Adjusting your diet for fat loss is not as simple as just cutting out carbs, unless you don't mind losing a lot of muscle and feeling like crap in the process.
Carbohydrates are not the Devil. The fact is you need carbohydrates, especially in the post training hours. Basically, when you are reducing calories you want to skim away from all nutrients and maintain intelligent nutrient ratios.
Your best bet is to use the Golden Ratio Nutritional Software to determine your initial daily intake. After following that for a few weeks, assess your progress. If you feel you need to reduce your calories more, make a small reduction of about 200 calories combined from fat and carbs.
You can continue to follow this pattern of gradual caloric reductions while maintaining intelligent nutrient ratios. That will be the best way to adjust your diet for fat loss.
What would build the most muscle - eating clean with high protein or eating anything I want and as much as I want as long as I still keep my protein intake high?
There seems to be much confusion when it comes to the subject of eating to put on maximum muscle. It really isn't as complicated as people make it.
The most important nutrient you need to consume to build maximum muscle is protein, plain and simple. You should structure an eating schedule so you are consuming high quality protein every 2 to 3 hours. This will keep a steady stream of the muscle building nutrient available for your body to use to recover and respond to the stimulus of heavy resistance training. Your daily protein intake should be accompanied by a moderate level of carbs and a low level of fat.
I see nothing to be gained by eating as much of whatever you want except a bunch of unwanted fat. Sure, eating as much as you want all the time would be easy but it will do nothing to enhance the muscle building process because you don't need to gain fat to gain muscle. If anything, it will make you more sluggish and your body will certainly not operate as efficiently as it would if its primary fuels were coming from clean and quality nutrients. Not to mention the fact that it is just plain healthier for you to follow a good nutritional plan.
Structure your diet to build muscle by focusing on quality protein rather than ingesting calories just for the sake of calories. Calories by themselves do not build muscle. It's how you distribute your calories among nutrients that is most important.
Make sure that the vast majority of the time you are consistent with your intake of nutrient dense, protein rich foods and keep the splurging to a minimum. A nice blend of whey isolate and micellar casein mixed into a bowl of oatmeal is the perfect example of a nutrient dense food that supplies plenty of high quality, muscle building protein without an overabundance of calories.
If you follow a good nutritional plan there is nothing wrong with satisfying your cravings with the moderate intake of your favorite foods from time to time. Understand, however, that the intake of these foods is more for psychological benefits than anything physical because as I said, you don't have to gain fat to gain muscle.
I'm just a regular guy with a little "tire" of fat around my waist. I'm totally confused about how to eat in order to lose my body fat. Can you help with some guidelines?
Here are some very basic rules I think you should follow to lose fat around your waist:
1. Keep the calories you eat every day lower than the calories you burn.
2. Watch out for starchy carbohydrates. Although they are considered good, healthy foods, they are packed with calories and very easy to overeat.
3. Have a set goal for the number of meals you are going to eat every day.
4. Set goals for the approximate times you are going to eat your meals every day.
5. Add some brief cardio sessions during the week. 15 minutes in the morning before showering or a quick one in the early evening before dinner. Space it away from your normal workouts.
Good luck!
My friend weighs 180 pounds. He thinks that he has to eat 5000 calories a day to gain the mass he is looking for. I think that is too much for him. What do you think?
The amount of calories you eat is not as important for building muscle as where those calories are coming from. In other words, calories by themselves do not build muscle but an intelligent blend of nutrients does.
To build muscle effectively you need to focus on quality protein consumption along with healthy carbs and fat. This is very helpful in gaining quality muscle while keeping fat to a minimum.
Remember, an abundance of empty calories will not promote muscle growth but it will promote fat gain. That is why you should stick with sources like Whey Isolate and Micellar Casein that yield a lot of quality protein at a controlled calorie level.
If building muscle were simply a question of eating more calories then Big Macs and ice-cream would be staples to my diet. Wouldn't it be nice if it were that easy?
I am having a really hard time controlling my diet. I eat good during the day but when I get home I seem to eat non stop. Do you have any suggestions on how I can control this bad habit?
Bad habits can be hard to break but certainly not impossible. With a little work and discipline you should be back on track with your eating habits in no time.
First I would suggest mapping out a daily eating schedule and split up bigger meals into smaller frequent meals throughout the day.
Next, to make yourself more accountable for sticking to your nutrition plan, log everything you eat each day. Compare what you actually ate to the amounts you were supposed to eat. You may be surprised how much better your food choices will be be once you start writing things down. Plus, seeing how those extra calories from snacks can really add up will make you think twice before grabbing that bag of Trail Mix.
This does not mean you can never eat anything that is not on your menu again, it just means you need to be smarter with your food choices and with your portions. Make daily and weekly goals to stick to your eating schedule and factor in a couple "treat" meals each week to satisfy your cravings for certain foods.
The important thing to remember is when you treat yourself this is not a license to eat everything in sight. It is a chance to have a reasonable portion of some foods you enjoy. Having a couple scheduled treat meals each week will give you something to look forward to and help you stay on track the rest of the time.
Clearly defining your health and fitness goals, mapping out your daily food intake, and recording everything you eat should all be useful tools to help you avoid bingeing at night. The next time you have the urge to eat until you are stuffed ask yourself what is more important to you, eating a bunch of junk or looking and feeling great?
If you're serious about getting results, I suggest Adonis Golden Ratio. It's a step-by-step no-bullsh*t roadmap for guys who want to lose fat fast. Here's my affiliate link, I greatly appreciate when you use it.
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