A fresh, "new" perspective on dieting

[Burning_Inside]

It's been a while really since I came into this diet forum, probably about 6 months. Been bulking and had no need to really come in, and I was burnt out from answering a few posts a day offering advice, even tho mine pales in comparison with other people who post on here who went to college for the stuff and who make it their full time profession.

Anyway, I come back now and I guess after the whole carbs are bad media blitz, it looks like this placehas picked up, and now more than ever we see questions related to carbs, and they are more in depth, such as "Guys, do you think 43.2 grams of a carb with GI index of 41 is too much to take in after doing a cardio session of jogging at a 4.5 incline at 5 MPH for about 15-16 minutes at 6:00 PM?"

OK it may not be that bad (I don't know I have't skimmed over too many posts in here) but i think many of you are taking the dieting thing down to a level where it doesn't ever need to go. Over obsessiveness with numbers and diminishing returns.

Don't get me wrong, numbers are important. But I don't think you need to be a mathematical genious to diet and successfuly lose a few lbs of fat.

So anyway, I figured as a breath of fresh air, I'd post up my current diet routine.

I started march first, dieted for 2 weeks, lost 10 lbs, then got sick, AAARGH!! Had to blow everything for a week. Then started fresh last Monday. In 7 days, I went from 228 lbs to 218. Granted yeah it's only been a week and what I've lost is mostly just water, so maybe I don't have an ounce of ground to stand on when I talk about my personal little diet endeavor here, but I've also done this last year with great results. So please just follow along anyway..

Here's how I've been eating. 5 meals a day. My nutrient breakdown is done on a 40-30-30 ratio. Each meal for me is 50 protein, 40 carbs, 15 fat, OR IN THE GENERAL AREA. I don't have an electronic scale to weigh everything out, nor a food atomizer to blast away the excess weight of the food into oblivion. I have a simple measuring cup.

Am I seperating carbs from fats in my meals? NO. I don't feel the carbs I eat cause enough of an insulin spike in my system personally to warrant the need to be cautious and seperate the stuff. MAYBE down the line in a few months I'll try it out. As for me, my carbs have been basically oatmeal. Sometimes beans, brown rice. Anything low GI. It's boring but what people need to learn to do, and it's tough as I'm still doing it..is stop trying to seek pleasure from flavors of food. If you seek no (or at least little) pleasure from flavors, then you will have no issues with eating bland junk day after day. You will eventually just see it is "Yeah the more bland the more ripped I'll be". Silly, but hey, you can make yourself believe anything, and it's really not far from the truth. Also, I've completely cut out dairy products of all types.

Am I cutting off carbs before a certain time that I exercise, or after a certain amount of time I've been awake? NO. I eat carbs right up until my last meal of the day. Granted there wont be MUCH of them in the meal but I do eat them.

Am I doing lots of cardio exercise? HELL NO. Especially noe of the Am empty stomach stuff. That crap made me feel so miserable..It's really not necessary. If any of you want to, you can PM the user Supertech69 and ask him about his diet/exercise routine. The user Quadsweep has him on this program, and I'm pretty sure there was absolutely no cardio involved up until the very end. Like Quadsweep said, it's all in the diet. As for me, I think if I've done 45 minutes of cardio in the past week, I'm lucky. I personally do small amounts of cardio just because it's a new area of training that I haven't been to in about 6 months.

So what DOES my exercise program look like? I'm simply going to the gym 5 days a week, and doing 2 body parts per day, just a few sets and low reps, trying to maintain the strength. I deadlifted yesterday and still got 275x6 on my final set. That's the most reps I've got at the end of my bulk cycle and it's still holding. I may toss in like 15 minutes of cardio at the end. My favorite is running on a treadmill on an incline.

As for supplements, I got Thermorexin and Yohimburn ES, along with a few cups of coffee each day. The t-rex and yohimburn combo definately give you an added surge of energy when you work out.

I don't know what more to say on this. it's not magic, but it's simple and to the point. You simply keep a clean diet, keep a bunch of willpower, and keep active, and definately try and keep your strength.

 

[JKurz1]

I'm just as guilty as the next guy for asking or responding to "frivoulous" diet questions, but your post was on the money. Should make it a sticky.........Was your bulking approach the same way?

 

[Millie]

From personal experience, I would say that in the beginning stages of a healthier lifestyle, people tend to be more pedantic about numbers and really worrying about the minute details. However, with time as they get more and more into the whole thing, they learn to relax a bit more and that's when they get better results.
People also need to realize that freaking out over an extra 50 calories or a 4pm carb cut off can have a bigger negative impact than the 50 extra calories themselves, because of all the cortisol released in this state of stress.

