# Nutrition: Having a Plan



## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

I just lately started paying attention to what I eat. Weird, right?

Before, I just at as much as I felt like and it sorta worked. The problem was that I kept having what I would call, "Catastrophic Dorito Binges". This led me to conclude that I was just gluttonous and undisciplined. 

Now, counting calories and macro-nutrients, I have discovered that I was actually _starving_! I didn't binge eat because of desire, I was doing so out of necessity. The odd position I find myself in now is that _i'm losing weight by eating more_. I never would have thought this possible. 

Three things that have completely re-structured my life.

1.) A food scale.

2.) My Fitness Pal . com. I'm sure there are other sites, but this one works well for me. You set your macro nutrient goals and it does all of the math for you. For example, on lifting days, I shoot for 2300 calories with 60 gs of fat and 170 gs of protein - the rest in carbs. On off days (days in which I do _nothing_), I shoot for 1600.

3.) lean gains. Interesting nutritional information about body re-composition. 

4.) Power Lifting.

5.) Couch-to-5k (C25K). Run, run, run. 


I have to say, every aspect of eating for me has changed. I eat more of the stuff I _need_ to eat and have very little compulsion to eat the garbage I _want _to. On top of that,_ I've lost 10 lbs in three weeks._ 

I would never say that I'm "on a diet", but I do say that I now "have a plan" which is way better than the "eat whatever you feel like and see what happens" method.


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## Indiana Dan (Jun 11, 2013)

Lol catastrophic Doritos binges.. It's best not to buy them


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

TerminalDancer said:


> Lol catastrophic Doritos binges.. It's best not to buy them



Tell that to my wife. 

I moderate by not bringing that shit into the house, whereas she doesn't seem to have any impulse to eat whatsoever.


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## Indiana Dan (Jun 11, 2013)

EmotionallyTonedGeometry said:


> Tell that to my wife.
> 
> I moderate by not bringing that shit into the house, whereas she doesn't seem to have any impulse to eat whatsoever.


Hmm.. I see. 

Men are programmed to eat everything in sight..it's not like we can help it, lol. It's like a switch for me.. Once it's on, it's ON. That's why I try to eat very little most of the day and then go-to-f*ing town shortly before bed. Works well


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## la_revolucion (May 16, 2013)

Hm, this is a good rule of thumb. I probably don't have a structured enough eating schedule when combined with all my workouts. I think I am in the exact place you were before you had this epiphany. Great food for thought! Thanks.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

la_revolucion said:


> Hm, this is a good rule of thumb. I probably don't have a structured enough eating schedule when combined with all my workouts. I think I am in the exact place you were before you had this epiphany. Great food for thought! Thanks.


Get a food scale, and check out myfitnesspal.com. It's a game changer. If you do, let me know how it goes. I'm curious to see if you have the same results and realizations as I did.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

Awesome website.. Been setting it up now and I'm super surprised to see that it actually has the recipes of my favorite, yet not widely known, cook book available in their databse. 

Fan.


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## Snow (Oct 19, 2010)

Thanks for the tip. I am trying to "take care of my body" now and my eating habits, while not _the worst_ have a _lot_ of room for improvement. With such a high metabolism and hypoglycemia, this may help a lot with regulating symptoms and effects, too.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Zoof said:


> Awesome website.. Been setting it up now and I'm super surprised to see that it actually has the recipes of my favorite, yet not widely known, cook book available in their databse.
> 
> Fan.


Yeah, I was surprised about that too. Old Betty Crocker recipes? They're in there. The entire Taco Bell menu? Check.

I don't know any other way to say it yet, but having a plan is awesome.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

It even has local products and brands from the supermarkets here (non USA) listed. Impressive!

Now let's see if I can stay honest with the food diary lol


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## Will tankman (Jun 3, 2013)

Nice thread. I'll check into the fitnesspal thing sometime!

Right now I don't feel I need heaps of taking care atm. I'm dirty bulking for the rest of the year, eating a lot above my maintenance. I just make sure to get mostly carbs in my diet, secondary I make sure to get protein and then a little bit of fat. 
I don't count my calories exactly, I seriously just eat all day until i'm full ;p. I will start counting my macros though when I decide to cut or clean bulk. Just want to gain more weight for now, want to reach 90 kilos by the end of the year.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Zoof said:


> It even has local products and brands from the supermarkets here (non USA) listed. Impressive!
> 
> Now let's see if I can stay honest with the food diary lol


I find it easier to stay true by entering everything and then eating it.


