While I can’t do justice here in debating the merits of making or keeping sport preparation intentionally difficult, I think that most of us can at least agree that strategies to maximize the ease of training and dieting can be very useful. This is true especially if they are applied in such a way as to allow the process to become more effective because it is now easier to accomplish. For example, having a gym three minutes away from your home definitely makes getting there easier than if it’s an hour away. But that proximity means you’re going to be hitting more cardio sessions, possibly splitting up your workout into multiple sessions per day to raise average intensity, and be able to train more days than otherwise, all of which benefit your results, not just the ease of use. In much the same way, something quite simple with the fancy name of the “Food Palatability-Reward Hypothesis (FPRH)” can make your dieting for body composition not just easier, but that much more effective.

What is the Food Palatability-Reward Hypothesis?

Here’s some very deep and thorough science on the FPRH.

The practical definitions of the link above can be summed up as the following:

– Foods range on a spectrum of palatability. Some taste crappy, some taste OK, and some taste amazing.
– Foods that are more palatable tend to be those you want to eat more of.
– Not only do people tend to want to eat more of the most palatable foods, these foods also generate cravings more often than less palatable foods.
– Highly palatable foods generate cravings especially in a hypocaloric dieting state.
– Highly palatable foods are more prone to being those foods that are overeaten to generate a hypercaloric state.

What makes foods more palatable? Well, personal preference certainly weighs in, but on average, some common factors most people include:

– Foods well-seasoned with spices and herbs.
– Foods with the right amount of salt (not too much, not too little), though this usually means on the high end of salt consumption for most people.
– Sweet foods which are high in sugar or sugar substitutes, even artificial ones.
– Foods that have a pleasant texture and mouth feel, often correlating strongly with foods that are high in fat.
– Very savory foods (really a combination of mostly fat and salt content in addition to mouthfeel and texture, some additives like MSG can enhance this sensation).

The big implication of the FPRH is that tasty foods are much easier to eat in excess and much harder to eat in small quantities. On the opposite end of the palatability spectrum, foods that taste plain, boring, or downright bad (while being safe to consume and not be spoiled or past due) are tolerated much better in smaller quantities, and can in fact have almost no effect on food cravings whatsoever even in a hypocaloric state. These implications can be applied to enhance the processes of massing (putting on muscle and fat at the same time) and cutting (dropping fat while attempting to retain muscle) to make them not only easier, but more effective.

FPRH When Massing

The typical mass phase should usually be run for about 3 months and be programmed for an average gain of 1lb or so per week, with up to 2lbs per week of gains for those weighing much more than 200lbs. This duration and rate give both the adequate time and stimulus for appreciable muscle gains. Fat gains are unavoidable, but can be dealt with later during a cutting phase without much risk to muscle loss in most cases.

Eating a hypercaloric diet (more calories consumed than burned) is by definition a prerequisite for all of massing, but for two reasons, this process becomes much harder in practice the longer a mass phase progresses. First of all, your metabolism speeds up with time in a mass phase, both because you keep weighing more and need to feed that much more tissue and because prolonged periods of hypercaloric dieting speed up thyroid activity and boost the metabolism. Many a reader will no doubt recall massing phases during which the only activity required to get a sweat going was the eating of a meal! The second reason that massing can get quite tough towards the end is that prolonged exposure to a hypercaloric diet usually results in an appetite decrease. Yes, willpower can overrun much of this effect, but it’s not all fun and games when you’ve got two chicken breasts, a bowl of rice, and four tablespoons of peanut butter staring you down and you already feel like throwing up before the first bite.

Late in massing so far seems to be quite a bind. Your metabolism is the highest ever, you need to eat the most ever, and you’re the least hungry you can remember. I remember times massing during my early twenties when I would legitimately FORGET how it felt to be hungry. All the while, the bodybuilding magazines keep pushing the same bland food. Chicken, broccoli, rice, olive oil, etc. It’s a tough road to travel! So tough, that some lifters will cut their mass phase short even during times of great progress simply because they can’t stand to stuff themselves any more.

Luckily, the FPRH is here to help. We already know that calories and macros are by far the most important ingredients to the success of a diet, and that with proper timing, the only real question is of food composition. Where you get your protein, carbs, and fats is only responsible for maybe 5% of the variation in outcome from a diet, with supplements rounding out another 5% (more info on that HERE). This means that if you choose to eat DELICIOUS food (perhaps even just some of the time, not all of the time) during your mass phase, your results will barely be affected, so long as your calories, macros, and timing are in order…  even if that food has poor composition (junk food, for example). But it turns out that tasty food doesn’t usually even have to have to be junk! There are plenty of cookbooks and suggestions on how to make absolutely amazing-tasting food that’s right in line with the best standards of food composition. Using seasonings, salt, and proper preparation strategies can make food taste absolutely great, so the days of bland baked chicken and broccoli can be left behind. By jacking up food palatability, you can much more easily get in the calories and macros you need and even look forward to doing so, resulting in more goals achieved and more muscle added, period. Great tasting food helping with muscle gains? Tough to argue.

Here are some tips on enhancing food palatability on your mass phase:

– Use herbs and spices to season your food.
– Cut meats up or buy ground meats for easier eating with less chewing.
– Use plenty of salt if you’re not salt sensitive and have good blood pressure. This is most of the fitness community, by the way.
– Learn how to cook, or pay someone who does to help you.
– Eat out on occasion. Gaining mass while eating out is super easy and fun – just make sure it fits your macros, and you’re golden.
– Try some of these foods: low fat chips, sauces and gravies, frozen yogurt.
– Stick to foods that have low volumes after cooking. 80g of carbs from seasoned rice can fit into your hands. 80g of carbs from oatmeal can only fit in an NBA player’s hands and takes seemingly an hour to eat.
– Up the variety. Use couscous, pasta, potatoes, make whole grain bread sandwiches. Add mushrooms and onions and garlic to foods. Don’t just eat brown rice and lean turkey… there will be plenty of time for that on the cutting phase!

