Explain Female Fitness Model Diet DIfference.... page

[Alykat]

Can someone explain the reason why (and if it is really necessary) the female fitness model (think of the oxygen girls here) diet consist of 5-6 meals a day with a lot of egg white and chicken, they eat more carbs than i see Mark show is best, and the food plans i have are not so big on fats (i guess the lean meats keep them lean??).

yes it is a goal to be lean and fit and have nice muscle definition, even as a woman, but is that diet and workout routine (45 min-1.5 hours of cardio most days!!) necessary to have that?

BTW - im guessing not so if not, what works??

[Leida]

No. Not all fitness models eat lean high carb diet and do excessive cardio. In general, if you do a heavy duty exercise regimen you will be either needing more carbs or can do it in very low carb mode. Some people can, some can't. With the model look, they need their muscle to 'pop-up', so they do need some carb (to hold the pump).

To grow bigger muscle you need to overeat, and most muscle growing regimens will involve increasing carbohydrate, either part and parcel, as carb-ups, or continuous. Multiple meals a day with high protein intakes is a normal muscle growing routine. They go low fat so they can keep calories low enough and not to gain too much fat at the same time. You are less hungry with more fat, fat loss is more efficient with low fat.

Normally, women need more cardio than men, because the muscle are smaller and the natural fat layer is thicker + infamous stubborn fat on the low body is hard to mobilize. It is harder for women to bulk and cut because muscle gain is low, and fat gain is high, and fat 'sticks'. Even women who lift insane amount of weights and are crazy strong can't get those pretty muscles like men do unless they are genetic powerhouses or take hormonal drugs. Those models also fasted for ~ 2 days before the shoot as well & prepped for it for a few months by reducing body fat.

Can anyone achieve Oxygen model physique even if they are super-dedicated? No. Genetics is a huge influence. One is not predestined to be fat, but she can also be prevented from becoming 'cut' by the fat deposition pattern, the ability to channel calories to muscle, the hunger tolerance and the sensitivity to stimulants (both food and drugs).

A woman who is naturally slender will be slender if she eats pasta with bananas and hot chocolate and does a couple of bicep curls after running around the park for 3 hours a day.

The achievable goal is being the best you can be, doing minimal amount of whatever rocks your boat and gets you 80% of the result. Apparently some women in Russia are willing to be bed-ridden for 4 months to have their legs broken and reset to gain an inch in height. There is a level of commitment which is simply absurd if you are not intending on a professional carrier and gives no satisfaction.

[Alykat]

Those models also fasted for ~ 2 days before the shoot as well & prepped for it for a few months by reducing body fat.

that sounds like Misery!!!

if I understand this right -
protein will "build" the muscle.
We can use fat to fuel our activity from cardiovascular activity to weight training.
We dont need the extra carbs from other sources other than vegetables to be fueled.
Am i getting this correct?
(Sorry, these may be simple facts. I've been a carb burner my whole life, so my brain may still be stuck in the low-fat higher carbs mentality )

if this is true it seems like one would not need to fast for 2 days before some photo shoot.

So if one is looking to achieve a llean and muscle defined body it may be better to focus on ALL types of animal protein (not just chicken and fish) with the natural fats from its protein source (skin on ck., steaks....)? No need for 6 meals a day, lean meats, egg whites no yolks, complex carbs, no added fats.... outlined fitness models diet.
A diet of enough protein (1 gram per pound body weight), plenty of vegetables, and natural occurring animal fats will be able to achieve this as well?

[Leida]

It is only partially correct. Some people can do any sort of regimen on low carb diet from carb coming from minimal vegetable. However, most people will require increased carbohydrate or they will stall or feel very ill. That's why 'paleo for sports' adds dairy and tubers to the diet, and lately - rice, quinoia etc.

Muscle require glycogen for growth, so you need carbohydrate for hypertrophy (i.e. fitness model look). Unless you are genetic exomorph with naturally very lean body (you can't gain weight if you eat a box of donuts a day), you will need starvation and extreme caloric restriction in conjunction with macros game and salt loading etc to achieve sub-average body fat, i.e. what permits the fitness models to show off muscles.

Without it, the high fat low carb diet as you described will take you to average body fat level (model off season) where you will look smooth, with muscle showing up only at tension. You will look either plump or relatively slender depending on how naturally slim and young you are and where your fat is deposited, likely have a bit of a belly pouch, and pouches on , but you will not look cut like a model (unless, again, you won a genetic lottery).

There are reasons why so few ever achieve photo-model physique, and most of them for short periods of time and professionally. It is not a happy place for most people.

[Damiana]

No. The fitness models I know lift weights a lot more than do cardio. They try to limit cardio, in fact.

[Alykat]

i think i am going to have to play with this stuff then. i dont want any belly pouch - it actually is my pet peeve when i have one! the only way i have ever stayed lean was calorie restriction and that is just not worth it either.

[Alykat]

No. The fitness models I know lift weights a lot more than do cardio. They try to limit cardio, in fact.

see i would think that too. However i have been reading some of the fitness model interviews about training and diet and i have not come across one who says they limit cardio to under 45 minutes. i was so excited when I read Mark's info on sprinting verses needing to run and run and keep on running

[cayla29s]

These models usually have their photoshoots around competition time when they are their leanest. They certainly carry a bit more more body fat off season. We don't truly know what their diet and exercise looks likes but I can imagine that they are pretty disciplined considering that it is their job to look a certain way.

If you are just an average person looking to be lean and fit, I would not spend so much energy on trying to look like fitness models.

I do not eat 5-6 smalls meals a day nor do I spend that much time doing cardio and I have pretty good muscle definition. Your genetics really play a part on how you look but this can be manipulated by exercise and diet.

[Drumroll]

see i would think that too. However i have been reading some of the fitness model interviews about training and diet and i have not come across one who says they limit cardio to under 45 minutes. i was so excited when I read Mark's info on sprinting verses needing to run and run and keep on running

If you read Mark's take on hormesis (targeted doses of stress actually resulting in a net benefit), he suggests that perhaps doing one long session of cardio from between 45-60 minutes a week might actually do more good than harm.

What he does NOT suggest is that you do consistent long-term cardio like that on a daily basis. Hormesis is about TARGETED doses of stress, not regular, repeated, rediculous amounts of cardio-induced stress.

But he's mostly talking about overall health and hormones and the like when he makes this statement. He's not really talking about overall body composition benefits, although there probably would be some as long as you're not abusing cardio chronically.