How much attention do you spend on nutrition?

[thephilosopher6]

Hi everyone!
I am 34 (M) now and the Last 3 months I worked out harder than ever before. But I could not train the last 3 years before.
So the thing is, I can’t see any result. I have a typical beer belly like many man. Below my belly everything looks fine and I also have „strong“ arms.
Back in my twenties I worked out 2-3 times a week and went to Mc Donald’s or Pizza Hut afterwards. And was super in shape.
Now I Workout 4-5 times a week and also doing cardio. But I still eat like a twelve year old boy when his parents aren’t at home... pizza, chocolate and probably way to much beer...
So I wanted to know how much effort do u out in nutrition? Does it really make such a huge difference? Is the mindset: work harder and u can eat what u want wrong?

 

[dawn16]

@thephilosopher6 Honestly, if you’re working out and eating shitty you’re wasting your time in the gym. Yes, working out is good for you but your nutrition needs to be in check. You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight.

 

[ocdandme]

@dawn16 If you’re eating poorly either way, lifting obviously isn’t a waste of time. You’re going to be building muscle and limiting the amount of surplus calories being stored as fat. Sure, proper nutrition is important to becoming more lean but going to the gym is never a waste of time if you’re working hard while there.

 

[dawn16]

Then you’ll just be the fat buff guy. You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. And get it out if your head that you need to lose belly fat because you can’t lose fat by spot checking. If you’re in a calorie deficit you will lose weight and you’ll probably see it in your face, legs, and arms before your stomach

 

[thephilosopher6]

@dawn16 But is getting rid of the belly only possible by a calorie deficit? Wouldn’t it disappear when u gain more muscles?

 

[rbr]

@thephilosopher6 So, yes. If you don't burn the fat, you'll have more muscles underneath the fat, but you'll still have the fat on top

As for dieting: you'll burn more calories as you gain muscle. It takes energy to have muscle - not just to build it, but to have it.

Definitely work on diet though if you can. Every little bit helps. Keep working out - that's the foundation. Those habits are key.

 

[osina]

@thephilosopher6 A lot. The actual working out is a very small part of the equation compared to your food and lifestyle.

 

[alexbd89]

@thephilosopher6 I just got my diet under control and developed a lot of habits. The first step for me, was just tracking everything I ate using the Lose It! App. Just be being aware of what was going in my body and trying to watch the calories, I started shedding pounds. Then, I developed new routines for breakfast and stuck to it. Then, did lunches, and stuck to it. And now, we’re dialing in our dinners. I’ve had a beer belly and have a Six pack now. Took me since March. I’m in the gym 3-4 times a week.

 

[thephilosopher6]

@alexbd89 Wow respect! Great progress!

 

[alexbd89]

@thephilosopher6 Yeah! Totally doable. I’ve struggled with diet for 10 years or so.

 

[dawn16]

@thephilosopher6 Honestly I didn’t really understand how the right nutrition made things so much easier - that eating the right macros and tracking would just make things that I’d been struggling for in the gym just happen (even though I was largely eating healthy before).

 

[h4wk]

@thephilosopher6 A far amount. I use Cronometer regularly (tracks macros and micros), cook mostly at home, and read /r/advancednutrition too much

 

[thephilosopher6]

@h4wk Thx for the sub

 

[lottyh]

@thephilosopher6 You’re probably over eating, try tracking your food for a few days with a fitbit, or MyFitnessPal etc and not changing your habits. You’ll probably see you’re hitting an extra 1000 calories of mostly sugar and carbs.

You’re hitting the age where it starts to become more important.

 

[thephilosopher6]

@lottyh Yeah absolutely! Did it backwards with just the things I could remember... way to much. I was really wrong with the train and eat what u want mindset

 

[lottyh]

@thephilosopher6 I lost 11lbs (212 to 201 at 6ft pretty muscular) in November just from tracking food and limiting beers to Friday and Saturday’s. Did 0 cardio this month too. It’s all in the kitchen.

 

[cathisings]

@thephilosopher6 You cant outwork a bad diet. Just cant ...

Calories in, calories out. Simple as that.

In twenties you were MUCH more active overall. Not just working out, but overall and you burned more calories as a result.

Now you have a family, job, FUCK ton more stress and to add on shit pile less testosterone then you had in twenties.

Clean up your diet, loose the fat and work out. This will help with overall mood, but also testosterone. Bad diet and fat can really mess up your hormones. Wich leads to being even fatter.

Take it from an older man.

In 10-15 years you might consider TRT, but as long as you can fix your hormones with exercise and diet do it. Once you go external source ( at later age ) you cant go back any more.

As to how much effort I put in...

43 yo

Lifting for a bit less then 3 years now. Started of as a couch potato, borderline obese bastard.

On TRT because of hypognadisam ( fancy word for - your balls are dead ) for bit over a year. I am thankful because it helped me a lot - mentaly and physically, but I would like my balls back tyvm.

Untill COVID was weighing every meal for over a year. Got good at guessing how much I eat and stopped. Decided getting 6 pack is way too much work, but still want to be lean and in shape, so keeping 20-ish percent BF.

Meals are protein heavy - all 3 major meals. With carbs in form of rice, bread, potato, pasta - pick your fancy.

Snacks are fruit, cheese, maybe protein bar if it strikes my fancy.

Alcohol once a week, on Sunday. When wife cooks. It is usually 1 beer or one glass of wine spritzer.

Oh and I cook all meals my self. Usually 2-3 days in one batch.

I am fit and reasonably strong , but still not shredded wicked sick. Too much work for something I would like, but ultimately not as interested to put in the work.

 

[thephilosopher6]

@cathisings Thank u! Never thought about the stress thing! I build a house, have a pregnant wife and the job is also more and more stressing. And working from home for 9 months now results also in lower activity I think. Probably I have to spend more time to my hole self. 10 years ago everything was easier and I slept like a baby! Now I have sometimes problems sleeping and this probably has also some side effects

 

[petty88]

@thephilosopher6 Wow.

You can't out train a bad diet unless you're Michael Phelps.

And 3 months of working out but not eating properly, you're SURPRISED at the lack of results? You clearly have some unrealistic expectations of what results you can get and how quickly. Even if you did everything right for those 3 months you'd only see modest results.

You have to commit to a way of life to really get where you want to be. Sorry to break that to you. If it was possible to have good results after 3 months with a shitty diet everyone would walk around looking like a fitness model.

 

[thephilosopher6]

@petty88 The thing is that I never ate properly and had results. But this time I become stronger (also slower than it was 10 years ago) but I don’t lose weight or fat. And that’s completely different than before. And I can’t see any difference in my nutrition, it always was shitty. But 3 years is also the longest break I ever had with so less training.