So I have a friend who's been researching like mad about nutrition and he's been working out and following more of a body building nutitrional plan and has been really successful with it in a short amount of time. My question is has any other bandsters been trying to follow a plan like this? I'm doing more research about it. Looking up articles on bodybuilder.com and trying to figure out what i should be doing..and what I CAN do. Alot of the diets include alot of meat throughout the day. Well chicken just won't work at 10am..lol. Anyways..just wondered if anyone has changed their eating and exercise habits and been successful with it. I just feel like right now I'm in la la land about what I'm suppose to eat and it's working against me big time. I mean how can I work out 5 days a week and actually gain 3 pounds?..Also it seems I'm focused too much on cardio and I need to do more high intensity interval training or (HIIT). Apparently also I can eat the wrong things before or after a workout that can almost eliminate all the work I have done. Just wondered if anyone has taken it to the next level so to speak?

Body builder diets can be pretty darn restrictive, depending on their training phase. When they are bulking up, they eat quite a few calories, and a lot of Protein supplements, but when preparing for a competition, they have to get their body fat percentage way down, and their diet is very unrealistic for anyone not in competition.

I eat carbs before working out (usually Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal w/ 1% milk), and some kind of protein snack when I get home. Lately I've been having protein coffee. Other than that, I still try to follow a typical "bandster" diet of lean Proteins and veggies as the main components.

Tami

Bodybuilders are in a different class of their own. As mentioned before, pre-competition is a lot of calories (4,000+ a day) and a ton of Protein (I have seen as high as 1 gram per pound of bodyweight). A lot of the heavyweights go over 300 pounds during the training cycle, then compete/show at around 260. Unless you are working out every day, it'll be impossible to reach close to what they are doing to their bodies. Typical adults would be hard pressed to add 20 pounds of lean muscle mass in a year, so don't fall into the trap of "Oh, I gained 10 pounds this month, but that's ok because muscle weighs more than fat." It's true it does, but 99.9% of people out there would not be able to gain that much in lean muscle in such a short time frame. Short term weight gain for those of us who lift weights is typically Water retention.

Oh, and those bodybuilders use diuretics to lose those last few pounds prior to shows too. They don't look like they do in pictures as soon as the next day, and a few have died from dehydration complications.

Well I am not really looking to "body build" per say. When I say body build people automatically think of the hulk or she hulk bodies. Body building is just focusing on goals and getting to where you want your body to be. What I'm looking into is just utilizing the right foods at the right time to get lean. I've been looking into some nutitrional information written by John Berardi. I just started looking into it but it looks like it makes sense. Look here..

John Berardi - 7 Habits

Anyone heard of it or used it before? I'm giving it a try..getting off of carbs and sugar is a tough one though..but one I wanted to do for a very longg time.

Oh some other things i have learned...a gallon of Water weighs 8 pounds..wow!..lol

Also a pound of fat equals exactly the same as a pound of muscle. Think about it.. a pound is a pound..no matter how u weight it. The thing is that muscle takes up alot less space then fat...and resting fat burns i believe it is 2 calories while resting muscle burns 53.

I have acutally used the Perfect Nutrition Plan by JB and it does make sense. Eating your "carb" post work-out to be burned off does in fact make sense to me.

I've been looking into some nutitrional information written by John Berardi. I just started looking into it but it looks like it makes sense. Look here..

John Berardi - 7 Habits

Anyone heard of it or used it before?

I hadn't, but appreciate the link. I sure can't find any fault with his 7 habits. That's pretty much what I've done since being banded (except perhaps a bit less fat), and it's worked for me!

"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."

The hard part for me is the whole food part...I've been living on processed foods and didn't realize it. So gone is all the 100 calorie pack Cookies and stuff. Also the lean cuisines and the weight watcher stuff. I am totally off of high fructose corn syrup. Does anyone know how hard that is to do? I mean it seems like everything has that these days. I can't even eat salad dressing. I even bought some cocktail sauce to go with my shrimp...guess what..corn syrup! geezee. Even bread is ridiculous. I bought this bread that is suppose to be super duper healthy. Called "Natural Ovens". Even though they say in their motto that they don't have corn syrup right there in the ingredients is "crystalline corn fructose" which is a derivative of corn syrup. Sigh. So I'll keep it in the freezer for one of my cheat meals. You might think I'm being a bit ridiculous with all this but darnnit..I wanna win this war with my body. I wanna have the best healthy bod I can have. We only have one body after all

Anyways I'm doing more and more research. I find it all facinating. It's like someone just gave me the keys to my health now I'm just finding out where exactly they go. :whoo:

Here is my advice for what it is worth.

You have a stomach that holds one cup of food so make sure you get a good mix of fats,carbs and Protein in that one cup.

Any food that comes in a box or a bucket will kill you, some faster than others but leave the processed food alone.

When you go to the grocery store stay off the aisles. Hit the produce lane and the meat lane and then head to the register.

Do not waste time with isolation exercises like bicep curls or abs when you are obese. For example there is nothing better than squats since it fires up over 200 muscles. You cant lose weight around your stomach by doing crunches so do full body work outs.

In the Gym do free weights and not machines. The free weights make your core muscles fire off since you are controlling the movement and you don't get that with machines that keep the weight on line.

Last but not least change your work out ever 4 weeks because your body needs to be "shocked" every so often and it will adapt to that stairstepper or that treadmill routine that use to kill.

