So many questions!!!!
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
So many questions!!!!
Ok so after months of just working out and just recently reading as much as I can about bodybuilding and nutrition there are so many questions I still have. This is something ive put time into as well as some serious thought and really want to get in bodybuilding more seriously. Ive read so many different articles and opinions about where the beginner should start. Things like easing in to a proper diet and the properwork out for the beginner. main question is where do I start. Right now im 175lbs and would like to bulk up to about 200lbs in time. Im still confused about proper dieting and a proper workouts, seeing that these two things are most importain to me. Do I go out and buy all new food geared towards working out right off the hop? I mean ive been really trying to understand about protien, carbs, fat, cal and what not. I just feel like im wasting alot of workouts and not benifiting as much as I could by not having the proper diet set out and timed right. Any help would be much appreciated...I hope this makes sense to someone????
Well yes you need those kinds of foods for starters. ones that provide lean Protein sources, and / or Clean Carbs, and some quality Fats into the mix.
You need a good amount of Proteins and Carbs, and I would say never to let Carb intake with any meal fall below Protein intake, as those Carbs really help with energy levels, and to a certain degree, Metabolic Function.
Your basic Macronutrient values are thus.
Protein and Carbs 4 calories per gram.
Fats 9 calories per gram.
You would be advised to eat 6 meals a day 3 hours apart, and I would also start out with an initial caloric intake, that's not too large, and then graduate it over the course of every few months, or basically when you feel resutls start to taper again.
I say graduate as when you eat a certain amount of Calories, and coupled with exercise you do, those are key factors in making your Metabolism function, and dfferent training styles, and diet intakes, can change how Metabolic functions occur, but this change happens in a gradual way.
For instance, suddenly having another 500- 600 calories a day say, and a 5th or 6th meal, plus more intense exercise, is not going to make your Metabolism radically alter, from day one.
It would take some time for the Metabolism, to adjust. How long I couldn't accurately say, as the different kinds of good, average and poor training methods, someone might use, and same with diet, could potentially produce several different Metabolic states, and that is also concurrent with whether you are Ectomporphic, Mesomorphic, or Endomorphic, and a few other physical attributes, not related to nutritional intake or activity levels.
The reason for gradual increase of Calories after an initial adjustment period, would be because the Metabolism had adjusted, and would therefore attempt to fuel the body on what it gets to eat, minus any calories burned from activity levels, so to suddenly give it a lot more than it needed, would probably cause the Body to view a lot of those calories as excess, and convert them to fat, or potentially reject them.
The rejection thing is particularly prevalent in Anorexics, who need this graduation of calories process, because if their Metabolisms have been adjusted over time, to need something awful like 100 calories a day, a 6 meal, 1,800 calorie a day plan for starters, would make the body reject most of those calories, probably through the process of being sick.
I'm not saying you're Anorexic, I'm just highlighting a point.
So what I would say for now is, touching on some earlier points is this.
Your BMR, E.G. the Base metabolic Rate, which is how many calories you need to keep your Metabolism healthy, is commonly calculated as 10 calories per lb of bodyweight.
You weigh 175, so for that reason you'd be looking at 1,750 a day calories wise.
This being said, you need to factor at least about 200-300 burned calories from activity, so that's going to be around 1,950-2,050 calories a day.
As you want to bulk, I would give yourself a reasonable excess on top of that, to start off with. Muscle mass is practically impossible to gain without some levels of Fat mass, but for now, you could probably do it, without too much Fat intake.
This is how you might do that.
30 grams Protein per meal, 120 calories
50 calories Carbs per meal, 200 calories
9 grams Fat per meal, 80 calories approx.
Total 400 calories per meal, using a 30/50/20 split.
Over the course of 6 meals, 3 hours apart, this is how your totals work out.
180 grams Protein, 720 calories.
300 grams Carbs, 1,200 calories
54 grams Fats, 480 calories.
Total 2,400 a day.
This might not seem like a massive amount, but if you get this to work for you, for a few months, you should get some good size, until your results stall, and then you could graduate the calories in a little bit.
