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So I used to go to the gym a few months ago, but it was kind of half-assed because I was still reeling hard from the break up. I made an appointment for a gym here to get a membership, and I plan to get into a serious muscle-gaining mode.

 

As such, I need advice on what foods I should be eating. I tend to not eat poorly (no fast foods, soda, chips, etc), but I don't know if I eat well enough to help build muscle.

 

So what are some good foods/meals I should buy? Anything to seriously avoid, or just everything in moderation? How are potatoes? Is 2% milk alright to drink, or should I go for a lower/higher fat? Really any sort of advice about this would be great.

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Ginger Beer

Try 6 meals a day, evenly spaced-out, I'm not a genius on this but I know the basics.

 

Protein needs to be in every meal, 20-30g each (but it depends on how much you weigh), sources of protein include:

 

Tuna, canned mackerel, canned pilchards (all canned fish), beans, lentils, cottage cheese, eggs (the whole egg), chicken, turkey, prawns, a carton of skimmed milk has 30g of protein in it I believe.

 

You will obviously need to eat carbs, but eat complex carbs not simple carbs, eat brown rice, rice cakes, oats, wholemeal bread... avoid starchy/simple carbs like chips, white bread, crisps etc... As the day goes on, decrease your carb intake, stop eating them altogether at around 4-5pm. Only do this if you're bothered about gaining fat, eating carbs before sleep means they don't get burned off so they get stored as fat. You may already know this but just in case you don't. :p

 

Try to get a portion of vegetables in each meal too if you can, buy frozen veg in a bag and take a cupful out, add water and microwave for a couple of minutes. It's easy.

 

Fruit has a lot of sugar in so keep it to first thing in the morning or straight after you've trained, no other time.

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Forever Learning
Try 6 meals a day, evenly spaced-out, I'm not a genius on this but I know the basics.

 

Protein needs to be in every meal, 20-30g each (but it depends on how much you weigh), sources of protein include:

 

Tuna, canned mackerel, canned pilchards (all canned fish), beans, lentils, cottage cheese, eggs (the whole egg), chicken, turkey, prawns, a carton of skimmed milk has 30g of protein in it I believe.

 

You will obviously need to eat carbs, but eat complex carbs not simple carbs, eat brown rice, rice cakes, oats, wholemeal bread... avoid starchy/simple carbs like chips, white bread, crisps etc... As the day goes on, decrease your carb intake, stop eating them altogether at around 4-5pm. Only do this if you're bothered about gaining fat, eating carbs before sleep means they don't get burned off so they get stored as fat. You may already know this but just in case you don't. :p

 

Try to get a portion of vegetables in each meal too if you can, buy frozen veg in a bag and take a cupful out, add water and microwave for a couple of minutes. It's easy.

 

Fruit has a lot of sugar in so keep it to first thing in the morning or straight after you've trained, no other time.

 

Hey, You should definitely be eating meat, fish and eggs. You need to make sure that you eat protein after a workout so that your muscle fibers will grow back stronger and bigger. You should include a serving of protein with every meal, and try to eat more small meals during the day that consist of protein and carbohydrates. It would be a good idea to have high-protein snacks that you can eat during the day between meals.

 

When you guys recommned eating eggs, do you see any value in eating raw eggs or not? Several of my friends (male and female) used to drink raw eggs. That always scared me, I wondered if it was safe and if they were more beneficial in some way than cooked eggs. I am not a bodybuilder nor seeking muscle mass - just curious about why some people drank raw eggs. They were weight lifter type folks.

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When you guys recommned eating eggs, do you see any value in eating raw eggs or not? Several of my friends (male and female) used to drink raw eggs. That always scared me, I wondered if it was safe and if they were more beneficial in some way than cooked eggs. I am not a bodybuilder nor seeking muscle mass - just curious about why some people drank raw eggs. They were weight lifter type folks.

