Awesome weird stuff.

[sathor]

Okay, so I've been taking this EAS stuff for a week now, about twice a day. I don't take a full serving because I drink it with milk (20g of protein in a single glass is enough, I don't need 32 or more)

It seems to me that my physique hasn't looked better (yes, I work out and work a hard manual labor job to boot)

The only issue is that I'm still having problems gaining weight.  If I could put on even 10lbs permanently, I would be a very happy guy.

I need to overeat about 3,000 calories to gain a pound. Doing that in a day is inconceivable. I really need to monitor my intake and modify accordingly.

I figured if I could force myself to snack 300-500 calories right in the middle between meals, that might work. But I've done that for awhile with little to no change - actually, I eat throughout the day, many many times. I know - that increases my metabolism even further. But I don't have the stomach for downing 1,500+ calories in a sitting unless it's very dense food (and it seems like I don't get dense food rather often - which is why I'm going to start teaching myself some good recipes)

Eating /bad/ foods to gain weight is not a positive thing. I can't snack myself to 180lbs. For one, the fats won't get burned off and they'll get left in stereotypical areas.

But as long as I eat mostly whole foods (even if they aren't "great" for my health) I should be okay.

A typical day for me looks something like this:

Morning (whatever that is relative to the shift I'm working)
A tall glass of orange juice (probably 12-16oz?)
A bowl of cereal (2% milk)
A bagel
A glass of milk (12-16oz)

Lunch

Sandwich
Celery
Apple/Banana, maybe both if I feel frisky
Some chips (hey, first unhealthy!)

Supper

Whatever it may be. Burgers, chicken, mexican, pizza, spaghetti, breakfast for supper, seafood, the list can go on...sidedishes and whatnot as well...


I don't think I eat that badly really, from a three balanced meals perspective.

I see what lacks a lot of the time is probably 7-8 servings of grains a day. A couple pieces of toast as a snack in the evening, with some peanut butter (legumes) and jelly (fruit) would probably put me exactly where i need to be. Vegetables can hurt too, but I'm slowly working in the vegetables I actually like. Fuck, at least I like celery and carrots, green and orange vegetable. I could only like green veggies and then I'd be worse off.

If I went through and calculated most days, I'm positive I'd be sitting near to 3,000 calories. That's 600 more than the reccommended for my "activity" level and age (2,400 i believe). Obviously, the job I work basically makes me an /athlete/. Except, I can't afford freaking athlete diets.

I'd be eating like $10-15/day if I wanted to really gain weight, wtf!

Comments

[mystic-waves.livejournal.com]

So you know that soy protein stuff pumps a bunch of estrogen into you as well right? Just thought you might want to know. It's way worse for ladies, linked to breast cancer, but as you do not have breasts or produce estrogen naturally it's not super overloading your system. But it is changing your testosterone/estrogen balance. Which I honestly have no idea helps/hurts build muscle mass but if you ask conventional sexist science they will probably say does not help. Just something to think about with that stuff if your mood starts acting funny.

[sathor.livejournal.com]

Haha...

There is a lot of disinformation out there about soy protein isolate.

I've heard a million different stories but the health websites I look at say it's the best of any protein isolate.

If it were truly dangerous to ones health it wouldn't be on shelves, or at least, would have warning labels.

Doesn't make sense that soy would increase estrogen levels. There's no real reason for it. It doesn't have the hormone itself in it.

[noximist.livejournal.com]

I'm late to this party, but quick comment about the safety of supplements:

In the US, if a product is categorized as a supplement, rather than a drug, it is not checked by any regulatory body. The FDA doesn't even glance at it, and there's no one to apply a warning label except the manufacturer, who obviously won't do so even if it's merited. The irony is that while people complain (not completely without basis) that the FDA is completely motivated by cash and won't approve useful therapies, it's also true that they are -legally unable- to monitor and ban dangerous natural products.

If someone notices that a supplement is killing people, it will eventually be banned - but if that doesn't happen, if the dangers are more subtle than that, it can sit on the shelf indefinitely. There's also the fact that there is no required standardization of ingredients in these products; a recent study of various popular supplements showed that the dosages in the container varied wildly from what was advertised, and some supplements contained unlisted ingredients.

Basically, you should be extremely diligent about checking any unregulated product before you take it, because the onus to ensure your own safety is on you. As one example: melatonin, the popular sleep aid, is almost always made from the pineal gland of cows. This is generally not listed on the bottle, so you have no idea where you're getting it from - and if you're the sort of person who worries about BSE from bovine brain/spinal matter, you're in trouble. I distrust the herbal supplement industry, because there have been so many cases where it has deceived and endangered the public. Soy protein isolate is probably fine, but if you start expanding your reach to include other products, tread very carefully.

Sorry, that was much more of a rant than was necessary. Apparently I've been bottling up my feelings on the matter for a while. ;)

[sathor.livejournal.com]

I will probably stick with the Whey/Creatine just as an after-workout and before bed supplement (best when used after workout, but the protein boost during sleep is a huge help for my muscles, since i'm lifting before work, and then working an 8 hour shift, and /then/ going to bed) The stuff i recently got is a lot better - it has way less sugar (negligible amount in a serving, like 1g) and the rest is vitamins/minerals. It doesn't have a /lot/ of creatine - I used to have friends who would take boatloads of it daily while lifting, and they gained /way/ too fast. I'm only looking to gain maybe 2-3lbs/week at /most/. In a couple months I'm hoping to be close to my target weight, and then I can start cardio while keeping my caloric intake about the same, a "cut" phase. If I'm still not happy, I'll do another bulk phase and continue that until I get to the point where I just want to maintain (god, I wish I was there already)

The Soy gets bad and good reviews all around. I think many, many things do nowadays. Too much of something is bad, too little of something is bad, you need to moderate.

