Original Article By Frosty at
Steroidology
Basic Diet Planning, Part I
The first thing everyone needs to know is that there is NO ideal protein/carb/fat ratio that everyone should follow. This is an absolutely crucial point you must understand. What you read will also make a lot more sense, because when you hear one person raving about low carb and another hating low carb, you will understand that it's possible for both individuals to be correct due to physiological differences between individuals.
So what you need to do is determine the correct ratios for YOU. This can be done via Mauro DiPasquali's Metabolic Diet. This is basically eating low carb (5% calories from carbs) for 3 weeks, then gradually increasing carbs and gradually decreasing fat each week until you feel your best. If you feel ok while on 5% calories from carbs, you can start by increasing carbs by 5% and reducing fat by 5% each week until you reach your optimum ratio. If you feel really terrible on the low carb, you can increase the levels faster, perhaps 10% each week.
Protein is generally at least 1g/lb of lean body mass.
Once you learn your ideal ratio, then you have learned an invaluable piece of information for your dieting success in the future. No longer will you jump from one unsuccessful diet to the next, because you now know what you need.
Of course, and increase in activity can warrant a change in the ratios slightly, but since you found your ideal amount, this can be easily done.
How do you keep track of all this? Go to
www.fitday.com and create an account. This is an online fitness and diet journal that is an extremely valuable tool. The calorie calculator is actually pretty accurate as well, so you can save time and effort by using that tool instead of calculating everything by hand.
Basic food selection is whole, natural foods. This means meats, eggs, dairy, veggies, some grains, and fruits. Animal fats are fine, but keep plant fats in strict moderation for optimal health and gains.
Water intake should be about 1 liter for every 50 lbs of bodyweight. Drink filtered water preferably.
Eat protein with EVERY meal.
Ideally, eat every 2-3 hours, but it's not the end of the world if you don't.
Basic Diet Planning, Part II
First, you have to determine what your goal is for your diet.
1. Are you trying to gain maximum muscle mass?
2. Are you trying to gain lean body mass?
3. Are you trying to lose body fat and gain muscle?
4. Are you trying to lose body fat and maintain muscle mass?
5. Are you trying to lose maximum weight?
Once you’ve done this, then you have to determine other important factors.
A. Am I doing this with no drugs?
B. Am I using drugs to aid the process?
1. Gaining maximum muscle mass
A. For the natural lifter
In order to gain maximum muscle mass, calories have to be very high. Very high is over a 500 calorie surplus per day for the natural lifter. The higher the calories, the more mass you will put on, but the higher you go, the more the percentage is of fat. You have to determine how much fat you are willing to accumulate in order to gain the desired muscle mass.
Diets when bulking are simple and the rules aren’t very strict. This does not mean you can eat junk, as eating clean (whole, natural foods) is a requirement for ANY type of diet. When bulking, shoot for at least 1g/lb of lean body mass that you wish to acquire. For example, if you weigh 200 lbs and wish to weigh 220 lbs, you should eat a minimum of 220g of protein per day. This is an important concept that is missed by many people – you have to eat enough calories to maintain the weight you WANT to be. If you only eat for the weight you are, you will stay that weight. Since 1g/lb of LBM of desired weight is a minimum, a good amount to shoot for is 1.5g/lb LBM of desired weight. This will help make sure you have plenty of protein to gain the muscle you want. Excess is not a bad thing. It’s better to have more than to have less when trying to gain maximum muscle mass. Excellent sources are beef, chicken, whole eggs, buffalo, ostrich (although expensive), fish, other seafood, or even pork, bacon, and sausage if you can get high quality products.
There are two other macronutrient aspects of a bulker, that is, carbs and fats. Protein generally stays the same since it is a very poor idea to try to increase calories by increasing protein intake (since protein is both calorically expensive to digest and also taxes the digestive system more than fats or carbs).
So when bulking, you should keep in mind how you respond to carbs. If you’re carb sensitive, then you need to be conscious of the amount of carbs you eat, and concentrate carbs in the 4-6 hour post-workout period. If you are not carb sensitive, then the sky’s the limit as far as carbs go, although it is still a good idea to concentrate carbs in the 4-6 hour post-workout period. Excellent carb sources include long-grain brown rice (this is the only grain I really recommend due to its low phytic acid content), potatoes, yams, beets, and bananas (which only have a 30% fructose content as opposed to the usual 50% in most fruits). Oatmeal is OK, but try to keep intake of it fairly moderate, and eat the kind that you actually have to cook, not the instant or minute oats. Another important part of the diet, although not a major source of calories, is having a high intake of vegetables. This is very important because they supply many vital nutrients.
With respect to fat intake, the sky is the limit. Fat is a great source of concentrated calories. It’s important to remember that even in untrained individuals, 50% of resting metabolic rate is fueled by fat. In trained athletes, up to 70% of calories of RMR can come from fat. This is important when bulking. Many people have a fear of fats, but keep in mind that the only bad fats are trans and hydrogenated fats. Excessive polyunsaturated fats such as excess vegetable or flax oil intake is bad, even though polyunsaturated fats are not bad in and of themselves. A good rule of thumb is that saturated fats and monounsaturated fats should be around equal, but saturated fats being a bit higher is perfectly fine. Polyunsaturated fats should absolutely be under 10% calories, but preferably under 6%. Most of your fats should come from animal sources, and this has the extremely important benefit of increasing testosterone levels. High intake of vegetable or flax oils without animal fats will reduce testosterone levels which reduces muscular gains. This also makes gains a higher percentage as fat. So if you want to add calories via fat, excellent sources are fatty cuts of beef or non-lean ground beef, butter, lard, egg yolks, chicken with the skin, cream, full fat cheeses, and whole milk. This will assure proper fat ratios as well as the proper fats for maintaining testosterone levels.
