Diet, Supplements and Enhancers

[go you pups]

Try a scoop bulk nutrients wpc with yopro yogurt

Salted caramel yopro and chocolate wpc from bulk nutrients got me through my last cut but the fruit flavoured yogurt with vanilla wpc taste great too

What's the calories/macros of yopro?

I've been eating Chobani for a while, really high protein and low fat compared to other brands, something like

50% carbs (17-20g a serve)
45% protein (13-16g a serve)
5% fat (1.5-3g a serve)

Will have slight differences per flavour but pretty consistent across the board, seems to be pretty low calories too, comparable to a protein shake, around the 130-140 calorie range

 

[showdownhero]

What's the calories/macros of yopro?

I've been eating Chobani for a while, really high protein and low fat compared to other brands, something like

50% carbs (17-20g a serve)
45% protein (13-16g a serve)
5% fat (1.5-3g a serve)

Will have slight differences per flavour but pretty consistent across the board, seems to be pretty low calories too, comparable to a protein shake, around the 130-140 calorie range

I’ve had chobani too but prefer the taste of yopro. Here’s a macro breakdown for their mango flavour and they’re all about the same

 

[SnakeMan86]

Might start posting a bit more in this fred this year

Last year the goal was to improve strength in my weak points and target the posterior chain, after a sluggish first 5 months recovering from a hip flexor injury then hitting an autumn plateau about a month after I returned to full training post injury. I found a way to get through the plateau in June and built my way up over the next 6 months which ended up leading to a PB bench on Xmas eve, I only had coffee for preworkouts and budget protein for recovery

This year it's all about weight/fat loss and losing a few shirt sizes

I thought it over in December about how to attack the new year to be successful for a long caloric deficit and thought ok, I need to do something about my bad eating habits first before I can start counting the daily calories.

So come NYD, I had to cut out the processed savoury snacks (I'm a big sucker for shapes and potato/corn chips) that was the absolute first thing, particularly not eating them at night on weekends. I had popcorn twice within days of NYD which was better, but I moved onto late night protein shakes instead now (120-160 calories normally with water depending on brand/serving size, so bugger all here)

2nd thing was to have breakfast everyday. I'd normally have a smoothie the morning after a solid workout, but I wasn't consistent enough and ate more later in the day, some afternoons I'd have bad insulin crashes if I ate too many carbs and then couldn't be bothered training until 7-8pm which is ok some days, particularly hot days, but not ideal all the time unless time pressed as I prefer to train around 4-5pm and have tea at 7-730 or something.

3rd thing was to reduce meal portions at certain times of the day, particularly tea. I already felt as I was a regular late afternoon/early evening trainer then lunch should often be the biggest meal of the day, though I rarely adhered to this

After 11 days I felt I had gotten the hang of improving these things so I felt it was time to start, so on the 12th (last Wednesday) I decided ok, lets start the calorie deficit.

So since last Wednesday, nearly everything I've eaten gets weighed out on my scales unless I'm eating the entire contents of something already labelled and I google the numbers to add up.

The main things I'm looking at is total daily calories and total daily protein intake, as I'm a fairly hard trainer already I feel I can cycle fats and carbs in when I feel they need to be utilised.

I and my dietitian at the time figured out in 2020 that about 3000 calories was maintenance for me at my height/weight, so dropping to 2500 a day for a few months was the go back then (covid lockdowns interrupted), so I felt as I did lose initial kilos and cms off the waist before lockdowns and I'm about the same starting weight now as I was in 2020 (probably have slightly more lean muscle mass now though coming off a far higher training base) then I will go with 2500 again for 3-6 months, then will readjust once I notice a pattern of my weight plateauing then I might drop the number to 2300 or seek out fat burning supplements to help or something.

As I mentioned before, I had regular insulin crashes after lunch previously (particularly after eating starchy carbs), what's great about the last week since the deficit started, even the last 3 weeks or so since I started targeting smaller meals that the crashes have almost gone away, think I've had just 1 in the last 3 weeks, instead of about twice a week previously. I think as I'm starting to use up my glycogen stores more effectively now, I can have the carbs like rice or mash potatoes for lunch and know my body will use them as fuel to burnout 2-3 hours later without the added crashes. On Saturday I was totally burnt out, however I came off a high protein, but 2100 calorie day with a hard leg day on Friday, so I reckon it may have been a little bit of CNS and probably a lack of glycogen to fuel the muscles considering I was 900 calories in deficit, so I had home made air fryer chips with steak for tea Saturday night and roughly had a 2700 calorie day and I was feeling as good as gold again on Sunday.

