Diakonos

For about the past 6 months, I've been using the zone perfect diet system. Every meal I ate came as close as possible to the 40/30/30 ratio. I ate (or at least I tried to eat) 6 350-calorie meals a day about 3.5 five hours apart. Various information I would read said this would turn up my metabolism. Monay through saturday, I ate no fast food. breakfast conisted of tuna, bran cereal, raisens and 8 oz of milk. Later I would eat a zone perfect bar. Lunch I had 1 serving of broiled chicken, a serving of two vegatables (green leafy ones, no starchy ones) and 1 slice of branola bread. Later, a zone perfect bar. For supper, I would eat an Uncle Ben's pasta dish. Alone, the dish did not fit the 40/30/30 equation, so I added a half of chicken breast to balance it out. Later I would have another bar. I consistently took in 190 -200 grams of protein a day. I was informed that a man my size (203 pounds) that lifted weights needed to take in that much protien. And, I drunk 96 ounces of water a day.
This is pretty much what I did for about six months while using a combination of free weights and "the total Gym" Do you know what of this got me?
Nothing.
So, after being tired of eating like a lab rat, going to the bath room a zillion times a day, and not seeing any results, I simply got fed up.
Now, I still use free weight and "the total gym" But I eat what ever feels natural. Breakfast is pretty much the same; 8oz of milk, raisen bran, and a banana. But instead of eating it at 7:30 AM I wait until about 9 or 9:30. For lunch, now I eat fast food (whatever I feel like eating). I eat enough to hold me until about 5:30 or so(no snacks) For dinner, more fast food after I workout. That's usually it for the day. If I get a tad bit hungry, I'll eat a zone perfect bar. I'm down to 3 maybe 4 meals a day, and I cut my water consumption in half. I couldn't tell you how many calories I take in because I stop counting them.
One would think that reverting back to eating like that would hinder my progress. Guess what, I'm actullly starting to see muscle gains. Imagine that. And, I'm loosing fat (if you can believe that)
Don't get me wrong. I am in no way suggesting that everyone or anyone should try this. But it does bring up and interesting point. Why couldn't I see results when I was "eating right"?

Vieope

You are happy now, that´s why

Tha Don

wow, interesting stuff

maybe you have gifted genetics, so no matter what you eat you don't put on fat, and maybe your metabolism was too high to put on muscle before

shit i dunno, crazy post man, someone could spend all day tryin to figure that 1 out

peace

y2gt

1) 6x350 = 2100 cals/day. For a 203 lb man, I highly doubt that is enough to put on muscle.

2) The food you mentioned is not so great.

3) If u keep eating like that, u may see muscle growth, but i'm sure u will also gain fat. stick to the previous way (6xday), but clean it up and add more calories. Check through the diet and nutrition threads and maybe look at some journals here.

READ THIS!! (Bulking w/ Slow Burners)

JerseyDevil

That's exactly the problem, not enough calories. At 203 lbs, you need between 2,600 and 3,000 calories to bulk (if you have a normal metabolism). More then likely your 'garbage' diet has quite a few more cals then 2100.

Diakonos

I appreciate your response. Keep them coming. So far, the one I most agree with is Vieope’s response.

As far as I’m concerned, eating the way I was eating was causing me internal stress because it didn’t feel natural. However, I will keep an open mind on the subject. y2gt, you said:

Could you elaborate on that? How would you clean up an beef up the diet I was previously using? JerseyPaul, I pose that question to you as well.

y2gt

You did eat 6x a day, thats good. But the foods weren't so great, neither was the amount.

6x day = good
40/30/30 = good
350cal/meal = bad, need more like 500 or so
protein bars = crap (IMO)
milk, raisins = some will say is not good.

Read the link I put in my first post above.

You need to add some slow-burning carbs (yams, brown rice, oatmeal...etc..)

You don't need to eat like a lab rat!! Skip the crappy bars and processed food stuff. Make your own meals with real, fresh, and natural foods. Then you will be eating a lot, and the food will taste good also.

protein sources: chicken, steaks, chop meat, turkey, fish, cottage cheese......
carb sources: oatmeal, yams, brown rice, whole wheat pasta....
fat sources: olive oil, nuts, flaxseed oil, Udo's oil, natural peanut butter, butter......

read the link as i said before.....really good info. Also, check out the recipes on this board.

Skib

i'm with ya bro

i'm sick of eating like a "lab rat" as well... i still eat very well in comparison to most people, but i don't let little things bother me anymore... i don't really binge on junk food (ie: sweets, chips, pop and basically garbage) but i got so sick of eating tuna over romaine that now i substitute that meal with a 6" sub from subway, maybe a slice of pizza or another tuna sandwich... basically, i'm not afraid to eat more than 2 slices of whole wheat bread a day anymore or drink a big glass of milk or eat a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night... and tonight i'm having souvlaki for dinner... i train hard though so i figure i just burn it all off at the gym anyways... i'd like to lower my body fat % a little bit more but right now i'm seeing more muscle gains than body fat loss so i'm just gonna keep up what i'm doing for the time being and maybe start cutting in the spring...

i've just told myself i'm not a pro body builder, i'm not training to compete and i've already lost 30 lbs of body fat as it is so i should be happy with what i've already accomplished and not be so picky about everything and just worry about feeling good with what i've already done and what i'm currently working on...

Kracin

you dont gain unless you eat more than your daily usage. at my weight of 180 and the way i worked out and everything, i ate 3500 a day for 3 weeks straight and saw zero pound increase. i upped it a little bit since then and im already gaining and adding muscle as far as i can see..... and cleaning up the diet is a must. cook real foods, eat real foods. nothing processed. and fast foods are nothing but horrible for you with all the bad fats in them and everything. trust me, i know, i lived off of them for about 18 years before i changed my lifestyle.

Emma-Leigh

Ahhh... Kracin.... I think, as this was posted in 2003, he has probably worked things out by now!

klmclean

That's cute

Banish bad eating days forever!
Make every day a good eating day

KentDog

I definately think it's your calorie intake. With me, when I first started eating "clean," I was also tracking calories, fats, carbs, proteins, etc. and noticed that clean foods tend to have much less calories than your average fast food item (a Big Mac has 560 calories while a piece of chicken breast with equivilent amount of meat has about 100). I also agree it can be a hassle eating healthy (time to prepare meals, eat, etc.) but it's your health and some say that is priceless.

Try to track your calorie intake for one day just eating normally (eating whatever you want) just to see approximately where you've been sitting at for daily calorie, fat, carb (sugar too), and protein intake when just eating whatever you want.. I bet it's more than when you were "eating right."

Muscle gains and fat loss can definately be obtained from eating what feels natural to you (not too bad minus the fast food part) while still working out, but eating clean and correctly is more efficient.

Stu

LOLOLOL if you read emmas post you could of saved your self the time of writing all that out. Good info though!

WilliamB

I am curious as to why it sounds like you barley speak english, but you say your from North Carolina. Did you just move to North Carolina or something? If not read what you write before you submit it.

Kracin

bahahaha, my bad. i was searching threads last night, came across this and didnt look at the date :-P wow i feel incredibly intelligent right now *smashes computer*

KentDog

Damnit!