Well its obviously a battle you're fighting. Strangely most people who listen to the advice and manage to follow it. "Eat less, do high intensity weight training." regardless of the exact implementation make substantial improvements in body composition whatever their desired goal. They also enable themselves with the tools to implement other successive changes without learning a plethora of new skills.

Oddly most people who complete P90X, a running program, or whatever other asinine silliness don't have these tools at their disposal. Even people who didn't think SS was right for them at the time, eventually come around to view the program favorable or any of the closely related substitutes that are virtually the same.

Getting enough cals is your main point right? I need to get enough cals (you would agree not just any cals right? IE: Lean chicken breasts, whey protein shakes, apples, nuts, pasta are better than a diet of Big Macs and fries).

I'm taking from our discussions that my protein deficiency and total calories is the biggest issue I need to focus on (from a diet perspective, I realize SS is the recommended exercise routine I should consider switching to)

Just to nit this up. Fast metabolisms and slow ones barring medical problems differ by a few hundred calories. Physical expenditure in a variety of forms including temperature regulation cause the difference in me burning ~3000-3500 calories a day at 170 vs people burning 2500 a day at 210.

Yes, I think I am fighting pre-existing beliefs that I have grown to accept for some reason, those being:

1. Don't eat = lose fat and weight = Good
2. Intense exercise that is difficult has got to work right? It's hard so why wouldn't it?

It seems counter intuitive to eat more to lose fat so I think that's why so many people buy into it, just like many people believe hard work has to pay off but don't realize working smart is more effective.

Intensity = % of 1RM. Not difficulty per se, or how "intense" the burn is.

Duly noted.

What do you mean by temperature regulation?

Like its ****ing cold here. I usually realize I need to put on a hoodie when inside when I'm uncomfortably cold. This burns more calories than being at a comfortable temperature. Repeat this for virtually the entire day. While not a huge effect in isolation, it probably is comparable to the difference between a slow and fast metabolism.

I definately need to work on my legs. I'm very "stiff in the hips" as my trainer calls it and I think that's because I've never really focused on working on my legs with squats, etc (outside of the clean and jerks my old trainer had me doing). I can't find my log of what my max was, we use Kg plates so that makes it that much harder for me to remember, but it seems like I was in the 250# range.

Have you ever done kettlebell swings? Those things work my legs big time (at least I feel the effects).

lol, I thought you were making some type of analogy. Where do you live?

Heh well, at the tail end of SS it's pretty damn hard to eat "clean" to get enough cals. I stuff my face with pizza and burgers now to get up to 4-4.5k cals a day :P

Also http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...a-calorie.html

thanks for the clarification, I have a tendancy to value what makes me sweat and breath hard

Yeah this is pretty much completely useless. Although heavy squats are adfaskfasjfakjfhaskjf hard.

To clarify, is your point that there is nothing special about eating 6 meals a day ie: eating 6 meals wont magically cause you to lose weight rather its the calorie deficit that in the end will cause the weight loss?

The benefit to spreading meals out in my mind is perhaps smaller meals don't overwhelm my system like large meals do and therefore cause me to be sleepy and groggy. Additionally, by eating smaller meals more often I don't allow my body to get famished which increased the chances that I will not only overeat but eat foods detrimental to my overall goals.

Am I supposed to take this serious?

If so, what's the scoop, where are you and what are you doing there?

Dude, its pretty obvious he's an igloo contractor.

Your interest in my personal affairs is excessive and rather creepy, though a clever ruse Bruiser.

lol, ok, whatever you say bro, I don't know why I found it curoius why someone would be living in an igloo, I should have know that asking would have crossed sacred internet lines, my apologies

Doing yoga in a steam room or playing poker at high altitudes will do these, but they won't help build strength, power, and appreciable amounts of muscle.

Like SM pointed out, it's useful to unwire the fatigue/soreness/good sweat =good workout link, and focus on progressive overload, form and excution. Soreness may or may not accompany heavy lifting due to multifactoral reasons.

Here's the total calories of what i've eaten so far today:



According to my body weight (215) & using the online calulator at www.myfooddiary.com , I need 2627 calories a day to maintain my weight, so I can eat another 1500 calories and maintain my weight or according to the site I can eat another 751 calories to lose 1.5 lbs per week or 574 calories to lose 1.9 calories per week (which the site claims is the maximum I should attempt to lose per week).

It's 8:15 and I'm already full. I didn't work out today.

How does everyone eat so much food?

What ratios of protein to carbs to fat should I be shooting for?

Buy the Guide to Flexible Dieting by Lyle McDonald.

40:30:30 by kcals is a common recommendation but its not too important if kcals and protein are ok and you feel fine.

Protein is way absurdly low here. OP is really fat as well so basically hitting protein goals is all that matters.

I think your calories are way to low I am shocked that any program would have you this low?

Age and Height please?

I'm 6'-1" and 215 lbs

No program is recommending this, I just ate when I was hungry and this is all I ate.

I tend to eat more on days when I work out so I'll do another post after tommorrows last meal.

Do you guys have to force yourself to eat even when you're not hungry in order to get enough calories in?