macros | powerbuilding

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POST WORKOUT TIME!!!!

Macro-Nutrients

Macro-Nutrients, or macros for short, describes the breakdown of calories in food. These come from the following:

Proteins
Carbohydrates
Fats
Fiber

Like i just said, they are a breakdown of the calories and yield a certain amount of calories per gram.
Proteins, carbs and fiber all yield 4 calories per gram
Fat yields 9 calories per gram
You can see why fat gets a bad reputation now can't you?
An excess of calories WILL make you fat, and because fat is so calorie dense compared to protein carbs or fiber, people eat too much, get in a calorie surplus and therefore, fat makes you fat. WRONG! You just over ate!

Fiber is the one macro I would never count towards my total calories on purpose. Fiber doesn't get digested the same as carbs proteins or fats. They are so lacking in abundance in bad foods now days that if you have a lot of fiber, chances are they're from vegetables or fruit in which case, carbs are what you want to be cautious of not the fiber.

Protein

Function:

Rebuilding and gaining of muscle tissue after intense exercise. The building blocks for your muscle to recover and get bigger/stronger
Recommended amounts:
1-1.5x your body weight in lbs for grams every day

Proteins come in 2 major forms: Complete and incomplete
Proteins are made up of a whole bunch of amino acids which when compared to each other in a graph make up it's amino acid profile. The better the amino acid profile (having an abundance of all amino acids) the better the source of protein. Incomplete proteins lack certain amino acids or have lower than preferred levels of a number of amino acids. This is why complete proteins are optimal for protein sources. That being said, an incomplete protein can be paired with a complete protein to negate the whole lacking an amino acid or 2 problem.

Source of complete proteins:

Chicken, turkey, beef, pork, meat in general (whole meat not processed)
Salmon, tuna, haddock, pilchard, mackerel, fish in general. (^^^^^^^^^^)
Quinoa, a grain like rice except it is a complete protein
Whey protein, casein protein, whey isolate, basically protein powders

Sources of incomplete yet still good protein:
Black beans, kidney beans, soy beans, beans in general
Brazil nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, pistachios nuts in general
Brocili, cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Spinach

All foods contain proteins, just make sure your main sources are a powder, meat or from fish.

Fats

Function:

Brain function, immunity, energy, body function, low intensity exercise fuel, hormone production, organ protection, insulation, help absorption of fat soluble micro-nutrients
Recommended amounts:

60-80 grams on a bulk works for me, 20-30% of your daily calories

Fat has a whole bunch of functions in the body. Hormone production is a BIG one. Muscle building-fat burning hormones like testosterone and growth hormone would be inhibited by low fat dieting. Having not enough fat in your diet can even stop a menstrual cycle. The power of fat is so huge, NEVER cut out fats for more than one day and only if you plan to have loads the next day or you had loads the day before.

Cutting fat still seem ok? NEVER! Take it from me, when i didn't know any better, i cut fat out for a few days at the end of my first cut.... I got ill.....like....seriously ill. I went TOTALLY pale, had trouble standing felt sick all the time, had diarrhea, constipation, muscle loss you name it!

Types of fat

Saturated fats
I read somewhere these fats are used to produce hormones like testosterone. Saturated fats in moderation are good for you just don't overdo it. One portion of a high saturated fat source a day like lean steak mince of an avocado will do. They should account for about 20-25% of your daily fat intake
Mono-Unsaturated and Poly-Unsaturated fats
Usually dubbed as "friendly" or "healthy" or "good" fats. These should account for almost all of the rest of your fats for the day. Great fats for loosing weight, staying healthy and having a functional and well working body.
Trans-Fatty acids

Man made fats, they're un-natural and without sounding like I'm being funny here, they're the fucking devil! Seriously unhealthy and horrific for fat loss and overall body function and optimization.
Sources: (so you can avoid them obviously)
Cakes
Fast Food
Packet noodles

spreads like margarine and butter
frozen pies, pizzas ect
Soups (some don't)

Avoid anything with "hydrogenated" in the ingredients ANYWHERE

Omega 3
Healthy fish oils all the way! Healthy fat, great for you! Great for muscle recovery! Pilchard, mackerel and sardines all great sources!
Less good sources are salmon ect ect ect
Get as many of these as you can, just don't neglect your meat!
There are other great sources like flax seed ect, just look at labels, you might be surprised!

Carbohydrates

Function:

Energy, refilling your muscles with fuel to tackle the next workout and rebuild bigger than before. Putting you in a muscle building environment. Recovery, power, strength, energy.
Recommended amounts:
Anywhere from 20-50% of your daily calories (cutting = lower carbs)

There are 2 main types of carbohydrate: Simple and complex

Before we get into that what do carbs actually do in the body? They stimulate the release of the hormone insulin which regulated blood sugar. Insulin is an ANABOLIC storage hormone, it stores carbs as glycogen in your muscles and liver. HOWEVER, when you eat too many carbs, your liver and muscles are full of glycogen at which point, every gram of carb you consume which doesn't get store in your body goes right on as fat! Here's the icing on the cake, nice tasty carbs like white bread, cakes, sugars all raise this hormone quicker... MUCH quicker in fact. More insulin means more storage hormone means, u guessed it, more weight gain. When insulin is raised it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to burn fat. When loosing weight, slow digesting carbs, and a moderate to low amount, along with a calorie deficit will be what melts the fat, not crunches, not a treadmill, not a bike.

Simple carbs examples:
White bread, bagels, crumpets,
Refined white sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup ,jam, sauces
Cakes, cupcakes, donuts, biscuits, chocolate bars, crisps
white potatoes, mash, chips, fries, noodles, white rice, white pasta,

Complex carbs:
Wholemeal bread, rye bread, sprouted whole grains
vegetables, most fruit, beans, sweet potato,
Whole wheats, whole meals, whole grains
Rolled oats, shreded wheat, wheetabix

That being said, simple carbs post-workout can help repair muscles faster, aid in muscle growth and help shuttle protein and nutrients into your muscles. Post-workout you want to be ANABOLIC, insulin should only be peaked post-workout. On a cut or on a bulk, just the quantities will vary,

Glycemia!
The glycemic index (GI) is a 0-100 number to describe how fast a carb is broken down and absorbed 0 being nothing 100 being white bread terrible.
0-55 being considered low, 56-69 medium and 70-100 high
The higher the number the aster is raises insulin so low glycemic carbs on a cut or even on a bulk are best!
HOWEVER! The glycemic Load (GL) is better because the glycemic index doesn't account for the portion you have. The glycemic load is the glycemic index/100 multiplied by how many grams of carbs are in the portion you eat.
0-10 being considered low, 11-19 being medium and 20+ is high
A carb with a GI of 75 is high but if in that portion you have 5g of carbs:
75/100 = 0.75, 0.75*5 = 3.75... rather low on the GL isn't it? Doesn't really move insulin what so ever!

This along should show you the importance of portion control! Go on the food database tab on the nutrition page to see a list of food by GI and GL.