Nutriton
Post diet hunger hormones: The roles of Leptin and Ghrelin
Can we explain that ravenous hunger we experience post diet? You’ve just finished your competition prep. For some that was an intense 12 weeks, for some a gruelling 25 week slog. Regardless, fat levels were dropping because calories were in a deficit and activity was high. You were hungry, yes, but were you this hungry? Post show hunger is something else right!? You’re eating more food now than you were before, yet you never feel full or satisfied. This can be a recipe for disaster when you no longer have the threat of stage over your head. I’m hungry, I’m not on prep anymore, I’ll eat. Eat, still hungry, in fact, eating has made you feel even hungrier! So you eat some more, and so on. Why does this occur?
From skinny to fit
If you are reading this frustrated, I feel your pain. This used to be me. If you saw me now, I am confident that you wouldn’t label me as skinny. Sure, I have areas that I want to grow in, but that’s just down to my now, bodybuilding mindset.
I played sports all the way through my childhood up until I was injured just before I went to uni. At the time I would have described myself as ‘athletic’ rather than skinny. I was strong for my age and I was fast, but in hindsight, from a bodybuilders point of view or anyone who enjoyed training, I was skinny.
How much muscle can you really build?
This is a question that I have always been interested in, ever since I started building muscle and noticing the change it can have on your appearance. Surely, if you are able to build 4lb of muscle in one month then you can just replicate that in the next month and build another 4? Oh, if only. Everyone would be walking around as a 250lb plus bodybuilder. Plus, these types of gains only really happen when you are a newbie. The body is a very smart machine and quickly adapts to stimulus. Which sucks for building muscle, but it's what has kept us (humans) at the top of the food chain.
Reducing hunger on a diet
Most of us have all been on a diet at some point in our life. Most of us have probably all got to a point within that diet where we feel incredibly hungry, it's almost inevitable. A diet after all (one that restricts calories) is essentially starving our body of enough calories to function optimally.
I’m also sure that once most of us feel that insatiable hunger, a good few of us have caved and stuffed our face full of our favourite food at least once or twice. That’s fine by the way, we are human and most of us aren’t in prep for a competition and don’t have to be strict every second of every day. You shouldn’t feel guilty and you shouldn’t quit if this happens, dieting should be sustainable and be done over a long period of time. Think to yourself, what is one or two meals of ‘bad’ food if you are dieting for over 100 days? Very little in the grand scheme of things.
Get fit on a budget
You don’t have to spend a fortune to get fit. In fact, you don’t even have to spend a penny to start getting fitter and seeing an improvement in your physique.
Getting ‘fit’ is quite broad. Getting fit to one individual could be having their abs visible, whilst getting fit to another could be running a 10k. For me, getting fit is being happy with my physique whilst also not putting any strains on daily life. I enjoy my food, a drink and visiting places without having to think what my next meal must consist of or how many calories I’m burning. I think most people are like this.
Master your lean bulk
Everyone loves the idea of staying lean whilst they bulk, and although the principles of doing so are fairly simple, staying relatively lean whilst trying to add as much muscle as possible can become a struggle. A few slip ups here and there will add up quickly and before you know it you are losing visibility of your abs, those veins start to disappear, and you start to look a lot more watery. The result? You panic and immediately cut until you can see the lean gains again. The problem with this, however, is that you aren’t really going to be adding any significant muscle to your frame yoyoing like this.
Understanding L-Citrulline
L-citrulline is a substance called a non-essential amino acid. Your kidneys change L-citrulline into another amino acid called L-arginine and a chemical called nitric oxide.
These compounds are important to your heart and blood vessel health. They may also boost your immune system.
What actually is flexible dieting?
You have most likely heard of flexible dieting, or as its more commonly known, ‘ If It Fits Your Macros’ ( IIFYM).
It’s a touchy subject for a lot of people, especially in today's society where everyone seems to believe they are qualified to give nutritional advice if they are simply in shape. So please read this article with a pinch of salt and know that I am simply giving my explanation and opinion on IIFYM.
The misunderstanding of carbohydrates
You have all heard it, ‘carbs are the enemy’. This statement couldn’t be further from the truth and, I know, sometimes it is thrown around loosely and expected to be taken with a pinch of salt. However, they still seem to carry around a negative stigma, especially with weight loss diets. Carbs in a diet should never be the enemy. They are just as important, if not more important than the other two macronutrients, protein and fat. If there was going to be any saying, I guess it would be something along the lines of ‘calories are the enemy’. At least if your goal was weight loss, and that’s still a little misleading.
Example of a great Weight gain diet
To build some great muscle-mass, The key here is calorie excess, which means you will need to consume more than your body is burning. Your daily calorie goal is approximately 200 over your maintenance, which will fluctuate with activity levels. This should provide you with a great addition to build muscle-mass without negatively affecting your energy levels or health. Do this for your first month, and you should see some great progress. Following the first month, it will be easier to re-evaluate your body's needs, and reassess your daily calorie intake to adjust and make sure it's tailored to you. It's important to remember that everyone is different.