A while back I reached out to our Facebook audience and asked them for their feedback. Or more accurately, I asked how I could help them improve their nutrition. The response was overwhelming, and I ended up with more questions than I knew what to do with. Inevitably, I took the questions and discussed them with nutritionist and MH Weight Loss Coach Alan Aragon. Alan, who was busy working on his monthly research review (I site I use all the time, and one of the best places to find diet and nutrition information), was kind enough to provide personalized answers.

The official "bro" of nutrition

Here are Alan’s answers to your questions—unedited—for your reading pleasure. Part II will follow soon.

Fre asked: I need advice for the right diet for a hardgainer

Alan says: In my experience, folks who perceive themselves as “hard gainers” tend to either not eat enough protein, or their training volume is too much to be conducive to size gains. Make sure you eat enough protein (roughly a gram per pound of target body weight). In the case of sufficient protein and calories but without any gains, you might want to consider cutting down your training volume. You can start by halving the amount of cardio you do, and also consider limiting your total work sets per body part per week to an average of about 12.

Loren asked: I eat high fiber, high protein, foods but I still feel hungry a lot during the day. I exercise about 1-1.5 hours 5 days a week and push pretty hard. Am I not eating enough food? 26 years old, 170lbs, 12.5% body fat, 5′10″ ish, eating about 2400 calories a day.

Alan says: Whether or not you’re eating enough food depends upon your goal. If your goal is weight loss, then hunger is just one of those things that comes with the territory. There’s really no way around it. You can run a caloric deficit that’s not very severe and reduce hunger somewhat (to enable you to lose 2-3 lbs a month instead of, say, 4-6 lbs a month), but you will still experience waves of hunger. Another thing that can hike up appetite, more so in women than men, is training at high intensities. If you ease back on your training effort for at least a portion of the training bouts in the week, you might find that your hunger significantly decreases, and the dieting process would be a lot less painful.

Alex asked: There are so many protein powders and supplements out there, is there one that’s highly recommended among the others? Or does each protein powder and/or supplement depend on the kind of results I want to achieve? Does this make sense? Like if I want to get big, obviously I’m going aim for mass building types of protein and maybe creatine. My personal goal is that I’m aiming for the Gerard Butler look in 300.

Alan says: There’s really no staggering difference in the performance of the popular types of protein on the market, no matter how desperately companies try to hype them up. With that said, dairy-based proteins such as whey, casein, or a blend of the two, are as good as it gets in terms of quality, and are fairly priced. Of the protein powders I’ve personally tried, I like AtLarge Nitrean, Gaspari Myofusion, and Dymatize Elite. I’ve heard good reviews of the quality and service of True Protein’s products as well. But yeah, the take home message is there’s really no significantly better type than the rest when it comes to the good stuff like whey and/or casein-based proteins. Even soy is a high-quality protein that performs almost as well as the animal-based stuff.

An Alan Aragon recommended protein

George asked: What’s a good preworkout shake or drink to take?

Alan says: A good preworkout shake is really any combination of protein and carbs that doesn’t upset your stomach during training. Quick, simple examples include 1-2 cups milk (or fruit juice) + 1-2 scoops whey protein powder. The amount you have in those ranges depends on your goal and how easily the shake fits into your daily macronutrient target. Speaking of goals, some folks who don’t have any pressing need to perform at peak or minimize muscle loss don’t actually need a preworkout shake. Those on carb-restricted diets can keep it just protein to leave room for carbs elsewhere in the day. Just get your butt in the gym and train. Make sure your macronutrient targets for the day are hit, and you’re good.

Stephen asked: I’m trying to loose an 2-3 inches on the waist and remove the belly fat so these abs workouts actually show. Any suggestions on meals to help from starving while still losing weight? Exercise about an hour a day and have an ab routine bout 3 times a week at the end of workouts.

Alan says: This is something that varies with everyone, but generally speaking, protein is the most satiating macronutrient of the three (you can also call alcohol a macronutrient, but it tends to actually spike appetite in amounts commonly consumed). With this said, make sure you’re not coming up short on protein in your meals. Another rule of thumb for satiety is that solid rather than liquid sources of protein (flesh instead of powder) might keep you fuller longer due to a less rapid digestion time. My final suggestion to combat the misery of hunger is to make a mental association between hunger and fat loss. Once you feel hunger pangs, just imagine body fat dissipating. Here’s a quote I like by Richard Muller: “How to cope with the hunger? I attempted to enjoy it. I thought of the movie Lawrence of Arabia, in which T.E. Lawrence says, ‘The trick is not minding that it hurts.’ I told myself that the mild ache was only the sensation of evaporating fat. That interpretation has some basis in physics. When you lose weight, most of your fat is converted to the gases carbon dioxide and water vapor, and so you get rid of fat by breathing it out of your body.” Short of this, gather up your nerve and chew on some crunchy greens like celery or cucumbers.

Teddy asked: What is the most efficient way to get rid of excess water weight for someone with a fairly low body fat level?

Alan says: This is kind of a touchy subject, but I would first ask what makes you think it’s a water issue, and not an issue of you wanting simply to push the extremes of fat loss. Often what people mistake as water retention is merely subcutaneous fat that they feel the need to reduce. In women, their monthly cycle can be accompanied by bloating from water retention (also called premenstrual edema). The common tendency in folks wanting to get “shredded” is to mistake body fat for edema. A related topic is the situation of “peak week” in bodybuilding circles, where all kinds of cute manipulations are made to attempt to ”dry out” or look sharper for the day of the contest. When in reality, the competitor just needed a few more weeks of dieting to get rid of more fat.

Andrew asked: I’m 41 and exercising 3-4 times a week now. I’ve dropped 25 lbs since January. In addition to exercise, I’ve really revamped my diet – very little sugar, no sodas, no white bread, very little pasta (whole wheat), cutting out HFCS, etc. What other nutritional advice can you give me to get rid of this belly flab? Also, the only supplement I’m using is N.O. Whey Protein. Any advice for supplements?
THANK YOU, SIR!!!!!!!!!!!

Alan says: NO supplements are for the most part just wallet torches. All you’re paying for is the caffeine and creatine, while the hyped-up arginine is doing nothing. So, right off the bat, you can chuck that supplement and just stick with regular whey. Since you’ve cut out a bunch of calories from various sources, you’ve probably created a calorie deficit, and thus accomplishing the crux of what’s required to lose weight/fat. As far as completely eliminating certain foods, that fine if you had no desire for them in the first place, but I would recommend being flexible with the foods you like, even if they do contain HFCS, which is really no different or worse for you than regular sugar. Just keep everything (desserts and all) moderated in order to allow weight loss to continue, and voila, you’re leading a less neurotic, happier life.

If you're taking an "NO" supplement, Mr. Aragon has only one word for you.