Is a good diet overated?

[TheRuss]

a good diet (having a plan, counting carbs, protein etc.).

This is not a good diet. This is a controlled diet. There is a crucial difference.

A guy can stumble into a diet that lets him reach his goals - that is, a good diet - without establishing controls. It's quite possible that you're in this situation right now.

The problem is that he can stumble out of it just as easily. Something changes, and he winds up putting on fat/losing muscle/fatiguing easily/stagnating... and he doesn't know what happened, and he doesn't know what to change to fix it.

The more you know about what and when you eat, what physical activity you do, and how your body's reacting, the less likely it is that you'll get caught by surprise and not know what to do.

[Emevas]

Run that by me one more time.

A good diet is always better than a bad diet. The thing is though, when people talk about a "good diet", they usually mean bringing out the chicken and rice, tuna, sweet potoates, veggies and fruits. Though healthy, yes, if you're not eating to meet your goals (say, a calorie surplus), this is not a good diet, because it is not big enough. For some people, a little dirt is necessary.

I'm not saying you need to try the package of Oreos in under 20 minutes approach and avoid anything green, but that a lot of people put too much concern on eating only brown rice and egg whites that they miss their caloric needs by a long shot, making neither really a "good diet".

A good diet is, by definition, a diet the meets your goals.

[Snake Plissken]

Okay maybe I worded my question wrong. Lets put it like this, regular diet (eating with common sense but also adding fast food every now and then) vs. a good diet (having a plan, counting carbs, protein etc.).

As for why I don't eat McD every day, three reasons, 1 money(I need a minimum of 4 cheeseburger + FF each meal), 2 access (I hate to get out of the house before eating something), 3 taste.

OK, since you rephrased this, I will answer differently.

You are 21 and active.

Anything you put into your body will be converted to fuel.

If you had a '56 T-Bird or a Brand New Mercedes SL600 V-12....would you put the absolute cheapest gas you could find or Premium High Octane gas?

Both will run the engine.......

[TheRuss]

A good diet is, by definition, a diet the meets your goals.

Genius! I wish I'd thought of that :P

[Emevas]

I'm sick, you'll have to forgive my plagerism.

[Snake Plissken]

That was functional plagerism?

[honesty]

So, there's a good diet, a healthy diet, and a controlled diet. You should be trying to do all three.

The reason you may not be seeing as much of an effect from your diet as other people do is because you train so god damn much. Your just burning through it quickly and your body is after whatever calories it can get. As an extreme example, look at Michael Phelps' diet (listed here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...c/7562840.stm). No way would that be considered a healthy diet, or even a good diet by some, but it meets the needs of his very high levels of training and calorie requirements.

[bigpappaferg]

Okay maybe I worded my question wrong. Lets put it like this, regular diet (eating with common sense but also adding fast food every now and then) vs. a good diet (having a plan, counting carbs, protein etc.).

As for why I don't eat McD every day, three reasons, 1 money(I need a minimum of 4 cheeseburger + FF each meal), 2 access (I hate to get out of the house before eating something), 3 taste.

Well, if you want to thrive as an athlete you need to have some idea of what you are putting into your body for two reasons. One, you want to make sure you are getting enough of the nutrients that your body needs so that it can function properly and repair itself. Two, you want to make sure you aren't taking in too many of the toxins and chemicals that are found in commercial process/packaged food. Your youg and may not feel the effects yet, but the effects add up as you age.

That being said, it is not at all necessary to count every calorie and every gram of protein unless you are a serious competitive athelete or bodybuilder. It's more then adequate to estimate "eyeball" your portion and guestimate your portions once you have a good frame of reference.

I would recommend calibrating your eyeball by weighing, counting your carbs/fat/protein for a few days or a couple weeks, so that you have an idea of exactly how much food you need to take in a given amount of any given nutrient. That is, if you care. :) Once you can guestimate portion size it isn't really necessary to be too anal about it, unless you have specific body fat/muscle mass goals.