snack food on bulk

[Gsxr84]

while bulking, i was wondering if homemade beefy jerky was a good food to snack on since its pretty high protein, and not much fats or perservatives added.
What you guys think ?

[gbrice75]

I think it's a great snack, but keep 2 things in mind:

1) even with considering it a snack, it should still be worked into your daily caloric total, you can't just munch on it at will

2) Beef Jerky is notoriously high in sodium, like... ridiculous. I know you're bulking, but water retention never looks good IMO, so just watch for that.

[Gsxr84]

well my homemade version doesn't have much salt in it unless the meat its self comes high salted.

[SEAviator]

just wondering about water retention.... of course its unwanted but is it a permanent thing or temporary?

in other words.. if you consume high levels of sodium for 3 days, and then cut back, will come back to normal? in how much time?

[Gsxr84]

of course it will come back down ! through good diet and exercise. Think about people who drop 100lbs or so, they get their levels back to normal ( healthy ).

[gbrice75]

It'll definitely come back down once a lower sodium diet is resumed, but it makes you look and feel like shit! Especially if you're in the lower bodyfat range (<12%) - because your abs are more prominent, it's very easy to detect water retention and actually 'feel' it.

[Damienm05]

It'll definitely come back down once a lower sodium diet is resumed, but it makes you look and feel like shit! Especially if you're in the lower bodyfat range (<12%) - because your abs are more prominent, it's very easy to detect water retention and actually 'feel' it.

I hate the way I feel after I let a ton of sodium and/or sugar creep into my diet. I was recently out of town and I let myself enjoy a few extravagant restaurant meals with my girl to reward myself for recently achieving my fat loss goals very quickly.
Was it worth it? F*ck no! I couldn't even enjoy the beach. I just felt puffy in the face and I literally had barely any abdominal definition at ~10% after the third day. Of course, four days later, I was back to normal but it's still a bad feeling. You'd be surprised how good you can look, even at a high bf% when you retain minimal water.

[gbrice75]

I hate the way I feel after I let a ton of sodium and/or sugar creep into my diet. I was recently out of town and I let myself enjoy a few extravagant restaurant meals with my girl to reward myself for recently achieving my fat loss goals very quickly.
Was it worth it? F*ck no! I couldn't even enjoy the beach. I just felt puffy in the face and I literally had barely any abdominal definition at ~10% after the third day. Of course, four days later, I was back to normal but it's still a bad feeling. You'd be surprised how good you can look, even at a high bf% when you retain minimal water.

LoL I hear you bro... it makes you crazy! You run your hands over your abs and you can just feel a 'trapped pocket' of water.... frustrating as hell!

Similarly, i've been rewarding myself... for nothing...

[Damienm05]

If I were to have jumped up and down the day following our last 6-course dinner; I'm sure I would have jiggled like a water balloon.

[danimal79]

homemade jerky is fine as long as you're not adding a bunch of salt or sauce to it. i'd rather have a protein bar though, but that's me.