Guest Post: Eating Prep
Chris Sinagoga | Monday, July 22, 2024 at 6:00PM by, Jacob
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Foreword:
Hey everyone! My name is Jacob and I have had the utmost pleasure of being one of Chris’s oldest friends. Once upon a time I graced the halls of the champions club with sub-par effort and supraphysiological amounts of sweat and self-consciousness.
80's Theme Workout - Summer 2012. Origins of the "Handsome Gentlemen's Club"
Jacob with Morrow, Faust, and Fecht - February 2015
Summer 2019
Over the last several years I have been diving into the vain and selfish hobby of bodybuilding, which is about the only thing more lame than crossfit (albeit much easier).
After some recent conversation that did not revolve around Michigan football, Chris and I thought it would be a reasonable idea to post what a bodybuilding diet looks like.
Key notes:
- This is not a healthy or sustainable diet! There is an end goal in mind (bodybuilding show). Male speedo wearing enthusiasts tend to start their “Prep” for bodybuilding shows anywhere between 12-24 weeks away from the show date depending on what their current look is. We have had a long prep, mostly because this is my first show and I’ve never been a really lean fella. My peak off-season weight was 252 pounds, I will be on stage as less than a man (probably around 195 pounds).
- At this point in my prep (about 4 weeks out at time of posting) food is very low! This diet is not focused on health, performance, or trying to fit zone sized blocks into paleo sized holes. It is solely about cutting the last bit of bodyfat away while maintaining as much muscle as possible.
- Currently, my coach and I have 5 “low days” per week where I eat well below maintenance amount of calories, and 2 “base days” per week where I am still eating below maintenance amount of calories, but have increased food to restore glycogen stores and relieve some of the mental load of dieting.
If this sounds dumb/lame/stupid, then you are smart! I recommend my athletes eat for performance, which means balanced meals that they enjoy. Currently my diet is neither of those things. Instead it is focused on keeping me in an energy deficit while hitting enough protein to hold onto as much muscle as I can, and keeping fats at a baseline to ensure my hormone profile doesn’t totally tank. All of my foods have been consistent throughout prep, and are simply things that are easy to make and digest well for me.
Without too much more blabbering, here is what a “Low day” and “base day” look like side by side. I’ll also include how these meals look different when I am not in prep, and instead focusing on eating for gym performance and gaining lean tissue.
Meal 1
Low day - 1 whole egg, 280 grams of egg whites (about 5 servings), handful of leafy greens.
Base day - 1 whole egg, 180 grams of egg whites (about 3.5 servings), handful of leafy greens, 100 grams of peppers/onions, 6 pieces of low calorie bread, 0.5 servings of peanut butter.
Off-season - 2 whole eggs, 180 grams of egg whites, leafy greens, 100 grams of peppers/onions, 4 pieces of normal bread or 1 cup of oatmeal, 1-2 servings of fruit
Meal 2
Low day - 2 scoops of whey protein (diet hack for sad folks - mix your protein powder into diet pop to make a very sad version of a rootbeer float/orange creamsicle/boston cooler)
Base day - 2 scoops of whey protein, 1.5 servings of cream of rice (ground up white rice), 0.5 servings of peanut butter
Off-season - 2 scoops of whey protein, 2 servings of cream of rice, 1 serving of fruit, 0.5 servings of peanut butter
[Me: "What's the red shit in meal 2?" Jacob: "Sugar free jelly you pansy ass"]
Meals 3&4:
Low day - 100 grams of mushrooms, 200 grams of 96/4 ground beef, handful of leafy greens
Base day - 100 grams of mushrooms, 180 grams of 96/4 ground beef, 200-300 grams of sweet potato, handful of leafy greens
Off-season - 100 grams of mushrooms, 180 grams of 96/4 ground beef, 400-500 grams of sweet potato, handful of leafy greens, 1 serving of added fat via olive oil, avocado, or butter.
Meal 5
Low day - 200 grams of chicken breast. Some type of 0 calorie sauce to make it taste ok.
Base day - 180 grams of chicken breast. Handful of leafy greens, 100 grams onions/peppers, 300 grams of sweet potato, 10 grams of butter or 2 servings of avocado.
Off-season - 180 grams of chicken breast. Handful of leafy greens, 100 grams onions/peppers, 400-500 grams sweet potato OR 300-400 grams of cooked white rice. 1 serving of added fat via olive oil, avocado, or butter.
Meal 6
Low - 2 scoops whey protein
Base day - Ninja Creami! - ultimate game changer. 1 serving of sugar free pudding mix, 1 scoop of whey protein, 2 servings of skim milk all mixed together into a wonderful ice cream.
Off-season - Ninja creami (read above) with 50-100 extra grams of carbs in the form of a combination of fruit, protein bar, cereal, rice cakes, or candy.
Reader Comments (10)
What if I want to eat like the off-season, but look like I survive on nothing but egg whites and whey protein?