Especially towards the end of your massing phase, integrating the advice above can make food taste great and make you wanna eat it. This can lead to the weight and muscle gain you desire while also allowing you to enjoy life. When you’re ready to cut down, things will change.

FPRH When Cutting

Cutting phases designed to spare muscle can usually be implemented for around 3 months and be paced to drop 1-2lbs of weight per week, with most of that (if not all) being fat if hard training and intelligent dieting principles are applied. When you start dieting, dropping weight is easy. Your metabolism is high, and cravings are few and far between. And hey, you’re still eating tons of food. But as the cut progresses, things get tougher. The chronic hypocaloric environment slows down your metabolism, leading to the need to eat less and less food to keep the same loss rates coming. All the while, hunger is creeping up and food cravings are becoming more frequent, especially for tasty food items that were your best friends at the end of your last massing phase.

The good news is that the flipside of massing recommendations apply. By eating boring, bland, simple, and downright unappetizing foods, cravings can be reduced significantly. The interesting thing about high palatability foods is that if they are consumed on a hypocaloric diet, they often lead to more cravings in the individual that just ate them, not fewer. For example, you’d normally have two cheeseburgers and be stuffed and happy, cravings no more. But two cheeseburgers simply don’t fit into your macros deep into a cut, especially not with any remotely sensible considerations for timing (eating only two cheeseburgers and then drinking casein shakes the rest of the day is not something we’ll seriously consider). You eat the one cheeseburger, and now your cravings are even worse. If only you had another cheeseburger! For many people toward the end of their cutting diets, staying mostly or wholly away from highly palatable foods can put them into a state of low cravings, as there’s just nothing in their food environment to trigger any. Not only do bland and unpleasing foods work well here, but voluminous foods as well. Nothing makes you wanna NOT eat like chewing down a dry chicken breast with plain oatmeal and a load of broccoli. That meal can take so long to eat, you don’t even look forward to eating anymore, which is exactly where you wanna be at the tail end of a cut (certainly much better than having constant food fantasies and wild cravings).

Some tips on reducing palatability:

– Avoid using herbs and spices. Use salt (you need it for physiological function), but that’s about it.
– Eat tough meats that you have to chew up, avoid ground meats that can be eaten quickly and easily.
– Put your super culinary skills on hold and try to make food that doesn’t taste great on purpose. When you think about it, that’s actually a kind of skill itself!
– Deep into the cut, don’t eat out. Restaurants make it their mission to provide you with the tastiest possible foods. Even the smells are tough to deal with and can cause massive cravings.
– Try some of these foods: celery, broccoli (uncooked), oatmeal (unflavored), dry chicken breast, canned tuna, egg whites, fat free unflavored Greek yogurt, fat free cottage cheese, unseasoned tilapia. YUCK.
– Stick to foods that have high volumes after cooking. Sweet potatoes, oatmeal, brown rice, etc…  many typical bodybuilding foods.
– Keep the variety, but keep each option boring. Only in your most dire moments will you be excited about the switch from broccoli, oatmeal, and chicken to kale, brown rice, and dry fish.
– Drink plenty of water and eat lots of high fiber foods. The combination expands your gut and makes you feel fuller longer.
– Fruits can be a great carb source because of how many you have to slog through to get your macros in. 100g of carbs from mashed potatoes is gone in 10 minutes and can leave you craving more. 100g of carbs from apples takes seemingly forever to eat.
– Look up foods high on the satiety index. Eat more of those to fill you macros.

It must be noted that while low palatability foods are great at suppressing short-term cravings, they might not work so well in the long term. Very restrictive diets might cause rebounds in the long run, so might best be avoided for sustainable eating. Luckily, cutting phases are by definition short-term endeavors, and using low palatability foods especially during their tail ends might be helpful. That last part is important: Eat tasty (or at least normal) foods through as much of your cutting phase as you can. When your cravings start to really push you, that’s the best time to reduce palatability for the remainder of the diet. If you like to plan far in advance, just reduce palatability with each several weeks of cutting. It can be brutal to go through with, but it sure beats crazy cravings.

The use of the FPRH allows you to be hungrier when you need it and less hungry when you need that. Some people are totally fine with a bit of tasty food and it actually eases their cravings even in a hypocaloric diet. Some people are not as swayed by taste in either direction and can both pound food when needed and not be swayed much by cravings. Especially if dieting is not yet extreme and cravings not crazy, palatability may not matter much for some people. However, if that’s not you, then you might want to give these tips a shot on your next massing or cutting phases!

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Born in Moscow, Russia, MIKE ISRAETEL is a professor of Exercise Science at the University of Central Missouri. Additionally, he is a competitive powerlifter and bodybuilder, and has been the head sport nutrition consultant  to the US Olympic training site in Johnson City, TN. Mike is currently the head science consultant for Renaissance Periodization, and the Author of “The Renaissance Diet.”

Online Training, Website, Facebook

DR. JENNIFER CASE holds a PhD in Sports Nutrition and  is a professor of Exercise Science at the University of Central Missouri, where she teaches exercise prescription, functional anatomy, and other Kinesiology courses. A former MMA Fatal Femmes World Champion, Jen is the current IBJJF Master/Senior World Champion in the Purple Belt division, both for her weightclass and absolute. She is currently a Brown Belt under Jason Bircher at KCBJJ (Renato Tavares Lineage). When Jen is not teaching, training or competing, she likes to spend time with her friends and beloved pets (2 cats, 2 dogs), and has been described as “the most world’s most bad-ass butterfly enthusiast” for her perennial attendance to many of the nation’s top butterfly exhibits. 

It’s really not that hard.

But rapidly cutting a lot of weight while maintaining (and even gaining) strength requires strategy.

So I’m going to give you mine.

In this article, you’re going to learn both the theory and practical application behind the approach I’ve developed over the past 5 years to cut weight fast  prior to a 24-hour weigh-in without sacrificing strength.

