Why I'll ever be a body builder
 

How do they do that crazy meal plan?
I've got coworkers who do it and I see the food they eat and it makes me sad
Bland chicken, veggies and whole grain starches.
Over and over.
Cottage cheese makes me want to barf just looking at it.

Ok thanks for letting me rant. I need things like mayo in my life (in moderation).
I feel like those meals lack substantial flavor and they are choking it down.

I will say they're very nice and encouraging in their efforts. But I'm unlikely ever going to adopt their mode of eating. I'm just curious how they actually swallow it.
Tabasco, ranch and many other sauces are my friends. They help me eat vegetables.
Anyone else have something that disturbs them?

I know a guy that is a lunk and he eats 6 meals a day. Each meal is brown rice, broccoli, grilled chicken, black beans and salsa. EVERY SINGLE MEAL. I shed tears for him at night. My heart dies a little bit every time we see him.

Something that disturbs me: the employee at the gym that wanted me to sign up for him to be my personal trainer but clearly never did a leg day in his life. All of the people that skip leg day disturb me.

And they all insist their food is yummy and delicious.

There's a bodybuilding celebrity whose Facebook page I used to follow. I mentioned in a thread that I have to work really hard to keep my healthy diet varied or I get bored and and go off-track. She told me it's because I'm too fat; "lean people don't crave variety."

You may have guessed I don't follow her anymore.

ETA: There seems to be a contingent in the bodybuilding community that's breaking away from the low-fat edict and "eat chicken and broccoli every two hours or you'll die" mindset. But the conventional bro wisdom is still strong.

Also, secret eating disorders run rampant in said community.

I have gained a lot of good advice from the bodybuilding community, especially on diet. Most of that advice has been much better than here on 3FC. I think the guys you are talking to/have seen are either beginners or just really enjoy the foods they have found that work for them.

A bodybuilder's diet is actually quite brilliant because it makes you think about proper nutrition including how to tweak things for muscle gain and fat loss. Emphasis is on lean protein but also the other nutirients you need to be healthy and to pack on the muscle gains while hopefully minimizing fat. They often focus on good fats. And often use (limited) carbs to preserve protein for muscle gain.

All the foods I eat are bodybuilder inspired and there is much more variety than you might think.

Google any food and add bodybuilding and you get some great info (albeit in bodybuilder talk).

Try "oysters+bodybuilding" for instance or "dried figs+bodybuilding" Anything you like.

[quote=SoMuchFattitude;5144340 Each meal is brown rice, broccoli, grilled chicken, black beans and salsa. EVERY SINGLE MEAL.[/quote]

I am far from being a body-builder, but in the past year I have been eating much cleaner than before. The above meal actually sounds very good to me! I wouldn't want it every meal, and I do occasionally have things like mayo, but I no longer cook or order meats with sauces or gravies. I like to taste the meat or veggie that I'm eating, not the sauce covering it. I don't consider their diets to be unhealthy.

Their diets aren’t unhealthy... just blah.

Fat free products + protein shakes - no thanks.

No, don't get me wrong. I eat about 80/20 and I would absolutely love that meal. Once, ****, even twice a week. But this guy eats is 6 times a day.

I think that's what disturbs me. Eating the same thing over and over.
Ian, if they brought variety, I'd high five them.
This one guy makes meal plans for people at my work. He knows I'm in process of trying to get fit and tried to offer it. Plain chicken over and over makes me... Squeamish just looking at it.
I'm probably ranting because I'm jealous of the self control. But yeah, flavor me up please.

[QUOTE=IanG;5144442
All the foods I eat are bodybuilder inspired and there is much more variety than you might think.[/QUOTE]
I believe it, but can you tell THEM that?

Chicken is my favorite meat and I can and do eat it often. And I like it plain (boring), just like my veggies. Having said that, I understand how you guys feel about the way these bodybuilders eat. That meal 6 times a day is not normal. Even though it is a healthy meal, we are supposed to eat more variety to be sure we are getting all the different nutrients that our bodies need. They are obsessed with eating this way for the purpose of body building, not with any regard for health. Just another form of an eating disorder, I guess.

No, it's just like some of us. Lots of people on 3FC eat the same, or similar meals, every day. Especially the calorie counters.

For bodybuilding, it's actually worse. You need to track calories, protein, fat and carbs all within set limits based on your weight and what you are trying to achieve (bulk or cut). So it's like calorie counting squared and squared again. I used to use an excel spreadsheet. But the bottom line is that once you calculate meals that fit your daily needs it can be a pain to calculate others. I used to spend a lot of time feeding information from nutritional labels into excel. Sometimes it was just easier to eat the same meal again.

Now I eat variants of the same meal.

Here's an old example of what I would do every day:

Fat Calories Protein Carbs
Breakfast
banana 0 0 0 0
oats 3 150 4 27
Flaxseed milk 2 19 0 1
dried apricot 0 32 0 9
honey 0 21 0 6
Coffee 3 25 0 1
Vital choice mackeral 6 120 18 1
Coffee 3 25 0 1
Ekone lemon pepper oysters 6 165 17 12
Lunch
2 eggs 0 0 0 0
quails eggs 3 42 4 0
Albacore tuna 20 400 56 0
Chilean sea bass 21 270 20 0
East Point shrimp 0 0 0 0
Wild Planet White anchovies in water 0 0 0 0
Ekone original oysters 5 165 17 11
anchovies 0 0 0 0
Honey 0 64 0 17
Garlic 0 0 0 0
Olives 0 0 0 0
Prunes 0 0 0 0
Blueberries 0 0 0 0
Tomato 0 11 1 2
Mushroom 0 2 0 0
Red onion 0 8 0 2
Kidney beans 0 18 1 3
Spinach 0 0 0 0
Lentils 0 0 0 0
Kimchi 0 100 10 10