So yeah, it will be interesting to see how I manage my nutrition and training loads.


I also changed from budget Chemist Warehouse protein to Max's over the last week as Max's at least has a reputation for supporting Australian body-building and helping people improve physiques and they have a solid range to choose from direct online be it protein for lean mass/fat loss to mass gainers. The Chemist Warehouse stuff was good for maintenance and recovery, but was WPC/WPI blends around 74-75% protein per serve, so likely higher WPC, so going with Max's pure whey for example bulks up the protein percentage to over 81% per serve and it has more WPI than WPC and also Hydrolysed whey, so hopefully will be a better post workout recovery mix with fast and medium release proteins.

My local supplement supplier sells Max's 2016-onwards range too for the same price or around 5% cheaper than Max's online, but Max's reduces price to around same as my local if buying in bulk, like twin packs/combos, though they do have a bigger range online, like preworkouts and old protein formulas from before 2016 etc. I used Max's years ago on and off from about 18-22 cycling it with the likes of BSC, Dymatize and Nitrotech when I wasn't on the chemist warehouse stuff, so I'm happy to use them again and support a local Melburnian operator, never bought into the Optimum Nutrition hype over the years for example though, felt the brahs chugged and puffed over it way too hard over the years without looking around at other options.

So I'll see how I go with Max's for about 6 months, will probably buy their Anabolic Night casein which will substitute any night snacking to go along with the Pure Whey for post workout or daytime use. After that and having had a good period of time of dieting I think I have a few options if I need a change up:

1. Look into preworkouts/BCAAs if the fat loss is working but I need some oompf for my training if I start feeling like I did on Saturday regularly

2. Look into fat burners, or Max's Shred System protein if the fat loss is plateauing or slowing down to combine with the stuff I'm already using

3. Change to Rule 1, I used them in late 2017 I think, no problems digesting it, but I got injured and only ate half the tub, ended up giving it to my brother I think so I can't comment on performance/recovery, however they seem to have positive reviews and don't seem to get as chugged like ON by the gym brahs.

Anyways, that's where I'm at, will weigh in first week of February (absolutely dreading it considering what I was in December)

BCAAs and Fatburners are a waste of money, BCAAs especially your just gonna piss out.

Training can be broken down quite easily.

Muscle growth requires 2 things.. Stimulus (weight training) and protein.

There's also no such thing as "lean muscle" or "bulk muscle" muscle is muscle, lean is a term to describe low Body fat percentage, while "bulk" is when calories are in a surplus so your also putting on small or large amounts of fat.

Fat loss requires one thing... calorie deficit.
Tracking calories isn't a bad thing. It's a tool. Like a tradie uses a tape measure, use a calorie tracker. If after 2 weeks your weight isn't dropping, decrease calories by around 100, then keep going.
This is far more beneficial and will greater help your weight loss goals, keep working on the lifestyle changes then looking for quick fixes like fatburners.. there a crock and are mainly just stimulants, that jack up your heart rate... which is not ideal if your overweight.

Save your money.

 

[go you pups]

I’ve had chobani too but prefer the taste of yopro. Here’s a macro breakdown for their mango flavour and they’re all about the same

So basically just less carbs and fat which sees the calories a bit lower, interesting

Is it greek style like Chobani?

 

[go you pups]

BCAAs and Fatburners are a waste of money, BCAAs especially your just gonna piss out.

Training can be broken down quite easily.

Muscle growth requires 2 things.. Stimulus (weight training) and protein.

There's also no such thing as "lean muscle" or "bulk muscle" muscle is muscle, lean is a term to describe low Body fat percentage, while "bulk" is when calories are in a surplus so your also putting on small or large amounts of fat.

Fat loss requires one thing... calorie deficit.
Tracking calories isn't a bad thing. It's a tool. Like a tradie uses a tape measure, use a calorie tracker. If after 2 weeks your weight isn't dropping, decrease calories by around 100, then keep going.
This is far more beneficial and will greater help your weight loss goals, keep working on the lifestyle changes then looking for quick fixes like fatburners.. there a crock and are mainly just stimulants, that jack up your heart rate... which is not ideal if your overweight.

