Eating meat

blue powder

I plan on starting to eat meat a lot more now that i'm trying to put on weight/muscle. Also it's a good idea as I have Anemia and Thelacemia minor. How many days a week should I eat a steak? I go to the gym 4/5 days a week.

I also plan to balance this with vegetables and fruit etc. Thanks in advance, guys.

Cylarana

Well, skip the steak. Go for the leaner meats, like poultry and fish. It's healthier all the way around. And I'd try to eat 2-3 helpings a day.

Wulf

If you really want red meat, Venison and Buffalo are good, leaner alternatives to beef as well. Goat is decent, though I prefer Sheep over it in a good curry.

Thanatos

Normally, I'd be agreeing with the other two, but given that you're anemic (do you just have thalacemia, or do you have some other form of anemia, too?), I'm going to guess you weigh about 80% what you should sopping wet. So, fuck chicken, fuck "lean." Go for the beef, or, if you have access to it, buffalo and ostrich are both substantially higher in iron content (beef has about 2.5 times the amount of iron as chicken, buffalo has over 1.5 times that found in beef, and ostrich has about double what beef does).

Of course, this advice changes if I'm incorrect in my assumptions. So, are you looking to bulk up, or lose weight?

Fellhand

Buffalo is so yummy it is unreal.
How do you like your meat cooked? I've heard that the rarer the meat is the more nutrients it maintains (this may be splitting hairs even if it is true). I wouldn't go with rare, but medium rather than well might be better.

Thanatos

Fellhand wrote: »

Buffalo is so yummy it is unreal.
How do you like your meat cooked? I've heard that the rarer the meat is the more nutrients it maintains (this may be splitting hairs even if it is true). I wouldn't go with rare, but medium rather than well might be better.

I've been told that this is a myth.

Fellhand

Thanatos wrote: »

Fellhand wrote: »

Buffalo is so yummy it is unreal.
How do you like your meat cooked? I've heard that the rarer the meat is the more nutrients it maintains (this may be splitting hairs even if it is true). I wouldn't go with rare, but medium rather than well might be better.

I've been told that this is a myth.

I can't find anything about it on the web so I think you're right. Huh.

LondonBridge

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

KMFurDM

Start incorporating protein supplements into your diet if you are interested in putting on some lean muscle. Getting it all from food can be difficult. Something like Myoplex (meal replacement) or regular whey protein.

Thanatos

LondonBridge wrote: »

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

This isn't true for everyone, and it's per pound of lean body weight.

PirateJon

If you can drink milk, start downing at least a few quarts a day it before you add any suppliments. If you can afford it, buy organic since it has much more IGF-1 than normal milk.

LondonBridge

Thanatos wrote: »

LondonBridge wrote: »

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

This isn't true for everyone, and it's per pound of lean body weight.

Speaking from experience I couldn't put on weight/muscle if I didn't get (at the time) over 160 grams of protein a day.

Topia

LondonBridge wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

LondonBridge wrote: »

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

This isn't true for everyone, and it's per pound of lean body weight.

Speaking from experience I couldn't put on weight/muscle if I didn't get (at the time) over 160 grams of protein a day.

Maybe you didn't have a high enough calorie intake?

But yes, beef is extremely good if you're trying to put on weight (muscle mass). Chicken has very clean protein, easier for your body to use, though, but l;ess calories. But Thanatos is pretty much right on everything there.

There's a myth out there that too much protein can hurt your kidneys, so don't overdo that. If you really wanna put on muscle mass it's best to (WITH eating more meat) take a protein shake or two a day.

Dark Moon

Topia wrote: »

There's a myth out there that too much protein can hurt your kidneys, so don't overdo that. If you really wanna put on muscle mass it's best to (WITH eating more meat) take a protein shake or two a day.

This is pretty much wrong. You can damage your kidneys if you dehydrate yourself horribly while consuming vast quantities of protein, but assuming you don't go out of your way to ensure you dehydrate yourself this won't be a problem.

