TT Eric diet log 2014

[steve_d]

When Steve says he ate 3 x 12'' at subways and 6 cookies, I'm like WTF, one 12'' and I would be done until the next day lol.
Eric

you must be exagerrating, because if that's the case, I recommend to you the Jared diet, lol. With all seriousness though, my appetite depends quite a bit on my current bodyfat levels. I can eat quite a bit now because I am not too high on bodyfat. That said, I don't have a crazy appetite - but it's there if I need it! I might eat high calories every couple of weeks, but its not planned or unplanned. I think a lot of people are like that.... You see these skinny dudes and think wow - they ate 6 big macs, how do they not gain weight? Meanwhile, every other day that week was 700 calories - of course they aren't gaining.

I bet if you were given a magic pill that made nothing turn to fat for a day, and you went to rib-fest, you could eat your fair share, right?

[TT Eric]

you must be exagerrating, because if that's the case, I recommend to you the Jared diet, lol. With all seriousness though, my appetite depends quite a bit on my current bodyfat levels. I can eat quite a bit now because I am not too high on bodyfat. That said, I don't have a crazy appetite - but it's there if I need it! I might eat high calories every couple of weeks, but its not planned or unplanned. I think a lot of people are like that.... You see these skinny dudes and think wow - they ate 6 big macs, how do they not gain weight? Meanwhile, every other day that week was 700 calories - of course they aren't gaining.

I bet if you were given a magic pill that made nothing turn to fat for a day, and you went to rib-fest, you could eat your fair share, right?

No that's the thing, even my wife (she's small and not fat) can eat more then me. I freaking eat like a bird. I basically force-feed me all year round to add muscle, I do not restrain myself because fear of getting fat. But of course even 'clean' food if force-fed will make you gain fat, this is why I need to lean out every year.

So far pretty much every week since I diet, after every re-feed meal, I've been in pain. Yesterday I had one of my biggest meal: 2 avocado sushi roll, 1 chocolate bar, a little bucket of organic strawberries and 7 homemade cookies, and I've been sick from it, my meal was at 8PM and at 3AM I was still not sleeping, turning over in my bed and repenting because of the pain. I'm still upset at the moment I'm writing this.

2 weeks ago I went to Montana's restaurant and had a hamburger plate with a side salad instead of fries and I was full and should have stop there, but I forced a piece of low-fat homemade cake when I got back and got sick from it. The only reason I force-feed is because I want to make sure to have enough carbs to trigger the T3-T4 conversion and keep the metabolism from slowing down. If it was not for the fear of not getting enough carbs, I would prefer something less high carbs and maybe more fatty like 2-3 slices of pizza or a club sandwich without the fries.

Honestly I have so much side effect, I think I will stop that from now on, being upset for almost 24hrs for what is supposed to be a 'fun' meal is not good and defeat the purpose. Like Ted says after the cheat meal I'm happy to diet again, but me it's because the cheat meal hurts and dieting make me feel good.

I think the fact that I eat clean year round make me vulnerable to sugar and/or big quantity of food, I eat pretty much DP's diet year round, only difference is I have a bit more fat in one or 2 meals and 175-200g of carbs peri-workout.

Eric

[steve_d]

No that's the thing, even my wife (she's small and not fat) can eat more then me. I freaking eat like a bird. I basically force-feed me all year round to add muscle, I do not restrain myself because fear of getting fat. But of course even 'clean' food if force-fed will make you gain fat, this is why I need to lean out every year.

So far pretty much every week since I diet, after every re-feed meal, I've been in pain. Yesterday I had one of my biggest meal: 2 avocado sushi roll, 1 chocolate bar, a little bucket of organic strawberries and 7 homemade cookies, and I've been sick from it, my meal was at 8PM and at 3AM I was still not sleeping, turning over in my bed and repenting because of the pain. I'm still upset at the moment I'm writing this.

2 weeks ago I went to Montana's restaurant and had a hamburger plate with a side salad instead of fries and I was full and should have stop there, but I forced a piece of low-fat homemade cake when I got back and got sick from it. The only reason I force-feed is because I want to make sure to have enough carbs to trigger the T3-T4 conversion and keep the metabolism from slowing down. If it was not for the fear of not getting enough carbs, I would prefer something less high carbs and maybe more fatty like 2-3 slices of pizza or a club sandwich without the fries.

Honestly I have so much side effect, I think I will stop that from now on, being upset for almost 24hrs for what is supposed to be a 'fun' meal is not good and defeat the purpose. Like Ted says after the cheat meal I'm happy to diet again, but me it's because the cheat meal hurts and dieting make me feel good.

I think the fact that I eat clean year round make me vulnerable to sugar and/or big quantity of food, I eat pretty much DP's diet year round, only difference is I have a bit more fat in one or 2 meals and 175-200g of carbs peri-workout.