Save your money.

Thanks mate

Yeah I've started this deficit at targeting averaging 2500 calories a day or less (maintenance previously was 3000) as I'm 6 foot 5 and a half and weigh a shitload. My body composition at the moment I guess would be similar to a heavyweight strongman, though my body fat percentage would be a bit higher than those guys.

However I'm eating really clean at the moment and am watching out on things where previously would add unnecessary calories and I still feel I'm eating enough most of the time. Largely staying away from pasta as I had it last 2 weeks ago though I'll probably make a tuna bake when I get sick of chicken for a few days and that'll be a lunch option for me. Only eating bread for breakfast and it's either Aldis high protein bread, or a higher protein grainy type bread if Aldi has ran out like Burgen bread (Aldi high protein bread is outrageous for macros per serve, like 23.5g protein and only 5-6g carbs or something)

Have had plenty of 2100-2200 days since I started the deficit, will pop up to 2600-2700 every couple of days if I feel depleted or I have a few.

Last few days I've gone
Sat 2700
Sun 2100
Mon 2200
Tues 2400
Wed 2600
Thur 2100

I think I'll go like 2300 or something today. Will eat some rice or mash potatoes somewhere, carb up a little for a big workout tomorrow. So as I'm regularly not hitting 2500 a day, perhaps coming down to a 2300-2400 average will be sustainable.

Will be interesting to see how high a calorie day once I have a proper cheat meal or take out, though I've abstained so far (a few February birthdays in the family coming up lol)

 

[SnakeMan86]

Sounds good, I don't think your too far off the mark.

Also remember, if "mainteance" has said to be around 3000 calories (which I'd suggest it's far closer to 2400, 3000 is a lot, more suited to bodybuilders and strongmen etc) that's based on a day where you'd essentially train for an hour, walk like 8000-10000 steps etc.. your as active as possible.

On days where you might spend at home, or a day when your socialising in a beer garden etc, and not actively moving alot, your body would only be burning around 1800-2200 Max. So consuming around 2400 calorie, or on a "cheat day" 3000+, you've essentially undone yesterday and a couple more days.

Essentially what I'm saying is, the days you don't train, or are not active, lower your calories to that of your BMR (the basic amount of calories required to survive a day).
There's plenty of apps that will help estimate that. Once you know your BMR, work off that.

 

[SnakeMan86]

go you pups , Also, here's a tip. Work out your BMR and TDEE. Let's guestimate it's 2500... which means, you need to consume Less than 2500 calories everyday, consistently, to lose fat.

We know we're going to have a big Saturday at a birthday.
Your weekly calories are 17,500. Over a week, if you consume less than this number you will lose fat. The more you lose will depend on the how much less you consume than 17,500

Saturday, we eat a parma chips salad for lunch,, 10 or 12 beers, wings.. etc etc etc.. you could easily consume 4500 calories. This takes your remaining weekly balance to 13000 calories.
Divide that by 6 remaining days and it's 2166 calories.
This means that, unless EVERY day, you consume under 2166 calories, you will put on fat for the week.

 

[showdownhero]

So basically just less carbs and fat which sees the calories a bit lower, interesting

Is it greek style like Chobani?

I wouldn't say greek style yogurt, no

 

[The hands of stone]

I’ve had chobani too but prefer the taste of yopro. Here’s a macro breakdown for their mango flavour and they’re all about the same

Cheers Im going to add that into my rotation

 

[The hands of stone]

BCAAs and Fatburners are a waste of money, BCAAs especially your just gonna piss out.

Training can be broken down quite easily.

Muscle growth requires 2 things.. Stimulus (weight training) and protein.

There's also no such thing as "lean muscle" or "bulk muscle" muscle is muscle, lean is a term to describe low Body fat percentage, while "bulk" is when calories are in a surplus so your also putting on small or large amounts of fat.

