nutrition and diet
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My Personal Approach
Diet and Nutrition are arguably more important than the workouts you actually do. Your body is actually recovering and getting bigger OUTSIDE of the gym. So this is the time when you need to give it what it needs to build muscle, repair and recover so you can continue to train and get better each day.
If you don't understand this, you are basically working out, breaking down your muscles and then not giving them what they need to grow. It would be like trying to drive a racecar but not giving it any gas...it doesn't matter how many horsepower it has, or how amazing the handling, if it doesn't have fuel, it doesn't go anywhere.
If you don't understand this, you are basically working out, breaking down your muscles and then not giving them what they need to grow. It would be like trying to drive a racecar but not giving it any gas...it doesn't matter how many horsepower it has, or how amazing the handling, if it doesn't have fuel, it doesn't go anywhere.
keep it simple
If you've watched any of my videos or read any of my other fitness advice, my number one thing with fitness is to keep things simple. In order to change your lifestyle it has to be sustainable. If its not sustainable then you will never get the results you want. I find by keeping things simple and following a few principles that I've come up with, you can live a normal life and stay in great shape.
1. eat Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Eat three meals a day. Breakfast lunch and dinner. I know it sounds like the simplest thing you've ever heard but when I asked friends, family members and clients if they eat three meals a day, I'd say more then half said no. If you can't find the time to eat three meals a day then something is seriously wrong and you need to figure out what is taking up all your time. Dear god people, find the time to eat three meals.
Along with eating three meals, lets talk about how to prioritize what foods to eat. What I do is base every meal around getting enough protein. I find that getting enough fat and carbs in your diet is very easy. The hardest macro to hit for me is the protein. So I decide what I eat for every meal based around how I’m going to get my protein. Also, keep in mind your body can only absorb so much protein at a time. This is another reason why body builders spread out their meals. Everyone is different but a general rule of thumb for men is about 50 grams per meal and about 30 grams per meal for women. If you’re larger or smaller then average then these become larger and smaller.
Along with eating three meals, lets talk about how to prioritize what foods to eat. What I do is base every meal around getting enough protein. I find that getting enough fat and carbs in your diet is very easy. The hardest macro to hit for me is the protein. So I decide what I eat for every meal based around how I’m going to get my protein. Also, keep in mind your body can only absorb so much protein at a time. This is another reason why body builders spread out their meals. Everyone is different but a general rule of thumb for men is about 50 grams per meal and about 30 grams per meal for women. If you’re larger or smaller then average then these become larger and smaller.
2. Prioritize protein with those meals
If you want to build muscle you have to get enough protein. Protein is the essential building blocks for your muscles. The general rule I follow is if you're doing resistance training then try to get at least 1 gram per 1 pound of body weight. For me that's at least 175 grams of protein per day. An example might be eggs with breakfast, chicken with lunch and steak or fish for dinner. Also, I personally can't eat enough meat in one day to get all 175 grams of protein that my body needs. That brings me to my next point....
3. Take a protein supplement
I personally take three shakes per day. I take optimum nutrition gold standard whey protein between breakfast and lunch and for my post workout shake. I take it with 8 to 10 ounces of milk. I also take a casein shake before bed for a slow release of protein throughout the night while I sleep. Each shake is roughly 30 grams of protein so I get a free 90 grams of high quality protein every day just from my shakes. The other great thing about protein is its a natural hunger suppressant. So I really treat these like my snacks between meals. I'll talk more about protein and other supplements I take in the "Supplements" tab of my website.
4. Drink tons of water
The daily recommended water intake is 64 ounces but if you perform any type of physical activity then that can easily double based on how hard you workout. 70% of your muscles are made up of water. Your body uses it for almost ever essential reaction that occurs. Even your brain needs water to function at peak levels. Due to many different factors our society as a whole is so dehydrated that our bodies have actually come to mistake being thirsty for being hungry. One of the easiest ways to lose weight is by drinking a glass of water before every single meal. Next time you are hungry for a snack try having a glass of water first and after a few minutes see if you are still hungry. Also, the number one reason for fatigue throughout the day is dehydration. So if you're always finding yourself tired and un-motivated, try drinking some water. Also, keep in mind, just because it contains water, it doesn’t count towards the total that you need in a day. Drinking sports drinks, coffee, beer or anything else is not the same as drinking water, so when I say to drink 84 ounces of water, it means straight pure water. Nothing else you drink can act as a supplement for water.
5. Pay attention to your body
When it comes to eating, it’s really easy to overeat. I don’t weigh out my food, or keep track of my calories. I also eat pretty much what I want. When I want a cheese steak or a burger, I eat it. If I want ice cream or yogurt or cookies, I’ll eat them. The time when you eat this stuff matters and also how much you ate the rest of the day and how good your workout was etc. When I crush a workout and haven’t had much time to eat as much as I should have that day, I’ll treat myself to a Habit or In and Out. Because I know how it feels in my stomach when I haven’t had enough calories for the day.
I also know how it feels when I eat an entire pizza before bed and I can tell when my body isn’t going to be able to use all those carbs before it converts them to fat. When you’re sitting at a low body fat and you pay attention to what you eat and how your body responds you can literally tell when you gain a pound of fat. This is a big part of being an athlete in general and I talk about this in my workout routines as well. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle you have to pay attention to how your body responds to the different things you eat.