I really appreciate you doing this post my man. More than anything, it helped me come to the realization that nutrition is really a part-time job, and that might be a good way to present it to someone who's on the fence about getting it rolling: "Are you ready to take on another part-time job?"
Actually, I'd be curious what you think your results would be like if you did your current bodybuilding routine while eating our favorite Mario Baseball diet? Or even if you were, say, halfway in on the nutrition dedication.
Evan - gotta hop on the gear. It's the only way
Chris -
That's a really interesting question. Since probably 2015 I've always had some sort of structured diet plan in place, with adherence being the biggest variable that's changed.
Id like to think that I have enough training age that I can't get away with an old school little Caesars and cheeze it diet while making any progress at all. Some people have the habits and mindset in place to intuitively eat and stay healthy/lean. I am not one of those people and that's also just not a style conducive to bodybuilding because you're putting yourself into physical mental and hormonal states that are out of a healthy range.
The halfway adherence would get me to a spot where I would still look like I belong on stage, but is the difference between coming in really conditioned vs just having a beach/CrossFit body.
In the off-season my adherence will drop, but we plan around it since the current look won't matter, but fatigue management (both diet fatigue and physical fatigue) and performance are the key factors.
You can deal with this in a few ways
1) being comfortable not being in as good visual shape and just allowing some extra off schedule foods
2) planning on having a set allotment of free meals per week/month/whatever works for you and lowering your regular, non cheat meals carbs and fats accordingly
3) subbing out pre planned meals occasionally for things that are calorically similar
You also want to make sure that whatever options you're utilizing to actually enjoy life and reduce diet fatigue are at least somewhat aligned with your current goals. If I was coaching Jesse and he told me he's been eating half a pint of ice cream every night before bed it wouldn't be a huge deal to me because our goal would just be adding some mass.
The biggest thing during these non-full adherence phase is to just not let one free meal turn into a binge week, and then not trying to overcorrect when mistakes do happen.
I will say that adherence got toughest when I started to look like an actual bodybuilder (or at least close to it) during prep and performance started to drop in the gym. That's when things like "let's have a bagel with breakfast this morning so we can get a better workout in" or "man I feel ahead of schedule, we can take our foot off the gas for a day here..." Started to creep in
"The biggest thing during these non-full adherence phase is to just not let one free meal turn into a binge week, and then not trying to overcorrect when mistakes do happen.
I will say that adherence got toughest when I started to look like an actual bodybuilder (or at least close to it) during prep and performance started to drop in the gym. That's when things like "let's have a bagel with breakfast this morning so we can get a better workout in" or "man I feel ahead of schedule, we can take our foot off the gas for a day here..." Started to creep in"
^^
If you don't mind, would you be willing to share a story about when you gave into the stuff you mentioned? And also a time where you didn't allow yourself to give in?
It's so interesting to look at Jacob's food and the related effort it takes to look perform at peak and realize that, deep down, it kinda means that I have to stop thinking about certain foods as "fun" or "reward" or "tasty" even. Mr. Ron can give me some shit about how his flavorless goop with nuts and berries at night is incredible, but it ain't frickin' creme brulee, and it never will be.
Chris-
Yeah for sure.
To the first point - trying to chase progress in the gym when that's just not plausible at a certain spot in prep.
Walking up to mias bakery (goated btw) to grab a black coffee and seeing a pistachio cookie on sale for .50 cents and rationalizing that the small cookie is going to give me the carb boost I need to get a really good workout in.
Binging point -
Earlier in prep I had quite a few free meals, usually I would do sweet potato + a big ass steak + some bread from the steak house. Once or twice I decided to stop by for a dessert afterwards (tiramisu from white wolf). This was mostly because I knew that the next free meal might not be for a few weeks or might not even be there at all so mentally I wanted to really cash in that day.
- pulling off the gas
Trying to cheat without cheating. Small things like replacing a protein shake with water, and while the calories were equated the balance of fat/carbs/protein changed. And when you're basing your diet off daily look and weight fluctuations deep into prep those small changes result in increased storage of water and really blur the picture of how you actually look.
Also side note: I'm currently 2.5 weeks out. We are down to 1 base day a week and I have 0 added fats in my diet (no more whole egg or ground beef either, replaced by egg whites and chicken breast).
I'll probably type something up that goes over "peak week" which is the week of the competition and carbs come into the diet very heavily and we try to drive glycogen into the muscle to create a full and pumped look. Very much looking forward to that lol
Great post Jacob! Everything about this post is super interesting. I'd like to make one comment. Please, for the love of God, never ever eat meal 2 again.
Mr Ron,
Chris texted me "what is that shit in meal 2". Which is a fairly appropriate response.
Can't judge a book by its cover though, it's legit the tastiest thing I eat during my diet. Like a mix between PBJ and super fine oatmeal. I just happen to be a neanderthal who could make an aged rib-eye from London chop house look like a dog's turd via picture
Ya gotta eat!