Total 71 1636 148 103
Weight 171.2
Protein/weight ratio 0.86
Targets based on weight Low High
Calories 2397 2739
Fat based on 20-30% caloric intake 36 55
20% less calories to cut 1917

And then there was, of course, the master list:

Millers jumbo lump crab 1 120 26 0 6.5oz
Wild Planet Sardines 5 183 33 0 4.375oz
Roland Marimated Mussels 8 150 22 0 4.375oz
Wild planet shrimp 2 80 16 0 4oz
East Point shrimp 2 100 22 0 4oz
Fresh Smoked sockeye 3 140 28 0 4oz
Fresh Smoked Scottish salmon 8 160 20 0 4oz
Fresh Smoked trout 8 180 28 0 4oz/1piece
Cockles 1 50 8 4 4oz
Skipanon Smoked sturgeon 2.8 132 24 0 3.5oz
Smoked clams 10 150 16 0 3oz
Chicken of the Sea Smoked oysters 14 240 22 4 3.75oz
Roland Eel 32 340 12 1 3.7oz
Cod liver 24 246 5 1 2oz (half tin)
Large can of Mackeral 24 540 78 0 15oz
Octopus with vegetables 16 240 16 8 4oz
Smoked rainbow trout 16 260 28 0 3.75oz
Skipanon Smoked steelhead 21 315 36 6 5.5oz
Albacore tuna 20 400 56 0 8oz
Sprats 26 354 32 2 5.6oz
Chipotle Cod 3 171 39 0 6oz
Smoked Halibut 5 249 36 0 6oz
Small can of mackeral 9 180 27 0 4.375 oz
Medium can of mackeral 21 411 62 0 10 oz
Octopus in oil 12 220 24 6 4 oz
Squid in ink 18 240 16 4 4 oz
Wild planet Canned sockeye 9 210 36 0 6 oz
Vital choice canned sockeye 16 340 48 0 7.5 oz
Smoked herring 20 217 25 0 100 grams
Dryheated Smelt 3 105 19 0 3 oz
Flaxseed milk 3 25 0 1 1 cup
Almond milk 3 30 1 1 1 cup
Flaxseed milk 2 19 0 1 0.75 cup
Almond milk 2 23 1 1 0.75 cup
Bar Harbor Smoked Wild Kippers 28 350 39 0 6.7oz
Ekone original oysters 5 165 17 11 3 oz
Ekone teriyake oysters 6 180 11 20 3 oz
Ekone lemon pepper oysters 6 165 17 12 3 oz
Ekone barbeque oysters 5 195 15 21 3 oz
Ekone habanero oysters 6 165 20 9 3 oz
Ekone smoked sturgeon 3 123 23 0 3.5oz
Mango Coconut Pepper Sauce 1 40 0 8 2 ts
banana 0 105 1 27
Crown Prince smoked oysters with chili 8 150 11 8 3 oz
Baby squid in olive oil 17 272 25 5 130g
Pan-seared shad roe 16 275 36 3 5 oz
Bread roll 7 200 7 41 3 oz
Vital choice sardines 11 180 19 1 4oz
Conservas mejillones en escabeche 6 116 14 2 69g
Skipanon fancy steelhead 12 270 42 0 6 oz
Conservas sardinillas 8 149 17 2 80g
Vital choice mackeral 6 120 18 1 124g
Canned king crab 1 74 16 0 120g
Hilsa 5 125 20 0 155g
Conservas bonito del norte 10 168 19 0 72g
Wild Planet White anchovies in water 6.75 135 18 0 90g
Millers claw crab 1 100 26 0 140g
Vital Choice redtresca 21 336 36 0 170g
Small scallops in Galician sauce 16 286 26 10 4 oz
Chipirones by Conservas de Cambados - Squid in Olive Oil 12 200 24 2 4 oz
Salted cod 0 80 26 0 4oz
Hummus 2 35 1 3 2 tbsp
Mahi mahi 3 150 30 0 6oz
Swordfish 6.75 210 33 0 6oz
Petit Patagonian scallops 0 90 19 2 4oz
Chilean sea bass 21 270 20 0 6oz

Ian i think my brain just exploded.

I know lot of vegan body builders and what I'd say is there diets vary. Some use protein powder, some don't. Usually they eat a wide array of vegetables. I don't think of what they eat as a bland diet because it is pretty varied and many eat similar to my diet (lots of beans, lots of grains, lots of veggies).

IanG, I am trying my own version of low carb and low calorie food and am struggling to get enough fibre.
What is the weight protein ratio calculation you mentioned and how should I calculate it?
I have an egg for breakfast, salmon or chicken for lunch and either salmon, chicken or liver for my evening meal with either salad, veg or a combination of both. I then treat myself once a day with a small choc ice!

I eat around 1000 calories and yesterday had 89g protein, 37g fat (11g saturated), 25g carbs, and only 7g fibre, yet I had cauliflower and spinach and red onion.

Any advice appreciated. In past diets I've only done low calorie, so this is very new to me.

Thanks

Anni

I can tell you when I was actively calorie counting and losing weight, you would have had a hissy fit over the lack of variety in my day. Every day it was the same variants of a few meals.

breakfast was half an ezekial english muffin with pb2 and dried figs or an egg white, carrot and spinach omelette with a little cheese.

lunch was almost always a chicken burger wrapped in lettuce with avocado or a salad with more chicken. sometimes I got wild and did tuna.

dinner was bison sirloin or tilapia filets with some sort of salad, lots of broccoli and more broccoli. Sometimes I threw in some low calorie pasta and got all fancy.

snacks were always cuties mandarins and apple slices and grapes. String cheese as well.

VERY boring.