how much food is enough?

[ngorevic]

Ok, I don't believe in counting protein calories and all that. I prefer to just eat based on how hungry I am. What can I say, I like to be natural, I think the body knows what it needs. My question is though, for those of you that do keep track of calories, and are eating a lot on HST, are you eating just to satisfy your hunger, or do you actually eat until you're completely stuffed, like almost to that uncomfortable point? I guess what I'm getting at is what does it feel like to eat enough so you put on some serious muscle?

Nick

 

[Calkid]

My main source of food is the college cafeteria 3x a day. Enough to gain weight seems to be this:
2 Meals to uncomfortably full,
1 To REALLY stuffed
and 1 to full.

The first two are usually breakfast and lunch, the third dinner, and the last one is when I get the midnight munchies and go buy pizza or something. On workout days before the evening workout I go light on either breakfast or lunch.

-Calkid

 

[tai4ji2x]

if you're trying to gain weight, just have a rough idea of your macronutrient ratios and eat. for some, it does require you to eat often and until you're uncomfortably stuffed. if your fat gain becomes noticeable, cut back gradually.

for dieting/cutting, you will probably have to be meticulous with your calories. use fitday.com

 

[restless]

Quote[/b] (ngorevic @ Feb. 06 2003,4:01)]Ok, I don't believe in counting protein calories and all that. I prefer to just eat based on how hungry I am. What can I say, I like to be natural, I think the body knows what it needs. My question is though, for those of you that do keep track of calories, and are eating a lot on HST, are you eating just to satisfy your hunger, or do you actually eat until you're completely stuffed, like almost to that uncomfortable point? I guess what I'm getting at is what does it feel like to eat enough so you put on some serious muscle?
Nick

Why don't you just admit you're lazy?


When I wasbulking I ate to the point of feeling sick sometimes. I don't think this is necessary, but hunger has nothing to do with it, even when deiting I'm rarely hungry. Personally, I'd recommend you con't calories for a while, at least untill you know what a certain amount of calories feel like.

 

[imported_andré]

Hi Nick,

Do whatever feels natural to you. I am sure that can work for you.
Instead of counting all the calories, still try to eat every three hours. Concentrate on different wholesome foods high in protein, moderate in complex carbs, and low or moderate in "good" fats.

Eat just to the point of satisfying yourself.
Dont stuff yourself:excess calories means excess fat.
But dont undereat as well: every three hours a small meal high in protein will do fine.

Raw vegetables, fresh fruit, wholewheatbread, salmon,tuna, chicken, turkey, steak, peanutbutter, virgin olive oil, whole eggs and eggwhites, nonfat-milk, freshly squeezed juice, unsalted nuts, raisins, nonfat cottage cheese, brown rice, boiled potatoes, fresh herbs and spices.

Drink 3 liters of water a day, spreaded evenly throughout the day.

Before and after your workout ( HST i presume? ):
a small proteinshake before and a large one immediately after.
mix some proteinpowder, milk and chocolatedextrose powder.
add creatine in your before shake, if you like.


goodluck!
andré

 

[Keebler Elf]

Well you might have to stuff yourself. Depends on what food your eating. Most of my carbs come from fruit&veg and Im am stuffing myself on 1600 cals! Thats the problem with going by feel.

I go by macronutrients which breaks things down to simpler level. It is easier to look at something like a peice of meat and say ... thats about 30-35g protein/10g fat. But you need to measure/count for a few weeks to get an idea of what that looks like for most of the foods you typically eat.

 

[imported_edziu]

I strongly recommend you track your calories, just for a few days. You will quickly learn what different calorie levels feel like. The process will be educational and fun (for a few days.)

The feeling varies!

After cutting, "maintenance" calories can feel like you're stuffing yourself. After bulking, "maintenance" calories can feel like you're never full. And it depends what KIND of food you're eating, too.

What's more valuable is getting a logical feel for the calories in what you're eating, and learning how full you feel in different conditions with different foods.

 

[Blade]

I agree. I've seen this so many times in my clients - they fail to get the results they want, and ask me to troubleshoot their training. I have them count calories for a week, and it is 95% of the time the diet that is the culprit. This goes for myself too, I had trouble gaining muscle a few years back even though I felt as if I was stuffing myself. I tried counting calories for a week, and discovered I was slightly below maintenance instead of 1000kcals over which was what I thought I was eating...