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## nonnaci (Sep 25, 2011)

I follow the general rules of thumb...

<40g sugar per day, limit to only fruit sources
-Watch the sodium unless you're planning to do cardio
-Natural foods (decays in short time) > processed anyday
-No soda whatsoever, only water and coffee (black)
-Diversify vegatables (salad bar), always buy something new everytime you visit store
-Take Multi-vatamins, use Yogurt for protein/calcium, blueberries for b6, bannanas for potassium
-Eat fish for remaining protein/oils to offset omega6/3 ratio imba
-Artisan breads > other breads


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## Vic (Dec 4, 2010)

I'm doing this. It's an effective means to an end.

But don't like it. Will never come to like it. It's limiting and a waste of thought. "Hm, what should I eat today? Let me sit down and analyze the food I consume and decide what's best based on these parameters." I even keep a spreadsheet and chart which is important to prevent backsliding but just sort of sickening.

This is perhaps a side effect of aging. Mourning the loss of the flexibility of youth.


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## Zombie Devil Duckie (Apr 11, 2012)

I'm a big fan of MyFitnessPal. It's changed the way I eat and think about food. 

I lost 35 pounds, but now i'm stuck at a plateau. I know what the issue is though.... I need to start working on a heavy lifting program (I don't need examples, thanks). I don't want to be big, I just want to gain some of the firmness back and build up my core muscles. 


Congrats OP on getting started !


-ZDD


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Vic said:


> I'm doing this. It's an effective means to an end.
> 
> But don't like it. Will never come to like it. It's limiting and a waste of thought. "Hm, what should I eat today? Let me sit down and analyze the food I consume and decide what's best based on these parameters." I even keep a spreadsheet and chart which is important to prevent backsliding but just sort of sickening.
> 
> This is perhaps a side effect of aging. Mourning the loss of the flexibility of youth.


"This is perhaps a side effect of aging. Mourning the loss of the flexibility of youth."

Yup. :sad:

Waste of thought < a healthy waist? 
Waste of thought > wasted health?


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## Flatlander (Feb 25, 2012)

EmotionallyTonedGeometry said:


> Get a food scale, and check out myfitnesspal.com. It's a game changer. If you do, let me know how it goes. I'm curious to see if you have the same results and realizations as I did.


This site looks great, though I don't want to follow their exact diet plan for me I like the food diary.


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## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

Your list is much too J and high maintenance for me. When I realize I have been pigging out too much I just turn to basic high protein, good carbs or whole grains and grazing except for one real meal a day.

Some of my favorites are fruit, fresh pressed juice, raw veg, sunflower seeds, nuts, plain yogurt (greek is best), cannrd sardines or packaged tuna (wild caught tongol has the lowest mercury and is most sustainable), swapping brown rice for white and potatoes instead of bread, sourdough instead of white bread, other wise wheat or rye, nut butters without refined sugar, whole grain pasta, no red meat, boiled or poached eggs instead of fried or scrambled, lots of beans, salads with lighter dressings, and soups.

Its not as hard as people make it, really, unless you need to drop weight quickly or you are a compulsive eater. Like...oatmeal or cream of wheat instead of Sugar Snacks. Or eat granola if you must have cold cereals.

I can eat super healthy for like twenty dollars a week and that keeps me at a healthy weight. Restaurants are one of my biggest problems in terms of expenses and calories. It's probably best to avoid them at least five or six days a week. Eating out every day is a terrible habit.

Cut back on alcohol. It has calories and your liver won't burn fat as well. It can also stimulate your appetite while drinking or cause you to crave fatty comfort foods if hung over. I am not suggesting you never drink, just drink less and stick to wine unless you hate it. Wine drinkers statistically weigh less than people who drink other kinds of alcohol or who don't drink at all. However this also may be due to things like relative education and social class of wine drinkers.


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## JoetheBull (Apr 29, 2010)

I am on my fitness pal, but unfortunately I have been having a hard getting back to recording regularly, eating better, and exercising. I am going to attempt to avoid candy for a month and reduce soda to one every three days(love soda too much despite it killing me). Finding something healthy I can eat and read for break at work is usually the most challenging problem I have. That and I don't really like food that much.