When I was younger I used to have the worst diet in history. I would literally eat a bag of potato chips for dinner. Then I would eat a bag of Starburst before bed. Wake up, have a snickers bar and a bowl of cereal. When I look back on it, I wonder how I was even possible to get through some of the track workouts I did. People always thought I was just lucky, but in reality it was because I was working out for 2-4 hours everyday at an extremely high intensity. At that level of activity you can pretty much eat whatever you want and its not going to make you fat. However, its not going to allow you to perform to your greatest potential either and I wish I would have known what I know about dieting back then.
I also know how it feels when I eat an entire pizza before bed and I can tell when my body isn’t going to be able to use all those carbs before it converts them to fat. When you’re sitting at a low body fat and you pay attention to what you eat and how your body responds you can literally tell when you gain a pound of fat. This is a big part of being an athlete in general and I talk about this in my workout routines as well. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle you have to pay attention to how your body responds to the different things you eat.
When I was younger I used to have the worst diet in history. I would literally eat a bag of potato chips for dinner. Then I would eat a bag of Starburst before bed. Wake up, have a snickers bar and a bowl of cereal. When I look back on it, I wonder how I was even possible to get through some of the track workouts I did. People always thought I was just lucky, but in reality it was because I was working out for 2-4 hours everyday at an extremely high intensity. At that level of activity you can pretty much eat whatever you want and its not going to make you fat. However, its not going to allow you to perform to your greatest potential either and I wish I would have known what I know about dieting back then.
an example of my diet
So I think you have to agree, none of this so far is really that difficult. I'm not telling you to eat 7 meals a day consisting of chicken rice and broccoli. I'm not telling you to count your calories. I'm not saying you can't eat ice cream or drink beer. You just have to pay attention to what you're eating, how you're excising and how your body responds to what you put in it. So now lets look at an example of a typical day of what I eat.
So for my 90 day transformation which I have available as a program on my website. I’ll show you an example of one day of what I would eat. Keep in mind, I literally didn’t cook one meal during this period. So if I can do this without access to a kitchen, then you really don’t have any excuses. You can spend your life making excuses or you can be honest with yourself and put all your effort into the solutions.
Breakfast: 8:30am
1 serving of protein rich yogurt with granola and I’d usually add blueberries or strawberry’s.
Glass of water or milk
Multivitamin (Optimum Nutrition Brand)
10:30am
1 scoop of optimum nutrition gold stand 100% whey double chocolate
8 ounces of milk
1 scoop of vitamin supplement (5 servings of fruits and veggies in powder form, sign me up)
Lunch: 12:00pm
A frozen dinner from Trader Joes
I would just cycle between the chicken tikki masala, salmon with rice, turkey dinner, basically just anything that was close to my macros. As much protein as possible aiming for 30 to 50 grams and then whatever else came with it as far as carbs and keeping fat as low as possible.
Post workout shake: 2:30pm
1 scoop of optimum nutrition gold stand 100% whey double chocolate
8 ounces of milk
Dinner: 5:00pm
I would basically just cycle between fish, chicken, beef, with white rice and steamed veggies from Lazy acres. When I wanted something different I would go to Habit for a burger and fries, chipotle for a burrito, panda express for rice and chicken etc. Whenever I would eat out I would just make sure I got some form of protein and then as many veggies as I could.
7:00pm
Protein bar or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of Non-fat milk
10:00pm
1 scoop of optimum nutrition gold standard 100% casein vanilla
8 ounces of milk
I use casein protein before bed because it is a slow release protein that takes between 6 to 7 hours to absorb in your system over time so its perfect to keep a steady flow of protein overnight while your muscles are doing a large part of their repairing.
So for my 90 day transformation which I have available as a program on my website. I’ll show you an example of one day of what I would eat. Keep in mind, I literally didn’t cook one meal during this period. So if I can do this without access to a kitchen, then you really don’t have any excuses. You can spend your life making excuses or you can be honest with yourself and put all your effort into the solutions.
Breakfast: 8:30am
1 serving of protein rich yogurt with granola and I’d usually add blueberries or strawberry’s.
Glass of water or milk
Multivitamin (Optimum Nutrition Brand)
10:30am
1 scoop of optimum nutrition gold stand 100% whey double chocolate
8 ounces of milk
1 scoop of vitamin supplement (5 servings of fruits and veggies in powder form, sign me up)
Lunch: 12:00pm
A frozen dinner from Trader Joes
I would just cycle between the chicken tikki masala, salmon with rice, turkey dinner, basically just anything that was close to my macros. As much protein as possible aiming for 30 to 50 grams and then whatever else came with it as far as carbs and keeping fat as low as possible.
Post workout shake: 2:30pm
1 scoop of optimum nutrition gold stand 100% whey double chocolate
8 ounces of milk
Dinner: 5:00pm
I would basically just cycle between fish, chicken, beef, with white rice and steamed veggies from Lazy acres. When I wanted something different I would go to Habit for a burger and fries, chipotle for a burrito, panda express for rice and chicken etc. Whenever I would eat out I would just make sure I got some form of protein and then as many veggies as I could.
7:00pm
Protein bar or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of Non-fat milk
10:00pm
1 scoop of optimum nutrition gold standard 100% casein vanilla
8 ounces of milk
I use casein protein before bed because it is a slow release protein that takes between 6 to 7 hours to absorb in your system over time so its perfect to keep a steady flow of protein overnight while your muscles are doing a large part of their repairing.