Guide to dieting.

On January 07 2015 15:49 Chewits wrote: If you cut out all the shit sugars

pretty much this

There's lots of diets that work. As long as they follow the golden rules. Cutting out bad sugars is hardly an effective diet plan. It works for obese people however if you don't understand the mechanisms behind how to be healthy when you're dieting what are you going to adjust when you plateau? It's like having a car with only 3rd gear. If you are already in motion it's great but as you reduce speed eventually your gonna stall and you gonna have no way to get going again. What about when you want to bulk effectively? The foundational knowledge is key.

I will add dieting is a lot easier as long as you're above 18% body fat but as you get lower and lower it's really hard to get really low. Almost no one you see in your day to day is lower than 12% bodyfat. There's a reason for that

On January 07 2015 07:17 Spitfiree wrote: Idd a tl;dr, but I'll share what I've heard by a few professional trainers who pretty much never get sick and look naturally strong. They're saying your meals should consist of mainly fat and a lower % of proteins and carbons. Vegetables are mostly useless, and pasta/beans based meals are considerably unhealthy The thing is you dont have to give up on good meals to be eating healthy

they're idiots. you can be ripped/strong never eating vegetables but it's super sub-optimal in terms of overall health, not to mention satiety.

op is a good guide for people who have never thought about their health before, in 2014 i think it's very standard knowledge for anyone who lifts and knows how to use the internet. i think a lot of people using fad diets also know this but are lazy/don't GAF, so they just choose something with simple rules that doesn't force them to think about cals/macros/etc. all the time.

Pretty much read all of this in your voice so I couldn't make it all the way through between all the lolz

It would be nice to see just a sample grocery list or whatever you normally get when you stock up on food to get an idea of what type of foods to get. Hopefully you won't mind me constantly pestering you with questions on Skype about some of this stuff cus DEY COMIN

LOL dey comn. go ahead hit me up on facebook preferably. I really really tried to keep it as simple as possible since i pretty much expected most people to not even bother reading it when i was half way through writing it. lol I didn't really include too many ideas because its not that important. Calories > macro content (protein, fat, and carbs) > Micro nutrients. The most important thing to think about is calories you can have the shittiest diet ever, but if you arent getting enough calories you will lose weight. Just use the calculator for TDEE I provided. find out what your breakeven point is. and then plan on eating a certain amount less than that in calories. Then you can pick what you want your really rough protein/fat/carbs macros you want to "aim" for each day. And then just try to get as close as possible to them. And keep the calories under your ceiling you set yourself. Pretty much just avoid the worst foods you can think of though. Like fried foods and stuff like that .

to be honest I actually ate out a lot when I dieted at the beginning of last year. I had panda express, chipotle, even some subway. Just understand what kind of calorie content is in each meal you are getting. chipotle was actually really easy to eat at because I would just get a bowl and get white rice(brown is fine but overrated), black beans, chicken (or steak), one sauce (not sour cream or guacamole i hope that was obvious...), and lettuce(i would ask for extra). Its hard to factor things in exactly though when you are going out to eat so I would just be really conservative with my estimate and allow some room for mistakes. I'd use the chipotle nutrition calculator and find out what I ate. What i listed above seems to amount to 510 calories according to it. i would just assume it was something like 550. You can just google anything nowadays. Anytime you eat anything just be like "hmm i wonder how many calories in a banana?" type it in to google it takes no time at all. Its actually pretty fun to just eyeball stuff and know pretty close to what you are eating in calories after a while. EDIT:: also you can request to customize things at a lot of restaurants. I've never been to a restaurant where I couldn't customize something to fit my diet decently well. A lot of places wont be perfect but they will be pretty close. Just takes practice and imagination. I've never had an issue asking them to change something about the meal or multiple things. Going to wendys? grilled chicken sandwich, request no sauce. and just ditch the bun and replace the fries with a baked potato plain. There you have yourself a fairly low calorie meal in a pinch.

I cant deny that the bulking and cutting method probably leads to better long term results, but most people work out primarily for aesthetic reasons. I dont think i can get behind a 4-5 year plan where my body will look like shit for long periods of time throughout the year. No girl wants to bang an 18% body fat guy who will be bigger/more muscular years down the road when she can bang a 12% guy that slowly becomes a better version of himself with a lower but still great ceiling.

