The Avatar Nutrition thread

[ithryn]

Okay I just joined. I guess I'm a sucker. I mean, I could do this on my own, probably maybe, but I haven't up to this point. I figure $9.99 a month no contract is a cheap way to simulate accountability without paying hundreds a month to a diet coach who's just going to IIFYM me anyway.

The website seems pretty straightforward. You can select for higher calorie days or higher fat or carbs. I just left everything default.

What do you think of these macros? I picked "medium muscle gain" which is the medium "gains" option. Seems like the protein is low. Perhaps I just need to worry more about total calories though. I like the higher fat, trying to hit the 60-80 g range with fat is a pain in the ass.



Right now I've been "bulking" which is just me trying to make gluttony sound intentional. I'm four weeks into consistent training in Andy Baker's barbell club, and the workouts are much more intense than I'm used to. Plus there's added GPP. I'm not even going to try to cut weight for at least four more weeks. I really want to eat to support this and I don't care what the scale says, but my waist has grown to 44" (I'm 5'10" 217 lbs right now) and my bending-over-shoelace-tying RPE is moving up to around @8.5-9. So I figured I'd track to avoid too much slop and maybe trim back to at least 40" - in my experience it won't go below that without an actual calorie cut.

It syncs to this Macros+ tracking app, does anybody use this? I already have an app I'll probably keep using (Mynetdiary) because it's got a pretty exhaustive database and it's pretty quick to add foods to your log.

[Murelli]

Protein

They calculate it based on lean mass.

Macros +

I use it, but MFP is better (has a bigger database). Never used mynetdiary, but I guess you can use it.

Avatar Nutrition Social Media

The facebook group is pretty repetitive, but it has some good informations on how to trick MFP and a nice compliance spreadsheet.

/KennyCroximpersonation

I like Avatar a lot, was having good progress before I got ill, and expect to resume good progress when I get back to training tomorrow. ROI is pretty high.

[TimK]

Protein

They calculate it based on lean mass.

Macros +

I use it, but MFP is better (has a bigger database). Never used mynetdiary, but I guess you can use it.

Avatar Nutrition Social Media

The facebook group is pretty repetitive, but it has some good informations on how to trick MFP and a nice compliance spreadsheet.

/KennyCroximpersonation

FTFY

[Murelli]

Protein

They calculate it based on lean mass.

Macros +

I use it, but MFP is better (has a bigger database). Never used mynetdiary, but I guess you can use it.

Avatar Nutrition Social Media

The facebook group is pretty repetitive, but it has some good informations on how to trick MFP and a nice compliance spreadsheet.

/KennyCroximpersonation

FTFY

Thanks

[TimK]

Let the record show that the blue font and underlining were my contribution to this otherwise serviceable impersonation

[broseph]

Let the record show that the blue font and underlining were my contribution to this otherwise serviceable impersonation

lol'ed. I kept trying to figure out what your edit was...

My 2¢ to OP: I wish I knew Avatar's logarithms and rationale for such a high carb and medium protein recommendation. You're going to end up getting a lot of trace protein from all those carbs. Basing protein on LBM makes sense to me, however for non-diseased individuals there's probably no practical upper limit (i.e. higher than 160/day would be fine). Just make sure you're getting your protein doses from quality sources, shooting for 3g leucine/meal with only 160/day.

My wife was very frustrated trying to lose weight by herself (with me making macro recommendations). I got her an Avatar account as a gift and it has worked perfectly for her.

[Allentown]

Is the name a reference to the Always Sunny episode where Mac explains that he got fat because he way trying to weigh the same as his Avatar? As in, will I get the recommendation to carry a bag of chimichangas everywhere I go?

[ithryn]

Lower Protein

I suppose I'm okay the seemingly lower protein goal for a few reasons.

Take it to the limit

I already kind of suspect (for no scientific reason, just from reading Jordan etc) that 200 g is probably the upper useful limit for protein in terms of MPS.

You may use Goggle to find the posts.

Fuel, not building blocks

But I'm probably long past LP muscle gains so I don't know that I need the whole 1g/lb thing. Whereas to get through these workouts I will need lots of carbs.

Ice Cream

It is somewhat like ice cream. One is chocolate and the other is vanilla. Ice cream but different flavors.

That last part I took straight from a KC post. It doesn't mean anything here. I love Kenny Croxdale so much.

Kenith Croxryn.

[ithryn]

I wish I knew Avatar's logarithms and rationale for such a high carb and medium protein recommendation. You're going to end up getting a lot of trace protein from all those carbs. Basing protein on LBM makes sense to me, however for non-diseased individuals there's probably no practical upper limit (i.e. higher than 160/day would be fine).

I may go into the "advanced features" and push the protein slider up (the one and only advanced feature). Just because 375 g carbs is looking to be a pain in the ass unless I go buy some Pop tarts and Lucky Charms.

