is still a calorie and a gram of protein/fat/carbs is still exactly that. It call comes down to the idea of 'If it Fits Your Macros' - IIFYM dieting. Only reason it's 'dirty' bulking because your not tracking calories, you could end up with a 1000 cal surplus on a daily basis, which will most definitely result in higher bodyfat growth rather than slower primarily lean muscle growth. Anyway, as you said. Whatever works for you is good. I'm in the middle of setting up an online nutrition and PT consulting business on the side. So hopefully that will earn me some cash on the side.
All the best with that ... may as well jump on it whilst it's hot ey . With all the information that's out there and how easily accessible it is I seriously don't know how pts can be in business . At the moment I'm just in the mindset ... eat big - lift big - get big Even now if I replace one of my meals with a ff burger etc I'm crook for the next two days But won't be to much longer and I'll be sorting my calorie counter app out again I want to get nice and vascular lean this season .
Maybe not so much the 'PT' side, but definitely Nutrition, such a complicated and involved thing. Anyone can nut out a workout routine, work on their form, nutrition is a bit harder to grasp. End of the day, despite the myriad of information out there. It takes AAAAAAAAGES to learn the in's and outs of proper training and nutrition techniques that go together, understanding the signs, and also dealing with metabolic spikes/dips (when cutting). It's taken me 3 years of research/studying and being mentored by pro's to get to the stage I'm at now. I definitely think there is a market for it for those that actually want to really acheive gains rather than nutting it out over time. People loose motivation and commitment without fast results.
Hama, What sort of diet would you recommend for myself. Just looking to strip on the gut and some love handles. I'm about 170-175 @ 84kg. I've stopped going gym cause I over the getting big pushing massive stage. Been really getting into my boxing and boot camp type classes when the body isn't battered. Finially over come some shoulder troubles and knee problems so I'm gunna be doing boot camp every Tuesday for one hr and boxing every weds for one hr. it's all high intensity stuff, come out dripping wet. Plus some light - med weights but 10-15 reps going from machine to machine without much of a brake. Wanna strip down as much as I can by april for "fight night". I was gunna do light an easy cause I lazy hahha
Cav, I'll give you a good run down. I need your stats to work it out though, - Sex (Male) - Age Need this - important to workout metabolic rate - Height (170-175cm) - Weight (84kg) I'm assuming from what you've said you're doing 3-5 days of hard physical activity a week (boxing/boot camp/high rep & low weight sesh's) Basically you need to be at around a 500 calorie deficit under your TDEE and hit your macro targets, and doing it right, you should lose 0.5kg or about a pound each week. Don't do light and easy, whilst it is good low calorie food, you will get MUCH better results taking control yourself and monitoring your own food input, maintaining a calorie deficit daily. What bodyfat percentage do you think you are? Post a pic or grab a handful of it and make an estimation? Fill in the blanks above and I'll put something together for ya.
25 in sept. Least 3-4. Gunna start running more and doing abs. At a guess 10-15% body fat. More around gut. Top end is kinda still bulkish from when I used to go gym pretty hard core earlier on. Problem is more how much I eat. Then what I eat. I'm a tradie also. So constantly on the move.
So basically your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is about 2,990 calories a day. That is how many calories you need to maintain your current composition. What you need to do is a two stage process: Step 1: Reduce Calories 2,990 - 500 = 2,490 calories needed to cut bodyfat Note: Cutting can be as slow as 1 pound per week (0.5kg) per week. It's important to do it slowly to: - Maintain strength - Maintain muscle mass - Maintain acceptable energy levels throughout the day - Not hurt/slow your metabolism too much Step 2: Meet Daily Macro Targets So you said you were 84kg currently, based on that, your macro targets each day should be: Protein: 2g protein per kg of bodyweight (2x84) = 168g of protein each day (minimum) Fats: 1.4g fat per kg of bodyweight (1.4x84) = 118g of fat each day (minimum) Carbs: Fill up the rest of your daily calorie requirements with carbs. You need to work out your own portions and what to eat but use these as a good 'healthy' guide. 1. Protein ALL Meats Egg Whites Fish Whey Dairy Products (Milk/Cheese) 2. Fats Avocado's Egg Yolks Almonds/Peanuts (Almond/Peanut Butter) Dairy Products (Milk/Cheese) Coconut Flesh/Milk Olive Oil 3. Carbohydrates Rice Pasta Bread Potato's Vegetables Sugar I've attached a sample diet planner, which you can use and tailor yourself. Just make sure you hit the targets (both calories and macronutrients I just described) and you should be fine. Just give it time and maintain consistency and commitment to both diet and exercise. Sample Diet Planner Here
Hama getting back into it and after reading your recommendation and some online reviews I have ordered some stuff from bulk nutrients. What are your opinions of flavor and solubility with their range?
Awesome. I love Bulk Nutrients stuff, nice and cheap, yet great quality. Flavour is good, so far I've only had the WPI protein in Chocolate flavour which was nice and BCAA's (which come in neutral and you can buy your own flavouring from them). Solubility is also really good, great for mixing with other things also, never had 'clumping' problems like with other products from other manufacturers.
