Okay so today’s post is going to cover the principles of the nutritional plan I went on to lose 7% body fat but in order to appreciate it you first need to know what a more ‘balanced’ nutrition plan would look like:

 

To help us with this we first need to know the caloric content of foods:

 

Caloric content of fat, protein, carbohydrates and alcohol.

 

Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories

 

And we need to know…….Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) for average adult 2000 kcal

Fat: 70 grams = 630 calories 
Protein: 45 grams = 180 calories 
Carbohydrates: 230 grams = 920 calories
Fibre: 24 grams = 48 calories

 

Total: 1,778 calories (my interpretation is that in order to hit the 2000 kcal we probably exceed the GDA in one or more of the food components!

 

Now for athletic populations it is usually acceptable to go as much as 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass and it is not unusual to see up to 5 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass, so the ‘athletic norm’ might look like this:

 

Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) for average athletic male adult (80kg male) 3000 kcal

Fat: 70 grams = 630 calories 
Protein: 160 grams = 640 calories 
Carbohydrates: 400 grams = 1600 calories
Fibre: 24 grams = 48 calories

Total: 2,918 calories

 

So now we know that a typical protein:carbohydrate ratio might be 160 grams: 400 grams compare that with what I did for this nutritional plan:  more like 300 grams: 340 grams (vegetables only)

 

Fat: 100 grams plus! = 900 calories
Protein: 300 grams = 1200 calories
Carbohydrates: 340 grams (vegetables only) = 88 calories  (vegetables average 26 cal/100g; fruit average 60 cal/100g)

 

I’m not entirely sure what the fat and carbohydrate would have been.  We just used portions for each meal rather than specific amounts but the fat would have to have been a lot more because I was eating protein at every meal and snack! The carbohydrates must have been way down because I was having around 4 portions of vegetables a day and a typical serving is around 85g per serving.  The key thing to point out is that while I did maintain a normal amount of Carbohydrates because they were only in the form of vegetables the energy value of those grams was really low!!!!!

 

Meal / Time	Food Category & Portion
Breakfast / Upon Arising	See 5 day breakfast rotation
Post workout	Protein Shake (50gms whey)
Lunch	3 Protein, Greens, 1 Fat
PM snack (2 hours after Lunch)	2 Protein, Greens
Post Workout	2 Protein, Greens
Dinner (1-2 hours post workout)	3 Protein, Greens, 2 Fat
Supper / before bedtime (2-3 hours after dinner)	2 Protein, 1 Fat

 

Breakfast plan:

 

Try the following breakfast for five days & note your energy level:

• Day 1: 1 lean ground chicken patty (homemade burger) and a handful of macadamia nuts.
• Day 2: 1 steak (ideally go for something “wild” like venison if you are able to eat that) and a handful of cashew nuts.
• Day 3: 1 to 2 lean turkey burgers and a handful of walnuts.
• Day 4: 1 salmon fillet and a handful of brazil nuts.
• Day 5: 1 cod loin and a handful of hazelnuts.

 

Overall rules:

1. Meat/Fish and nuts for breakfast

 

2. Green Vegetables in abundance / zero simple or starchy carbs

 

3.  300g protein per day. Protein should come in the form of any lean meat, fowl, fish, shellfish, eggs, and protein powder

 

4.  Post workout – you must have a protein shake (50gms of whey protein) immediately after you exercise.

 

5.  No beer at all, and restrict alcohol intake where you can.  Restriction means a small glass of wine.

 

6.  No candy type sweets. If you have to snack on something sweet a far better option would be chocolate covered brazil nuts.

 

So that was the nuts and bolts of the new nutritional plan which I was asked to stay on for the first two weeks.  In the next blog I will explain how the carbohydrates were slowly reintroduced back into my food.!!!!!!