yosh
01-08-2003, 12:07 AM
I am 5' 7" and 137 lbs. I just started a workout program. I keep hearing what you eat is as important as your workout. Now what does that exactly mean i should eat. Right now my diet is alot of fast food, a decent amount of beer, and things like that, basically all junk. I've been eating bad all my life people still wonder how i am so skinny, what should i eat in coordination to my workout?
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justanotherday
01-08-2003, 02:00 AM
i'd like to know the answer to this question to preferrably from a fitness trainer or somebody with good knowledge like endorphin junkie. My weight seems to go up n down every week and i want to keep it consistent. What types of food promote body leaness? another thing is i have totally stopped taking in foods like potatoes and rice and supplemented them with fresh fruit instead is this better or worse for me?
chitrick
01-08-2003, 10:12 AM
I'm no personal trainer; but have talked to a few in my time, as well as do a fair amount of reading on the subject of nutrition. Problem with fast/junk food is that it is so loaded with bad carbs and fat. Both of these things do you no good if you are looking to build muscle mass. You guys are lucky if you can eat whatever and stay thin. But you still aren't doing your bodies any good. Do yourselves a favor and get Bill Phillips' book "Body for Life". You can get it at any bookstore or library. Read it. It will answer all of your questions. Good Luck!
Naxis
01-08-2003, 12:13 PM
Yosh: are you trying to put on muscle? What and how much you eat will generally be defined by your goals, but eating clean is pretty key. A lot of simple carbs screw up your insulin and a lot of fat (saturated especially) is bad for your heart and arteries and the body in general. Beer is just carbs and alcohol. Not _terrible_ if you have no problems with putting on fat (for now) but it does significantly slow your metabolism and hinders muscle growth, if you drink often. Not saying that you shouldn't indulge once in a while, but certainly not daily. But if it seems like you can burn off a meal before it even gets into your mouth, you're probably ging to have to eat like a horse to put on some muscle.
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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins
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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins
Endorphin Junky
01-08-2003, 12:16 PM
yosh,
I take it from your saying that you're been skinny all your life that you want to gain some weight. You're right in that you need to eat alot, especially if you have a high metabolic rate (are a hard gainer) as it appears you are. I'd say the best advise would be, firstly stop eating junk food and minimise your alcohol consumption ie drink as little as possible, ideally none/very rarely. Secondly, start eating lots of healthy calories. By healthy calories, I mean complex carbs (mainly low-moderate GI, or high GI 30-45 mins before a workout), good fats ie mono and poly unsaturated in the main, and proteins low in saturated fats. You can eat simple carbs too since you burn them off quickly, but try to keep it to a minimum.
As you find it hard to gain weight, I'd say go for a balance somewhere along the lines of 50% carbs, 20% protein, 30% fat. Fat (good fat don't forget) will boost your testosterone levels and increase growth. For significant muscle growth, you need at least 1g of protein per lb body weight, although you might want to aim a bit higher, and you'll probably want to aim for somewher around the 4000 calories per day mark for total consumption, but you can add more if you feel you need them. Split this over 5-8 meals, making sure you eat at least every 3 hours. Also make sure you eat something high in protein (not high in simple carbs though) before bed to prevent muscle catabolism (ie your body breaking it's own muscle down for energy) during the night. Cottage cheese is a good option as it's slowly digested. Get enough for about 40-50g protein.
Importantly, you need to make sure you have an intense workout routine. Do 3 days of resistance training per week, starting with a full body workout, working all of your muscle groups and using heavy weights with low reps ie 6-10 rep, 2/3 sets per exercise. If your can't do 6 reps, you're lifting too much, if you can do 10 for all three sets, you need to up the weight. Concentrate in the main on compound movements, ie movements that will recruit the most muscle groups eg Bench press, dips, chin ups, pull ups, dead lifts, bent over rows, squats, shoulder presses, upright rows. You can add a few other isolation movements, particularly for areas hard to hit with compounds eg posterior delt raises, calf raises + bicep curls and tricep extentions, although the last 2 will be hit pretty well with the push/pull exercises. Take a day off inbetween each session, say working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Satarday and Sunday off too. When you work out, make sure you work hard and make sure you work progressivly ie do more each session weither this is more reps (til you hit 3x10) or more weight. For now, don't do any cardio (except for a 5 min warm up b4 your weights sesh), or do some light cardio on a couple of your days off if you want.
