Little Eating Makes Big People

Okay, so you've been on a diet for a few months, and so far it's going well.  You've lost about 5 lbs, and you're trying your hardest to stick to healthy foods.  Maybe you've been hitting the gym a few times a week, and are forcing yourself to sweat it out on the treadmill for half an hour each time.  It's not fun, but hey, it's working, right?

But then, all of a sudden, your previously steady weight loss just plain stops.  For week after week you step on the scale only to see the same number each time.  In desperation and frustration, you apply the "less and more" technique to diet and gym time respectively.  You start hacking your meals to miniature versions of their former selves and make sure to jog for at least an hour every day on that dreaded treadmill.  Before you know it you're hungry, tired, and your joints are killing you. But in a few weeks it'll all be worth it, right?  You'll step on that scale and see a lighter you, and that'll be worth the world.

But then, when weigh in day finally does rear its ugly head, you step on the scale only to face a number LARGER than what was there last week.  You're bewildered, disgusted, and ready to scream.  Not to mention you're probably ready to throw in the towel on this whole fitness thing, claiming that your body just wouldn't let you lose weight, and that you tried your hardest.  Here's what I say to that:

DON'T GIVE UP!!!

You ran across a very common problem with diets these days.  Many people know the basics behind weight loss, and that you have to burn more calories than you consume on a daily basis in order to be in a caloric deficit and therefore FORCE your body to use stored fat as the source of the remaining required energy.  It isn't rocket science, or at least, the concept isn't.  But in a modern world, where people look for the most efficient, quickest methods to get things done, this little bit of knowledge is a recipe for disaster.  You see, eating too few calories can actually cause you to GAIN weight.  Sounds ridiculous, but after I explain myself a bit here, I'm sure it'll make sense.

Let me start off by saying that your body is quite intelligent, and it knows how to stay alive.  Through millions of years of evolution it has determined exactly what it likes to eat, and exactly what to do if it's presented with a caloric surplus.  Heck, your body still thinks that if food became very scarce, you'll need every ounce of that stored body fat to keep you alive.  And if it's presented with a drastic caloric deficit (AKA starving), it'll do what it deems necessary to make the most out of your remaining energy stores.  You know what that means?

Your metabolism will slow to a turtle's pace and anything you eat or drink will go almost straight to energy stores, which we know better as your love-handles and beer belly.

To your body, there's no difference between an unrealistically low calorie diet, and a forced desert journey devoid of nourishment.  Either way, it thinks you're starving, and will take the necessary steps to keep you alive.  You'll feel like no amount of sleep will ever wake you up, and most likely your hunger will be insatiable, especially on such a low calorie plan.  No energy, no satisfaction, the perfect recipe for skipped visits to the gym, food binges, and a failed attempt at weight loss.  This is reiterated in an article written by David Greenwalt, a reputable personal trainer at bodybuilding.com.  He discusses a typical client in this same situation and how her body will not react to weight loss because of an extremely low caloric intake:

Not only has her metabolism matched her intake, her body has maximized production of enzymes that are designed to help store any additional calories as fat. Anytime additional, immediately-unnecessary calories are consumed the enzymes are there and waiting to store the additional calories as fat. Her body is starved nutritionally and it has one thing on its mind - survival.

Being mostly sedentary, her metabolism (hormones play a large role here) can do a pretty good job of keeping things slow enough so that the pathetically low calories she's consuming are just enough to maintain.

But since certain enzymes are elevated, waiting for more calories so more bodyfat can be stored, every nighttime binge or weekend mini-feast will contribute to fat stores.

So on the days she's not bingeing her body does not lose fat, or if it does, it's very little. And on the few days or times she does binge a bit her body is quite efficient at storing fat. So, while she may lose a smidge of fat from starving it is quickly replaced with every binge.

Original Article (A GREAT READ):  http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_8.htm

This describes quite accurately that when drastically low calorie diets are employed as a weight loss tool, your body becomes extra adept at storing any little excess as fat.  Not an optimal situation for dieting, as you'll agree.

