How many of you listen to your body, really listen to it? I know I never really did.

For instance, last week I played a soccer game, outdoor, the full 90 mins, after it I went and had a medium pizza and a salad, probably 1200 calories. My body was craving the food and did very well with it. The next day I experienced no fatigue in the gym. My body said it wanted pizza I had been relatively good on diet and just taxed my body so I knew all the food would be a good thing.

This past sunday I wanted to try something different. So after playing the full match I just had 1/2 scoop of MP, 4 scoops of Mass Maker, then about 2 hrs later at bedtime I had one packet of Weight control maple oats and 1 scoop of MP.

Monday in the gym I was flat and tired as ****. I could tell I hadnt given my body enough.

So last night I had 400 grams of white potate which is about 70 grams carbs post workout and then two bannanas.

Today I feel much fuller and better....I noticed no negative fat gain from it and Im still maintaining my 8% or lower appearance.

Im getting better and better at knowing when to spike my metabolism and eat more carbs/food in general.

When I used to diet low carb I would CRAVE oatmeal, nothing else, just freaking oatmeal daily/hourly you name it. Of course I didnt eat it, but had I, I bet I would have felt better and looked better and aided my fat loss.

I am by no means saying to cheat on your diet when dieting for a show, but it amazes me how good our bodies are at sending signals of what it needs....the trick is listening and not overdoing it, especially if contest dieting....

Thoughts, conversations....

Jason,
B-E-A-utifully stated! I know I don't listen to my body near enough and I'm pretty hard on myself sometimes. Thanks for that post, you got me thinking....

I listen to my body, but I don't do what it wants me to. Usually it asks for Pizza or Red Robin Monster-Burgers.... but instead I punch myself in the stomach and tell me to "SHUT-IT".

I wonder if taking cheats more frequently would help or hurt me all the time... the problem with me is the QUANTITY of food that I ingest in one sitting. If I did that more frequently there is no way I could recover... Or could I? Here is what I mean; 2 large Pizzas, 6-12 Subway cookies, OR, 6 McDonald's Cheeseburgers, 2 Big Macs, 1 Super sized fry + desert of somesort..... U see what I mean? That is not taking it to far for me, that is just what I have allways considered as "cheats"..... probably not your average cheat-meal.

Anyways, this is why I don't like to listen to my body. Because most of the time it does not serve the same goal/purpose that my mind intends on pursuing...

quote:

Originally posted by ChunkyButt:
I listen to my body, but I don't do what it wants me to. Usually it asks for Pizza or Red Robin Monster-Burgers.... but instead I punch myself in the stomach and tell me to "SHUT-IT".

I wonder if taking cheats more frequently would help or hurt me all the time... the problem with me is the QUANTITY of food that I ingest in one sitting. If I did that more frequently there is no way I could recover... Or could I? Here is what I mean; 2 large Pizzas, 6-12 Subway cookies, OR, 6 McDonald's Cheeseburgers, 2 Big Macs, 1 Super sized fry + desert of somesort..... U see what I mean? That is not taking it to far for me, that is just what I have allways considered as "cheats"..... probably not your average cheat-meal.

Anyways, this is why I don't like to listen to my body. Because most of the time it does not serve the same goal/purpose that my mind intends on pursuing...

Yeah but chunk that is not a cheat meal that is a binge meal in my opinion. Thats a ton of food, why do you eat all that, because your body felt deprived, too low cals, not enough carbs, not enough balance in my opinion.

I never feel compelled during a cheat to eat that much food, thats A LOT, sounds more bingish to me...and I think you proved my point to some extent.

Think about it.

My favoritet cheat hands down is a big fat Chipotle burrito. I often crave one of these after some type of athletic activity. I usually feel a little bloated afterwards, but my workout the next day is amazing from all those carbs.

Organic sweet potatoes- my body recovers extremely well from these after training-I just wanted to add that, and see if any one else uses them?

Nice post Jason. I think my body is really in need of some things when I wake up at 2AM starving, LOL. When that happens I have 2 pieces of Ezekial bread, seems to do the trick.

quote:

I wonder if taking cheats more frequently would help or hurt me all the time... the problem with me is the QUANTITY of food that I ingest in one sitting. If I did that more frequently there is no way I could recover... Or could I? Here is what I mean; 2 large Pizzas, 6-12 Subway cookies, OR, 6 McDonald's Cheeseburgers, 2 Big Macs, 1 Super sized fry + desert of somesort..... U see what I mean? That is not taking it to far for me, that is just what I have allways considered as "cheats"..... probably not your average cheat-meal.