 

[JKurz1]

From personal experience, I would say that in the beginning stages of a healthier lifestyle, people tend to be more pedantic about numbers and really worrying about the minute details. However, with time as they get more and more into the whole thing, they learn to relax a bit more and that's when they get better results.
People also need to realize that freaking out over an extra 50 calories or a 4pm carb cut off can have a bigger negative impact than the 50 extra calories themselves, because of all the cortisol released in this state of stress.

It's funny.....I found the exact opposite to be true....in college, I knew jack....I ate whatever, whenever, trained hard, and did little cardio.....I was about 225 and 10-12bf%...............now that I'm in the professional field, I read more, I research more, and I've become very anal about my regimine.....and now, I'm 190 at about 8%...............HOWEVER, I've never counted a single calorie....sure I make sure to get adequate protein, mod. carbs, and mod. good fats, but never counted..........dont see the point unless I'm competeing or in it for the $$$$

 

[Burning_Inside]

I'm just as guilty as the next guy for asking or responding to "frivoulous" diet questions, but your post was on the money. Should make it a sticky.........Was your bulking approach the same way?

Bulking, I put on 30 lbs in 8 weeks. With ana bolics however. I ate like slop actually. I ate 6-7 times daily, and I even had sodas and whatnot, I didn't watch my diet at all honestly. As long as I got my protein intake everything else I could have cared less about. I didn't care for my training either, i used the HST method, and I think resutlscould have been better using a normal 4 day split. O well. live and learn.

 

[JKurz1]

Don't you find it difficult to just SWITCH from all out feasting, to strict control? I find that if I'm strict 100% of the time, not only do I not crave the garbage, I can stay lean all year round.......HOWEVER, I believe its preventing my growth..........how much of that 30lbs to you think was lean? Eating everything in sight? Will you go from a faded six pack to diced when you are through? What was your gear of choice? Sorry bout all the questions, just curious..........

 

[juve]

It's been a while really since I came into this diet forum, probably about 6 months. Been bulking and had no need to really come in

OT: hahaha, I find this part funny.
ahhh, the concept of a bulking diet - the concept which is a nonentity and defunct for 80% the bodybuilding masse

 

[Destroyer1986*]

burning can you please post up what foods you ate.

 

[Burning_Inside]

Don't you find it difficult to just SWITCH from all out feasting, to strict control? I find that if I'm strict 100% of the time, not only do I not crave the garbage, I can stay lean all year round.......HOWEVER, I believe its preventing my growth..........how much of that 30lbs to you think was lean? Eating everything in sight? Will you go from a faded six pack to diced when you are through? What was your gear of choice? Sorry bout all the questions, just curious..........

I kinda actually tapered off gradually back to a totally "healthy" diet. I did about a month's worth of maintenance after the cycle, and during that time, from beginning to end I tapered back slowly. When it comes to the strict control, I dunno I've just been mentally disciplining myself over the years to just be able to look at the junk food and say the hell with it. It's only a flavor. It's gone in 10 seconds. i liken the idea to date rape. is the 10 second pleasure worth it? No. For instance in my house right now, there's 3 trays of pizza, and a ton of SoBe drinks. Staring me in the face every time I go into the kitchen. When I open the freezer there's ice cream. When i open the lazy suzan, there's cereal. There's milk in the fridge. I just say no.

As for how much of the 30 lbs was lean, well I have no idea. I'd say 15. The thing is, this time last year i was a measly 165 lbs at 6'3". If I can get down to 200 lbs by the middle of July this year, and look like i did when i was 165, that's awesome. That would be like a friggin 35 lb lean mass gain in a little over a year. I won't complain. Will I get to be completely ripped? I doubt it. I honestly don't think I have the genetics. I was a chubby kid my whole life. Even seeing pics of myself at 4 years old..Chubby.

As for the cycle, it was 2 weeks of dbol at 30 mg's daily and half gram of enenthate weekly for 8 weeks.

 

[Burning_Inside]

OT: hahaha, I find this part funny.
ahhh, the concept of a bulking diet - the concept which is a nonentity and defunct for 80% the bodybuilding masse

Well bulking's simple, you just eat. Dieting, well way back when, I had questins about a lot of stuff. Dieting for me was just a lot more complicated.