I have tried many different forms of eating. I am gong to present my overall philosophy and my current “rapid fat loss” philosophy in this very same article. It is important to understand my overall philosophy because it is what drives my eating the majority of the time. It is also important to understand what I am doing for just a short period of time so that you can see some of the tools available for your tool belt.
My Overall Philosophy
I am a big believer in the timing of nutrients and eating clean all the time. I believe that to keep your sanity you should include a cheat meal at a regular scheduled interval. If I am bulking I will add a cheat meal every day or even just every other day. It is just one meal and I do not go overboard. It is merely a great, motivational way to get the calories up. As long as you are eating clean and training hard these cheat meals will not hurt you one bit. Of course, when it comes time to peel down the fat you will eliminate the cheat meals.
If I am not bulking I cycle my carbs, but on a more even high/low cycle. By that I mean I will do 3 days low and 2 days high during off-season. Carb cycling is an amazing way to keep the fat off.
Speaking of carbs, they are not the evil nutrient everyone makes them out to be. For a bodybuilder, carbs are an essential part of your food intake. They help to build muscle. However, this goes back to my initial statement—I believe in the timing of the nutrients. This means I eat my carbs mostly before and immediately after my training. It just makes sense to give the body most of its carbs right around the time it will utilize them the most.
My Current Plan
Right now I have a dual goal–I want to bulk, but I want to stay leaner. I am currently at 15% body fat. That is not great, but it is acceptable for the off-season. However, I do not want to go above that because it is quite a job to peel off the excess fat when the time comes. To hit this goal I am keeping my protein levels high. I am using a modified version of the Velocity Diet. You can read up on the Velocity Diet for the details, but suffice to say that my change involves adding solid foods on a daily basis. By adding the solid foods I will be able to keep the nutrients flowing into my body. This will avoid the problems I had previously with random cramping and stomach issues. The basic layout of my plan is to get in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass, which is 204 grams of protein. I am keeping the carbs lower than normal, but I am not eliminating them like the Velocity Diet would have me do. The actual meal plan is as follows:
Meal 1:
Protein shake, oatmeal, fruit
Meal 2:
Eggs, 6 oz. of lean protein source
Meal 3:
Protein shake, oatmeal, agave syrup
Meal 4:
6 oz. of lean protein source, veggies
Meal 5:
Protein shake
Meal 6:
Protein shake
Goal for the Velocity Diet Modified
The bottom line goal for the Velocity Diet modified is to peel off as much fat as I can. I would like to be at 10% body fat when the 28 days is up. I will accomplish this by using some intense cardio sessions. I wasn't able to do those the last time I did this program because I did it exactly as outlined. With the addition of solid food I am going to be able to include cardio. I believe that I will be able to drop 5% bodyfat in 4 weeks using this process.
