ON 8 week challenge eating guidelines
Training Program
Before we dive into the details of nutrition guide for the 8 week challenge, a brief understanding of macronutrients is beneficial for long term success. Without jumping into too much details here’s an overview.
Macronutrients 101:
Protein is comprised of amino acids (essential and non-essential) and these amino acids are responsible for growth, repair and recovery.
Calories: 4 kcal per 1 g of protein.
Carbs upon digestion are stored in our body as muscle glycogen. Muscle glycogen is highly beneficial as it fuels moderate to high intensity activities and the strategic consumption of carbs can improve your performance in the gym.
Calories: 4 kcal per 1 g of carb.
3 different types of fat:
1. Monosaturated Fats (MUFA) & Polysaturated Fats (PUFA): Research shown that MUFA can help improve blood cholesterol levels and decrease the risk of heart diseases and may decrease risk of type 2 diabetes.
Sources: Olive Oil, Canola Oil, Nuts, Avocados.
2. Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Extremely beneficial for health. Helps in cardiovascular function, reduction of inflammation, reduction of muscle protein breakdown, protects and maintain nervous system function.
Sources: Fatty Fish, Seafood, certain plant seeds (chia, & flax)
3. Saturated Fats: Deemed the boogie man for Cardio Vascular disease in the 1950’s but as of recent, studies have found no link between CVD and saturated fats in moderate amounts.
Sources: Red Meat, Butter, Dairy, Eggs
Calories: 9 kcal per 1 g of fat.
Nutritional guidelines
The reason why calorie intake is displayed is simply to state that the most important thing when it comes to gaining or losing weight is calorie balance. To put it simply, to gain weight, you consume more than you burn and to lose weight, burn more than you consume. To put it simply, what you eat doesn’t really matter until you know how much to eat.
1) Calorie guidelines: Provide exact calories and macronutrient numbers. Suitable for those who would prefer to track calories/macros and is familiar doing so.
2) Eyeballing guidelines: Based of the calorie guide, this method uses an eyeballing portion sizes with either your palms, fist or thumbs. Not as accurate as calorie tracking method but is still as useful. Suitable for all especially those who find calorie tracking troublesome.
How to use the eyeballing guide:
1) Pick the training program you will undertake ( muscle gain, fat loss or the female specific program)
2) Identify the bodyweight range you fall into.
3) Follow the amount of serving intake corresponding to bodyweight range.
4) Adjust accordingly if you fall under the low range or the high range.
Portion sizes/measurement:
Protein; Use an open palm to measure single serving
Carbs: Use a close fist to measure a single serving
Fat: Use a thumb/fingertip to measure single serving.
You can find an illustration below (picture by fitfluential):
Troubleshooting:
Because the values given here is a based off a calculated estimate, there will be times when you might not be seeing the weight loss/gain you want. If you’ve already ensure that you are training hard and recovering well, here’s how you can troubleshoot the guidelines:
The closer you can stick to following the nutrition guidelines, the better results you will get. With that being said, we wish you all the best and hope you achieve the best results during this 8 weeks challenge!
Basic principles for men and women
1) Know your basic RMR - get myfitnesspal
2) Set Goals - How much weight you want to lose
3) Alcohol - its 7 calories per gram and often consumed with high calorie beverages which has lots of sugar and carbs. It's almost impossible to lose weight if you are consuming alcohol at any rate greater than 1 drink per day. Hit your target weight or visual goals (abs, density etc.) then reintroduce it as it would be easier to maintain weight than to lose weight or get shredded.
