CITR Gym Thread

[itr5093]

Iol spl_k do you perhaps work in fitness or just a guru of fitness knowledge? Hahah

[SPL_K]

LOL I'm the last person you would expect to see in a gym. I just do a lot of reading on things I'm interested in...

Why drinking water is important:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/41...muscle-growth/
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_water.php
http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/mat7.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik46.htm

Other water related articles: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=water

[c_two]

it can work long term.. you dont have to do it everyday, some people approach it differently depending on how you would fit it in your lifestyle. 1-2 a week isnt too bad.. i done it for 1 year straight.. you can still eat the foods you like and still lose weight, just a matter of sticking to the eating..

main thing is cut the junk and sugary stuff, and your off to a good start =]

[plAythiNG]

There are several approaches to intermittent fasting (IF). The most popular one is where you don't eat for a certain amount of period per day. E.g. No eating for 18 hours per day and consuming all your calories in the 6 hours. There are other variations out there will people will fast for 2 days completely and eat normally the rest.

I would probably count your calories and macros before trying IF. If you're not currently at a caloric deficit, you wont be losing weight period. You should also be counting your macros.
A good tool is http://www.myfitnesspal.com. They have a food diary which you enter your current weight, desired calorie intake and the its macronutrient composition. They also have a phone app with a handy barcode scanner to get the macro breakdown!

What is a calorie? A calorie is a unit of heat energy. "Energy balance = Energy In - Energy out" or to put it "Calorie balance = calories in - calories out". To lose weight, your calorie balance should be at a deficit and vice versa for gaining weight. Any unit of energy that is not used is then stored as fat.

What is a macro you say? Here are some articles to clarify for you!

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_nutrients.php
http://www.foodpyramid.com/6-essential-nutrients/

Some people also take the "If it fits your macros" (IIFYM) approach. More information can be found here http://iifym.com/

Everyone is different, so everyone has different diets and approaches. What works for you might not work for someone else and vice versa. But before you try everything, you need to get your diet in to check! Without that, you wont be getting the best results you can yield! Don't forget plenty of sleep and water.

Alex, try Flaxseed oil, natural peanut butter, cashews, almonds, olive oil (that's all I can think of atm). Fats, good or bad, are fairly calorie dense. Depending on the brand, a table spoon of flaxseed oil will be around 100 ~ 150 calories, 12-15g of good fats equivalent to 100g of avocado and less calories (and less fibre, carbs and other micronutrients). Quick and easy to consume and wont go off as quick as an avocado and definitely cheaper in the long term.

Happy training all

Thanks trev re the flaxseed oil.

Agreed that most high in fat foods are heavier in calories but i also want to make a meal out of it too.

What does fkaxseed oil generally taste like?

Im aiming to incresse my fat ler day to around the 70g mark. Finding it a lil hard during the week tbh

[plAythiNG]

Here's a good article for those who are trying to burn fat, http://www.livestrong.com/article/29...-pound-of-fat/
Live Strong provide some good articles and are fairly reliable as they reference all their findings.

This should give you a rough idea how many calories you burn a day without any exercises, http://caloriecount.about.com/tools/calories-burned
Remember, it is only an estimate and should not be used as an exact figure as there are many variables that affect your daily calorie consumption (e.g. hormone levels, metabolic rate, current body composition i.e. fat %, etc). I think the best way to track your calories is if you are currently not losing or gaining weight to keep a diary of your daily food intake for about 2-3 weeks and calculate your calories from there to give you a good estimate. After, you can adjust accordingly to your desired level to achieve your goals.

Theres a good sticky on bodybuilding.com under the nutrition subforum. Tastes a bit of time. But worth it so u can work out ur macros!

[aTR]

I think the best way to track your calories is if you are currently not losing or gaining weight to keep a diary of your daily food intake for about 2-3 weeks and calculate your calories from there to give you a good estimate. After, you can adjust accordingly to your desired level to achieve your goals.

Agree with this. I also had a scale to weigh my food. I'd simply gather nutritional information from the back of my product etc to give me a more accurate reading of my caloric intake throughout the day as well as my macros.
What helped me personally was measuring how much calories I needed per day. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/body...tion_guide.htm This provided a rough basis of what I needed and I just kept weekly track of my weight and progress to see what needed to be changed. Just be sure you know your body type

What's also important is that the workout out of a gym session is highly intense in my opinion as this would dictate your caloric intake. Unless your'e burning a certain amount of calories at the gym, there is no point in ingesting a x amount of calories and macro nutrients otherwise you won't end up in a caloric deficit.

