Markus reinhardt Diet Recommendations! Interesting reading

[MohawkMuscle]

MR-NUTRITION PROGRAM ++++++ MY VIEWS ON DIET ++++++ from a rational point!




[Print Out and put on your Fridge]


My Diet mainly consists of Carbohydrates these days, making them almost 60% of
my overall caloric intake.

I used to experiement with low carb dieting but felt that It left me feeling
sluggish and looking flat (I did loose fat, but also too much muscle).

Mike used to tell me, "you can eat a pound of pure sugar everyday, as long as you
keep your calories below maintainance, you WILL loose fat!" - I did not try that -grin

However, Mike was right (as always). The last show that I did (MM2002) involved a diet
that mainly consisted of carbs (white rice, potatos, oats,fruit and some Veggies), the
protein content (chicken, GEN'S HumanPro, Eggwhites) was rather low in compare
to my "old-time" diets (250-300gr Protein!) - my protein intake roughly made it to
120gr-150gr!!! (no muscle tissue was lost at all!)

Of course, being a HIT trainer (Training brief and Intense) is part of the reason
too. Any other program (Volume, high sets) would've probably destroyed my lean
muscle tissue and left me with less size and therefore less active tissue to
burn fat in order to achieve the ultra-ripped condition that I ended up being in.

So after years (15!) of changing from what I originally believed was right (60/30/10)
to eating only fat and proteins over to eating low carbs and whatever else
the Fitness industry came up within that period of time, I ended up going
back to the "old school" approach - EATING BALANCED!

C,mon guys - THINK! - Muscles need carbohydrates to operate.

Mike always used to say, " Fat burns in the flame of Carbohydrates." - He was
saying that by eating them (carbs) someone would actually get a metabolic advantage.

Sort of like throwing dry wood into a fire, the flames will rise - He refered
to proteins like using wet wood instead, the flame would have a difficult time.

To come to a conclusion on how to burn fat and gain muscle, we need to understand the basic
concept of calories IN versus. calories OUT.

It is rather simple (the fitness industry just made it look complex in order to sell more worthless supplements.)

Your body operates on the concept of "Need" - you need a certain amount of
daily calories to maintain your bodyweight as well as "Need" some extra calories
to fuel the workouts and have enough "caloric back-up" to grow that little
extra tissue on a weekly basis. (No "Need" for "Insane High Calorie Diets!)

So go ahead and write down all your calories for the next 5 days. Make sure to
weigh yourself on the first day, then do it again on the last.

This pretty much should give you a total intake over 5 days which you would then
divide thru 5 to get your daily average.

Check you weight on the 5th day and see wether you gained some, maintained or increased.

If you gained some = Make sure that it is not more then 2lbs. Maintain Caloric Intake.

If you maintained = Increase your daily calories by 300kcal (more will turn into fat!)

If you lost = Increase your daily calories by 500-1000kcal (start with 500kcal)


Calories are not like water - you don't piss them out! (grin)

I hope I made myself clear as far as the concept of "Need" goes...you eat too much
you WILL get fat! (Muscles don't grow by eating more - Try intelligent Training!)

I like to tell a story here (this is getting longer the I thought) that I had
listend to while driving thru the desert the other day. The story is from
one of Mike's tape lectures that was published a few years back in MD magazine.

Here it goes.

Mike was talking about the issue of nutrition related to Training. He advised
a guy on his diet program to loose fat, but the guy ended up following the
advise of another big bodybuilder that told him the following:

"you must eat more to burn more - the more calories you eat, the higher your
metabolism will be, which will then finally make you a fat-burning machine"

So the poor guy ended up stuffing himself with over 5000 calories a day in the
hope of finally getting that ultra-ripped look like the Pro's.

After 3-4 weeks of doing so, he finally returned to Mike (on the phone) and
complained about the shape he was now in - the shape of a powerlifter after
winning a month supply of "Krispy Creme" Donuts -grin

Mike replied, " what did you think would happen Tom?" - " do you think that
for some magical reason, this would actually work?"

Mike further said, "Let me ask you, If someone has to eat more to loose, what does
someone have to do in order to gain? - the guy had no answer.


Of course, It appears to be rather obvious (to the rational thinker) that there
has to be a limit to how much someone can eat before he puts on bodyfat.

However, It still seems that there are plenty of people out there that would
do anything (including ignoring the laws of Nature) to get to the "next level".



So, to give you guys my final advice.

1.Eat a balanced diet (60% carbs/30% protein/10% fat)

2.Find out your own individual caloric requirement (use the above example)

3.Divide your meals into small portions spread thru the day (4-5 meals)

4.Take a good Multivitamin/Mineral daily (I will also outline some more on
Supplements later on a different page)

5.Drink plenty of water (8-10 cups daily)


---------------------------------------------

Be consistend with it! - MR

 

[Vageta]

Energy balance regardless of macronutrient ratios is always the most important part of every diet and people seem to forget this. I know for a fact that I(and all of you) can lose fat on any diet ranging from the old 80's high carb/low fat, to BFL, to Iso-caloric to ketogenic. I've tried them all and lost on them all so I know they work. In the end I chose to tailor my own based on my own theories and what I feel comfortable with in the long term. I've always incorporated refeeds/carb-ups and have no doubt they helped me immensly.

I like the part about the sugar and I agree. There are some people that think insulin is the key to everything and if it's present then fat burning can't happen. I know for a fact it's bullshit because I lost most of my initial fat on the old 80's diet mentality and my insulin was probably boosted all day long. I ate bagels, white tortillas and other insulin spiking foods yet the fat flew off my like there was no tomorrow.