Why listen to me?

An IPA world-record holder with a 4x bodyweight raw deadlift under my belt (for which I had to cut nearly 8% of my bodyweight in about 24-hours), I’ve had years of experience cutting weight while performing at a high level.

Follow my instructions and you’ll learn how to lose weight rapidly without sacrificing your strength.

But first…

Do You Need to Cut Weight?

Before we discuss “how,” we need to discuss whether or not you really need to cut.

Plain and simple, unless you have a serious shot at winning your weight class and/or setting records, you have no business cutting for a powerlifting meet.

If you want to drop some pounds to look and feel better, improve your health, or increase relative strength, that’s totally fine, but you should not be doing a drastic cut like the one outlined below.

Instead, you should be focused on healthy, progressive weight loss through organized habit change.

Why?

1. Hitting personal records is your primary goal. And while cutting weight isn’t inherently bad, it can take your focus away from performance and put it on an arbitrary weight class. So rather than focus on cutting weight, focus solely on your strength and make sure you hit personal records.
2. The type of weight cut outlined below is not a long-term solution. It’s not a sustainable way to eat and, in the long-term, can have negative effects on both health and performance.

Assuming you want to lose and maintain your weight loss in the long-term (not just for a single powerlifting meet), you need to adopt a mindset and approach that will allow you to succeed.

On the other hand, if you’re a high-level lifter with a legitimate shot at setting records, drastic weight cuts can be a necessary evil.

So if you’re a high-level lifter and need to optimize your weight cut, the approach outlined below is for you.

How Do You Want to Cut?

The way I see it, you have three options.

Option 1: Slow and Steady

Slow and steady is a progressive weight cut for about 12-16 weeks leading up to weigh-ins. This is ideal for lifters who hate rapid fat loss and would prefer to progressively lose weight over time. The major drawback of this approach is that it increases your time spent in a caloric deficit, which is never a fun experience and may impact your training cycle.

I’d note, this  approach is truly sustainable and is my preferred method for lifters of all levels when long-term fat loss (not rapid weight loss) is the goal.

Option 2: Fast and Drastic

This is a more rapid approach. Starting roughly 1-2 weeks prior to weigh-ins, you will introduce a significant caloric deficit to initiate rapid weight loss. Depending on how much you need to lose and how much water you’re comfortable cutting the night before weigh-ins, you’ll progressively implement several strategies to help you lose weight rapidly without sacrificing strength. The major drawback of this approach is that the entire time spent in this phase is pretty miserable. That being said, some people (myself included) prefer this over 12 weeks in a deficit.

Option 3: A Combo of the Two

Exactly what it sounds like, this option combines slow and steady, and fast and drastic to get the best of both worlds. To illustrate, rather than start slow and steady 12 weeks out, you could start it 6-8 weeks out then initiate fast and drastic five days out. This way, you reduce the time spent in each phase and ideally get the best result.

In the remainder of this article, I’m going to focus on fast and drastic as well as the water cut. For more information on slow and steady, you can read this article.

How to Cut Weight Fast While Gaining Strength

Step 1: Set Your Time Frame

Let’s work backward.

Before you establish your protein intake, calorie intake, and other details, you need to know how far in advance (two days to two weeks) you plan to start the fast and drastic phase.

To make an educated decision, you first need to understand how much weight you can expect to lose.

How Much Can You Lose?

Weight loss is highly variable from person to person, but, generally speaking, it’s not uncommon to lose 7-10lbs in one week of fast and drastic dieting.

Tack another week of fast and drastic dieting onto the schedule and a net weight loss of 10-15lbs (sometimes even 20lbs) is feasible in two weeks.

Do you want to lose that much weight prior to the meet?

It depends.

If you don’t want to cut a lot of (or any) water the night before weigh-ins, this rapid approach will be right up your alley.

If you do plan on cutting water, you may not want such a drastic approach for a full 1-2 weeks. However, you could use fast and drastic for 2-3 days in order to drop a few extra pounds and make the water cut less stressful.

Simple enough, right?

Now you need to answer a very important question.

Do you want to cut water the night before?

If your answer is “no,” then you need to get within .5lb–1lb of your weight class the night before weigh-ins. Some lifters might able to swing 1.5lbs–2lbs, but most people drop anywhere between .5lb–1lb overnight assuming they don’t eat or drink. That being the case, see how much weight you need to lose and plan for anywhere between two days to two weeks of fast and drastic dieting prior to weigh-ins.

If your answer is “yes,” then you have a bit more leeway with how much weight you need to lose prior to the water cut. Taking that into consideration, you likely won’t need to spend as much time in the fast and drastic phase (3-7 days is usually sufficient) as you’ll be cutting water the night before.

Later on, I’ll discuss how to cut water effectively.

Now it’s time to set your time frame

Below, I’ve provided four separate options based on how much weight you need to lose prior to weighing in OR prior to initiating the water cut. Use the option that most closely coincides with your individual needs.

If you need to lose 2-4lbs, initiate fast and drastic 2-4 days in advance.

If you need to lose 4-8lbs, initiate fast and drastic 4-6 days in advance.

If you need to lose 8-12lbs, initiate fast and drastic 6-10 days in advance.

If you need to lose 12+lbs, initiate fast and drastic 10-14 days in advance.

Step 2: Set Your Protein Intake

How much protein should you consume during a drastic weight cut?

Personally, I recommend anywhere between 1.3g – 2g per pound of bodyweight.

Realistically, you’ll be fine anywhere within this range but, generally speaking, the leaner you are, the higher your protein:bodyweight ratio should be.

Do you need 2x your bodyweight in protein to maintain muscle and strength?

No.

But a higher ratio will keep you satiated (full) for longer periods of time. Plus, considering protein has a higher thermic effect than all other macronutrients, an emphasis on protein may actually increase your net caloric deficit resulting in even more rapid weight loss.

