Everyone is looking for a magic supplement or a magic pill that will make them big or ripped, when in fact, the secret lies in what they eat each day. Ask any experienced bodybuilder just how important your diet is in maximizing your gains and they’ll testify. What I’ll be doing here is giving you important facts to know as well as my sample diet for both building mass and getting super lean. I’m a normal person, with normal genetics. I was a skinning 150 lb kid in high school, now I’m 190 lbs with a lower bodyfat percentage. I don’t use any secret supplements and NO STEROIDS, EVER!!! And I owe it all to what I eat and how hard I train. Here’s what I do....
Let’s get some key information out of the way...
#1 Stop making excuses!!!
If you read this web page and you start saying, “yeah, well I don’t have time to eat as often”, or “I don’t like eating this, or that” "I'm not blessed with good genetics"blah, blah, blah. This is just a sample, and not what you have to eat. I eat food that I ENJOY eating. I don’t starve myself and I don’t pig out. If you don’t have time, make time. Sometimes I get up a little earlier and prepare all my food for the day, so I have food for when I’m at school or at work. If you have to get up at 6am to get ready for work, start getting up at 5:30. The point is, you can’t make any excuses. If it’s something you want, you have to do it and not lie to yourself about why you can’t.
#2 Eating more smaller meals during the day speeds your metabolism, keeps your body from breaking down thus giving you more energy, and also builds and maintains muscle the best.
Three meals just aint gonna cut it anymore. 5-6 is a must. Eat when you get up and then again every 2-3 hours. Don’t go much more than 3-3 1/2 hours without eating, your body will slow down and start eating itself.
#3 Protein, protein, protein!!!
Protein, and lots of it, is THE most important thing in both building muscle and losing fat. You should ALWAYS get 1 gram per lb of bodyweight. I weigh 190, I get 190 grams a day, simple as that. Most people don’t get enough protein, and when that happens, your body doesn’t have enough to build new muscle with, and sometimes, your body will use your own muscle. BAD. So eat lots and you’ll always have enough protein to build and maintain.
#4 Eat foods you like! This doesn’t have to be difficult. No more pizza, burgers, burritos etc.. Right?? Wrong! The key is, you must make them yourself. Buy pizza crust, get sauce, and fat free cheese if you can’t go without pizza. Instead of ham burgers, try ground turkey, it actually tastes better. Use ground turkey in burritos too. You can still have foods you like, just put a little effort into finding ways to make them work in your diet and not be so calorie dense and high in fat.
#5 Pig out once a week!! That’s right, you can set a day each week to eat anything and everything you want. Everything you’ve craved during the week, EAT IT!! Sundays is usually my pig out day. I order pizza, go to Arby’s, eat ice cream and chocolate, you get the idea. Having a day like this helps give you a break and actually stimulates your metabolism for the week ahead. This will soon become your favorite day of the week!
#6 If you have to eat at a fast food joint, don’t get the usual double whopper with cheese!
It happens to me sometimes, I don’t have food prepared, I’m in a hurry, whatever the case is.I have to make sure I eat 5-6 meals, so sometimes fast food is the only option. Here’s what you can do to make those situations a little better. Go to Wendy’s and get a Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich, that’s the only thing there you can eat. It’s got about 28 g of protein, 35 g of carbs, and 8 g of fat. Not bad eh. Get one or two, it’s ok to have two usually. If you go to Arby’s, get their light chicken roast sandwich, again, it’s ok to have two if you are really hungry. You get the idea. You can find something on most menus that have low fat and some decent protein. Nothing that is deep fried though, just because it has chicken on it, doesn’t mean its not deep fried in batter and full of crap.
#7 Weigh your food.
Very important here, you must weigh your food or you will run into problems. How can you tell how much a potato weighs? Can you eyeball 4 oz of chicken exactly? No, so you must weigh your food. If you don’t, you could be overestimating or even underestimating how much you are eating. I'd also buy a book that tells you how many grams of fat/protein/carbs are in different foods. Then all you do is weigh out the amount you want and you know just what you're getting. It’s tedious, yes, but necessary. If you don't have food labels to tell you how many calories are in a serving, don't sweat it. KNOW THIS: one gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories. One gram of protein has 4 calories. One gram of fat has 9 calories. All you do is figure out how much fat, carbs and protein is in whatever you are eating and then you can calculate the calories on your own.
#8 Buy protein supplements
Protein supplements make it easy to get a quick meal in. For example, meal replacement packs work great. They come in boxes of 20 individual packets usually . They are high in protein and low in calories. All you do is tear open the pack and mix it with water ina blender. Most of them taste pretty good these days. I use Myoplex by EAS, they taste great! Don’t pay more than $40 a box, otherwise it’s a ripoff in my opinion. To get them at a great price, go to an online supplement store, like WWW.NETRITION.COM. I do a lot of ordering from them. Also, 5 lb. juggs of Whey protein can be bought for as little as $30 and they’ll last for a long time. Either way, protein supplements can be very valuable and not break your bank at the same time.
#9 Drink lots of water!!!
