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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