Need diet advice from the gurus (Netviper..chime in if you can)..

Ryan, I'm not a guru but I play one on TV...(and I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night)

1. Your on your way, sounds good -but cross train (vary activity)
2. No
3. Legumes, egg whites, nuts, - Depends on your body
4. I'd say every day... balanced meals
5. Depends on your intensity. Arnold workouts -yes, Simmons workouts - No
6. Doubt it, (you don't mention quantity) but you should be using up the energy in your day . Also, I think the advantages out weight the concerns
7. Vary your routines...... If you pick up a jump rope, boxing speed bag, tennis partner, stepper, etc. you might be happier with the results.

Drink plenty of good quality H20.................. & Have fun

 

Your welcome....

You have a nutritionist, that's good, & an FChater at that! LOL That's great. You might want to consider a personal trainer. You might not need someone regularly but just to go over questions and routines. Frankly Ryan, intensity is key to the definition. It doesn't come easy. Esp. when your starting out. After awhile it will become easier and easier but plan on some tough workouts if you want results. I guarantee anyone you look at that looks good has put his / her time into it............. A partner is always good for motivation also.

Congrats on your efforts!

 

Well that should do it...lol (Jokes at Carbon's expense too funny). I also suggest the Bikini thread for additional motivation.

I can't answer that.... Your body will tell you. If you are really working out hard with a lot of intensity (I have no way of knowing) then YES. Give your body a rest. It will help your body repair muscle cells. I also don't know what your routine is..... how many reps.... how much weight...... what your max weights are..... free weights.... machines.... You might want to go Three days on / one day off... It just depends. I would think six days of real intense workouts for someone starting would be too much. I think three to four days on then rest. But, that's just my opinion. I've seen guys go gung ho for months and start to see results only to pull / tear something and lose the gains by over doing it.

The bottom line is this............. you should be proud of yourself. I can tell you are taking this seriously and you will see results if you continue to do so. I can tell you it WILL get easier every week (well, every month).

Keep it up and keep us posted

 

Ok, we've beat this up pretty good...........

Keep us posted.

I'll leave on this note. On your day off from weights try and do a little cardio (light) to break up the lactic acid and remove some of the soreness. You'll be surprised that working out the muscles (stretching, etc.) will make them feel better.

Never seen the Bikini thread? (This is me shaking my head in disbelief) I'm married 6 strong great yrs and I'm checkin it out.

 

Um, dude...

You're gonna look really deformed if you only work on ONE shoulder...

 

Just bustin' your chops, dude...

 

Hey Ryan,

I will try and help you out here, but I am not a nutrionalist by any means.

Now that you have hit your optimal weight, it is time for some PROTEIN! That diet you were on would make me really weak.

1) Drop that diet. If you want to start putting on some muscle, you need to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. You really need to take protein shakes to get there. If you do it all with food, you WILL get fat. Note: It is nearly impossible to add any kind of size without gaining some fat. You need to be careful when you change up your diet. If you notice your waist expanding, cut back a little. One way to gain more weight is to up your calories every day by 500. That should help you put on roughly a pound a week or so.
I would recommend staying low fat, and keep the carbs in there. You will need them.

2-3) Meat is the best protein, but it is also the most expensive. Check out some protein shakes and bars (low carb). I take a protein bar in the morninig (EAS 25g) about 10am and then a shake later at night (20 g)

4) Take Protien EVERY day. Try and hit that one gram per pound. You are going to need to work out pretty hard though.

5)I am currently doing a split program.
Monday: quads, calves
Tuesday: Chest, Bi's
Wed: rest -- you could do cardio here 25 mins
Thurs: Back, Hams
Fri: Shoulder, tri's
Sat and Sun: rest and maybe a walk or something.

You don't want to be running or anything like that. The cardio should just be enough to get your heartrate up and burn fat. You don't want to be working the cardiovascular system.

I would do 3 exercises per body part. 3 sets of 6-12 reps depending on what you are going for. You can change it up.

Rest is very important. Remember, your body does not grow when you workout, it grows when you rest. Try and get about 30 grams of protien within 30 minutes of working out.

6) You do need to watch the sugar calories from fruits.

7) Just stick with it. It is NOT easy at all to gain muscle. When you work out hard, you will notice some good gains rather quickly, but it will level off and you will plateau for a while. Keep at it.

You may want to take some creatine and glutamine to help you out also.

My diet is not great, but I try and keep it rather regular and eat 5-6 times a day. It has been hard now that I work downtown and can't come home for lunch.

Hope that helps.

 

Eat 1 gram of protien per pound of bodyweight. So yes, 134 grams a day.

I would do your diet with 50% carb, 35% protein and 15% fat. You do need fats remember. Take Flaxeed oil to help there.

Your body right now is probably starving for energy.

Pick up a couple of issues of Flex or Muscle and Fitness. They have a lot of great examples of diets. They will be a lot more informative than me.

Your nutrionalist friend should be able to help you out also.