Practical Application: To set your protein intake, multiply your current bodyweight by anywhere between 1.3-2.0. To illustrate, if you weigh 175lbs and choose a protein intake of 1.5 x bodyweight, your daily protein intake will be about 263g (175 x 1.5 = 262.5).

Step 3: Set Your Caloric Deficit

This is the not-so-fun part.

While the fast and drastic method is extremely effective and allows you to lose a lot of weight very quickly, it also sucks.

And it sucks because the deficit so big.

Also known as a Protein-Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF), your caloric deficit for the fast and drastic method can be calculated by multiplying your bodyweight (in pounds) by 6, 7, or 8.

Needless to say, 6 calories per pound is a much greater deficit than 8 calories per pound, which will lead to a more rapid rate of weight loss.

I recommend starting at 7 calories per pound and adjusting as you see fit.

Need a faster rate of weight loss? Go to 6 cals per pound.

Dropping weight too quickly? Bump it up to 8 cals per pound.

Practical Application: To set your caloric deficit, multiply your current bodyweight by 6-8 calories per pound. To illustrate, if you weigh 175lbs and follow my recommendations, your caloric intake will be 1,225kcal/day (175 x 7 = 1225).

Step 4: Prepare For the Suck

I’m not going to sugar coat anything.

This is going to suck.

You’re in a serious caloric deficit and nearly all of your calories are coming from protein.

Prepare for extreme irritability.

The first few days aren’t that bad, but by the time days 4 and 5 roll around, you’ll probably find yourself in a pretty crappy mood.

This is normal.

Extreme dieting is never a fun experience and feeling tired, irritable, and hungry are all standard reactions. It’s your body’s way of trying to convince you to eat more.

Knowing this, it’s important to prepare ahead of time to make the process as simple and easy as possible.

Here are some of my go-to recommendations:

• Pre-plan and cook meals ahead of time so you don’t come home completely ravenous with nothing ready to eat.

• Get any/all trigger foods out of your home. There’s nothing worse than staring at a box of your favorite cereal in the middle of a PSMF.

• Use this article and list of low/zero-calorie foods and drinks (sugar free Jell-O, seltzer, shirataki noodles, etc.) to stave off hunger when things get tough.

• Reduce your training volume. This should go without saying since you’re a maximum of two weeks out from the meet, but reducing your training volume to the bare minimum is essential on such a low calorie diet.

• Boredom is the enemy of hunger. Get out of the house and stay out as long as possible. The more you find yourself bored at home, the hungrier and more irritable you’re going to become. Nowhere to go? Head to the nearest coffee shop, grab a large black iced coffee and do work on your computer.

• Make sure you get a minimum of 6-8 hours of sleep every night.

• When in doubt, lean meats, green leafy veggies, and seltzer will fill you up for very few calories and lots of protein.

Step 5: The Water Cut

I should start by saying cutting water is not a healthy, fun, or even particularly safe process.

It is an extreme tactic used by high-level athletes in weight-controlled sports to acutely reduce their body weight in order to make their desired weight class.

Again, it is neither healthy nor safe.

Taking this into consideration, if you’re willing to take the associated risks, below I’ve provided the method that I use to cut water leading up to weigh-ins.

How Much Water Can You Lose?

The absolute maximum amount of water I would say an individual can attempt to lose is roughly 8% of their total bodyweight.

Some sources say it’s safe to lose closer to 10% of your bodyweight in water, but I would never recommend going that high.

Why?

Because it’s extremely dangerous and an exceptionally awful experience.

And aside from the increased health risks, a larger water cut is more likely to negatively impact your performance on the platform.

Practical Application: Plan to cut an absolute maximum of 8% of your total bodyweight prior to beginning the PSMF. To illustrate, if you want to water cut to the 181 lb weight class, you should weigh no more than 196lbs. Similarly, if you want to cut water to the 132lb weight class, you should weigh no more than 143lbs.

When Should You Initiate the Water Cut?

You want to spend as little time dehydrated as possible.

That being the case, I don’t start cutting water until about 12-16hrs before weigh-in.

Granted, some people prefer a slower water cut in which they start 20 hours beforehand whereas others favor a faster water cut in which they start 5-10hrs before weigh-in.

To find what works best for you, you’ll just have to go through a process of guess and check until you figure out what produces the best results.

How Do You Complete the Water Cut?

Sweat.

A lot.

If you’ve never done it before, it probably sounds strange or even impossible, but sweating out pounds of water is one of the most efficient methods of cutting weight.

There are a variety of ways to sweat water out including sitting in a hot sauna, hot tub, or bath tub.

While they’re all effective, in this article, I’m going to describe how to do it using a bath tub (seeing as saunas and hot tubs aren’t always available).

Step 1: Make sure you have a friend with you at all times. Trying to cut water by yourself is one of the most dangerous and stupid mistakes you could ever make.

Step 2: Fill the bathtub with hot water. Really hot water. It obviously shouldn’t be boiling but when you step inside, it should be significantly hotter than you’d ever consider bathing in.

Step 3: Slowly immerse as much of your body as possible in the water. I emphasize slowly because when the water is extremely hot, it will burn if you go in too quickly.

Step 4: Soon, you’ll start to sweat. Stay in the bathtub for 10-20min then slowly get out for a break. I emphasize slowly because if you try to stand up too quickly, you may get lightheaded.

Step 5: Dry yourself off and check your weight to see how much you lost in your first round. This will be a good gauge moving forward for the rest of the cut.

Step 6: Take 5-10min out of the bathtub to lie down and relax. Once you feel up for it, head back into the bathtub for round two.

Step 7: Repeat this process over and over again until you’re roughly .5lb – 1lb above what you need to weigh the next morning, then go to bed. This process could take anywhere from 1-10+hrs depending on how much weight you’re trying to cut.