PirateJon

Dark Moon wrote: »

Topia wrote: »

There's a myth out there that too much protein can hurt your kidneys, so don't overdo that. If you really wanna put on muscle mass it's best to (WITH eating more meat) take a protein shake or two a day.

This is pretty much wrong. You can damage your kidneys if you dehydrate yourself horribly while consuming vast quantities of protein, but assuming you don't go out of your way to ensure you dehydrate yourself this won't be a problem.

AFAIK he's right. I've never seen anything that says a person with normal kidney function has any risk from protein intake. If you have something more recent what would contradict this, please post it.

On average, the body builders consumed about 3,900 calories and 169g of protein per day (1.94g/kg) while the other group consumed 2,600 calories and 99g of protein per day (1.35g/kg). Some of the bodybuilders consumed a protein intake of up to 2.8g/kg.

Nitrogen balance (a measure of the amount of protein eaten minus the amount excreted) was positive in all athletes eating more than 1.26g of protein/kg but no different between groups.

Although some blood parameters (blood uric acid and calcium) were higher in the body builders, there was no correlation between protein intake and markers of kidney function (creatinine clearance, albumin excretion rate, and calcium excretion rate).

The researchers concluded that protein intake under 2.8g/kg does not impair renal function. From the results of this study, there is finally evidence that high protein diets may not be harmful to the kidneys of healthy athletes. It appears that high protein diets are only harmful in those who have pre-existing kidney dysfunctions. Prior speculations that high protein intake would cause kidney damage appear unfounded.

Poortmans, JR and Dellalieux, O. Do regular high protein diets have potential health risks on kidney function in athletes? Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 10(1), 28-38, 2000.

TL DR

Thanatos wrote: »

LondonBridge wrote: »

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

This isn't true for everyone, and it's per pound of lean body weight.

How do you find this?

Thanatos

Hurt and Burn wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

LondonBridge wrote: »

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

This isn't true for everyone, and it's per pound of lean body weight.

How do you find this?

You can do a body fat percentage test in a water tank, or a pinch test with calipers, but both of those usually cost money. You can estimate from height and build. Generally speaking, eat a bunch of protein (if you're a male, 120g per day is probably about as little as you want to be getting if you're trying to bulk). If you're not seeing any difference, or putting on any weight, eat more.

Cylarana

Buffalo and game are good, but if he's in America those are expensive and hard to find (most places anyhow). I must have not registered the anemic though; if you have iron defencies, red meat is your friend.

TL DR

Thanatos wrote: »

Hurt and Burn wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

LondonBridge wrote: »

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

This isn't true for everyone, and it's per pound of lean body weight.

How do you find this?

You can do a body fat percentage test in a water tank, or a pinch test with calipers, but both of those usually cost money. You can estimate from height and build. Generally speaking, eat a bunch of protein (if you're a male, 120g per day is probably about as little as you want to be getting if you're trying to bulk). If you're not seeing any difference, or putting on any weight, eat more.

Thanks for the info. I'm getting kind of burnt out of my current protein shake mix (hey, the drum the size of my head was on sale BOGO). Must find alternate vegetarian proteins.

BetelguesePDX

Thanatos wrote: »

Normally, I'd be agreeing with the other two, but given that you're anemic (do you just have thalacemia, or do you have some other form of anemia, too?), I'm going to guess you weigh about 80% what you should sopping wet. So, fuck chicken, fuck "lean." Go for the beef, or, if you have access to it, buffalo and ostrich are both substantially higher in iron content (beef has about 2.5 times the amount of iron as chicken, buffalo has over 1.5 times that found in beef, and ostrich has about double what beef does).

Of course, this advice changes if I'm incorrect in my assumptions. So, are you looking to bulk up, or lose weight?

