Nutrition for Week 2

Hopefully, you learned something about your eating habits in Week 1, simply by being more aware of what good nutrition looks like. You threw out your junk food and started eating whole, natural, and as lightly-processed food as possible, right?

Right?

Note that you were not asked to record your weight last week. There is a good reason for that!

For many folks, this is their first stint on a regimented bodybuilding program. That first week can wreak all sorts of havoc on any attempt at establishing a baseline. In fact, we won't formally take a weight until next week because this second week is really just an extension of last week.

There is no need to cause undue stress because your goals and reality went opposite directions. Often, this very thing happens. The mind is a powerful force (the most powerful in existence), and if you get frustrated from the get-go, you are likely to either let down or quit altogether.

Know that this is natural. It is highly probable that if you're trying to gain weight, you will have lost weight the first couple of weeks. Conversely, if your goal is to lose weight, guess what? You probably gained weight.

But think about it. You're building muscle! You may not have built muscle for years. People who are above their target weight usually put on muscle quite fast.

On the other hand, very lean people may actually lose weight. While you may actually have gained a little muscle (it's not your strong suit and probably never will be), you probably were not as lean as you thought and all the extra activity and more frequent meals sent your metabolism on high.

Never fear. Don't fret.

This is normal during the first two weeks. For some, it's normal the first month!

Just remember to eat good food, take your vitamin and mineral supplements, and train as prescribed in this week's training module. Endeavor to add weight every workout, eat consistently, and get plenty of rest.

If in fact you lost weight and your goal is to gain weight, add 250 calories to your daily intake from last week. On the other hand, if you want to lose weight but you gained weight, then cut your daily intake down another 250 calories.

Notice that nothing drastic was suggested. First of all, the body likes the status quo and any shocks to it usually result in unintended consequences.

Like losing weight when you want to gain, and gaining weight when you want to do the exact opposite.

Eating is kind of opposite training. While you want to mildly shock the body with training in order to stimulate the adaptive response, you simply cannot do that with your diet. Cut too many calories and your body starts hoarding everything possible and conserves fat at all costs, burning carbs and protein first for energy. This can include using your very own muscle tissue for energy in the absence of too many calories.

In fact, you might find that if you cut out too many calories, you not only lose muscle but you gain fat, exactly the opposite of your goal!

Same goes with those who want to gain weight. Suffice it to say that adding a ton of calories to your diet too fast will only make you fat and could speed up your already too-fast metabolism.

With diet, drastic change is not good. Everything in moderation.

Vary your diet by just a little bit each day and if you're making progress, keep doing what you're doing. If you're not making progress, just change things ever so slightly.

That's it for nutrition in Week 2.

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Nutrition for Week 1

A well-known trainer of champion physiques, the late Vince Gironda, proclaimed that bodybuilding success was 85 percent nutrition. While I'm not positive about the percentage, I can assure you that your eating habits will make or break your success in the training room.

Let's face it: Most of our daily diets is crap. We eat a preponderance of processed, salt- and transfat-laden food, sodas filled with high fructose corn syrup, and breads, pastries, and other sugary snacks that just are downright unforgiving on the waistline and endocrine systems. It is my belief that the unprecedented rates of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer all stem from our crummy diets.

So let's get one thing out of the way: You really ARE what you EAT.

The first thing you have to do if you want to build a lean, muscular body is to throw away all junk food. There is no place for it. Your body is a temple; it's not Disneyland. Cotton candy doesn't belong here! Nor does soda pop, greasy pizza, or deep-fried anything.

It's very tempting to give in to rampant commercialism and buy "convenience foods." However, they won't seem so convenient when you're in the ER with a heart that barely pumps, you're short of breath, and you're about to die.

It may seem like eating right is really complicated. You have to get the precise intake of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, right? Not really. Here's a simple guide to eating right and eating smart.