It's always been my theory that even with insulin present at all times you would still burn fat in an energy deficit environment. Of course you'd still have to eat enough protein to maintain muscle. So according to some diet gurus, if someone were to eat white bread every 2 hours during their entire day until they slept they couldn't burn fat even if they were 1000 calories in the negative... I say bullshit. I'm not saying it's the best way to burn fat, what I am saying is that it would work simple as that.

 

[MohawkMuscle]

I have to say I think higher carb may be the way to go...

Why? well your calories are low so you will burn fat. The carbs are there to ensure your full and pumped and have energy to workout!

 

[Vageta]

This is the basic idea of dieting that people fail to realize. Even if you're getting 60% carbs in a diet you're still under your maintenance and therefore your body will dip into fat stores to make up the energy loss. It really and truely is this simple. All you need to do is get enough protein to help prevent muscle catabolism and get enough EFA's and then fill the rest with carbs. It's a tried and true method that has worked for years. I prefer limiting my carbs more for hunger management issues than fat loss. As I said I've tried many diets and all work, I'm fond of Iso-caloric diets because you are allowed a bit of everything and aren't restricted to either fat or carbs. Not to mention I always feel satiated on this type of diet. High carb diets leave me feeling hungry so that's the main reason I don't use them anymore. I get my carb fix doing refeeds.

 

[plornive]

I like carb rotation diets now. I normally do high protein, moderate carbs, low fat with refeed days, but carb rotation is working really well. I started using Mr X's carb rotation, and this week I did the diet suggested by Negrita Jayde of 3 days low carbs, 3 days high carbs. I run a caloric deficit every day except the first high carb day. I do volume training on low carb days, and relatively heavy training on high carb days.

My previous method worked, but the last few low-carb days destroyed my training. Low GI carbs are the best for energy!

 

[plornive]

By the way Mohawk, great post!

 

[coolcolj]

Lower carbs = More GH release, nuff said

I want to gain muscle/strength while I lose fat, most people seem to be content with minimising msucle loss or just mantain when dieting.
Not me, I can kill 2 birds with one stone


Just remeber when most people say Low carb - they mean around 20-40grams. Mine is much higher at 120-150grams. I never go in ketosis

 

[Vageta]

There are all kinds of little nit-picky details that probably don't account for much in the end. Higher fat diets results in higher natural T-levels but who gives a fuck if you're a fat ass because you abuse this excuse to eat more fat. Also even if lower carbs did mean more GH release I doubt it's substantial enough to make a huge difference in the end, let alone make up for the less than ideal workouts you're getting due to low carbs. Fat is great fuel for aerobic exercises but it's horrible for anaerobic exercise(weightlifting) which is why you have to carb-up while doing a ketogenic diet. I have so much more energy in workouts when eating more carbs.

People can choose their diets for whatever reasons but in the end you can't cheat the law of thermodynamics. If you eat more than you burn you will gain weight and some of it will be fat. All of the insulin reducing, GH releasing, serum T-level raising, tricks that someone may try means jack shit if energy deficit isn't controlled.

 

[coolcolj]

Crappy workouts?

I feel great, better than I have ever felt on carb heavy bloaty diets.

I am able to workout for an hour and then go do 20 min sprints afterwards just fine. Something I couldn't do higher carb meals due to my dropping blood sugar and sleepiness.

Then thing about lower carb diets, is that you can eat exactly the same amount of protein you would have normally, but you lower your calories by just cutting down on the carbs.
Good way to keep building muscle as you get leaner IMO

 

[Vageta]

Cool, first off I hope I didn't come off sounding harsh it wasn't meant to be aimed at you. I agree with some of what you say and some people are definately different. Personally I feel stronger if I have a nice carb meal before the gym. I don't mean a huge insulin inducing sugar meal, but a good amount of low GI carbs. Others seem to do fine with less carbs and those are the ones who respond well to low carb diets in general.

For those of us who are veterans of dieting, have done our research and know our bodies well we can use these little tricks to get the best out of our diets. However the problem is there are a lot of new people that don't know about dieting and they come on here and think that these little nuances are the biggest part and they're not. The key to any diet is energy balance. It doesn't matter what your macronutrient breakdown is, if you aren't burning off more than you eat then you won't lose weight.

How many times have we seen the "Can I gain fat in ketosis" question asked over the months? Ketosis is nothing magical, it is simply the bodies way of adapting to a low or zero carb state. If you don't eat carbs then it will adapt itself to burn fat as it's primary form of fuel. But that's it, it doesn't do anything else. It doesn't mean you can't get fat or gain weight nor does it even guarantee fat loss. Ketosis is completely independant of energy balance so you have to follow the same rules of any other diet regarding this. If you're in ketosis and eating maintenance calories or above then you will never dip into stored bodyfat. Period.

That is just one example but it's one of the common ones. People believe that going from an BFL type of diet to an Isocaloric diet to a CKD diet will have a huge impact on fat loss. It simply isn't true so long as energy balance is the same on each type of diet. Water levels will make weight fluctuations different on the higher carb diets but those of us who realize this know it's not fat.

I suggest anyone new to dieting should start off with something basic like a 40/30/30 type of diet. This will teach them the basics and they should get great results. After they see how their body responds to different macronutrients they can start manipulating their ratios and intake that is more tailored for them. Starting your dieting journey out with some sort of extreme diet without even knowing why it works is not the best plan.