lot's of questions and guys, I need help

[hwydopehound]

Okay guys so here's the deal. I'm 5'8 about 245-250 and 22 years old. I workout extremely hard but am not eating terribly clean so I'm having a hard time losing weight. I tried doing a low carb diet, but because of the workouts I do, it sucks.

Breadown of workout:
It's hard. We do sprints, deadlifts, bench press, everything. It usually consist of an 45-60 minutes and is almost all high intensity interval training. Even when doing weights, we do sprints. For instance, we may do 20 box jumps and 10 deadlifts and 5 pull ups and get the number of rounds in x amount of mins or be timed for x amount of rounds. It reminds me of a cross between crossfit and strongman. We do tons of practical olympic lifts.

My dilemna is that I'm trying to gain muscle and lose fat, even at the cost of one pound per week or less(2 lbs a week???). I would even be content to keep the muscle I do have and just lose fat for now. I've asked needtogetaas about what supp's to take and he suggested katandrol. When I get the money saved up I'll but katanadrol and a pct and any other supp's he suggests I buy. It's just not that easy to save up money on a cop's salary when my wife is about to be back in school and doesn't make much money as it is.

For now, I take optimum nutrition 100 % whey gold standard and try to get at least 200g a day. I also try to eat 1-2 fiber one bars a day to keep me "regular" and all. For the next few days I will breakdown what I eat. My weakness is the weekends. Like this weekend I ate at backyard burger and arby's. Both were bad meals. Today, on a date with my wife, we ate at applebee's and I had the shrimp parmesean sirloin(9 oz) w/ veggies and garlic mashed potatoes-not TERRIBLE(or was it???).

I'm trying to decide what kind of diet I want to do. I'm not too good at county calories, so I generally stick to either 6 "clean" meals a day or eating low carb. I've told you my dilemna with low carb. My dilemna with 6 meals a day is that I can't eat when I want to and usually eat anywhere between 1 and 3 protein bars a day-this can get terribly expensive.

My questions are as follows:

Would it be ok to cycle a low carb diet as in 2-3 days low carb one day normal? The last time I did low carb I was in ketosis(according to ketostix) within 2 days of working out.

What about protein bars-what bars are realitvely priced low so I can buy them and eat them?

What protein bars(or what nutritional value) should I stay away from??

Would it be better for me to get on an ECA stack now and lose as much weight as possible and THEN try to bulk up?

Am I kidding myself into thinking I can bulk up on this workout?

What protein is a good quality that is realively low priced? I know EAS can be had for 30 bucks/5lbs at sam's club.

If I put in the time and effort to record my diet, can you guys PLEASE help me out? I've always been pretty strong but always been very fat for the past 22 years of my life. In jan. I was 270 but I have dropped a good bit of weight and gained a good bit of muscle so I'm at least headed in the right direction. I cannot do illegal steroids-with my job in law enforcement I have too much to lose. I have caught guys w/ steroids and let them go, I refuse to arrest someone for something I would do if it wasn't illegal, so don't hold it against me too much that I'm a cop. I also disagree w/ our current concealed carry laws believing any non-felon should be able to carry a gun w/out a permit-but that's another story.

One more thing about my workout, it's 4 days a week. Should I add another day of striclty weight lifting? I'm thinking of adding a day of nothing but heavy bench press.

Lastly, my goal is to get to around 15-18 percent bodyfat. I have no desire to have abs or a six pack or anything like that AS OF NOW. I just want to be big and healthy.

I will finish my post by saying I am a NOOB and know absolutely nothing. If I did, I wouldn't be in the shape I'm in. I'm a firm believer most guys think they know everything about three topics-guns, girls, and working. I'm nothing but an interested learner and here to be a sponge. My stats as of 8 weeks of working out hard are 445 for 3 rep max on deadlifts, 345 max on bench press, a 40 yard dash time of 5.34, and one starved-for-knowledge brain.

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[hwydopehound]

Ok guys. Today is the first day I post a diet or eating list or whatever you choose to call it. Keep in mind, my day starts around 7 or 8PM and my day end at 11a-1p so the times of the post will be off, bear with me if you will. "today's" food consisted of.

2 peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread
1 southbeach diet protein bar(12g prot, 24g carb)
1 6inch double bmt sandwich from subway
1 plate of 4-5 oz of grilled chicken sprinkled with some grated cheese
1 fiber one bar, 2 pcs cheese, some almonds(I should have cut out the later 2 and eaten the fiber one bar WAY earlier)
church
1 9 oz sirloin w/ shirm parmesean on top. Garlic mashed potatoes and veggies(applebees, man).

