Do you notice that you like to snack when you’re bored? You’re not alone. Here, we offer a few tips on how to either make the most of your urge to snack, or how to avoid it. Additionally, the BuiltLean Team addresses whether electrolyte drinks are safe to consume during exercise, what to do when you think you’re pinching a nerve during your workout, and how to include yoga into your strength program.
- How to avoid snacking when bored?
- Safety of sodium/potassium drinks?
- I feel like I’m pinching a nerve in my leg when I do squats. What’s wrong?
- How do I increase weight and mass without gaining fat?
- Should I bulk up first or cut first?
Question #1 | How to avoid snacking when bored?
Question: “I am bored at the moment and am having a hard time resisting the urge to get up and look in the fridge for a snack. I don’t want to creep over my calories for today, but I find that it is difficult for me to avoid to eating when I’m bored. Any suggestions for resisting the need to feed?” – Russ
Answer: One tip I would give is, if you know what time of day you usually have that urge to snack, plan one of your small meals so that it is around the time you feel bored. This way it’s still a part of your daily calorie intake. Another thing you could try is drinking water with lemon or some hot tea instead of grabbing a snack. Sometimes we mistake thirst for hunger, which could lead to snacking. Drinking water will keep you busy, not to mention hydrated, while helping you keep your calories under control. Here are a few more articles for further reference:
- How to Control Cravings
- 5 Health Benefits of Tea
- 25 healthy snack ideas.
- How to Control Cravings
- 5 Health Benefits of Tea
- 25 healthy snack ideas.
- Kwesi (Kwesi Peters, CPT, Community Manager)
Question #2 | Safety of sodium/potassium drinks?
Question: “Hi Marc,
Is it safe to drink a sodium/potassium beverage during a workout? Also what is the best time of day to workout?”- Rahul
Is it safe to drink a sodium/potassium beverage during a workout? Also what is the best time of day to workout?”- Rahul
Answer: Drinks that include sodium/potassium can be beneficial during a workout to replenish the electrolytes you lose through your sweat as you exercise, but I don’t think they are necessary. They generally have too much sugar in my opinion. Some studies have shown a banana can help just as useful for potassium replenishment. In terms of safety, they are approved by the FDA, which evaluates all food and drugs that enter the marketplace for safety. The best time to workout is subjective. Based on your internal clock, your core temperature is greatest during the middle of the day, but it really doesn’t matter what time you workout. What matters more is how you set your body up nutritionally and physically for your workouts. Schedule your workout sessions for the time of day that you feel the best and have the most energy. Then you’ll get the most out of your efforts.
- Marc ( Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT)
Question #3 | I feel like I’m pinching a nerve in my leg when I do squats. What’s wrong?
Question:“Hey, When I do squats with heavy weight, the inside of my right leg always starts to feel like I’m pinching a nerve or something. Is there anything I can do to make it go away?”- Andrew
Answer: Without seeing you and without knowing the exact issue you’re describing, the best advice I can give is to go see a licensed professional who can help you get a better understanding of what’s going on. This can include a sports medicine doctor or a physical therapist. With that said, foam rolling your IT Band, your inner and outer quads, and your glutes, while stretching your hip flexors and adductors may help. In addition to that, doing a warm-up where you do some lateral movements and movements that help to activate some of the smaller muscles such as your glute medius and minimus (ex. clam movement) may help. Pin-pointing your specific problem though should be of the utmost importance for you, so definitely make an appointment with a professional to get checked out.
- John ( John Leyva, CSCS, CPT)
Question #4 | How do I increase weight and mass without gaining fat?