That said, this blog is really solid advice for losing weight if you are in the 18% range and want to be in the 12-13% range:
-lots of water
-avoid dense foods
-lots of veggies
-eat less calories than your base rate after working out

Hope everyone comes closer to reaching their fitness goals in 2015 than they have previously

i think thats a little exaggerated. I think most people will start out with a cut because they are over weight. And will likely not end up putting more than 15-30 pounds at a time during a single bulk and a lot of that would end up being muscle assuming they work decently hard and have a decent diet. Especially after a persons first year of strength training they will actually look very good at 18% bodyfat assuming they actually let themselves get that high. Everyone has different goals. for me personally a 6pack wasnt one of them I wanted to be bigger and stronger than I was before so any excessive cuts we're just road blocks. However each person does have his own unique goals. In the end if people want to be lean year round. its ESPECIALLY important to get these things down. In a cut and bulk diet you can actually get away with a lot more, as opposed to lean mass phases in order to make progress while staying somewhat lean. It makes dieting a lot more delicate and being as precise as possible actually helps a lot more in that case. Also its possible to do a body recomposition for people that are exceptionally good at these dieting fundamentals. Thats something I have not yet even attempted yet because of how precise you have to be in doing it.

On January 08 2015 00:44 DooMeR wrote: i think thats a little exaggerated. I think most people will start out with a cut because they are over weight. And will likely not end up putting more than 15-30 pounds at a time during a single bulk and a lot of that would end up being muscle assuming they work decently hard and have a decent diet. Especially after a persons first year of strength training they will actually look very good at 18% bodyfat assuming they actually let themselves get that high. Everyone has different goals. for me personally a 6pack wasnt one of them I wanted to be bigger and stronger than I was before so any excessive cuts we're just road blocks. However each person does have his own unique goals. In the end if people want to be lean year round. its ESPECIALLY important to get these things down. In a cut and bulk diet you can actually get away with a lot more, as opposed to lean mass phases in order to make progress while staying somewhat lean. It makes dieting a lot more delicate and being as precise as possible actually helps a lot more in that case. Also its possible to do a body recomposition for people that are exceptionally good at these dieting fundamentals. Thats something I have not yet even attempted yet because of how precise you have to be in doing it.

most important takeaway. know your goals and figure out what you need to do to reach them.

what is there to gain from "bulking effectively", bulking is just gaining weight right?

I just really can't see how being bigger and stronger is going to be worth all the effort, shouldn't your main focus just to be healthy?

On January 08 2015 10:15 Fayth wrote: what is there to gain from "bulking effectively", bulking is just gaining weight right? I just really can't see how being bigger and stronger is going to be worth all the effort, shouldn't your main focus just to be healthy?

really good question. I wasn't expecting one like this but I'm glad you asked. Well I'll take my case in particular. I was a good 25 pounds under what is considered healthy body weight for my size. But was already ~14% bodyfat. For me to have gained weight without gaining muscle I would have had to add a good 15% bodyfat. Clearly thats not whats intended when people talk about "healthy bodyweight". However, because i had so little muscle I needed to add some to my frame in order to reach my proper weight healthily. As i believe 10-18% body fat is what's considered the optimal range for men.

Having an appreciable amount of muscle is useful for a lot of things. The process of gaining muscle in itself is actually quite useful as well. As you strength train it gives you a lot of benefits. Cardiovascular workout, increases bone density, as you gain more muscle you can regulate your weight easier, it also gives you a lot of psychological benefits. Did i mention it helps in hormone production? Honestly though trying to sell the benefits of gaining more muscle is like trying to sell the benefits of making more money in the real world. Some people don't care about money at all. If they make 50k a year they truly don't give a shit ever about making more money. It doesn't motivate them. But in no way does this diminish the usefulness of money. It simple just means they don't care.

Lastly to directly answer your question. What i meant by "bulking effectively" was essentially how to bulk and not put on too much excess fat. It does require a decent diet. Although mistakes are more forgivable than when you are cutting. As when you are cutting the room to play around with your macro nutrients (protein, fat, carbs) is more delicate. However mistakes made while bulking and adding excess fat likely would lead to a point where a cut would be advised afterwards for optimal body composition.

EDIT: Adding one more thing. Its commonly thought of running and such activities to be the main ways to get an effective cardiovascular workout. And its simply not true if you are weight training effectively you can just as well get the cardiovascular benefits without having to jog or any of that. Not that it hurts to do so. However the point is strength training is just as viable of an option so its not necessarily a bother at all. It can easily substitute such activity if done effectively. I suppose its only fitting I work on a bit of a strength training follow up to this diet guide. Should be easier to write and simpler. And im much more knowledgeable about that than dieting. lol. Dieting has been something I was forced to learn out of necessity. And my knowledge is moreso a functional understanding than an in depth one.

