Sport "Counting Calories" - How precise do you get?

[schpudmon]

At the moment, I'm not engaged in any special diet/ weightlifting program, but was considering doing the research and starting one sometime in the near future.

As I said, I haven't taken a legitimate, fully educated attempt at this yet, and therefore aren't fully aware of my limits and capabilities, but from the outside looking in, I think I would be able to handle a serious weightlifting program. A calory-counting diet, on the other hand, I'm not so sure of. It seems to me something like that could drive me absolutely insane.

I can fully understand something like that for a bodybuilder, but for a college student like me who'd be happy to gain a mere 10 pounds over the course of a year or so?

It looks like it involves so much effort and is so time-consuming - finding out the exact amounts of each nutrient in each item of food you consume, keeping a schedule of what to eat and when, and in exactly what amounts, using a food scale to measure out exactly what you need, making sure you get around to each meal at the right time, making sure you vary your sources of each nutrient, learning to cook all those new things............

Does it really need to be that precise in all cases? What if something unexpected comes up and I'm forced to eat McDonald's on a certain day? I can hardly count on adhering to such a strict program at all times even if I do put everything I have into it.

Doesn't the nutritional content of a certain item of food vary a lot in real life anyway? For example, can one really expect an apple to have even approximately the same amount of fiber and carbohydrates as the one he ate yesterday? It seems the number of calories you actually consume could be so far off what you plan to consume no matter what. Would it be more practical to count the number of SERVINGS of each type of food instead?

Or is it best to try to plan down to the last calory in all cases, since that way you minimize your margin of error?

I was planning to buy a few books to do the bulk of my research, such as Beyond Brawn or something, but I'm afraid a lot of them would be more geared toward serious bodybuilder types and present diet guidelines I couldn't possibly hope to adhere to to a good enough extent. I'm afraid they might also be geared more toward different body types - i.e., not for rail-thin hardgainers like me.

I'm mainly wondering if I can approach the diet aspect in a somewhat flexible way, since my goal is basically simply to start putting on mass and continue to put on mass over whatever time period it takes, or if this is more of a do-it-exactly-right-or don't-even-bother type situation.

A bodybuilder I'm not, and I'm not looking to reach any goal by a certain deadline; i just want to put on weight.

Sorry for the long post, and any help is appreciated.

 

[Savage]

From my experience, the more planning you do, the less you stray from the desired path. The idea is to plan to cheat [cheat days/meals]. It is my understanding the nutritional content does vary, but not to the degree that make counting calories useless.

I'm sure some others will step in here w/ a better answer for ya.

-Mark.

 

[markeaton]

You wrote: Does it really need to be that precise in all cases? What if something unexpected comes up and I'm forced to eat McDonald's on a certain day? I can hardly count on adhering to such a strict program at all times even if I do put everything I have into it.


Last summer (2004) I bought ProTrack (great software)... it allowed me to not only track my workouts, but my diet as well. It came with pre-loaded foods but I put in most of them. I was able to take the nutritional labels off of some of the items like whey, oatmeal, etc, but I also put in values for an "average" yam, or a "medium" banana. Those "potions" are going to vary.

The point I am trying to make is that - for me - counting and measuring as close a i could is really all you could do. So I may be off a little on the carb or fat count, but I don't think unless you could live in a laboratory, could you get exact counts.

If you are looking to gain weight (or muscle i am sure), I would suggest searching some posts here that can point you in that direction. The other day I posted a diet with overall counts that a good friend of mine that is a competitive bodybuilder gave me. This diet worked great for me and accomplished what I wanted. I lost body fat, but was able to keep my bodyweight the same - which for a 44 year old that translates into looking and feeling good Below is the diet I posted.

Take care, Mark

Total Calories: 2900
Total Grams Protein: 200
Total Grams Carbs: 300
Total Grams Fats: 100

Meal One: 7:15 a.m
5 egg whites
1 cup (dry) oatmeal
1 Tblsp. Natural Peanut Butter (use Teddy’s)
1/2 wheat bagel with 1 tsp. Honey

Meal Two: 10:15 a.m
4 ounces meat (turkey, chicken, or beef)
1 medium/large yam
1 plain low fat yogurt

TRAIN 12:00 – 1:00

Meal Three: 1:00 p.m
16 ounces Gatorade
2 scoops VP2 (protein). Mix with glutamine
1 banana

Meal Four: 2 to 2:30p.m
4 oz. meat
1 cup cooked rice (mostly brown & some white)
3 oz. broccoli
1 Tblsp. light olive oil with garlic

Meal Five: 5:00p.m
1 ½ Scoops of VP2
1 apple
3 oz. cashews/almonds (get at Nbpt health store)

Meal Six: 8:00p.m
4 oz. meat (turkey, chicken, or beef)
2 oz. cashews/almonds
2 oz. broccoli with 1 Tblsp. olive oil

At bedtime:
Glutamine with water

Condiments: Mrs. Dash, garlic, teriyaki, garlic, lemon

Supplements: Multi Vitamin, Vitamin C, Cod Liver Oil (2 in AM, 2 in PM), Vitrex, Glutamine, Creatine (ISS effervescence)

Water each meal

No more than 2 “cheat meals” weekly.

 

[shimmering]

actually, i think you can also research yourself into losing interest and being overwhelmed, too. here's my simple advice: stop eating fast food and sodas, eat more fruits & vegetables and less overly processed foods. try and include some wholegrains in your diet - drink lot's of water, make sure you get enough fiber. pick a cardio and weight program you think you can adhere to and give it a shot, start small and work your way up to more harder workouts. dont overdo it at first or you may be so sore you'll just say screw it - happens to a lot of people. if you eat right and dont over-eat, and work with the weights you'll see results. the problem with most people who are unsuccessful is a lack of will power, IMO. not incorrectly counting calories. good luck!

oh and no offense to the other posters, their advice is very good as well.

 

[kevbo]

You can only get out what you put in. That being said, I do not have a strict diet in the sense that every meal is going to be the same (breakfast, bedtime snack and postworkout are, however), but I do count macros. For every meal of the day, I try my absolute best to get a certain amount of carbs, protein, and fat, depending on the time of day. In my eyes, eating the same foods every day is not necessary, but making sure you eat enough of healthy foods and at the right time is.

To answer your question, no, it's not paramount as a beginner that you choose what 6 meals you will be eating for the rest of your life. But it will take a significant getting used to and some sacrifices.

 

[niceone]

I count all the calories I eat, but I have created a specific meal plan so that my body gets what it needs when it needs it.
The sweet thing about tracking your calories and your bodyfat (which i do) is that it makes troubleshooting fairly simple. Not gaining weight? bump up your cals 200-300. Gaining too much fat? lower the carbs at night etc etc..

You have no excuses if you track calories. BUT I can understand how most people just couldnt/wouldnt want to do it.
I guess it depends on how SERIOUS you are about it. If all you want to do is gain 10 pounds or so over a year, it probably doesnt matter too much.
Just eat 6 meals each day, 3 hours apart.. and get your protein!