how do you know if you're not eating enough?

[fa_jing]

OK, lets say you're like me, you want to build strength and endurance, while losing a little bodyfat. I hear alot that you must eat sufficiently to make strength/size gains. I'm doing mostly strength workouts but also some EDT which promotes hypertrophy, as well as some strength-endurance and pure cardio work. So a bunch of stuff. So, the body needs a boatload of protein, they say. How do you tell if you're getting enough? Will your muscles not recover properly, will your gains plateau, what? Or should you be eating a certain minimum of protein or carbs, no matter what your progress is with the exercises?

[Ford Prefect]

What do you mean by endurance. You just mean the EDT stuff or are you running/doing a lot of cardio?

[fa_jing]

Both. Like I said, alot of everything, with accomplishment-driven goals, rather than hypertrophic goals. Some hypertrophy is good, but as a side effect. All my workouts are progressing and I'm losing weight, my meal intake feels fine, just wondering if it could be better because I read that alot of people are drinking protein shakes, etc.

[fa_jing]

To be more specific, I'm doing 4 catagories of workouts:

*pure Strength: Pistols, weighted pistols, low rep Kettlebell exercises, Janda-style situps
*Strength/endurance - hi rep KB exercises, hindu squats
*EDT: BW Pullups with a goal of 15 reps, Power Pushup with a goal of 20 reps @ 80 pounds
*pure Cardio: jump rope 20 minutes at a time, chain punches.

Once I hit my EDT goals, I will probably switch to pure strength training for these exercises for a time, then back again.

[aedolon]

Originally posted by fa_jing
How do you know if you're not eating enough?
I feel hungry :D.

[Ford Prefect]

Alright. You really won't gain much muscle no matter how much you eat with that type of program. I know that isn't a main goal, but I just wanted to let you know. You can lose a lot of fat though depending on how much you currently have. At to your main question, check this:

http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/167app.html

It gives a pretty good guideline on caloric intake.

[fa_jing]

Thanks Ford. The article gave me some ideas, the most important one being that as you approach your target weight, you need to reduce your caloric deficit and lose the weight more slowly, in order to better preserve your lean body mass. I don't count calories, I was hoping for something where you look at hunger, fatigue, performance etc. for guidelines. For instance, today I skipped breakfast and was hungry in the morning, I had a nice beef & Barley stew from home for lunch, but I am just a little hungry still and would really like to go get a triple-cheese burger from Wendy's, in the name of perserving my lean body-mass. However, I think that would blow my diet, so I'll wait for dinner tonight (wifey's making paella) and eat my fill then. The good news is, I've dropped 7 pounds already since my "Oh sh!t I have a gut" post. I'm aiming to lose about 6 more pounds, but I will try to do this very slowly, about 1 pound a week.

[fa_jing]

OK, looking back at my "gut" post, that was 2 full months ago, and I've lost at least 7 pounds since then. I lost that weight simply by eating more sensibly, less late night/extra meals, etc. So I won't be doing anything drastic to lose the remaining 6 pounds, just keep up the workouts and no cheating on the meals.

[fa_jing]

news flash: caved, ate 1 oz. bag of Doritos - 140 Calories, 2 grams of protein. Lean muscle mass not maintained, however I feel much better! Next time I'll try not to skip breakfast.

:D

[aedolon]

Originally posted by fa_jing
Next time I'll try not to skip breakfast. :D
Yea. Never skip a meal! Eat often, eat little, avoid fat (NO pizzas or burgers!). More exercise - not just weights, but long-lasting fat-burning exercise, like swimming or biking or something. It will take no miracles, but self-restraint. :)

[Serpent]

Don't avoid all fat. Fat is an essential part of the diet. Just watch out for the saturated fat. So yeah, avoid the burgers! But don't demonize fat altogether. Just watch the saturated intake.

[Serpent]

Oh yeah - and NEVER skip breakfast!

And eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg and lots of fibre.

And drink a least 2 litres of water a day.

And listen to your momma.

And give to charity.

;)

[Becca]

One bag of dorito won't kill your diet, unless it was the family-sized bag. I found it helpfull to actually allow myself a certain amout of splerge every week. I don't count aleries as a rule, but I do limit myself to 500 caleries of "slurge" per week. This keeps it under control, and make that little treat seem even better. Then I make sure the treat itself is good for me, like one scoop of fat-free sherbit or a bowl of strawberries with low-fat cream substitute. I've been dropping only about 1-2 pounds every two weeks or so, but it is sustainable, and I haven't platued at all in the last 6 months. Only 10 more to go and I will be at my gaol weight.:)

[Serpent]

Originally posted by Becca
or a bowl of strawberries with low-fat cream substitute.


Wow. How is that a splurge? That's a healthy snack. Dayum, woman, if you're gonna splurge then SPLURGE!

(I just like saying SPLURGE! Can you tell?)



I've been dropping only about 1-2 pounds every two weeks or so, but it is sustainable, and I haven't platued at all in the last 6 months. Only 10 more to go and I will be at my gaol weight.:)

Good for you! Sensible weight loss should be a couple of pounds per week at most. Sustainability is the key. Yoyo dieting will only make your body store more fat in the long run.

[Becca]

Serp- I'm not talking a few strawberries. I meen the whole darn package slathered in a whole pint of cream. I love strawberries and cream. That's like 1000 caleries all by itself!:D Only let myself do that once every few months.:p

[fa_jing]

So when I get hungry between meals, or having skipped a meal, what is a good snack? I hear of people eating beef jerky and such, but I won't touch the stuff. My body is craving carbs, but should I be eating 100% protein snacks instead? Such as a piece of chicken breast or some nuts? or is eating a small amount of carbs better to stave off the starvation effect? Once I ate my doritos I felt fine for the next couple hours.

[abobo]

I snack on fruit, nuts, and peanut butter sammiches. Pretty good for you and it's stuff you can carry around without needing refrigeration. Cut up a sandwich and eat it in a two part miniseries if you want.

I stick with whole grains and natural peanut butter.

Also, if you are a juice drinker, it might help to just drink water and eat fruit instead.

Having both protein and carbs in a snack is fine. Carbs won't hurt by themselves. Crappy food and slamming things down late at night is another story.

Since you have already lost most of the weight you want to lose, and you want to maintain muscle mass, you don't need to go too far under your maintenance level of calories. So you don't have to be living hungry.

[Becca]

Second abodo on that. I like to cut my PBJs into three sections, but agree with all the rest. :)

[Ish]

If you have time you should try to make your own burgers or pizzas then they can still be healthy

[Becca]

Second TonyM. Your body metabolizes carbs very quikly. That's why alot of experts say 6 small meals every 2-3 hours. If you follow that plan, your energy levels remain constant. Also, try not to eat just carbs. Adding protien to a carb snack makes your work harder to motaboliz the food, so it gets released into your blood stream evenly instead of all at once.