Calories in vs. calories out

[Guest ZeroTwo]

I am 5'10", 260, and struggling to lose weight, but at the same time I want to gain muscle. My crossfit instructor told me that in order to build muscle you need to consume more calories than you are burning.

I have no idea how that's supposed to work, but I figure he knows what he's doing so I made a milkshake with protein powder, bananas and raspberries in sweetened condensed milk, honey and heavy whipping cream and downed it. I've been stuffing my face hoping to gain muscle, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to be able to lean out while doing this.

If you build muscle by eating more calories, how come some people end up all buff and others end up fat like me? Do they just have better genetics than I do?

Please help, I'm really confused.

[SpeedRacer]

Ahh, well this is a general question with a very long winded answer.

The main point I want to make is, genetics has very little to do with why you're large and other guys are muscly. It's more about the personal choices you and they have made with regards to their lifestyle.

The reader's digest version is best phrased by Carjack but I'll paraphrase:

You want to lose fat? Eat less and lift heavy

You want to lose muscle and fat? Eat less

You want to gain muscle? Eat LOTS OF MEAT and lift heavy

You want to gain fat? Eat lots of bread.

At the end of the day, your body is going to be in one of two states. Anabolic or Catabolic. The first means building and the second means losing. Whether your body is in one of these states depends almost entirely on your total calories for the day minus your BMR for the day. If calories in is less than your BMR you'll lose (in a weight sense), if your calories in is greater than your BMR you'll gain. You can calculate your resting BMR here http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ .

Now the rule of thumb (which is actually incorrect, but I'll say more about that in a bit) is that every pound of fat on your body is equivalent to 3500 Calories of energy. This means, if you want to lose a single pound of fat in a week you'll have to rack up a 500 Calorie deficit every day. That's hard. This is where most people flunk out of diets because if all you do is eat 500 Calories less than your BMR then you'll do two things, 1) you'll reduce your metabolic rate meaning you'll have to eat even less to see results and 2) feel hungry and miserable. The other way to come up with a deficit is to increase your BMR. Basically the way to do this is to be more active. In particular, if you choose to lift weights (nobody will judge you in the gym, everybody starts out with light weight) that are heavy for you, then, if you do the right movements, you'll manage a 500 Calorie workout fairly easily in about 40 minutes. This is the method I prefer because 1) You don't feel hungry and 2) You're getting stronger with every weight you lift.

Now unfortunately food isn't just a matter of calories. There are different kinds. No nutritionist in the world would recommend 2400 Calories of chocolate and exercise as a healthy lifestyle and you wouldn't actually lose weight on it. Basically food in your body gets processed and broken down into three essential macro-nutrients. Fat, Carbohydrate and Protein. It will use whichever one of these it has available for its daily energy. From what I've read, and I'm probably going to remember it wrong, so forgive me, Fat is used for proper organ function, Protein is used for cellular and tissue repair and Carbs are pure energy. Now in order for the body to process carbohydrate, it has to break up the molecule into its simplest form, sugar, and then it has to release insulin into your blood to keep your blood sugar level down (or else you'll die). ALL CARBS INCREASE YOUR BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL. When insulin is in your system, quite simply, you can't lose fat. Your body is in storage mode when there's insulin present because it has the emergency that you will DIE if it doesn't do something. So it does, it stores whatever it can't use right then and there as fat. So the way to LOSE FAT is to keep your blood sugar from spiking and to do this you basically just don't eat many carbohydrate. Do not cut carbs out though, your body needs it to live, just try and make your only carb source vegetables and fruit.

So if you're not eating carbohydrates what are you eating? Fat and Protein. Or meat and vegetables. If you honestly stick to a diet of meat and vegetables you'll lose weight. Yes you're allowed to be naughty and have a bit of marinade, or a couple potatoes, or even a chocolate bar now and then. But predominantly your diet should be meat and veggies.

The only problem I found with your protein shake is that you added a plentiful helping of sugar to it. Don't do that.

The good news is, at 5'10" and 260 pounds you actually already ARE quite muscular. You just can't see it. You'll have to run a calorie deficit for a few months in order to do so, but if you mostly lose fat (and strength training will make sure your catabolic losses will come from 95% fat and only 5% muscle) once you get down to say 200 lbs you'll be wondering where all that muscle came from. The only reason your muscles feel weak at the moment is because they're untrained, they're THERE, they just don't know how to contract, again Strength training will help with that.

[Eatesalot7]

Ahh, well this is a general question with a very long winded answer.