After a few months of training, you can switch to a split routine but worry about that later. You might also want to invest in a weight gainer supplement. They're particularly good for filling a couple of those 5-6 meals when it's hard to make your self eat another meal, and for after your workout (within 20 mins).
justanotherday,
Don't completely replace the complex carbs you mentioned with fruit. Just make sure you get a good balance. Fructose is simpler that some of the carbs you mentioned and will get broken down faster and rise your blood sugar levels.
Ok, I can't be bothered to writre any more... :)
[This message has been edited by Endorphin Junky (edited 01-08-2003).]
I take it from your saying that you're been skinny all your life that you want to gain some weight. You're right in that you need to eat alot, especially if you have a high metabolic rate (are a hard gainer) as it appears you are. I'd say the best advise would be, firstly stop eating junk food and minimise your alcohol consumption ie drink as little as possible, ideally none/very rarely. Secondly, start eating lots of healthy calories. By healthy calories, I mean complex carbs (mainly low-moderate GI, or high GI 30-45 mins before a workout), good fats ie mono and poly unsaturated in the main, and proteins low in saturated fats. You can eat simple carbs too since you burn them off quickly, but try to keep it to a minimum.
As you find it hard to gain weight, I'd say go for a balance somewhere along the lines of 50% carbs, 20% protein, 30% fat. Fat (good fat don't forget) will boost your testosterone levels and increase growth. For significant muscle growth, you need at least 1g of protein per lb body weight, although you might want to aim a bit higher, and you'll probably want to aim for somewher around the 4000 calories per day mark for total consumption, but you can add more if you feel you need them. Split this over 5-8 meals, making sure you eat at least every 3 hours. Also make sure you eat something high in protein (not high in simple carbs though) before bed to prevent muscle catabolism (ie your body breaking it's own muscle down for energy) during the night. Cottage cheese is a good option as it's slowly digested. Get enough for about 40-50g protein.
Importantly, you need to make sure you have an intense workout routine. Do 3 days of resistance training per week, starting with a full body workout, working all of your muscle groups and using heavy weights with low reps ie 6-10 rep, 2/3 sets per exercise. If your can't do 6 reps, you're lifting too much, if you can do 10 for all three sets, you need to up the weight. Concentrate in the main on compound movements, ie movements that will recruit the most muscle groups eg Bench press, dips, chin ups, pull ups, dead lifts, bent over rows, squats, shoulder presses, upright rows. You can add a few other isolation movements, particularly for areas hard to hit with compounds eg posterior delt raises, calf raises + bicep curls and tricep extentions, although the last 2 will be hit pretty well with the push/pull exercises. Take a day off inbetween each session, say working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Satarday and Sunday off too. When you work out, make sure you work hard and make sure you work progressivly ie do more each session weither this is more reps (til you hit 3x10) or more weight. For now, don't do any cardio (except for a 5 min warm up b4 your weights sesh), or do some light cardio on a couple of your days off if you want.
After a few months of training, you can switch to a split routine but worry about that later. You might also want to invest in a weight gainer supplement. They're particularly good for filling a couple of those 5-6 meals when it's hard to make your self eat another meal, and for after your workout (within 20 mins).
justanotherday,
Don't completely replace the complex carbs you mentioned with fruit. Just make sure you get a good balance. Fructose is simpler that some of the carbs you mentioned and will get broken down faster and rise your blood sugar levels.
Ok, I can't be bothered to writre any more... :)
[This message has been edited by Endorphin Junky (edited 01-08-2003).]
Toxik
01-08-2003, 02:42 PM
Nice post. Good advice in there for anyone trying to gain weight.
