Eat Right to Look Great
—and will not—give you ripped abs. Life isn’t that simple. You have to have the discipline to work hard not just when you train your muscles, but also with your appetite. What you put in your mouth is actually more
important than what you do on the training ground. Nutrition, in fact, is the real force behind being ripped. You can be strong as an ox, but if you don’t eat properly, you’ll never look the way you want to. What you
eat is the core of fitness and, thus, this program. Whether you want to gain muscle or burn body fat, you have to feed yourself properly. To gain muscle you need adequate protein, quality
carbohydrates, and healthy fats. To burn fat you need to decrease your
caloric intake and avoid foods that spike your blood sugar or contain
things like trans fats. Part of the gym-free mind-set is being able to discern what’s healthy
from what’s not healthy. This chapter teaches you everything you need
to know to eat right at home or on the go as well as how to fuel your
body with just the right amount of nutrition. You’ll learn how to transform
your current diet into a nutrition program designed to consistently fuel
excellence by eating more often to promote satiety, and by making
healthier, lower-calorie choices. Always keep in mind that no matter how much you work out, no matter
how hard you push yourself, the only way to get results is to couple that
training with the right kinds—and the right amounts—of quality food.
You do this by manipulating what is called your baseline diet. In fact, all
of your goals—building muscle and burning fat—hinge on your
baseline diet.
Establishing Your Baseline Diet
fancy program like the Atkins Diet or the “Mediterranean Diet” or even
the South Beach Diet. It’s a simple, real-world gauge of how much you
are eating, so that you can make adjustments to achieve your goals.
By definition, “baseline” simply means a reference point or starting
point. It establishes something to be used in the future. For our
purposes, it determines what your body is used to eating, so that you
can then manipulate that information to achieve your physical goals.
This is important because your body tries very hard to achieve
homeostasis no matter how much you eat; if you eat more food than
you need, your body will try to speed up your metabolism through
increased thyroid output and other pathways to burn the energy
(calories) you consume. Obviously, your body can’t speed up your
metabolism infinitely, and this is how body fat gets collected.
By the same token, if you suddenly cut out hundreds of calories your
body has grown accustomed to, your thyroid will grind to a halt, your
metabolism will slow to a snail’s pace, and your body composition will
not improve. This very principle is why crash diets just don’t work.
Sure, you may drop a few pounds right away as your body uses some
fat for fuel, but once it realizes there isn’t adequate nutrition reaching
the stomach, you’re in trouble.
The simple solution is to gradually increase the number of quality
calories you consume. It’s that easy. What this baseline diet does for
you is give you a number your body is already familiar with; you can
then divide up that number, substitute healthier foods, and make
effective changes on a feasible basis. As you make these changes
you’re more likely to find that, because they are easy and gradual, you
can maintain the results for the rest of your life. And to help, you’ll find a
host of healthy recipes in Appendix B to get you going.
Counting Calories
The first step to finding your baseline calorie total is to count thecalories of the foods you’re used to eating. Doing so for three days will
give you a solid sample, though if you have an ever-changing schedule
you may want to go with a five-day log to give yourself a better
average. And that’s what you’re looking for: the average number of
calories your body is used to getting.
A general warning: don’t change your habits simply because you’re
counting calories. It’s very common for people to realize halfway
through the first day of keeping a diet log how bad they’ve been eating
and suddenly clean it up. What happens then is the first day of the log
is full of Mc-Donald’s, beer, and ice cream, and the next two days are
broccoli, lettuce, and water. And ultimately, the final baseline count is
off by thousands of calories.
If you finish your log and you look it over and realize it’s not an accurate
representation of your diet, start over. You’re only going to hurt yourself
if you don’t start off on the right foot, and there’s no shame in having a
log that’s full of junk food if that’s how you’re used to eating. In fact,
you’ll laugh later when you look back on it and see how far you’ve
come. So be honest with yourself and be diligent about keeping track.