4) Supplementation
1) Know your basic RMR
Men RMR estimates (these are means)
'4 - 1400, 5'5 - 1480, 5'6 - 1550, 5'7 - 1610, 5'8 - 1680, 5'9' - 1750, 5'10' - 1815, 5'11' - 1885, 6'0 - 1950, 6'1 - 2020, 6'2 - 2100, 6'3 - 2160
Women
5'1 - 1240, 5'2 - 1255, 5'3 - 1275, 5'4 - 1315, 5'5 - 1355, 5'6 - 1390, 5'7 - 1430, 5'8 - 1470, 5'9 - 1490
Basic principles: In order to lose significant amount of fat (AT LEAST 1LBS), you need to create a deficit of 500 calories per day. Use fitness calculators like myfitnesspal which can help with calorie counting. Remember, once you reach your desired look in the mirror, you can up the calories so this is only temporary. Below, we have some food templates for you, it would be wise to see how to eat in order to lose weight whilst gaining muscle. We will not explain intermittent fasting principles as I know many struggle with finding balance when at a deficit. Most people I have encountered tend to buka puasa when fasting. That is not good.
Additionally, if you are looking at gaining muscle mass/weight, eat more than the estimated RMR on the list above. A good example of a complete 4 week phase nutritional plan, you can refer to the 4weeksOUT template below. If you are trying to bulk, use the 4weeksOUT template and increase carb intake by 100-200g.
Hormones - Increasing leptin sensitivity is crucial for fat loss as it is responsible for a range of bodily functions such as regulating fat cells, appetite regulation, insulin sensitivity and metabolic rate. To help increase sensitivity to leptin, you must
1) Get more sleep
2) Follow a well designed exercise program
3) Supplementation (we'll cover that later)
Next, the idea of training in a fasted state is great as it maximizes your body's ability to burn fat for fuel and increase HGH levels. This is because, when insulin is high, HGH cannot be released. You want HGH levels high because that is your body's natural fat burning hormone. Thus, if you eat or drink before you train, your body releases insulin so fasted training is a great way to train.
Getting Rid of junk
List down your 3 hot button foods that you know is pretty unhealthy. For example, chicken rice with lots of rice or your daily Spicy Chicken Mcdeluxe. In order to regulate your propensity to eat junk food (it is addictive and bad habits tend to stay), we will allow you to list 3 hot button foods that you know are impossible for you to quit. For example, my personal hot button food is chicken rice, Kuay Teow Soup and Fried Rice. Now although Kuay Teow Soup is a noodle, this does not mean I can eat anything "noodley" to add variety to my diet, for example, Char Kuay Teow/Pasta/Hokkien Mee. BE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR FOOD AND GET RID OF THE REST FOR THIS CHALLENGE. Once a week during this challenge you will be allowed to consume your hot button food once a week. If you're planning to go all out or you have an event which forces you to eat a significant amount of calories during that event, I'd rec. fasting till the event or fasting the day after in order to balance your caloric intake.
PROTEIN
It is important that you have adequate amount of protein in your diet as a physically active person's needs are different from those who are not. Thus, try to aim to eat around 100-150gs of protein depending on your height. The taller and larger the athlete you are, consume more protein.
Food Templates
For this phase, we will be focusing on 3 meals a day and will teach you how to tweak it according to your schedule.
For menI’d recommend consuming around 1200-1400 calories to be on the safe side. So a 1200 calorie day would look like this. Try maintaining this for the first phase.
Breakfast -3 boiled eggs/Scrambled Eggs, 1/2 cup of organic oats and half a banana.
Lunch - One large chicken breast (grilled/steamed/stir fry)/Steak/Grilled Fish and veggies of your choice (size of your palm).
Dinner - 1 large chicken breast + salad (minimal sauce)/veggie of your choice + 2 eggs (whichever method).