 

[SouthernLord]

This should get you started.......


The 7 Rules of Good Nutrition

By Dr John M berardi Ph.D.


Take a look around the nutrition world. Confusing, isn’t it?

Conflicting advice is everywhere, and you’re stuck in the middle. You wonder whether anyone out there even knows what they’re talking about, or whether the experts will ever reach a consensus on anything. You start to wonder whether you’ll need a degree in nutritional biochemistry before you can lose that stubborn abdominal fat.

So what’s the deal? Why so much confusion? Why does one expert suggest that high protein is best for everyone, while another expert suggests high carb and yet another expert suggests high fat? Besides, what exactly do high protein, high carb, and high fat really mean? And why are other experts telling us that food choices should be based on our "metabolic type," our "blood type," or our "ancestry"?

One expert says to eat like a Neanderthal and another says eat like a Visigoth, or perhaps a Viking. But while searching for nutritional Valhalla, most people just get lost and eat like a Modern American—and end up looking more Sumo than Samurai.

These days, we have a cacophony of expertise: lots of confusing noise from the experts drowning out the signal of truth.

On the surface, it appears as if today’s nutrition technology is quite advanced. After all, we have at our disposal more nutrition information than ever before. More money is being spent on nutrition research than in any time in history. Every day, impressive strides are being made in the field. Dozens of nutrition experts are rising to prominence. Yet simultaneously we’re witnessing a steadily increasing rate of obesity, an increase in nutrition-related illness (Diabetes, CVD, and Syndrome X), and an increase in nutrition-related mortality.

Part of the problem is that much of the information hasn’t reached the people who need it. Part of the problem is that even when it does reach those people, they often don’t use it. And certainly, the problem is multifactorial—there are probably many more reasons than I can list here.

How much more information do we need?

But the curious thing is that many people try to solve the problem by seeking out more information. They know it all and still want more. If there’s one thing of which I am absolutely convinced, it’s that a lack of good nutrition information isn’t what prevents us from reaching our goals. We already know everything we need to know. Sometimes the real problem isn’t too little information but too much.

All the fundamental principles you need to achieve good health and optimal body composition are out there already, and have been for years. Unfortunately, with 500 experts for every fundamental principle, and very little money to be made from repeating other people’s ideas, experts must continually emphasize the small (and often relatively unimportant) differences between their diet/eating plans and the diet/eating plans of all the other experts out there.

In the world of advertising and marketing, this is called "differentiation." By highlighting the small distinctions and dimming out the large similarities between their program and all the others, they’re jostling for your next nutritional dollar.

Now, and let me be clear on this, I’m not accusing nutrition experts of quackery.

Yes, some programs are utter crap. Those are generally quite easy to pick out and don’t merit discussion here. But most experts do know what they are talking about, can get results, and wholeheartedly believe in what they’re doing. Many of the differences between them are theoretical and not practical, and on the fundamentals they generally agree completely.

It’s all good — sorta

In fact, many of the mainstream programs out there, if not most of them, will work. To what extent they work, and for how long, varies. As long as a program is internally consistent, follows a few basic nutritional tenets, and as long as you adhere to it consistently, without hesitation, and without mixing principles haphazardly taken from other programs, you’ll get some results. It’s that simple, and that hard (as you can see, results depend as much on psychology as on biochemistry).

But if you’re like most people, you’ll first survey all the most often discussed programs before deciding which to follow. And in this appraisal, you’ll get confused, lost, and then do the inevitable. That’s right, you’ll revert back to your old, ineffectual nutrition habits.

Instead of parsing out the similarities between all the successful plans out there, the common principles that affect positive, long-term change, you get thrown off the trail by the stench of the steaming piles of detail.

The Atkins program works for all patients under the direct care of the Atkins team—as long as patients follow it. The Zone program works for all patients under the direct care of the Sears team —as long as they follow it. The Pritkin Diet works for all patients under the care of the Pritkin team— as long as they follow it.

Yet, not all three plans are identical. How, then, can they all get impressive improvements in health and body composition? Well, either each team somehow magically draws the specific patient subpopulations most in need of their plan (doubtful) or each system possesses some basic fundamental principles that are more important than the ratios of protein to carbs to fats.

The 7 Rules of Good Nutrition

Here’s my take on it. I call these principles, "The 7 Rules of Good Nutrition."

