Creating A Diet

One of the biggest questions that those who are looking to obtain any goal, be it fat loss or muscle gain, are asking is how they should go about developing a diet for themselves.

Should they use a low-carb approach? Or maybe low-fat is better if they are hoping to minimize body fat while putting on pounds of muscle. Surround yourself amongst the literally hundreds of different diets out there, and it's no wonder there is some confusion.


When it comes to setting up any diet, there are three basic, crucial elements that have to be satisfied, and then the rest is up to your own individual preferences, how you feel with certain foods, and so on.

Let's have a look at these three elements so you can make sure they are in line with your current diet.

1. Total Protein Intake

Protein is potentially the most debated about nutrient in the industry. How much protein do you really need? Is more better? What does the body do with excess? You have your different opinions, but the generally agreed upon amount is 1 gram per pound of body weight (assuming an active individual).

So right now, take your weight (in pounds) and multiple by one. That's how much protein you need each day.

Now, I'm going to throw out an exception to the rule. If you happen to be dieting on a fairly strict, low-calorie approach, I'd recommend bringing this up to somewhere between 1.2-1.5 grams per pound of body weight. This will help to ensure you don't lose any muscle mass tissue while being in a hypocaloric environment. No one wants to lose the muscle mass they worked so hard to put on, right?

I didn't think so.

2. Total calorie intake.

Next is setting your total calorie intake. This is going to make or break any fat loss or muscle building diet because you can't burn fat while supplying your body with more energy than it needs, and you can't build muscle without more energy than it needs to just sustain what's there.

How do you know how many calories to eat? Honestly, this is tricky. Every day your activity will vary slightly, as well as your environment, your stress levels, how much sleep you got the night before, and so on. All of these things will impact how many calories you need.

BUT, a general guideline that's super simple to use and relatively quite accurate for most people is:

Dieting: Body weight (in pounds) X 10-12 calories
Maintenance: Body weight X 13-15 calories
Muscle Gain: Body weight X 15-18 calories

If you are sedentary, you'll use the lower end of the scale, and if you're more active (be it with your job or scheduled activities, use the higher end).

Also note that some unlucky individuals will need to go down to 9 calories/pound to get fat loss moving, just as some individuals will have to go up to 20 calories a pound to gain weight (who, if you ask them, may also be unlucky - eating that much food is not as fun as you might think!)

Once you've set your designated calorie intake, give it a couple weeks and see how you do. If you aren't moving in the general direction you want, make some small adjustments and try that new intake for a few weeks.

3. Essential fats

Finally, the third component is essential fats. Everyone needs these. EVERYONE. I don't care if you're dieting, bulking, or just sitting on the couch eating Cheetos and drinking Pepsi, essential fats are, well, essential.

Shoot for between three and six grams a day and you're good to go.

So, once these factors are in order, then you simply fill out the rest of your calories with some combination of fat and carbohydrates (some people may up protein more, but realize it is not necessary).

Again, once the diet is formulated and has been put into practice, give it a few weeks. Real life results are going to be far better than anything you cook up on paper, so see how it goes.

From that, you'll gain valuable experience and information and can then make adjustments to further improve the diet, without changing these three components. Read more!

Struggling To Gain Weight?

You eat and eat and eat - yet you never seem to gain weight.

You’re in the gym so much that you might as well make it your new second home - not to mention you’ve been asked more than once if you worked there.

The scale never moves, in fact, some weeks it even goes down!

Does this sound familiar?

If so, take comfort in knowing you aren’t alone. Many guys struggle with this issue. They just can’t gain weight. PERIOD. They’ve tried and tried for what seems like years on end. One month they might finally make a five pound gain, only to find it rapidly disappear the next.

This leaves them puzzled, wondering where they are going wrong - or maybe, their body is just in an all out war to fight them.

If this is the story of the last few years of your training history, it’s time for you to recognize the issue at play and make corresponding changes so that you do start seeing results - because if you’re never going to see results, what’s the point in wasting so many hours of your life that you’ll never get back in the gym?

These types of individuals are commonly referred to as ‘hardgainers’ and are those who have a metabolism that tends to just speed right up as food intake increases.

Be aware though that some people aren’t actually hardgainers, they just are not on a correct training program or diet plan. Often this is the case among those who are in the gym for more than 90 minutes a day, five times a week. They are simply on the verge of overtraining, and when this occurs, muscle gain is extremely hard to come by.

You must remember that your body actually repairs and grows new muscle while you are resting and as such, if there isn’t enough rest, there isn’t any muscle gain - end of story.

This does only make up some of the population though; for the others, they must learn to adopt certain types of training programs that are more compatible with their body type.

If they don’t, they’ll just end up spinning their wheels for what could be, years to come.

Read more about these training principles. Read more!

Fitness and Nutrition

This is a subject that is getting a dramatically increased awareness right now as more and more people are becoming focused on their health status and aesthetic image. In a world where we are inundated with information about what's right, what's wrong, and what's going to work - NOW, it can be hard to decipher truth from fiction.

In my years of studying on the topic and from getting a variety of questions from readers such as yourself, I've come to realize that there really is no 'right' and 'wrong' answer. Sure, there are some basic, core principles that must be in effect for someone to get the results they are looking for, but aside from those, the most essential thing is finding a training and nutrition program that works for you.Want to know the top secret when it comes to realizing your goals?

CONSISTANCY.

Simple, isn't it? It's what you do day in and day out that is going to make all the difference. Those that can follow a program (assuming it's covered the key, core principles I've mentioned above), are going to have far more success than someone who pays out loads of money for a program that promises quick-fix results but can't stick with it.I'm not saying there are not better programs out there than others; what I am saying is that amongst the good programs, the best program is going to be one that you can live with.

In this blog I hope to answer some of your questions about a variety of health and fitness topics, as well as point you to some programs that I do believe in that can help get you from where you are to where you want to be. Read more!