Weight Loss Meal Plan Reveals How to Build a Lean Body
Posted by Brad Campbell
5
Aug, 2009
A Fat Loss Diet Post… by Brad Campbell
I just got done with my 20 minutes of pool stretching. It’s a typical ‘buck-eleven’ here in Arizona and my new thing is taking a quick break during the middle of the day just to relax, think about life a lil and get a good full body stretching session in when it’s nice and hot.
I have to admit that I’m just as guilty as most when it comes to slipping up on the flexibility training… but I’m now forcing myself to practice what I preach and have scheduled this into my day.
It really makes ya feel a thousand times better… and like I talked about in the last post… increasing flexibility is BIG when it comes to sculpting that total body.
Speaking of building a total body…nothing will get you there faster than a solid nutrition plan. I want to remind you that you might as well forget about working out and stretching if you’re going to go ruin it with a poor diet.
I always say: “I’d much rater have a great day of eating than I would a great workout for a given day.”
If you think about it like this… a really intense workout may burn 600 calories, give or take. To achieve this, you had to totally kick butt and work harder than you thought you could, pushing through a ton of pain and lactic acid.
You spend nearly 45 minutes (well, much less if you follow my advice) trying your hardest to burn off that belly flab. Now consider the fact that most people go and “reward” themselves later in the day by going out to eat or having a desert or treat of some sort.
In just a few MINUTES of devouring that “treat” you’ve now totally canceled out those 600 calories… and if you’re an all-star eater like me, you can wipe out several workouts worth of calories in any given splurge.
Do you see why diet plays such a big role? You can do so much damage in such a small amount of time…. and totally eliminate all of your workout efforts.
The good news is that you can still go out to eat and even indulge… it just has to be kept to that ONE DAY per week. On the other 6 days, I want you eating as clean as possible.
Being a Tuesday, this unfortunately isn’t my 1 cheat day for the week (generally do this on Saturday or Sunday)…so I’m ‘getting my lean on’ by eating mostly protein, veggies and healthy fats.
In fact, here’s how I sculpt my 6-pack abs in just a couple of weeks when I really want to look lean for an upcoming event… it’s all about eating the right foods, in the right combination, at the right times… to promote building lean muscle and boosting metabolism.
Here’s an insider’s look at the exact meal plan I’m following today:
6 am (Breakfast)- plain oatmeal made with skim milk, added blackberries, almonds and 2 teaspoons of natural peanut butter; 2 scoops of Isopure protein (Chocolate flavored) mixed with water; 1 multivitamin; 1 fish oil capsule; water
8 am (Snack 1)- another protein shake mixed with water
10:30 am (Lunch)- huge bowl of fresh green beans, topped with lemon-cilantro chicken strips, almonds and mango salsa; water; 1 multivitamin; 1 fish oil capsule
1:30 pm (Snack 2)- yet another protein shake mixed with water; 1 Rock Star (love those damn things…my heart and wallet aren’t so fond, however)
4:00 pm (Dinner)- same as lunch…I made a huge container of this mixture (green beans, chicken, almonds and salsa) and eat out of it several times a day…this is a HUGE time saver.
6:30 pm (Snack 3)- 1 large apple with about 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter (love me some PB…I could just take a spoon and eat this stuff by the jar)
8:45 pm (Snack 4)- same as lunch and dinner, but a smaller serving size (wasn’t much left)
10:30 pm (Snack 5)- 3 cups of fat free cottage cheese; 1 handful of walnuts; water; 1 multivitamin; 1 fish oil capsule
Notice how many times I eat in a given day… 8 TIMES. This is huge because eating so often helps prevent me from ever really getting hungry… therefore I never have the cravings to deal with and it’s easy to make healthy choices.
Of course, eating smaller meals frequently also helps to raise your metabolism in itself. Lastly, eating often is important to feed your starving muscles and allow them to build back leaner and stronger…if you go too long without eating…OR, if you don’t have wuss out on your protein intake (and weight training), you’ll never get that tone and ripped look.
Something else I should point out…notice how you didn’t see hardly any traditional carbs that most people like to live off of…. you didn’t see any bread, bagels or pasta.
This isn’t because I preach no carbs, or even low carbs… but I do recommend trying to sub veggies for those more traditional carbs that tend to promote fat storage, especially when we eat them in excess.
I do still eat those things, but I always use whole wheat and try to watch the serving size. If I am going to have them, I’ll try to do it earlier in the day so I can burn them off with my workout.
I DO recommend trying to eliminate or greatly reduce carbs later at night. Remember, timing is almost as important as the actual food choices you make.
Many people would lose a moderate amount of fat simply by eating their carb-heavy dinner earlier in the day around their workout time (and having something lighter like veggies and protein for dinner)… so the excess carbs could be burned off for energy and used to repair muscles.
Another thing to point out is this… don’t go crazy with the fruit. A super-annoying myth (that I constantly have to correct) is that fruit is so good for you and people try to take that and run with it, eating fruit around the clock…l ike it’s heroin and they need a fix or something.
Fruit is only touted to be good for you because it tends to be loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. If you can get these vitamins, minerals and antioxidants from an assortment of lower-calorie (and no-sugar) vegetables, combined with a daily multivitamin… then what do YOU think is the better choice?
Fruit is almost solid sugar and all of that sugar is absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream upon ingestion (guess it’s more heroin-like than I thought). This causes insulin to spike and guess what happens when your body realizes you aren’t currently doing anything that requires this sugar for energy?
Caution: Curves ahead… have some jiggle with that wiggle, because it’s going straight to the hips and belly… not cool at all.
I’m not saying to avoid fruit like the plague… I’m just saying to use moderation and time your intake wisely (breakfast, pre- and post-workout is best).
Also, for the average person, I would recommend a daily multivitamin along with 2-3 fish oil capsules.
As you can see I basically only take in water for my liquids (when it’s cooler outside, I’ll have green tea once in a while)…I also mix my protein shakes with water to cut down on unnecessary calories and sugar (yes, skim milk has quite a bit of sugar in it).
I did have a Diet Rock Star, which has no calories… but I’m not really going to recommend that to everyone because ‘my’ jury is still out on the effects of artificial sweeteners.
Anyways, that’s pretty much my M.O. when it comes to getting a lean body with low body fat percentage and still building/maintaining a fair amount of muscle tissue.
If you want to follow suit, I’d suggest following a similar nutrition plan, cash in on a cheat day and even toss in a fasting day (immediately after your cheat day) for quicker fat loss results.
Your Coach,
Brad Campbell
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