A long time ago in a land far away..(ok, it wasnt far away but it sounds more interesting that way:)…
I was 29 years old and just starting out with a renewed commitment at the gym. I had been faithfully going for 3 or 4 months, meeting with my trainer 4-5 days a week for an hour or so each time. I had changed nothing else in my life because just staying on track with this , plus working FT and having to juggle two kids and everything else in life was enough. But after these few months, even though i had seen changes, i began to notice my initial excitement was waning. Plus, i didn’t feel like i had as much energy as i had when i started and was becoming impatient for even more noticeable results.
I spoke with my trainer about it. I was starting to consider competing in the future. He asked how my diet was in general.Now this is something we did not discuss at the onset of my training because I hadn’t even thought about nutrition..I just wanted to look better in a bathing suit.
I told him what i was eating on the daily- mostly pasta, Pizza, sandwiches, processed foods, and whatever could manage in between. He told me to write everything down that i ate for one week. When i brought this back to him ( being very careful to write down exact portions and such) i was shocked to hear these words:
“well, you should probably be eating more calories if you want to gain muscle.”
It didnt make sense to me at the time.I had mentioned i wanted to enter a certain bikini contest in the next year , and would be competing with girls 10-15 years younger than me. I had expected him to say i should eat less! But then he explained.
In order to make the best gains in muscle i had to trick my metabolism. This is the diet he started me on and it has never failed to do just that.
It’s very simple.The idea is to change up your ratios of protein, fat, and carbs every 2 weeks
‘Week(s) A: 50% protein/ 35% fat/ 15% carb( high protein )
Week(s) B: 50% carbs/ 35% protein/ 15% fat( high carb)
Week(s) C: 50% fat/ 35% protein/15% carbs( high fat)
At the time i really had no idea how to even start counting my macros.Hell, i didnt even know what carbs were.He never gave me a calorie amount, or specific foods i had to eat, or grams of each to go by. He left it a that : juggle these macros every 2 weeks. Keep in mind i was trying to bulk up at this stage, and gain muscle – when you go into contest prep, all the rules change. He said carbs include veggies, breads, rice and pasta, proteins were meat and eggs, fats are butter an oil.I could still eat ice cream on occasion but should eliminate highly processed foods and most sugars.He kept it simple and it was all i needed to know at that beginning point.It worked miracles. My gains came faster than ever and i had more energy than i knew what to do with. I even started coming in and extra day a week just to do 45 minutes of treadmill on my rest day because i couldn’t sit still!
This time around i started out by “dirty” bulking. I did this because after a few decades i know how my body responds. This works until a certain point, at which i start to notice lagging energy, bloating and increased injury from improper form- it’s all connected. Since you can choose whichever week you like to start with, i have chosen C because breaking my “bread” habit for 2 weeks is going to be the hardest. I started Sunday(5 days ago) and can already feel the difference.
Hope this is useful to someone and , as always..
Namaste
Wake up! 