Important Considerations and Tricks

1. Make sure your bathtub doesn’t have a limited supply of hot water because odds are, you’re going to need to refill it several times. Hotel bathtubs tend to be fine, but some older homes and apartments don’t have enough hot water to support a longer cut.
2. Have music playing the entire time you’re in the bathtub and try to maintain a conversation with whoever’s watching you. It may seem arbitrary, but keeping your mind off of the hot water and overall cutting process is priceless.
3. Keep as much of your body as possible (aside from your head) under water. If your arms and legs are hangin’ out above water, it’ll take longer for your body to heat up and sweat.
4. Do NOT eat salty foods (even seemingly harmless ones like peanuts) during the cutting process. The salt will make you significantly thirstier and make it drastically more difficult to complete the cut.
5. You’re going to be thirsty. Really thirsty. More thirsty than you’ve ever been. Keep a tray of ice in your freezer so you can suck on a few ice cubes before you go to bed. This’ll help to quench your thirst without regaining much water weight.
6. Keep gum nearby. A lot of it. It helps you salivate, which will stave off cottonmouth and subsequent thirst.
7. If you’re driving to weigh-ins the next day, make sure someone else can drive you. You should absolutely not be driving in a severely dehydrated state.
8. Don’t take it too far. Remember, it’s just a powerlifting meet. If you need to call it off and rehydrate in order to stay safe and compete well – call it off. It’s not worth getting hurt or dying for. Not at all.

My Rapid Fat Loss Backup Plan

You always need a backup plan.

Always.

After years of cutting upwards of 10 lbs mere hours before weigh-ins, I finally came up with my own backup plan to help me cut an extra couple of pounds in the days leading up to weigh-ins.

What’s the plan?

Fluids.

Lots of fluids.

Actually, only fluids.

If you’re significantly heavier than you need to be in the days leading up to the meet, switching to a liquid-only diet is a quick and simple (not easy) way to drop a lot of weight very quickly.

How Do You Switch to a Liquid-Only Diet?

Water, coffee, tea, diet soda, zero-calorie beverages and, most importantly, protein shakes.

Protein shakes will allow you to meet your calorie and protein guidelines without adding much stomach content in the days leading up to the meet.

Less stomach content = less weight (not fat) inside of you = less weight needed to cut

The ingredients and number of protein shakes you drink per day is honestly irrelevant so long as you continue to stick to the calorie and protein guidelines previously established.

However, there are ways to make protein shakes thicker and more filling, which will keep you a bit more comfortable in a very uncomfortable situation.

Below is my basic guide to creating a thick, filling, low-calorie protein shake:

1. Use casein or a mix of whey and casein as that will make a thicker and more filling shake than any other type of protein.
2. Grab at least one handful of ice and throw it in the blender. More ice = more texture and thickness.
3. Mix with water or low-cal almond milk. I prefer almond milk because it makes a much thicker shake, but if you really need to watch your calories, then water is totally fine.
4. Feel free to include any extras so long as your daily calorie and protein totals are in-line with the numbers you already established. Sometimes I’ll throw in Arctic Zero and/or sugar-free chocolate syrup so I don’t completely hate my life.
5. Blend on high for several minutes. The longer you blend it, the more airy and thick the shake will become.

When Do You Stop Drinking Fluids?

16 hours prior to weigh-ins, cease all fluid intake.

From that point on, you will completely fast (no food, no water) until you’ve successfully made weight.

I’d note, keeping a pack (or five) of sugar-free gum in your pocket throughout these final hours can be a life saver. When you start to get thirsty or hungry and need some form of relief, sugar-free gum works wonders.

What About After Weigh-Ins?

Drink.

Immediately.

I bring two Pedialyte’s to the weigh-ins so as soon as I step off the scale, I can begin to rehydrate.

Important to note, it is NOT a good idea to chug a lot of fluid as quickly as possible; after being dehydrated, it’s easy to drink too much to the point of puking.

Trust me, I’ve been there.

To avoid stomach upset and possibly more dehydration, slowly sip on a Pedialyte or something similar (like diluted Gatorade) over the first 30 minutes after weigh-ins while snacking on simple, easy-to-digest foods.

After 30 minutes, you’ll begin to feel like yourself again, at which point, you can start to eat and drink to your heart’s content.

Keep in mind, the last thing you want to do is puke, so I strongly urge you to take it slow and not overdo it. Refrain from eating a bunch of junk and stick to foods you eat on a regular basis. Take it from someone who has been there … you really don’t want to find out a food doesn’t “sit well” in your stomach during your first squat attempt.

Good Luck

Everything outlined above is the exact protocol my clients and I have used to cut a lot of weight extremely fast without sacrificing strength.

I hope you found the information useful and that going forward, it helps you prepare and perform your best.

Never Minimal. Never Maximal. Always Optimal.

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Jordan Syatt is an IPA World Record Powerlifter, 4x BW Deadlifter, and the author of “Raw Strength: The Only 90-Day Peaking Program for Raw Powerlifers,” which is available on his website, www.syattfitness.com

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Plus check out the great RP products like The Renaissance Diet and RP Diet Auto-Templates.

Each diet offers the option to structure your meal timing for training days on which the training is done first thing in the morning and in every 3-4 hour interval later, all the way up to an early evening training session option. Non-training day diets come standard with every template. The templates do NOT have an option for super late evening training (anything past 8pm) and are planned for only 1x/day training.

Each massing and cutting diet is designed to be run for approximately 3 months, with the programming to help you gain or lose anywhere between 5 and 25lbs in that 3 month span, depending on your body size, caloric expenditure, and goals.

The included maintenance diet that comes with both the cutting and massing plan can be run for as long as you want if your goals are to maintain your weight and improve your recovery and performance.