It really boils down to eating natural food in as unprocessed a state as is safe. This means that you can eat lots of the following:

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• Lean cuts of beef, chicken, pork, and fish. This includes lean hamburger cooked medium to medium-well (slight to no pink)
• Raw vegetables and fruits
• Raw nuts
• Whole wheat and whole oats
• Eggs
• Milk (raw from a trusted source is best but pasteurized is good, too)
• Pasta and starches like potatoes in moderation
• Juice sparingly
• All the water you want (and there's no reason to buy bottled water)

There are, of course, differences between how much you should eat depending on your goals. However, what you eat really doesn't change much. It's all about how much you eat, as long as you're eating the right things (or, put another way, NOT eating the wrong things).

Keep it simple: Whole, raw, and natural whenever possible

How to Get Started

Click on the right hand side to find your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is a starting point! This calculation will get you in the ball park for determining a starting point for your baseline daily caloric intake.

Once you have your BMR, you can begin planning your meals accordingly. Remember, your BMR is an estimate of how many calories on a daily basis you need just to continue breathing. It does not include any activity whatsoever.

Conservatively add 500 calories to this figure to get an estimate of your daily caloric needs, given the fact that you're going to be moving about. This is your true starting point.

Here's an example – a 6 foot, 200 pound, 30-year old male has a BMR of 2,028 calories.

2,028 + 500 = 2,528

This is the daily caloric intake that our example man should strive for to maintain his weight.

Your caloric breakdown will be as follows:

• 50 percent carbohydrates
• 30 percent protein
• 20 percent fat

These percentages are in terms of calories.

Some facts: Protein and carbohydrates each contain 4 calories per gram. Fat contains 9 calories per gram. What we want to derive is grams of each macronutrient. Here's how:

Carbs
Daily caloric intake goal * 50% = 1,264
1,264/4 = 316 grams of carbohydrate

Protein
Daily caloric intake goal * 30% = 758
758/4 = 190 grams of protein

Fat
Daily caloric intake goal * 20% = 506
506/9 = 56 grams of fat

See the basic calculations?

NOTE that the percentages will not change whether you're trying to gain, maintain, or lose weight.

BOTTOM LINE – The only thing you change when your weight goals change is your portion sizes. Could it be any simpler?

A few other general notes. Buy a quality multi-vitamin multi-mineral. GNC and Bodybuilding.com sell them in 30-day packs. Consider this nutritional insurance. Even when you eat whole, natural, and raw or lightly cooked foods, you may still not get all the micronutrients your body needs.
 

Gain Weight

Many people take up bodybuilding to gain weight by building greater muscle mass. Again, start with your BMR, add 500 for a baseline, and then add another 500 for your daily intake goal .
 

Maintain Weight

Simply stick with your calculated BMR + 500 calories
 

Lose Weight

Simply use your BMR for your daily caloric intake goal. That's it.

Those are the basics. Your meals should be comprised of the foods listed above (meat, fish, chicken, pork, fresh fruits and vegetables, plenty of water, and moderate starches, pastas and juice).

Guidelines for every body

Split your calories evenly over 6 meals on days you don't work out. On days you do work out, add a pre-workout meal and a post-workout meal. We'll talk about these workout meals in the next section. This is one of the few areas where what you eat changes depending on your weight goals.

Pre- and Post-workout Meals

I am a big fan of strategic meals around workouts. Contrary to conventional wisdom ("Breakfast is the most important meal"), it is the workout meals that matter the most. And remember, conventional wisdom gets you conventional results. We want more than that!

If your goal is to gain weight, you should ingest a calorie-laden, high protein shake before and after your weight workouts. If you are trying to lose weight, you're better off ingesting a lower-calorie, high protein shake before and after your weight workouts.

What's the difference? Carbs and fat! A person wanting to gain weight could use a weight gain powder or a pure protein powder mixed with whole milk and a fruit of choice. A person wanting to lose weight would use water or nonfat milk with a pure protein powder.

A person wishing to maintain weight would simply mix lowfat milk and protein powder. Optionally, add fruit to flavor the shake.

Here are some nutritious shake recipes. Remember, variety is the spice of life!

That's it for nutrition in Week 1. It's a lot, but you need a great nutrition foundation on which to build all the strength necessary to build the body you want in the coming weeks.

Go to Train, Recover

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