A bit of a follow up but from my experience over this whole 2 year social experiment. I have actually been treated better by both sexes by adding muscle to my body. In the real world it has an interesting effect. A lot of very subtle things have changed which I've noticed. Also its nice to occasionally be approached by girls instead of always having to approach. I never cared about what people thought of me however it has been a pleasant surprise.

i always thought you were kinda sexy doomer. even without the muscles.

I still think you should be doing something productive wih your muscles. Just lifting in a gym 100% seems like a waste of time/ability. Go out and dead lift cars off of babies, rock climb a mountain to save the baby stranded at the top, or practice a martial art to fight off the guy trying to kidnap your baby. You will still develop your muscles, but you'll also be learning/developing new skills and gym can become supplemental to whatever it may be you are doing. Plus, I'm sure there are jut some muscles you can't really train in the traditional gym setting that you'll be feeling after a hard day of whatever hobby it may be you do.

On January 07 2015 00:26 EvilSky wrote: TLDR, eat less train more

What you would do if you would try to "build up an appetite"

Isnt that a bit sadistic to give this advice to obese people ?

Here is what you need to do, and why:


TLDR: A calorie is not a calorie
- Eat as few carbohydrates as possible to lower insulin levels

Carbohydrates > Insulin > Fat

On January 11 2015 01:18 VanDerMeyde wrote: Carbohydrates > Insulin > Fat

I think you should be more careful with saying stuff like that. This kind of way of saying things can be misinterpreted pretty easily by people and is one of the reasons people are on the no-carb train of silliness. Insulin levels are something to be considered for sure. I didn't go into it at all because the guide was already as long as anyone would conceivably want to read. However having elevated insulin is not necessarily the worst thing. Or the primary motivator behind fat retention. In order to lose fat or gain fat you need a deficit or a surplus. In the grand scheme of things calories are more important than anything else. You will not gain fat when you are in a deficit. Unless perhaps you find yourself in a fringe state where you are in a very minor deficit with very very high insulin levels and are completely sedentary. I would not be surprised if data like that showed it to be possible. However that case seems unlikely. Anyway. so this is another reason the keto diet is kind of popular. Its a viable option but its not necessary and like I said above SOME people react negatively to it and find themselves feeling sick. So having a diet with some carbs is recommended for those people. Elite bodybuilders have done low carb, high protein, high fat diets. And they have done somewhat low fat, high protein, somewhat high carb diets in prep for shows with similar results. As far as the video is concerned essentially I take it that insulin suppresses fat loss by making it more difficult for the body to release fat from cells and make them more prone to storing fat. However I suspect its unlikely this will have a drastic effect unless insulin is abnormally high. The effect should be minimal when you are in a calorie deficit getting both a good amount of fat and good amount of protein. IF you are doing that correctly you just don't have much room for carbs anyway and you won't have to worry about your insulin levels affecting things to a significant extent.

So i'll just repeat that is NOT the key to the fat loss process. its a factor. Its worth noting for sure, but it doesn't come into the play in either of the examples of fat loss diets I would recommend. (i have not experimented with my body in ketosis so I don't recommend others doing it since it isn't something I am savvy on doing). Thus I made the guide the way I did. In the example I used in the guide. I recommended 187 carbs a day for any potential cut I did. Not an extreme amount by any means. It will have little impact in the fatloss process certainly not something to worry about when I factor in better mood and easier time managing the diet (carbs are everywhere and thus this makes my food selection easier to manage). Which is why I made the example diet the way I did. The average population of people have trouble losing weight, because they can't stick to a diet. I am not trying to beat a dead horse but I really want to make it clear carbs are not necessarily the enemy. By oversimplifying things, this leads to the problem we have in society when you ask any random person off the street what their opinion on dieting is. They say "carbs are bad duh just cut the carbs like dieting is ez yo" and then they cant stick to a diet that will actually work for them.

I didnt get any results until i got my insulin Levels Down. And trust me, i have tried everything over the years. I even also tried low carb before but i didnt succed because i didnt eat enough fat. Being overweight / Fat in Norway is the biggest criminality you can do here, i think only beaten by Anders Behring Breivik. Friends want speak to you anymore, everyone will look down at you and disrespect you because you are glutony and sloath (you ate more calories than you spent so its your Choice to be fat) right ? I think if im gonna get anything more this life i rather want to get cancer than beeing fat again, because then u at least get some support.

I think the Connection Insulin > Fat was discovered as early as 1962, but governments cant tell you about it because if everyone switched from rice / bread / potatoes / carbohydrates to mostly fat and protein it wouldnt be ecologically (?) substainable.

I feel a lot like the "you'll never believe me" guy in this video:


Yes i know you will never belive me