Your Food Log
You’ll be keeping track of four basic things in your food log. Feel freeto write the following categories at the top of a piece of paper and
make lines straight down to separate the boxes:
Time: Because when you eat is an important key in properly feeding
the well-trained body, you’ll want to know when you do the majority of
your eating.
Food: This is a reminder of what you ate. “Doughnut” works, but if
you’d rather put “Cinnamon Apple Filled Glazed Krispy Kreme
Sugared Doughnut,” you’re certainly entitled to do that, as well. Make
sure you write down solid foods as well as liquids and beverages.
Size: How much did you eat? One doughnut? 16 ounces of that tasty
candy bar in a cup (a.k.a. a Starbucks Frappucino)? Keeping my
earlier discussion of serving sizes in mind, remember to write down
the actual size of the serving you ate rather than what is listed as the
serving size. A box of Wheat Thins crackers may tell you a serving is
13 crackers, but if you had 39, make sure you notate accordingly.
Calories: This is the most important part of the chart. How many
calories were in that drink or food you had? Be sure you’re not just
taking the number that falls under serving on the label. In the Wheat
Thins example, a serving of 13 crackers could be 130 calories, but if
you had three servings’ worth, make sure you put down 390 calories.
You may find at the end of the day you need to go back and find the
caloric content of something you ate or drank; having notated how
much of what you had turns this into an easy task, especially if you
wrote out a more detailed description.
Here’s a sample chart:
After you’ve finished your log (whether it be three or five days), take the
final calorie totals for each day and add them together. Divide by the
number of days, and you’ve got your base total. Example:
Day 1: 3200
Day 2: 3600
Day 3: 2975
Total: 9775
Divided by 3 (rounded up): 3260
The following pages provide you three days’ worth of blank food logs
to get you started.
Adjusting Calories for Specific Goals
Armed with your baseline diet calorie total, you’re now ready to set a
plan for yourself. The first thing you should do is divide your baseline
calorie total into six separate meals. If six meals is difficult for you, start
adding meals to your day slowly at first. If you currently eat just three or
four times a day, try adding one meal every few days and adjust the
breakdown as you go. Using our 3,260-calorie baseline diet as a
guideline, it would look like this:
Four meals:
Meal 1: 815 calories
Meal 2: 815 calories
Meal 3: 815 calories
Meal 4: 815 calories
Once you’re able to do that comfortably, add another meal and divide
your calories out once again.
Five meals:
Meal 1: 650 calories
Meal 2: 650 calories
Meal 3: 650 calories
Meal 4: 650 calories
Meal 5: 650 calories
After five meals become manageable, add one more.
Six meals:
Meal 1: 540 calories
Meal 2: 540 calories
Meal 3: 540 calories
Meal 4: 540 calories
Meal 5: 540 calories
Meal 6: 540 calories
You’ll want to spread your meals throughout the day to give your body
consistent nutrition. Eating every three hours is a schedule that many
people find effective, which has them eating at 7 A.M., 10 A.M., 1 P.M.,
4 P.M., 7 P.M. and lastly at 10 P.M. Adjust for your schedule and make
it work for you.
Now, before I continue, an infinite number of people will tell you six
meals a day is ideal. But there is also an infinite number that will tell
you that five is okay, or that four is just as good, or that the classic
“three square meals” is as good today as it was 100 years ago. At the
other end of the spectrum, I’ve worked with Olympic athletes who eat
no fewer than ten meals a day. And believe it or not, despite the lack of
consensus, there is research to back up whichever ideology you
choose. Whether you eat three meals or six meals, science tells us you
can get in great shape and be healthy following that pattern. For the
gym-free program, though, I suggest multiple meals spaced out
because it promotes a more consistent feeling of satisfaction. You’re
simply not as hungry when you eat quality foods more often; plus, you
are much, much less likely to overeat at a meal. It’s just like being
thirsty: Wait until you’re parched, and you’ll chug liquid as soon as you
can. But if you drink consistently, you’ll get along quite well with a lot
less.
