LITTLEMAGS
Club Member
I read this a LONG time ago...thought it would be helpful to a couple guys here. Makes it easy to read and Understand
Common Sense Dieting
I peruse the lifting forums and read posts from extremely frustrated and confused lifters on a daily basis regarding dieting. While it can take some trial and error to get things dialed in, setting up a great diet is extremely easy to do. Once setup, it may not necessarily be extremely easy to do every day as willpower and discipline are required, but figuring out what to do is the easy part.
First I will dispel the need for “fad” type diets that are USUALLY based on lousy science or faulty premises. I assure you a “peanut butter” or “grapefruit” diet is not what you are looking for. You need balanced nutrition that does not revolve around some trendy food or supplement. Then ask yourself what is the purpose of a diet? A sound answer is that it is to change body composition and provide all the nutrients needed for both body composition changes and health.
The next need will be to define your goals. Almost all of us want more muscle and less bodyfat. A good percentage of the lifters out there go about it in a different fashion. They bulk and get more muscle and way more bodyfat. Then they “cut” and get less bodyfat and lose hard earned muscle. There is a better way! Do a recomp and add muscle while SLOWY dropping bodyfat. If you somehow are of the belief that this is an impossibility you simply do not understand the way the body works very well. You can lose some fat doing cardio, or part of the day by carb/caloric restriction, and add some muscle during another part of the day—that simple. Or you can have some days where you are slightly under maintenance levels, and some days over. On the days you are under (provided macro-nutrient ratios and timing is correct) you will drop a bit of bodyfat while preserving all your muscle. On the days you are over (again, provided macro-nutrient ratios and timing is correct) you will add a BIT of muscle. While that is a bit of a simplification, it gives the basics of how it works. Nothing complicated about that—no voodoo involved.
But…..most people want to see results faster than that so they do “bulks” and “cuts”. The way these are typically done are…….well…..lets just say done less than intelligently. Why? Because most people let the scale be their guiding light. They start their “bulk” jump on the scale in a few days and it still hasn’t gone up. Answer? Eat more. And damn it’s hard to get those “big calories” when eating clean, so…..they eat everything in view, and a lot of very calorie dense crap. And guess what? The scale starts shooting up and they are stoked! They start getting bigger and stronger and it is generally only when someone else says something that bursts their bubble that they realize they are headed in the wrong direction. Here is a bit of a conversation between me and a girlfriend had about 16 years ago when I did “bulks”.
Sheri: I thought you were trying to build muscle?
Me: I am building muscle, I’m a lot bigger and stronger.
Sheri: Well you may be stronger, but you don’t look better, you’re just getting REALLY fat.
Me: Well I gained 22 lbs, and most of it is muscle.
Sheri: It looks like mostly fat to me babe, but if that makes you happy, I’m OK.
Me: Well I…um….yeah, maybe I did gain a bit too much fat.
There is absolutely no reason to just eat like a damn pig to put muscle on your frame. Once you are over maintenance calories (assuming macro-nutrient ratios are correct) you are doing all your body needs to add muscle and having a huge surplus of extra calories does very little for your ability to add muscle, but a lot for your ability to add fat.
There are a few times in a lifters career when it is very possible to accrue a bunch of muscle mass in a short period of time:
1. When they first start training,
2. If they have been off of training and are rebuilding mass they had previously.
3. If it is the first time they have trained properly for THEIR body type irregardless of how long they have trained.
4. When doing a steroid cycle.
5. Early on (first few years) in the lifting career of someone with great genetics.
Unless you are at one of those points in your training career don’t look for muscle to be flying on at a super fast rate. Newbies typically gain 20-60 lbs in a year, and 50 is definitely on the high side for most. So lets say you are a brand newbie and are going to gain 50 lbs of muscle this year, and are not going to do it totally clean, but let 15 lbs of fat come along for the ride to ensure you are always fed well enough for maximal mass accrual. That is 65 lbs and 65 divided by 52 = 1.25. So you are going to gain all of 1.25 pounds a week. A number that for all intents and purposes is not readable on a weekly basis on a normal bathroom scale taking into account water weight variations. Do any of you see the utter foolishness of jumping on the scale and being thrilled with your 2-3 pound a week increases while bulking? You are in almost all cases just getting damn fat, damn fast.
Past your first year a 20-30 lb gain in lean mass is fantastic. Let’s call it 25 for example sake and that means a .48 lb gain a week. Again, nothing you can see on a bathroom scale. And I know on the internet and in the cell-tech ads everyone gains that much every 16 weeks or so, but this is the real world and guys that can put on 25 lbs a year consistently are soon FREAKS, and well, most people are not freaks so you figure out what is reality and what is fiction.
So why do so many of you eat until you can see the scale go up 2-3 lbs a week? Mostly because you are bound and determined to do a big aggressive “cut” where you lose 2-4 lbs a week and a lot of muscle with it because again, you are too damned impatient and gauge your progress by what the scale says instead of the mirror and tape measure/calipers. What is a reasonable amount of bodyfat to expect to lose a week? 1 to 1-1/2 pounds for under 200 lb lifters, and 1.5-2.25 for 200-250 lb lifters. Go much past that and a lot of bad things happen metabolically.
The better way is to just do a recomp. No, the scale won’t be moving fast enough for most of you. In fact, it may stay static for weeks on end as muscle is slowly built and fat is slowly removed. The downside is you have to be way more detail oriented to pull this off. Doing a traditional “bulk” you just eat like a pig. Doing a traditional “cut” calories are restricted so low there is lots of wiggle room. But on a recomp more precision is needed which brings up a most important topic-the need for precision.
