Bigger-Faster-Stronger: Current Diet and Update Pictures

Hi all,

I thought I would post my current diet as this seems to be what I get asked about the most. I thinks it's because the warmer months are fast approaching and its nearly time to wear less clothing; I walk about topless all year round like Jacob from Twilight, but that's just me!

So, as you should have gathered by now, I intermittent fast and partake in compound lifts, the blog name should have given that away. I have mentioned that I only eat in an 8-hour window, usually between 12:00 and 20:00; this is just my preference as I train later in the afternoon so I can stack my daily kcals around my workout. Thus far I have been seeing how my body reacts to a diet high in healthy fats, which I have tried before, but in hindsight I really don't think I went about it the correct way. I was eating over a 16-hour time scale too, so there are a few possible factors that could be to blame for my failed dabble at a high fat/low carb diet. However I do feel that the main reason is that I didn't educate myself properly; I didn't know what I do now. Low carb doesn't mean low calorie - if anything you should increase your calories! Last time I felt lethargic and lost strength, but this time I haven't seen a dip in strength. Oh, also I wasn't monitoring macros last time, so now a lot of guess work has been ruled out, and I feel confident that this could be a useful weapon to have in my armoury - we need all the tools we can carry in the quest to lose body fat and preserve muscle!

These are the changes I have made to my rest/cardio/abs days

Increased fat intake
increased calories by 200 (I was consuming about 1500kcal a day)
increased protein
lowered carbohydrates

Food I eat from 12:00-20:00 on my rest/cardio days

Meal 1

Chicken breast 100g

Chorizo sausage 40g

Lean bacon 40g

Whole almonds 20

Tablespoon of olive oil

565kcal 10g carbs 61g fat 56g protein

Meal 2

Beef mince 200g (usualy make a beef burger with spices and peppers with some onion)

Almonds 20

353 kcals 10g carbs 38g Fat 53g protein

Meal 3

Homemade curry

414kcal 36g carbs 30g fat 45g protein

Pre bed snack

Pint of whole milk and some peanut butter

380kcal 29g carbs 44g fat 28g protein

Totals

1712 calories

85g carbs

172g fat

182g protein

This is what I have changed on training days:

Increased carbohydrates to about 350g
lowered fat to about 40g
consumed 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass

Food I eat from 12:00-20:00 on my training days

Meal 1

Tuna - 1 tin

Light mayo

Satsuma

Banana

Oats

Milk

Sultanas

782 kcal 105g carbs 14g fat 55g protein

Meal 2

Chicken breast 100g

Pineapple

Cottage cheese - one tub

Sultanas

Oats

Milk

754 kcal 94g carbs 17g fat 53g protein

Meal 3

Pre workout one hour later one Pop Tart - strawberry flavour

Post workout another Pop Tart and a whey protein shake

491kcal 77g carbs 12g fat 24g Protein

Meal 4

McCain Rustic Oven Chips

Smoked river cobbler / cod

Veg

312kcal 37g carbs 7g fat 25g protein

Totals
2400 calories

carbs 315g

fat 50g

Protein 157g

I have done this for two weeks now and I can see a noticeable change in my bodyfat. I haven't really lost any weight per se but I'm a lot more vascular than I was two weeks ago, and I have finally got my lower abs showing!

I'm in no way suggesting that you do the exact same thing as me - that wouldn't work - my bodyfat is already low now and so is my weight. I would suggest you take a trial and error approach to your dieting as I do; weigh yourselves, look in the mirror, try your tight jeans on - we all have a pair or two.

I have done my trial over these past few weeks, and found that I can increase my calories and ramp up my carbs on training days like this and my body reacts well to it. The main thing I like is that I can eat a nice variety of food; cold Italian and Spanish meats, lots of fish and nuts... Then on carb heavy days I can have potatoes and oats - I bloody love oats! This is just an example to give you an idea of the difference between a training and a rest day.

Natural Body Building

I have been really interested in competing in a natural body building competition over the past few years. I was planning on entering last year but I was blessed with a little girl two weeks before the show date. I have been dieting again to see what I look like shredded with the view to standing up and being counted; and to show everyone what I have created with good wholesome food, intermittent fasting and compound lifts.

I'm going to the BNBF Northen meet on Sunday to train with other naturals and do some posing practice - to this end I had a little practice on my own. I hadn't trained so I'm not pumped here, although I was after about 10 mins of tensing. Go easy on me as you know I dont usually post full body pictures and usually crop my head off ha ha. I suppose it will give you an idea of what I have been building and give you a better perspective of my overall condition, symmetry and proportion.

Here goes.....