These aren’t the newest techniques from the latest cutting-edge plan. Rather, they are simple, time-tested, no nonsense habits that you need to get into when designing a good eating program.

1. Eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.

2. Eat complete (containing all the essential amino acids), lean protein with each meal.

3. Eat fruits and/or vegetables with each food meal.

4. Ensure that your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables. Exception: workout and post-workout drinks and meals.

5. Ensure that 25-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. flax oil, salmon oil).

6. Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.

7. Eat mostly whole foods (except workout and post-workout drinks).
So what about calories, or macronutrient ratios, or any number of other things that I’ve covered in other articles? The short answer is that if you aren’t already practicing the above-mentioned habits, and by practicing them I mean putting them to use over 90% of the time (i.e., no more than 4 meals out of an average 42 meals per week violate any of those rules), everything else is pretty pointless.


Moreover, many people can achieve the health and the body composition they desire following these 7 rules alone. No kidding! In fact, with some of my clients I spend the first few months just supervising their adherence to these 7 rules—an effective but costly way to learn them.

If you’ve reached the 90% threshold, you may need a bit more individualization beyond the 7 rules. If so, search around on this site. Many of these little tricks can be found in my many articles published right here. But before looking for them, before assuming you’re ready for individualization; make sure you’ve truly mastered the 7 rules. Then, while keeping the 7 rules as the consistent foundation, tweak away

 

[hwydopehound]

So I can eat the number of meals, but not always the quality. I guess I have no choice but to start cooking, eh? Does this mean I should take any and all bread out of my meals, as it said to get carbs from fruits and veggies?

ps, how do I get karma hits? I see that I have some, how'd I get them?

 

[SouthernLord]

So I can eat the number of meals, but not always the quality. I guess I have no choice but to start cooking, eh? Does this mean I should take any and all bread out of my meals, as it said to get carbs from fruits and veggies?

ps, how do I get karma hits? I see that I have some, how'd I get them?

I would remove all breads and sugars If trying to cut fat. The only time you should be eating any starches (oats, brown rice, sweet potatoes) is breakfast, pre and post workout. The other meals should be lean protein, green veggies, and healthy fats (raw almonds, walnuts, fish oil, flax, all natural peanut butter)

It's best to cook in bulk when possible. I always have a few pounds of chicken breast, lean ground beef burgers, and sweet potatoes in the fridge. I also weigh and portion my meals in advanced too, especially when counting calories.

I use Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com to get all my calories and nutrition facts. It also helps to have a good food scale. Check out ebay for "Salter food scales". I found a $90 scale for $15 shipped.

You need to figure out you BMR and TDEE. This is a great thread with a lot of useful info regarding that.....

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/diet-bodybuilding/dieting-information-614057.html

 

[SouthernLord]

So I can eat the number of meals, but not always the quality. I guess I have no choice but to start cooking, eh? Does this mean I should take any and all bread out of my meals, as it said to get carbs from fruits and veggies?

ps, how do I get karma hits? I see that I have some, how'd I get them?

Click on profile and scroll down the page to "latest karma messages received"

People give you karma by clicking the "Ying/Yang" icon under your screen name. Some people also bet on sporting events in the "Karma Bookie" section.

 

[hwydopehound]

going on 5 hrs. sleep. food today was as follows

1 4 oz chicken breast w/ fiber one bar
2 double bmt from subway on whole wheat, 6 in., mustard and lettuce
3 chicken breast(7 oz) and 1 yogurt
4 fiber one bar(about to go workout, scared to eat anything more)

WORKOUT(will outline later)
5 rounds of one round consisting of: deadlift of 5 reps of 275 and 10 burpees for time, my time was 7:34(fastest honest time in the group. One guy beat me but I counted his "10" burpees, not 10, more like 4-6) lots of agility/sprint work on ladders. Totaled 50 minutes of working out.

meal 5 50g of protein via shake and a handful of almonds
and possibly meal 6, to come.

So it isn't great, but it's looking better huh?

 

[hwydopehound]

Forgot to add, I did deadlifts today w/ an over/under grip and my elbow is in PAIN. For those of you who haven't read, my arms don't lock out-it's genetic-and I've been wondering if this will hurt my over/under deadlift-it does. I've decided I will either master the hook grip or use straps and just not be able to enter powerlifting comp's. Anyone got any remedies for a ed up arm besides ice and advil? Any idea on what I did?

Also, my hamstring on the right just feels weird, not pulled but feels like it's going to strain in the future??? I rested good on sat/sun and it still feels this way. Any clue on whats going on???