What To Eat
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Let's cut right to the chase here: unprocessed, whole foods are the hands down Heavyweight Champion of the World across the board. It's about as simple as that.
Instead of letting some machine in a factory do the work of processing your food, how about you put your body to work processing those nutrients on its own? Your body burns calories in response to any meal; this is called the "Thermic Effect of Food" (TEF). Body fat % plays a major role in how much energy you burn in response to a meal; the leaner you are, the more you burn. The other major influence on TEF is the composition of the food itself. |
By eating protein-rich, fibrous foods, you can theoretically boost your metabolism by 15%. Remember that analogy on the last page where I said having more muscle was like "Free Cardio?" The same can be said about eating whole foods.
Here's a list of recommended food choices. This is not an exhaustive list, but is indicative of what you should be looking for to fill your macros over the next 14 days (& beyond). Notice there aren't any grains or wheat on this list; they have no place in this program.
Here's a list of recommended food choices. This is not an exhaustive list, but is indicative of what you should be looking for to fill your macros over the next 14 days (& beyond). Notice there aren't any grains or wheat on this list; they have no place in this program.
*Note: all vegetables/fruits include fresh or frozen varieties. No added sugars/syrups/etc.
As you would imagine, you're going to want to stick toward "the bare bones" on Rest Days since you don't have a ton of wiggle room with your macros. Leaner cuts of protein & vegetables will make up the large majority of your intake on these days (and of course, be mindful to be hitting those fiber goals listed on the guidelines page, even on rest days. Vegetables are your best bet).
Whether it's a Rest Day or a Training Day, you should be getting a hefty chunk of protein & vegetables no matter what. These components should be the cornerstone of every meal; all that's left to do is fill in the fats & carbs with whole foods.
Example Training Day Meals:
Steamed Broccoli, Ground Beef, Sweet Potato
Cauliflower, Ground Turkey, Banana
Example Rest Day Meals:
Steamed Brussel Sprouts, Grilled Chicken
Steamed Spinach, Tuna, Cashews
Always start your meal with a protein source & a vegetable & build from there to reach your targets.
In order to track how many macronutrients you're eating per day & per meal, I strongly recommend utilizing My Fitness Pal. It's free to create an account (Friend Me! joeflah13) and it's an incredibly intuitive app that allows you to scan barcodes & look up food items in a database. While that database has been shown to be incorrect at times, it's still a much better estimate that taking complete guesses. Tracking is covered in more detail in the following unit.
Remember how I talked about Meal Timing & how it basically "trains your appetite?" So does your food choices. The most effective way to get rid of a food craving is to starve it. The most effective way to create a new craving is to continually feed it. Your appetite adjusts to your food choices within a matter of days. This is why many people who try a low carb diet for a few weeks can try to go back to their regular diet for a day and find something as mundane as an orange to be incredibly sweet.
Before starting this program, get rid of all of the "trigger foods" or "comfort foods" that you have at your disposal, as food availability is a HUGE predictor of overeating & weight gain. Also keep in mind that you're not just "eating healthy;" you're creating a way for your body to learn to crave these foods. In due time, you'll be looking forward to & enjoying the very same foods that give you the most benefit. As it should be.
This will be a major benefit to regulating your appetite in the first place, but if you're someone who claims to have "an enormous appetite no matter what," I guarantee you this will change during these 14 days. Consistent hunger should never be the reality for someone trying to lose weight, and diets that consistently leave you hungry are essentially built to fail. The only scenario where I see this happening is a physique competitor/bodybuilder who's in the final few weeks of a contest prep diet & needs to be ready to show off their body in a Speedo to an auditorium of people (like what I'm trying to do!). Even then, the vast majority of time spent dieting should still allow you to feel extremely satiated when sticking to meal times & eating whole, protein rich, fibrous foods.
A few quick notes:
"Do I Have To Hit Every Macro Total Precisely?": No, you're not a robot. But the closer you get to those totals, the better. Try to stay within five-gram margins for each macro at each meal. If you go a little under on fat in your first meal or over on carbs in your second meal, you can always accommodate later in the day.
Organic vs Conventional Foods: Truth Bomb: it doesn't matter much. There may be slightly more micronutrients in organic foods, but research fails to find any pronounced health benefits. I personally still prefer all of my protein sources (salmon, red meat, eggs, steak, chicken, etc.) to be free-range, wild caught or grass-fed, but that's more of a taste preference & ethical stance than anything.
Eating Out At Restaurants: You can live two weeks without Chipotle. Put all of your efforts into creating good habits in these 14 days, and you won't just save money, you may very well find you no longer crave those fast foods you couldn't go without. I'm living proof of this: I used to go to Chipotle every Saturday; I haven't been there in three months, and I could care less.
