Need nutrtion help.

T

TylerAnF

0
Hi everyone im new here, and also new to fitness. In the past, Ive always been pretty thin. Im an 18 year old male, about 5'7 and 135lbs. Im pretty small, and never had a problem with gaining weight. Ive never been fat, but never been really fit either. My goal is to have a nicer, more fit body. Mostly upper body is what Im aiming for. Abs, chest, shoulders and arms is what I really want. Heres my problem, I dont know what I should eat to get this. I know nothing about nutrition really, Ive always ate whatever I wanted, fast food, candy, brownies, 3 ham sandwhiches packed with mayo in a row, hot pockets, whatever I want really, and I stay the same way. But Ive got a little layer of fat not exposing my tummy the way I want it to look. Its pretty flat, but I want it a little more toned. See pic below. What should I avoid eating, and what should I eat to keep healthy and keep a toned body? And what is it in the foods that I should avoid eating that make fat appear? I know carbs and calories exist, but I have no idea what they are! lol. Well I hope to get some helpful responses from everyone. Here is a pic of what I want my tummy to look like.

wow, what a nice tummy.
 
Its impossible to cover all aspects in a forums post. I'd start with a good book...however that's a daunting task in itself. I'd say read BodyRX or The Edge for some basic nutrition information.
You want to eat 5-6 times a day - about every 2-3 hours. If you want mass then you need to eat more calories than you burn. To cut down, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn, but you want to cut mostly carbs, keepign protein at least 1g per lb of bodyweight.

Also, don't skimp on leg workouts. Nothing looks worse than a buff upper body and toothpick legs.
 
Thanks for the link abear, I think itll help me alot. What is it about these foods that makes it good for me to eat? How much of which should I be eating each day, what am I gonna be looking for on the labels? Im really in the dark so all help would be appreciated :D and Ill try to check out those books :p
 
Those foods are good to eat because they are healthy. They are whole, natural foods without lots of crap fillers and additives (like sugar and trans-fats). All the processed foods like fast food, brownies, hot pockets...those are all full of extra calories which come from the wrong sources (usually incomplete, gelatinzed protein, sugar, and bad fats).
 
take your time and begin to add in these foods to replace your current selections. dont try to do it all in one shot. frustration can set in very easily.

get a rough estimate of how many calories you're consuming now and go off that number. get all this in order first then work your way into exact amounts of protein, carbs and fats.

simple meals are like a chicken breast with a sweet potato, a can of tuna with some walnuts, a cup of oatmeal with some eggs, etc. keep it simple to help develop good habits. :)
 
I find it easiest to make a bag of brown rice on sunday, and cook 4 chicken breasts. That covers 2-3 days worth of lunches/dinners, and I just toss in frozen veggies with my cup of rice and chicken breast. Substitute tuna for chicken on some days.

Keep some of your meals, simple and straight-forward, and cook them in bulk. those cheap Gladware containers are perfect. They don't melt when you nuke them, and if you lose one, you're only out 50 cents instead of $4 for real tupperware.
 
bump on that

on sundays i turn the tv towards the kitchen and watch the games while i do my food for the week. planning ahead is key. ;)
 
Thats some good advice, looks like Ill be doing some grocery shopping soon. What about sauces and stuff? Is it ok to use ketchup, a1, and that kind of stuff with your chicken? I like chiken and veggies alot, especially broccoly, and I find that broccoly really fills you up for waht ever reason.
 
A lot of sauces have simple carbs, and some have high fructose corn syrup (this stuff is evil).

I tend to go with seasonings on the food when I cook it. I but granulated garlic by the pound container...cajun seasonin, lemon pepper.

marinades are awesome too.

just go light on any sauces.
 
this will help also
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template for the average person.
by average I mean you just want to gain muscle efficiently this template will outline the basics. once you understand the basics you can make adjustments and additions that is best for you.

DIET: -40% protein 40% carbs 20%fat this is a basic layout. "what kind of protein?" well you should eat: chicken,tuna,eggs,fish,beef are all acceptable basically avoid things like fast food meats and other stuff that's just common since. "what about carbs?" mainly oats, whole grains, starchy vegetables, fruit. "and fat?" most of your fat intake should be from vegetable oils,milk, seeds and nuts. if you don't like those foods there are some alternatives. -"how many calories?" 18 times your bodyweight is a basic, so if you weigh 180lbs that's 3240 calories a day. most people are not exact or even close, a way to help is to write down what your going to eat, how many calories and protein/carbs/fat etc are in each food. -liquids: 1-2 gallons/4-8 Liters of water or milk a day is the basic amount you want(milk is about 90% water).

SUPPLEMENTS: (first tier supps) a good multi-vitamin is an absolute MUST and the most important in the supp world, because it is almost impossible for the average lazy person to get all the vitamins & minerals needed for optimal hypertrophy (muscle gain). next on the list is EFA's (essential fatty acids) for much the same reason that it's hard to get in a teen diet, and I'm not talking about pizza grease & steak fat. (second tier supps) -creatine, is an amino acid. It is normally produced in the body from arginine, glycine and methionine. Creatine plays a vital role in cellular energy production as creatinephosphate (phosphocreatine) in regenerating adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in skeletal muscle, it's perfectly safe. -protein powder: this is used for pre/post workout some use it for morning/night as well mainly just for post. (whey) is the one of choice.
those are the 4 main supps I could go on for the rest of my natural born life about third and fourth tier supps like glutamin, L-arginin, ZMA, etc. but I'm just covering the basics o ya the tiers are order of importance. I'm leaving out PH's if you know what those are

WORKOUT PROGRAMS: alot of these exercises have dumbbell-counterparts.
Chest: Parallel bar dips, Bench Press, Incline Press
Legs:Squats (including front squats), tiff-Legged deadlifts, Calf-raises
Back:Bent-over rows, Chins Bent-legged, Deadlifts (also a leg exercise)
Delts:Military press, Lateral raises
Arms:Close-grip bench, press Close-grip chins
you can find fully detailed workouts.

SLEEP: you need 8-10 hours a night, bodybuilders/weightlifters need more than regular people.

BODYTYPES: Ectomorph(skelitor),Mesomorph(heman),Endomorph (fat lizard guy) do a search on the net and you will find more info, this will effect your diet and workout program

CONCLUSION: this isn't thermonuclear science, and you don't need to be an endocrinologist, being perfectly exact is not needed for the average person. If you have further questions search, not just here but others sites like google,altavista,etc. advertisements can say almost anything, so research and find the truth. by.phaledax
 
If you really want to get the angle on your nutrition click here good sound knowledge no bull just fact.
 
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