Jonny’s diet breakdown
As promised, I’m going to write up in some more detail how I managed to drop 3 stone of weight and get my body-fat to 6.5%. More importantly I’m going to suggest ways in which you can try it for yourself.
As I mentioned in the original article, I used the controversial technique of binging on all the junk I could get my hands on for one whole week before my diet started. I used this as an opportunity to get it all out my system, I eat what I wanted, then eat more. By the end of the week the thought of salads and protein shakes seemed really appealing.
I think the most important thing I learned during this week was just how sluggish and tired I felt when eating fast-food, maintaining concentration was tough and the gym involved twice the effort. Looking back, I wouldn’t really advise this and I feel I took it a bit far. I would however, advise a weekend, 3 days at the very most where you follow a similar approach – really go for it. However, although this is a free pass of sorts, don’t let this period spill over. Eat all the rubbish you want for the set period then buckle down and start your diet.
Initially, I deliberately made the diet as boring as possible, I wanted to forge new eating habits and eliminate cravings – I wanted it to be difficult. I allowed myself 1 cheat day and a few cheat meals for 5 weeks, I ate what I wanted here (pizza mostly). I ended up feeling full very quickly, sleepy afterwards and groggy the next day. These occasions help keep me strict and motivated. A week of dieting isn’t as bad if you know you can have a ‘normal’ meal on Saturday night.
For the most part of the 5 weeks my diet looked like this:
Breakfast: Venison with green salad
Snack: 2 scoops of MyProtein Total peptide with a handful of almonds
Lunch: Chicken salad and 3 poached eggs
Around training: Hydrolysed whey protein, malto-dexrin, MyProtein Exceed.
Snack: 2 scoops of MyProtein Total peptide with 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Dinner: Beef with spinach and brocoilli
Before bed: 2 scoops of MyProtein Total peptide with fish oil capsules
The logic behind the solid meals (1,3 and 5) was that I was getting loads of leafy vegetables which kept me feeling full while maintaining the amount of fat and protein each time, despite meagre portions I was often stuffed by the time I finished eating!
Sometimes I substituted chicken for tuna or the venison for beef and I often added a tablespoon or so of seasoning to the salads but I always kept the calories and macronutrients constant. Although this sounds boring and extreme it actually made me realise that even bland foods can be enjoyable. Towards the end of the 5 weeks I craved rubbish food less and less and I often looked forward to a protein shake or steak.
The other meals were protein shakes, MyProtein peptide is made of a blend of three types of protein (whey,egg and milk) along with some essential fats, vitamins and minerals. Not only did these cover any nutritional base that the vegetables and meat couldn’t it also felt like I was eating a dessert three times each day.
A lot of people are afraid of protein shakes – they do get a lot of negative attention due to the bodybuilder stereotype. Trust me, being able to drink what seems like a chocolate milkshake three times each day really kept me going and I can’t recommend them enough. I accompanied them with almonds or walnuts so I still felt I was eating something. .
So, thats what I did, I lost fat pretty quickly during this time and although I was still far from my goals I learned a lot about food and myself. It taught me that food is fuel, nothing else, you crave junk because you are lacking calories and nutrients – fill your requirements nutritionally and you’ll rarely have cravings. Equally, I learnt that, when needed, I could really stay motivated – even in social situations, it really made dieting a walk in the park.
If you’re looking to follow a similar plan I wouldn’t advise blindly following what I did, instead, read some of the diet articles first and get a grasp on how to set up a diet and how to cook healthy meals. After you have a reasonable understanding of diet then there is no reason you cant follow the template.
Invest in some protein powder and have a protein shake every other meal, make breakfast, lunch, and dinner a meat source and green vegetables. Give it a go and forge new eating habits. You wont look back.