Say a person was supposed to eat 5000 calories per day for bulking. Would it be cheating if the guy had tacos , pizza, and cookies more than once that week , if in fact that allowed him to hit his numbers each day?
[quote]GetSwoleToday wrote:
Say a person was supposed to eat 5000 calories per day for bulking. Would it be cheating if the guy had tacos , pizza, and cookies more than once that week , if in fact that allowed him to hit his numbers each day?[/quote]
Really all depends on how your progressing. Is your diet making you softer, or is your muscle mass increasing?
The amount of “junk” some can get away with is very individual. Some will need plenty of cheat type foods in their diet just to gain weight, while others can’t get away with much at all
If you are eating 5000 calories, odds are you aren’t eating chicken and rice for all 5000. Foods themselves aren’t necessarily good or bad. Trans fats and such are bad for you yes, but what makes a taco so bad? Ground beef, lettuce, cheese, a shell? What’s so “dirty” about it? Same with a pizza, hamburger? I feel like I remeber reading about how Yates used to eat brownies sometimes when he was dieting for a show.
If it fits your calories and macros, I don’t think there is a big issue how you get them for the vast majority of people.
I will also say it’s unlikely you really need 5000 unless you are very active, like construction worker/football player doing 2 a days. Most people just really have no concept of what 5000 truly is
[quote]staystrong wrote:
If you are eating 5000 calories, odds are you aren’t eating chicken and rice for all 5000. Foods themselves aren’t necessarily good or bad. Trans fats and such are bad for you yes, but what makes a taco so bad? Ground beef, lettuce, cheese, a shell? What’s so “dirty” about it? Same with a pizza, hamburger? I feel like I remeber reading about how Yates used to eat brownies sometimes when he was dieting for a show.
If it fits your calories and macros, I don’t think there is a big issue how you get them for the vast majority of people.
I will also say it’s unlikely you really need 5000 unless you are very active, like construction worker/football player doing 2 a days. Most people just really have no concept of what 5000 truly is[/quote]
Lol I don’t disagree, but using Dorian Yates’s diet as an example is not advisable. Lots of chemical differences going on there.
[quote]GetSwoleToday wrote:
Say a person was supposed to eat 5000 calories per day for bulking. Would it be cheating if the guy had tacos , pizza, and cookies more than once that week , if in fact that allowed him to hit his numbers each day?[/quote]
I agree with the above that “cheating,” or how much processed or refined foods someone can get away with eating before s/he derails his or her goals, is pretty individual.
Personally, as long as I get about 80-90% of my calories in a week from whole, minimally processed foods, I don’t have an issue. If I start deviating too much from that percentage, then I observe noticeable fat gains that start to come on pretty fast even after a few weeks of sloppy eating (former not-so-lightly fat guy here though). However, there are some good articles on this site from the recent past about bulking regiments gone awry, i.e., the eat everything in site palate/plan, that might be a good read.
[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
[quote]staystrong wrote:
If you are eating 5000 calories, odds are you aren’t eating chicken and rice for all 5000. Foods themselves aren’t necessarily good or bad. Trans fats and such are bad for you yes, but what makes a taco so bad? Ground beef, lettuce, cheese, a shell? What’s so “dirty” about it? Same with a pizza, hamburger? I feel like I remeber reading about how Yates used to eat brownies sometimes when he was dieting for a show.
If it fits your calories and macros, I don’t think there is a big issue how you get them for the vast majority of people.
I will also say it’s unlikely you really need 5000 unless you are very active, like construction worker/football player doing 2 a days. Most people just really have no concept of what 5000 truly is[/quote]
Lol I don’t disagree, but using Dorian Yates’s diet as an example is not advisable. Lots of chemical differences going on there.[/quote]
Oh for sure, just saying given his level of competition and the fact that everyone else he was competing against was just as assisted means if a brownie was so bad for him it would have made a difference since everyone else was in the same boat.
Plus, I don’t really have many examples of well-known natural bodybuilders and their diets 
Other than I know I have seen plenty of natural and assisted guys on this site eat pop tarts, sugary cereals, and stuff like that pretty often. The only real “necessity” I really see is satiety, meaning the “healthier” foods typically aren’t so calorie dense and can eat a lot more. Which is pretty important when you’re only allowed 2000 calories or something.
Lets just be honest here…
If your goal is to put on muscle, and are working hard as fuck in the gym, you must not be afraid to eat. This includes all types of food. Yes your main focus must be to include as many healthy foods as you can, but god damn if a motherfucker orders a pizza and offers you some, eat the fucking thing. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Especially when you are bulking and has ingredients such as homemade Italian Sausage or Grilled Chicken. You may find yourself doing this more than once per week.
Even though I advise that you do not get in the habit of doing this. But some weeks you may find that you eat foods such as pizza more than others. Don’t beat yourself up over it and just throw some extra cardio in to be safe. We must remember that most of us are not professionals and never will be. We just want to look good and see results. To hold yourself back from the food you enjoy especially when your main goal is to build muscle, is just fucking nuts. As long as you are dedicated in the gym , you can eat pretty much whatever the fuck you want to, in moderation of course.
Cutting is a different story.
Also make sure you drink alcohol in moderation.
No, it wouldn’t be cheating. Fiber and micronutrient content will have minimal effects on body composition. Health is a different topic which is why it is common sense to get as much of your calories as you can from whole unprocessed foods. Pizza and tacos are not dirty, although the calories and macros are hard to fit since they have lots of carbohydrates and fats. I remember I went on vacation right in the middle of a cut and I basically had to reach my macros with just ice cream, pop tarts and canned chicken and beef jerky. I came back more ripped than ever.
Quantity beats quality every time when it comes to body composition and in some cases health too. I assure you it is much less healthy to be a fat man eating meat and rice every day than to be a lean man eating fast food all day.
[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
[quote]staystrong wrote:
If you are eating 5000 calories, odds are you aren’t eating chicken and rice for all 5000. Foods themselves aren’t necessarily good or bad. Trans fats and such are bad for you yes, but what makes a taco so bad? Ground beef, lettuce, cheese, a shell? What’s so “dirty” about it? Same with a pizza, hamburger? I feel like I remeber reading about how Yates used to eat brownies sometimes when he was dieting for a show.
If it fits your calories and macros, I don’t think there is a big issue how you get them for the vast majority of people.
I will also say it’s unlikely you really need 5000 unless you are very active, like construction worker/football player doing 2 a days. Most people just really have no concept of what 5000 truly is[/quote]
Lol I don’t disagree, but using Dorian Yates’s diet as an example is not advisable. Lots of chemical differences going on there.[/quote]
I get the gist of this but a calorie is still a calorie, and whether one is assisted or not, they can get shredded with “IIFYM”, whatever the foods may be so long as the diet is not unbalanced and has plenty of micros and fiber, whether they are assisted or not.
[quote]GetSwoleToday wrote:
Say a person was supposed to eat 5000 calories per day for bulking. Would it be cheating if the guy had tacos , pizza, and cookies more than once that week , if in fact that allowed him to hit his numbers each day?[/quote]
In short, no, so long as the diet provides plenty of microutrients and fiber and has high BV protein.