As a long time student of Alan Aragon (who is ever so kind as he fields my seemingly endless string of inquiries and listens ever-so-patiently to my rants on the fitness industry), I figured it high time to contribute to my favorite ever-evolving field of (mis)information. I tend to avoid saying much online as, quite simply, the signal-to-noise ratio is awful. The whole process becomes a waste of time. However, in an odd turn of events, this post was largely inspired by a PM received on how to construct a 4 meal a day nutrition plan. I scratched my head in confusion, and then came to a stunning realization.
The mis/information overload isn't just worsening in a linear fashion, it's turned exponential. People can't even remember how to eat "normally." I practically forgot for a two year period, so I know this phenomenon isn't uncommon.
In all seriousness, there's such rampant gurudom on the Internutz that I often find myself gnawing on my keyboard in frustration. My spacebar isn't looking too sharp these days.
In working with Alan, I've stayed weight stable while recomposing, seeing consistent improvement in LBM and body fat percentage. And, surprise surprise, there is no secret. Well, maybe one. I feared telling Alan, "Bro, I think I dirty culked my way to a coma. I just destroyed 3 boxes of Kashi and 2 pizzas and blew away all of my recent progress."
Some background - I'm a hardcore endo. Copious amounts of excess skin (thankfully being removed by the end of the year) combined with an atrocious P-Ratio (see Lyle McDonald for further discussion of same) makes my progress SLOOOOOW. I had a 42"+ waist by age 11. Trust me, standing five feet tall and carrying around that kinda girth is not much fun. About three years ago I cardio'd down to a 29" waist (I had reached full height maturity of 5'7" by then
). I've put on close to 20lbs of mostly LBM after teetering on anorexia for a year or so.
I've been around the block and then some.
So if you're a traumatized eater *raises hand* here's how I suggest approaching food eatery. Mucho credito to Senor Aragon for helping me over the last six months in my fitness ventures.
Point 1: Meal Frequency
Completely up to you. I tell people to find their "weak spots" in the day - mine is after a long day of academia - and save some calories for when they have time to enjoy their food. I'm so hurried during the day I can get away with a relatively tasteless lunch as, psssh, I'm so strapped for time I'm not going to enjoy it anyway. My "go to" evening ritual is an omelette (screw you spellcheck) of 1 Omega-3 egg, 1 cup of egg whites, Mexi-cheese mix, buckets o' spinach, orange peppers, Amy's Organic Black Bean & Corn salsa with an apple. Right afterward I have my dessert of 2 scoops of choc. protein powder, 1 tbsp Valentia peanut butter (dr00l), and 1/2 cup of blueberries.
For someone with serious binge eating issues or horrifically low meal frequency, "4 meals max between meals and snax" does an excellent job of ensuring proper spacing. As a general rule, I go for 4 meals a day. Hardcore ectos whose tolerance to a full stomach may vary may need to add in extra snacks around the usual breakfast, lunch, dinner, and floater meal.
Point 2: Protein
So it's gnoshin time. You better find some sort of leany proteiny goodness. 3 - 6oz depending on body size and habitual consumption consumed over 4 meals/day should cover nearly everyone's needs. Regardless of bulking or cutting this stays constant.
Some people obsess over how lean their meat is. To be honest, as long as most of your food is coming from leaner cuts, the difference between 91% lean and 95% isn't going to matter that much in the grand scheme of things.
Dairy protein is also uber important. Find a way to get 2 - 3 servings of the stuff, either through milk or string cheese or whatever. It makes a NOTICEABLE difference in progress both dieting and gaining, and my physique always suffers if I'm lax in its consumption. The research is there to support dairy intake - don't let misguided hysteria be the best of you.
Point 3: Fiber
Your green veggie stuff, or stuff found in an ancillary fashion through nuts and other plants foods. I know it's not possible nor feasible to eat veggies at every meal, and I hate all the naturopathic hoopla over Greens supplements to boot. Just try to get some amount of fiber (ideally vegetable, otherwise from some other source) at every meal.
Point 4: Fat
10 - 15g per meal, or roughly 1/4 cup of nuts, 1 tbsp olive oil, ancillary amounts from eggs, milk etc. Big guys can pump this up if they're carb intolerant/endo. This leaves enough room for peanut butter (necessary in any real diet, I suggest the fancy stuff made from Valencia peanuts), olive oil, cashews (it's clean eats m****f*****) and full-fat cream cheese. Don't obsess about ratios or whatever, just try to get an even mix between everything. I eat cream cheese, I eat nuts, I eat olive oil. Whatever fancies me. Saturated fat is not going to kill you, and as long as your primary fat source isn't Ho-Hos you're going to be OKAY.
Point 5: Carbohydrate
So when you get down to it, this is the only real macro you'll be manipulating depending on your goals.
The Shazzaboom Diet is about
Simplicity.
You should be getting some carbs before and after your workout, preferably starch. I suggest a maximum of ~ 70g of carbs at a meal (equivalent of a fruit + cup of rice etc.) On off days you could limit carbs at a given meal to a serving of fruit. Even if you eat a piece of fruit at every meal on a non-training day, assuming four meals, at most you'll see ~ 100g of carbs. Training days simply add in a starch before and after your workout. If you're trying to lose weight, drop carbs at all points EXCEPT for around your workout. Ideally you'll increase your deficit on off-days where chances of adverse catabolism are unlikely.
As far as sauces and whatnot are concerned, use common sense. 1 tbsp of BBQ sauce will make your food taste 10x better and add a negligible amount of calories to a day. As long as the sugary stuff doesn't account for more than 10% of your daily kcal intake I see no problem adding brown sugar to oatmeal
.
Shazzaboom - The Conclusion:
So that's pretty much it. Four meals a day, and work your way from left to right. Protein, Fiber, Fat, Fruit, Starch. Starches around your workout.
- Protein - 3 - 6oz/meal depending on size of person
- Fiber - Get some? Ideally green veggies, if not from some other plant derived thingy.
- Fat - 10 - 15g/meal. Carb intolerant individuals can bump this and reduce carbs concurrently. Don't be stupid and go no carb. Even on off days, try to get in a serving or two of fruit to prevent brain fog/major irritability/maintain liver glycogen etc.
- Fruit - Adding 1 serving to every meal on a maintenance program will suit most needs. You can cut this down to 2 servings/day on off days.
- Starch - 2 servings, 1 before and 1 after your workout. Endos may want to save most carbs for before and after their workouts on training days, leaving maybe a serving or two of fruit outside the workout period for adherence sake.
If you're an ecto, push the carb limit and use that as your X factor in dietary manipulation, keeping other factors constant. If you're an endo, hack away at carbs on off-days (though I suggest still keeping in 2 servings or so of fruit even under hardcore cuts. The benefits are just too many).
There used to be a big Guru Hard-On for keeping fat away from peri-workout meals but that theory is pretty much bunk. I found it highly problematic as high carb high protein meals created savage rebound hunger. Adding in fat prevents that from happening. Mixed meals are the way to go.
I think that covers everything. Hope this helps some people out there. This shows my thinking when I construct a day's worth of eating. Really, after you get your Protein, Fat, Fiber ensured, it's just changing the
amount of fruit and starch you consume. Pretty simple.
Major credit goes to Alan Aragon and Lyle McDonald for their no-nonsense approach to fitness and nutrition. Their work heavily influenced the information contained within. 
Shazzaboom Diet - Shazzaboom Your Life
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