Diet healthy eating

You can be this...


Or you can be this...


Still need more motivation?

 

I AM LIKE THIS - Where did you find my picture!

 

I'm struggling with this too, I seem to self medicate with junk food as much as PMO with the same depressed feeling afterwards. I'm on personal terms with a lady who works the drive-thru!
I don't want to be playing with my junk anymore but I sure as hell want to keep being able to see it!

 

So a reboot of junk food too, good work! Seems to be the case quite often here, a multitude of addictions that need to be dealt with.

 

I had a sweet link for you but apparently I have to be a member for two days to post it : /

Google search for Poliquin Articles & Multimedia

This site has many excellently written articles on proper nutrition, diet and exercise. Everything is explained with scientific backing.

Here's a free tip: Eat eggs and only eggs for breakfast. Eggs contain the best protein you can get and there isn't a better thing to eat first thing in the morning. They have a huge effect on satiety (how full you feel) which means you can eat less and still feel full. Plus all that protein will give you a ton of energy!

 

Honestly the first and best advice I can give you is to work out roughly how many calories you need to consume each day for your goals and to go from there. Nutrition for health, weight loss, muscle gain etc are all kind of tiered in a format where:

Calories (the energy in the food) and macro-nutrients (carbohydrates, fat, and protein) == the most important. Eat too much and you will put on weight. Eat too little and you will lose weight. Doesn't matter if it's all veggies or all junk food - it's a simple balance of calories in vs calories out. 3000 calories of veggies will have the exact same effect as 3000 calories of pizza in terms of whether you gain or lose weight. if you're getting the same calories and macronutrients overall in your 24 hour period, your body won't be able to tell the difference between what you're eating. The reason healthy whole foods are preferable to junk food is because often the macronutrient ratios will be terrible, the calories will be way too high, the micronutrients (we'll talk about those in a minute) will be non-existent, and often the salt content will be through the roof making just 1-2 meals push you over the RDA for salt easily.

Micro-nutrients I would put as your next priority. While calories will affect whether you gain or lose weight, and your macronutrient ratios will affect how you feel and grow (carbs and fat positively affect your male hormones, protein is very sating and is also used for muscle synthesis etc) - micronutrients are the vitamins and other minor nutrients that play important roles in vital processes that your body utilises each day. You can get most of your micronutrients from supplements if your nutrition is poor - but if you're not doing that, and you're eating poorly, then you're missing out on some crucial components your body needs to function properly. Your low energy, poor moods, addictive tendencies and other such things could all actually just be the result of a few micronutrient deficiencies. (Zinc being a very common deficiency for example, which can cause low testosterone, and symptoms similar to a PMO habit)

So bearing all this in mind, after you've got a rough idea of how many calories you need to be eating - and can ensure you're in the right balance (eat 500-600 calories less than you need if you want to lose fat, eat around the calories you need if you just want to stay around your current weight or lose a SMALL amount of fat and gain a SMALL amount of muscle, or eat 100-500 calories over that amount to gain muscle and a small amount of fat).. you're then best off taking things step by step. Junk food is actually perfectly okay if it only makes up say 10-20% of your total diet and you get everything you need and don't get too much salt etc - your body doesn't care or know where the nutrients come from, as long as it gets the right amount of them, i.e. not too much or too little.

So rather than forcing yourself to "cold turkey" from your favourite foods, something that might not be sustainable and might just cause you to binge on them if you give in - instead, start by introducing a good multivitamin supplement (check that it has everything in it, including zinc, vitamin d3 etc - since some multivitamins more or less only have a few) just to account for any deficiencies that you might still have while you adjust to a healthier diet. Then start introducing things like leafy green vegetables for your diet (they're packed full of vitamins), eggs or olive oil for healthy cholesterol and fats (to boost your testosterone levels), gradually switch from salted crisps/chips to un-salted ones (since the salt is the main issue), quit ordering food and instead buy/prepare your own, etc.

Make gradual changes, and allow yourself the occasional treat so that you don't feel like it's so tough on you - just keep track of what's in it. For example, if you're going to order a big 2200 calorie pizza from dominos, you probably want to minimise any other food you consume throughout the day since that's like 3 meals packed into one. If your snack/treat includes a lot of salt, you should refrain from eating other meals that have much salt in them throughout the day, etc.