[short shifter]

Ok well I am pretty knowlegable on the subject of fitness but nutritions seems to be my weak point. Basically I am pretty active and I want to lose a few pounds and gain an equal amount in muscle. (knowing that muscle weighs more than fat) From what I know the active male is supposed to eat 3000 calories a day, from those calories 65% Carbs 15% protein and 30% fat. I know carbs come from pasta and bread, protein comes from eggs and steak etc.

So my question is: what should I be eating? What foods are better than others. Sure all these guidlines are great but what does this translate into in terms of what to eat? It almost seems that the more knowlege I gain on this subject there more complex it becomes. If that makes any sense. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on the subject so im curious to know what everyone has to say so I can learn from it.

Thanks,

Jay

 

[ArmySlowRdr]

yeah it seems one has to find his/her own key to make weight loss work. mine is to exercise just a few times a week and to barely cover the plate each of 3 meals with maybe a few harvest bars thrown in each day. I lost 20 plus pounds in such a manner.

when i was exercising heavily I tended to EAT and although I lost SOME weight it was much slower AND I could never get below 185.

 

[short shifter]

yeah it seems one has to find his/her own key to make weight loss work. mine is to exercise just a few times a week and to barely cover the plate each of 3 meals with maybe a few harvest bars thrown in each day. I lost 20 plus pounds in such a manner.

when i was exercising heavily I tended to EAT and although I lost SOME weight it was much slower AND I could never get below 185.

Well my main goal is to gain muscle. Sorry I should have made a point to mention that in my post. My body fat is 12%. More so I not only want to eat in such a way to gain muscle weight in accordance with my normal weight training program, but I also want to eat as healthy as possible. For example protein is great for building muscle but too much of it is hard on your liver...

THanks for your input,

Jay

 

[Picard]

anyone eat large steak after long ride ?

I share the same goal of gaining muscle. I have little body fat. I wonder if anyone eat a large steak after long ride. Your body really need protein and carb too. I feel very satisfied after eating the steak. Its like having great sex.

 

[short shifter]

Do we have any Nutrionists or Personal Trainers in MTBR?

Jay

 

[arturo7]

I share the same goal of gaining muscle. I have little body fat. I wonder if anyone eat a large steak after long ride. Your body really need protein and carb too. I feel very satisfied after eating the steak. Its like having great sex.

I had a big, fat, NY strip pepper steak and a tasty cab after a ride last week. However, it's usually tacos & beer.

 

[Phat Tyred]

I like to crank the AC/DC

And Eat lots of fried shark with tasty mushroom sauce

 

[dtmartin46]

Im not a personal trainer, BUT...

I'm pretty into that whole area. My wife competes in women's fitness competition, so she's mad-crazy knowledgeable about diet, and fitness in general. It rubs off on me. I also lift weights a ton. Here's my .02;

Talk to some bodybuilders, or go to some bodybuilding sites if you are looking to get good information on nutritional needs for building mass, and/or cutting fat. As far as athletic diet information goes, Bodybuilders have it down to a SCIENCE. If you follow a bodybuilding diet, you'll get great results. Your dietary figures you put in there are ok for joe blow, who sits at his desk all day, and doesn't workout too much. But if you really want to gain muscle mass, stay lean, be strong, vital, etc, etc, you need to eat way more protein than most other people, and less fat.

If you drink enough H2O in a day, and have normal kidneys/liver, protein intake is not a problem. You'd have to eat a cow a day in order to damage yourself.

Also, generally speaking, gaining lean muscle mass and losing fat at the same time is kinda hard to do. Most people trying to do this will just end up running in place, and not make progress.

I tell you one thing, tho... If you pay good attention to your diet, AND workout hard, you will see WAY better results in the gym, and also on your mountain bike. Ask me mmore if you'd like, i love this crap, i think it's fascinating. heh!

Wait a minute... You are at 12% BF and you wanna LOSE more fat?!??!?! Dang, dude, 12% is pretty low already!

 

[short shifter]

I'm pretty into that whole area. My wife competes in women's fitness competition, so she's mad-crazy knowledgeable about diet, and fitness in general. It rubs off on me. I also lift weights a ton. Here's my .02;

Talk to some bodybuilders, or go to some bodybuilding sites if you are looking to get good information on nutritional needs for building mass, and/or cutting fat. As far as athletic diet information goes, Bodybuilders have it down to a SCIENCE. If you follow a bodybuilding diet, you'll get great results. Your dietary figures you put in there are ok for joe blow, who sits at his desk all day, and doesn't workout too much. But if you really want to gain muscle mass, stay lean, be strong, vital, etc, etc, you need to eat way more protein than most other people, and less fat.

