Fitness And Nutrition General

The consequence of which being?

This is probably the hardest thing to do- it's a pure balancing act. The key to muscle gain and fat loss is finding your caloric maintenance level and then eating like a 100-120 calories a day below that while still keeping your protein intake high enough to build muscle.

I would recommend using a calorie counter app like MyFitnessPal (the one I presently use). You'd be shocked at how many little things add up to a boatload of calories over time.

As prefaced, fat loss/muscle growth is difficult, but it's definitely possible... I'm doing the same thing myself at the moment.

I use MFP, 18 months ago I lost 40 lbs using it. Then I dated a chubby girl for 8 months and gained 15 back. I've gotten back down to ~36/40, have a Caribbean vacation in 10 days and am trying to catch up to my original goals. BF% according to my scale is in the ~16% which in looking at the available pictorial representations seems about right. Hard goal is ~12 or lower.

I know it's tough to do both, especially when you're dropping more than .5 - 1 lb a week.

Looking tone is less about building muscle and more about cutting fat, but I just don't wanna loose anymore muscle than I have to.

I just read above that doing squats and leg presses in the same workout is "doing too much". I was more or less referring to that idea that if you do "too many sets" or workouts, its not good. Rest is always vital, and never advocate not getting rest.

It really depends on what yours goals are... if your focus is losing as much fat as possible in 10 days for a vacation that's one thing, if your goal is a lifetime of health and fitness that's another- assuming your goal is the latter, you really shouldn't be losing more than a pound a week. In my personal experience the more gradually a person loses weight the higher the likelihood of them keeping it off- we’ve all known people (hell, I’ve been there myself) that’s lost a bunch of weight really fast and then six months later was just as fat, if not fatter, than when they started… Healthy living is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. Extremes do work, but the problem is (as its name implies) it’s extreme, and thus difficult to maintain indefinitely, which is why a slow and steady plan of attack that you can actually stick with is going to be the best thing in the end.

Honestly, as far as that goes, I'd just do more squats lol

The overall goal is to hit the bottom of the weight goal, then hover there while I convert a larger percentage to muscle.

As I've lost weight, according to the scale, I'm loosing other stuff aside from body fat. For instance the scale will say I lost 1.4 lbs last week but I will have only lost .5% of body fat. If I do the math, the numbers don't add up. I assume this means I'm loosing muscle as well, but am unsure as I know the BF% mechanism on the scale isn't entirely accurate.

Can anyone further explain this to me?

BF mechanisms on a scale are NEVER accurate. Mine even has an "athletic" mode that's supposed to account for muscle and still gave me 16%+ when I was under 10%.

That being said, when you're losing weight, the goal is to retain as much muscle as possible, but it is very unlikely to ever keep ALL of it. Aside from that, there are other factors, such as water weight, something that could be currently sitting in your stomach, etc. So you're correct in the assumption that if you see a 1.4 lb difference, that it isn't all fat.

Well I mean I'm aware of the "daily variability" in terms of how much poop/water you're holding. I understand how that variability can also affect the BF% the scale is coming up with. Maybe a better question would be, how much muscle am I loosing while im dropping weight?

After about my 4th or 5th set, im pretty shot as hell. I need to switch it up lol, plus leg presses are easier cuz i can cheat more when im failing.


Anyways, I have a question about BCAAs. I have taken them before in the form of whey protein without completely understanding what the product actually does. I have spoke to a few friends recently, one who has lost fat and put on some muscle, and another in the dungeon who is lean as can be, 144 lbs and doesn't have an ounce of fat on him, but he's jacked.

I want to know specifically what BCAAs do, and not the google or bodybuilding.com answer. I understand they improve protein synthesis and reduce muscle breakdown, but what does this amino acid actually add to my body that my diet and protein alone are not providing? I have been told by both friends that they only tak bcaa, aside from multivitamins and protein shakes.