Eric

When not used to sugars, the cookies and crap will make you feel like crap. In 2012 my diet was spot on perfection with cheat meals about once a weak. The cheat meals killed me unless they were clean foods. EX. Pizza would give me reflux, so would anything with sugar. I would feel like absolute crap during the cheat and for hours after. Just like you are saying. Of course now those foods are something I can tolerate, since I don't restrict them.

There are ways around it of course. Instead of cheating on junk, cheat on foods you are used to. Just double the intake throughout the day - rather than a single meal at night especially. I've learned to not cheat at night. My body responds better to an earlier cheat which makes me enjoy the day a little better and by night time, I can get to sleep no problem.

You're diet must have a relatively large quantity of food in the offseason to get to 15-20% bodyfat of clean foods... I mean, if you are eating 3000 calories clean - that's enough to keep most people pretty full (aside from the month or 2 post contest or diet!)

[TT Eric]

Yeah I'm eating about 3000cal per day, those 300g of pro, make 1200cal right away... this make me gain weight consistently, when I took my 20 years 'break' I was staying relatively lean because I was not eating a lot and working/moving a lot. I use to eat cereal and a meal replacement shake in the morning, another shake for lunch, a good dinner, normally a steak and a huge salad, and a cheat in the evening, like 'healthy' cookies, or some chips (once or twice a week), or some ice cream.

I was thinking going toward homemade sweet potatoes fries oven baked in coconut oil or rice meal , either sushi or a Vietnamese plate for cheat meal. The thing is I want to make sure to have carbs to trigger this t3-t4 thing to help the diet.

Eric

[TT Eric]

Funny thing. As I previously said, it is so nice to walk in the Capital, everyday I walk around the Parliament, near Ottawa's river (which is also a significant corridor for migratory birds), through parks, walking through Goose with their babies, if I have 60 min I can cross a bridge and go to Gatineau, then comeback by another bridge, all on a path a few feet from water, etc...

On this path around the river, there is a spot with less current where I walk by pretty much everyday where fishermen goes and I've noticed that those fishermen are almost exclusively old Asian men and whatever the time of the day, whatever the weather even like today which is a day I came back underwear soaked from my walk, you will always see some of them fishing faithfully, I also noticed that they don't release their fishes, they keep them fresh with a rope in water, meaning they are probably eating them, personally I would NEVER eat a fish from such a polluted river, I eat salmon, yes, but it's imported from Alaska, fished wild in clean water by a local family!

And yesterday my son was walking with me and I showed him the Asian people and explained him they were not releasing the fish and he told me: 'Maybe they own a restaurant'

Eric

[steve_d]

when I took my 20 years 'break' I was staying relatively lean because I was not eating a lot and working/moving a lot. I use to eat cereal and a meal replacement shake in the morning, another shake for lunch, a good dinner, normally a steak and a huge salad, and a cheat in the evening, like 'healthy' cookies, or some chips (once or twice a week), or some ice cream.

Eric

That's interesting. I'm curious of your thoughts about how you feel about the way your body looks now vs. then. You mentioned you were leaner back then, yet from the sounds of it your diet is better now. This might be a bad example, and I in no way want to use you as an example, but it's often what I find just looking around at people and observing fitness 'fanatics' vs. regular people doing regular things.

Who is happier? The person always striving for perfect, or the person who is content with the way they are? I usually see that people who don't obsess over their looks or diet, often look better or eat better, and even if they don't they have the confidence that makes them appear to look better. Being lean isn't all fun and games either... Ange and I always use the quote: "Fun to be ripped, but only for a while".

Take 95% of the people who get into the sport. They originally never had issues with food, dieting, they ate when they pleased, and while their diets sorta sucked, at least they we're at a decent bodyfat level. Then enter the world of competing. Getting meticulous with food, having the bad relationship with making sure every calorie is in check, etc. Now this person seems to be the expert on nutrition, and does everything right - but because of the obsession, they have a hard time not thinking of food as fuel, but rather the obsession. I am generalizing - since not all fit the bill. I used to have issues with food or post-contest stuff when I first started (<20 years old), but not anymore.

Again, not trying to say this is you, but I warn anyone reading, try to have balance and normalcy. I bet you so many people wish they could go back to the way they were and not caring about food so much. Of course, there's a limit - in order to not care about food, you still have to have a head on your shoulders and know that there are generally bad options out there.

I always look at these sort of things with the same analogy - is putting 100% effort and getting 90% results worth it when putting 50% effort gives you 89% results? For some people, yes, and that's fine. Same concept - if you could work 40 hours a week and make a million $, or 50 hours a week to make 1.2 million, or 80 hours a week to make 2 million, where would you stop? I'd be the guy working 4-8 hours a week to make 100-200k. (Or perhaps the guy that works 40 hours a week for a year or two than retires.)

[TT Eric]

The reason I was staying leaner year round is because I was eating only when I was hungry, the only meal I was set on was the breakfast, not long after I was up I was eating it, then I was eating only when hungry. Now I'm getting fatter because I'm eating at set hours to insure maximum muscle gain.