If you drink enough H2O in a day, and have normal kidneys/liver, protein intake is not a problem. You'd have to eat a cow a day in order to damage yourself.

Also, generally speaking, gaining lean muscle mass and losing fat at the same time is kinda hard to do. Most people trying to do this will just end up running in place, and not make progress.

I tell you one thing, tho... If you pay good attention to your diet, AND workout hard, you will see WAY better results in the gym, and also on your mountain bike. Ask me mmore if you'd like, i love this crap, i think it's fascinating. heh!

Wait a minute... You are at 12% BF and you wanna LOSE more fat?!??!?! Dang, dude, 12% is pretty low already!

I didn't know you had to eat stupid amounts of protein to damage the liver. Thats good to know, thanks for that. I have done some research and ound out that just because one item of food has more protein in it than another doesnt make it automatically better. For example, eggs have 11% protein while beans have 22% protein. In this case the eggs are better because they have "complete protein" where as beans have "incomplete protein". Something to do with the ammeno acids in them. From what I can gather protein from animals is better than protein from vegtables.

I know my body fat is pretty low but I would still like to lose a 3 or 4 pounds of fat. Right now I am weighing 205lbs, 5'10" and 12% body fat. I guess im just trying to push myself to be in the best shape I can be. I am a firefighter and I take pride in what I do, I guess I just want to perform to the best of my capability.

Thanks for your input, got any other suggestions?

Jay

 

[TahoeRydin]

I'm one of those food fitness geeks and this post seems long

I'm someone who for whatever reason finds it fascinating to count calories, pay attention to everything I eat, blah blah. First, a good calorie tracker to just find out how you are doing in general is fitday.com. Go there, sign up (free and easy), and put in what you are eating. At least you can get a good idea of your total caloric intake on your average day. Your meals should be broken into 5-6 a day. Go to http://www.bodyforlife.com/exercise/tools.asp and use their calculator to get a rough idea of how much protein, carbs, and fat you'll need to build/maintain muscle and lose weight. I think the site's general content is good but make sure to supplement it with other information. The calculators are good though. Anyway, I need around 2160 calories a day to maintain where I am. I'm currently around 15% body fat (I'm lazy in the winter and don't ride mtb or road as much) and down to around 8-10% during the summer. So, I eat a 500 calorie breakfast, a 300 calorie snack, a 400 calorie lunch, another 300 calorie snack, 400 calorie early dinner, and 200 calorie protein shake before bed. Everyone is different and you may want to play with your carb levels depending on how much cardio you do to make sure you're fueled up. I'm in the gym as much as I ride. Currently that's 4-5 mornings in the gym, 2-3 days of mtb, 2-3 days of roadbiking. So, I eat more carbs than I should.

As far as what to eat. Protein: Egg whites, beef (sirloin, roundsteak, extra lean (8% fat) ground beef, ground lean turkey breast, skinless chicken breasts, turkey breast, low fat milk, whey protein powders, cottage cheese, low sugar yogurt. Carbs: Whole wheat anything (check the ingredients and make sure first ingredient is whole wheat/grain), whole grains, etc. Oatmeal is great but watch the sugar quantities in the instant stuff. I do eat regular pasta but try to make the majority of it whole wheat, but it is not as tasty. Avoid white bread, pastries, and basically anything made with "enriched flour" or bleached flour. No nutrient capability whatsoever really. Fats: Olive Oil, grapeseed oil, flaxseed oil, is pretty much what I stick to when cooking. Also get fat from my milk products like cottage cheese and yogurt. Finally, lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. Especially things like romaine and butter lettuce (avoid iceburg), tomatoes, leafy greens, brocolli, couliflower, etc (sorry if I spelled anything wrong).

My partner here at work is a nutrionist for teaching kids and medically at risk people how to eat better and she's helped me quite a bit on what to eat. My wife is a gym rat and rider also and has managed to signifantly change her body and is very lean at this point following this system. I can usually drop a pound a week with no problem if I track my calories and avoid overdoing it on sugar (I used to be an addict so hard change). Remember, don't starve yourself ever and make sure you eat some fun foods also.

If you have any other questions send me a PM and I'll see what I can do. Hope I didn't bore you too much.

SC

 

[TahoeRydin]

205?

Geez Jay,

5' 10" and 205 with 12% fat? How much muscle you packing already? You must have been doing something right. I'm 5'11" and 185 and thought I was doing well. So you subscribe to any of the muscle mags such as muscle and fitness? Some articles I'm not so sure about, but they do a pretty good job of getting the nutrition stuff right for the most part. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the supplement junk or the protein loads that a lion couldn't eat, but overall not bad.

