Don't worry about your fear of offending. You've just been thrown into water and now it's up to you to swim.

There is no one way and there is no one truth. Only way for you is to experiment, try, believe and enjoy in your decision and your way.

Don't ask for fishes, because you will be always hungry. Learn from all this answers and other topics on forum, how to catch fish alone ;)

Ouh, one more question, I forgot to ask before: what is the reason to drink 6-7 liter of water a day?

BR, Gregor

Eric,

for me, macros war is just like vegeterians/vegans vs meat eaters...holy war which will never end. If someone have already "routine" which serves quite well, personally I will suggest just some adjustments not complete redefinition. I bet you know that top coach/trainer/helper can jump into skin of client and provide help from inside-out ;) And I really, really, don't have energy anymore to convince convinced one. I just try to help anyway in best way I can. And often that is coming across as close as it's possible to someones different opinion or believing.

Strait looking on initial question...you really don't need carbs for living, body have mechanism to live without them. Your performance and other topics are different questions.

Personally, and yes I will say like that, I don't give a shit to carb miths, cheat meals and all similar things. I follow some basic rules and listen to my body. I eat Mcdonalds, junk food, pizzas, candies and all other shit whenever I like to. Why? Because I feel I need, because I burn all I eat and because making me happy is more important that restricting me in any way. When I train like animal, I eat whatever I see. When I don't, I actually don't feel to eat enormous quantity of any foods. During my IM trainings I ate, beside all other things, up to 1kg of bread and 0.5kg pasta a day! And now it's not any different...in 2-3 hours after gym I eat 200g pasta = cca 140g of carbs + 100g of carbs in post-workout shake. Isn't that more than we usually read and hear anywhere in fitness area for whole day? For me Kostas is God while he admit he eat up to 700g carbs a day. If you ask me...I don't know a single macro for myself. Because I really don't care.

And if a bag of chips during sunday evening movie session will ruin all my results...then this is fate,...

BR, Gregor

PS: I believe you noticed much of irony and sarcasm inside this post. All you didn't, don't take everything literally.

I know what you mean Binny! Very frustrating. Just really need to see what works best for you has been my experience. I have learned a lot in these forums but researching on your own, too is a must! Everyone means well and a lot of good knowledge here but there is more than one way to skin a cat as they say!!

I 100% agree with Eric on this. ALL macros are critical for muscle development, strength, and general fitness. Only competitive bodybuilders and fitness models - who HAVE to maintain a ripped, low-body fat physique - should worry about extreme macro manipulation in their diets.

Getting lean i.e. leaner than 95% of the average, non-training population comes down to the simple equation that Eric lists above: calculate your macros, eat quality food to reach them daily, and train. Period. Everyone's genetics and body chemistry is different and reacts to macronutrients differently. This is where all the confusion and mis-information comes from. While this basic formula of eat-train-rest is consistent for all, it is the eating and training part that needs to be tailored for the individual by that individual. What works for one person may not work for someone else and visa versa. The confusion and frustration occurs when someone declares "you must eat no more than 120g of carbs to get ripped" or "you must not eat more than 30g of fat to get lean" etc, etc. and people take this as 100% applicable to themselves.

Part of the journey that is fitness and living a healthy lifestyle is the process of constantly learning and adapting yourself to what works for YOU and gets the results YOU want. Understanding the various roles of macronutrients, how to train for various goals (hypertrophy, strength, endurance), and how to make and follow a meal plan are just the basic tools everyone needs to start the journey. The roads you take, how long it takes, and what places you go are all dependent on how you adjust these tools to work for YOU. The bottom line is don't get so engrossed in counting all your macros. Define your meal plan and calorie intake needs, map that against the macros, and eat. Adjust the amounts based on what you are seeing, feeling, and want knowing that protein builds the muscles, fats provide the building blocks for your hormones and cells and is an alternate fuel source, and carbs are your energy to fuel the whole thing.

John

100% cosign, not just because we have similar opinions but because you're promoting the long-term understanding of one's own body and journey.

Everyone needs to understand that true mastery of one's own body - their training and nutrition, comes from long, painstaking time under the bar and in the kitchen finding out what works for you. The scientific principles lay the foundation, but the application of said principles are slighty different person to person.

While I do agree that you can always lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink, I believe it's my responsibility as one that's educating themself in the science and development of wellness to allow each and every person the same knowledge and opportunity that I've been afforded through my own interest and academic pursuits.