Pretty much all my life I've been caring about what I eat, I started training at 13 y/o in the early 80s, back then I was buying Weider's crap (soya protein lol) and was eating tons of eggs, mostly drinking them, when I've quit training in the 90's I was brainwashed with the popular thinking of this time (still overpowering many people today): eat high carbs and as little fat as you can, don't really care about proteins, because you only need a little everyday. I was also on statins for hypercholesterolimia (genetic). Then over the years I began to slowly adding weight, never been super fat, but a little more then I was before this diet, hovering between 34-36'' pants (around 205lbs), felt bad about it, then in mid 2000's I began to be aware that carbs were not that good, I lost 25lbs in 2 weeks building a project and not eating then I adopted the diet I posted ^ and maintained 180lbs for very long time with 32-34'' pants.

Then I started back training. Adopted a 6 meals plan, force-feeding. My metabolism is much better since then, before, internal thermostat raised big time, like I said this winter, unless I had a funeral or something formal I do not wore long pants anymore, walking 1km to go to the gym even at -40c with a cotton hoodies and short is all I needed.

For now I would really like to add enough mass to compete, when competing will be out of the picture and will not seeking to gain muscle anymore, I intend to eat the same kind of diet, but only eat when hungry and I'm sure I will stay lean. But for now, with as little muscle as I have actually have, I want to make sure 100% is in order to gain and it's not that hard for me. Yes it would be cool to eat more carbs sometime, but since I want to control arterial inflammation, I prefer to stay low carbs and low gluten for health reason. Plus the more I get older, the more I associate high carb meal with 'feel bad/sick' so the less I'm getting inclined to eat sugar stuff like I use to do.

This force-feeding thing is a double edge sword for now. I like the muscle gain, but not the fat gain, but I know it's part of the game. One day it will maintenance only.

Eric

[Primal]

Take 95% of the people who get into the sport. They originally never had issues with food, dieting, they ate when they pleased, and while their diets sorta sucked, at least they we're at a decent bodyfat level. Then enter the world of competing. Getting meticulous with food, having the bad relationship with making sure every calorie is in check, etc. Now this person seems to be the expert on nutrition, and does everything right - but because of the obsession, they have a hard time not thinking of food as fuel, but rather the obsession. I am generalizing - since not all fit the bill. I used to have issues with food or post-contest stuff when I first started (<20 years old), but not anymore.

Again, not trying to say this is you, but I warn anyone reading, try to have balance and normalcy. I bet you so many people wish they could go back to the way they were and not caring about food so much. Of course, there's a limit - in order to not care about food, you still have to have a head on your shoulders and know that there are generally bad options out there.

I always look at these sort of things with the same analogy - is putting 100% effort and getting 90% results worth it when putting 50% effort gives you 89% results? For some people, yes, and that's fine. Same concept - if you could work 40 hours a week and make a million $, or 50 hours a week to make 1.2 million, or 80 hours a week to make 2 million, where would you stop? I'd be the guy working 4-8 hours a week to make 100-200k. (Or perhaps the guy that works 40 hours a week for a year or two than retires.)

That's actually a really good analogy...

[TT Eric]

Steve, when I was doing my cardio today, I was thinking about what you said/ask and there is also one factor in the equation that have some value to consider, yes one might get away being sloppier and still reaping appreciable benefits, but there is also a 'feel good' factor doing 100% to get the maximum results, at the end of the day it's rewarding to have done the best you can do. It's like one's house, yes it still can be very functional all messy, you can have just enough clean dishes to eat your meal or enough space to walk 'around' anywhere you want, but when the house is all clean and tip top, it produce a relaxing feel good effect.

There is certainly a place IMO for 'fun food', like for me, in the off season, I appreciate to have some carbs PWO, it can be oven bake homemade fries with coconut oil or a homemade square date, brownies, etc... I feel it's rewarding and acceptable, but if I go haywire, let say I would eat a piece of cake for breakfast, or go eat hot dogs and fries for lunch, that could be fun for the few minutes it take to eat it, but personally I will feel bad/sick (yes I have little tolerance) from it for hours, plus I will feel guilty, so all in all the little fun I had while eating it is not worth the side effect left after. Sometime I go to a party and there will be chips, candies, cakes, etc... it might be appealing, but then I think how I will feel after that (stomach pain, guilt' etc...) and realize the little fun is not worth it. Maybe it's just me...

Eric

[Praetorian]

You need to get over the emotional effect food is having on you. Having a cheat meal or a cheat day can be a good thing as it is used for actual physiological purposes...ie to increase T4 to T3 conversion. This is the very reason why I incorporate refeed meals or days into my diet. Also eating perfect 100% of the time will not make your physique better then eating perfect 95% of the time. People tend to punish themselves or load up on guilt etc because they didnt eat perfectly....nonsense. If you think pro BB are eating perfect even on a precontest diet I have news for you.

Find some cheat food that you enjoy and that doesnt make you feel like crap and schedule it in every week.

P