There are so many different sources of material out there for what to eat, when to eat, how to eat that its pretty close to impossible to know where to start. As with my workout post I’m not about to try and tell you exactly what you should eat on a daily basis but if I did I can almost guarantee you that there’d a bunch of people out there who would totally agree with me and have a ton of stories to back it up just as there’s be a bunch of people out there who would say I was totally wrong and have a ton of stories to back it up. What I don’t think is to debatable though are the basics. Once you know those, I think you are good to go – at least if you aren’t dealing with major issues in this area (need to lose a large amount of weight or have a medical condition).
But before I talk about what food I eat, when and why, I want to share a quick story about supplements. Before I moved to Roi Namur at the Kwajalein Atoll, I had an opportunity to work there as an intern for 3 months. It was just after my sophomore year of college at CU where I was studying Physics and I weighed in at like 160 pounds or so (I wasn’t big into the gym at the time). I decided to use that 3 months to get big so I bought every supplement known to man – I was making shakes, taking amino acids and vitamins and using sublinguals like a mad scientist and busting butt at the gym. Long story short I gained over 20 pounds of muscle in just 10 weeks. I returned to Colorado and within a few months lost it all 🙁 I wasn’t hitting the gym, I wasn’t eating right and I wasn’t taking supplements. A few months later after I got a permanent job offer I returned to Roi but this time decided there was no way I could afford to supplement myself like I did over that summer so instead I just ate right and worked out daily. Guess what? I gained over 20 pounds of muscle in about 10 weeks. The only supplement I have used since then is protein powder (and occasionally creatine). That jives with what you’ll hear from most people who are recommending but not selling…
Today, the only workout nutrition advice I follow are from people that keep it 
simple – no gimmicks, no supplements, no tricks. You know why? Because unless you have some special situation that calls for the specialty of a Dr. or dietician, you don’t need anything more than the basics to make huge gains. I just got done reading Can You Go? by Dan John which is not a diet book by any means but he had the greatest advice I think I’ve ever heard when it comes to diet (and a bunch of other things too), he says:
“Eat like an adult”
You’ve gotta love it! So simple, so right. We all know what’s good for us and what’s not but tend to get dazed and confused by the ridiculous amount of conflicting information out there on just about everything. Throw it all out and use common sense, eat like an adult. He has a few basic rules like “Cut out cardboard carbs” and “Don’t eat sugar” and “Avoid Frankenstein fats (created in a lab)”. Basically just eat like an adult – use your head.
So here’s how I eat:
- What: 20% fats, 50% carbohydrates, 30% protein. Why? See my post on basic nutrition. Sure you can choose different ratios if you have a really specific need in mind but if you’re not dealing with a special situation just keep it simple. See further below for my food selections.
- When: There are lots of good papers on the right timing for nutrition and the only reason I don’t link any of them here is because, for the most part, they all say the same things and they’re all common sense. You need carbs for energy, so eat carbs before you workout You use carbs when you workout so you need to replenish, eat carbs after you workout. You need protein to rebuild tissue so always make sure you spread them throughout your day. You need good fats for healthy cells, vitamin delivery, etc., so make sure you spread them throughout your day. And, you need vitamins and minerals so make sure you’re eating fruits and vegetables throughout the day. That’s it! Make sure every meal is mostly balanced, maybe favoring carbs a bit pre and post workout and you’ll be following the majority of the sane advice out there.
- How often: Again, tons of papers out there so google yourself silly but I say eat when you’re hungry. Who can say better than your own body? So maybe if you are trying to pack on the pounds or lose some weight you might ignore what your body tells you in the short term but in long term listen to your body. I eat every 2 hours or so not because I have some phone app going off telling me its time to eat, that’s just how my body has adapted to my workout schedule.
| Emphasis | Choices | |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Carbs | oatmeal, Ancient Grains Cheerios, fruits |
| Lunch | Carbs, Protein | Turkey on whole wheat, grilled chicken & rice pasta |
| Dinner | Carbs, Protein | Grilled chicken & rice pasta, roast pork, flank steak, ground turkey taco/burrito, salad, wheat naan |
| Pre-Workout | Carbs | Clif Bar, Carrots, grapes, banana, MetRx Big 100 |
| Post-Workout | Carbs, Protein | BSN True Mass shake, MetRx Big100, Clif bar, Premier Protein bar, Clif Builder bar |
| Snack | Something to help meet current macro % (usually fats) | veggies, nuts, fruit, peanut butter toast, lunchmeat turkey, beef jerky, kind bar, Greek yogurt |
OK, so now lets cover how I eat. By that I mean how I know how much or what to eat to hit the ratio I mention above. First, you have to figure out how many calories you should be eating. There are a whole bunch of calculators out there and I can’t recommend one over another honestly because any them should work to get you started. Once you have a starting point, its up to you to pay attention to your weight and adjust as you go. Keep in mind that it takes 2500 calories to build a pound of muscle and you need to expend an extra 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat (from Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning Chapter 10). So, if you go by the rule of thumb that safe weight loss/gain is 1-2 pounds per week then you can do some easy math to figure out what your calorie intake should be to reach your goal, and how long it should take once you figure out the right count for you.
After you figure out your target calorie count, find yourself a good tracking app. 
They’re all over the place and I can’t comment on the ones I haven’t used, I hear really good things about myFitnessPal though. I use LoseIt myself (even though I’m either trying to maintain or gain). It lets me enter a target weight and then calculates a suggested calorie count that I can adjust manually once I see how my weight tracks to my intake. It also, like the others I’m sure, gives me a real-time view of where my ratio is at. All you need is a simple kitchen scale and after a while you can eyeball things and ditch the scale and now you are off to the races. Since I’ve been using this method I’m rarely off by more than a few percentage points. Here’s a full year of my macro history. You can see where I made a switch in my diet last Nov and have done pretty well ever since. Check out my post on how my summer went when I combined this with the use of a personal trainer…
PS: I treat all of these as “guidelines”.. yeah, I eat out and I eat pizza and I drink beer. Just not as much as I used to 🙂 I also travel for work quite a bit and when I do I generally don’t log things and simply make healthy choices as best I can. This stuff can’t rule your life but following guidelines is easy!
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