A word of caution. Thalassemia (whether Thalassemia major or Thalassemia trait) is an anemia that has nothing to do with Iron deficiency (there are many different kinds of anemia, Iron deficiency anemia being just one of them). If anything, the more severe forms of Thalassemia are associated with Iron overload syndromes. The mechanism is to complicated and lengthy to warrant explanation here but I would suggest getting your protein from a healthy balance of lean meats and plant sources. Chicken, turkey, fish, legumes of all kinds (especially lentils) and Tofu sound like good bets. Try and stay away from too much Iron if possible. However if all you have is Thalassemia minor or Thalassemia trait (milder versions of the condition) then don't worry about too much or too little Iron.

Heir

Hurt and Burn wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

Hurt and Burn wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

LondonBridge wrote: »

To put on muscles you need to consume 1 gram or more of protein per pound of body weight. Chicken, beef, fish, and pets are great!

This isn't true for everyone, and it's per pound of lean body weight.

How do you find this?

You can do a body fat percentage test in a water tank, or a pinch test with calipers, but both of those usually cost money. You can estimate from height and build. Generally speaking, eat a bunch of protein (if you're a male, 120g per day is probably about as little as you want to be getting if you're trying to bulk). If you're not seeing any difference, or putting on any weight, eat more.

Thanks for the info. I'm getting kind of burnt out of my current protein shake mix (hey, the drum the size of my head was on sale BOGO). Must find alternate vegetarian proteins.

FYI, you can buy some body fat calipers for like 5 bucks online. They even come with a manual. I'm sure you can find about a billion different ones on amazon.

It gets even easier though, as you can go to www.bodyforlife.com and they have a tool in there where you can input your weight, height, and measurements on about 4 different places, and it'll spit out your body fat %. I got tired of doing the conversions, so I prefer this method.

TL DR

BetelguesePDX wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

Normally, I'd be agreeing with the other two, but given that you're anemic (do you just have thalacemia, or do you have some other form of anemia, too?), I'm going to guess you weigh about 80% what you should sopping wet. So, fuck chicken, fuck "lean." Go for the beef, or, if you have access to it, buffalo and ostrich are both substantially higher in iron content (beef has about 2.5 times the amount of iron as chicken, buffalo has over 1.5 times that found in beef, and ostrich has about double what beef does).

Of course, this advice changes if I'm incorrect in my assumptions. So, are you looking to bulk up, or lose weight?

A word of caution. Thalassemia (whether Thalassemia major or Thalassemia trait) is an anemia that has nothing to do with Iron deficiency (there are many different kinds of anemia, Iron deficiency anemia being just one of them). If anything, the more severe forms of Thalassemia are associated with Iron overload syndromes. The mechanism is to complicated and lengthy to warrant explanation here but I would suggest getting your protein from a healthy balance of lean meats and plant sources. Chicken, turkey, fish, legumes of all kinds (especially lentils) and Tofu sound like good bets. Try and stay away from too much Iron if possible. However if all you have is Thalassemia minor or Thalassemia trait (milder versions of the condition) then don't worry about too much or too little Iron.

This sounds like a job for Tofu!

blue powder

wow, you guys have been excellent thanks a bunch. To Thanatos, yes I am trying to put on muscle weight, I've weighed around 65kg for most of my teenage life, though i have managed to put on a lot of muscle. I took a body fat percentage at the gym and apparantly I'm 6.4% fat. I was a little surrpised by this becuase i don't have a six pack, close to though.

Also I'm on creatine before I work out and have a protein shake within 10 minutes after working out. Both the same brand for "more efficiency". I only plan to stay on teh creatine for about 6 weeks though, i;m in about week 3 now...

Zombiemambo

I've heard that your protein absorption rate (or whatever you want to call it) is at its highest within thirty minutes of working out.

Thanatos

Heir wrote: »

FYI, you can buy some body fat calipers for like 5 bucks online. They even come with a manual. I'm sure you can find about a billion different ones on amazon.

It gets even easier though, as you can go to www.bodyforlife.com and they have a tool in there where you can input your weight, height, and measurements on about 4 different places, and it'll spit out your body fat %. I got tired of doing the conversions, so I prefer this method.

I would *very much* doubt the veracity of any test based purely on linear measurements.