Pasta; Good or Bad?

[ProStack00]

Okay...if your trying to lose weight..about 20 pounds...is pasta okay to eat? I've heard tons of things like its high in carbs and its all processed...but then ive heard that a little bit wont hurt...im confused on what I should be eating. What is it that I should be eating? And what should I avoid? Can anyone Help me?

What are some healthy foods that are good for me to be eating while trying to lose just 20lbs.

[stencil]

If you're cutting, you'll want to try to avoid simple carbs like pasta, white bread, potatoes, white rice, etc. If you must, choose a complex carb alternative like whole-wheat pasta, whole-wheat bread, sweet potatoes, or brown rice.

Carbs aren't BAD like the Atkins dieters will have you believe, but you should try to keep an eye on how much you're eating in relation to protein and fats. Also, you should try to "book-end" your high-card meals around your workouts.

Check out this thread: http://www.discussfitness.com/showth...?threadid=2578

[alucard]

i thought pasta was a complex carb?

[ProStack00]

see - im not sure what i should do to lose this weight

[Todd]

Pasta is complex carbs, just to point that out. Simple carbs are sugars, fruit juice, etc. Complex carbs provide long-term energy sources and fuel for your workouts, without them, you'll be tired and lacking energy. If cutting, I would just limit your complex carb intake during the evening hours, especially right before bedtime as complex carbs will not get used when sleeping and will be stored as fat, not what you want. To lose fat, you'll want to find your maintenance calorie intake and then reduce it by 100 calories per day for two weeks. If not losing between 1-2 pounds per week, then reduce it another 100 calories for two weeks until you start to lose that 1-2 pounds per week. Make the needed adjustments as you go to keep losing or to gain (if losing too much too quick). Make sure to take in high protein at each meal, moderate carbs and low fat. I would split my protein/carb/fat intake %'s like this for each meal of the day:

53% protein
37% carbs
10% fat

That 37% for carbs should consist of both complex carbs and fibrous carbs at each meal...but mostly fibrous ones (broccoli, cauliflower, corn, lettuce etc) as night time approaches and especially before bedtime.

I hope this helps you out buddy!

[ProStack00]

Okay but what do you mean by "To lose fat, you'll want to find your maintenance calorie intake and then reduce it by 100 calories per day for two weeks."

Im still confused about what I need to do. Im not sure how to divide up what I eat. I dont know how you divide it into percentages.

[MsFit]

I think if you want to lose you should stay away from processed carbs, ie pasta.

[Todd]

To get an estimate of how many calories you need to be consuming throughout the day to maintain your current body weight, multiply .65 by your current body weight and then multiply that number by 24 (hours in a day). This would be the number of calories your body needs to maintain it's current bodyweight without ANY activity (BMR). For example: a 200 pound bodybuilder would take 200 x .65 x 24 = 3120 calories needed to be consumed per day in order to maintain current bodyweight with no activity. This is a ESTIMATE only though, but will be pretty close as a starting "maintenance" level. To figure out your total caloric needs you would have to factor in the activates you perform during the day and how long you perform them and then add the calories burned to your calculated BMR. This is not difficult and only requires a chart that lists calories burned during specific activities for your bodyweight.

This is your starting point for calories consumed within a day and small adjustments may have to be made along the way once everything is figured out.

Now, you take your maintenance calorie total and do the following to figure out your daily macro nutrient requirements...

For Protein: Take your total carlories x .53 divided by 4.

Using the 200 pound bodybuilder example, it would look like this: 3120 x .53 / 4 = 413 grams of protein per day.

For Carbs: Take your total calories x .37 divided by 4.

For Fat: Take your total calories x .10 divided by 9.

Now that you have these totals, you can divide them amongst the number of meals you eat per day. Example using the previous scenario: 413 grams of protein divided amongst 7 meals = 59 grams of protein at each meal approximately. You can allocate slightly more protein for your post workout meal and make the rest of the meals slightly less...as in 59 grams of protein for your post workout meal and the rest about 40 grams etc.

This is a good starting point for correctly allocating your meals, you might have to just make slight adjustments with the total calories after you've stuck with this program for a few weeks and find out that you are not shedding your 1-2 pounds of body fat per week, such as maybe reducing your total calories per day by 100...and then stick with that for two weeks to see what happens, etc. until you start to lose 1-2 pounds per week. This is the best way to lose mostly body fat and preserve your muscle mass. Be sure to still train as heavy and intense as possible while trying to cut. Keep a high protein intake, moderate carb intake and low fat intake, which should come naturally from the clean foods you eat. I would recomend getting a calorie counter book so you can divide up your foods and meals to properly meet the macronutrient %'s outlined above, so you know what and how much of each you are eating at each meal. If you need to reduce your calories along the way, reduce it by taking out some of the complex carbs from each meal. Cut out all junk foods, deep fried foods and anything that is not going to help you build muscle...as these foods can easily put you over your calorie intake limit.

You can add cardio 3-5 times per week and make sure to drink plenty of water and get plenty of rest. All of these factors are important. It's a lot to take in and do at one time, but this is what you must do to see awesome results! Remember to lose the fat correctly without losing muscle along the way, you must do it gradually...1-2 pounds per week at the most! So in essence, it should take you about 12 weeks to lose about 12 or so pounds of body fat (minimum). I hope this helps you out some!

[qlharvey]

I eat a lot of pasta, but also do a lot of cardio. If I don't do much cardio, I'll cut back on the pasta.

[Tuna Fish]

Originally Posted by stencil

...Carbs aren't BAD like the Atkins dieters will have you believe.... Also, you should try to "book-end" your high-card meals around your workouts.....

BAM! Stencil wins the "great advice in a nutshell" award.

Todd gets the "more good stuff than you can shake a stick at" award for these golden nuggets taken from his reply-

-"stuck (stick) with this program for a few weeks and find out"

-"Be sure to still train as heavy and intense as possible while trying to cut".

-"Cut out all junk foods, deep fried foods and anything that is not going to help you build muscle..."

Repeat- Cut out all junk foods, deep fried foods and anything that is not going to help you build muscle.
Repeat- Cut out all junk foods, deep fried foods and anything that is not going to help you build muscle.
Repeat- Cut out all junk foods, deep fried foods and anything that is not going to help you build muscle.
Repeat- Cut out all junk foods, deep fried foods and anything that is not going to help you build muscle.
Repeat- Cut out all junk foods, deep fried foods and anything that is not going to help you build muscle.

Well, ya know some people just won't listen.....

Great stuff Todd and Stencil!

Tuna