So fine, you know the details now, and you may have some returning hope.  But what do you do to turn this whole thing around?  Where does one start?  Well I don't believe the solution is very complicated at all, and it can be easily summed up in just a few simple steps:

Step 1:  Calculate the correct number of calories you need to cut about 1 lb of fat per week, if that's the rate you want to lose at.  I wouldn't suggest any faster rate, though it's fine if you'd like to go slower.  There are a bunch of GREAT calorie calculators out there, and while none are exactly spot on, they can give you a very accurate guess and a great starting point.  Here are some downloadable excel file calculators that I've found to be quite useful and accurate:  http://www.physiquefx.com/bmr-calculators/

Step 2: Change up your workout.  Instead of hitting the cardio for an hour, take about half your gym time to lift some weights.  It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, building lean muscle mass will increase your resting metabolic rate so that any weight you do lose you can keep off for good.  Cardio will lose you weight, sure, but it's a quick fix.  You won't have the muscle mass to maintain that new, leaner you, and most likely you'll put all that fat back on in a relatively short amount of time.  More muscle=less retained fat.  It's as simple as that.  

Step 3:  Make sure those calories are coming from clean foods.  You know the drill, lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, veggies, unsaturated fats, just about everything I've ever written about.  Need diet ideas?  I've got over 100 other articles all about food, so read up and get yourself on a good diet.  Use healthy foods to fill in your correct macro levels, and you're good to go.

And there you have it!  A simple solution to weight loss bottle-up.  Not difficult, not depressing, and it definitely should NOT throw you off track.  You CAN lose the fat you want to lose, and it's not as difficult as you think.  But your body needs calories, so don't starve it, because you'll pay the price in the end.

Don't be afraid to eat, get creative at the gym, and watch those numbers carefully.  GOOD LUCK!

Get Big, The Right Way

Sometimes, if you want something done, you just have to man up and do it.  I'm sorry ladies, but I don't believe this article will too strongly apply to you (there's always the occasional exception, but I'm speaking to the majority here).  I know a ton of guys out there wanting to get all big and strong, burly and beefy.  It's a common goal, one that many males wish to accomplish as soon as they possibly can.  Unfortunately, getting big isn't so simple, and there are thousands out there doing it wrong, or not doing it at all, day in and day out.  Getting big the right way takes work and commitment.  It takes sacrifice and determination.  And above all else, it requires a lot of food, and, as Ronnie Coleman (7 time Mr. Olympia) so famously put it, "lifting heavy ass weight."

So where do you start?  How do you jump on that muscle building train?  First of all, you have to realize that a good mass building regiment will require a change in diet and exercise routine.  Let's talk diet first.  A lot of people just think that to get big, you have to eat big.  OK, I can follow that train of thought, and to a certain point I will agree.  When it comes down to it, IF YOU WANT TO GET BIG, YOU NEED TO EAT BIG.  

What does eating big really mean though?

Well, in most general bulking terms, eating big means eating around 500 calories OVER your maintenance calories, or the caloric value at which you can maintain your weight.   There's a lot of room for little nuances here and there, but this is the most general formula.  And most of the time, it will relate to about a one pound increase in body weight per week.  Later, I'll describe what else you need to be doing to make the most of those extra calories, and ensure to a certain degree that you're putting on as much muscle as you can.

Where should these extra calories come from?

Well, the uneducated meat-head would most likely scream out...PROTEIN!!!  While there's value in that statement, and while you should consume more protein, the calories should really be a mix of nutrients that fit into your macros (remember macros? If not, here's my article about these wondrously useful little things: http://foodguru802.blogspot.com/2011/10/macros-what-they-are-and-how-to-use.html ).  I would suggest starting with macros that are pretty close to around 55/25/20 (55% of daily calories come from carbs, 25% of daily calories come from protein, 20% of daily calories come from fat).  You'll need to determine the actual amounts yourself, depending on the calories you calculate you'll need to take in.  Here's a free calculator that can help determine your daily caloric needs:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Here's the deal.  Bulking requires experimentation to determine what your body responds to best.  If you go a few weeks on a new diet and find you aren't gaining weight, YOU HAVE TO CHANGE SOMETHING!!!!  You won't gain weight if you don't find the right diet.  Either eat more, or change around your macros.  Sometimes something as simple as a few more daily carbs can kick start the weight gain.

If you gain for a while on a certain diet, then stop, most likely you need to increase your calories.  Go slowly, add another 100 or 200 every day and see what happens after a week or two.  Also, keep your macro ratios consistent.  They were working...right?  Don't bulk too fast, or you'll end up putting on unwanted bodyfat.  Though that's another point I should probably cover.  DON'T BE AFRAID TO PUT ON A LITTLE FAT.  To get big and strong, sometimes you need to sacrifice that perfect six pack.  If you're depressed about this, remember that if you're as skinny as a pole, abs don't count anyway.  You can always cut fat later, and with a higher muscle density, it will be much easier in the long run if you ever do decide to lean out.  If you're eating big, a little fat will inevitably show up.  Keep an eye on the mirror as well as the scale, and if you feel like you're putting on too much, either change your caloric intake, or your macros.

