Calorie 101 - Is a calorie really a calorie?

[Exiled Martian]

A very decent article I just began reading trying to conjure up plans for my next CUT.

LINK

^^^ Covers a lot of good points in reference to losing weight & how you need to take into account your training (weights/cardio)

The more and more I read, cardio becomes more and more unnecessary, even a big negative in some cases. Be aware of this runners & cardio enthusiasts ... you are likely making it harder to lose weight by over doing it

Here's what you need to know...
•  Anyone that says calories don't matter has zero credibility. But anyone who claims calories are all that matter has even less credibility.

•  Balance the metabolism first, then worry about calories if needed. Hunger, energy, and cravings (HEC) are your keys to understanding your metabolism and working with it, rather than against it.

•  The combo of sugar, fat, and salt will short circuit your appetite centers, turning that "cheat meal" into a cheat week, or worse.

•  The idea that calorie excess always leads to fat gain and calorie reduction always leads to fat loss is not accurate.

•  The standard "eat less, exercise more" approach to dieting leads to about 20-50% loss of lean tissue.

•  The quality of food you eat

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Man u can find anything that says anything. Here's an article from a breh I respect who says cardio's impact is negligible to positive

http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/03/c...ficial-for-strength-and-size-in-the-long-run/

For starters, we don’t really have to guess about the short-term effects of cardio on strength and size gains . I’ll give you the cliff notes.
1) You can still get bigger and stronger with doing strength training and cardio simultaneously.
2) In the short term, concurrent training (strength training and cardio together) is about 31% less effective for hypertrophy, and about 18% less effective for strength.
3) Frequency and duration of aerobic training affected strength and hypertrophy gains – more frequency and volume of aerobic training meant smaller strength and size improvements.
4) When looking at the data more closely, mode of exercise mattered. Running, but not cycling, negatively impacted strength and size gains.
So, there’s one major takeaway here – aerobic training does not hamper strength training in and of itself. The effect starts materializing when it begins causing additional stress to the muscles and soft tissues.

Plus, high key, think big picture..... whats the point of being ripped and strong if u get winded going up a flight of stairs? Eating healthy foods isn't necessary to get lean but there's more to life than getting lean. Me personally, I find it easier to stay leaner when I do cardio regularly, and I feel better. I sleep better, I have more energy in the gym, I have an easier time controlling hunger etc etc. Obviously you don't want to overdo it, but I wouldn't write off cardio before actually giving it a legit try. I wouldn't write off anything.

 

[Exiled Martian]

Man u can find anything that says anything. Here's an article from a breh I respect who says cardio's impact is negligible to positive

http://gregnuckols.com/2014/03/03/c...ficial-for-strength-and-size-in-the-long-run/



Plus, high key, think big picture..... whats the point of being ripped and strong if u get winded going up a flight of stairs? Eating healthy foods isn't necessary to get lean but there's more to life than getting lean. Me personally, I find it easier to stay leaner when I do cardio regularly, and I feel better. I sleep better, I have more energy in the gym, I have an easier time controlling hunger etc etc. Obviously you don't want to overdo it, but I wouldn't write off cardio before actually giving it a legit try. I wouldn't write off anything.

Bruv ask yourself this what is the easiest way to look like you've put on 5-10lbs of muscle? Run more or Eat Less


What I was implying in my OP was that the same fat @sses that do 'EXCESSIVE cardio session after cardio session and continue to get fatter don't realize the cardio is not only not helping but making things harder.... In terms of them losing weights.

Not everyones goal is to look like arnold, I agree, but I bet you offered those same people a pill that would give them that build overnight, they would take it instantly. Not because that is their ultimate goal, but its a hell of a lot better than they look now. I take that back, I would argue that is their ultimate goal, just not when you factor in what it takes to get there. People are fine with 'good enough'.

Running can be entirely for the benefit of your mind, I understand that, but just be aware it is detrimental to gaining or evening maintaining lean mass.


I used cardio to lose weight, but having my diet dialed in haven't done a cardio session in months, probably since the end of may and I am getting leaner... go figure

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

I mean, different strokes for different folks. For some people, diet alone might not be enough, or migth be miserable. More importantly though, cardio is good for you and isn't something that should be avoided. Don't get me wrong, I want to be lean and all that, and when I diet next year I probably won't do much cardio for my first 1-2 8 week cycles.... but it's good to do just for a better quality of life and general health.

 

[Exiled Martian]

True dat fam, I'm not going to argue with you over differences of opinions...but I highly suggest you take some time out to read the article fully... case in point;

The aerobic group lost 32 pounds, 27 of which was fat and 10 of which was muscle. The resistance-training group lost 32 pounds, and 32 pounds were fat, 0 was muscle. When resting metabolic rate was calculated after the study, the aerobic group was burning 210 fewer calories daily. In contrast, the resistance-training group had increased their metabolism by 63 calories per day.
What you do has a direct impact on whether a calorie is a calorie. You can't separate calories from lifestyle.

There's no such thing as a perfectly efficient engine, and the human body is no exception. This is the second law of thermodynamics at work. As an aside, many quote the first law of thermodynamics to prove "a calorie is a calorie." Truth is, the first law doesn't apply to open systems like humans. The second law does however.

When resting metabolic rate was calculated after the study, the aerobic group was burning 210 fewer calories daily.