Fat loss requires one thing... calorie deficit.
Tracking calories isn't a bad thing. It's a tool. Like a tradie uses a tape measure, use a calorie tracker. If after 2 weeks your weight isn't dropping, decrease calories by around 100, then keep going.
This is far more beneficial and will greater help your weight loss goals, keep working on the lifestyle changes then looking for quick fixes like fatburners.. there a crock and are mainly just stimulants, that jack up your heart rate... which is not ideal if your overweight.

Save your money.

Thats interesting .

I got told (years ago) during fitness assesments and the like that I had 'heavy' muscle and would never really get below 90kgs with my body composition no matter what diet etc.

So they just put me on a balanced type program and got me focussing on explosive short based exercise.
I had no idea to be honest what they meant !

 

[go you pups]

go you pups , Also, here's a tip. Work out your BMR and TDEE. Let's guestimate it's 2500... which means, you need to consume Less than 2500 calories everyday, consistently, to lose fat.

We know we're going to have a big Saturday at a birthday.
Your weekly calories are 17,500. Over a week, if you consume less than this number you will lose fat. The more you lose will depend on the how much less you consume than 17,500

Saturday, we eat a parma chips salad for lunch,, 10 or 12 beers, wings.. etc etc etc.. you could easily consume 4500 calories. This takes your remaining weekly balance to 13000 calories.
Divide that by 6 remaining days and it's 2166 calories.
This means that, unless EVERY day, you consume under 2166 calories, you will put on fat for the week.

Good idea

I don't drink anymore due to back inflammation, so only have a couple of 0 alcohol beers at a time these days (hard to drink more than 3-4 in a setting), so I'm cutting down in that regard

 

[go you pups]

Sounds good, I don't think your too far off the mark.

Also remember, if "mainteance" has said to be around 3000 calories (which I'd suggest it's far closer to 2400, 3000 is a lot, more suited to bodybuilders and strongmen etc) that's based on a day where you'd essentially train for an hour, walk like 8000-10000 steps etc.. your as active as possible.

I train a 4 day split normally for an hour each session then will walk or go to the pool 2 other days, have done so regularly last 2 years, will normally do a 10-15 min walk around the block before hitting the weights, otherwise it'll be 5-10 on the air bike if it's wet or something.

I'm 197cm, so definitely comparable to an overweight strongman in body composition, hence why my maintenance is higher, I'm no 5 foot 10 100kg guy who'll drop to 80kg in 3-4 months, this will take a good 18-24 months to get on top of properly imo.

On days where you might spend at home, or a day when your socialising in a beer garden etc, and not actively moving alot, your body would only be burning around 1800-2200 Max. So consuming around 2400 calorie, or on a "cheat day" 3000+, you've essentially undone yesterday and a couple more days.

Essentially what I'm saying is, the days you don't train, or are not active, lower your calories to that of your BMR (the basic amount of calories required to survive a day).
There's plenty of apps that will help estimate that. Once you know your BMR, work off that.

Yeah I had Sunday off last week and had a low calorie high protein day that day.

Depleted myself of glycogen from a hard Friday leg session and another low calorie day there, so felt absolutely knackered on Saturday, was much better on Sunday once I loaded up on carbs Saturday night for a 2700 calorie day, but my Saturday walk and arm session was a grind, hard to get a tricep pump, bis got a pump but didn't have same endurance as week before

This week
Mon: back + 15min walk
Tues: chest + 15 min walk
Wed: 90 minute walk (1 day a week I walk over an hour)
Thur: legs + 20 min walk (lightest volume day of the week, just getting in a few reps for next weeks smashing)
Fri: will go for a walk soon, probably 45 min
Sat: shoulders and arms (OHPs my main lift), probably be my longest strength workout of the week, don't train this everyweek, so when I do I go hard

 

[SnakeMan86]

Thats interesting .

I got told (years ago) during fitness assesments and the like that I had 'heavy' muscle and would never really get below 90kgs with my body composition no matter what diet etc.

So they just put me on a balanced type program and got me focussing on explosive short based exercise.
I had no idea to be honest what they meant !

Yeah it's a bit of a myth. I'm not sure what they could mean by "heavy muscle".. 5kgs of muscle is just that, 5kgs. Might be your frame. Broad shoulders, hips etc, so there's more surface area, so more muscle/skin/bone etc, which would naturally weigh more.

But yeah, the whole "bulk" and "lean" muscle is incorrect. When "bulking" essentially there building muscle in a calorie surplus, and when food/calories is consumed at a surplus, the excess is converted to fat.