What you’ll get is:
– 4 Excel spreadsheets of diets, each for hard, moderate, light, and non-training day options
– 4 Diet progression sheets within each Excel spreadsheet (changes to your diet as your body adapts)
– A “how to” guide to using the diet templates to reach your goals
– A “common Q and A” document for the particulars

We’d love to be able to answer questions about your individual diet, so we’re attaching a how-to guide, a common questions list, and a short video tutorial on how to use the templates. Unfortunately due to our limited availability and commitment to our direct-interaction clients, we’re unable to answer personalized questions about the templates. But if you’re the independent type, we think you’ll benefit GREATLY from this product.

In order for us to send you a template that fits your needs, we’ll need just a couple of pieces of information and input from you, to be filled out and submitted right here on the site before checkout.

We’ll need your:

• Gender
• Current Body Weight
• Goal (fat loss, muscle gain, or weight maintenance with recovery/performance enhancement)
• Acceptance of the Medical & Legal Waiver (required for purchase, also available on the product selections page). These diets are NOT for those with diabetes, a history of diagnosed eating disorders or any other metabolic or digestive tract related diseases.
• Payment ($99)

We’re very proud of our Auto Templates and we stand by their effectiveness. If you like them too but would like to experience the benefits of direct consultation by an incredibly qualified industry expert, please check out our Personalized Nutrition Planning Services.

• 4 Excel spreadsheets of diets, each for hard, moderate, light, and non-training day options
• 4 Diet progression sheets within each Excel spreadsheet (changes to your diet as your body adapts)
• Clients would normally pay as much as $250/month for these types of diets with modifications!
• Bonus #1: A “how to” guide to using the diet templates to reach your goals
• Bonus #2: A “common Q and A” document for the particulars
• Bonus #3: Video tutorial to walk you through the templates

*Please allow for 1-3 Business Days for delivery of your RP Auto-Template

Amir Fazeli is a rising force in powerlifting, closing in on a 700 pound deadlift at 180 pounds.  In this article he analyzed some of the major training mistakes he had been making that caused his deadlift to stall – and the adjustments he made moving forward.

2. 5 Mobility Rules of Thumb, Part 1

Dr. Quinn is back with more advice for moving well and staying injury free.  Some of these tips are gentle reminders of things you should know already, but that may have slipped your mind.  Others will be eye-opening for a lot of readers.

3. Overtraining or Undertraining?  Plan from a New Perspective

In this article, Mike Nackoul explains why undertraining for one lifter may be going overboard for another – and how the target of optimal training volume changes over your training career.

4. Complete Guide to Putting PRs on the Platform

No one in powerlifting today (perhaps ever) has been as good at blowing their gym PRs out of the water on meet day as Chad Wesley Smith.  If you’re tired of overperforming in the gym and underperforming when it counts, you need to read this.

5. The Sports Science of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Drs. Mike Israetel and Jen Case, and Travis Conley break down what it takes to dominate at BJJ.  This is what it takes to roll with the best of them.

6. Do You Have the Courage to be Great?

So many people fall short of greatness because they can’t admit to themselves that greatness is their aim, for the fear of failure.  Do you have what it takes?

7. Wisdom for the Young Gorilla – The Bench Press

No one has equaled Blaine Sumner’s success in the bench press across such a wide variety of circumstances.  Here’s what he wish he knew when he laid down on a bench for the first time.

8. Three Tips for Successful Dieting

Most diets fail because they were doomed to fail from the start.  With the tips in this article, you’ll be able to start a diet with what it takes to be successful.

The title says it all.  The most-read article of the year, and one that’s absolutely crucial for all weightlifters, powerlifters, and CrossFitters to read.

2. 5 Questions with Alex Viada

No one on the planet has the same combination of strength and endurance Alex does.  In this article, we pick his brain about training to be an all-around beast.

3. Building a Bigger Bench with the Cube Predator Cycle

Brandon Lilly is one of the few men to bench 600+ raw.  Learn more about how to build a huge bench with this article, using a tried-and-true program.

4. 5 Things that are Holding Your Squat Back

The squat is a simple movement, but too many people make one of these 5 basic training or technique mistakes and never attain what they’re capable of.

5. The Bottom Position of Your Squat: A Defining Characteristic of Your Human Existence

Squatting is a must for optimal training and performance.  Check out this article to learn how to attain a strong, safe bottom position.

6. Fat Loss For Powerlifting:  Part 1

If you’re carrying too much body fat, you’re almost certainly making yourself less competitive in powerlifting.  Check out this article to get yourself to the best weight class for you.

7. The Scapula and Thoracic Spine:  A Classic Love Story to Improve Your Overhead Position

Good overhead positioning for your snatch, overhead squat, or press is a must.  But the key to getting in that position isn’t necessarily your shoulder joint itself.

8. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Squatters

Great squats come in all shapes and sizes, but these seven characteristics are must-haves if you want to reach your full potential.

9. Juggercube

What happens when you combine two of the most successful powerlifting programs (the Juggernaut Method and the Cube Method)?  A whole lot of awesomeness and a new meet PR for Chad Wesley Smith.

10. Crossfit:  A Sport of Specificity

As CrossFit becomes more popular, more and more people are opining about the best tactics to improve at CrossFit.  But let’s not forget the most important factor:  Doing CrossFit!

11. 10 Steps to Great Squatting Technique

12. 11 Lessons From the Russians

13. Stop Treating CrossFit like a High Intensity Sport

14. The Myth of Perfect Form

15. 2 Concepts Every Coach Needs Every Athlete to Understand

16. The Laws of Optimizing Body Composition

17. The Best Accessory Lifts for a Bigger Squat

18. 3 All-Time Strength Badasses You Need to Know

19. When Carbs Fight Back

20. Glute Activation

21. Raw Powerlifting Without the Fluff

22. Squatting to Build the Wheels: How Bodybuilders Should Train the Squat

23. Common Habits that are Hurting Your Weightlifting

24. Clean Eating vs. IIFYM for Advanced Athletes

25. The Shoulder Health Essentials

26. Fat Loss for Powerlifting Part 2: Cardio

27. 34 Training Tips for Women

28. Mobility Gone Wrong

29. Squatting Specifics: What Technique is Best for Your Sport?

30. Everything You Need to Know About Recovering

31. Building Speed from the Floor in the Deadlift

32. 5 Tips for Eating Huge

33. There is Only One Type of Periodization, Part 1

34. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Movement Prep

35. 5 Tips to Take Your Deadlift to the Next Level

36. Fat Loss Foundations

37. The Pyramid of Strength

38. Benching from the Bottom Up

39. Setting Up for a Huge Squat

40. Training Tactics for the Advanced CrossFit Athlete:  Part 1

I understand that you’ve of the opinion that there aren’t different types of periodization?  Care to elaborate on that?

