During the winter-months i've been eating a lot so my body could build the most muscle possible. Although i've mostly stuck with healthy foods, i've also had an occasional burger, soda and other unhealthy foods/snacks. The result is that i've gained some extra weight, and not all of it is muscle. No reason to panic, it's all part of the plan. What's also a part of the plan, is to go on a diet during spring.
This week marked the start of my diet, which is a nutritional plan i found at
www.tomminutrition.com. The website is owned by
Tommi Thorvildsen, one of the best Norwegian bodybuilders. He also runs a supplement shop in Oslo, and gives customers free advice. The diet is made for my body weight (80-90 kg), which on Monday was approx 82 kg.
The goal
Since i'm not exactly fat, a lot of people have been asking why the heck i'm on a diet. Well, it's not about being fat or not. It's about having the lowest fat-percentage possible, and it's also a competition with myself to see what i'm capable of. I guess the main goal is to get rid of the little(!) lump of fat around my belly, by bringing my fat-percentage down to 6-8% (i believe i'm currently 15-20%) In comparison the normal body fat percentage for a male is
18–24%.
The diet
The diet consists of four main foods:
In addition, there's some essential supplements:
The meal-plan i'm following looks like this:
- Meal 1: 100g oat meal, 45g whey protein, 1g vitamin C, multivitamins
- Meal 2: 175g chicken breast, 150g sweet potato, 100g broccoli
- Meal 3: 175g chicken breast, 150g sweet potato, 100g broccoli, 1 tbsp Udo's Choice oil blend
- Meal 3B (30 min pre-workout): 2 capsules Kre-alkalyn, 20ml amino acids, 30g carbohydrates
- Meal 4 (post-workout): 45g whey protein, 50g carbohydrates, 2 capsules Kre-alkalyn
- Meal 5: 175g chicken breast, 100g broccoli, 1 tbsp Udo's Choice oil blend
- Meal 6: 50g casein, 1 tbsp Udo's Choice oil blend, 1g vitamin C.
The 150g sweet potato can be switched with 50g brown rice, and the 175g chicken breast can be switched with white fish or lean beef for variation. The total amount of calories is approx 2300 per day. Once a week i switch one of the meals with whatever i want, preferably something rich in carbohydrates like pasta, white bread, hamburger, etc. This is mostly for motivation, because after an entire week on this diet my body is screaming for something unhealthy. This week in my "special meal" i ate an entire pizza, which had about 1300 calories (keep in mind the normal daily intake is 2300 calories for an entire day on this diet!).
The workouts
Of course a diet also should include some exercise. I've been going to the gym regularly for approx 5 years now, so i'm used to that. However, i haven't always been good at doing
cardio, such as running/jogging (with the exception of
my 10km marathon challenge). My workouts now consist of approx 1 hour weightlifting, followed by 20 minutes of cardio. I do the cardio by walking on a treadmill, set to 6 km/h and a 10% incline. On good days i increase the speed and/or incline.
Pictures
Whenever i set a goal, whether short-term or long-term, i find that taking pictures along the way is a great motivator. Pictures are a great way to see if what you're doing is working or not, and if it is working, it's really fun to watch how your body has changed. So before i set out on this diet-journey, i took a bunch of "before-photos". When (or if) i'm satisfied with the result of this diet, i'll probably post some "before and after" photos.
I'll keep you updated now and then, and let you know how the diet is going.