[Madmick]

John Berardi's Tailor-Made Nutrition from T-Nation, Part I
John Berardi's Tailor-Made Nutrition from T-Nation, Part II
John Berardi's Tailor-Made Nutrition from T-Nation, Part III
You guys might notice I don't post diet schematics. The truth is, I don't worry too much about calories, or my breakdown thereof. At least I'm not precise with it. I couldn't tell you how many calories I've had so far today. I could figure it out, but most days I don't have a clue. Despite that I even have a diet calculator.

But who has the time to plan their day to the letter every day? The sheer scope of such an undertaking boggles my mind: x grams carbohydrates and y grams protein and z grams fat. The only time to really get those things precise is PWO, and that's reasonable, because most of us don't mind the same PWO shake and PWO meal every day. But I see some guys post in here a daily meal plan they figured out to the letter, and their progress eating that every day. First, fuck that. Second, this violates the principle of variety. Any diet is going to have shortcomings: by not diversifying your diet, these weaknesses become crutches.

Instead, I try to follow general guidelines. So it was funny when I read Berardi's article, because these have already been my strategies:

Originally Posted by John Berardi

Habit 1: Eat every 2-3 hours.

Habit 2: Eat complete, lean protein with each feeding opportunity.

Habit 3: Eat vegetables with each feeding opportunity.

Habit 4: Eat veggies/fruits with any meal. Eat "other carbs" only after exercise.

Habit 5: Eat healthy fats daily.

Habit 6: Don't drink beverages (soda, beer, etc.) with more than 0 calories.

Habit 7: Eat whole foods whenever possible.

I suppose I would add:

#8: Drink water constantly- even if you're not thirsty.


But you see where this takes you. This is the proper application of science: you take a template, then modify it. You don't reify yourself in a particular- even if that particular is this expert's diet customized perfectly for you.

Berardi alludes to the 2nd and 3rd parts of this diet strategy to come. I can already tell you how he will instruct you to adapt this strategy to your own diet:
*If you're gaining weight (fat), cut out calories, first fat, then carbs.
*If you're gaining weight (muscle) and that's your goal, don't change anything.
*If you're maintaining weight and that's your goal, don't change anything.
*If you're losing weight/strength, add calories, in the order of protein, carbs, fat.

The goal is a diet strategy you can live by. Because you're not going to count calories the rest of your life- even if you are now. You're not going to plan your diets daily for the rest of your life- even if you are now. You're not going to know the amount of protein per pound of bodyweight you're consuming every waking moment for the rest of your life- even if you do right now.

So I don't believe in diet templates and I don't believe in programs and I don't believe in fads. I believe in strategies, habits, lifestyles...call them what you will.


Because, like the land, oh Scarlett, they're the only thing that lasts.

[Flounder]

Great post. To quote R. Lee Ermey, "I'm a disgusting fat body.", and I've had my ups and downs with diets. Now that I'm getting older, it defintely gets harder. While for the most part I agree with you, I think using some type of nutritional tracking can be a great help. While you may not do it the rest of your life, it will make you more aware of how "calorie dense" foods and meals can be. You might think you're doing the right thing, but low and behold, that luch just had 1100 cal and 40 grams of fat. I had a similar experience recently. I would bet after 30-60 days of tracking meals/nutrition religiously it gets to the point you can guestimate it rather easily and then get to a zone, much like you, where you don't need to track stuff, you just know.

[Madmick]

Hm, that's a good point, I wasn't considering some guys are totally oblivious to calorie counts. My close friend David, who graduated summa cum laude from NYU and lifted with me in college, smart as he was, he didn't know everything...when we were living in Brooklyn he was dieting hard at one point. He got irritable when he dieted: far, far more than most. He was on edge all the time during this particular diet, but the difference was I was now living with him. So one night I brought home a coconut. I start eating it, and he says, "Are you eating coconut?"
"Yeah, I said."
"Awesome!!" he shouted, because he thought everything I did was hilarious, he just found me an oddball. "Give me some!"
"Okay, here you go." And I gave him the coconut.
"So what's in coconut?" he asks.
"Protein...some healthy fats," I say.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, dude, it's a fruit, isn't it. It's good stuff...wait, make sure to drink the milk. That's the best part. Yeah. Just like that. Down the hatch. Nice and fast."
Twenty minutes later, he's like, "Alright, I gotta go check out this coconut. Add up what I ate today." Two minutes after that I hear a shattering, piercing scream from upstairs.
"Andy! ANDY!! You fed me...you fed me...the WORST FOOD IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So that cracked me up.