Common Sense Dieting
I peruse the lifting forums and read posts from extremely frustrated and confused lifters on a daily basis regarding dieting. While it can take some trial and error to get things dialed in, setting up a great diet is extremely easy to do. Once setup, it may not necessarily be extremely easy to do every day as willpower and discipline are required, but figuring out what to do is the easy part.
First I will dispel the need for “fad” type diets that are USUALLY based on lousy science or faulty premises. I assure you a “peanut butter” or “grapefruit” diet is not what you are looking for. You need balanced nutrition that does not revolve around some trendy food or supplement. Then ask yourself what is the purpose of a diet? A sound answer is that it is to change body composition and provide all the nutrients needed for both body composition changes and health.
The next need will be to define your goals. Almost all of us want more muscle and less bodyfat. A good percentage of the lifters out there go about it in a different fashion. They bulk and get more muscle and way more bodyfat. Then they “cut” and get less bodyfat and lose hard earned muscle. There is a better way! Do a recomp and add muscle while SLOWY dropping bodyfat. If you somehow are of the belief that this is an impossibility you simply do not understand the way the body works very well. You can lose some fat doing cardio, or part of the day by carb/caloric restriction, and add some muscle during another part of the day—that simple. Or you can have some days where you are slightly under maintenance levels, and some days over. On the days you are under (provided macro-nutrient ratios and timing is correct) you will drop a bit of bodyfat while preserving all your muscle. On the days you are over (again, provided macro-nutrient ratios and timing is correct) you will add a BIT of muscle. While that is a bit of a simplification, it gives the basics of how it works. Nothing complicated about that—no voodoo involved.
But…..most people want to see results faster than that so they do “bulks” and “cuts”. The way these are typically done are…….well…..lets just say done less than intelligently. Why? Because most people let the scale be their guiding light. They start their “bulk” jump on the scale in a few days and it still hasn’t gone up. Answer? Eat more. And damn it’s hard to get those “big calories” when eating clean, so…..they eat everything in view, and a lot of very calorie dense crap. And guess what? The scale starts shooting up and they are stoked! They start getting bigger and stronger and it is generally only when someone else says something that bursts their bubble that they realize they are headed in the wrong direction. Here is a bit of a conversation between me and a girlfriend had about 16 years ago when I did “bulks”.
Sheri: I thought you were trying to build muscle?
Me: I am building muscle, I’m a lot bigger and stronger.
Sheri: Well you may be stronger, but you don’t look better, you’re just getting REALLY fat.
Me: Well I gained 22 lbs, and most of it is muscle.
Sheri: It looks like mostly fat to me babe, but if that makes you happy, I’m OK.
Me: Well I…um….yeah, maybe I did gain a bit too much fat.
There is absolutely no reason to just eat like a damn pig to put muscle on your frame. Once you are over maintenance calories (assuming macro-nutrient ratios are correct) you are doing all your body needs to add muscle and having a huge surplus of extra calories does very little for your ability to add muscle, but a lot for your ability to add fat.
There are a few times in a lifters career when it is very possible to accrue a bunch of muscle mass in a short period of time:
1. When they first start training,
2. If they have been off of training and are rebuilding mass they had previously.
3. If it is the first time they have trained properly for THEIR body type irregardless of how long they have trained.
4. When doing a steroid cycle.
5. Early on (first few years) in the lifting career of someone with great genetics.
Unless you are at one of those points in your training career don’t look for muscle to be flying on at a super fast rate. Newbies typically gain 20-60 lbs in a year, and 50 is definitely on the high side for most. So lets say you are a brand newbie and are going to gain 50 lbs of muscle this year, and are not going to do it totally clean, but let 15 lbs of fat come along for the ride to ensure you are always fed well enough for maximal mass accrual. That is 65 lbs and 65 divided by 52 = 1.25. So you are going to gain all of 1.25 pounds a week. A number that for all intents and purposes is not readable on a weekly basis on a normal bathroom scale taking into account water weight variations. Do any of you see the utter foolishness of jumping on the scale and being thrilled with your 2-3 pound a week increases while bulking? You are in almost all cases just getting damn fat, damn fast.
Past your first year a 20-30 lb gain in lean mass is fantastic. Let’s call it 25 for example sake and that means a .48 lb gain a week. Again, nothing you can see on a bathroom scale. And I know on the internet and in the cell-tech ads everyone gains that much every 16 weeks or so, but this is the real world and guys that can put on 25 lbs a year consistently are soon FREAKS, and well, most people are not freaks so you figure out what is reality and what is fiction.
So why do so many of you eat until you can see the scale go up 2-3 lbs a week? Mostly because you are bound and determined to do a big aggressive “cut” where you lose 2-4 lbs a week and a lot of muscle with it because again, you are too damned impatient and gauge your progress by what the scale says instead of the mirror and tape measure/calipers. What is a reasonable amount of bodyfat to expect to lose a week? 1 to 1-1/2 pounds for under 200 lb lifters, and 1.5-2.25 for 200-250 lb lifters. Go much past that and a lot of bad things happen metabolically.
The better way is to just do a recomp. No, the scale won’t be moving fast enough for most of you. In fact, it may stay static for weeks on end as muscle is slowly built and fat is slowly removed. The downside is you have to be way more detail oriented to pull this off. Doing a traditional “bulk” you just eat like a pig. Doing a traditional “cut” calories are restricted so low there is lots of wiggle room. But on a recomp more precision is needed which brings up a most important topic-the need for precision.
