The Nerdist Way_ How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) - Chris Hardwick [61]
Your weight in pounds / 2.2 = your weight in kilograms
Your weight in kilograms x 1.5 = ideal daily protein intake in grams
. . . so with actual numbers that would look like this:
200 pounds / 2.2 = 90.9 kilograms
90.9 x 1.5 = ~136 grams of protein
Special note! Don’t eat all of your protein in one sitting and go, “I’m DOING it!!!” Spread it out as evenly as possible over five or six smaller meals, which would put you in the 20 to 30 grams-of-protein-per-meal range. Remember! This is a guideline, so if you don’t eat EXACTLY what you’ve calculated every day, it’s OK. This should just give you an idea of where to aim. There are a comical number of apps for your smartdevices that will keep track of your daily protein/calorie/sodium/whatever-you-care-about intake. I used one out of curiosity for just a week and discovered that I was only eating about half the protein every day that I actually needed (and WAY too much sodium). The more you know.... [inspirational star cascades over the cold vacuum of space]
■ The most important thing is CONSISTENCY.
Rather than just committing to work out and eat better, commit to the concept of consistency. It sounds strange, but this slight goal adjustment might help you have better results when you find yourself trying to justify eating a whole pie by yourself.
■ Supplements: multivitamins, vitamin B3 for men, and iron and calcium for women.
Men don’t need as much iron as ladies. This is because we don’t menstruate very often. Oh sure, it SOUNDS rad, but most dudes are just too damn lazy to produce eggs and then slough them through the penis. The calcium is helpful to women because they are more susceptible to bone density loss and the B3 (also called niacin) for men because it gives dudes the energy to support their typically higher muscle mass. Or you could just hedge all your bets and take a sex-specific multivitamin. I use 365’s “Adult Multi for Men,” which I purchase at Whole Foods, who are not paying me to say that but SHOULD.
■ The two most important meals are breakfast and post-workout.
Skipping breakfast slows down your metabolism. Also, when you’re REALLY hungry later in the day, you’re liable to nuke your body with carbs. When exercising, eating thirty minutes to two hours after a workout replaces glycogen and encourages the rebuilding of the muscle fiber you just tore down. Eat good carbs AND protein. If solid food is difficult after exercise, a protein drink will work.
■ Use portion control.
Say, if you eat smaller portions, YOU’LL HAVE LESS FOOD TO PROCESS, which will keep you from gaining weight or help you lose the chubs you have. It is better for you to eat the same daily calories over more meals then fewer with larger portions. For some reason, we have equated “eating until really full” with “awesome.” This is a goddamn lie. The food’s going down, but your brain needs to receive the signal that you shoved it in. After about twenty minutes, you should no longer be hungry (eating s-l-o-w-l-y should help manage this as well). I personally cut my portion sizes in half when I was a tugboat, which kept me from getting full and trimmed me down.
■ Do not eat two to three hours before bed.
For reals! Your food may not digest properly if you take a pizza to bed. (I don’t mean “have sex with.” That I’m actually OK with.) This may leave you bloated and crampy the next morning. Also, your body needs all the energy it can get to repair your body while you sleep. If you give it a friggin’ job, like digesting your food, you not only will sleep poorly but the double duty your body is pulling will force it to store whatever it couldn’t break down as fat. The upside is that your extra layer of goo