So instead of getting to that point, and saying bap, another 1,000 calories a day, potentially causing some rejection or fat conversion of the Calories, because the Metabolism, would see them as excess, as explained earlier, you could do something subtle, like add another 10g of Carbs to each meal, which is 40 calories, or 240 calories a day more.
As you need about 50 extra calories to gain another lb of muscle anyway, you would potentially, if you got to a severe plateau, increase your potential, to gain nearly 5 additional lb's of size that way, and hopefully that wouldn't incur too much extra Fat gain.
I hope that helps in some way.
You need a good amount of Proteins and Carbs, and I would say never to let Carb intake with any meal fall below Protein intake, as those Carbs really help with energy levels, and to a certain degree, Metabolic Function.
Your basic Macronutrient values are thus.
Protein and Carbs 4 calories per gram.
Fats 9 calories per gram.
You would be advised to eat 6 meals a day 3 hours apart, and I would also start out with an initial caloric intake, that's not too large, and then graduate it over the course of every few months, or basically when you feel resutls start to taper again.
I say graduate as when you eat a certain amount of Calories, and coupled with exercise you do, those are key factors in making your Metabolism function, and dfferent training styles, and diet intakes, can change how Metabolic functions occur, but this change happens in a gradual way.
For instance, suddenly having another 500- 600 calories a day say, and a 5th or 6th meal, plus more intense exercise, is not going to make your Metabolism radically alter, from day one.
It would take some time for the Metabolism, to adjust. How long I couldn't accurately say, as the different kinds of good, average and poor training methods, someone might use, and same with diet, could potentially produce several different Metabolic states, and that is also concurrent with whether you are Ectomporphic, Mesomorphic, or Endomorphic, and a few other physical attributes, not related to nutritional intake or activity levels.
The reason for gradual increase of Calories after an initial adjustment period, would be because the Metabolism had adjusted, and would therefore attempt to fuel the body on what it gets to eat, minus any calories burned from activity levels, so to suddenly give it a lot more than it needed, would probably cause the Body to view a lot of those calories as excess, and convert them to fat, or potentially reject them.
The rejection thing is particularly prevalent in Anorexics, who need this graduation of calories process, because if their Metabolisms have been adjusted over time, to need something awful like 100 calories a day, a 6 meal, 1,800 calorie a day plan for starters, would make the body reject most of those calories, probably through the process of being sick.
I'm not saying you're Anorexic, I'm just highlighting a point.
So what I would say for now is, touching on some earlier points is this.
Your BMR, E.G. the Base metabolic Rate, which is how many calories you need to keep your Metabolism healthy, is commonly calculated as 10 calories per lb of bodyweight.
You weigh 175, so for that reason you'd be looking at 1,750 a day calories wise.
This being said, you need to factor at least about 200-300 burned calories from activity, so that's going to be around 1,950-2,050 calories a day.
As you want to bulk, I would give yourself a reasonable excess on top of that, to start off with. Muscle mass is practically impossible to gain without some levels of Fat mass, but for now, you could probably do it, without too much Fat intake.
This is how you might do that.
30 grams Protein per meal, 120 calories
50 calories Carbs per meal, 200 calories
9 grams Fat per meal, 80 calories approx.
Total 400 calories per meal, using a 30/50/20 split.
Over the course of 6 meals, 3 hours apart, this is how your totals work out.
180 grams Protein, 720 calories.
300 grams Carbs, 1,200 calories
54 grams Fats, 480 calories.
Total 2,400 a day.
This might not seem like a massive amount, but if you get this to work for you, for a few months, you should get some good size, until your results stall, and then you could graduate the calories in a little bit.
So instead of getting to that point, and saying bap, another 1,000 calories a day, potentially causing some rejection or fat conversion of the Calories, because the Metabolism, would see them as excess, as explained earlier, you could do something subtle, like add another 10g of Carbs to each meal, which is 40 calories, or 240 calories a day more.
As you need about 50 extra calories to gain another lb of muscle anyway, you would potentially, if you got to a severe plateau, increase your potential, to gain nearly 5 additional lb's of size that way, and hopefully that wouldn't incur too much extra Fat gain.
I hope that helps in some way.
Last edited by Boss Man on Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:56 am, edited 2 times in total.