Saturday, June 24, 2006

New Rule for Bodybuilding #12

12. Your body's metabolism can be sped up just by changing around the same stuff you eat already.

-Take your total calories that you need for a day and divide them into 5-6 meals. This will drive up your metabolism. This is easily done by placing two reasonable snacks in between meals.

-Skipping a meal(s) will not lead to weight loss or make you more "cut," contrary to popular belief. It will do the opposite--eating one or two huge meals per day is an effective way to miss out on the muscular gains and slow the metabolism to a crawl--storing fat in preparation for a famine. And considering how many of us tend to eat these days, three meals per day is a recipe for obesity.

There are two meanings for diet: "caloric budget" or "depriving one's self." Most people miss the first meaning and go straight for the second one. But depriving one's self is basically making one's pre-existing pleasure drive for food even more acute in priority. Depriving yourself of food you've learned to count on may only make you want it more. Don't starve yourself, there's no need.

If you're already overweight, don't eat more; eat more often. Throughout the day. You'll start to forget what hunger is. You won't gorge when you do finally eat. You will drive up your metabolism.

You mean...I can change my metabolism just by changing how I divide up my meals throughout the day?!

YES.

If you're already overweight, take whatever you're eating now, in an entire day. Imagine it laid out in neat pile on a gymnasium floor (we may need the space). Take a giant imaginary knife and divide it up into six equal portions.

These are your six meals for the day, spread throughout time, your 16 or so waking hours. Eat up. Your metabolism will get faster. You will not want to finish off all of the second meal, or the third one, or the fourth one. It begins to feel much like you're eating all the time. You'll gradually or suddenly realize that what you were eating was mostly driven by self-imposed cravings. This budgeting is the real meaning of dieting, not self-deprivation.

Forget that imaginary stuff. This is more easily done by placing two reasonable "snacks" in between meals. These are like Mini-Me, but they are mini-meals. :) I like almonds + raisins or a PB and honey sandwich.

This is a reasonable plan for a good diet (diet as in "menu," not "starving") and it involves eating all day long.

If a person wants to lose weight, they usually think, "I'll go running!" Personally, I don't enjoy running for long periods. I do like sprinting and I like elliptical machines and recently learned how to row. But you don't have to run or do aerobics. And too much aerobics will limit your muscle gains if you're lifting weights also.

If you're devoting too much time to cardiovascular workouts, it could be compromising your muscle development. When you jog, you use mostly slow-twitch muscle fibers, and the constant pounding seems to have a shrinking effect on your upper-body muscles. It's best to do sprints for your cardio at a track or football field. On a treadmill, after a light 3-minute warmup jog, sprint for 30 seconds, then rest for a minute, and repeat this sequence for 10 minutes."

What is the aerobic exercise that burns the most calories?
Rowing and ballet dancing are about tied

Benefits of cardio. Good tips. Cardio and brainpower article. Body For Life Cardio plan.

Lifting weights is anaerobic. Anaerobic work persuades your body to adapt. Muscle tissue uses up energy. Fat tissue just stores it; fat just sits. If one weight trains, one can lose weight while doing nothing but just sitting. This benefit of anaerobics cannot be said about aerobics. Lifting weights will transform your body composition: more muscle, less fat, stronger bones.

Here is an excellent free workout program for the entire body that is easy to understand and printable. It's good for more advanced lifters too

If your metabolism is already high naturally, you are a "hard-gainer." Eat more carbs, and track the amount of protein you're eating over time.

In sum, the primary purpose of adding snacks is not to eat less at the following meal. The purpose of adding snacks is to drive up your metabolism.

1 comment:

Todd said...

Hey James,

I am enjoying your posts! I am trying to eat smarter, lose a little weight and be all around more healthy than I was before. Thanks for your tips and I look forward to more good posts in the future!