[_DC_]

I have a friend in really good shape and this was his advice for gaining muscle without becoming fat.

It seems a lot easier to buy a bunch of healthy protein-rich food and heed this advice rather than count calories. It makes sense since you're hungrier on a lifting day.

Anybody have success with this method? Obviously its harder than it sounds delineating true hunger from boredom or desire for food.

[SteveCR]

That's personally what I do. I eat within 1-2 hours after my stomach starts growling - that's how I define true physical hunger vs mental hunger.

[cooledcannon]

FWIW many people who became healthy said eating "clean" is much better than counting calories. I would go as far to say counting calories is almost always useless.

Also high protein is not really necessary, if you have enough in your diet. Just get the amount of protein that your body needs, which can be as little as a gram per kilo of bodyweight per day. Double it if you are active/lifting.

[kinjutsu]

Having been extremely overweight in my youth i can tell you the "eat when hungry" idea does work.
However what you eat is far more important than when or how much you eat.

If you cut out the processed food you'll drop a ton of weight and probably feel like you're eating more.

[Ensam]

(06-06-2014 03:12 PM)cooledcannon Wrote:  

FWIW many people who became healthy said eating "clean" is much better than counting calories. I would go as far to say counting calories is almost always useless.

Also high protein is not really necessary, if you have enough in your diet. Just get the amount of protein that your body needs, which can be as little as a gram per kilo of bodyweight per day. Double it if you are active/lifting.

The problem with counting calories is that you have to a) be honest and b) calorie counts can be off by as much as 20%. Given today's diet trendy environment do you think food packages are going to be on the high or low end of that 20%? So a 2000 Cal/day diet could be as much as 400 calories a day over. That's 40 lbs a year. Even if it's only 10% over that's still 20 lbs a year. The only way it works if you calorie count honestly, eat the same things everyday, have roughly the same workout regime, and track your weight. If your weight goes up you cut your food intake/up your exercise while keeping everything else the same. If you do that it works wonders. I used to cut weight for crew and wrestling and that's pretty much how you do it.

Now that I'm older it's more challenging. I've noticed as I cut calories my energy levels plummet. So now I'm definitely on board with changing the content of my diet so that I'm eating the foods that will make me feel the most energetic for the fewest calories.

[rainy]

(06-06-2014 03:05 PM)_DC_ Wrote:  

I have a friend in really good shape and this was his advice for gaining muscle without becoming fat.

It seems a lot easier to buy a bunch of healthy protein-rich food and heed this advice rather than count calories. It makes sense since you're hungrier on a lifting day.

Anybody have success with this method? Obviously its harder than it sounds delineating true hunger from boredom or desire for food.

It's good advice, but I would take it a step further. Eat when you're hungry, but only eat until you're no longer hungry rather than until full.

That'll keep your metabolism fast. It'll help your digestion too.

I personally believe counting calories is misdirected effort. All calories are not created equal. What's more important is quality of calories. Eat healthy, organic, grassfed, unprocessed food with your veggies and fruit and your body will use the calories much differently than if you ate unhealthier versions of the above mentioned.

Amount of muscle as well as rate of metabolism are also key factors.

[SteveCR]

I find that when I think I'm hungry, I'll eat 1-2 large bananas. If I'm still hungry after that, well then maybe it's time for me to eat a meal.

[RURALGAMER]

I was and still am a fat fuck. During my losses I'd alway hit a plateau and upping my calories and staying 'not' hungry almost always pushed me to the next step.


I don't really count calories but I am aware and loosely keep track in my head. Mostly so I can eat what I want when I want. Just not always on the same day.