I had to pull up your profile because the “I ate something last week comment ( or for three months) and did not notice any difference” is something a person who does not see the forest for the trees might say. One basic recommendation for changing your lifestyle is you have to at least try it for six months, but that said, it is really longer than that when it is not what you notice in terms of feeling better, it is still competing at high levels in to your thirties and forties when all of your old training partners are sidelined because of injury or poor health. I apologize if I am being critical, but your comments remind me of someone I know very well “me” twenty years ago when a forty five year old man whose health and physical condition were excellent tried to show me the way and I did not hear him… I thought because i was in better shape (I played football in college, was an Army Ranger, could run faster, lifting more, etc) that I could not learn from him. How wrong I was…
Over the past fifteen years after realizing exercise and nutrition were my passion and going back to school to complete an MS in Nutrition i realize what he was saying then is still correct now.
The point of eating organic foods and filtered water is not just for the immediate impact on how you feel, but in the long run, just like taking vitamins and minerals, EFAs, etc. you have to look at the big picture. I could show you a family photo of me and my sisters and brothers who are now in their forties and fifties and ask you to pick who you think eats well, exercises, and and controls the stresses in their life. Their current condition did not just happen overnight, but because of lifestyle choices over years. I understand organic products are expensive and does not fit everyone’s, but in my opinion is like life insurance policy, you do not want to spend the money for it, but you are definitely glad you did in the long run.
I understand, but the point of the thread is fat loss.
What does any of this have to do with fat loss?
I try to eat organic foods for the health benefits (and have so for years, though this past summer was the first time it was like 98+% organic/natural/whatever), but I also realize that it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference with regards to fat loss. I have gotten leaner, at times, when I had significantly more “bad” food in my diet, simply because I wasn’t eating as much of it. If we want to discuss the health benefits, then I can understand, but it really makes minimal difference (if any) when it comes to losing fat. If you had to eat organic to get as lean as possible, most athletes and bodybuilders would be completely screwed.
Splenda, is that just artificial sweetener?? I’m from England, so that might just be a brand name of that product. I use artificial sweetener in tea when I drink it. I can have coffee without it, but try not to drink too much of it cos of the caffiene, so I tend to have a bit more tea, but it tastes nasty without sugar!!! I’m not quite at the tantrum point without my chocolate, but I do like it. Not as much as two top level sprinters I can think of however. It made me think of the post on this thread regarding Linford and his diet. I don’t think he did anything special, was just a case of everything in moderation. I know he enjoyed fish and white meat and fruits. Also know he is a big fan of bacon, but I think he had that as a sort of treat type indulgence.
Davan, interested to see you said you became leaner eating ‘bad’ foods. Not suggesting I would try that, but goes to show volume is everything perhaps?? I think I’m finding I need to keep my protein intake up in order to maintain strength though. Makes the Marion Jones approach that has been mentioned on here seem interesting. Is it a case that the simple approach is perhaps the most affective. Would it be fair to say that fat loss is something that has become very over complicated? Certainly are plenty of theories regarding it though.
Splenda = sucralose. That is probably the best, widely available sweetener since it is actually sugar based (sucralose is just chlorinated sugar, so the taste, to many, is much more similar than aspartame and some other sweeteners). Aspartame and some others may potentially have some negative health effects, but they also don’t taste as good, in my opinion.
Marius Pudz, the powerlifter, is ridiculously lean, even among others doing very similar training and supplement schemes. He also eats chocolate daily–I don’t think that has held him back! You are exactly right though, in moderation, most things should be fine. If eating a bar of chocolate a week or some bacon on the weekends will help you stick with a diet long term, then I wouldn’t really see the problem with it.
Davan, interested to see you said you became leaner eating ‘bad’ foods. Not suggesting I would try that, but goes to show volume is everything perhaps?? I think I’m finding I need to keep my protein intake up in order to maintain strength though. Makes the Marion Jones approach that has been mentioned on here seem interesting. Is it a case that the simple approach is perhaps the most affective. Would it be fair to say that fat loss is something that has become very over complicated? Certainly are plenty of theories regarding it though.
Yes, very over complicated. There are complicated aspects once you start to deal with very high levels of athletics, going from like 8 to 5% bf, or bodybuilding and that stuff, but if you are 15% bodyfat or somewhere around there, there isn’t much else to say except to eat less or exercise more or some combination of the two.
Hahaha. Everybody messes up don’t beat yourself up. Just Try to do your best. Focus on training properly and making good food choices. I’ve got a bad sweet tooth to but I limit deserts and sweets only on the weekends. During the week I am much better unless my wife buys cookies and cream ice cream for the kids. Then I will commit a sin
Ha, I know the feeling. I am better when I am living away at uni than I am when I’m at my Mum’s, simply because there are bad food choices in the cupboard!
I will have a look for some splenda, dunno if we have it here though, and will try and adopt the simpler approaches. Like I say I reckon I’m around 12-13%, but would like to get to around single digits.
Hi duxx, good to see you “flushed out” of your library and back busy on the forum.
Yes, of course we know that every form of exercise will burn fat over time, and for some duration after exercise ceases as metabolism continues to operate at an elevated rate.
NYCJAY, Marion Jones’ book arrived yesterday. I found around a paragraph on page 191 regarding her diet. Is there any more elsewhere in the book or is that it?
That’s it. Don’t for get though, she trains from 10am-2pm 5 days a week. So what ever she does she is going to see results. If you trains like a pro you would see results with a simple diet too.
would training 6 days a week be okay? the 3 days of the week would be tempo and general strength work, this way i can do weight training 3 days of the week and still have around the same volume of tempo to maintain my weight, or possibly lose alittle if possible.
Yeah I understand she’s getting a large calorific burn from all the training. I just wanted to check I wasn’t missing anything in terms of her nutrition when I skimmed through the book. I am working my way through reading the whole thing, but I wanted to check out all that stuff too. However, I was training like a pro for the last couple of years, as I was training with pros! I don’t think they necessarily do that much more training wise. They have the benefits of the extra support medically etc which is what takes up the majority of their time I found. I have however lost weight since training with top level guys, I just need to up the ante to finish off the job a bit now, and I have found it harder recently, so this fresh and simple perspective may help. Finger crossed! Ha!
i wish it was that simple. I refeed myself in the weekends though which may increase my weight for the week. The only thing i eat which is high in carbs is syrup with pancakes made out of oatmeal flour or some bread. The rest is eggs or protein shake, or chicken or meat in moderation.
lol I am curious what moderate or low in carbs looks like. Pancakes + syrup and bread is probably into the hundreds of grams in a single sitting.
Either way, you still cannot be in a significant caloric deficit and maintain the same weight. It really is that simple. Keep a strict food diary, if you must, and document EVERYTHING (even a tiny snack) and you will probably realize this pretty quick.
oh yeah i know them pancakes will up it like crazy, i eat it once every 3 weeks of the weekend, its not a common meal. I have kept a diary of meals i ate a year ago, unfortunately i cant find it. What i noticed though was that if i eat healthy with adequate protein and get underneath my calorie levels, i lose bodyfat respectively but i perform so low and get lethargic. I cant seem to find the balance to lose bodyfat and keep my performance up. I would think if i got it low enough i would eat enough carbs to keep me performing well, however i would always go right back up 2-3% bodyfat in abit less then 2 weeks, my performance would improve so i wouldnt worry about it.
I don’t see how that can be possible. 1lb of bodyfat is 3500 calories (approximately). If you weigh 150lbs, 2% would be 3lbs of fat, or over 10,000 surplus calories that went straight to fat (very unlikely). I am pretty sure that is nearly impossible unless you simply have outrageous eating habits.
