FLS Member Question: Ray, how do you do your menu planning and calorie counting? Do you keep track of every calorie in a journal? Is a journal necessary?
Answer From Ray:
That’s a great question because a lot of people think you need to go crazy and be a health nut to look and feel great. The answer is really two part because how you do calorie counting and menu planning depends on your goals.
The only time I ever kept a journal and did calorie counting was when I competed and only for about 4 months leading up to the bodybuilding competition. The first months menu planning was to make sure I ate enough to grow and the last three months of calorie counting were to make sure that I didn’t eat too much.
I had to play that diet real tight because I had to go from 22% bodyfat down to 4% in 4 months. It was a rough and tough diet (very similar to the Fat to Fit Diet) but I did it and won my weight class.
So I guess what I’m saying is that if you don’t know how much you are eating or if you are getting enough protein, fats and carbs then you need to count calories for a while until you can “eye ball” it. Once you know approximately what you should be eating on a daily basis, that is really all you need to do to stay in great shape and you can skip the menu planning besides food prep of course.
Once you know the volume and feel of what you should be eating, your body will tell you right away when you get too far over or under what you need without having to count calories out everyday. The day to day variance of sticking close to, but not exactly calorie for calorie of your diet plan keeps the body guessing and your fat loss doesn’t stagnate.
The only time I will go back on any sort of menu planning is when I need to make a big change. Like if I need to gain 10 pounds of muscle. If I need to lose fat then simply cutting out the breads and junk for about two weeks will be all I need. I don’t have to “Diet” or get crazy about counting calories. Remember though that I have been doing this my whole life so I know a lot of things by instinct now.
I cycle between two approaches. The first is my total calories divided into six perfect meals and the other is for my “active days” like snowboarding, fighting, hiking or camping. During the active phase I will snack on broccoli, nuts and fruit with the odd protein shake all day. Very small snacks that fit in my pocket. Then at the end of my day when it’s time to relax I will totally pig out. This is very similar to the way warriors of many cultures would eat. Some like it and some don’t. It works for me.
You’re a member of FLS so if you do want to do calorie counting, foods and bodyfat levels you can use the excel spreadsheet I just posted up yesterday. It’s not totally finished, there are still lots of foods I want to add but everything you need to figure out what you should be eating is in there. Just go to the resources section.
You can also skip the menu planning and calorie counting by using the diet plan from fat to fit but you’ve already been through that one a couple of months ago and are probably ready for some variety by now.
Does that help you out Bro?
[tags]Menu planning,diet,nutrition,calorie counting[/tags]