When building "lean" muscle your in a calorie deficit, so your building muscle, whilst lowering your body fat percentage.
A shirt, explosive type program sounds weird. Sounds more sports specific

 

[SnakeMan86]

I train a 4 day split normally for an hour each session then will walk or go to the pool 2 other days, have done so regularly last 2 years, will normally do a 10-15 min walk around the block before hitting the weights, otherwise it'll be 5-10 on the air bike if it's wet or something.

I'm 197cm, so definitely comparable to an overweight strongman in body composition, hence why my maintenance is higher, I'm no 5 foot 10 100kg guy who'll drop to 80kg in 3-4 months, this will take a good 18-24 months to get on top of properly imo.

Yeah I had Sunday off last week and had a low calorie high protein day that day.

Depleted myself of glycogen from a hard Friday leg session and another low calorie day there, so felt absolutely knackered on Saturday, was much better on Sunday once I loaded up on carbs Saturday night for a 2700 calorie day, but my Saturday walk and arm session was a grind, hard to get a tricep pump, bis got a pump but didn't have same endurance as week before

This week
Mon: back + 15min walk
Tues: chest + 15 min walk
Wed: 90 minute walk (1 day a week I walk over an hour)
Thur: legs + 20 min walk (lightest volume day of the week, just getting in a few reps for next weeks smashing)
Fri: will go for a walk soon, probably 45 min
Sat: shoulders and arms (OHPs my main lift), probably be my longest strength workout of the week, don't train this everyweek, so when I do I go hard

Sounds like your all over the exercise side of things. I'd just go in two week blocks. Keep tracking your calories.
If in 2 weeks you've put on weight, drop it by around 300.
If you've stayed the same weight, maybe 150-200.
If you've dropped weight keep doing your thang, or if your not happy with the amount, drop like above.

 

[go you pups]

Sounds like your all over the exercise side of things. I'd just go in two week blocks. Keep tracking your calories.
If in 2 weeks you've put on weight, drop it by around 300.
If you've stayed the same weight, maybe 150-200.
If you've dropped weight keep doing your thang, or if your not happy with the amount, drop like above.

Once I lose a few kilos and am comfortable with my bodyweight I'll probably attempt to jog again twice a week, so that'll help too as jogging always got me into shape when I was playing sport, particularly in late summer/coming into autumn when I had both footy and cricket training on after Xmas. Haven't properly jogged since 2015 though when I last footy umpired, too heavy/back issues, so that's a good medium term goal I think.

 

[go you pups]

Butchering bulk rice guys?

I didn't let it sit and dehydrate a bit, cooked 300g for 3 meals over the weekend, end up with just over 1600g cooked, so like a 5.3 to 1 cooked to uncooked ratio whereas it should be about a 3 to 1 cooked to uncooked ratio so 900g give or take

So I ended up measuring total rice weight, then finding a percentage of what I ate cooked to the starting uncooked number

So I ate 500 grams cooked, which normally is around 650 calories with a proper 3 to 1 ratio, however because of the stupid water content was moreso a bit over 350 calories?

Amidoingitright?

 

[go you pups]

Not at all, creatine and citrulline both have (very well documented) proven performance enhancing properties, beta alanine somewhat less so but I have all 3 on my daily supplement stack. Creatine's nootropic mechanisms mean it's something that almost the entire planet would benefit from taking everyday.

I take this preworkout https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au...vitamin-b-for-energy-skin-health---60-tablets vitamin b3 also has great and well documented performance enhancing qualities

I also take ALCAR and AAKG pre-workout but the scientific literature around those is a little less clear cut.