That's good to hear about your wife though. Mine won't track unfortunately :/

Edit to add: you're not kidding about the trace protein. I'm already over, geez. Ate some almonds!

[BenM]

I struggle with the low protein too. Always feel like I’m artificially limiting it (I have the slider all the way up too - my lean mass is... low). But the results I got (LBM gains) suggested that it worked fine.

Will probably be switching to a quick fat loss setting on the weekend and running a mini cut, will be interesting to see what happens to macros; hoping protein will increase while cutting.

[ithryn]

I pushed my protein up to 180 which dropped my carbs to 355 (which is still more than I usually eat).

For no scientific reason other than I like protein shakes and I just bought a metric ton of powder from Myprotein.

I almost went and asked Jordan on his forum but I just can't bring myself to be the 10,000th person asking him free advice on how much protein to ingest and I already know the answer is either "try 160 and see if it works" or "yeah I'd bump it to 180 and see if it works"

It does occur to me that Avatar may be intended for the average fitness person (jogging, Crossfit etc) - or at least isn't exclusively designed for barbell lifters.

[broseph]

I pushed my protein up to 180 which dropped my carbs to 355 (which is still more than I usually eat).

For no scientific reason other than I like protein shakes and I just bought a metric ton of powder from Myprotein.

I almost went and asked Jordan on his forum but I just can't bring myself to be the 10,000th person asking him free advice on how much protein to ingest and I already know the answer is either "try 160 and see if it works" or "yeah I'd bump it to 180 and see if it works"

It does occur to me that Avatar may be intended for the average fitness person (jogging, Crossfit etc) - or at least isn't exclusively designed for barbell lifters.

Yeah, I know Layne Norton is a part of Avatar, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a nutrition program for "serious" lifters. Then again, I've seen posts from him showing that he actually uses the program and it's recommendations. I would trust the process if I were you and "see if it works."

[Murelli]

I pushed my protein up to 180 which dropped my carbs to 355 (which is still more than I usually eat).

For no scientific reason other than I like protein shakes and I just bought a metric ton of powder from Myprotein.

I almost went and asked Jordan on his forum but I just can't bring myself to be the 10,000th person asking him free advice on how much protein to ingest and I already know the answer is either "try 160 and see if it works" or "yeah I'd bump it to 180 and see if it works"

It does occur to me that Avatar may be intended for the average fitness person (jogging, Crossfit etc) - or at least isn't exclusively designed for barbell lifters.

I pushed my protein up to 180 which dropped my carbs to 355 (which is still more than I usually eat).

For no scientific reason other than I like protein shakes and I just bought a metric ton of powder from Myprotein.

I almost went and asked Jordan on his forum but I just can't bring myself to be the 10,000th person asking him free advice on how much protein to ingest and I already know the answer is either "try 160 and see if it works" or "yeah I'd bump it to 180 and see if it works"

It does occur to me that Avatar may be intended for the average fitness person (jogging, Crossfit etc) - or at least isn't exclusively designed for barbell lifters.

Yeah, I know Layne Norton is a part of Avatar, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a nutrition program for "serious" lifters. Then again, I've seen posts from him showing that he actually uses the program and it's recommendations. I would trust the process if I were you and "see if it works."

If you up your "activity level" on Avatar it ups the protein intake. That accounts for "barbell lifters" or whatever...

[ithryn]

Oh wow, I just upped my "daily activity level" from 2.0 to 4.0 hours and it jumped my calories from 3000 to 3800. 3.0 gives me about 3500. I dunno. Maybe I should just stop mucking around with it?

[broseph]

Maybe I should just stop mucking around with it?

This seems smart. You gotta start somewhere, and the program will adjust based on your results.

[raivyne]

I've been using Avatar since July and really like it. I'm on the slow muscle gain setting right now and from 08.28.17 until 10.07.17 I went up 1.305 lbs LBM. Not bad for an old gal.

[BenM]

Avatar’s not exclusively for barbell lifters but that’s definitely something they strongly encourage.

Oh and Layne has been given the flick, so he’s no longer involved in the day to day. High drama a week or so back. Mark Springer put up a statement in the Facebook group confirming it. All very Days of Our Lives.

[jwagner]

As others have said, Avatar bases its protein recommendations off lean body mass.

Additionally, the bulk (“muscle gain”) settings prescribe lower protein requirements than the cut (“fat loss”) settings. This is because, allegedly, there’s less risk of muscle protein breakdown in a surplus, therefore higher amounts of protein are unnecessary and the calories would be bette4 used for more readily available energy sources since the extra protein would end up being used for energy anyway.

At least that’s the gist of what I got from one of the Facebook livestreams the Avatar team did a while back.

[broseph]

I think Jordan makes similar recommendations regarding higher protein when cutting.

[simonrest]

I'm about a month in. Thanks to this thread for alerting me to the slider for more protein. I'm finding my allocation fairly low but I'm going to stick with the recommendations because currently I'm trying to reverse diet so I can actually build a surplus to cut from.