It's going to depend what point you are at in bodyfat, conditioning, etc. A once a month or once in two weeks, one meal isn't a bad thing. You can stay Lean and Mean. I've done it.

I have gone that crazy before and the one problem is controlling that craze after with the types of foods you describe, you'll want more and have to fight that food crave, especially from some of the fast food places.

quote:

Originally posted by Vinny Shirey:
Nice post Jason. I think my body is really in need of some things when I wake up at 2AM starving, LOL. When that happens I have 2 pieces of Ezekial bread, seems to do the trick.

Hey Vin, thanks....

I have a suggestion for you though. If you are waking up that hungry and craving carbs that tells me you arent eating enough carbs during the day. I would refrain from doing so at night as you spike your insulin and during sleep is when the body can fuel its processes using stored fat if insulin and glycogen are low. once you introduce carbs here comes insulin and here comes glycogen and you will fuel the process from those carbs. now if not precontest, then yeah have the ezekiel if you like.

Just something to think about.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank:

quote:

I wonder if taking cheats more frequently would help or hurt me all the time... the problem with me is the QUANTITY of food that I ingest in one sitting. If I did that more frequently there is no way I could recover... Or could I? Here is what I mean; 2 large Pizzas, 6-12 Subway cookies, OR, 6 McDonald's Cheeseburgers, 2 Big Macs, 1 Super sized fry + desert of somesort..... U see what I mean? That is not taking it to far for me, that is just what I have allways considered as "cheats"..... probably not your average cheat-meal.

It's going to depend what point you are at in bodyfat, conditioning, etc. A once a month or once in two weeks, one meal isn't a bad thing. You can stay Lean and Mean. I've done it.

I have gone that crazy before and the one problem is controlling that craze after with the types of foods you describe, you'll want more and have to fight that food crave, especially from some of the fast food places.

Frank in my opinion the only way someone could binge like that is if they were starving and had deprived themselves way too long, and that was my point.

If not contest dieting its okay to have a few things here and there, if training is intense and doing a little cardio, its not going to hurt. The more you eat in the offseason the more you can diet on.....thats very very true....Im training my body to handle around 400 carbs right now, around 200 protein. When I start prep I can drop carbs substantially but still around 250 and then up protein to around 230 and start to really lean out....no starving...just cut out that little bit of junk....just something to think about with all this...

quote:

Frank in my opinion the only way someone could binge like that is if they were starving and had deprived themselves way too long, and that was my point

It may be more than that. For the longest time, I could eat and eat, then eat some more never worrying about fat gain. Now that I'm behind a desk for hours, I can't go back to those habits. It's embedded almost like instict and perhaps ChunkyButt has a similar situation. It also seem like there's an additive in some of the fastfoods that will make you want more. I also have the football/military thing that you only have 3 minutes to eat, another habit hard to break. I have learned to eat slower by multi-tasking or talk to someone when I'm eating. This has helped slow down things I'll not over eat. ChunkyButt may just be like me and when it is time to feast, we do it all out. Punch a hole in the artery, just get some lard, pack it and we'll be fine.

Either way, it is controlled otherwise, we'd be chatting on another board under the title: "HELP!"

Maybe it is a personality trait issue more than a psychological/diet problem. Far from restricted dieting, when I get one Mickey D sandwich, I'll want one later. It's not always the quantity, but just wanting another, much like a woman craving chocolate (or should we not go there...lol).

I'd like to hear more on what ChunkyButt deals with. As for me, it's pretty much under control. It's not a binge eating extreme.

I just did what you guys stated. I am 4 weeks out and very depleted. I did 1 hour of cardio - mix of HIT and regular intensity 30/30 split.
Today was my carb up meal, I was CRAVING oatmeal and rice! Instead of 1.5 cups, I had 2.5 cups and a 3/4 cup of rice with a tbs of natural pb for fat. No sweet potatoe, but had the banana.
I needed it, I was feeling ready to fall over. 1 hour of cardio with 45 minutes of weights - tri-sets for legs. My body needed it to push through.
Though I feel guilt about the extra rice and oatmeal. But at least its good carbs. Now I have to wait till thurs, dang.