A Very Simple Approach For The Very Simple

[michael]

Those are some pretty solid guidelines, @mgil

A few others that work for me:
Only eat what I've brought for lunch while at work.

Only 1 plate at dinner, no matter how excellent the meal is. Includes not eating what my little guys left on their plate.

No sweets during the week (ice cream, dessert, candy, etc.). Ice cream on Friday night, **maybe** Saturday night if I've "earned" it by maxing out a lift or something.

No alcohol during the week.

Sounds like the "No S Diet".

[cgeorg]

No dairy

Dairy is like, half my diet

me too.
maybe not half, but I couldn't do without

Yogurt
Cheese (lowest fat I can find: part skim mozzarella)
2% milk

Cabot has some good low fat cheddars. Right now there is a 24-32ish pack of 1oz servings of one that is 3g fat 6g protein at costco for ... $9.69? Real nice little snack

[jwilson625]

You guys have so many rules.

I just stay under 2700 calories and over 200g of protein. Now that's simple.

Same, for the most part: ~3000kcal/200g pro is the most important thing. I do have fat/carb targets as well that I try to stay near, but I'm definitely not making monumental efforts to hit them exactly, nor am I losing any sleep over it if I don't.

I think it also helps that I don't drink much.

[damufunman]

Also can't do without dairy here. In one of @JordanFeigenbaum's IG lives he mentioned something about the top 20 or 25% of dairy consumers in a study had the highest health stuff (I think obesity, heart things, cancer stuff, etc. can't remember specifics), thought that was interesting.

[quark]

Also can't do without dairy here. In one of @JordanFeigenbaum's IG lives he mentioned something about the top 20 or 25% of dairy consumers in a study had the highest health stuff (I think obesity, heart things, cancer stuff, etc. can't remember specifics), thought that was interesting.

Is that controlled for calorie intake, weight, etc., etc., etc.?

[quark]

You guys have so many rules.

I just stay under 2700 calories and over 200g of protein. Now that's simple.

Consider also eating at least 30g of fiber. Not that much more complicated.

A lot of the other stuff is to help with compliance.

[Stenson]

When cutting, I have a "no liquid calories" (except whey shakes) rule that works really well for me. That on top of Mgil's first rule really help with satiety. It's really easy to eat/drink a bunch of simple carbs that don't contribute much to satiety.

[TimK]

You guys have so many rules.

I just stay under 2700 calories and over 200g of protein. Now that's simple.

Consider also eating at least 30g of fiber. Not that much more complicated.

A lot of the other stuff is to help with compliance.

So I checked MyFitnessPal and I seem to be getting around 20g a day. What are those extra 10g going to do for me? Or is it just a dirty trick to make me eat proxy for vegetables?

[FredM]

You guys have so many rules.

I just stay under 2700 calories and over 200g of protein. Now that's simple.

Consider also eating at least 30g of fiber. Not that much more complicated.

A lot of the other stuff is to help with compliance.

So I checked MyFitnessPal and I seem to be getting around 20g a day. What are those extra 10g going to do for me? Or is it just a dirty trick to make me eat proxy for vegetables?

It's a more useful rule on a cut. Fiber helps with satiety and it's hard to get 30-40g of it without eating fruits and veggies when you're restricting calories.

Otherwise I find the target kind of meaningless. It's pretty easy to get 30+g of fiber on nothing but whole grains when you're eating enough to not lose weight and lifting heavy weights. My rule instead is to have at least 3 fruits and/or vegetables. Usually that's an apple, a banana, and some baby carrots. The fruit is pretty easy because it works so well as a post and during workout snack.

[quark]

You guys have so many rules.

I just stay under 2700 calories and over 200g of protein. Now that's simple.

Consider also eating at least 30g of fiber. Not that much more complicated.

A lot of the other stuff is to help with compliance.

So I checked MyFitnessPal and I seem to be getting around 20g a day. What are those extra 10g going to do for me? Or is it just a dirty trick to make me eat proxy for vegetables?