[plAythiNG]

Agree with this. I also had a scale to weigh my food. I'd simply gather nutritional information from the back of my product etc to give me a more accurate reading of my caloric intake throughout the day as well as my macros.
What helped me personally was measuring how much calories I needed per day. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/body...tion_guide.htm This provided a rough basis of what I needed and I just kept weekly track of my weight and progress to see what needed to be changed. Just be sure you know your body type

What's also important is that the workout out of a gym session is highly intense in my opinion as this would dictate your caloric intake. Unless your'e burning a certain amount of calories at the gym, there is no point in ingesting a x amount of calories and macro nutrients otherwise you won't end up in a caloric deficit.

very true.

my new diet next week will see the carb load up starting from lunch and prior to working out. Anyone have a particular program / workout routine? care to share?

I'll post mine up later if I can find out how to visuallise it correctly as its currently on an excel spreadsheet

[Norm]

Alex, should work out your macro's. Carb loading in extremes will only result in large amounts of fat deposit. Work out your percentages, and have 1 gram of protein per pound body weight, and increase your calories by ~500 just for building. Muscle building occurs in very small amounts and excessive calorie intake will only result in hastened fat deposits.

[Norm]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/from...=facenutrition

Great link and read for macronutrients. The 40/40/20 rule is a great guide to how much you should be eating and what type of compositions.

Norm

[fr4n]

Heavy compounds
Reverse pyramid
Internittent fasting, eat clean, no iifym shit
Sleep
Sleep
Drink water
Succeed

[fr4n]

Alex, should work out your macro's. Carb loading in extremes will only result in large amounts of fat deposit. Work out your percentages, and have 1 gram of protein per pound body weight, and increase your calories by ~500 just for building. Muscle building occurs in very small amounts and excessive calorie intake will only result in hastened fat deposits.

+1 this is true

[itr5093]

What's everyone's thoughts on coke zero?

[felixR]

How many times do you guys go to the gym/exercise a week?

[SPL_K]

fr4n, how long have you been on IF and what's your calorie intake (deficit)? Sounds like you're getting good results. My friend had great results from it, he had been eating a caloric deficit for a few months but was unable to lose weight but once he jumped on to IF with the same caloric deficit he was able to shed 30kg odd.

itr5093 - Not a fan of artificial sugar. Coke Zero does claim to have 0 calories. I would avoid anything that I don't need. If you need a cheat meal, make sure it fits your macros... e.g. Steak and Potatoes (not fries). There have been a lot of talk regarding artificial sugar but there is no proof, you would be in taking a fair amount of sodium. Sodium, better known as salt, does not cause you to gain fat but it does let your body absorb more water due to osmosis.

Alex - Flaxseed oil tastes just a bit nutty, you can buy it at any pharmacy and put it in your fridge. You can try increasing your fats by adding olive oil or linseed meal to your food. Linseed meal is Flaxseed meal before it is grounded to an oil. Don't buy the actual Flaxseed/Linseed itself cause the oils are within the seed and you need to ground it to get the oils out but when you ground at it home you lose it all over your kitchenware so it's best to buy Linseed/Flaxseed meal and sprinkle it on your food!
A recipe I used to make when I tried to increase my fat is:

The calories and macros are approximates depending on how you make cook your food, etc. The weight are of cooked weights, not raw food.
*Half avocado (approx 100g) - 160 calories - 9g carbs/2g protein/15g fat/7g fibre
*150g Cooked Chicken - Grilled, poached however you do it - 280 calories - 1.5g carbs/49.5g protein/7.5g fats
*150g Steamed Broccoli - 51 calories - 10.5g carbs/4.5g protein/0g fats/4.5g fibre
*1 Tbl spoons of Sweet Chili Sauce (every Asian household has this! Try to find a Low Sugar one, they're very hard to come by) - 35 calories 8g carbs (sugar)

Totaling - 526 calories - 29g carbs/56g protein/22.5g fats/11.5g fibre
You can lower the portions to 100g - 415 calories - 25g carbs/38g protein/20g fats/10g fibre

I put the half avocado with the sauce in a bowl, mix them up then I'll add the chicken and broccoli after.
I have a brown rice tuna salad I used to eat as well if anyone is interested and it's very easy to make.

Another highly noted vegetable for helping people lose weight is the good old Bok Choy! It has about 13 calories per 100g 2g carbs/1g protein/0 fats/1g fibre and a tonne of good vitamin and minerals. Your body requires more than 13 calories to ingest and absorb the food! Hence why eating actual food is better than having supplements (i.e. protein shakes).

Felix - I don't even lift bro

[plAythiNG]

Alex, should work out your macro's. Carb loading in extremes will only result in large amounts of fat deposit. Work out your percentages, and have 1 gram of protein per pound body weight, and increase your calories by ~500 just for building. Muscle building occurs in very small amounts and excessive calorie intake will only result in hastened fat deposits.

I shoudln't have used the word "loading" as now re-reading my post it kinds seems like im demolishing a loaf of bread.
I have worked out my macros... from memory it was 190p/70f and eat carbs without going over 2200 calories per day.....