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Any
gym rat big or small has had the complications
and battles with
weight. Damn near every skinny guy wants to
be bigger and every guy
over 15% bodyfat wants to be leaner. But why
and how do you
accomplish these often impossible tasks?
To gain or lose weight is a very simple process,
An intake of calories
off set by an expenditure of calories. Why
is this? A calorie isn’t
a thing, it’s a degree of measurement.
A calorie is the amount of
heat it takes to heat one liter of water one
degree. That is why when
you burn calories you heat up, a process known
as thermogenesis.
Knowing this we can see how you lose or gain
weight. Eat less, move
your body more = weight loss. Eat more, move
less = weight gain. But
the goal is more complicated than that, isn’t
it? We want to change
our body composition without being the weakest
or fattest guy around.
This is where things get complicated and you
are going to really find
out what genetic hand you have been dealt.
Some people have the ability to eat like a
fat girl on prom night,
workout a little and gain muscle with ease.
Others eat and eat and
eat and can’t get their weight up over
two hundred pounds. Lastly,
there is a group who can eat right, workout
and still carry some fat.
What is the difference with these people?
The first key is genetics.
Sorry you can’t beat genetics. You can
improve what you have though.
The second is testosterone levels. The higher
the testosterone level
the easier it is to gain muscle and shed fat.
People with low test
levels often carry higher amounts of body
fat around the abdominal
area and chest. How many hyper aggressive
alpha males have you seen
that are built like computer programmers?
Eating is key. Of course what you eat changes
the dynamics of your
body but what should I eat? For all three
groups it is the same
thing. Meat first.
If you are exercising regularly you are literally
tearing your body
apart on a regular basis. To recover from
this you need lots of
creatine, protein and iron. All found highest
in red meat. Also
naturally occurring in red meat is cholesterol.
Cholesterol increase
equals an increase in testosterone. Just make
sure to get blood tests
done regularly. It is nice to be strong, but
is not so great having a
heart attack. Fish is very low in cholesterol
since fish is so low in
fat. Fish also carries the greatest ratio
of calories to protein as
well as having high calcium and iron as well.
Chicken is around the
middle ground between red meat and fish.
If you are looking to get stronger and bigger
red meat in large
amounts. If you are seeking to lose a few
lbs then it is wise to go
with a high amount of fish. Why a high amount?
You don’t want to
lose your lean muscle while on your diet.
What about carbs?
Oh carbs are a tricky subject. Mostly the
answer varies on how
quickly you want to lose weight. If you need
to shed double digit
weight in a week or you need to lose every
last extra pound to make
sure all your muscles shine through to there
peak then it is not only
best, but necessary to drop ALL carbs.
But, if you are in the gym for athletics and
health and the numbers on
the scale aren’t to important than you
need to keep some carbs in your
diet. For the guys needing to gain weight
eat lots of carbs. 2 grams
of carbohydrates for every 1 gram of protein
you eat. For the weight
loss group it is 1/1 or maybe 1/2 if you are
really overweight. When
picking carbs go green. Green vegetables first.
Greens have the
highest concentration of vitamins and minerals.
Next up, sweet
potatoes. Sweet potatoes have a slow break
down rate and the lowest
conversion to sugar. After that are your veggies
like corn, carrots,
peppers and anything colorful. These should
be eaten as well, just in
smaller amounts versus the previously mentioned
foods.
Carbs to avoid! Bread, pasta and WHEAT. No
need in beating a dead
horse with the bread and pasta thing. We all
know that processed
carbs convert straight to sugar in the liver.
Wheat is the real ninja
of the carb family. Wheat doesn’t break
down quick and does not
convert to sugar when it is in it’s
purest form, but what wheat does
is converts to estrogen. Yup, wheat will give
you bitch tits and a
spare tire.
Another food to avoid is dairy produced by
cows. Cattle milk and milk
products do not break down or digest in our
bodies real well. A much
better alternative is goat products. Goat
dairy is an acquired
taste so good luck.
The last topic is powdered protein. Tastes
good, low in cholesterol,
low in fat, high in protein. Perfect. I’ll
drink a couple of these
and...
End up on the toilet all day.
Our bodies have evolved into machines that
keep in meats and good
foods for long periods of times because grocery
stores werent always
around. We didn’t know when our next
serving of meat was going to be
so we became creatures that kept in this super
food as long as we
could. Breaking it down slowly and making
sure to get every key
nutrient out of every gram of meat. Liquids
on the other hand we
could get whenever so we got what we wanted
out of it and gave it
back to the land.
What I’m saying is, you drink something
and you get little out of it.
Your body quickly process the liquid and shoots
it out as fast as it
can. This also creates a small spike in your
thermogenesis and then a
shut down. Where meat keeps the furnace burning
for a long time.
But on the other side of this coin. Shakes
are more beneficial after
intense training. When your body is to tired
to break down actual
meat and needs something quick and easy to
digest. Shakes work great
in between meals and best after exercise.
About the author: Chris Klavetter is one of
the top 231lb. amateur strongman competitors
in the nation. At 210 pounds Chris has hit
close to a 600lb. deadlift and a 400lb. front
squat. He has been training for many years
and also competes in Olympic Weightlifting
competitions.
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