 

[dtmartin46]

That's cool that you are a fire fighter. Im sure your average day is a lot more intersting than mine! (I work in cube-ville!)

Theres like 22 total amino acids. 9 of them are considered "essential", or you need to EAT them to get in your body. The others are also provided by food, but your body can synthesize them, so they are not considered "essential" Generally speakin, you need to eat meat to get the complete array of essential amino's. That's why most vegetarians you see aren't exactly very muscular. i personally don't understand how people can voluntarily choose to not eat meat. They are missin out on so much!!!! To each his own, i guess!

You're right about the protein content of food, too. Different proteins have different "Biological Values", or, in other words, they can better be absorbed by your body, and snthesized into new muscle tissue. The egg example is the best one. Eggs have a BV of near 100%, whereas Tuna is @ 83% chicken is about 79%, etc, etc. Eggs are considered the "perfect Protein" because your body can use all the protein in it. (But of course, eggs have some cholesterol, too...)

Anyway. Here's what i would do if i had your goals. (Which, if im reading you right, are the same as mine, i.e. gain lean mass, and keep bodyfat relatively low...)

Lift weights regularly, and do heavy weights/low reps. This is the only real effective training that will build yer muscles.
Learn how to read food labels, and add all the calories, and grams of macronutrients you are consuming, and track it.
Take your body weight in lbs. This # is the same # of grams of protein you should intake on a daily basis. i.e., i weigh 200lbs, so i try to eat at LEAST 200g of protein every day.
Eat a lot of whole grain carbs. i.e. Yams, whole-grain breads, Pasta, brown rice.
Eat a lot of veggies (This sucks, but ya gotta do it!)
Eat fruit every day.
Try to not eat too much saturated fat, and refined sugar. (Basically, most fast food!)

Crap. Here comes the boss. Gotta go act like im really working...

Hope im not overloading you with info you don't want. Like i said, this stuff interests me!

 

[mandodude]

Men's Health fitness forum discusses this quite a bit-
http://forums.menshealth.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1

 

[dtmartin46]

TahoeRydin's points are all excellent, and true.

Except i put a little more faith in SOME of the supplements that are out there. Admittedly, there is 90% garbage out there in most muscle mags, i.e. crappy advertising like...

"BUY THIS AND YOU'LL LOOK LIKE THIS PRO BODYBUILDER IN 5 WEEKS!!!"

etc, etc, but there are a lot of supplements that do work very well;

Creatine Monohydrate
L-Glutamine
Protein Powder
Multi-Vitamin
BCAA's

Ultimately tho, there's no supplement that can help you more than a good, balanced diet. That's the best 'supplement' there is!

That fitday site is great, too. Hope it stays free.

 

[short shifter]

Thanks for all the help everyone. Thats why I love this site so much. Everyone is so willing to help with just about any topic. When I am doing typing this I am going straight to fitday.com and the other calculator site to get all signed up and start using it straight away. I find everyones advice very intruiging and definately not boring, so don't worry about that.

I don't subscribe to any of the muscle mags, Tahoe. I do pick one up about twice a year though if there is something appealing on the cover. The reason why I don't subscribe is because I feel for the most part they focus on one muscle group per article. Mostly abs, everyone wants the perfect six pack. I like to beat the crap out of every inch of my body at the gym (working no more than 2 muscle groups per day).

So about the supplements. To be honest they scare the crap out of me. I don't take any for the reason that I can't get passed the point that someting in a powder or capsule is going to have more protein in it than having a good meal and somehow not mess my body up later on. Im just weird like that. Maybe thats something I need to do a little more research on? A bunch of my buddys are taking Hydroxycut. Apparently it gets you great results, the whole idea just seems to odd to me. Maybe its just something I need to get over. If I was to start taking some kind of supplement, what would you recomend DTMARTIN46? And more importantly what should I stay away from? I will probably give it a shot after I do some research on it.

Thanks for the advice, keep it comming.

Take care,
Jay

 

[dtmartin46]

If I was to start taking some kind of supplement, what would you recomend DTMARTIN46? And more importantly what should I stay away from? I will probably give it a shot after I do some research on it.

Thanks for the advice, keep it comming.

Take care,
Jay

Quick n dirty supplement info;

If you are into Mountain biking, (duuh...) and are riding real frequently, i would stay away from Creatine. It tends to make you retain water, and can lead to getting dehydrated pretty easily. Cramps, too. So basically, for any endurance athelete, Creatine is not the best choice. In the off season, tho, I highly recommend creatine. Bottom line, IT WORKS. Makes you noticeably stronger. Its probably the #1 supplement for lifting weights, in my opinion.