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~J Siv~
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~J Siv~
justanotherday
01-08-2003, 07:20 PM
endorphin junky you say to do 3 days of full body workout but i have heard from many people to only train 1 group of muscles per workout session. Ex. back and shoulders 1 day, legs day 2, arms and chest day 3 etc. Which type of workout will increase muscle faster and more efficiently? i would imagine if one were doing full body workouts 3 days a week it could lead to burnout. I used to do this style but have since switched to only working out 1 muscle group per session. I do this 3 times a week and cardio 7 days a week.
H8CC
01-08-2003, 07:38 PM
20% protien?? typo?
H8CC
H8CC
Endorphin Junky
01-09-2003, 06:17 AM
justanotherday,
It should be ok for a beginner to train muscles with this frequency. New lifters generally won't be lifting very high weight and the frequency will help to learn good form and technique. Also, a beginners muscles will be more responsive to the training and will grow faster than an advanced trainers body. As a more advanced trainer, you'll probably want to switch to a split routine or reduce the volume of the full body workout (ie switch to more of an HST style routine).
H8CC,
No, I'd say 20% protein for gaining weight, especially for someone quite light to start with. If you're aiming for 4000 cals this is still around the 200g of protein per day mark. Obvoiusly a heavier person would probably want to adjust it a bit.
[This message has been edited by Endorphin Junky (edited 01-09-2003).]
It should be ok for a beginner to train muscles with this frequency. New lifters generally won't be lifting very high weight and the frequency will help to learn good form and technique. Also, a beginners muscles will be more responsive to the training and will grow faster than an advanced trainers body. As a more advanced trainer, you'll probably want to switch to a split routine or reduce the volume of the full body workout (ie switch to more of an HST style routine).
H8CC,
No, I'd say 20% protein for gaining weight, especially for someone quite light to start with. If you're aiming for 4000 cals this is still around the 200g of protein per day mark. Obvoiusly a heavier person would probably want to adjust it a bit.
[This message has been edited by Endorphin Junky (edited 01-09-2003).]
CAPiTUH
01-10-2003, 04:09 PM
Endorphin Junky-
are the percentages of carbs/protein/fat the percentage of calories that come from each?
[like if 10 calories came from fat in a 100 cal/day diet that would be 10% fat?]
Also, suppose you ate something like peanut butter which contains fat, carbs, and protein. how do you determine how many calories come just from carbs [& protein & fat]?
[This message has been edited by CAPiTUH (edited 01-10-2003).]
are the percentages of carbs/protein/fat the percentage of calories that come from each?
[like if 10 calories came from fat in a 100 cal/day diet that would be 10% fat?]
Also, suppose you ate something like peanut butter which contains fat, carbs, and protein. how do you determine how many calories come just from carbs [& protein & fat]?
[This message has been edited by CAPiTUH (edited 01-10-2003).]
Endorphin Junky
01-10-2003, 07:17 PM
CAPiTUH,
Yeah those percentages are out of total calories consumed, but they aren't set in stone. Different people's bodies may react differently but in general, it's a good ratio to start with. Most stuff you buy eg peanut butter, will tell you on the nutritional info how many grams of each nutritional group it contains, usually per 100g. You can work it out from that. 1g protein = 4 cals, 1g carbs = 4 cals, 1g fat = 9 cals. For other foods, you're probably best of getting a book listing how much of what is in different foods. Most book stores will have some kind of calorie counting / nutritional info books.
Yeah those percentages are out of total calories consumed, but they aren't set in stone. Different people's bodies may react differently but in general, it's a good ratio to start with. Most stuff you buy eg peanut butter, will tell you on the nutritional info how many grams of each nutritional group it contains, usually per 100g. You can work it out from that. 1g protein = 4 cals, 1g carbs = 4 cals, 1g fat = 9 cals. For other foods, you're probably best of getting a book listing how much of what is in different foods. Most book stores will have some kind of calorie counting / nutritional info books.