Now unfortunately food isn't just a matter of calories. There are different kinds. No nutritionist in the world would recommend 2400 Calories of chocolate and exercise as a healthy lifestyle and you wouldn't actually lose weight on it. Basically food in your body gets processed and broken down into three essential macro-nutrients. Fat, Carbohydrate and Protein. It will use whichever one of these it has available for its daily energy. From what I've read, and I'm probably going to remember it wrong, so forgive me, Fat is used for proper organ function, Protein is used for cellular and tissue repair and Carbs are pure energy. Now in order for the body to process carbohydrate, it has to break up the molecule into its simplest form, sugar, and then it has to release insulin into your blood to keep your blood sugar level down (or else you'll die). ALL CARBS INCREASE YOUR BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL. When insulin is in your system, quite simply, you can't lose fat. Your body is in storage mode when there's insulin present because it has the emergency that you will DIE if it doesn't do something. So it does, it stores whatever it can't use right then and there as fat. So the way to LOSE FAT is to keep your blood sugar from spiking and to do this you basically just don't eat many carbohydrate. Do not cut carbs out though, your body needs it to live, just try and make your only carb source vegetables and fruit.

This is right on. There is a book called 'Why We Are Fat' which is the simple version of 'Good Calories, Bad Calories.' I read the Why We Are Fat book and the book really centered on how your glycemic index is controlled. Basically that's what research is getting down to now. The more you keep your insulin level lows, the more weight you will lose. When your insulin levels go up and down, so does your eating, which means, so does your weight. The key is to keep the insulin level low and consistent. Think of it this way, Sugar is a drug. So when it spikes you are doing great, but when that sugar high is over, you want more. That's a very basic view of how sugar will affect you. (I still like my carbs but the rule I follow is the whiter the bread, the closer to death. So the breads and potatoes I eat are not 'white' but, red or brown. I hope that makes sense.)

As for the fruits, it's going to be trial and error. For instance, I know that I can eat all the Bananas I want (within reason) and be fine. But if I eat oranges, I maintan the weight and don't lose it. I also noticed that I was drinking fruit smoothies and although I had my protein powder in it, I wasn't seeing a loss. So I ended up taking the majority of the fruit out of my diet and I've noticed a huge shift. I don't have much of a problem with veggies, but be warned that if you eat too many fruits, it could also affect you.

Best advice, start reading. Start doing research, try to see what works with your body and what doesn't. Education is the best weight loss tool.

[Dio]

SpeedRacer has the right of it! As personal experience, 5 weeks ago I started doing basic body-weight training (same thinking but less intense than crossfit) and started eating paleo/primal. I have already lost twenty pounds (although not all of that is actual fat loss. water-weight and other non-fat weight are lost first in new diets) but more importantly can see and feel a difference.

The rules I'm told to follow are to make sure that I have enough energy to work out and to regulate my insulin release as much as possible. That means not forcing food down my throat, but still eating when I'm hungry and instead of high-sugar/carbloads to get the calories, tons of veggies, good fruit, and healthy meats and fats. So instead of the smoothie you mentioned, one of my favorite breakfasts is a 2 egg omelet loaded with veggies and sausage and half a grapefruit. That gets me the energy to last in the day. If you do want to rock the smoothie, drop out the honey and sweetened condensed milk and just add more cream and fruit. Or yogurt. And try drinking it alongside a chicken breast and pile of broccoli.

In addition to "building new muscle" to burn the fat/get stronger, it really is retraining the muscles you already have to know they're strong. If you are well rested and well fed, you will see explosive improvements in your normal crossfit workouts.

[Guest Carjack]

I predict the Tinkerbell guy is gonna do CrossFit with calorie surpluses and deficits for months and burn out.

After crying for days about not being a real slim sailor and gorging on twinkies, he'll go gorge on nothing but meat at the Outback Steakhouse, then squat his way to badassdom in a year.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jKrQrrAH3Xg/TMhG8mEZ_MI/AAAAAAAABVY/llbr3p_ZEFI/s1600/t9Ml.jpg

I look forward to his posts when he gives wild accounts of emotional binge lifting.

[NekoLuvr85]

I've been stuffing my face hoping to gain muscle, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to be able to lean out while doing this.

If you build muscle by eating more calories, how come some people end up all buff and others end up fat like me? Do they just have better genetics than I do?

Please help, I'm really confused.

I think you have the right idea, but your method may be a little bit off... Yes you are supposed to eat more calories when you're trying to build muscle, but that doesn't mean to eat all kinds of fatty, greasy, or sugary foods. Yes, that will make you gain weight, but not in the way you want. You want to increase your caloric intake with healthy foods. Lots of leaner cuts of meat, vegetables, and fruits. Try to avoid anything fried or greasy. If you're seeing a trainer, they should be able to give you suggestions on what types of foods you should be eating. Maybe even give you some ideas for what your diet plan should look like daily? A lot of people trying to up their calories eat 5-6 [healthy] meals a day.

[Loren Wade]

You're trying to do two things at once here, which is pretty much impossible.

To gain muscle MASS (size), you need a caloric surplus. You'll gain fat and muscle mass.

To lose fat, for the most part, you need to be in a caloric deficit. You'll burn fat but not gain muscle mass.

This is why you'll commonly see people do this in different phases. A lean out phase, THEN a bulking phase. Doing both at the same time is pretty much impossible.

However, if you want to lose weight and just gain muscle STRENGTH, that you can do in a deficit also.

Hope that helps.

[Guest Carjack]

The laws of thermodynamics are for skinny people and pussies.

That huge layer of lard around fat people is the calorie surplus.