 

Ryan,
I am so happy for you. You worked really hard and deserve lots of congrats for the weight loss. I know it was hard and you were frustrated at first. Great job. The next part of our quest is often the hardest depending on your body type. Genetics plays such a big role in determining how much muscle you can gain. I can't get big no matter what I do. I can get ripped and look good, I just could never get big.
There is alot of mis-information out there about gaining muscle and protein intake. I now this will fly in the face, of some of what people say, but so did that raw food diet I told you about and we see how that turned out. Your body has a set amount of protein that it can convert into muscle each day. Anything over that is counter productive. I believe the amount recognized by most experts is .8-1.2 g. per kg. of body weight. It less than you would think. I could be wrong about the units, but I dont think so. It's late and my brain is foggy. Any protein over what you can use has to be broken down into amino acids. But it cannot be used to build muscle so it is wasted. Your body can only build so much muscle per day. When you have to break down excess protein, you use up nutrients you could be using for other things so it may actually set you back. The quality of the protein is much more important. You have to have all 19(?, I think) to build muscle. Animal proteins have all the required ones to build muscle. That's why you can starve to death from not enough protein when eating only beans or nuts for your protein. They lack a couple amino acids to complete proteins in mammals. Protein shakes are useless. They usually don't have all the required amino acids and/or they are not good qaulity and cannot be absorbed. You still have to break them all down though, even if you can't utilize them. So you could get a ton of protein that is of no use to the body from those shakes. Stick to lean animal protein. Fish, chicken, lamb and lean beef are the best in that order. Use high quality carbs as energy(wheat based breads, brown rice). No white stuff(bread, rice, sugar). You do need a good amount of energy to build muscle, but your body can convert protein, fat and carbs into energy. As far as lifting techniques to build muscle. Basically you need to tear up the muscle so it will rebuild. Lift hard, rest alot. Arnold's book on lifting is old but still very good if you can find it. Eccentric contaction produces harder muscle contraction every time. i have seen it on an electronic monitor in school. Just concentate on the muscle and especially the downstroke when lifting. I would take at least one day off per week and 1 week off every 3 months. Vary the workouts to shock the system. Don't look to muscle mags for advice on nutrition. They know just enough to get them in trouble and they write articles to boost the business of poeple that advertise with them. We used to take the mags in school and pick them apart becuase they were so wrong. I have talked alot with Ronnie Coleman(Mr Olympia) and he uses no fancy protein shakes or bars. He just works hard and eats chicken most of the time. Good luck. Hope that helps.

 

alan.. no offense, but give me a break. The reason bodybuilders are so big is because of the HUGE amount of calories they take in and STEROIDS. You cannot compare a normal person to a bodybuilder because of the amount of drugs they take.

As for Ronnie Coleman, I have talked to him a few times and he takes in 600 grams of protien a day. You think he does that with chicken? Hell no. That would be 20 large chicken breasts per day!

Anyone into serious bodybuilding will tell you it is 80-90% diet and 10-20% working out.

If you cannot get bigger, that would be because you are not eating enough or properly to do so. You might never look like a bodybuilder due to genetics, but you can get bigger.

 

I knew his would fly in the face of body builder logic. It always does. And most what body builders do is not based on science. It is based on heresay. Ronnie's a patient of mine and we have spoken about this for many years. I was there when he won his lst 3 titles. I saw his routine. I have been there at diner time. I will grant you that without the roids, you can't progress like they do. But what the roids also do is allow the body to utilize more protein than it normally would. If your not taking them, you absolutely cannot utilize more than your bodies set amount per day. The real problem is that they cannot pass out of the body without being broken down. So you have to use up extra vitamins and energy to break them down even if you can't utilize them. Talk to any Dr, Human Biochemist or Nutritionist worth his salt and they will absolutely fall off their chair laughing if you tell them your body can utilize 600 grams of proteint per day. That is about ten times the normal amount. Stop reading those muscle mags. They are full of it. Digestion is such an energy consuming process that you dont want to have too much to digest. It's counterproductive. I did not learn this stuff from muscle mags. I learned it in Human Biochem class, per reviewed scientific medical journals, sports seminars put on by olympic drs. I have seen the machines the olympians use to determine calorie burn rates, protein intake rates, vitamin usage. They can determine what is being used and what is being wasted in the body with all of the incredible technology the have right now. And I will tell you that none of the top Olympians is out there eating 300, 400 or 600 grams of protein per day. I dont know wok out as good as some of you guys, I will admit. But what I do know is the human body. No offense to anyone. Alot of guys hate it when I say these things. But then again, alot of people hate it when you tell them that the Atkins diet is one of the worst out there. Good luck guys.

 

http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/articles/nutrition/protein_2/

Try this link out. I just looked real quick and found this. If I find better I will post it. I got to thinking about it and a guy that is a pro body builder like ronnie will weigh 300. He does in the off season. 315-320 actually. So if we look at tht weight. The recommended amount when a person is under serious stress as in bodybuilding would be 150 grams per day. That's not exact, it's just off the top of my head. If you add steroids to the mix. You probably could easily triple the amount of protein stored as muscle. This is ow those guys come up with those huge protein intake numbers. For the average guy that is not on roids, it's just is a waste.

 

Alan,

I have generally tried to take 1 gram of protien per pound of body weight. Is that too much? I weight about 176 pounds right now. I certainly have no where close to your level of education on this subject. What would you recommend for someone wanted to gain size?

Also, Ronnie Coleman told me directly he took 600g a day of protien. I never suggested anyone should ever take that much.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?

Thanks

 

ryan,

if you have typical day job like most people, your energy requirement peaks at the start of the day and slopes down as the day goes on into the evening which is when most of us become least active (before bedtime).

the key to make sure your calories intake commensurates with your physical activities. my biggest meal of the day is always breakfast, 2nd by lunch and dinner is always the lightest.

for years, the only thing i put in my body after 6:30pm (excluding wk/end) is H2O. nothing else goes in my body again until the next morning....

this requires lots of discipline....but it serves me well and i hope it helps you.