What are the best bulking foods?  Well, I like clean, slow bulks.  That's what I've been on for a few months now.  I'm not looking to pile on the weight, I just want a slow, steady gain.  So I eat big, but I eat as clean as I can.  My favorite bulking foods are:

Sweet Potatoes:  A great complex carb source, and without a doubt will help to put on quality mass.

Peanut Butter:  If you want to put on weight, peanut butter is your best friend.  It's easy to eat, and very dense in calories.  Get the natural stuff, and you'll get a whole heaping of healthy fats and proteins as well as a bunch of quality calories.  Quality calories=quality mass.

Mixed Nuts:  Same deal here, lots of calories for not that many pieces.  Easy to eat, and will help the weight come on nice and steadily.

Oatmeal with Whey Protein:  My favorite breakfast food.  Lots of complex carbs with a whole heaping of protein, will fuel those muscles and help them grow quite quickly.

Chocolate Milk:  Packed with calories, simple carbs, and an awesome blend of whey and casein protein that will feed your muscles for long after a workout.  Drink a glass with lunch, or more optimally, after a heavy workout.  You can even add some whey in there.  If you have a blender, you can add some peanut butter too.  Get creative!

What about meats?  Well I still eat very lean meats, like fish, chicken and turkey, but you can throw a few more caloric meats in there if you want.  Enjoy some steak, or pork every now and then, especially after a tough workout.  It'll really add mass quickly due to the high caloric value and protein density.  Not to mention it's amazingly delicious.

To finish off the diet section, I just want to say one more thing about clean bulking.  It's a great idea, and a noble one, but for some, it just doesn't work.  Honestly, if you're a hard gainer (gain weight extremely slowly if at all, no matter how much you seem to eat), you may need to throw a few "questionable" foods in your diet.  Enjoy a heaping plate of pasta with meat sauce a few nights a week, chow down on that burger or pazo, and have a big glass of chocolate milk a few times a day.  And keep spooning that peanut butter down your piehole.  There isn't a person on earth that can't eat enough to gain weight, so stop complaining that you can't put it on.

I will suggest clean bulking every day of my life, but "dirty-bulking" has its place, and has been known to work wonders for the impossibly skinny.  My advice? Stay as clean as you can, but don't be afraid of a big, greasy, meat packed burger once in a while.  You're trying to pack it on...right?

EXERCISE ROUTINE:

Now I don't want to make this section quite as long, however it has the potential to go on forever.  Let me start by saying this:  If you want a serious mass building routine, head over to bodybuilding.com, or look at some of Mark Rippetoe's stuff, or...well basically you HAVE TO DO YOUR RESEARCH.  I don't have the perfect routine for you.  Chances are no one does, you'll have to improvise, and see what works best.  But I'll give you the general gist of things.

THE BEST MASS BUILDING EXERCISES ARE COMPOUND MOVEMENTS

What does this mean?  It means squats, deadlifts, standing presses, bench presses, and more squats.  You want to use every muscle in your body in every single rep, with heavy weight.  The mass building rep range is generally 5-8 reps, though I've seen people recommend as little as 1-3 (though this is more strength training territory.)  Load up the weights, and push yourself with every set.  This is the only way to ensure that all those calories you're consuming go to where you want them to:  your muscles.

Why are compound movements the best?  First of all, they use a TON of muscles.  Second, they activate your biggest muscles (leg and back muscles) which in turn release testosterone which encourages maximum muscle growth.  Keep those weights heavy, and the intensity high.

Anatoly Pisarenko squatting as deep as possible

Franco Columbo completing a deadlift with textbook perfect form

If you're a hard gainer, and are having an extremely hard time putting on mass, here's what I suggest.  Cut your workouts a little short.  Do a couple fewer sets (but make the ones that you do count for double), so that you burn a few less calories, and those calories can in turn go toward rebuilding a bigger and stronger you.  It's that simple really.  Oh, and one more thing.  CUT CARDIO.  If you are already a hard gainer, cardio won't help.  If you really want to keep that treadmill in your workout, make sure you're eating like a horse.  I mean it.  A bull even, or an elephant.  Scarf those calories.

So there you have it.  The most basic ideas behind getting big.  As you may have seen they're not even close to one-size-fits-all, but like anything, it's a start.  Head over to bodybuilding.com if you want some real great mass building tips, and DO YOUR RESEARCH.  Like I said, getting big takes commitment.

Eat big, lift big, be the beast.  Good Luck!

