This thread is not on dieting for crohns. I do not know what types of food you can and cannot tolerate. This thread will give you a better understanding on diet as it pertains to fitness. It will also teach you how to design a diet, by setting some guidlines for optimal results.
Diet is 60% of your success, when you are trying to make a change to your body composition through fitness. There for diet should require most of your attention when designing a fitness program. I can't stress enough how important this is. I've seen tons of people go into the gym for years on end, and look the same. This is because they have neglected the most important factor. Diet.
Myths of dieting.
Nutrition among all foods can be broken down into 3 macro nutrient categories : protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Together they form the basis of all diets, and along with exercise, ultimately form body composition changes in the body.
Proteins are the bodies building blocks for repair, growth and maintenance of muscular tissue. Proper intake of protein will result in the preservation of muscle tissue while you are dieting and losing fat. It will aid in recovery from strenious workouts, and daily activity. When you exercise you cause extensive damage to your muscle tissue, and subsequent growth requires adequate recovery. The lack of protein is often the missing factor in recovery. Without protein, muscle begins wasting, and decreases in metabolism will soon follow. Many woman clients would tell me "but I don't want to be all muscular like a bodybuilder". Without a significant increase in testosterone, becoming too muscular for a woman will never happen. What will happen if you don't include the right amount of protein in a workout regimen, is that you will just shrink, from burning extra calories. Your muscles will shrink too. So in essence you would become a smaller version of yourself, with the same % of body fat. To be toned, you need to maintain or increase muscle, while eliminating fat %. In bulking the same is true. You need extra protein for muscle to grow.
Myth # 1 : The RDA for protein sufficient.
The RDA, is the recommended daily allowance, and for protein that is .36 grams per pound of body weight. So for example - A 200lb man would require only 76 grams of protein throughout the day. The problem with the RDA is that it is the recommended amount for a person who is absolutely sedentary. When you are working out, your muscle are going to require an increased protein amount, to sustain or aquire growth. Studies have actually shown that consuming the RDA amount in protein during a day of intense weight lifting may lead to muscle tissue loss. Then you factor in crohn's and how much of that protein is actually being absorbed. How much do we absorb? I can't answer that. You would judge on how bad you condition is at the moment. If you are flaring then obviously you are absorbing less. However, if you are flaring bad, it is always best to rest, and put fitness on the back burner, until the storm clears.
Myth # 2 : Extreme carbohydrate diets (atkins)- (low fat diet)+
The body's primary source of energy is derived from carbohydrates. They are especially important in aerobic activities, and high volume weight training, and are also utilized during recovery. There is a lot of controversy in the amount of carbohydrates that one should ingest. You see low fat diets, that are high in carbs, and you see atkin diets that have little to no carb makeup. These are the general extreme carb diets. The fact remains that excess carbs, lead to extra inches on the waistline. The exception is people with a fast metabolism. For them calories consumption is almost always the goal, with a higher carb amount to squeeze out extra calories. I'm sure you have heard that our body stores extra carbohydrates as energy. However it is more likely that extra carbohydrates will be converted to fat storage. Studies have shown that identical improvements in body composition have been made from diets with a composed 60% of calories coming from carb sources, as diets composed with 40% of their source from carbs.
Atkins has been popular for years. Especially among bodybuilders! And it works....but only for shows. Let me tell you why. The reasoning why Atkins works, is that it can drastically drop water from your body, as carbs help to store water in the muscles. The less carbs you have the less bloat you have. Then comes a point where your body is looking for energy to burn, and it's prime source is not there anymore - you have stopped eating carbs. So what happens is your body starts finding alternate sources for energy. If your protein intake is high enough, the energy shouldn't come at much expense to your muscle. The majority of the energy will now be taken from fat storage. That is how the diet works in eliminating fat + water. The problem is that you also need carbs for your brain to function properly. You will find that in the middle of an Atkins diet, you usually feel EXTREMELY fatigued, very irritable, you won't be as sharp as you normally are. Worst of all, as soon as you slip and ingest carbs and bad food again, the weight comes back! Often the rebound results in a lot of fat gain, and very quickly. For that reason it is a bodybuilder diet, and that's it. For short term shows. Every bodybuilder on stage might look great, but trust me, they feel like dying when finally on stage lol. The key is in moderate to mod/low carbs for fat loss. The most importantly rule of all, is that you just need to create a calorie deficit somehow.
Myth # 3 : All fats are bad.
Too often have we heard that fats are bad. That is a big misconception in the reality of dieting. The body uses fat for energy, in a state of negative energy balance. An example would be Atkins diet, you would have an extremely low carb amount, but your fat intake would make up for the loss in calories. It would include high amounts of fats. In this case, the body wouldn't have carbs for energy, it would rely mostly on the fats you eat. That is how Atkins works. Truth is, as long as you are burning more calories working out, than then you are eating, it doesn't matter so much on the amount of fat intake. Studies have shown that fat loss can be achieved on diets that have a fat content from 10% - 50% of the total amount of calories, as long as that calorie amount is the same. The main goal of a diet, and the more important factor in losing fat is to make sure you are burning more calories, than you are consuming. Making sure your protein is high, and making sure you carbs and fats are not too low, or too high.
