Hello, I'm wanting to know how important nutrition is for really getting clear, really cut abs, like Chris (the other Chris, not me) what is the goal? Caloric deficit? Caloric surplus? Just eating healthier more Whole Foods, not processed? I have fixed my diet a lot and noticed a huge improvement, I have been good at being consistent and exercising and improving and have seen great change but my end goal is something I have never had, a super defined clear cut six pack. Is it a matter of cutting calorie intake? Or just a matter of eating healthier? I am at around 14.5% bodyfat, I started at 22.9 in around 3 weeks I have dropped few inches in clothing and gained lots of new muscle. Thanks for any help / advice, I believe I am mesomorph
Yes there's no other path around or a magic pill or a magic exercise that skips the caloric deficit for fat loss. Good job at getting to 14% body fat from 22.9%, how long did it take you? And how important nutrition is for getting cut abs is a different answer for everyone. I have a friend who eats shit all the time but has a six pack (not as cut as Chris's or others though) and decent muscles (weight lifting for 7 years, I BET he would have thrice better results if he ate better) but on the other hand I eat clean 80-90% of the time but my six pack is still yet to be cut but I have more muscle than him and I've been working out since September 2016 (my journey beginning is strange because I started a bit earlier but I injured myself so I'm not counting that because I worked out like twice or three times but whatever lol). There's many ways of eating and I believe there's no right or wrong ways to do so. In the end it's basic mathematics (calories in vs calories out) and involving clean food most of the time, a lot of people doubt that it's too simple and make up other shit but it's all about the macros and the calories pretty much. What I'm doing now is I have a 400 caloric deficit, I try to eat 1g protein per lb of bodyweight (sometimes ends up a bit less/more), eat moderate-ish carbs throughout the day (breakfast and stuff like that) but I eat a lot of carbs before and after workout or before I do something that involves a lot of energy. It's been working for me right now and I found out the reason I plateaued in fat loss, it's basically the weekly average that matters more than an actual 1 day of a deficit. So let's say a guy needs 3000 to maintain his bodyweight, so he has a 500 caloric deficit. There's 2 scenarios I want to talk about:
He eats 2500 calories throughout 7 days with the occasional cheat meal maybe once every 3 weeks. But let's look at the weekly average. It's 2500 throughout 7 days (2500*7=17 500 weekly calories ). If he ate at maintenance that's (3000*7=21 000). Now let's say it's 2500 throughout 5 days and then Saturday and Sunday he goes crazy, he hits 4 000-5 000 calories each of those 2 days. (2500*5+5000*2=22 500). So what does this tell you? The maintenance weekly calories is 21 000 and he's eating 22 500 and he's wondering why he isn't losing fat but GAINING fat..
Okay this was a long answer I know, if you don't want to read all of it read this: NUTRITION FOR ABS FOR SOME PEOPLE WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT AND FOR SOME NOT SO MUCH. WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU NOW IS TO HAVE A CONSISTENT CALORIC DEFICIT AND A CONSISTENT SUPPLY OF PROTEIN AND EAT HEALTHY CARBS AND FATS WITH THE OCCASIONAL CHEAT MEAL, DO THAT TILL YOU HIT AROUND 10% BODY FAT AND THEN EAT AT MAINTENANCE FOR A WEEK AND THEN EITHER KEEP MAINTAINING OR GO ON A LEAN BULK(VERY IMPORTANT, A SMALL CALORIC SURPLUS, MAYBE 50-200 CALORIES ONLY).
cd.mickle
Thanks a lot for your comment, my goal is around 10% bodyfat. So, to go from where I'm at now down to 10% I have to maintain a caloric deficit is that right? And that will keep me burning that fat and cutting down? Thanks a lot for the input, I appreciate it.
(My loss is hard to say but total between measurements it's been about 4 months or something, but for 3 months it was just me changing diet, no more fast food, eating vegetables now, no more chips, sodas, a lot less beer, etc.)
I have only really been working out for about 3 weeks now, it's week 4 for me but I got really sick with a cold so I had 1 week break.
I mean from all the re-search that I've done, 90% of the stuff say a small-moderate but a consistent caloric deficit, adequate protein, healthy carbs & fats and patience, but there's just stupid sites and magazines that promote some diets that apparently work in 2 weeks and you lose 20lbs, or green tea diets where you drink only green tea, sure you can lose the 20lbs but you will lose a lot of muscle and after you finish that diet you will probably gain the weight back.
For me it is sort of a skewed point of view. When I was in the army I watched someone lose 43lbs, they didn't change anything they are either (far as I'm aware,
I mean they weren't consciously eating clean /
Healthy) so I got this mindset that you can eat anything and it doesn't matter as long as you are working hard enough to burn through it, but I have discovered and realized that I probably would have been close to / similar to Chris, if I had given up that dumb idea and I was eating healthier.
Gligor
Hey man it is true that you can eat anything you want and as long as you eat in a caloric deficit (whether eat less or burn more (burn through it as you said)) you will lose fat. One can eat clean & healthy foods all the time but they don't lose fat - because they eat too much, and one can allow some unhealthy foods every once in a while and have top results because they recognize their calories and stop at a certain number. And I think the second way is healthier though, if you're stressing out and are obsessed for healthy eating then it becomes unhealthy in your mind you know lol. But on the other hand, I believe if you hit your calories and macros and eat healthy vs eat unhealthy, you will have way different results, because what happens in your body if you eat Twinkies vs oats is way different, etc. (Of course it depends on the somatotype you are, ectomorphs won't have a problem processing carbs and a lot of calories but it's harder for them to gain weight but endomorphs - especially the non-active endomorphs and in some case mesomorphs should watch out the calories).
cd.mickle
So, to lose body fat and decrease bodyfat percentage you have to have a caloric deficit? Is that right?
http://straighthealth.com/pages/qna/caloriedeficit.html
Just look at the general advises people give about fat loss:
1.) Eat less junk food: transitions into eating less calories hence a caloric deficit.
2.) Stop drinking soda: transitions into less calories hence a caloric deficit.
3.) Do calisthenics/weight lifting: burns more calories hence a caloric deficit.
4.) Do cardio: burns calories hence a caloric deficit.
See where I'm going right? :D
I guess that makes sense! For whatever reason I was thinking that "burning fat" and burning through a bodyfat percentage number was different. Now I realize it's not, thanks for letting me know, here's to continued success! Skål!