If you look at the very best fitness bodies in the industry one of the most obvious differences comes in how planned out their meals are. Despite what many will have you believe, diet/nutrition is the key between getting average to poor results and great to spectacular changes.
Whatever your goal, be it lose a few pounds or create an absolutely amazingly good physique results will only come when you food is in place. As I have discussed numerous times in this blog, out exercising a bad diet is setting you up for failure due to the way the energy balance is heavily stacked towards food, e.g. you can eat in minutes what takes hours to exercise off.
One of the most effective ways to get food on track is to start planning your meal. I would recommend a minimum of 3 meals ahead. This should also include accounting for buying your food, preparing your food and of course eating your food! Doing this will create focus and a plan of action about what to eat.
The very worst thing you can do food wise is to decide on the spot (when hungry in the supermarket) what you are going to eat….. I try to encourage my clients to think 3 meals ahead……which generally means you are thinking about the rest of the day and also into tomorrow…..
When you start thinking ahead you will begin to solve other issues, if your plan for evening dinner reveals you haven’t any of the required foods then you will now have an objective when you hit the supermarket. If the thought of your next meals is already putting you off then you know you must edit and add in some taste in one way or another.
The key to the 3 meal ahead rule
The key for making this work is like most health and fitness advice…Actually DO IT! But second to that is having this as a rolling rule….so at breakfast you are thinking lunch, dinner and breakfast the next day. At lunch you are thinking dinner, breakfast and also tomorrows lunch.
The reason this is important is that if you are trying to get results you will most likely have to change some of the stuff you are eating , or if you are on track with getting results, you must remain focused so normal life doesn’t leave you unprepared as you get busy with day to day tasks.
Do not make a big deal about this, it takes a few seconds to think about what to eat next……
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What will I have in my next meal?
Do I have the food for this meal (how will I get it if not)?
How/when will I prepare it?
**********Repeat x 2 for meals after that*********
SIMPLE!……….Yet Effective!
February 12th (12/21 days measured)
It is all guns blazing for muscle gain now and at the moment things are going great…..obviously with adding muscle mass it is always slow even at the best of times but that does not worry me. I know this is a marathon not a sprint. Twice a day training for months to come is the order of the day and I am nailing my sessions at the moment.
Food wise the diet is on point coming in at 3000 – 3200 calories a day with macro ratios around 35:45:20 (P:C:F) and protein intake the highest it has been in the 2 years I have measured my food intake. The stats below are little under the goal numbers as I got food poisoning for a couple of days and couldn’t eat much at the end of January. Either way, the body is feeling great, looking great so it is just about doing more of the same and staying stacked up on patience!!
Diet – Protein – 226g, Carbs – 338g, fat – 68g, calories – 2868, P:32 % C :47% F: 21%
Exercise – 20 Weights sessions/ 1 stretch session and 8 off days
Weight – 72.5kg Body fat – 40 average mm*
Supplements – Protein shake (max 40g per day) and glycine through gelatine (20-30g)
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*This is my own 10 point self measurement system, it does not correlate to body fat scores. At a guess 40mm – 8%, 50mm – 9.5%, 60mm – 11%, 70mm – 12.5%. I do not take it everyday if looking to gain muscle or maintain as it puts me off wanting to eat more. If on fat loss phase I take it daily. Like any body fat measurement system, as you get to low body fat levels the number become less accurate or reliable.
Battersea – For Personal Training Battersea please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or Personal Training Battersea Park