Their metabolism SLOWED down. Unless they start eating fewer and fewer calories, they will plateau and/or gain weight back.

In contrast, the resistance-training group had increased their metabolism by 63 calories per day.

Their metabolism SPED up. They will continue to burn fat without changing their diet. They could even eat MORE and still burn fat.

^^^^ What is important is that they (the resistance group) lost more fat while not losing muscle. Overall weight loss is not good if you are losing lean muscle mass. What I say to everyone is first & foremost focus on your bloody diet. Then add in weights.... And then add in cardio. I would argue most people's first focus is on cardio and diet is a second or third priority in the quest to lean out/ lose weight.

You see what most heads don't know is cardio signals the body to consume muscle because it isn't conducive to running, which is why most distance runners are very skinny. It also stops atp, which signals muscles to grow and recover. With less muscle mass you need less calories to maintain weight so as you lose weight with cardio you must also decrease your calorie intake or you stop losing weight, or fat atleast because the body still considers muscle bad. it's basically just a vicious cycle to nowhere.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

What about combining lifting and cardio?

I don't want to come at you disrespectfully as the article makes some interesting points and is worth the thought.

But the idea that cardio should be avoided for any reason just doesn't sit right with me. Body composition should take a second priority to general health, and cardio is a big part of general health. Done right, cardio will help with body composition and endurance while having next to no impact on performance in the gym.

I mean for a long time I was doing fasted cardio in the mornign (5 mile ride to work), and then doing a fasted weight training session in the afternoon.... no performance issues Body composition was prob at my best at that point and I felt great. Like I said... don't knock anything till you try it first, you might be the exception to the rule.

And high key, T-Nation has a lot of contradictory, sometimes inflammatory stuff they post for views. Note how they don't get into the details of the study... how big was the sample size? What was the methodology? Were the people in the study athletes or ? And the study being from 1999 is a little sus. These are all things people should consider.

 

[Exiled Martian]

What about combining lifting and cardio?

Listen even if you do both, unless you're able to time the cardio perfectly, it will result in either loss of muscle or stopping ATP which stops the muscles from repairing. There are forms of cardio that have less of an impact (HIIT/sprints) but overall if your goal is to increase lean mass cardio is setting you back. And with my significant lack of cardio my blood presure is always about perfect at 120/80 or below, resting heart rate is less than 60bpm and my cholesterol is where it should be. So it's apparently not a requirement for having a healthy cardiovascular system or I'm an anomaly...also believe me when I say with weights you can get your heart rate up and work your heart & lungs plenty hard. it's a matter of shortening rest periods/upping intensity..People should try doing heavy squat sets (e.g. 70-85% of your 1RM) of& try & beast out 10 then tell me they need cardio

While you're running/biking 5+ miles a week your calorie intake can he higher but as soon as you stop your caloric needs will drop dramatically. for instance I haven't been lifting regularly in the last couple months due to a non-lifting related injury (soccer) & my food intake has remained about the same and there is minimal change in body comp because my BMR is higher due to muscle mass.

This is a bit OTT but - This becomes more a more pronounced problem when you have cyclical dieters that aren't consistent in the gym. They do a bunch of cardio which drops their muscle mass they diet for a while then quit doing both. Their BMR is now lower than it was before their 'diet' phase and they go back to eating like they did before and gain more weight because they're burning less calories and can't figure out why they're getting fatter so they decide to diet for a while again and they just keep gaining weight.




All I'm saying is us Big boys need not live by the C (ardio) word so religiously..... if the good lord wanted us to run 20+ miles he wouldn't have given us horses, bikes, cars, trains, planes, etc. He did want us to look HENCH which is why we have stringer tanks & mirrors


Also agreed on some points made about the source. I usually take T-Nation articles with a pinch of salt, due to their excessive use of mutants / butt-ugly posers but this article struck a chord & had some really decent gems in it & I'm glad you agree with me to that extent!

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Lol, no doubt. I still think there is value in cardio and I enjoy it but I respect where you are coming from. If your blood/heart numbers are good then you are good money.

 

[The ADD]

Good discussions brehs

 

[The ADD]

I think you are both right. You can make progress either way and if you enjoy it more power to you.

I hate to come off this way because I'm still a beginner but the way a lot of people lift is the reason they have to do cardio. The rest time in between sets I see (small representation of course) is insane. Of course you never fully know someone's program but 4-5 minutes in between sets that look like hypertrophy is happening a lot. Combine that with not lifting heavy and cardio does seem to become needed.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Yea it makes me that people don't time their rests in the gym... people look at me crazy when my timer goes off, I'm like 'wat are u doing'

How can u know if u missed that last set because it was too much, or because u didnt give urself enough time to rest? Consistency and monitoring progress is like 68% of the battle.

 

[Deafheaven]

I run like 20 miles a week and still see gains in strength amd definition, cardio with weights is fine

I also work out 6 days so thats that tho

 

[semtex]

I need more disciplined workouts. I kinda just sit on the couch and watch tv between sets happens when u lift at home

 

[Versa]

I bike twenty miles every day and hit every muscle group hard once a week. Doing fine, but won't keep it up much longer. Will lower biking to three times a week at most.

 

[The ADD]

I need more disciplined workouts. I kinda just sit on the couch and watch tv between sets happens when u lift at home

You also go really heavy or insane reps. Not saying you don't need the discipline but compared to the fukkery I see.......