 

 

No benefit except bragging rights, if that's your thing. Uncooked egg protein is about 1/2 as bio-available as cooked egg protein. In addition, raw egg white interferes with the body's ability to process the biotin in the egg. And that's before you get to any concerns about salmonella. ;)

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When you guys recommned eating eggs, do you see any value in eating raw eggs or not? Several of my friends (male and female) used to drink raw eggs. That always scared me, I wondered if it was safe and if they were more beneficial in some way than cooked eggs. I am not a bodybuilder nor seeking muscle mass - just curious about why some people drank raw eggs. They were weight lifter type folks.

 

Chocolat's response is correct.

 

I would add, however, that the reason some bodybuilders drink raw eggs has to do with getting protein en-mass. It's much easier (in theory) to drink 18 eggs than eat 18 eggs.

 

That being said, there are plenty of big, strong, jacked guys out there that don't go chugging an entire pack of eggs after every workout. In these days of easily attainable, reasonably priced, and good tasting protein supplements, the practice seems obsolete to me, especially considering the risks.

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I would add, however, that the reason some bodybuilders drink raw eggs has to do with getting protein en-mass. It's much easier (in theory) to drink 18 eggs than eat 18 eggs.

 

Yeah, but you only have to eat 9 eggs to get the same protein as chugging 18! :p

 

That being said, there are plenty of big, strong, jacked guys and gals out there that don't go chugging an entire pack of eggs after every workout. In these days of easily attainable, reasonably priced, and good tasting protein supplements, the practice seems obsolete and gross to me, especially considering the risks.

 

Fixed! ;)

 

 

Ummm... not that I am jacked, but I definitely would not eat raw eggs.. unless they were in homemade cookie dough! :p

Edited by Chocolat
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Gah! Sorry I forgot to mention the torn up ladies out there!

 

And yes, having eaten raw eggs in the past on various "delicacies" I can almost promise that I wouldn't be able to keep very many raw eggs down...

 

Gives me the willies thinking about it.

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Try 6 meals a day, evenly spaced-out, I'm not a genius on this but I know the basics.

 

Fruit has a lot of sugar in so keep it to first thing in the morning or straight after you've trained, no other time.

 

There is really nothing much to the six meals a day thing...a bit of a myth.

 

The food themselves are less important then hitting your micros (Protein, Carbs, Fats) with special attention to keeping your protein intake to 1.5+ grams per body weight per day (with a bias towards lean protein) while carbs being ~40% and fat ~20% (mostly avoid trans fats) and will you do fine as long as your eating enough; 20% (+/-) over maintenance calories (specially on workout days).

 

And enjoy your fruits anytime for they like veggies, are good for you

 

PS I would stay away from raw eggs, unless part of your training program includes running to the can (salmonella).

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Gives me the willies thinking about it.

Didn't think a Tman would ever get the "willies" ;)

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There is really nothing much to the six meals a day thing...a bit of a myth.

 

The food themselves are less important then hitting your micros (Protein, Carbs, Fats) with special attention to keeping your protein intake to 1.5+ grams per body weight per day (with a bias towards lean protein) while carbs being ~40% and fat ~20% (mostly avoid trans fats) and will you do fine as long as your eating enough; 20% (+/-) over maintenance calories (specially on workout days).

 

And enjoy your fruits anytime for they like veggies, are good for you

 

PS I would stay away from raw eggs, unless part of your training program includes running to the can (salmonella).

 

Well I'm guessing the OP just eats like a normal person so will have to train his stomach to be able to eat enough food. I get pangs every 2-3 hours now but I used to really struggle when I started.

 

I've heard the 'your protein doesn't have to be spaced out' thing before, I've ate it all in big meals and in smaller spaced out meals and noticed a difference if it was smaller and more regularly spaced out.

 

The evidence I've seen also suggests it's better for losing fat too.

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And what evidence is this? Links?

 

Actually, some studies show that TEF is higher with larger, less frequent meals. http://www.ajcn.org/content/54/5/783.short

 

Others say that meal frequency has no effect: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494

 

What some research has shwon is that there is a correlation between skipping meals and poor food choices. This may be because people who skip meals (which is not the same as eating 3 meals per day) become overly hungry and then fall off the diet wagon.

