Varg's Aesthetic World

How discovery are you?

2011-08-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

This is mainly for my norwegian bretheren.

If you go to this site:

http://www.discoverychannel.no/100

and test how descovery you are. You might win a sound system from Geneva! Value 18k NOK!

-varg

IIFYM!

2011-06-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hello guys! Sorry for the long delay between posts, but now I'm back and I'm here again to explain the IIFYM concept!

So IIFYM, what is it?
I'll tell you! IIFYM stands for, If It Fits Your Macros. It's a basic logic concept that you may, maintain, gain or even lose weight, by hitting your daily macronutrients requirements (Protein, fats, carbohydrates).

Let me explain abit more about it.

Say a 200lbs man at 20% bodyfat wants to lose weight. His maintenance calories is 3000, and to cut he would need to eat around 500 kcals under his maintenance, so ~2500 calories.
Now if he ensures that he get atleast 1.5g protein per lb/LBM (Lean body mass, so in a 200lb man with 20% bodyfat, subtract 20%, and that leaves you with 160lbs): 1.5*160=240g protein

Then he would need to get around 0.45-0.5g fat per lb/BW (Body weight): 200*0.45=90g fat

That would mean, he gets 1770 kcals from both fat and protein requirements (240*4 + 90*9 = 1770kcal)

Now he got 730 left in the day that he can fill up with whatever he wants, whether it be McDonalds, chocolate or salads, if he hit 2500kcals, he WILL lose weight!

To sum it up!

-200lb man at 20% body fat wants to lose weight
-Maintenance calories: 3000
-Calories to cut: 2500
-1.5g protein per lb/LBM: (1.5 * 160) 240g
-0.45-0.5g fat per lb/BW: (200 * 0.45) 90g
-Calories from fats + protein minimums: (240 * 4) + (90 * 9) = 1770
-Calories from reaching minimums taken from calories to cut: (2500 - 1770) 730
-He has 730 kcal left to fill with whatever foods he chooses and still lose weight as a result of remaining in a calorie deficit.

- varg

Upcoming threads:
How to estimate your maintenance
Your Macronutrients needs
How to estimate bodyfat levels

Update: Not as active

2011-06-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hey,

As you guys may have noticed is that I have not posted anything in a couple of days now, and I just wanted to inform you that im currently finishing off my last things in school, and thus have not been able to post anything.

But fear not! I will be back and posting within 1 week! (School ends next week!)

-varg

Calorie Counting Websites

2011-06-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

A few Points on Tracking Calories:

Calorie tracking online ISN'T 100% necessary - so you don't have to do it... What matters is that you are eating appropriately for your needs, what ever way you do this (eg: via portion control, via spreadsheet, via diabetic exchange lists)
Calorie tracking is only as accurate as you make it! So if you neglect to track the foods, or leave out snacks, or only half fill in the days then it isn't going to work.
It doesn't *really* matter how accurate the tracker is - what matters is that it is accurate to what you DO and that it gives you something to monitor and change if required.... (that is - similar to bodyfat tracking - even if the number is not *right*, if you are logging over time and it is going in the right direction, then this is all that matters)
You don't have to track every day.... especially if you eat the same thing most days. So just doing one or two logs/ week to see where you are is perfectly fine.
When you track - look at the TOTAL CALORIES and then the GRAMS of PROTEIN, FATS and CARBS. It is NOT about the 'macro %' you hit... Your body doesn't CARE what % comes from different macronutrient groups - what it cares about is that you are getting enough to support your lean mass/ bodyweight... and this comes down to grams per unit weight (either total weight or lean mass depending on what method you are using, your total bodyfat% and a few other variables)
DO NOT change things too quickly... if you decide to make a change to your calorie intake - you might want to give yourself 3-4 weeks before you expect to see significant change.... If you keep changing things 'looking for something that works', you'll probably never see results...

A GUIDE TO FOOD LABELS:
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/food-labels.php

A Few of the Calorie counting Sites:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/
Most accurate/ detailed, Lots of natural foods
http://www.calorieking.com/
Lots of information on commercial products
http://www.calorieking.com.au/ (aussie version of above)
As above, only for the land downunder
http://www.nutridiary.com/
Good basic and accurate tool that allows you to create favourite meals for ease of logging. Tracks exercise and water intake too
https://dailyburn.com/
Easy to use, Accurate, Good range of foods, Very funky additional applications such as bar-code scanning
http://caloriecount.about.com/
This has a cool recipe tool where you simply type in a list of foods and how many servings you want and it calculates it out. < VERY handy!
http://www.fitday.com/
Inaccurate in regards to calories from carbs/ fibre and can give false information on servings sizes... Ok if you log all your own foods
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/
http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/calories-in.asp
http://www.sparkpeople.com/
https://www.livestrong.com/login/
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
http://calorielab.com/index.html

NOTE: Not written by me, its originally posted by Emma-Leigh over at http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=119482931

I just thought i share this as it has really helped me alot and im sure that it will help atleast some of you out there!

-varg

Gaining Weight: The GOMAD diet

2011-06-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

With no hesitation, I'm going to jump right into my first (or technically second), right away!
Starting with probably one of my favourite diets to assist gaining weight, the GOMAD diet!

GOMAD, or Gallon Of Milk A Day, is a popular diet for those seeking to gain weight easy.
Now it pretty much lies in the name, gallon of milk a day, or around 3.7 liters (I usually round it off to 4 liters a day) if you want it in the metric measurements.

How you do it: Go to the store, buy a gallon of the milk of your choice (pref. Whole Milk, but ~1.5% is fine too), and consume it in during the day. If you are getting the whole milk you are getting a whopping 2400 kcals per gallon! That is most people's caloric needs for one day! Now it does not end there, you are not only going to consume milk, but you are also going to eat your regular meals, so breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.

So that means almost 5000 kcals for one day, with that you are guaranteed to gain weight. Though, there is a downside with consuming that many calories in one day, you are most likely going to gain fat, so what you could do is cut down maybe to half a gallon (~1200 kcals), or you could get 1.5%, another thing you could do is to cut down your regular meals.

Either way, to minimize fat gains you should aim at getting in 3500-4000 kcals per day.

All in all GOMAD is a simple and cheap, but yet effective way to gain weight and also get important minerals and vitamins that your body needs.

NOTE: I do not reccomend this diet for induviduals who do not take part in any phycial activity (lifting weights preffered), as the outcome may not be the best thing for your body composition.

-varg

Generic hello world post

2011-06-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Just thought I make a quick post about what I have in mind for this blog,
I'm thinking I will be focusing on giving tips on nutrition, workouts, maybe review some supplements, and more training oriented material!

Only time will tell!

Stay tuned!

-varg