Glutamine - L-Glutamine is a real good one to take for both lifting, and for MTB'ing, or anyone who is real athletic. It is the most abundant amino acid in your muscles, and does like 10 other bodily functions, too. I find that while using it regularly, it greatly reduces soreness after real hard workouts, or long rides.

Multi Vitamins - Goes without saying, everyone should take a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement everyday.

As far as protein powders go, they are really just a good way to get extra protein into your diet. Some are disgusting, some are actually quite good. I find that anything other than chocolate flavor is totally nasty. If you are really trying to add muscle, using protein powder is a great way to get the necessary protein for the day.

The best creatine to buy, or L-glutamine to buy are the ones that are PURE, with no B.S. extra stuff in them. Free-form plain L-Glutamine powder, and plain old 100% micronized Creatine Monohydrate powders are the best. All the other products that are supposedly "enhanced delivery systems", or promise that their supplement is 1000% more potent, they are all garbage. Total marketing crap.

That hydroxycut stuff is a fat burner. It used to have Ephedra, which was the REAL DEAL, now that's been banned, so the new hydroxycut is way less potent. I've never regularly used fat burners.

www.bodybuilding.com is a great site for both information on everythig to do with bodybuilding, and also for supplements. Super good deals, and real fast shipping, too.

 

[arturo7]

Beans and Rice

In this case the eggs are better because they have "complete protein" where as beans have "incomplete protein". Something to do with the ammeno acids in them.
Jay

Just eat yer beans with rice. The amino that is missing in beans is contained in rice. Beans have a lot of good things going for them. Lotsa vitamins, soluble fiber, beta-carotene and anti-oxidants.

 

[short shifter]

Just eat yer beans with rice. The amino that is missing in beans is contained in rice. Beans have a lot of good things going for them. Lotsa vitamins, soluble fiber, beta-carotene and anti-oxidants.

Is there a specific kind of beans you recomend?

Thanks,
Jay

 

[ChipAllen]

Sorry if some of this is redundant;

What I eat;
"Colorful" vegetables incuding carrots, zuchini, squash, peas, beans(all kinds), spinach, soybeans(excellent protein source). Protein from - eggs and egg whites, lean meats, non-fat cottage cheese, soy products like veggie burgers and soy pretzels/chips. Also, in moderation, I'll eat whole grain pasta, whole wheat bread and healthy low-sugar cereals. Also, fruit in moderation is good - too much and you'll be getting too much sugar! Fruit is so deceiving. People think, "It's HEALTHY...I can eat all I want". This is not true for a weight loss program. I have only two servings of fruit per day, maximum. A serving is either one banana or one orange, etc. I drink lots of water and I eat small amounts constantly throughout the day to keep the metabolism going.

What I try to totally avoid or have in very small amounts:
Refined sugars(the white granulated poison crap in any form of cookies cakes, etc.), high fructose corn syrup(also poison; it's in everything...beware and read labels), bleached flour(white bread, etc), white rice, potato chips or crackers(goes without saying), high-glycemic or starchy vegetables like corn or potatoes, excessive amounts of animal fats, or hydrogenated oils.

I never really considered myself overweight but like all(most) of us, I found my jeans getting tighter and I just didn't feel great. So, as the weather started getting nicer, I cut out all the crap from my diet and started eating healthier. I never starved myself but I exercised moderately on my bike and lifted light to moderate weights about 2 times per week. I didn't really set out to "get slim or buff" and never bothered with the scale but I weighed myself the other day and I had gone from about 180 at Christmas to 159! And that's with a considerable amount of lean muscle mass being added to my frame. I was shocked! I haven't weighed 159 since highschool and I'm now 39 years old. My jeans are falling off of me and I feel great. I never realized the gains I was making but people kept on commenting at work, especially friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Good luck with your own goal!

 

[arturo7]

Is there a specific kind of beans you recomend?

Thanks,
Jay

Ooo, ya got me there. I think that most of them have the same nutritional value but I do not know this for certain. Obviously, stay away from re-fried because of the lard. Other than that I think you're good to go. Beans are a very simple thing to make for yourself; soak them overnight, put them on the stove for 2-4 hours. (Cheap too!) The good thing about cooking your own is you get to choose what goes in them. My personal favorite is red beans and rice. You can probably find a buttload of rice & bean recipes on vegan cooking sites.

Happy eats,
Art