Just a little background - I am off all supplements completely - I no longer take creatine/animal pak/any multivitamins/preworkour animal rage, and I do not drink any protein shakes at this time. I will resume in a couple of months. The only thing I take is fenugreek occasionally before bed after really hard leg workouts.

What can BCAAs do for me? And yes, i know, I am not following the strictest diet and mealplan, but im just asking what the product offers, when should i take it (pre/post/during) and how will it improve my workouts? I'm literally two clicks away from buying some from Netnutri.com/vitaminshoppe.com, so any help would be appreciated.

And if you're wondering why i don't take supplements right now, its because of finances. I'll get back to using them, but right now I cannot afford to stock the products I want across the board, so I'm clean lifting for now.

Thanks in advance.

You're not going to be able to tell without a very accurate way to measure body fat

I have found that I can bulk up without adding extra fat but when I do focus on fat loss, with extra cardio and calorie restriction that I inevitably lose strength but visually not so much muscle mass. I am down about 10 pounds since I changed focus a few weeks ago but I am also probably down about 10 pounds on my one rep max on bench. Fat is easier to keep off than it is to lose.

My best advice is change your focus in cycles but when you focus on adding muscle and strength keep it clean and dont add fat.

I always seem 70-100 grams under on carbs. I generally eat bread or pasta with every meal 4_5 times a day so any tips on how to get the up?

I was able to do it successfully(eating 1.8-2k calories a day) when my body fat was over 14-15%.However, when I started going below 13%, I noticed my mass started plateauing in certain areas that's when I went to a straight bulk cycle at 3k+ calories. Since then I broke my plateaus.

Thanks a bunch.

Carbs are super easy.

Single piece of bread is usually 20 or so. An 8 oz glass of milk is usually around the 15 mark (I always use milk in protein shakes twice a day, pre and post). Fruits are like nothing but carbs. Yogurt is awesomeness too.

Just toss in a banana and some peanut butter and you can hit what you need pretty easy.

Are you having issues with your calories and protein intake?

I'm always fighting to stay below my 180 carbs a day.

There are 3 Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA's). Although I can tell you the names of them are Leucine, Iso-Leucine, and Valine, this wouldn't mean much to you unless you were a in a biology/chemistry related field. Biochemically speaking they are simply building blocks of protein. Since I don't know what everyone's background is, I need to mention that, because the protein that your body makes is predetermined by your DNA, eating more BCAA's will not change the composition of any of the proteins you make. Muscle is just muscle. Just needed to clarify that.

The body utilizes 20 different type of amino acids. These amino acids are the building blocks that form protein. Protein makes muscle. Now you must consider that you need to make the building blocks of the building blocks. Some amino acids, your body can make from scratch. Others, you can not- we simply do not have the biochemical pathways to make them.

Non-essential amino acids are the ones that your body makes. They can "shape shift" amino acids into other ones. Essential amino acids are the ones you must consume in their current form. That being said, Branched Chain Amino Acids are essential-- they must be consumed in their current form.

Now here where nutritionists/dietitians come in. Suppose you're building muscle so consuming amino acids(AA's). If you had an excess of the Non-essentials, they can be converted to other non-essentials that may be in deficit. With essential AA's, you do not have this luxury. What you eat is what you get. What the nutritionists/dietitians are trying to study is whether essential AA's are the limiting factors of muscle development.

1. They postulate that BCAA's are the limiting factor in muscle development.

2. mTOR pathways- It's a pathway that makes you less hungry and makes your metabolism go up. The study is good but I'm skeptical about the assumptions that people make from it. This is because of the differences in metabolic energy expenditure between people are very low overall. I find it hard to believe that a supplement would cause enough substantial effect to your metabolism to matter at all: linky link . Another paper discusses how BCAA's increase pathways associated with muscle creation. Again, there are a lot of assumptions here. Until they find out exactly "HOW" these BCAA's increase these pathways (and what extent it'll increase muscle mass), I will continue to be skeptical about the larger assumptions that the industry will make to sell their product.