I just dont think its that complicated.

Eat of a variety of health foods and you will have good nutrition. Eat less and move MORE and you will lose weight. You can get all scientific about it but you can know jack shit and it will still work. Eat less. Move more. Simple.

All this counting this, counting that, so many grams of x exactly 40 minutes after exercise, so many grams of that precisely 15 minutes prior, this supplement, that supplement, this method of lifting weights versus that, measuring your heart rate every second of your workout.

Eat less. Eat a variety of foods. Do some good hard cardio five times a week. Do some basic strength training. You will lose weight and not break your brain in the process.

Here is my advice for what it is worth.

You have a stomach that holds one cup of food so make sure you get a good mix of fats,carbs and Protein in that one cup.

Any food that comes in a box or a bucket will kill you, some faster than others but leave the processed food alone.

When you go to the grocery store stay off the aisles. Hit the produce lane and the meat lane and then head to the register.

Do not waste time with isolation exercises like bicep curls or abs when you are obese. For example there is nothing better than squats since it fires up over 200 muscles. You cant lose weight around your stomach by doing crunches so do full body work outs.

In the Gym do free weights and not machines. The free weights make your core muscles fire off since you are controlling the movement and you don't get that with machines that keep the weight on line.

Last but not least change your work out ever 4 weeks because your body needs to be "shocked" every so often and it will adapt to that stairstepper or that treadmill routine that use to kill.

Thanks so much for your advice. This is what I've been reading alot of in my research. So it feels good for someone else to be doing the same thing. Although I'm scared to death of the free weight room. I'm gonna have to be a brave girl and just do it. Make way men!

I just dont think its that complicated.

Eat of a variety of health foods and you will have good nutrition. Eat less and move MORE and you will lose weight. You can get all scientific about it but you can know jack shit and it will still work. Eat less. Move more. Simple.

All this counting this, counting that, so many grams of x exactly 40 minutes after exercise, so many grams of that precisely 15 minutes prior, this supplement, that supplement, this method of lifting weights versus that, measuring your heart rate every second of your workout.

Eat less. Eat a variety of foods. Do some good hard cardio five times a week. Do some basic strength training. You will lose weight and not break your brain in the process.

This is true. But the problem is your also loosing a boat load of muscle along the way. Which is what I don't want to do. People think as long as the scale goes down..thats all that matters. But that is far from the truth. Btw you look great. I'm glad your plan has worked for you.

Thanks - if you could see me IRL, youd be able to see that I have NOT lost a boatload of muscle. My muscle tone and mass has increased, my body fat levels have decreased. I have legs of steel these days.

Everybody loses some muscle as they lose weight, you want to minimise it naturally but you dont have to follow some incredibly complicated plan to do that. I just exercise, works for me - and I eat well in the balance that's recommended here to us in Australia.

Not that following a stricter diet its going to hurt you of course, and not that its wrong if that's the way you like to do it - but its not strictly necessary if its doing your head in.

Thanks - if you could see me IRL, youd be able to see that I have NOT lost a boatload of muscle. My muscle tone and mass has increased, my body fat levels have decreased. I have legs of steel these days.

Everybody loses some muscle as they lose weight, you want to minimise it naturally but you dont have to follow some incredibly complicated plan to do that. I just exercise, works for me - and I eat well in the balance that's recommended here to us in Australia.

Not that following a stricter diet its going to hurt you of course, and not that its wrong if that's the way you like to do it - but its not strictly necessary if its doing your head in.

Oh I didn't mean at all to say that you lost a boatload of muscle. I can really tell you have done your fair share of strength training. I just see so many people completely focused on cardio. Although yes we do have to have this in our workouts..it shouldn't be anymore then half of what we are doing.

I'm kinda with Jaqui on this. I think you guys are making it way to complicated.

I've read up on diet and nutrition. My personal guides have been Drs. Roizen and Oz with the YOU: On A Diet method. They have many of the same principles you mention in your "7 rules" or whatever. They explain the body's metabolism, how your body takes in food and uses it. It explains why you crave certain items and why certain items are "bad" for you.

Their exercise program is simple: walk 30 minutes a day and have another work out twice a week. I've taken up a yoga/pilates-like program and I'm telling you, I've never been stronger. I've never had better posture. My core muscles have never felt more toned. From all readings and lectures I've had, I'm not convinced you need all the free weights. Your body and gravity provides all the resistance you need for strength. And walking, true walking and paying attention to your step, posture and body position is very good for cardio and endurance.

This truth I know: you MUST find something that works for YOU. That YOU are willing to do and can be faithful to. If you don't do it or lose interest, it will never work. My motto: keep it simple and portable.

Dibaby - no offence taken, I know what you meant. I was just reiterating the point that to minimise muscle loss it is not strictly necessary to follow some complicated diet. I dont even count Protein, when I've checked out of interest, my intake is 50 to 60 grams a day. And, lol, but I do hardly any strength training, the bare minimum becuase I dont like it. I do basic multi miscle group exercises - squats, lunges, push ups, tricep dips on a chair and abdominal work, that's it. I'm very cardio focussed and running, believe me, builds TONS of muscle in your legs and strengthens your core muscles unbelievably.

You might get BETTER results with hard core specific weight training and a very regimented diet. You'd definitely get FASTER results. But eating less and moving more works too.