[Madmick]

I got off track. The point I was working towards is that if you eat according to these rules, it would be very hard to kill yourself on calories.

Consider: you're eating lean sources of protein, vegetables at every opportunity, and otherwise fruits and other carbs low on the GI index. On top of that you're not taking any calories in via liquid.

Truth be told, I've never known anyone fat who drank nothing but water, except those doing it as part of their diet, and of those, all successfully lost weight. Drinking nothing but water alone is probably enough to help any guy in here lose fat.

I'm not advocating ignorance of calories altogether. I'm just saying if you follow his guidelines, your challenge would be an unexpected one, I suspect. I think you'd find yourself hard-pressed to fill yourself up and then some on those kind of calories to gain muscle mass.

[Grady]

I guesstimate all the time. Mick, good advice, but if you are totally new to managing your diet, it doen't hurt to calculate everything for a while until you understand the values are for the most common foods in your diet.

[Grady]

Originally Posted by Madmick

"Alright, I gotta go check out this coconut. Add up what I ate today." Two minutes after that I hear a shattering, piercing scream from upstairs.
"Andy! ANDY!! You fed me...you fed me...the WORST FOOD IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So that cracked me up.

Funny! Pure saturated fat. Thing is though, isn't coconut healthy in some respects? Seem to recall reading that somewhere. I never eat it so I don't know...maybe it is a good type of saturated fat.

[Flounder]

I agree with you Madmick. If you follow those nutritional guidelines, and exercise, someone would probably have a hardtime getting fat. But the whole water thing, I think you're a little misguided.

Originally Posted by Madmick

Truth be told, I've never known anyone fat who drank nothing but water, except those doing it as part of their diet, and of those, all successfully lost weight. Drinking nothing but water alone is probably enough to help any guy in here lose fat.

I would think thats more cause then effect. The people you know that "only drink water" are probably already doing so because of fitness or diet needs or already "naturally unfat". You take someone like me, who (when not dieting) eats fast food 2-3 times a day, and give me water to drink for 30-60 days, I'll bet I lose 0 weight. And I drink 0 cal beverages with my fast food, so there would be no calorie savings there. While water is a good step in the right direction, it alone will not help.

[Madmick]

Originally Posted by Grady

Funny! Pure saturated fat. Thing is though, isn't coconut healthy in some respects? Seem to recall reading that somewhere. I never eat it so I don't know...maybe it is a good type of saturated fat.

On the coconut farmer's website Chris found, the farmers acknowledge the high amount of saturated fat, but their argument goes like so: " People in the tropics live on tropical oil. They're not fat."

IMO, not a bad argument. However, this tends to be the only thing they eat. As Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy points out, "You only need two things to survive. Sunlight and coconut milk." It just seems to me coconut is an all-in-one food. Adding it to an American diet might not be the best idea, although I should note some of the saturated fats are MCT's.

[Madmick]

Originally Posted by Flounder

I agree with you Madmick. If you follow those nutritional guidelines, and exercise, someone would probably have a hardtime getting fat. But the whole water thing, I think you're a little misguided.

I would think thats more cause then effect. The people you know that "only drink water" are probably already doing so because of fitness or diet needs or already "naturally unfat". You take someone like me, who (when not dieting) eats fast food 2-3 times a day, and give me water to drink for 30-60 days, I'll bet I lose 0 weight. And I drink 0 cal beverages with my fast food, so there would be no calorie savings there. While water is a good step in the right direction, it alone will not help.

That's true, but you might be surprised. If you can't give up anything but, give it a shot.

[Madmick]

Also, remember, everyone, this is just Part I of a three part series. I'm sure calorie management will be discussed in the future installments. It has to be, I'm not oblivious to that.

For now, write down those six meals that fit his criteria.