How to structure a bodybuilding diet

[Control]

For those of you who are confused about what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat, this should give you a basic idea. This is based on what I eat and have my trainees eat.


Part 1: Foods

-Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. There's a reason most bodybuilders eat so many chicken breasts. There aren't many foods you can eat that take up such little room in your stomach and pack so much protein. I'm a big believer in high protein (1.5 grams per pound of body weight and up) and chicken breasts get it done. Tired of dry chicken breasts that taste like cardboard? Try cooking them like this: How I cook chicken breasts.

-Boiled eggs. To me this is the best way to cook eggs because you can cook a few days worth at a time and if you want to eat just the white you can easily seperate the yolk with no mess.

-Red meat. I believe red meat should be part of every bodybuilders diet. I also feel like I have my best workouts when I eat red meat as my last meal before I lift, so if I'm only going to eat one red meat meal I'll make it my pre-workout meal. I eat ground beef or steak if I can get a nice cut on sale. Most grocery stores have good cuts of steak on sale late at night, especially in the days before pay-day (the 1st and 15th). When I see a good deal on steak I'll buy a bunch and freeze it.

-Fish. If you're lucky enough to live someplace where you can get good, cheap, fresh fish, by all means eat it up. Personally I'm too cheap to buy fish most of the time. I live in Japan so I'll go for 1000 yen all-you-can-eat sushi once in awhile, but other than that I don't eat it much. One of the few supps I recommend though is fish oil. I take 4-5 grams 4 times a day. Great source of healthy fats and it's good for the joints.

-Beans and rice. I have a hard time eating alot of brown rice, it's just too bland. Adding black beans or red beans makes it taste alot better and improves it's nutritional profile at the same time. Easily my #1 carb choice.

-Whole wheat pasta. Make sure it's 100% whole wheat. Great carb source.

-Sweet potatoes. I don't eat these often because I have to put a little too much work into them to make them taste OK, but they're good once in awhile. They have instant sweet potatoes now but they're most regular potatoes-garbage.

-Steam works vegetables. You buy these in the frozen section and they're in individual bags that you can microwave and they get steam-cooked in the bag. Quick and easy. I get broccoli or green beans. I eat these every day.

-Fresh spinach. In the summer I'll buy some fresh spinach once in awhile and make a salad. I use spinach, cut up chicken breasts, italian dressing, and maybe a sliced up tomato or cucumber. Sometimes it's hard eating alot of hot food when it's hot outside.

-Nuts. Usually peanuts mixed with almonds to form a complete protein. I snack on these between meals. You get: Protein, healthy fats, and high-fiber-low-GI carbs all in one. Perfect.

-Apples. Pretty much the only fruit I eat on a regular basis. If I lived back home I'd be hitting up the fruit stands by the fields for fresh berries but the ones here suck. Apples are a good fiber source and they don't go bad right away. They're supposed to be good for your teeth too.

-Whey protein. I use a whey isolate/concentrate blend, usually 100% whey from ON. I drink it as soon as I wake up before I do anything else and right after I lift of course. Usually those are my only shakes of the day.

-Extra virgin olive oil. I drink 1-4 tablespoons day. I'm used to the taste.

That's pretty much all I eat. I've heard good things about ezekiel bread, but I haven't seen it for sale over here. I'd also like to try buffalo meat and ostrich, that's supposed to be good too....

[Control]

Part 2: Bulking and cutting

Bulking and cutting is complicated because our bodies are so different. The exact same diet could be a mass diet for one person and a cutting diet for somebody else. What I've seen work for alot of people is a short bulking cycle (maybe 4-6 weeks) where you really pack away the calories and allow yourself to get a little fat; then a longer, moderate cutting cycle where you slowly shed fat over 12-16 weeks. If you have the genetics you can sometimes gain some muscle as you lose fat, but I still like that short sloppy bulker every few months. I'm not talking about getting up to 25% bodyfat, but if you can see abs you're not bulking IMO.

The basic foods are the same for bulking, you just eat more and add cheat meals as needed. Welcome to the world of all you can eat buffets. Keep the scale moving and earn that extra food in the gym.

For the cutting part, the keys are discipline and patience. If you get too aggressive with it you're going to lose muscle. If you're eating nothing but protein, low G.I. carbs, and healthy fats,- and you aren't getting leaner you need to manipulate your carbs. The first thing you do is eliminate carbs at some point during the day. Usually the last two meals. If that isn't working you start having no-carb days, ideally on days when you're not lifting. I don't like any diet where you're going more than a few days without carbs at a time. Without carbs you're not getting any fiber and that's not healthy. What I like doing is having protein-carb days and protein-fat days*. Alot of bodybuilders eat protein-carbs meals early in the day and protein-fat meals later in the day; this works great for some people but since low-G.I. carbs digest slower, they can still be digesting when you start taking in your fats. Eating carbs and fats on different days has a little more dramatic effect. Now of course this isn't going to work if you lift 6 days a week, but I don't recommend that anyone train more than 4 days a week unless they have some pretty elite genetics.

