Eat a small meals every 3 hours. Minimum of three real meals and a maximum of three meal replacement drinks/bars substituted for meals. Never two consecutive meal replacement drinks. Each meal contains a palm-size serving (without fingers) of lean meat, a palm-size serving (or less) of carbs, and a palm-size serving of green vegetables. Add a small amount of fat-free sauce. The sole purpose of the frequent meals is to deliver protein on a constant basis. The sole purpose of the sauces is to add variety and to make the meal palatable.
Drink about a gallon of water daily (varies with body size, outdoor temperature and humidity conditions). Be conscious of how much and how long you sweat. Ideally, you want to adjust the temperature and humidity, or your clothing so that you have some sweat at the end of your workouts, but not profusely sweating throughout. The amount of sweat does not indicate your workout intensity. So don't bundle up with sweats and plastic suits and think that it is causing you to burn more calories.
Supplements: a multivitamin-multimineral daily. Men: get a low-iron formula. Women: a high-folate formula or a separate folate (folic acid) pill daily. Creatine: don't bother loading. Just take one dose one hour before strength training. Protein: I think skim milk is great with every meal. In addition, whey protein or a protein blend is good. Your meal replacement drink will have some protein.
Prohibited: regular soft drinks under normal conditions. Diet soft drinks are OK, but I would just rather drink water. In conditions where you sweat long and profusely: high temperture and humidity, that cannot be avoided, during evening strengh training, you should drink 2 parts water with 1 part high-quality thirst quencher drink. This should contain balanced electrolytes (more potassium, less sodium) and some sugars. If you crave regular soft drinks, you can drink one cup of regular soft drink for every 2 cups water in these conditions, plus, use salt substitute (high in potassium, low in sodium) on your food. However, use pure water only before and during morning cardio. If you don't like plain water, try putting a teaspoon of lemon or lime juice for taste, and/or one teaspoon of honey or maple syrup in your water bottle to add some sweetness. The sugar also activates fat metabolism. If you use additives, be sure to rinse your water bottle and let dry between uses.
Carbs should be tapered at night, with full servings of carbs in the morning through immediately after your last workout of the day. But later meals through bedtime should contain no or only 1/2 serving of carbs.
Fats: a sane, lowfat policy means avoiding unnecessary fat, but allowing for some fat consumption if necessary to take advantage of an increased variety of protein sources. Forbidden to buy: any food product that has the word "Partially", "hydrogenated" or "shortening" in the ingredient list. Add to the diet: high quality oils, like extra virgin olive oil and essential fatty acids found in fish oil. One teaspoon daily is plenty to get the essential fatty acids. The amount in one salad dressing serving.
The best junk food item is the Wendy's chicken caesar pita. The other pitas are also good, but the chicken caesar pita gives you lean chicken breast, good green leafy vegetables, and the pita is a good, small dose of carb. I checked: the pita bread contains no hydrogenated oils. This, along with the baked potato with sour cream and chives (do not use the Country Crock margarine) were the only junk food items that I ate during the contest. During the last few days of the contest, I wanted to reduce my sodium, so I got the chicken caesar pita without the dressing. I asked for some lemon to squirt on the salad instead. I also took a few tomato wedges from the salad bar to help moisten the salad (and add potsassium).
I also recommend Subway sandwiches. Mandatory: use the whead bread, which contains no hydrogenated oil. The Italian bread has hydrogenated oil. Get one of the lowfat selections, and use mustard, no mayo. It is OK to use oil and vinegar, but that's all the oil you need in one day, so if you can get away with just mustard, that's better. Add lots of moist veggies, especially tomato. Tomato is high potassium/low and helps to moisten the sandwich. Use tomato and lemon juice instead of salt. Drink water or unsweetened tea with lemon.
I did not eat Taco Bell during the contest. I did not eat any chips, etc. I did occassionally have pretzels. I also stopped eating my store-bought choc. chip cookies and ate instead my homemade cookie/cake/bread squares, which I reduced in fat.
Things I ate frequently:
water, hard-boiled eggs: 1 a day, usually with salad oatmeal with 12 oz. skim milk plus fruit or sweetener (1 tsp. honey or maple syrup) salads small meals: 1 meat, 1 carb, and 1 or 2 vegetables. meats: skinless chicken breast, venison, tuna, lean turkey breast:whole or ground, or other fish or seafood. vegetables: peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots, onion, mushroom, tomatos, squash, zucchini, okra, spinach, whatever. carbs: brown rice, pasta, potatoes, beans fruits: banana, pineapple, cantalopue, honeydew, watermelon, grapes Yogurt: I recommend just getting a large container of the unflavored yogurt and mixing in a tablespoon with your skim milk, protein powder, or meal replacement drink. Remember, you are eating to deliver nutrients, not for pleasure. So forget those 8-oz. tubs with their loads of sugars or artificial sweeteners. And no "vanilla" yogurt, either. Just because it does not have color in it, it doesn't make the sugar go away. skim milk my homemade cookiebars (made w/o added fat and w/o chocolate chips) juices: orange, grape, other, but never more than 6oz. at onceIn ground meats, the only ground meats I would select is one that is 10% fat or less. I would use these infrequently. Shady Brooks farms 7% ground turkey is OK. You will have to add a little olive oil to brown. It is not necessary to get the 1% fat ground breast of turkey--too expensive.
Sample weekday schedule: 10pm sleep 6am wake after 8 hours of solid sleep, drink water, 30 min cardio. 7am first meal 8am work 10am 2nd meal: replacement drink at work 1pm 3rd meal: lunch 2pm: 15 min. nap or siesta at work, of this is possible. This refreshes you for increased afternoon porductivity. 4pm: 4th meal: replacement drink at work 6pm: evening workout, 1hr. 7pm: 5th meal: dinner at home 9:45pm: optional 6th meal: snack or meal replacement drink, brush teeth. 10pm: asleep.Those who are primarily after bodyfat loss can use a low-carb meal replacement drink, but it is cheaper to use skim milk, protein powder, and a multivitamin (which is a meal-replacement drink w/o the carbs) especially for the 10am 2nd meal and the 9:45pm 6th meal. Also, those seeking primarily fat loss can skip the 9:45 6th meal if they are not hungry, but they need good discipline the next morning to not eat until after morning cardio. Those after lean weight gain must have the 6th meal.
Last modified 08Mar03 comments
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