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Nutrition and Diet
By now everyone knows that the battle for definition
begins at the table. In fact nutrition and diet
will account for about 65% of your success. What
you eat and when you eat it is either going to make or
break you. When used properly food is even more
powerful than drugs.
That’s why the very first requirement of
an effective definition program is that it must strip
away as much fat as possible while retaining lean muscle
mass .
I’m pleased to tell you that I’m getting
this kind of result with my clients every day of the
week.
Note also that on my program, the scale
will be of minimum importance to you. Instead of
weighing yourself frequently, you will use a full length
mirror as your success barometer. In other words, unless
you’re really fat (and if you are, you need a diet
first, not a definition program), then I’m going to
try to keep your actual weight loss to a minimum. You
need to forget the old belief that dieting and
definition building are the same thing. They’re not. In
fact, in some cases, some of you are going to get super
ripped with little or no change in body weight.
So now let’s get to the real meat of my
nutritional program. Below is a point-by-point roadmap
of exactly what you must do nutritionally to achieve
maximum definition. Study it closely, memorize it if you
can and don’t forget,
it’s going to account for
65% of your success.
You must keep a written daily log of everything
you eat.
This log must be meticulous and precise. Don’t try to
wing it. This log must show food values for protein,
fat,
carbohydrates and calories.
This is not an option—it is an absolute requirement.
This log will be the most important tool you will use. I
have enclosed a blank sample of a Daily Dietary Log
sheet in Appendix A. Make
photo copies of this log sample sheet and as you
complete each day, keep copies in a notebook or a binder
for review. Review your log sheets every day to monitor
how you are doing. If you have a bad day, start over
again immediately the next day.
My whole nutritional program is based on a concept
which I call "Synchronistic Eating."
By this I mean that you must plan each day’s meals
ahead of time (at least from the day before or sooner).
Some
of my clients plan out a
whole week in advance but this is up to you. Just don’t
eat anything in the course of a day that you haven’t
included in your pre-recorded plan. Once again, the
Daily Dietary Log sheet in Appendix A will be very
helpful in assisting you with your meal plans. But a
word of caution here. The more you vary from your daily
written menu plan, the less successful you are going to
be in your definition program.
Sample Daily Menus for you can be found by clicking
here.
Additional information on meal planning is contained in
Appendix B. Feel free to
use them in any order of preference
you choose.
Or, once you understand the principles of this program,
you can start designing your own daily menus.
The longer you wait between meals, the more your body
is likely to store body fat from the next meal. That’s
why, under my Synchronistic Eating Principle, you will
divide your daily food consumption into five
"mini-meals" eaten every three hours—what some people
refer to as "grazing" instead of gorging. You must learn
to eat by the clock at approximately the same times each
and every day. For example, if you first meal is at 8
am, your other four meals are at 11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm, and
8pm. Notice that on this program, your first and last
meals area exactly 12 hours apart., One word of caution
here. Don’t start eating too late in the morning since
it will push your last meal too close to bedtime. It is
never a good idea to be eating late in
the evening.
By eating five mini-meals each day, you will actually
increase your body’s basal metabolic rate so that it
will starting burning more calories.
Also, once your body gets accustomed to eating a
correctly balanced meal every few hours, it will
start to burn foods in a highly efficient manner. This
means that there will be little or no fluctuations in
insulin and glucose levels. Thus, fat storage in the
body is inhibited while fat burning is accelerated.
Each meal that you consume must reflect a carefully
balanced ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. I
call this Macro-Nutrient Equilibrium.
This means that you must never exclude any one of
these important macro-nutrients from a meal. All must be
present in
proper proportions if your definition program is to
succeed. That automatically eliminates any zero fat or
zero carb type of diets. Never forget this important
role.
It is
the regulation and proper
proportions of all macro-nutrients which make this
program work.
For instance, it has been common in the past for
people to restrict carbohydrate intake for long periods
of time in order to burn body fat. While this will
apparently work for a while (much of the weight loss is
water), the body will eventually start to
cannibalize muscle tissue and suffer from tremendous
fatigue.
On a similar note, nine of out ten people think that
eating fat makes you fat and thus they go on very low
fat
What this means is that the total grams at each
mini-meal should break down into 29% protein, 59%
carbohydrates, and 12% fat. This is great, you’re
thinking, but it doesn’t say how many actual grams of
actual food should be consumed per mini-meal? Good
question. To arrive at the total grams per meal, we’ll
use protein as the starting point. We do this for two
reasons. First of all, you will need plenty of protein
to prevent the loss of élan muscle tissue. And secondly,
protein stimulates the metabolic rate by 30% compared to
10% for carbohydrates. Therefore, protein will
be the anchor upon which the
whole diet is fastened.