Drink a gallon (or 4 liters) of water a day. Buy a water filter, it's much much better for you than tap water that is not filtered. A lot of water will really really really really really help you in many many many many many many ways. Do you get the hint, water is important.
#10 Your mind is the most powerful tool you can possibly use.
If you hate going to the gym, or you hate walking on a treadmill, or you hate eating so much, then your results will not be good. If you want something bad enough, you will enjoy working for it. Instead of saying, "oh man, I have to go the gym", your mind set should be "I get to go to the gym today and better myself." Work on this as best you can, if you need help, ask me for it. Motivation is what drives you, it must be there or you will fail. It may take you a while but you must get your mind focused and you must enjoy what you are doing. Sure we all have those days we feel lazy, but if those days happen more and more, something is wrong. Make things fun and enjoy making progress. There is no quick fix to anything, but in time, your body will change and you will reach your goals. Tell your friends what you are doing, have them support you. If people rip on you for being so set on what you are going after, tell them to fuck off, seriously. What right does anyone have to make fun of another persons goals. In the end, this is all about you, don't let anyone or anything mess that up. Anyone can do it. This is it right here, the most important thing you can ever learn, know, and practice for the rest of your life: Life is 100% mental. Your success at what you do and how happy you are all sits right in your own head.
Here is my current plan that I do for losing fat. I’ve gotten to 5% bodyfat doing this and I’m still losing fat. This is what a typical day looks like for me.
First figure out your daily calorie needs. Multiply your bodyweight by 13 and that should give you about what you would need to eat to maintain your weight if you do no activity. If you are overweight, multiply by 11. For me, my base calorie needs are about 2400 (190lbs x 13 = 2470 calories) You need to create a calorie defecit in order to lose fat, so on days you aren’t active and don’t workout, eat 300-500 less calories than your base calorie needs. (so I’d eat about 2000 calories on days I don’t do physical activity) On days you do workout and/or do cardio, eat your base amount. (So I’d eat about 2400-2500 calories) You eat more because you are more active and burn more calories on workout and cardio days. You don’t want to create too much of a calorie defecit or you could lose muscle and actually slow down your metabolism.
Using this system, you can expect to lose 1-3 lbs a week. Any more than that and you are losing muscle, not fat. While it’s good to weigh yourself occasionally, the best measuring device is the MIRROR. All scales show different readings AND your weight can change as much as 5-6 lbs in one day, it's all water weight. My weight in the morning is usually 5lbs less than at night. Also, scales can show no decrease in weight because sometimes you lose fat but gain muscle at the same time. So just look in the mirror, that’s all that counts. Here is my typical day with 6 meals. If I don’t workout that day, I just remove the post workout meal from the mix, and I’m down to 5 meals and about 400 less calories. Remember, these times are merely for demonstration, adjust according to your schedule.
7:00am
45-60 minutes on a treadmill (set at 4.0 mph, incline 6-7%), or walk three miles outdoors.
8:30am
Meal #1 - 2 whole eggs + 6 egg whites. 7-8 oz. of yams or potatoes. approx. 500 total calories.
11:00am Workout
1:00pm
Meal #2 - postworkout - 50 g of when protein powder mixed with water + 2 scoops of TwinLab Ultra Fuel (which is 50 g of carbs, mostly glucose which is great for after a workout) or a sports drink like Gatorade. approx. 400 calories
3:00
Meal #3 - 2 oz. of spaghetti. 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce with 4oz ground turkey mixed in. Approx. 490 calories.
Then I usually go to work.
5:30pm
Meal #4 - Meal Replacement Shake (Myoplex) 280 calories
7:30
Meal #5 - 6 oz of chicken in two flour tortillas with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and fat free cheese. Approx. 350 calories.
10:00
Meal #6 - Meal Replacement shake (Myoplex) 280 calories.
Total Calories for the day = approx. 2350
Total Protein = 24
Total Carbohydrates = 245 g
Total Fat = 40 g
Now if your goal is to gain mass, keep the same eating schedule, only eat more. Multiply your bodyweight by 18-20 and that’s how many calories you should eat each day. Continue with 1 g of protein per pound of bodyweight, except this time up your carbs to about 2-3 g per pound of bodyweight and eat about 100 grams of fat each day. Fat is very important for maintaining and increasing muscle building hormone levels, so don’t shy away from it. Drop cardio down to about 3 days per week, or not at all if you want to. Spread your carbs and protein equally over six meals and be sure to have 30-50 g of protein and 80 g of carbs right after each workout, and eat again two hours later. Here’s how much I eat each day when I’m trying to build muscle:
200 g of protein
550 g of carbohydrates
100 g of fat
That’s about 35 grams of protein, 80 grams of carbs, and 18 grams of fat each meal, 6 times a day. Don’t worry too much about getting too many calories when trying to mass build, you’ll need extra calories to build muscle. If you don’t eat enough, often enough, you won’t build new muscle, plain and simple.
Well, that’s about it, email me if you have any more questions and anyone who follows this plan, please keep me updated on you progress, I’d love to hear about it if this benefits you in any way!
Jason Kronan