I do want to note though, that the /whey protein/ makes me feel /very/ different mentally. After I started protein supplements period I was more positive/upbeat/happy consistently, but the whey protein is taking it a step further by making me feel quite a bit more energetic. Some of the stuff in the new supplement supposedly can boost testosterone levels (as can doing harsh lower-body workouts) and you can imagine what that might change.

[mystic-waves.livejournal.com]

Apparently my computer is in some cahoots with livejournal and refuses to let me post my comment :/ WTF?????

[mystic-waves.livejournal.com]

Oh but that one worked...just not the one insulting pharmaceutical companies...Hmmmm damnit scott's fucking conspiracy theories are getting to me....

[mystic-waves.livejournal.com]

"If it were truly dangerous to ones health it wouldn't be on shelves, or at least, would have warning labels." This is incredibly naive sorry to be blunt and cruel about it. I could go on naming some things that were recalled back in the 50's, and 80's, and 90's that we found out were dangerous only AFTER being on the shelf and causing problems, but I won't. The ingredients label is a warning label ;) The FDA hunts after money, not after health sadly enough. That is why they refuse to allow natural herbs to be labeled as medicine, even though they work 1000X better than over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceutical companies lobby strongly and not so much bribe, but donate money, to push their agenda. It's sick. The side effects that some of that shit causes forces people to turn to more drugs...anyways I could on about herb vrs pill for a while but I'll stop here and go about hormones from plants.

[mystic-waves.livejournal.com]

Soy has high levels of plant estrogen in any form period. The plant itself, like weed, raises the levels of estrogen in your body because it has these plant estrogen...different than the form humans produce by such a small amount that it still acts like human estrogen in your system, your digestive tract places in in the blood stream, it goes to the the rest of your system via lymphatic system and bloodstream. All your hormones you produce are passed from the endocrine to the lymphatic vessels and the bloodstream for transportation to all parts of the body, sorry if you knew this and I am insulting your intelligence. But that's why it is so easy for your body to absorb and use these plant hormones, and synthetic hormones (like birth control pill, but I hope your not using those!) from things you eat. Now ALL plants have hormones, for lots of things. This is how they react to their environments in general. Not all plants have estrogen, but a surprising amount do. And it's not actually a hormone for the plant, it's a compound that is produced by the plant for ? reason. I don't think science even knows why, but maybe I just haven't found it in my low levels of education about this stuff. But it's a side chemical with a structure so similar to our our steroid hormone. (btw, steroid is just a class of chemical composition...just like carbohydrate, lipid, amine, etc) And it's amazing how many hormones we have that plants do, esp the peptide-related ones, because well proteins are the base of life practically, coming straight from the gene sequences...you might know this also. But yeah so anyways....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoestrogens

[mystic-waves.livejournal.com]

And science is completely debating over the health benefits/risks of these plant estrogen and women mostly. Some say it helps cancer/menopause some say it hurts. I think we focus on women in this debate b/c we already have high levels of estrogen...but it obviously effects men in some way. As you have estrogen too. I just thought you should know...in case you notice any odd shift in your body/mind and don't like it. I dunno but i do know that I can't take birth control pills because the overload of estrogen fucks with me emotionally WAY too much. Crazy mood swings up/down/sideways, it was insane with the few types I tried...but I think I have a different testosterone/estrogen balance then most women... :/ sssooooo yeah......

Just don't be so naive about shit on the shelf being safe...b/c your a smart guy...and it's all money based...you know that. We put these things out there with minimal testing. The standards set are low. Amazingly low in this country compared to other countries. It's fine until proven bad...innocent until proven guilty. Rather than bad until proven safe. And it get's proven as harmful when enough customers complain sadly enough. If you want I'll start listing pesticides, chemicals in food, certain packaged food items, dietary supplements, and over-the-counter pills that have been thrown on the market with minimal testing and have severely damaged people and even killed in some cases. But I'll save that for your own research for now. Because it's probably better if you look into it..you'll get the whole picture rather than mine. And I don't have a lot of time to go and cite it places for you right now :p

[mystic-waves.livejournal.com]

The soy is not as bad as most honestly....it's just something to be aware of in general. And I'd be willing to guess unless it's a 100% pure soy based protein thing, there is some side thing in there that will be more harmful. I'd go with hemp protein. Way more expensive. But that's what the vegans I know swear by. And I'm a female so there is more unknown risk for me personally. But I just eat fish when I want an overload of protein...lol

Oh and the natives called beans, corn, and squash the 3 sisters. Those things combined really are the ultimate natural well rounded protein source I feel...not meat. Anyways...I'm done ranting now. =)

[sathor.livejournal.com]

Don't take BC.

Just trust me. Former relationships got blown apart when they switched, every time, i hear about this all the time from friends too. Girls that were madly in love, they switch BCs or quit, and go complete slut in 2 seconds. Later on they justify it somehow (probably with the ingrained feminist doctrine.)

As for the Soy, I like how it makes me feel. I will probably switch to Whey protein instead after this stuff is gone, but it better taste as good. I love this shit.

There was a study I read that soy protein was the best of all the available protein supplements. The others have negatives, too, they all do. The increased estrogen in men can cause over aggression apparently, and some other negatives, but it's still not completely understood. Either way, soy is a plant (food) and it's healthier than eating shitloads of meat to get all of my proteins. Although I /will/ switch to whey.

And no, eating just vegetables won't get me it. I wouldn't be able to stomach that much food in a day.