Shopping Weekly & Meal Prepping: Highly recommended, and they take a combined two hours, which saves you hours of time in the kitchen over the course of the week by not having to prep a full meal every time you want to eat. Shop according to your macros & stick to a "limited" (but not restricted) rotation of foods. For extra credit, you can buy some measuring utensils, a digital scale & extra Tupperware so that you can weigh & batch-cook your food like a champion. Get in the habit of reading over nutrition labels on foods & doing the quick, simple math that it takes to figure out if something fits in your macros or not. And if you have a non-stick pan, that makes cooking so much easier, since you won't have to worry about the calories coming from the butter or oil.
What Can I Have to Drink?: Water, black coffee, water, plain tea, water, calorie-free beverages in moderation, and did I mention water? And water. That's it. Cut out all other liquid calories, and if you are consuming any caffeine, make sure it's at least eight hours before bed time so as to not interfere with sleep quality. If I wasn't clear enough already: drink a lot of water; at least three liters a day.
Whether it's a Rest Day or a Training Day, you should be getting a hefty chunk of protein & vegetables no matter what. These components should be the cornerstone of every meal; all that's left to do is fill in the fats & carbs with whole foods.
Example Training Day Meals:
Steamed Broccoli, Ground Beef, Sweet Potato
Cauliflower, Ground Turkey, Banana
Example Rest Day Meals:
Steamed Brussel Sprouts, Grilled Chicken
Steamed Spinach, Tuna, Cashews
Always start your meal with a protein source & a vegetable & build from there to reach your targets.
In order to track how many macronutrients you're eating per day & per meal, I strongly recommend utilizing My Fitness Pal. It's free to create an account (Friend Me! joeflah13) and it's an incredibly intuitive app that allows you to scan barcodes & look up food items in a database. While that database has been shown to be incorrect at times, it's still a much better estimate that taking complete guesses. Tracking is covered in more detail in the following unit.
Remember how I talked about Meal Timing & how it basically "trains your appetite?" So does your food choices. The most effective way to get rid of a food craving is to starve it. The most effective way to create a new craving is to continually feed it. Your appetite adjusts to your food choices within a matter of days. This is why many people who try a low carb diet for a few weeks can try to go back to their regular diet for a day and find something as mundane as an orange to be incredibly sweet.
Before starting this program, get rid of all of the "trigger foods" or "comfort foods" that you have at your disposal, as food availability is a HUGE predictor of overeating & weight gain. Also keep in mind that you're not just "eating healthy;" you're creating a way for your body to learn to crave these foods. In due time, you'll be looking forward to & enjoying the very same foods that give you the most benefit. As it should be.
This will be a major benefit to regulating your appetite in the first place, but if you're someone who claims to have "an enormous appetite no matter what," I guarantee you this will change during these 14 days. Consistent hunger should never be the reality for someone trying to lose weight, and diets that consistently leave you hungry are essentially built to fail. The only scenario where I see this happening is a physique competitor/bodybuilder who's in the final few weeks of a contest prep diet & needs to be ready to show off their body in a Speedo to an auditorium of people (like what I'm trying to do!). Even then, the vast majority of time spent dieting should still allow you to feel extremely satiated when sticking to meal times & eating whole, protein rich, fibrous foods.
A few quick notes:
"Do I Have To Hit Every Macro Total Precisely?": No, you're not a robot. But the closer you get to those totals, the better. Try to stay within five-gram margins for each macro at each meal. If you go a little under on fat in your first meal or over on carbs in your second meal, you can always accommodate later in the day.
Organic vs Conventional Foods: Truth Bomb: it doesn't matter much. There may be slightly more micronutrients in organic foods, but research fails to find any pronounced health benefits. I personally still prefer all of my protein sources (salmon, red meat, eggs, steak, chicken, etc.) to be free-range, wild caught or grass-fed, but that's more of a taste preference & ethical stance than anything.
Eating Out At Restaurants: You can live two weeks without Chipotle. Put all of your efforts into creating good habits in these 14 days, and you won't just save money, you may very well find you no longer crave those fast foods you couldn't go without. I'm living proof of this: I used to go to Chipotle every Saturday; I haven't been there in three months, and I could care less.
Shopping Weekly & Meal Prepping: Highly recommended, and they take a combined two hours, which saves you hours of time in the kitchen over the course of the week by not having to prep a full meal every time you want to eat. Shop according to your macros & stick to a "limited" (but not restricted) rotation of foods. For extra credit, you can buy some measuring utensils, a digital scale & extra Tupperware so that you can weigh & batch-cook your food like a champion. Get in the habit of reading over nutrition labels on foods & doing the quick, simple math that it takes to figure out if something fits in your macros or not. And if you have a non-stick pan, that makes cooking so much easier, since you won't have to worry about the calories coming from the butter or oil.
What Can I Have to Drink?: Water, black coffee, water, plain tea, water, calorie-free beverages in moderation, and did I mention water? And water. That's it. Cut out all other liquid calories, and if you are consuming any caffeine, make sure it's at least eight hours before bed time so as to not interfere with sleep quality. If I wasn't clear enough already: drink a lot of water; at least three liters a day.
