Quote:
Originally Posted by workinout
Word. Sounds good.
Also I ran some calorie calculators and found my maintenance level of calories is around 4000/day.
So obviously eating 1500/day is not going to be healthy for me.
I am going to aim to eat 3000-3500 tomorrow (of good stuff, mainly protein) and cut down 500 calories or so a week. Is that the correct play here?
"
Another potential culprit is thinking you can preset your calorie levels with a general formula you found in a physiology book or on the internet, and then apply it in a static fashion. The body doesn’t work that way – or more specifically, the world doesn’t work that way as most of us have a great variation in how many calories we expend on a daily basis from moving around and exercising, compounded with the fact that calorie intake will vary hugely even if we try to measure and weigh everything we eat. Error margins in nutrient labels and measuring inaccuracies add up and under controlled conditions it has been documented that people will over- and underestimate both their caloric expenditure and –intake by 50% or more! -Borge Fagerli "
FAQ
In a Nutshell
Q. I'm too lazy to read the whole FAQ. Could you give me cliff's notes?
A. Here you go:
(1) Eat when hungry, and eat reasonably
(2) Eat adequate protein (1-1.5g/lb lean body mass)
(3) Remove as much processed food from the diet as possible
(4) Train intelligently and avoid being sedentary if possible
(5) Supply adequate nutrients around training
(6) Make sure you are recovering reasonably and getting good sleep.
In other words, you are doing your training and trying to be healthier. Get a good PWO shake or meal and make sure your sleep and recovery/lifestyle is in order. Try eating "healthy" foods and not gorging on any particular meals, eating when hungry and to satiety and waiting after the meal (or at any point you are hungry) to reevaluate on hunger, obviously allowing some deviation for the conveniences of life.
Adhere to this type of approach and you honestly won't have to worry about presetting calories for a long time, if ever, depending on your goals. Seriously. No one believes it, but it holds for most.
When I looked for the answer to these questions, I found the vdiet and technical advice that was useful at the time and what I wanted to hear, but not what I needed at all. If someone had presented me a pamphlet called Reasonable Dieting for Idiots that explained what now seems unbelievably obvious I would have benefited immeasurably.
Last edited by ActionJeff; 05-12-2009 at 09:19 AM.