Q&A for: 28-Aug-05
433. Q:
i dont really want to have large muscles i just want a little
A:
If you don't overeat and don't gain weight your muscle gains will be minimal which is what you want. So you can consult the Fitness Guide and then scale down the diet it suggests so you don't gain weight.
434. Q:
calories in rice
A:
Rice is a very calorie dense. You can look up its and other foods' nutritional info here. 1 cup of cooked rice has around 200 calories almost all of which are from carbs. Remember to eat brown rice instead of white rice whenever possible -- brown rice has more minerals and vitamins and is also converted to glucose in your stomach slower than white rice which is what you want for losing fat and/or building muscle.
435. Q:
I ve heard that breakfast is in general very important and it should be considered like a normal meal and must be big.I cant eat too much in the morning.Can i split my breakfast in 2 smaller meals?Lets say i eat something and after 2-3 hours i ll eat the rest of the breakfast.Is it ok? Should i eat only a big breakfast?
A:
Yup, breaking up your breakfast like that is perfectly fine. You always have to balance general suggestions with what actually fits your life and this is a perfectly reasonable compromise.
436. Q:
I ve heard that in order to lose fat and obtain muscles u should do cardio + weight training.With cardio u lose the fat and with weight training u make muscles at the same time.Iam just thin and have fat only in my belly area(i suppose this is very classic)so i dont need to lose fat in general.I want to lose fat in that area and obtain some muscles.Should i do cardio?Or only weight training?If i do only weight training should i lose the fat of my belly in time as i obtain muscles?Cause i have heard that only cardio burns the most fat effeciently.So,my objective is to lose the little fat i have on my stomach and become more muscular at the same time.Any suggestions what i should do to achieve this?
A:
Cardio is great for you healthwise, but it is counterproductive when your goal is specifically to build muscle. If you're already thin and don't have much fat, you'll be running in place if you try to burn the fat and build muscle at the same time. I would suggest focusing on weightlifting and a good diet to slowly build up muscle for 6 months or longer. After you're happy with the amount of muscle you have, you can scale down your diet and also restart cardio (while continuing weightlifting, of course) and start burning off the extra fat.
Fill out the Fitness Guide and specify your goal as 'Gain Muscle' to get a suggested workout and diet plan. Good luck!
437. Q:
Lets say iam out for a lot of hours and i have 3-4 hours to eat something.I cant find something healthy to eat where iam.Whats better?To not eat anything at all or to eat something but not so healthy?
A:
If the choice is between eating complete junk (hot dogs, chips, ice cream, burgers, fries, soda) and eating nothing, I would eat nothing. But if you can eat an 'OK' meal, for example a Subway sandwich with wheat bread, I would go with that. It's really more of a personal preference rather than a hard fast rule. And it's OK to cheat and eat junk once in awhile if you truly enjoy it -- just don't make it a habit!
438. Q:
We are supposed to eat every 2-3 hours in order to keep our metabolism fast and burn all the time.What happens in our body when we skip a meal and dont eat anything for 4-5 hours?
A:
In case of just one skipped meal the changes will be pretty much negligible, of course. But in general keeping your body well-supplied with sources of energy (carbs, fats, and to some degree protein) and building-material for cells (protein, fats) allows it to be repairing and building the muscles as well as carry out all the other 'maintenance' processes that always go on in the background. When you don't supply your body with food for longer periods of times these processes slow down and your body starts to instead break down muscle for energy (in addition to breaking down fat for energy which is the preferred energy source for your body and for you, looks-wise :)
It's always good to remember that an explanation like I just gave is a terrible over-simplification. What actually goes on in your body is a myriad of interconnected processes that the science is far from understanding, even now. But we DO know at a very high level how different foods and meal schedules affect muscle and fat development. It's a bit like knowing how to drive your car without understanding in any great detail how the engine and the transmission and the exhaust all work.
439. Q:
I would like help me with my case which seems to be a little weird.Before i had some fat which i got rid of.Was about 12 kgs.After 3 months gym and diet i lost them.Iam thin now but recently i found that whatever i do i continue lose more kgs...I eat 5 meals and i go to gym.I have a good nutrition but even if i go to gym or not,even if i move a lot or not i lose kgs as time passes.How could this be explained?Is it possible my metabolism became so good that burns so much even if iam just sitting?I dont have muscles iam just thin and i eat all the proper foods sleep well and drink lots of water.Any help?
A:
You should pat yourself on the back :) Your workout routine and your diet are working so well that your metabolism is through the roof now, as you guessed. It's also possible that the meals you eat are too small and have too few calories in them. In either case the solution is quite simple: eat more! Make the portion sizes bigger and add more good carbs like oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, fruits and berries, some whole-grain bread. I guarantee you that if you eat enough the weight loss will stop.
In fact, if you're interested in not only stopping the weightloss but would actually like to reverse it and build some muscle, then you should just keep upping the portion sizes and adding good carb-rich foods until you're steadily gaining about 1 kilo per month. That will give you a very good muscle-building diet. If you start gaining faster than 2 kilos/month you should scale the portion sizes back down since such fast weight gain will result in a lot of unwanted new fat.
440. Q:
Hey Mike, with school starting tomorrow, i wanted to know what would be a good healthy lunch i could bring to school, because everything their is fried and full of fat. Also, ive been on your 6 week chest program, and have increaseed from 3 to 7 reps on 135 and can now do 150 3-4 reps, thanks alot!
A:
Good job and congrats on your progress! Here're some ideas of what to bring to school for lunch
- Tuna sandwich with sliced hardboiled egg or mayo on whole-grain bread
- Chicken or tuna salad with lettuce/spinach/etc with a bit of olive oil and herbs (in a tupperware container)
- Salmon with broccoli and brown rice (in a tupperware container). Probably need a microwave to heat it up.
- A cup of cottage cheese with some strawberries or a sliced banana
- A mix of uncooked old-fashioned oats, whey powder, and peanut or almond butter in water. This is definitely weird, but can be brought in a small plastic bottle and gulped down quickly :)
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