Macros: What They Are, And How To Use Them

Aren't calories the bottom line?  I mean, the number of calories you eat during the day must be surpassed by the amount you burn in order to lose weight.  That's what you've always heard, and seems to be the most popular knowledge floating around weight loss classes/forums today.  And I'm not here to disagree with it, because bottom line, that is the truth.  For the most part.

But I'm going to pose a little example to you, which might change your thinking just a little bit.  Imagine your weight loss calorie goal was 1800 per day.  So one day, you eat 1800 calories, with most of those calories coming from protein.  The next day, you also eat 1800 calories, but this time 90% of those calories come from carbs.  Now imagine you have a carb sensitivity (your body doesn't like to burn through carbs as quickly as you'd like, and therefore you're more prone to gain weight off of them).  While you still may have eaten your daily goal, you won't have the tendency to lose much fat, because your body will maintain the fat you have if you don't use all the carbs (and an entire days worth of carbs is pretty hard to completely use up.)  

You can think of the body as a house.  Carbs are bricks, protein is cement, and fat is wood.  You can't build a good house with just one of those things.  You need a bit of everything.  Better yet, you need certain RATIOS of those things (I wouldn't want quite as much cement as I would want bricks).  These ratios are referred to by the fitness community as "macros", which is shorthand for macro nutrients (carbs, protein, and fat).  A typical macro ratio looks like this:

40/40/20

So if you see this while perusing the fitness forums and don't know what it means, be confused no longer!  What that simple shorthand basically stands for is the percentage of your calories from each macro nutrient you should be getting in your diet.  The first number refers to the percentage of carbs .  The next, protein, and the final, fat.  40% of daily calories come from protein, 40% come from carbs, and 20% from fat.  

OK, so now you know what it means, but it still sounds like a pretty daunting task to calculate these.  And I used to think so too.  But in reality, it just takes a little trial and error, and usually you can figure out the rest of the percentages if you already have one.  

So what's the easiest one to calculate?  Protein!  A person trying to maintain lean muscle mass should be trying to take in 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.  So try that in your diet, and calculate the calories coming from those foods you've chosen.  Because only 20% should come from fat, calculate how many calories would come from the amount of fatty foods you'd put in your diet.  How many grams?  Well 20 is half of 40, and if 40 grams of protein represents 1 gram per bodyweight, you should eat about half that many grams of healthy fats.  Simple enough, right?  

Carbs represent the fillers.  Any left over calories in your diet should come from good, complex carbs.  And don't hold too much stock in "low carb" diets.  Sure there's a time and place for those diets, but unless you're really aggressively looking to drop the last few pounds, I would try to maintain a decent amount of carbs, at least initially.  Low carbs=low energy= ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE all day.  That's why a lot of people drop low carb diets quite quickly.

This above statement will be very controversial among keto diet followers, and I know there have been claims/individual proof of giant fat loss/energy boosting from ketogenic diets.  I'm just speaking for the general, average dieter here looking to get into a better habit of eating.  I wouldn't have them hop right into a ketogenic diet.

So this is all well and good, but how do you figure out the best ratio for you and your daily habits/genetics?  Unfortunately, it requires experimentation.  But in this article I can at least give you a good place to start, by listing a few common macro ratios that are used for specific goals.

40/40/20- This diet represents a muscle maintaining/building diet.  It's a very common macro set, and is used throughout the fitness community.  It's not optimal for weight loss, but everyone will respond differently to macros and it's not to say you can't lose weight on these percentages.  Just adjust your daily calories within the ratio.  

55/30/15- This diet is more for bulking.  The large carb percentage will make your body want to store that excess energy as body mass, and therefore you'll grow more easily on this macro set than you would on a lower carb one.  Carbs are especially important for hard-gainers (skinny people who want to build muscle but just can't put the weight on), and you need to eat significant amounts of them to ensure your body can grow.  Again, adjust your overall calorie intake as needed.

25/40/35- This is a common ratio for fat loss.  You're getting around 25% of your daily calories from carbs, and 40% from protein to maintain whatever muscle mass you have.  This will encourage your body to run off the fat you have instead of the carbs you're consuming, and therefore you should burn an extra few pounds.  Unfortunately the body can stop responding to low carb diets rather quickly, and if your fat loss suddenly grinds to a halt I would suggest getting some more carbs back in your diet.

10/40/40- This ratio is called the ketogenic, or "keto" diet.  It's EXTREMELY low carb, and the basic idea is to get your body into a ketogenic state where it is burning only your body fat for energy.  Followers of the keto diet claim increased energy and extremely accelerated fatloss, but there has been a lot of skepticism about the actual merit held by such a low carb diet plan.  The Ketogenic diet will definitely come up in a later article of mine.

