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Understanding Male Metabolism: Eat Like a Man

Guys, you technically don’t have to exercise at all to lose weight. The only problem with plans that rely solely on diet and not enough on strength training is that they don’t take into account the fact that the body needs to be reminded what to break down for energy. Everyone thinks that the body breaks down fat first, but that’s a myth. The body looks for muscle before fat when doing too much cardio and not lifting enough because it is more easily converted into energy. Muscle breakdown is a man’s worst nightmare. To prevent it, you have to stimulate that muscle with strength training. For guys, it’s not about cardio. It’s all about diet and making sure you remind your body that muscle is important.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone on a diet and raced to the end only to end up the same shape, only smaller. That’s what happens if you allow muscle to shrink along with fat. Doing only cardio during the cut, I couldn’t find my V-shape. If you plan your diet the right way, you don’t even have to do cardio. The calorie deficit from eating right will be enough for your body to start cutting down. The key is to make sure the muscle doesn’t melt during that process.

Most people have never calculated their Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), because most people don’t know what it is. Welcome to become an expert on your body! Your BMR is the number of calories you would burn if you just lay down all day. It is the number of calories your body consumes before doing anything remotely physical. You’ll be amazed at how much you’re burning off doing absolutely nothing. There are many websites that calculate this value for you completely free of charge, using only your physical stats, your age, and your gender. After you figure out your BMR, you need to create a plan based on what your goals are. If you wrote on your dislikes list that you are too skinny, then you need to develop a plan to increase your volume a bit. If you noted that it is too fat, then you need to cut a little. There is no way to do both at the same time; nevertheless. When fat is reduced, muscle looks bigger and there is no way to gain muscle without gaining some fat.

Now use your BMR to calculate how many total calories you burn each day. That’s called your total daily caloric expenditure (DCE). If you’re lifting weights, you’re probably burning around 150 calories in the gym. Those guys on the treadmill for an hour are burning about 300-400 extra calories. They’re going through all that work just so they can eat the calorie equivalent of 1 cup of oatmeal per day. That’s a lot of work for just a little bit of satisfaction. I prefer to keep cardio out of this and just focus on diet. That way, you won’t get discouraged by the amount of work you’re putting in versus the amount of pleasure you experience eating the foods you want throughout the day.

The general rule of thumb is if you want to lose weight, consume 70-85% of your total daily caloric expenditure until you reach your goal weight, and if you want to gain weight, consume 115-130% of your total daily caloric expenditure until you reach your goal weight. reach your ideal weight. you reached your target rate. Do not change your diet plan without first consulting your supervising physician. Once you reach your target rate, consume 100% of your daily caloric expenditure—no more, no less. You get to decide what foods to eat for those calories. Although you’ll want to eat a lot of protein if you’re looking to gain weight, there’s no magic type of food you need to eat to lose weight. However, there is one thing to watch out for… cravings. Cravings can appear like a tornado out of nowhere and wipe out your entire day’s calorie intake in one fell swoop.

Cravings happen when your blood sugar level drops too low. When we eat something with sugar, our blood sugar level rises. Then, it collapses; leaving us tired and wanting more. We have all been there. That midnight sprint to the fridge for that PB&J or Nutella on white bread wreaked havoc on my daily calorie count. In the past, I have subsisted solely on it for days. So how do we beat cravings and maintain our discipline? The answer is to make sure your blood sugar never goes too high. It’s a tough transition because you have to get past the initial “capping” of your blood sugar. However, once you get over it, you’re golden. It’s much easier to maintain your caloric deficit when you’re not going through a blood sugar rollercoaster while doing it.

The general rule of thumb is that if a food has a high glycemic index, it will take you to Cravings-ville. Look for the “GI” stamp to easily read foods you find at the grocery store. The sugar content is obviously a concern for craving issues, but it’s also high in calories.

It is much more satisfying to eat more food than less. If you pack your day with the most abundant food, you will feel more satisfied. For example, there are 261 calories in a bowling bag. You could have almost 4.5 cups of grapes for the same amount of calories. You could eat almost 3.5 servings of grilled chicken breast for that amount, assuming your chicken breast serving size is 4 oz each. Buying a food scale would be a good idea at this point for reference. Again, another great resource for this is http://www.myfitnesspal.com. There’s a section of the site that has a pretty comprehensive database of food nutrition information in case you’re at a restaurant and your food doesn’t come with a label.

There are a lot of crazy diets out there, but it all comes down to total calorie intake. Sugar itself is not bad. The facts that will make you overeat and brush up on your calorie count are. Fried chicken is not a problem in and of itself. The problem lies in how much you eat and the fact that it’s so calorie dense that you won’t feel full after eating it all. Small portions are the name of the game. Eat what you want, but always be aware of how much you are eating.

You also have to make sure you eat enough calories. If you drop below the 70% daily expenditure mark, it could be disastrous. You would lose so much muscle that you would no longer be changing your body shape; you would only be changing the size. You want to retain as much muscle as possible while losing weight. Don’t force your body into starvation mode, eating muscle while forgetting to consume enough calories.

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