My opinion based on my background: If you're one of those people that loads a lot of protein, extra BCAA's are likely not any sort of limiting factor. I can tell you though, since they are the building blocks of all proteins though, they are likely to safe to consume if you're paranoid (in moderation of course, protein overload is associated to renal failure after all).

Your body should be getting a full amino acid sequence via whey, meats, eggs and/or nuts without the need for BCAA supplements.



If you are on a restrictive diet or a cut, then I can see the benefit of BCAAs. If you are eating a good pre-workout meal then BCAAs shouldn't be necessary since your body will have an adequance supply of amino acids for protein synthesis. But if your going to the gym on an empty stomach then BCAAs can have some benefit.

I've used both Scivation and Gaspari SizeOn for intraworkout. I feel there was a difference in recovery time when I was on a cut and skipping a pre-workout meal. However, now that I'm eating a good preworkout meal filled with complex carbs, meat and antioxidants I don't see a difference with SizeOn or Scivation so dropped them.

Preach it! Every time I lose weight I exhibit the upper body strength of an 8-year-old for a good month or so until I can acclimate- it's disheartening, but worth it I think.

My FFXI.com profile pic was taken last August at 256 pounds... It's a small pic, but you can tell I'm comfortably inhabiting the realm of "chubby" lol

This was me two days ago at 220 pounds...


I could bench at least 20 more pounds back then, but I feel a lot better now... and in the end that's all that really matters :)

Agree, agree,

Disagree! Since proteins are made up of a combination of all types of AA's and you can't make a protein without the other parts, I don't think this is more of an advantage than eating any other protein.

EDIT: I said that because some BCAA intraworkout supplements have a full amino acid sequence. BCAA's are sold strictly as BCAA's and then some are sold with the full amino acid sequence. Typically the "intra-workouts" have the full sequence. But some do not you really have to read the ingredients and product info :/

Usually have some fruit and yogurt through the day too. Map says I need 339 grams a day is that too high? I'm sure I could hit 180 np. I hit calories just fine it's like 2740 and protein if I'm short at all at the end of the night I just make another protein shake.

Just want to throw out that Examine.com does a pretty good job of aggregating studies and information about various food components and supplements and ranking the data by reliability. Like anything else, it's far from a perfect or one-stop-only kind of site, but I think it fills a desperately needed gap in between all the broscience and anecdotes and hideous annoyance of tracking through journal publications oneself.

Thanks~

I tend to get really good workouts, eat egg whites and chicken pretty much daily, but I wouldn't say im "strict", and im definitely not eating properly to shred. That will come after I get married next month.

But I was just inquiring of the usefulness of the product itself. It looks like its not totally necessary for my case. I just have to keep my routine up and my diet in check.

Thanks.

340 carbs seems a little on the high side unless you are a giant or something. Are you strictly trying to bulk or what?

I'm 6'2" 245 lbs, according to the trainer and her fancy equipment stuffs I should be at around 180~200 carbs a day, 200+ protein a day, and 2200 calories. But my goal is also mainly losing weight/toning without too much muscle loss.

I am 5'4 and 157 now. I was 167. On myfitness pal I chose to lose .5th every 2 weeks. My calorie is 2740 carbs are 339 and protein is 136. Now that I'm use to going to the gym and working out I do want to bulk up but I honestly don't know where to start. I'm nervous when I up my calories I'm gonna eat too much bad food. At the moment I'm eating healthier but I wouldn't call it good.

Many preworkout drinks contain EAAs vs just BCAAs. Many people prefer EAAs pre/intra workout. BCAAs are included in the EAA profile. I find BCAAs suitable pre/intra/post personally.

BCAAs and Intra-workout names are very misleading now a days. You have the straight-up plain BCAA powder. Then you have something called BCAA-blah blah that has electrolytes and caffeine in it too lol