Question: “I really appreciated the info on the afterburn effect. It’s a very helpful article and I’ve managed to get my body fat percent to 10-11 % through high intensity interval training. I’m 5’8″ and generally quite lean, and I weigh 144 pounds. My training goal is to build muscle so they look more prominent. I’d like to get some advice on whether I should get down to 7% body fat (because ‘lean’ at age 17 is 6.2% – and then work on building? I want to build muscle and increase my mass without putting on too much fat. Should I eat lots of calories to bulk up and increase my weight to about 160lb and then cut? Any advice is appreciated!” – Alex
Answer: Congrats on the success so far. As far as “increasing your mass”, it sounds like you want to build muscle without gaining fat. In regards to getting to 7% body fat, you can achieve that by either continuing to lose fat through diet and exercise, or by building more muscle so that your percentage of body fat is reduced due to increased muscle mass. Since building more muscle and increasing your mass is what you want, I would suggest that you focus on building given you are already lean. Usually we suggest the opposite for guys who are not below 10% body fat. In terms of gaining muscle without gaining fat. For more information, check out the answer to # question 4 here => How to Bulk Up – Men’s Fitness. That should get you started on your fitness goals. If you have any other questions feel free to ask!
- Kwesi (Kwesi Peters, CPT, Community Manager)
Question #5 | Should I Bulk Or Cut First?
Question: “Marc…how does one decide if he has enough muscle to start a cut? Should I bulk up first or cut first?”- Anjit
Answer: Hey, I hope this article will help you Top 3 Reasons to Lose Fat First Before Building Muscle! Your question is very common, and ultimately it’s subjective, but I hope this article helps guide you in the right direction!
- Marc ( Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT)
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How To Avoid Snacking When Bored?,
Hello, i have recently been following all of marcs advice on the builtlean website and plan on doing the program soon. I have gone from 25% body fat to 14.1 body fat in this last month. My question is how much does holding plank for sets help to tighten the ab muscles? Also how much impact does side plank have on oblique tightness?
Hi there,
Thanks for all the helpful info
I am female stand 5’3″, 112lbs, 14% body fat and I am vegan (for over 8 yrs now). My question is this I want to gain more muscle mass…and I am wondering if you could please help with information / suggestions on a vegan food plan that would help me accomplish my goal of getting more muscle mass.
I presently train 5-6 days a week, do a warm-up, stretching then lifting…I am in the gym about 1.5 hrs a day. Things are going okay but I am finding it hard to gain the muscle mass as noted above.
Thanks for listening, hope to hear from you soon.
Christina
I LOVE the new site! It makes it so much easier to access information and review my favorite articles.
I loved this article and seem to benefit from repeated reminders about losing fat before building muscle, so thank you for that. I think that some of us need to hear and read the same wisdom more than once before it becomes ingrained.
I just wanted also to welcome the newest members of your team — Annie Massa, Amber Sayer, and Miguel Arogoncillo! You guys find awesome staff, and I don’t know how you do it. I’m especially impressed with Annie who seems to have done some impressive stuff before even graduating from college.
If I had to do my master’s education all over again, I would probably pick Amber’s degree — it is what I love to study most now. Welcome, Amber!
I am really looking forward to Miguel’s articles because I love it and appreciate it when writers describe exercise form clearly and with precision. Write something soon for us, Miguel!
Please pass this on . . . and keep up the great work.
Mark,
whats your opinion on rowing machines for cardio. to me it seems a very good option because of the minimal stress on joints and the fact so many big muscle groups are used. but for losing fat is it a good option? high intensity rowing could only be done for short amounts of time but otherwise rowing is usually done over a period of time with medium intensity which will cause more muscle loss right?
Marc,
I am looking to cut weight, and, while I still have a bit of belly fat, when I cut, I tend to lose a lot of fat in my face to the point where my parents have asked me if I have been eating enough. I want to lower my body fat percentage, but I also don’t want to have sunken in cheeks (I have high cheekbones). Do you have any advice for this?
Thanks for any feedback
- Sam
Dear BuiltLean-staff,
how many eggs a week / a day would you recommend to eat to get enough protein in? I noticed that at your article about healthy breakfast a lot of you mentioned eggs. Also, would you recommend eating the “whole” egg or just the eggwhite? Thanks for all your interesting articles, I enjoy coming back to this site every day!
@Phillip – I eat a couple whole eggs and a couple egg whites for breakfast, or I’ll do 3 whole eggs. It’s really up to you. You can have basically an unlimited amount of egg whites because they are only 16 calories and have 4 grams of protein. Egg whites are an excellent fat loss food.