* The protein-carb days and protein-fat days don't have to be super-strict. For example the carbs from a handfull of nuts won't ruin your protein-fat day and the fat from 6 oz of 98% lean ground beef won't ruin your protein-carb day.

[Control]

Part 3: Putting it all together

OK, so this is basically how I would put together a diet. Let's say John wants to bulk for a month or so. He lifts in the morning.

Meal 1: protein shake
(He showers, brushes his teeth, gets dressed, etc.)

about 30 minutes later

Meal 2: 8 oz red meat, with whole wheat pasta, green beans and 5 grams fish oil

Workout

Meal 3 (PWO): dextrose, maltodextrin, waxy maize starch or some combination of those-creatine. 75-100 grams whey protein.

about an hour later

Meal 4: Chicken breast with beans and rice, broccoli and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Meal 5: Same as meal 4 but with fish oil instead of olive oil

Meal 6: Same as meals 4 and 6 but with an apple instead of veggies

Between meals he's eating nuts and hard boiled eggs (we'll say he eats 6 eggs per day). Every other day one of the last 3 meals is replaced by a cheat meal.

Now, if John isn't gaining weight, he needs to eat more. If he's getting too fat he needs to cut back on the cheat meals. Simple.


Now let's say John wants to cut. He starts with the same diet pretty much but no cheat meals and no carbs for the last few meals. Fat comes off for a awhile but then he stops losing fat. Now he decides to split up his protein-carb days and protein-fat days. On workout days his diet looks like this:

Meal 1: protein shake
(He showers, brushes his teeth, gets dressed, etc.)

about 30 minutes later

Meal 2: 6 oz lean red meat (98% lean ground beef or extremely lean steak), with whole wheat pasta, green beans

workout

Meal 3 (PWO): dextrose, maltodextrin, waxy maize starch or some combination of those-creatine. 75-100 grams whey protein.

about an hour later

Meal 4: Chicken breast with beans and rice, broccoli

Meal 5: Same as meal 4

Meal 6: Same as meals 4 and 6

He still eats the eggs between meals but just the whites. No nuts.

And on non-workout days:

Meal 1: protein shake
(He showers, brushes his teeth, gets dressed, etc.)

about 30 minutes later

Meal 2: 8 oz red meat, green beans and 5 grams fish oil

Meal 3: Same as meal 2


Meal 4: Chicken breast, broccoli and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Meal 5: Same as meal 4 but with fish oil instead of olive oil

Meal 6: Same as meals 4 or 5.

He eats the nuts (sparingly) and whole eggs between meals.

That's basically it. This is for your average bodybuilder trying to make steady improvements throughout the year. If you're trying to get ready for a show, that's whole different game. Hopefully this makes some kind of sense...

[rado]

Very nice posts!

[NYCmitch25]

nice work my friend!

[ROCKETW19]

very informitave(sp?) control thanks!

[THE BOUNCER]

Awesome Control! Thanks bro.

[The_Grinder]

Control, I have a question. I saw on the last meal of the protein-fat cutting day there is an apple. Is that a typo or is there really supposed to be an apple there?

[Control]

Originally Posted by The_Grinder

Control, I have a question. I saw on the last meal of the protein-fat cutting day there is an apple. Is that a typo or is there really supposed to be an apple there?

Honestly, it's probably not the best idea. I don't think it would make a huge difference one way or the other though and for some people who have been eating dessert their whole lives, that little "treat" at the end of the day helps give them something to look forward to and keeps them on track. You're right though, it shouldn't be there.

Apple's gone.

[The_Grinder]

Originally Posted by Control

Honestly, it's probably not the best idea. I don't think it would make a huge difference one way or the other though and for some people who have been eating dessert their whole lives, that little "treat" at the end of the day helps give them something to look forward to and keeps them on track. You're right though, it shouldn't be there.

Apple's gone.

Poor apple, its all my fault too. Great info by the way I will be trying the protein-fat/protein-carb cycle routine come spring. Thanks for taking the time to do it!

[The_Grinder]

Ok so I'm about to start cutting and I was considering doing the protein-carb, protein-fat days. Is that something to do through an entire diet or is that something to do when a traditional cutting diet stalls out?? I'm only shooting for 8% BF. I'm 12% or 13% now so I don't have a huge mountain to climb. I just wanted to do whatever keep me the safest from losing too much muscle.

[Control]

Originally Posted by The_Grinder

Ok so I'm about to start cutting and I was considering doing the protein-carb, protein-fat days. Is that something to do through an entire diet or is that something to do when a traditional cutting diet stalls out?? I'm only shooting for 8% BF. I'm 12% or 13% now so I don't have a huge mountain to climb. I just wanted to do whatever keep me the safest from losing too much muscle.

Something to do when a traditional cutting diet stalls out.

[The_Grinder]

Originally Posted by Control

Something to do when a traditional cutting diet stalls out.

Good deal thanks man!