For women,I’d recommend consuming around 1000-1100 calories to be on the safe side. You will be doing a 5 and 1 protocol whereby for 5 days you will consume 1000-1100 calories (deficit) and will eat up to your RMR as listed above on day 6 (maintenance). REMEMBER this is to lose weight. If your goal is to maintain and get stronger, increase calories by consuming more fat sources (olive oil, fish oil, nuts, seeds, fatty fish). Additionally, we have more meal plans from our 4weeksOUT program, tailored for losing weight. Remember you can always adjust your calories if not hitting target weight by increasing calories (from fat sources FIRST than carbs second)
An example of a 1000 calorie meal plan
Meal 1 - 3 soft boiled eggs and a piece of bread (homemeal)
Meal 2 - Roast chicken breast, Almonds 2 tbsp - 90 calories, mixed vegetables palmful - 100 calories
Meal 3 - Banana - 105 calories
Meal 4 - Ground beef 3oz - 151 calories, marinara sauce - 90 calories, 1/2 a ceasar salad - 150 calories OR 1/4 cup of jasmine rice 180 calories.
give room for your protein shakes and additional calories (sauces/way veggies or meat are cooked) associated with meals above.
An example of a 1100 calorie meal plan
Meal 1 - Coffee brewed from grounds (2 calories) + 1 Large Egg (72 calories)
Meal 2 - Grilled fish with soy sauce + pita bread (230 calories), Goldfish baked cheddar crackers, 30 (150 calories) / Jacob cream crackers 4 crackers (150 Calories)
Snack 3 - String cheese slice 1/Cheesedale cheddar cheese slice (80 calories), Apple (65 calories)
Meal 4 -Deli chicken breast, 4oz (100 calories), Lite Cesar Salad (90 Calories), Greek yogurt, blackberry (130 calories)
Snack 2 - Bacon 3 Slices (100 Calories), cheesedale cheddar cheese slice (80 calories)
Play around with this template and take note on your physical composition and weight. If your gaining, try cutting back on certain things. REMEMBER you can never go wrong with a high protein, medium fat low carb diet.
2) Set goals
It is imperative that you set a target weight that you would like to reach. Make it attainable and have an idea of how you would like to look. For instance, when I was 70kg, I thought going to 65kg would cut it but as I got down to that weight, I realized that I needed to lose more weight/fat and to get stronger to get more ripped. For both men and women, same thing, you need an idea of how much weight you want to lose and the look you associate with that, if you have reached your target weight but find yourself 'chubby' or meaty (no six pack for men), reevaluate your goals and adjust accordingly. Remember we want to set a high standard (six pack body/bikini body for women ;)) and work on your diet to achieve that goal. Once you have reached it, it is always easier to maintain.
3) Supplementation
Now, as long as you are eating well and have your diet in check (which is incredibly difficult to do), supplements can really help with this challenge. Find supplements that fits your budget, but if you cannot afford it, it’s okay. Here is my supplement shortlist to what is most essential and not so essential.
Essentials (both men and women)
Whey Protein - Helps with recovery, whey is an incredible source of BCAAs which are essential for protein synthesis and has amazing antioxidant effects. It also helps one reach one's protein goals easier and can help with fat loss. My recommendation, get Gold Standard Whey.
Fish Oil - Helps with reducing triglycerides in people with high triglyceride levels. It also helps with reducing inflammation. Again, tons of research out there, shop around and look closely at the EPA and DHA levels of each serving/pill. Anyone with a high EPA/DHA content
Multivitamins - These are relatively cheap and can help ensure we get sufficient nutrients that is absent in our Malaysian diet. Optimen or Optiwomen is pretty good
Non Essentials but helpful
Creatine - Highly recommended for men who want to pack on more lean mass.This is THE most proven muscle builder that is a non-steroid. 5g a day or during training days can help with mass building. You can take this during the entire duration. Please get Creatine Monohydrate, other forms are just fads that just cost more. Look at the label and look for Creapure Creatine Monohydrate. Its cheap and effective.