With that out of the way, let’s move on to the practical application of the
baseline diet. You’re going to notice right away that eating healthy food
in the quantities to achieve the neighborhood of 3,000 calories or
more can be difficult. Most people would think nothing of finishing off a
Mc-Donald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese Extra Value Meal
(with a Coke, of course), but would scoff at the idea of eating three
grilled chicken breasts, a cup of brown rice, a potato, a cup of broccoli,
four eggs, a banana, and 4 ounces of seasoned ground turkey meat.
Yet, the Value Meal has over 1,500 calories in one sitting while the
plethora of “healthy” foods, even all combined, total hundreds of
calories less.
Eating well is not only filling, but it’s just as delicious. Too many people
have used the excuse that they can’t stick to a diet because they’re
hungry all the time; the simple fact is they just aren’t eating the right
foods.
While you’re getting used to eating more often, stick with the calorie
total you found through your baseline log and eat foods you’re used to.
After that, slowly start adjusting the compositions of your meals with
suggestions made in this chapter and from those discussed
throughout the remainder of the book. When you’re comfortable
manipulating your caloric intake, do so in the neighborhood of 250
calories or so at a time, taken or added evenly throughout your meals.
If your goal is to lose body fat, start reducing the total; if you’re looking
to add weight, trickle in that extra food throughout the day.
New Wave Nutrition for Instant Results
With a general understanding of what makes up the food you eat and
how each particular facet affects you, you’ll be able to make
immediate changes to your meal plans that will provide rapid results
you can see and feel.
Eating for Energy
Most people maintain a basic understanding of dietary needs that
goes something like this: eat less, lose weight; eat more, gain weight.
Although this is partially accurate, people don’t generally think of the
role nutrition plays in their daily energy expenditure.
You don’t just wake up and feel like you’re going to jump out of bed
and tackle the world. Your energy levels are highly dependent on the
foods you eat and the rest you’ve received. If you eat fast food for
weeks on end, you’re going to feel sluggish, bloated, and easily
fatigued. If you’ve been eating quality foods in the right proportions,
you’ll have sustained energy throughout the day. No caffeine, fat
burners, or energy drinks required.
Eating to Lose Fat and Gain Muscle
At the most basic level, eating less does at least initially result in
weight loss. But to ensure you get ripped, you need to understand the
difference between body weight and body composition.
First piece of advice: Throw away your scale. Donate it. Give it to your
neighbor. Do anything with it that involves getting it out of your home.
You don’t need it.
Weight is a measure of overall mass. The idea behind getting in shape
is to increase lean body tissue and decrease adipose (fat) tissue.
Although you won’t be replacing a pound of one with a pound of the
other at exactly the same rate, there’s going to be a constant
fluctuation. If you put on five pounds of muscle and lose five pounds of
fat, you’re going to look very different in the mirror, but the scale won’t
budge. That’s not a bad thing, but people who are fixated on their
weight will see this as a sign of no progress, which is ridiculous.
To take an extreme example: The top bodybuilders in the world are
close to 300 pounds and, when they are in contest condition, have
between 3 and 4 percent body fat. There’s hardly a place on their
bodies you could even pinch fat, yet they tip the scales with a weight
most people would consider fat. Moral of the story: Don’t worry about
your weight.
Eating to lose fat is a combination of properly timing your meals,
eating foods that won’t spike your blood sugar (low Glycemic Index
carbohydrates, which will be discussed shortly) so you aren’t
promoting fat storage, eating energy-rich foods that complement your
workout routine, and providing adequate protein for muscle recovery.
To gain muscle, you’re giving your body the amino acids and building
blocks it needs to put on fresh, new muscle tissue and allowing
yourself to take in adequate calories to support the process. It isn’t
rocket science, it just takes focus, discipline, and hard work.
Healthy Meal Planning Decisions
You’re always going to have choices. Whether it’s eating out or making
something at home, or deciding between white bread and whole wheat
bread, you should be cognizant of your options. Making the right
choices will go a long way to achieving a healthier you.