Vegetables, fruit, grains, beans. Keep you regular, lower cholesterol, control blood sugar, satiety. For example, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-life ... t-20043983

[JohnHelton]

Skip breakfast and only eat two tacos for lunch rather than the usual three. Oh, and less beer + pizza.

[neandrewthal]

Otherwise I find the target kind of meaningless. It's pretty easy to get 30+g of fiber on nothing but whole grains when you're eating enough to not lose weight and lifting heavy weights. My rule instead is to have at least 3 fruits and/or vegetables. Usually that's an apple, a banana, and some baby carrots. The fruit is pretty easy because it works so well as a post and during workout snack.

Glad to see you've come to the dark side...and on the same day as me

[Mugaaz]

Make sure your proteins have minimal fats along for the ride.

I'll see myself out.

[iamsmu]

It's a more useful rule on a cut. Fiber helps with satiety and it's hard to get 30-40g of it without eating fruits and veggies when you're restricting calories.

Otherwise I find the target kind of meaningless. It's pretty easy to get 30+g of fiber on nothing but whole grains when you're eating enough to not lose weight and lifting heavy weights. My rule instead is to have at least 3 fruits and/or vegetables. Usually that's an apple, a banana, and some baby carrots. The fruit is pretty easy because it works so well as a post and during workout snack.

Hmmm. The psyllium husks don't have quite as much as I expected. But I think they punch above their weight. It's not just like eating saw dust. The fuzzy husks make jello ropes from poo. Saw dust can't do that. Neither can apples.

[cgeorg]

I’ve been doing better eating-wise recently and have lost a little weight while not losing energy or strength.

I’m too lazy to count macros and all of that other food calculus stuff. Instead I boiled it down to these two tenets:

Make sure your carbohydrates have plenty of fiber along for the ride.

Make sure your proteins have minimal fats along for the ride.

I think that tracking for a bit is important if only to teach you the macro breakdowns of the things you eat - what proteins actually have minimal fats? What carbs have plenty of fiber? I don't track any more but I have a basic idea of the macro balance of most of my meals, because I used to.

[Mugaaz]

The 30g+ of fiber is impossible for me. I understand the desire to eat high fiber foods, but I find that value just completely unreasonable. Even focusing on greens every meal, adding husk, and eating fiber gummies, it is still hard to get it that high. I gave up keeping fiber that high. Now my protein shakes taste less like sewage.

[broseph]

So I checked MyFitnessPal and I seem to be getting around 20g a day. What are those extra 10g going to do for me? Or is it just a dirty trick to make me eat proxy for vegetables?

Yeah. I think that 30g of fiber requirement we often see is a proxy for vegetables. Helps you avoid too much high palatability food when doing IIFYM.

My beef with vegetables is that they are very filling at meal time, but that fullness doesn’t last long.

I can eat a chicken breast and huge pile of vegetables and be quite satiated, but then I’m hungry an hour later. Nachos and pizza never betray you like that.

[cwd]

It looks like my every-day breakfast has 13 grams of fiber in it (oats, apple, walnuts, peanut buffer, raisins).

I'm probably over 30g total most days, w/o any supplements.

But why do you need to hit that arbitrary benchmark? If you are pooping in a satisfactory way, you're probably good.

[mgil]

I’ve been doing better eating-wise recently and have lost a little weight while not losing energy or strength.

I’m too lazy to count macros and all of that other food calculus stuff. Instead I boiled it down to these two tenets:

Make sure your carbohydrates have plenty of fiber along for the ride.

Make sure your proteins have minimal fats along for the ride.

I think that tracking for a bit is important if only to teach you the macro breakdowns of the things you eat - what proteins actually have minimal fats? What carbs have plenty of fiber? I don't track any more but I have a basic idea of the macro balance of most of my meals, because I used to.

Sure. But it’s pretty easy to develop a ruleset of choices that can be used to apply the two principles I started this thread with. I still have to make conscious choices, but I’m not forced to do the arithmetic.

[Stenson]

Whole grain pasta has a ton of fiber. Whole grain bread has quite a bit too. I usually get over 40 grams when I'm bulking or maintaining and eating a lot of those foods.