Nutritional Approach of the Pros
I have already explained how to determine your daily caloric intake or macros via IIFYM in this article and it is a great starting point! There are also some other philosophies that I highly respect in terms of determining the nutritional guidelines that I want you all to be aware of. Guys such as Nate Miyaki and Sean Hyson are superstars in the fitness industry and I highly respect their advice and nutritional approach.
The sustainable nutritional approach
One such nutritional approach that seems to be easy to remember and could work for you, is what Nate Miyaki describes in his book Feast Your Fat Away.
This sensible diet is super easy to remember and maintain therefore hopefully making it sustainable. This diet can help keep you lean all year long! To put it at its simplest (not mentioning the fasting aspects of the diet) it goes like this:
Daily Caloric Intake: Multiply your body weight by 12 (if overweight use your lean body mass)
Protein: Consume 1 gram per pound bodyweight (protein equates to 4 calories per gram)
Fat: 20% of your calories (9 calories per gram)
Carbs: All other calories consumed (4 calories per gram)
Let’s do the numbers. If you are a 150lb male:
- You should be eating 1800 calories a day
- (150lb x 12 = 1800).
- You should be eating 150g of protein a day which is 600 calories of your diet
- (150g x 4 = 600).
- Your fat intake should be about 360 calories worth of fat per day or 40g
- (1800 x 20% = 360) then (360 / 9 = 40g).
- This leaves room for 840 calories worth of carbs a day or 210g
- (1800 – 600[from protein] – 360[from fat] = 840) then (840 / 4 = 210g).
Now when it comes to the actual foods that make up good fats, carbs, and proteins here is a simple list from Sean Hyson:
- Proteins: eggs, whey protein powder, fish, meat
- Carbs: potatoes (including sweet potatoes), rice, fruit, vegetables
- Fats: nuts, avocados, fish oil, some cooking oils (olive, coconut)
- (a large portion of your fats will also come from the meats you eat so be conscious of that)
To complement this diet you can use this awesome nutritional tool: Nutritiondata.com. It really doesn’t do you any good to watch your caloric intake if you don’t have a clue how many calories the food you eat have! This great resource will allow you to determine just that!
It will help you figure out the caloric content of any foods you may be consuming!
Wrap-Up
There you go, simple as that! Now you have sustainable numbers to shoot for that will help you stay lean throughout the entire year!
This is pretty much the diet I’ve tried to stick to the past year and it has worked wonders!
This nutritional approach is easy to follow, doesn’t require a complete lifestyle change, helps me stay leans, and is truly sustainable!
Updated 7/26/18.
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