Optimum Nutrition Creatine/Nutrex Creatine
Preworkout - For the working men, a preworkout with a combination of caffeine, beta alanine and creatine can help with keeping you awake after a long days work. Additionally, the beta alanine can help increase production of carnosyn which can help buffer against muscle fatigue. Creatine with a preworkout is great as it can help increase ATP in your muscles
Fat burner (for women) OR men who are chubby - Fat burners often work by decreasing appetite and increasing energy and drive to workout. If you’re a dude who is on the chubby side, skip the preworkout and take a fat burner instead. Thus, things like caffeine, ephedrine and yohimbine have some form of an appetite suppressing effect. They are not magic pills, but assist in helping you avoid overeating basically. Look at fat burners that have
caffeine - helps make you awake thus, increase endurance and has an appetite suppression effect on one's body
green tea - has catechins which helps increase energy expenditure (research still questionable though to be significant). It also acts as an appetite suppressor and energy booster.
Yohimbine - a stimulant that helps give you the feeling of increased energy. It is potent so not everyone can take it
4weekOUT cutting meal plan
Grocery List, Lean protein list
Chicken Breast
White Fish
Lean ground beef
Egg whites
Whey protein Isolate
Eggs
Complex carbs
Oatmeal
Quinoa
Brown rice
Sweet potato
Red potato
Jasmine rice (careful)
Fruit and veggie carbs
Broccoli
Spinach
Kale
Asparagus
Green salad
Cucumber
Blueberries
Raspberries
Kiwifruit
Fat sources
Avocado
Almonds
Natural almond butter
Extra virgin olive oil
Virgin coconut oil
Fish oil
Meal plan template for women week 1-2
Breakfast
¼ cup blueberries or ½ cup of organic oats
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
Lunch
150g chicken breast
100g sweet potato
1 cup green veggies
Snack
1 scoop Whey protein isolate
Dinner
150g chicken breast
¼ cup brown rice/white rice
½ avocado
1 cup of veggies
*eat every 3 hours
- You can customize protein according to list
- If you are losing/gaining weight, adjust complex carbs intake (sweet potato/brown rice etc). don’t need to adjust veggies
- Keep tracking weight fluctuations, you should be losing weight
- NEVER cut down on protein, adjust your complex carbs and fruit and veggie carbs accordingly
- Try to eat every 3 hoursM
- If you need to snack, have something high in protein such as Whey Protein Isolate
Week 3-4
Breakfast
1/3 cup of organic oats
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
Lunch
150g chicken breast
50g sweet potato
1 cup green veggies
Snack
1 scoop Whey protein isolate
Dinner
150g chicken breast
50g sweet potato
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup of veggies
*eat every 3 hours
- Carb intake reduced by 50%, green veggies carb intake do not change.
- You can add more green veggies (leafy greens with minimal sauce)
- Increase protein intake if still feeling hungry
Men’s meal template weeks 1-2
Breakfast
1 Whole egg
3 egg whites
½ cup of oats
1 scoop of whey protein isolate
Lunch
220g Tilapia/Chicken breast
200g sweet potato
1 cup green veggies
Snack
2 scoops Whey protein isolate
Dinner
220g Tilapia/Chicken breast
½ cup brown rice/white rice
1 cup green veggies
Supper
1 scoop Casein/Whey
*eat every 3 hours
- Try this diet template to see if you are losing or gaining weight.
- We are going to drop 50g of carbs (sweet potato/oats/rice etc) as the days/weeks go on, the goal is to drop 1lbs/.5kg a day
- Follow this protocol until appropriate weight is achieved
- If you are gaining weight, cut down carb intake and include more steady state cardio (at least an extra 10 mins or jog during rest days for active recovery)
Men’s meal template weeks 3-4
Breakfast
1 Whole egg
3 egg whites
½ cup of oats
1 scoop of whey protein isolate
Lunch
220g Tilapia/Chicken breast
200g sweet potato
1 cup green veggies
Snack
2 scoops Whey protein isolate
Dinner
220g Tilapia/Chicken breast
½ cup brown rice/white rice
1 cup green veggies
Supper
1 scoop Casein/Whey
- Carb intake reduced by 50% by this week, keep track of weight
- If losing weight to dramatically, add 20-50g of carbs accordingly
- You should start dropping weight