Good protein choices: Eggs, ground beef (12 percent fat or less),
chicken, tuna (in water, not oil), steak, salmon, shrimp
Good carbohydrate choices: Brown rice, oatmeal, potatoes, whole
wheat bread, beans
Good fat choices: Olive oil, salmon, nuts, natural peanut butter,
almond butter
Incorporate the following foods into your diet to reap their many
benefits:
Oatmeal/steel cut oats: Slow-burning carbohydrate for
sustained energy.
Eggs: High in protein, no carbohydrates.
Nuts: Quality fats, no carbohydrates, provides a small amount of
protein.
Whole wheat bagels; Slow-burning carbohydrate for sustained
energy.
Lean meat/chicken: High in protein that includes many
important amino acids.
Fish: High protein with healthy Omega-3 fats.
Fruits and vegetables: Nutrient dense with high-quality mineral
compositions and no added sugars or chemicals.
Cottage cheese: Low-carb, high-protein snack.
Yogurt: Great source of protein, vitamins, and calcium.
Again, with each meal you’re loading up on quality proteins and healthy
fats while making your carbohydrate choices from the lower end of the
Glycemic Index, which is an important concept to understand, and one
covered later in this chapter. This provides a complete variety of
nutrients and sustained energy.
Understanding Food: Protein, Fats,
Carbohydrates
In the past few decades, all of the major components of the food we
eat—protein, fats, and carbohydrates—have been fingered as the
primary reason people are getting so fat. And oddly enough, over the
past few decades, each of these same foods has also been idolized
as the base for a diet that’s supposedly a “sure thing” when it comes to
getting healthy. In reality, protein, fats, and carbs all have a place in a
healthy nutrition program. You simply need to understand each
component, what it does, when it’s needed, and from which sources to
get it.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are a wonderful source of energy for the human body,
but they have been demonized more than any other part of our food
supply. While the components that make up certain carbohydrate
sources are bad for us, carbs in general are simply misunderstood.
When the Atkins Diet came out, people began to view carbohydrates
as an evil nutrient that had to be exorcised from our diets immediately,
lest we all be cursed with massive supplies of body fat that we’d be
stuck with for the rest of our lives. Upon further inspection, though,
things weren’t so cut-and-dried. While it changed over the years, in the
initial stages of the Atkins Diet, everything between the top and bottom
of a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese was consider
okay, but the bun was banned because it has carbs. And because
apples and many other fruits are rich in carbs, they were considered
bad, too. Something wasn’t right and, fortunately, over time, people
have come to a better understanding about carbohydrates.
Like any type of food, carbohydrates can be consumed in too great a
quantity. Any time you consume more calories than you burn, you’re
going to gain weight. That’s the easy part. Carbohydrates are a little
more complicated because of their effect on blood sugar levels.
To see how various foods affect blood sugar levels, we use a measure
called the Glycemix Index, which effectively breaks carbs into two
categories: simple and complex. The Glycemic Index (GI) is a measure
of how much, and how fast, a food raises blood sugar levels. It ranges
between 0 and 100, with 100 being pure glucose. Pure glucose is the
benchmark for the Index because it is the form of sugar our body
converts carbohydrates into to burn as fuel.
Simple carbs are the kind found in candy and other junk food. They are
high-GI foods, meaning they can make you feel energetic and full for a
relatively short length of time, but they can greatly spike your blood
sugar and can promote fat storage later on.
Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are low-GI foods, meaning
that they are under 55 on the index. They are slow burning and provide
you with lasting energy without a massive spike in your insulin levels,
keeping your blood sugar at a steady flow. These types of carbs are
what you’ll find on the lower end of the Glycemic Index, which is where
you, as a mindful, healthy eater, want to stay.
The following chart includes examples of the GI rating of various foods.
When you see a reference to low-GI food or high-GI food, you’ll now
know what it means.
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