So that's about it.  Experiment with your own diet.  Take your daily calorie goal and try to split up those calories by the percentages stated in your chosen macro diet.  Do this by the grams of each macro nutrient you consume (grams of protein, carbs, and fats).  Sure it requires a little math, but hey, gotta keep that brain sharp.  

Count carefully, experiment, and as always, good luck!

Counting Calories, Easy As Pie!

I'm one who believes that if you eat a healthy, nutrient rich meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a couple snacks, a calorie balance should follow pretty effortlessly (at least when compared to a processed food diet.)  However you should never just assume that you're consuming the correct number of calories to lose, maintain, or gain weight.  Guess work here usually leads to wrong answers, unfortunately.

So how do you go about counting calories?  It seems like a pretty daunting task at first thought, I mean I'm willing to bet a lot of stuff you eat you either won't remember the serving size you had, or plain won't know the nutritional information of the food.  Plus, it's not going to be easy to add up all those calories in your head, and you'd definitely lose any little piece of paper you tried to write it down on.  If only there was a system that would easily keep track of your calories, and might also let you know exactly how many calories were in each food you eat.  If only!

Oh wait, we live in the 21st century.  There are hundreds of programs that will count your calories for you, and most of these programs have a little search bar where you can type in any sort of food you ate, and it'll bring up the nutritional information for that food (or a similar one) so you can write it down.  It's like a little heavenly gift!  And these programs will make sure you stay right on track for caloric intake.  Here are a few of my favorite calorie counters:

Livestrong.com calorie counting app.

I use this one every single day.  I have it on my iPhone, and I can almost guarantee it's my most utilized app.  In this app you can search a database of thousands upon thousands of foods, all complete with nutritional information, enter what serving size you had, and it will automatically enter the correct number of calories into your daily total.  You can also do custom entries if it doesn't happen to have your food but you know the nutritional information anyway.  You can also enter your caloric goal for the day, and it'll tell you how close you are to it.

This app also can keep track of calories burned, and has an equally large list of exercises/activities and how many calories each one burns per minute.  Pretty darn nifty.  I'd highly recommend this app, it's helped me out for months.

Online Calorie Counters:

These are the same deal as the app, with a few more foods to choose from, and a bigger screen to work on.  These websites are incredibly numerous, so I see no excuse for not trying them out.  Such Websites include CalorieKing.com, TheCaloriecounter.com, livestrong.com, everydayhealth.com, the list goes on.  All offer that neat little search bar and a huge lists of foods with all the nutrition information you could ever need.  Don't be blind to what your food contains.  Try one of these out today.  

Again I personally recommend livestrong.com, they seem to be the most easy to use and have the most free features.

Automatic Diet Creators:

One of the more interesting websites I've come across regarding diets and calories is a site called Swoleme.com.  This website will generate a diet for you based on your desired macros (ratios of carbs/protein/fat that are optimal for your goals.)  Macros can be tricky to figure out, and while theoretically it's only the number of calories at the end of the day that will determine whether you lose weight or not, having the right ratio balance could definitely speed up the process.

This website can generate a diet for you based on how many calories you'd like to eat in how many meals.  Not sure about how many you need to eat?  No problem!  Swoleme has a calorie calculator that you can enter your height, weight, age, and activity level into to find out how many calories you'd need to eat to maintain your weight, lose some weight, or bulk up a little.  And based on my calculations, it's numbers for me are right on the money.  

This website shows you macro graphs, tells you what they mean, and what these particular macros are optimal for.  Probably one of the best calorie/diet related websites out there in my opinion.  Try it out now!

A little example of what Swoleme looks like.

I'll put a link at the bottom of the article.

So now it's your turn.  Download an app, try out one of those websites, or do a little research and find a site that works even better for you than one I mentioned.  And if you find one, please come back to this article and post it in the comments section, I'd really like to see what you found. 

There's really no limit to how helpful these programs can be.  Keep counting, keep eating, and good luck!

Swoleme.com Diet Generator

(http://swole.me/?sandbox=1&num_meals=4&meal0=bagel*2%2Cegg*4%2Cprotein_powder*1%2Cone_perc_milk*2&meal1=pasta*12%2Colive_oil*1&meal2=tuna*8%2Csliced_bread*4%2Cone_perc_milk*2%2Cprotein_powder*1&meal3=chicken_breast*8%2Csliced_bread*4%2Csausage*4)