Absolutely.

The first thing that we have to accept in order to agree that there are not, in fact, different types of perioidization is that there is only one actual reality. I have yet to learn of a dependable system of philosophy that has determined otherwise. Since the world is “as it is,” and doesn’t depend on the state of the observer (I’d love for someone to bring up quantum mechanics as a retort… LOVE), our task is to figure out how it works.

Specifically, we must figure out how the human body works, and in the case of periodization, how it responds to training. Along this theme of a constant reality is the indisputable fact that at the level of basic physiology (upon which the entire science of periodization is built), almost all humans are remarkably similar. We have 97% genetic concordance with Gorillas, 98%+ with Chimps, and 99%+ with every other human on the planet. Humans respond to training in almost identical ways qualitatively, but differ only in quantity of response. For example, ALL humans need an overload to progress and ALL humans take on muscle damage with training. HOW MUCH training is an overload and how much muscle damage occurs from any given training is different for different people, but no one on this earth can claim to experience zero muscle damage from training at any given volume.
Because reality is universal and because humans are so similar to each other in their basic physiology, there is only ONE science of training. There is only ONE grand architecture for proper training theory that works the best to improve performance. There is no such thing as “linear periodization” or “conjugate periodization” or “daily undulating periodization” if you’re really in search of the truth. There are linear, conjugate, and daily undulating elements in EVERY properly sequenced and periodized training plan. It’s JUST PERIODIZATION. Put another way, if you consider all the principles of training (specificity, overload, variation, fatigue management, and several others), you arrive at the same basic structure of training as everyone else who’s been thinking clearly and diligently about the subject.

Are there proper debates at the margins and details? YOU BET.

Exactly how much of a linear progression can you make in a mesocycle before progress is no longer maximal?

Lots of debate, lots of consideration of the sport and the individual differences of the athletes. How much variation is too much? In other words, can a system be “too conjugate?” You bet, but there’s a lot of gray area. And how much alteration in volume/load is best within a microcycle (daily undulation)? Almost no modern sport scientist will tell you “no alteration” is the best answer (in fact, I think the last proponent of actual purely linear progression died in the 70’s or something), yet almost no sport scientist will tell you that it’s a good idea to train for sets of 15 reps, 5 reps, and power doubles in the same week. There is quite a bit of debate on the specifics, but most serious sport scientists have found that an advanced block periodization model is appropriate for most sports.

Modern block periodization (known best as “modern periodization”) has linear elements (load increase per week during a strength phase, for example), conjugate elements (secondary fitness characteristics must be maintained even though dominant ones are preferentially trained in any particular block), and undulating elements (heavy and light days in the same week, using varying volumes and loads within a microcycle to manage fatigue). There’s a good debate to be had about how much linear progression, how much fitness characteristic specificity, and how much undulation are best for any particular circumstance. On the other hand, some popular methods overuse one of the training principles or styles to the detriment of others. Training that is too linear ignores fatigue management and variation. Training that is too “conjugated,” or undulated too much within the week or month gives up too much specificity to be maximally effective. NO, Westside is NOT the best way to train be cause it largely ignores phase potentiation. NO, DUP is not the best way to train because it largely ignores specificity. NO, linear progression (whoever still does that anyway…) is not the best way to train, because it trades off too much variation and fatigue management.

If you invest too heavily in defending a biased system of training, you’re just going to be missing out on the effective features of a system that addresses ALL of the training variables, not just some. That system is called “modern periodization,” and it’s always evolving and being updated (as well it should as it’s a testable and falsifiable scientific theory). In the end, saying that you do “Conjugate Periodization” is the same thing as saying you believe in “Bottleneck Evolution.”

Well, just like evolution proceeds through mutation, selection, drift, and bottleneck events, ALL under the overarching theory of Evolution, attending to dominant and secondary fitness characteristics (Conjugate approach) is UNDER THE OVERARCHING THEORY OF PERIODIZATION.  Damn near no one in the biological sciences considers themselves a die-hard “Bottlenecker,” and it’s damn near time us meatheads started looking at the BEST way to train that integrates all proper features, rather than defending to the death systems which have exaggerated some features to the detriment of other features, and worse, best results.

When planning training, where do athlete preferences factor into all this?  Should the coach make adjustments to accomodate individual athletes, or is the training model the training model, and that’s that?

Two mistakes come to mind immediately:

1.) “Lean gains” or any other term for the idea that muscle can be speedily added without fat in the short term. This is very related to the idea that someone can stay in very good conditioning year round and add lots of muscle. The problem with this idea is that it just doesn’t work so well. The ones who advocated it are either genetic freaks or just very small, not-so-muscular individuals that have the proclivity to blame their lack of size exclusively on a lack of steroid intake. Because muscle is best grown in a hypercaloric environment and fat is best burned in a hypocaloric environment, muscle gain and fat loss need to be somewhat distinct phases. YES, you need to get a bit fatter in the short term and burn the fat off later to get the most muscle size. If you try to stay lean all the time, you’re just not going to make the biggest progress.

