Blonde will make you STRONG

[iRaise]

8 pints of Stella and 4 protein shakes a day it is then. Happy times ahead

Would love to see how far someone could do that for, or even just cake and shakes and see how far you get. But protein is a powerful nutrient for sure.

[iRaise]

http://www.iifym.com/why-clean-eating-fails/

Obviously biased as its taken from the website of 'if it fits your macros' and the one transformation photo clearly can't be trusted in isolation I agree. But gives you a bit about the theory of KCALs. I guess what you have to understand is the equation of energy balance, I think? Then everything stems of that?

I get the calories thing completely. It's the balanced bit I can't get my head around at all

Last night I'd forgotten to take any chicken out of the freezer so I ate some sausages that I managed to nick off my sister. I had 5 sausages chopped up on 3 pitta breads which gave the following:

5 x sausages - 610, 30.5, 35.8, 38.4
5g olive oil - 41, 0, 0, 4.6
3 x pitta - 449, 72.6, 17.7, 5.1

Totals

1100 calories
103.1g carbs
53.5g protein
48.1g fat

If we compare this to the meal I had the other night:

40g wholegrain rice - 140, 28.5, 3.4, 1.1
180g chopped tomatoes - 52, 8.5, 2.3, 0.2
70g curry sauce - 75, 6.4, 1.1, 4.8
15g puree - 11, 1.7, 0.6, 0.1
5g olive oil - 41, 0, 0, 4.6
200g mixed veg - 96, 9.9, 2.4, 4.6
200g chicken - 212, 0, 48, 1
3 x pitta - 449, 72.6, 17.7, 5.1

Totals

1076 calories
127.6g carbs
75.5g protein
21.5g fat

So I'm slightly down on the protein but I could have sorted that by scrapping the pittas and having a few more sausages instead.

9 sausages would be 1098 calories with 64g of protein so we're getting much closer.

Now I know that I can eat that curry meal every night for 3 months and stay as I am or even get bigger. If I eat 9 sausages instead you're saying I'll look exactly the same after those 3 months? Don't think we need to fall out over the odd 10g of protein.....

So really you're saying it's the ratio of calories to protein that matters? As long as my meal contains 1100 calories and 75g or so of protein it makes no difference how I obtain it?

We're obviously not counting the fact that we'd die of salt poisoning or vitamin d deficiency or some such thing at some point?

Interesting.

Pretty much yeah, not just over one meal though, protein is a daily need as we don't store it for very long. Carbs and fats we can store longer so we can even them out over the week. Agree about the 10g, but we still need to make sure its adequate, if it was 50g to 25g then maybe it could be a problem. But for you specifically you always have enough protein from your meals from what I see. Salt possibly, although our bodies have some pretty good mechanisms to keep that equilibrium as long as it isn't one large dose. Vitamins however you are correct, skittles give me 0 vitamins, whereas broccoli gives me many. So for health reasons it is a different argument, but the human body is amazing at surviving, we would probably be surprised how long it could function off Stella and shakes

[iRaise]

So really you're saying it's the ratio of calories to protein that matters? As long as my meal contains 1100 calories and 75g or so of protein it makes no difference how I obtain it?

We're obviously not counting the fact that we'd die of salt poisoning or vitamin d deficiency or some such thing at some point?

This is basically the crux of it. I was going to, and probably still will, do a video about diet. It's quite simple, but the industry loves to make it complicated.

In order of importance, this is dieting 101

• Energy balance (calories in minus calories out)
• Macros (protein, fats, carbs, fibre)
• Micros (vitamins and minerals)
• Meal timing
• Supplements

We NEED to understand this list top to bottom. Juice diets are popular because they prey on people who understand micronutrients but don't understand energy balance. Weight gain powders are popular because they prey on people who understand supplements and meal timing, but don't understand macros.

"Healthy foods" are so-called because of their vitamin content and glycemic load. If you got all your calories from ice cream then your blood sugar would be all over the place, you'd be hungry and miserable all the time, but as long as calories consumed were fewer than calories burned then you would lose weight.

Body comp requires muscle maintenance, which requires adequate protein consumption. So let's make sure we hit our protein targets, then we can go ahead and get the rest of our calories from wherever you want. As mentioned above, if it all comes from ice cream then we will feel like shit, but we will still be losing weight (and because we understand our macros, we will be maximising fat loss and minimising muscle loss)

Try eating 2,000kcals worth of McDonalds (basically 4 double cheeseburgers, not ashamed to say I have run the numbers on all my junk food favourites) and then try eating 2,000kcals worth of lean meats, fruits and vegetables. Weight loss/gain will be the same in both cases, but guess which one will make you feel fuller, which one will make you feel better. Spoiler alert, it's not going to be the McDonald's diet... However, if you want to sacrifice a few kcals here and there for your favourite things, such as skittles, then this will not affect your weightloss efforts, but it will help maintain your sanity!