Diet is 60% of your success, when you are trying to make a change to your body composition through fitness. There for diet should require most of your attention when designing a fitness program. I can't stress enough how important this is. I've seen tons of people go into the gym for years on end, and look the same. This is because they have neglected the most important factor. Diet.
Myths of dieting.
Nutrition among all foods can be broken down into 3 macro nutrient categories : protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Together they form the basis of all diets, and along with exercise, ultimately form body composition changes in the body.
Proteins are the bodies building blocks for repair, growth and maintenance of muscular tissue. Proper intake of protein will result in the preservation of muscle tissue while you are dieting and losing fat. It will aid in recovery from strenious workouts, and daily activity. When you exercise you cause extensive damage to your muscle tissue, and subsequent growth requires adequate recovery. The lack of protein is often the missing factor in recovery. Without protein, muscle begins wasting, and decreases in metabolism will soon follow. Many woman clients would tell me "but I don't want to be all muscular like a bodybuilder". Without a significant increase in testosterone, becoming too muscular for a woman will never happen. What will happen if you don't include the right amount of protein in a workout regimen, is that you will just shrink, from burning extra calories. Your muscles will shrink too. So in essence you would become a smaller version of yourself, with the same % of body fat. To be toned, you need to maintain or increase muscle, while eliminating fat %. In bulking the same is true. You need extra protein for muscle to grow.
Myth # 1 : The RDA for protein sufficient.
The RDA, is the recommended daily allowance, and for protein that is .36 grams per pound of body weight. So for example - A 200lb man would require only 76 grams of protein throughout the day. The problem with the RDA is that it is the recommended amount for a person who is absolutely sedentary. When you are working out, your muscle are going to require an increased protein amount, to sustain or aquire growth. Studies have actually shown that consuming the RDA amount in protein during a day of intense weight lifting may lead to muscle tissue loss. Then you factor in crohn's and how much of that protein is actually being absorbed. How much do we absorb? I can't answer that. You would judge on how bad you condition is at the moment. If you are flaring then obviously you are absorbing less. However, if you are flaring bad, it is always best to rest, and put fitness on the back burner, until the storm clears.
Myth # 2 : Extreme carbohydrate diets (atkins)- (low fat diet)+
The body's primary source of energy is derived from carbohydrates. They are especially important in aerobic activities, and high volume weight training, and are also utilized during recovery. There is a lot of controversy in the amount of carbohydrates that one should ingest. You see low fat diets, that are high in carbs, and you see atkin diets that have little to no carb makeup. These are the general extreme carb diets. The fact remains that excess carbs, lead to extra inches on the waistline. The exception is people with a fast metabolism. For them calories consumption is almost always the goal, with a higher carb amount to squeeze out extra calories. I'm sure you have heard that our body stores extra carbohydrates as energy. However it is more likely that extra carbohydrates will be converted to fat storage. Studies have shown that identical improvements in body composition have been made from diets with a composed 60% of calories coming from carb sources, as diets composed with 40% of their source from carbs.
Atkins has been popular for years. Especially among bodybuilders! And it works....but only for shows. Let me tell you why. The reasoning why Atkins works, is that it can drastically drop water from your body, as carbs help to store water in the muscles. The less carbs you have the less bloat you have. Then comes a point where your body is looking for energy to burn, and it's prime source is not there anymore - you have stopped eating carbs. So what happens is your body starts finding alternate sources for energy. If your protein intake is high enough, the energy shouldn't come at much expense to your muscle. The majority of the energy will now be taken from fat storage. That is how the diet works in eliminating fat + water. The problem is that you also need carbs for your brain to function properly. You will find that in the middle of an Atkins diet, you usually feel EXTREMELY fatigued, very irritable, you won't be as sharp as you normally are. Worst of all, as soon as you slip and ingest carbs and bad food again, the weight comes back! Often the rebound results in a lot of fat gain, and very quickly. For that reason it is a bodybuilder diet, and that's it. For short term shows. Every bodybuilder on stage might look great, but trust me, they feel like dying when finally on stage lol. The key is in moderate to mod/low carbs for fat loss. The most importantly rule of all, is that you just need to create a calorie deficit somehow.
Myth # 3 : All fats are bad.
Too often have we heard that fats are bad. That is a big misconception in the reality of dieting. The body uses fat for energy, in a state of negative energy balance. An example would be Atkins diet, you would have an extremely low carb amount, but your fat intake would make up for the loss in calories. It would include high amounts of fats. In this case, the body wouldn't have carbs for energy, it would rely mostly on the fats you eat. That is how Atkins works. Truth is, as long as you are burning more calories working out, than then you are eating, it doesn't matter so much on the amount of fat intake. Studies have shown that fat loss can be achieved on diets that have a fat content from 10% - 50% of the total amount of calories, as long as that calorie amount is the same. The main goal of a diet, and the more important factor in losing fat is to make sure you are burning more calories, than you are consuming. Making sure your protein is high, and making sure you carbs and fats are not too low, or too high.
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