Carbs vs. No carbs is not a debate of philosophy like veganism verus omnivorous eating - and just because the body can produce glucose from other emergency pathways, does not mean that carbohydrates are not important. There is a metabolic cost to converting amino acids to glucose and it's why the concept of a minimum carbohydrate intake has been set to avoid muscle wasting - we're here for growth and development not starvation and putting the body into a desparation mode for the sake of a little bit of short term fat loss.

The body is MADE of protein, the body is very efficient at temporarily storing carbohydrates for regular quick utilization. Given the choice, why would one want to potentially catabolize their own tissue for energy or use a metabolically costly pathways which leaves potentially damaging or otherwise, again, metabolically costly waste products to then be cleared as opposed to nuroushing themselves with high quality carbohydrate sources?

I think a big misconception right now is the difference between refined and processed (high fructose corn syrup) carbohyrate sources and natural sources.

I hope my point is getting a bit more clear, I'm not trying to get into some big rant and I hope it does not come across as such, but denying oneself a nutrient source for the sake of weight loss or cutting is very short sighted and most of the time is a contributing factor to the weight gain rebound.

Eric

OK, I see my post didn't deliver message I wanted to. And it's funny to share mostly the same opinion but be on different side because of interpretation,...

To be clear, I don't support any diet where there is less than 50% carbs. And I claim it's enough to eat 2g proteins per 1 kg body weight when gaining mass. I don't agree with Scott's meal plan video but I still shared and advised it. I said, that strait looking you don't need carbs for muscle growth but your performance and other topics are different question.

Binny stated 250g/150g/100g ratio in his diet. Carbs are problem, carbs! For God's sake! Did anyone calculate that fats cover 36% his calories and that's a little too much? Did anyone think about that he (and all others who are on high protein diet) spends 1/3 proteins for energy and could easily changed for carbs instead. Which would be easier for his body and probably also for his wallet? And no, he doesn't need to radicaly change his diet, he can just do some adjustments and live happily on. And that was one of the points I wanted to highlight. If it works for you and you are happy with that, go ahead! I try to help people to achive their goals happily, if that means diet which I don't agree with, I'll try to adjust that diet in way person will still believe in and be happy but causing at least "side effects" as possible. Afterall, it's more important to be happy and believe, not what is a real truth. And I don't claim that's right and should be that way...but it is. Best proof is love.

When I looking whole sports field, I realize that I screwed up when I decide to make carrer in mechanical engineering not in supplement industry. What is better to have high protein diet, where you have to provide high amount of proteins, have low carb intake and you need power boost for training in form of preworkout shakes and formulas to stimulate your body because you don't have energy to handle heavy workout, and so on, and so on.

In my opinion, there is actually no much misconceptions and everything. All kind of informations are availabe all over and everyone can reach it by few clicks. I think it's much more about mind set, how much are you willing to accept, how much you are willing to think about,... There are a lot people I know and I know they know how stuff works. But hey!, that athlete does this and that, take all those supplements, I will also! OK, go ahead, spend all that money for nothing and be happy!

And why to talk about refined and processed food, and natural sources? It's fact, you can't eat anymore like they were able 50 years ago. Why we wouldn't rather talk about basics? About carbs themselves. What is their role. What is their function. What is simple carb, what is complex carb. Glycemix index. Glycemic load. Isn't that more important and with knowing everything of that everyone can assess which source of food is acceptable for him/her?

And when talking about processed food...why not talk about whey? Casein? Amino acids? Protein biological value? Protein efficiency rating? Protein digestibility corrected amino acid score? So healthy vegetable which is, despite being seasonal, availiable through whole year in perfect color and shape? About best source and most spread protein food, chicken breast, where chickens are made up in one month for slaughter, with full support of hormones and steroids, where chickens don't see sunlight and their size is too big to be able to move around, so they can live in density of 10 chickens per square meter? Because these are mighty proteins? Because there is no other choise? Because nobody is aware about this?

Why just about mighty processed and refined carbs? They are just simple carbs and made up to be tasty. It's nothing wrong with them. It's wrong with all people who doesn't understand them. And for understanding you have to think, you have to put effort and invest in time, knowladge and learning. But we are set to go by the line of least resistant to achive any goal...

And when it comes to final decisions, what to do, how to do, what to eat,...this is one of the best things I ever saw and I bet more than 50% don't understand the point, which was presented,...

BR, Gregor