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## Promethea (Aug 24, 2009)

Zombie Devil Duckie said:


> I'm a big fan of MyFitnessPal. It's changed the way I eat and think about food.
> 
> I lost 35 pounds, but now i'm stuck at a plateau. I know what the issue is though.... I need to start working on a heavy lifting program (I don't need examples, thanks). I don't want to be big, I just want to gain some of the firmness back and build up my core muscles.
> 
> ...


If you wanna do some research, a good word is "recomping" which I have seen all over the fitness boards. I think its accurate for what you're trying to do overall.



fourtines said:


> Your list is much too J and high maintenance for me. When I realize I have been pigging out too much I just turn to basic high protein, good carbs or whole grains and grazing except for one real meal a day.
> 
> Some of my favorites are fruit, fresh pressed juice, raw veg, sunflower seeds, nuts, plain yogurt (greek is best), cannrd sardines or packaged tuna (wild caught tongol has the lowest mercury and is most sustainable), swapping brown rice for white and potatoes instead of bread, sourdough instead of white bread, other wise wheat or rye, nut butters without refined sugar, whole grain pasta, no red meat, boiled or poached eggs instead of fried or scrambled, lots of beans, salads with lighter dressings, and soups.
> 
> ...


Good point about the alcohol. I don't think most people realize just how much it will sabotage healthy eating habits. A person can eat healthy otherwise, but drink in excess a few times a week and get fatty liver, burn about an eighth of what they would be burning without all the alcohol. It seems its not merely the calories in the alcohol (though beer cals are comparable to bread cals) but the way it affects the metabolism as a bonus.


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## Zombie Devil Duckie (Apr 11, 2012)

> If you wanna do some research, a good word is "recomping"


Awesome, thanks !




-ZDD


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Zombie Devil Duckie said:


> Awesome, thanks !
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's the gist of the lean gains program (or at least one of them). Seems to work pretty well from what I can tell.


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## Bago (Aug 30, 2011)

EmotionallyTonedGeometry said:


> Tell that to my wife.
> 
> I moderate by not bringing that shit into the house, whereas she doesn't seem to have any impulse to eat whatsoever.


Ban them from the house. It takes a lot of discipline, which I am sure you know... but once you have done that, you will feel so much better for it. Believe me. Lol.... Been there, done that, end of junk life. The salt of snacks make you crave for more food or something to dehydrate yourself, so....

I still miss the crunchiness of taco chips. I buy the plain ones now and gorge with proper guacamole made fresh ! 


I just banned food items which is not good for my body any more from the house.
- refined sugar
- snacks
- coffee (yeh, sometimes I fall off the wagon, but then I try to aim for fresh coffee instead of instants etc etc, or I started using calor. A malt substitute.)
- biscuits 
- sweets
- bad carbs
- alcohol 
- salt


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## Bronzework (Oct 23, 2013)

3000+ calorie a day diet.
I am considered an ectomorph or hard gainer so I can eat anything and not pack on the pounds.

I have always had a cut body, just never worked on muscle mass seriously since physical activity was almost always cardio.

Increasing appetite to consume 3000+ calories is a chore which also seems to be the hardest part for me.
So I am having to portion it all out into meals every two to three hours and snacking in between.
Currently eating away at 150g of almonds, probably on to yoghurt next.
Fortunately I do not have to be too strict on what I eat, so I can have thing like pizza every now and then as it does fit within my macros.
Protein shakes are beneficial so I am on them as well although I have to keep dairy within moderation due to being some what allergic to it.

Setting a realistic goal body shape within a specific time frame is my motivation.

Knowing what I am going to see in the near future in terms of results.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Bago said:


> Ban them from the house. It takes a lot of discipline, which I am sure you know... but once you have done that, you will feel so much better for it. Believe me. Lol.... Been there, done that, end of junk life. The salt of snacks make you crave for more food or something to dehydrate yourself, so....
> 
> I still miss the crunchiness of taco chips. I buy the plain ones now and gorge with proper guacamole made fresh !
> 
> ...


Our home is a democracy, so she would have to vote for the ban, which she won't.


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