Diet Update

The last couple of months I've tried a bunch of diet variations, and read everything I can in the intermittent fasting/leans gains/backloading/ low-carb genres.  I've finally settled on a basic eating template I can realistically adhere to that compliments my schedule and life.  There are three reasons I've decided this is the right setup for me:  lifestyle, performance, and body composition.

Lifestyle.  Breakfast is a waste of time, money, and calories.  I love getting up, taking a shower and heading out the door.  I'll never go back to eating breakfast. Ever.  Drinking a 75gram  protein shake during lunch is awesome as well.  Again, it saves me time and money.  There is zero food prep at night or in the morning.  I've also come to appreciate the extra 30 minutes of work I get in now that I don't worry about reheating and eating food.  I have time at night and enjoy putting back a big meal post workout.  It's fun and relaxing.  I have something to look forward to all day.

The setup outlined below is a realistic plan.  I need something as easy and convenient as possible.  I'll never be a 6 meal a day/tupperware guy.  Maybe I lack the discipline, but I don't really fucking care.  Who wants to live an existence that is largely dictated by eating and planning a meal every 2.5 hours?  The year is 2011.  We no longer have to hunt and kill our food, so why make it more difficult than it has to be?

Performance.  I'll never choose a diet that substantially impacts gym performance.  If you can't lift hard, then what's the fucking point?  For that reason I'm not taking an anabolic diet type approach.  I think the success of the 6 day low carb, 1 day refeed setup is highly individual.  I've done it before.  It works, but I don't like the poor gym performance at the end of the week, and frankly I don't like the "pressure" of maintaining a constant state of ketosis.

With that said, I've found that I'm fine with 1-3 days of low carb.  I don't need carbs everyday to train hard.  I'm taking a semi-backloading approach on my heavy lifting days.  Two days a week (Monday, Thursday), I'll  eat carbs post-workout if I feel like it.  The insulin spike stimulates growth and blocks protein degradation after an intense day of squats/deads/presses.  Glycogen will be fully restored as well.  Saturday night I'm eating and drinking whatever the fuck I feel like.  Pizza? Cool.  16 budweisers? Cool.  2:00 a.m. Taco Bell?  Cool.

Body Composition.  My body doesn't handle carbs well.  I get fat when I'm sloppy with my diet, which invariably means I'm eating shit carbs at all times of the day.  I've seen the pattern happen with myself over and over again.  There is a ton of science to back-up the IF/backloading/low carb type stuff.  I'm not going to rehash it because I suck at repeating science off the top of my head, and anyone reading would be much better served by just checking out something like this.

I'm leaning out so I know this approach is working.  The scale isn't moving a ton, but I'm also deadlifting 5x a week right now.  My upper back, formerly my most well developed body part, has reached new levels of yoked.  Whatever I'm doing is working, so that's all that matters.  Its not v-diet fast, but the v-diet sucks balls unless you literally want to daydream about stealing the croutons off the girl's salad sitting 3 tables down from you.

DIET

Morning
-6 grams fish oil.  2 capsules Controlled Labs Oximega, 4 capsules Sam's club.
-3 tabs Controlled Labs Orange Triad
-1 Scoop Controlled Labs Greens
-6 Sam's Club Fiber Tabs
-2.25 grams Aniracetam
-3 grams Taurine
-20 mg ephedrine/coffee
-(By the time I get to school, my body is in a euphoric state from all this stimulating, vitamin and anti-oxidant packed goodness)

Lunch
-3 scoops Myofusion Whey Blend

Afternoon
-Either almonds, peanuts, beef jerkey, or slim jims.  I shoot for 300 calories and try to make sure it is an all protein/fat snack that won't spike insulin.
-20 mg ephedrine

Pre-workout: 45-90 mins before (depends on day)
-3 scoops protein
-6 grams fish oil
-6 fiber tabs
-some sort of caffeine

Workout
-5-6 scoops of XTEND BCAA's

Post workout
-1 gatorade
-1-2 scoops whey

Dinner
-Meat and vegetables.  On lower-carb days, I'll stick to higher fat, more filling type red meats.  On backloading days I'll get a chipotle burrito, or something like that.   I'm not getting too specific here because its not rocket science.  Lots of protein, and then manipulate carbs according to the workout day.

Late Night Snacks (10pm)
-Natural Peanut butter or cheese.

Bed Time
-3 capsules Prima-force ZMA