I take this multivitamin https://au.iherb.com/pr/life-extension-two-per-day-multivitamin-120-capsules/86453 only every second day because the vitamin c content is antithetical to athletic performance

in short this is what my supp stack looks like

5g creatine everyday
7g beta alanine everyday
9g citrulline malate everyday
5g AAKG preworkout only
5g ALCAR preworkout only
200mg caffeine preworkout only
500mg niacinamide preworkout only

Ok, I watched a few videos on YouTube and haven't found anything negative on beta alanine or citrulline malate

Sounds promising, particularly beta alanine, when I eventually decrease the calories and the carbs the next few months, I'd imagine I'll feel more lethargic, so if something like beta alanine can help in that regard then I'm happy to look into it


Still suss in creatine though, I'm not sure at my size I should be having it yet, maybe once I've lost the weight

 

[go you pups]

Ok, just remembered, I've had beta alanine before at 21-22, though only in preworkout formulas

Definitely noticed a strength/endurance increase at the time in my big 3 lifts

I remember one day around Xmas eve or NYE 2010 I was training with mates and they forgot their preworkouts, so I gave them some of mine

They both had the tingles, and one of them hated it in particular and gave him a headache and didn't want to go out that night, so must've been the beta alanine/caffeine, can only think they must've been taking a fairly gentle caffeine formula then for it to affect them

 

[RU_]

Where do you lot buy your protein bars?

Really regretting not buying boxes and boxes when musclenations were $2 the other week.

 

[go you pups]

Where do you lot buy your protein bars?

Really regretting not buying boxes and boxes when musclenations were $2 the other week.

INCs were cheap at Chemist Warehouse I noticed

But yeah, have not seen a premium brand for $3 or less in ages (always seem to be $4-4.50)

 

[go you pups]

Where do you lot buy your protein bars?

Really regretting not buying boxes and boxes when musclenations were $2 the other week.

Oh boy

Bsc bars are $2 at Chemist Warehouse this week

Just bought a dozen and got like another 10% off, 12 for $21.50, sick

Apparently Rocky Road is the best flavour, though heard it's more like a cherry ripe, bought 5 of them (was only 7 left)

 

[go you pups]

After 2 and a half weeks of manually jotting stuff down, I wasn't happy with the conflicting numbers on searches yesterday for chicken thighs, so I watched a few YouTube videos and downloaded the Cronometer app as it's apparently more accurate for calorie and macro tracking than Myfitnesspal

Been pretty fun jotting stuff down in there today and scanning barcodes too, seems to be about 80-85% of the items I have are in their database

 

[Drumroe]

Butchering bulk rice guys?

I didn't let it sit and dehydrate a bit, cooked 300g for 3 meals over the weekend, end up with just over 1600g cooked, so like a 5.3 to 1 cooked to uncooked ratio whereas it should be about a 3 to 1 cooked to uncooked ratio so 900g give or take

So I ended up measuring total rice weight, then finding a percentage of what I ate cooked to the starting uncooked number

So I ate 500 grams cooked, which normally is around 650 calories with a proper 3 to 1 ratio, however because of the stupid water content was moreso a bit over 350 calories?

Amidoingitright?

If you want 300g of uncooked rice over 3 meals, when it turns to 1600g, divide 1600g of rice by 3. Doesn't matter about the end weight, as it's just how much water it absorbed.

But yes you're correct that your calories of rice in each meal would've been about 360.

Always take the calories from raw ingredients (meat, veg etc) if you want to be as accurate as possible.

 

[go you pups]

So done some experiments with bulk chicken

Both thighs and breasts seem to drop to around 65-70% of its original raw weight when cooked (minimal difference with baking or shallow pan frying), though I'm not happy with how breasts taste after 2 nights in the fridge, they just get so dry, thighs hold up a little better and taste better with rice, but they're more expensive.

So I bought 2 XL whole chickens from Coles (around $21 for nearly 3kg each chicken) and poached them for around an hour each in a chili veggie stock

Let them cool, then I peeled off the skin and gristle and shredded up the good lean meat in a big tub and pressed out excess moisture from the stock. Ended up with around 2.4kg of cooked lean meat, however that figure may drop if the chicken loses a little more moisture in the fridge.

So anyways, from the $21 spent on the 2 whole chickens and a 2.4kg return it's around $8.75 per kilo of cooked weight (probably more likely $9-9.50), breasts are around $13-15 per kilo cooked weight depending on where you buy them from and thighs are around $15-19 pk cooked weight depending where bought from.

Hopefully this lasts a few days in the fridge, though I think I'll eat it twice a day next 2-3 days as I have so much of it to get through I think it's a 1 chicken at a time type of prep next time around, might roast 1 next time and see how the cooked weight differs there.

 

[RU_]

I’m bad with not trusting chicken past 2ish days in the fridge.