Diet – Contrary to popular belief does not mean “eat to lose weight”.  What a diet is, is a daily meal plan for people who wish to keep their eating habits in check to get results whether in gains or loss.

For body building, there are three extreme phases of dieting that can be followed to get your desired results…  The three phases are: Bulking, Cutting and Maintenance.  For each of these categories, a certain formula is adapted before making a meal plan, this is weighed in caloric intake.

Bulking: 20 x Bodyweight •  Maintenance: 16 x Bodyweight • Cutting: 12 x Bodyweight

After adapting this formula and then calculating your plan for whichever phase you are in, we then must evaluate how many calories will come from protein, carbohydrates and fat. Protein and Carbs are multiplied by 4 to get the caloric output… Fat is multiplied by 8.

In the Bulking phase, aside from reaching your caloric goal daily, the strict rules on what you eat is a bit relaxed.  The really hard dieting comes with cutting and the maintenance phase is normally strict with a cheat day thrown in.  Here is a good formula to adapt to reach your cutting meal goals:

Daily Intake
Protein – 1.5 x Bodyweight
Carbohydrates – 1 x Bodyweight
Fat – .25 x Bodyweight

This is kinda hard well pretty damn hard if you aren’t supplementing some meals with protein shakes or bars.  Ideally a small meal/snack should be eaten every 2 hours to spread out this diet and make it easier to reach.

If you would like a good calculator for calorie counting, try the one at www.FitDay.com, you can input your daily meals and keep a tab on where you are in your PCF.

Written by Greg Dragon on Friday, October 30, 2009 

Filed under Fitness & Nutrition
Tagged with bodybuilding, carbohydrates, diet, protein