Excellent use of the bold function there.

But yeah, that is much more coherent than I was saying.

The psychological factor is what I was trying to bring in, sacrificing some health EV for sanity EV is extremely under rated, being that most people have to diet for a long time to get to where they want to.

If you went v low KCAL for sat 4-8 weeks for whatever reason you might understand why you would go 100% 'clean' just to be as full as you can. But you have to adhere to it.

[iRaise]

So really you're saying it's the ratio of calories to protein that matters? As long as my meal contains 1100 calories and 75g or so of protein it makes no difference how I obtain it?

We're obviously not counting the fact that we'd die of salt poisoning or vitamin d deficiency or some such thing at some point?

This is basically the crux of it. I was going to, and probably still will, do a video about diet. It's quite simple, but the industry loves to make it complicated.

In order of importance, this is dieting 101

• Energy balance (calories in minus calories out)
• Macros (protein, fats, carbs, fibre)
• Micros (vitamins and minerals)
• Meal timing
• Supplements

We NEED to understand this list top to bottom. Juice diets are popular because they prey on people who understand micronutrients but don't understand energy balance. Weight gain powders are popular because they prey on people who understand supplements and meal timing, but don't understand macros.

"Healthy foods" are so-called because of their vitamin content and glycemic load. If you got all your calories from ice cream then your blood sugar would be all over the place, you'd be hungry and miserable all the time, but as long as calories consumed were fewer than calories burned then you would lose weight.

Body comp requires muscle maintenance, which requires adequate protein consumption. So let's make sure we hit our protein targets, then we can go ahead and get the rest of our calories from wherever you want. As mentioned above, if it all comes from ice cream then we will feel like shit, but we will still be losing weight (and because we understand our macros, we will be maximising fat loss and minimising muscle loss)

Try eating 2,000kcals worth of McDonalds (basically 4 double cheeseburgers, not ashamed to say I have run the numbers on all my junk food favourites) and then try eating 2,000kcals worth of lean meats, fruits and vegetables. Weight loss/gain will be the same in both cases, but guess which one will make you feel fuller, which one will make you feel better. Spoiler alert, it's not going to be the McDonald's diet... However, if you want to sacrifice a few kcals here and there for your favourite things, such as skittles, then this will not affect your weightloss efforts, but it will help maintain your sanity!

Just re read that an genuinely might steal it, thats incredibly well put.

[EvilPie]

In order of importance, this is dieting 101

• Energy balance (calories in minus calories out)
• Macros (protein, fats, carbs, fibre)
• Micros (vitamins and minerals)
• Meal timing
• Supplements

Would you also class this as your 'nutrition 101'? The list is perfect in my opinion for someone wanting to lose weight but for someone who's training for something in particular is it still in the correct order?

If you're on a strength regime for example would you put Macros above calories? Maybe not above but certainly it would have a much greater weighting as would all of the others.

For purely losing weight calories may be 70% of that list whereas with other goals it may be 30% with the other 40% re-distributed amongst the other 4 elements.

What's your point on meal timing? Is it to do with spreading your meals throughout the day, carb loading pre-training, avoiding carbs pre bed time?

I'm not quite sure about supplements being in the list as well. Surely supplements are just a part of the other elements? A supplement is just something which helps make the other 4 items easier to achieve.

This is aimed at anybody by the way, not just a reply to Sean.

Love this

[iRaise]

In order of importance, this is dieting 101

• Energy balance (calories in minus calories out)
• Macros (protein, fats, carbs, fibre)
• Micros (vitamins and minerals)
• Meal timing
• Supplements

Would you also class this as your 'nutrition 101'? The list is perfect in my opinion for someone wanting to lose weight but for someone who's training for something in particular is it still in the correct order?

If you're on a strength regime for example would you put Macros above calories? Maybe not above but certainly it would have a much greater weighting as would all of the others.

For purely losing weight calories may be 70% of that list whereas with other goals it may be 30% with the other 40% re-distributed amongst the other 4 elements.

What's your point on meal timing? Is it to do with spreading your meals throughout the day, carb loading pre-training, avoiding carbs pre bed time?

I'm not quite sure about supplements being in the list as well. Surely supplements are just a part of the other elements? A supplement is just something which helps make the other 4 items easier to achieve.

This is aimed at anybody by the way, not just a reply to Sean.

Love this

Thats also a great reply. Nutrition 101 it is.

