phildavies
New Member
Spent the the entire day trying to absorb the nutrition guidelines from the HST and bodyrecomp forum...
This is my attempt at a summary (I've only tried to include conclusions drawn from posts based on emperical research). I'd really appreciate the forum's input as to how accurate or how far off the mark I am and what, if anything I could add.
1) Aim for a sensible calorie surplus (roughly 500 extra kcal/day) to bulk up and continue adjusting upwards if necessary. Target is about 1-2lbs gain per week.
2) Aim for a sensible calorie deficit (i.e. consume 10-15kcal/lb) to lose fat. Target is about 1-1.5lbs per week.
3) Aim for about 1g/lb protein consumption regardless of goal.
4) A slightly higher protein consumption and lower carb consumption may be better for cutting in some people.
5) Macronutrient ratios aren't that important for bulking.
6) After calorie and protein intake, basically eat what you like, when you like. For health (rather than body composition) reasons, you may choose to eat predominantly 'clean' whole foods to achieve your target calories. But calories is all that matters in terms of muscle gain / fat loss.
7) Eat your daily caloric intake when you like in as many or as few meals as suits your lifestyle and calorie needs.
8) The main supplements to consider are protein (whey, casein etc), creatine and EFAs.
9) If you train first thing in the AM, consume something pre-workout that contains some protein and perhaps some carbs rather than training in a fasted state.
10) Consume something post workout that contains protein and perhaps carbs and fat, especially if bulking to get those extra calories. This could be a shake straight after or it could be a meal some time after. Don't stress over a recovery window, especially if you've eaten before the workout.
11) You may want to reduce the amount of carbs in pre and post meals if cutting.
12) There may be optimum ratios of protein and carbs and optimum combinations of fast and slow proteins in pre and
post workout consumption, but even if there is, the differences will probably be negligable for most natural lifters.
This is my attempt at a summary (I've only tried to include conclusions drawn from posts based on emperical research). I'd really appreciate the forum's input as to how accurate or how far off the mark I am and what, if anything I could add.
1) Aim for a sensible calorie surplus (roughly 500 extra kcal/day) to bulk up and continue adjusting upwards if necessary. Target is about 1-2lbs gain per week.
2) Aim for a sensible calorie deficit (i.e. consume 10-15kcal/lb) to lose fat. Target is about 1-1.5lbs per week.
3) Aim for about 1g/lb protein consumption regardless of goal.
4) A slightly higher protein consumption and lower carb consumption may be better for cutting in some people.
5) Macronutrient ratios aren't that important for bulking.
6) After calorie and protein intake, basically eat what you like, when you like. For health (rather than body composition) reasons, you may choose to eat predominantly 'clean' whole foods to achieve your target calories. But calories is all that matters in terms of muscle gain / fat loss.
7) Eat your daily caloric intake when you like in as many or as few meals as suits your lifestyle and calorie needs.
8) The main supplements to consider are protein (whey, casein etc), creatine and EFAs.
9) If you train first thing in the AM, consume something pre-workout that contains some protein and perhaps some carbs rather than training in a fasted state.
10) Consume something post workout that contains protein and perhaps carbs and fat, especially if bulking to get those extra calories. This could be a shake straight after or it could be a meal some time after. Don't stress over a recovery window, especially if you've eaten before the workout.
11) You may want to reduce the amount of carbs in pre and post meals if cutting.
12) There may be optimum ratios of protein and carbs and optimum combinations of fast and slow proteins in pre and
post workout consumption, but even if there is, the differences will probably be negligable for most natural lifters.