 

I am unaware of any research that supports higher fat loss with more frequent feeding, but I would like to see it if it exists.

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Actually, some studies show that TEF is higher with larger, less frequent meals. http://www.ajcn.org/content/54/5/783.short

 

Others say that meal frequency has no effect: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494

 

What some research has shwon is that there is a correlation between skipping meals and poor food choices. This may be because people who skip meals (which is not the same as eating 3 meals per day) become overly hungry and then fall off the diet wagon.

 

I am unaware of any research that supports higher fat loss with more frequent feeding, but I would like to see it if it exists.

 

Ginger Beer: Chocolat's post above is what I was getting at. Modern research has shown that meal frequency is irrelevant (within the context of a 24 hr period) with regards to the total metabolic effect. There is also a growing body of research regarding meal frequency and its effects on satiety, which is extremely important with regards to successful dieting.

 

TEF (Thermic Effect of Food) is a measurement of how much heat is produced within the body as a result of ingesting food. The more calories ingested in one sitting, the higher the TEF for that meal is. Macronutrient composition also effects TEF, but we'll leave that out for now. At the end of the day, if you eat 8 little meals, you get 8 little TEF responses. If you eat 3 large ones, you get 3 large TEF responses. However, if you add together all the TEF responses, the amount of heat produced is the same.

 

The TEF is analogous to metabolic response. Due to this, the whole "eat more frequently to keep the furnace (your metabolism) running hot" concept has no scientific backing.

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And what evidence is this? Links?

 

Can't post links as it's Youtube videos and I'm on my phone but the basic gist of what it says is if you eat more often and in smaller amounts digesting the food burns more calories than eating bigger amounts not as often.

 

It also said your body clings to fat the longer you go without food.

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Can't post links as it's Youtube videos and I'm on my phone but the basic gist of what it says is if you eat more often and in smaller amounts digesting the food burns more calories than eating bigger amounts not as often.

 

It also said your body clings to fat the longer you go without food.

 

The eating 20 times a day nonsense is just bro-science promulgated by food and supplement companies to make you eat more. What often ends up happening is that you eat 5 to 6 times a day but of your normal sized portions.

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It wasn't a video by a supplement company but I get what you're saying.

 

There are enough people saying I'm wrong in this thread for me to be wrong.

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Can't post links as it's Youtube videos and I'm on my phone but the basic gist of what it says is if you eat more often and in smaller amounts digesting the food burns more calories than eating bigger amounts not as often.

 

It also said your body clings to fat the longer you go without food.

 

Peer-reviewed research studies are published in scientific/medical journals, not on youtube. See the links I posted previously. There is no scientific support for higher TEF as a result of more frequent feeding. What there is is support for a correlation between diet adherence and more frequent meals, but this is behavioral, not metabolic.

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Peer-reviewed research studies are published in scientific/medical journals, not on youtube. See the links I posted previously. There is no scientific support for higher TEF as a result of more frequent feeding. What there is is support for a correlation between diet adherence and more frequent meals, but this is behavioral, not metabolic.

 

There are enough people saying I'm wrong in this thread for me to be wrong.

 

..........

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Don't know about meal frequency, but meal timing is very important IMO. For muscle gain, eat as much of your daily calories as possible near exercise and exertion, both before and after. Very controlled caffeine usage before workouts can increase performance and gains, I use chilled home brew green tea for this.

 

If you are not used to working out, do not go on any sort of calorie restricting diet for at least a couple of months after starting your training. Your body needs to build lots of infrastructure back up in your connective tissues before you can get good results from resistance training. Good luck with your goals.

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Protein shakes. (whey isolate)

 

The good ones consist of more than 80% quality protein. Beats eating 20 eggs a day, ugh.

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Can anyone recommend anything for legs at home? I've seen squat racks and will be purchasing one but I have a leg curl bit on my bench but it has a weight limit of 35kg which is nothing.

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