What is needed then, is a calculation of how much
protein you’ll need each day in proportion to your
bodyweight. This is
the logical starting point. There have been many
suggestions offered. I have found that one gram of
protein per pound of bodyweight works best. So, for
example, if you weight 185 pounds, then you must consume
185 grams of protein per day. Now with this number as a
starting point, we can go to our above ratios and
everything will then automatically fall into place. If
this sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. I’ve done
all the calculations for you. Just check out Appendix B.
The numbers are there for just a about everybody. Simply
find your bodyweight and the chart will tell you how
many grams of protein, fat, and carbohydrates you need
per meal.
Now that we’ve determined the proper ratios of these
macro-nutrients, we need to look at which ones to eat
and which ones to avoid.
Make your food selections from the
following guidelines.
PROTEINS
- (USE): egg whites, turkey breast, skinless
chicken breast, broiled fish, low-fat yogurt,
water-packed tuna, protein
powder.
(USE SPARINGLY): very lean beef, low-fat cottage
cheese, skim milk.
(AVOID): fatty meats, port products, bacon,
sausage, luncheon meats, whole eggs, cheese, whole
milk and whole milk products, dark meat from chicken
or turkey, tuna in oil.
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CARBOHYDRATES
- (USE): grains as cereal, cooked, or bread (oats,
wheat, rice), sweet potatoes, leafy vegetables,
other vegetables, beans and other legumes, fresh
fruits.
- (USE SPARINGLY): honey, maple syrup, canned
fruits, dried fruits.
- (AVOID): white sugar-type products—cookies,
cakes, candy, chips
FATS
- (USE): olive oil, wheat germ oil, flax seed oil,
safflower oil, canola oil.
- (USE SPARINGLY): low-fat salad dressings, all
other cold pressed cooking oils.
- (AVOID): butter, margarine, fried foods, peanut
butter, fatty meats, whole milk, cheese, whole eggs,
mayonnaise,
salad dressings.
NOTE: When selecting food portions, don’t guess
–measure everything.
Either you, or someone you really trust, must prepare
all of your meals. Therefore, eat out ONLY if you know
exactly how your food is being prepared. You must carry
your meals with you to school, to work, to the gym.
Let me say it again. It’s not fat that makes you fat,
and it’s not carbohydrates that make you fat…It’s the
"improper ratios" of the macro-nutrients that make you
fat.
So just what are the proper ratios? The following
numbers are based on my 15 years of research,
experimenting and testing on hundreds of students. They
are precise because they are what works. Also, please
not that the these ratios are based on
grams and not
calories.
I believe that this is a much more accurate way to
break these macro-nutrients down.
29% Grams PROTEIN 59% Grams CARBS 12% Grams FAT
The food pyramid above is basically how body builders
eat. The food pyramid refers to real food, NOT process
foods, especially when it comes to carbohydrates. And to
be more clear about carbohydrates you should try to
learn the difference between high glycemic
carbohydrates and low glycemic carbohydrates. It
is preferred to ingest low glycemic carbohydrates.
There is a booklet that I recommend everyone to
purchase. It is called Sugar Busters Shoppers Guide.
It shows what carbs are, low glycemic versus high
glycemic.
What makes people fat is sugar! Look at the contents
of sugar when reading labels on carbohydrates products.
First look at the carbohydrate content in grams. Then
look right below it, it’s usually the sugar in grams.
You want to find the lowest amount of sugar grams in
whatever product you choose!
Summary
The best way to do resistance training is by doing
3 sets at 75% at max.
This means: Max is when you can only do 1
repetition (if you attempt) a 2nd you would not be able
to do it.
Seventy-five percent (75%) = How do you know you are
at 75% at max. when you reach failure in between 6 to 8
repetitions.
Three (3) sets - Do the same exercise 3 times (3x).
This will give you the most amount of bulk it will
also give you tone. The exercise is the same for both.
This difference is: If you want bulk, increase
calorie intake while you exercise. If you want tone, you
must incorporate an aerobic activity, and
your nutrition has to be
increase protein intake
decrease carbs
decrease fats
Replace everything you drink with water (H2O).
To the tune of a gallon per day! And keep your nutrition
factor up to par! (Supplements)
Important: The most efficient way to burn fat is by
doing your aerobics first thing in the morning on an
empty stomach. This is when your insulin
level is at its lowest. While doing it, you
should go two (2) minutes slow, 30 second fast, and so
on to be a total of a minimum of 20
minutes. This
is called interval training.
2 minutes --30 seconds --2 minutes --30 seconds.
The 30 seconds are to spike your heart rate. This is
the most efficient way to do your cardio.
SUPPLEMENTS
For all the
supplements you need to be healthy and fit, go
to
www.lifepluscentral.com/excel.
I recommend
the A Program. Having a mineral
base and eating real food will be key to your
success!
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