Dieting Advice

[Darkhorse]

Hyperlink this sticky for anyone asking for dieting help for gaining mass or losing fat. This sticky will be MUCH more beneficial for almost everyone well beyond the simplistic scope of "how to bulk" and "how to cut". The problem with them is that they do not take into account what the trainee is CURRENTLY eating!


Step By Step:

1) Get a free account with www.fitday.com

2) Enter in one to two weeks worth of eating. Be as exact as possible, and don't overestimate. Most of you will be shocked.

3) Come back and post results in macros (pro/cho/fat) for each day. Also post a few examples of a typical day of eating.

4) State if you are trying to lose fat, gain muscle, or a combo (recomp). While I'm sure most of you might pick a "recomp" since it sounds like the best of both worlds, keep in mind that it's also the slowest!


That's it. Simple as shit, huh? What I just detailed above is a thousand times better than trying to tell somebody to automatically multiply their bodyweight by such and such, or "eat more/less". The problem with this generic advice is two fold:

* Most trainees are clueless as to what they are currently eating.
* Radically changing their current diet will only result in failure.

So why log everything onto fitday? It's so that SMALL changes can be made to what the trainee is currently already grown accustomed to eating! Adding a few things here, deleting something there will by MUCH more sustainable than saying, "eat more lean meat and veggies for meals 4-6".

Example: Joe opens a new thread stating that no matter what he does, he cannot gain muscle. He says that he's 185 lbs, and is eating 3,500 calories per day. After logging onto fitday for two weeks, Joe is surprised to find out that he was 1,000 calories under what he thought he was eating. He comes back and posts a few days of eating in the forum.. It seems that not only is Joe undereating (when he said he wasn't), but a lot of his meals were deficient in certain macros. For example, a few times a day Joe eats two cans of tuna as a meal.. Well, yep, we got protein so that's good.. Too bad there's no carbs OR fats that'll help him add calories. So after a few pages of responses, Joe gets his shit straight and revises his meal plan (still using fitday at his disposal). Joe comes back a month later and is bursting at the seams with happiness that he gained a few pounds of LBM!


* The next step would be to print out the "How to Bulk" or "How to Cut" stickies depending on goals. Granted, IMHO, they aren't 100% accurate by any means, but it's a great guide that's really easy to follow and it's a hundred times better than "winging it"!

[Darkhorse]

The above post works with bulking as well.. As it's been hacked to death that people don't understand, you CANNOT go from a "guestimate" caloric intake to using some calculated formula and automatically start trying to stuff your face with 1,200 extra calories per day.

And like I've said, you may THINK you're eating so many cals and so much protein, but in reality 9/10 you're WAY off.

It's not a sprint, it's more like a well thought out and calculated marathon.