One thing that is very important is to gradually increase your caloric intake. There are a couple reasons for this: a) a sudden increase in calories is more likely to result in fat accumulation; b) a sudden increase in food is very taxing on a digestive system that is used to a lower caloric intake. For example, if you always used to eat low fat, your gall bladder may be atrophied, and a sudden intake of fat could result in severe digestive problems. Just give your body time to adjust to the increased caloric intake to avoid problems.
The main things are whole, natural foods, mostly animal products, and high calories.
Here is an excellent read for those of you that are afraid to gain body fat:
http://www.beyondmass.com/forums/sh...p?threadid=1664
B. For the AAS user
The same rules apply as with the natural lifter, but calories can be increased significantly more without gaining too much fat. How much you can increase your calories over a natural lifter is dependant on the AAS used and the amounts administered. For example, a person on 2g of testosterone per week can eat a huge amount more than the athlete on 500mg of testosterone per week without gaining excessive body fat.
The other aspect that is different is protein intake should be higher to facilitate the increased protein synthesis. This means 1.5g/lb LBM of desired weight is a minimum, and 2g/lb LBM of desired weight is desired. Again, it’s better to have too much than not enough, especially when on AAS.
Here is an excellent read for those of you that are afraid to gain body fat:
http://www.beyondmass.com/forums/sh...p?threadid=1664
2. Gaining lean body mass.
A. For the natural lifter
In order to gain lean body mass, calories have to be much lower than in a bulker. A 200-500 calorie surplus per day is more supportive of lean mass gains and helps to minimize fat gain. Food selections remain the same as in a bulker, just change proportions and portions according to your needs and your body chemistry. Lean mass gains also require different training routines from a bulker (addition of cardio and HIIT, for example), so keep in mind that diet isn’t the only factor.
1g/lb LBM of desired weight should be a minimum, and it is even more important to concentrate carb intake in the 4 hour-post workout period to minimize fat gain.
B. For the AAS user
Similar rules apply except protein intake should be higher than for the natural lifter, with 1.5g/lb LBM of desired weight being the minimum. Calories can also be higher, but again, this is dependant on the AAS used and the doses administered.
3. Losing bodyfat and gaining muscle
A. For the natural lifter
This is the goal of almost any person new to lifting. “I want to bulk and lose body fat, too.” I will be blunt – you can’t bulk and lose body fat at the same time. In fact, bulking by its definition means you are going to accumulate body fat, so even a “lean bulker” is a misnomer.
However, it is possible to gain muscle while losing fat. This is done by eating 0-200 calories above maintenance, but it also requires the right type of training.
The same general rules apply to this goal as well, just adjust portions and proportions as needed.
B. For the AAS user
The same rules apply but you can eat more calories. Again, the amount you can eat depends on AAS used and dose administered.
4. Losing body fat and maintaining muscle mass
A. For the natural lifter
This is probably the most difficult thing to do, as it requires careful attention to both training and diet. As a general rule of thumb, shoot for 1.5g/lb of LBM of protein. Protein is thermogenic (burns calories) and helps maintain muscle tissue, so it is very important for dieting. One mistake that you can make when dieting is to get most of your calories from protein powder, as it is far less thermogenic than meat.
Food selections are the same, but manipulations of the portions and proportions become very important. Timing is also crucial. Post-workout carbs can help maintain muscle mass, so it is important to remember this.
One pound of fat is 4,082 calories (1 lb = 453.59229 g, 1 g of fat = 9 calories, so 453.59229 * 9 = 4082 calories/lb of fat), so you need to restrict about 580 calories per day in order to lose 1 lb of fat per week. This is probably the most calorie restriction you want to do if you want to maintain muscle mass. If you go too low, you will surely lose muscle mass.
B. For the AAS user
Dieting follows the same basic rules, although the extent to which calories can be restricted are greater. Yet again, the amount you can restrict depends on the AAS and the dosage admisistered. Protein should be at 2g/lb LBM minimum to help maintain muscle mass, as well as increase thermogenesis.
Using DNP is a totally different game, and I will not cover it in depth here. Basically you need to eat extremely low fat, high protein, and a decent amount of low GI fruit carbs. Don’t worry so much about calories, because the fat will melt off regardless if you follow those general rules. Water intake should obviously be high, but PLEASE don’t use only this info for your DNP dieting. Please read the following link before you even consider it:
http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/showthread.php?t=2159
5. Trying to lose as much weight as possible
A. For the natural lifter
I have no idea why you would want to do this, but if you want to lose muscle mass and screw up your metabolism, crash diets work great. It’s also a great way to really stress your body via inadequate nutrient intake, inadequate calories, and general increase in physiological and psychological stress. This is good if you want to look like an Ethiopian and be unhealthy.
B. For the AAS user
*Smack upside the head* Find another hobby.
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