LeanGains - How the heck do you hit your numbers? page

[john_solo]

Okay...so I am 212 and wanting to lose this last 15 pounds of fat and put on some muscle, so I am adopting the LeanGains approach. After researching for most of the weekend, I came to the conclusion that on workout days (for me MWF) I should be eating 2800 calories with somewhere in the neighborhood of 55% coming from carbs (350g), 30% coming from protein (212g), and 15% from fat (42g).

My question for all you LeanGainers out there is how the heck do you hit your carb numbers? I've put in the food I plan to eat for the day into LoseIt and am coming in at 160 g of carbs and 81 g of protein. That doesn't yet include dinner, but I am wondering how I'd be able to get another 1600 calories out of one meal. I think the issue is that I've way underestimated the amount that I should be eating during my eating window on workout days.

Any insights/help would be appreciated! Thank you!

[yodiewan]

It is difficult to do if you're trying to get all your carbs from tubers/potatoes. My latest find is tapioca pearls, which I use to make tapioca pudding. Tapioca is made from cassava, a tuber, so they're a "safe starch" or whatever you want to call them, even though they're basically a refined flour.

If you allow white rice, it is also helpful in getting enough carbs. Asian markets also have rice noodles, paper, and other more "fun" forms of rice if you get tired of just plain cooked rice. Yes, these are all more processed, but they greatly help in getting the carbs you're shooting for.

Personally, I haven't tracked my intake or even set a goal number of carbs in a long time. I probably don't get quite as many carbs as would be recommended, but I think I do pretty good.

[sakura_girl]

Fruit is easy to overeat.

[zilog]

Bear in mind that LG is not aimed at a primal audience, so if (like me) you're trying to rationalize LG and PB you may have to make some compromises with your ratios. The most obvious is upping the percentage of fat on workout days. I could not find much specific info regarding LG & primal so I'm currently experimenting with 60/40 carbs/fat on workout days and 25/75 on non-workout days. I'm only into week 3 of this experiment so it's too early to tell whether it's working yet! I know I struggled trying to eat 75/25 on my workout days though and it wasn't a pleasant experience!!

As I understand it (and I am happy to be corrected by anyone who knows better) the main purpose of the extra carbs is to replenish your muscle/liver glycogen after lifting. Therefore the post-workout meal is key in terms of carb intake. I don't feel that we would be advised to carry on stuffing down excess carbs for the 2nd/3rd meals considering we are trying to become as fat-adapted as possible.

[TorMag]

I am doing the leangains fasting and working out. In no way am I following the eating advice.... I still eat Primal low carb. I feel great, still losing weight and gaining muscle.

[zilog]

I am doing the leangains fasting and working out. In no way am I following the eating advice.... I still eat Primal low carb. I feel great, still losing weight and gaining muscle.

Although it's obviously extremely easy to lose fat when you've got a lot to lose (no offence ) this does make me wonder - is it possible to get your LG calorific surplus from body fat instead of dietary fat/carbs? hmmm...

[john_solo]

Ho. Ly. Crap. I ate until I was stuffed today, and STILL came in over 1000 cals less than target (for a workout day), with 273 grams of carbs and 187 grams of protein. It's actually really difficult to eat that much!

[yodiewan]

Ho. Ly. Crap. I ate until I was stuffed today, and STILL came in over 1000 cals less than target (for a workout day), with 273 grams of carbs and 187 grams of protein. It's actually really difficult to eat that much!

You can have SOME fat on your workout days. It is indeed very difficult to get to your target (2800 cal) without any fat. I think I've heard Leangains recommendations are ~50g in general, which would add nearly 500 calories. What protein source are you eating that has absolutely no fat?

[john_solo]

Chicken breast. That's not to say that I intend to only eat chicken breast on workout days (since a dry chicken breast isn't all that appealing), that just happened to be what had been prepared and ready to go. In the future I'll add more fatty cuts of meat to get the calories up, and try to get some more dense carb sources.

[yodiewan]

Chicken breast. That's not to say that I intend to only eat chicken breast on workout days (since a dry chicken breast isn't all that appealing), that just happened to be what had been prepared and ready to go. In the future I'll add more fatty cuts of meat to get the calories up, and try to get some more dense carb sources.

Chicken breast is a great workout day protein. Even it has some fat, almost 20% of calories in a boneless skinless breast are from fat. So if you ate 187g of protein from chicken breast, you got about 19g of fat (175 calories) with it.