I don't worry too much about meal timing personally, although it probably has a benefit the higher up you go. From my understanding having 4-5 MPS (muscle protein synthesis) feedings per day are the best way to illicit growth, or stop breakdown. Could talk a bit more about MPS but not sure how interesting that is?

Energy balance comes at the top 99.9% of the time. I can't think of an occasion where it doesn't, but I am covering my back a bit incase someone can think of one. If you are a pro athlete, you may want more carbs than fat, but if you have 1g of fat per KG, your KCALs will be high enough (due to demand) that you can fill it out with carbs pretty well.

For losing weight tho KCALs has to be 100%, if you aren't in a deficit, you aren't losing weight. If you pass that hurdle, then protein becomes important, maybe carbs and fats in the long run, then timings if you are an elite athlete. But to lose mass you categorically have to be in a deficit. Whether thats increased output or lower intake.

Micros all pretty important too, but if you aren't doing a Stella and shake diet you should be fine. Greens most meals, varied food sources you should be fine.

[iRaise]

https://www.facebook.com/josephagunutrition/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Have a quick read of his page. Really balanced views.

[EvilPie]

Micros all pretty important too, but if you aren't doing a Stella and shake diet you should be fine. Greens most meals, varied food sources you should be fine.

This is where supplements come in.

Couple of multivits a day and we're back on track.

[zerofive]

In order of importance, this is dieting 101

• Energy balance (calories in minus calories out)
• Macros (protein, fats, carbs, fibre)
• Micros (vitamins and minerals)
• Meal timing
• Supplements

Would you also class this as your 'nutrition 101'? The list is perfect in my opinion for someone wanting to lose weight but for someone who's training for something in particular is it still in the correct order?

If you're on a strength regime for example would you put Macros above calories? Maybe not above but certainly it would have a much greater weighting as would all of the others.

For purely losing weight calories may be 70% of that list whereas with other goals it may be 30% with the other 40% re-distributed amongst the other 4 elements.

What's your point on meal timing? Is it to do with spreading your meals throughout the day, carb loading pre-training, avoiding carbs pre bed time?

I'm not quite sure about supplements being in the list as well. Surely supplements are just a part of the other elements? A supplement is just something which helps make the other 4 items easier to achieve.

This is aimed at anybody by the way, not just a reply to Sean.

Love this

Yes absolutely nutrition 101. I was in a bit of a hurry to get it all written down so I've not said a few things as elegantly as I'd like to have done.

I wouldn't say any one thing on the list occupies a % of the result; it's simply an order of operations. If we want to gain weight - it doesn't matter if we've got all these great protein powders and creatine, we eat immediately after training, with a perfectly-balanced vitamin-rich high-protein diet - it just isn't happening unless your input > output (first thing on the list.)

What you say about supplements is basically what you can say about anything moving backwards, if that makes sense? Supplements make goals easier to achieve if the other 4 are in place. Meal timings make goals easier to achieve if the prior 3 are in place and so on.

[iRaise]

Micros all pretty important too, but if you aren't doing a Stella and shake diet you should be fine. Greens most meals, varied food sources you should be fine.

This is where supplements come in.

Couple of multivits a day and we're back on track.

Yeah for sure, although when I diet I just get that hungry I need to eat as much veg as possible so I don't eat my hand.

[EvilPie]

Physio seems to have fixed my shoulder but I've not started back yet. Might venture out tomorrow and then do the weekend but more concerned about staying injury free before I go away.

Been eating nothing but chips, sausages and pie with treacle sponge and custard as a side dish.

Love it.

[Steve Swift]

Ok I know its not pretty but I got there, did a few extra to compensate for some dodgy ones.

[EvilPie]

Hey mate they might not be the most perfect press ups ever but there's fifty of 'em so fair play to you, excellent effort.

What's next on the list? Are you going to stick with press ups?

[iRaise]

Physio seems to have fixed my shoulder but I've not started back yet. Might venture out tomorrow and then do the weekend but more concerned about staying injury free before I go away.

Been eating nothing but chips, sausages and pie with treacle sponge and custard as a side dish.

Love it.

Stay in your KCALs and watch that fat disappear

[iRaise]

Hey mate they might not be the most perfect press ups ever but there's fifty of 'em so fair play to you, excellent effort.

What's next on the list? Are you going to stick with press ups?

Little wayward towards the end, but good effort.

Maybe hands a little wider apart? Grip the floor and go down slower, you are doing press ups (I guess) to tax your pressing muscles not just to bob up and down. Now you have the endurance to get to many, I would focus on making them better say 10 at a time. Solid mental strength to keep going though, imagine that was some serious discomfort towards the end.