2.) On the flip side, trying to rush muscle growth is profoundly misinformed. Gaining about 1-2lbs per week of tissue probably maximizes muscle growth for most people, but gains that are any faster (or gains that are attempted for a longer continuous stretch than about 3-4 months at a time) lead to a vastly disproportionate rate of fat addition rather than muscle growth. So if you try to gain 3lbs of weight per week for 12 weeks or 1lb per week for 36 weeks straight, you’re going to put on some muscle, but you’re gonna get so fat that the fat loss phase to follow is going to take way too long and risk too much muscle loss, leading to a slower average rate of muscle gain than the more moderate methods. And never mind how bad this is for health!Another big misconception I’d like to touch on, and I’m sure it’s one you deal with a lot, is the idea that there are special tricks out there that can radically speed up or enhance results in training and diet. Like, if you just do sets of 4 on your deload instead of sets of 6, you’re gonna BLOW UP with new size and strength in the next mesocycle. Unfortunately, those of us who have committed ourselves to the deep study of this field have come to the realization that there ARE NO SHORTCUTS, just slightly better ways of getting slightly better results. Now, all those better ways add up in a big way over time, but TIME still has to be put in. I swear everyone is looking for a weird technique correction that adds 50lbs to their squat or a food they can eat that just zaps bodyfat, and they are going to spend lots of time and possibly money in an almost completely futile effort. Train hard and smart, eat well, and try to get a bit better every month. After a while you are a completely different person, but it takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight and there are no quick tricks.

You just authored a new diet book.  There are a ton of diet books out there.  Why’d you see the need to write it, and how’s it different from the rest? 

Most diet books approach diet from one or several of the dieting principles at a time. For example, the zone diet focuses on the ratios between macronutrients, South Beach focuses on the composition of the food consumed, and IIFYM (though not a diet but an approach to eating) focuses on calories and macro ratios. Still other diets like CarbNite focus on timing, and the HCG diet even focuses on supplements.

In the RP diet book, we amass evidence for all of the principles of diet in one book. Furthermore, we arrange all of the principles in their order of effect magnitudes on body composition, approaching them as priorities rather than end-all rules. What we get is that calorie balance is the most important feature of any diet, macronutrient ratios as next in importance, followed by timing, food composition, and finally supplements.

So if you want to lose weight or gain muscle but want to keep things basic and simple, just watching your calories and macros is very effective with no concern for timing or food composition (such as glycemic index). If you have more energy to get more detailed or more serious ambitions (such as competing), timing, composition, and supplements may now be worthwhile details to consider. Of course each principle discussed in the book is covered in great depth for both muscle growth and fat loss goals.

Our book is this unique in that it is both scientific in its origins and recommendations, as well as being a useful starting point to diet design for anyone who wants to get leaner and more muscular, from the businessman that wants a simple yet effective approach to the physique athlete that needs all the details to fall into place.

Born in Moscow, Russia, Mike Israetel is a professor of Exercise Science at the University of Central Missouri. Additionally, he is a competitive powerlifter and bodybuilder, and has been the head sport nutrition consultant  to the US Olympic training site in Johnson City, TN. Mike is currently the head science consultant for Renaissance Periodization, and the Author of “The Renaissance Diet.”

Online Training, Website, Facebook

A large portion of most peoples’ training efforts are directed at the goals of getting leaner, putting on muscle, and any combination of the two. While training is an important variable in the quest for more muscle and less fat, diet has perhaps an even more powerful effect on body composition.

That’s right, what you eat can be more important that how you train in determining how muscular and lean you get. The good news is that the combination of science and the experience of many of the best bodybuilders and coaches has resulted in a rather straightforward consensus on what dietary strategies work the best to grow muscle and burn fat.

While we know pretty well what strategies of diet manipulation work, they don’t all have the same magnitude of effect. Some strategies are critical for any noticeable results, others are important, and others still are just details with perhaps only several percentage points of influence on outcomes. Of course, you can just follow ALL of the strategies (or principles, rather) at all times, but knowing which principles have the biggest, second biggest, smallest effects can allow you to get the greatest results out of your diet even when:

1.) You don’t have the kind of goals that require following ALL principles (i.e. just losing a couple of pounds for a vacation)
2.) You don’t wanna live like a machine all the time. Your goals can be moderately tough, but you’re not comfortable trading off all of your life enjoyment just to get abs or another inch on your arms.
3.) You find yourself in a suboptimal environment no matter your goals, and you can’t dial in your diet perfectly.

What Are the Diet Principles?

There are five basic diet principles of varying impact on diet success. Here they are in order of magnitude:

1.) Calorie Balance: ~50% effect magnitude
– Eating a hypocaloric diet to lose fat, hypercaloric diet to gain muscle

2.) Macronutrient Amounts: ~30% effect magnitude
– How much protein, carbohydrate and fat you take in per day

3.) Nutrient Timing: ~ 10% effect magnitude
– How many meals you spread out per day, whether you time your food intake to activity (workout window)

4.) Food Composition: ~5% effect magnitude
– Protein quality, Glycemic Index, Fat Type

5.) Supplements: ~5% effect magnitude
– Whey protein, glycemic carb supplements, creatine, stimulants, casein

For all of the above principles, there are times when they are absolutely necessary, times when they come in handy, and times when they are needless nuisances. We’ll look at all of them below and try to figure out some basic guidelines as to when they are best used or left out.

For all the below, we assume that you are doing all of the previous ones when we discuss using the next ones down in magnitude. That means if there is a situation where macronutrient counting is possible, calorie balance is also possible and should already have been done. Timing means you’re already counting cals and macros, so on and so forth. The only slight possible exception is that of supplements because they can be so easy to use, but even here it’s usually worthwhile to meet at least the first three principles (calories, macros, and timing) as supplement use has such a small magnitude of effect on body composition change.

When to Use Each Principle

When to use Calorie Balance (When it really matters for results)

If you are making ANY attempt at manipulating your diet for a specific result, calorie balance should ALWAYS be the first priority. Luckily, it’s by far the easiest principle to follow as it only requires, at its basic level, portion size control. Eat less food on a fat loss diet, and more food on a mass gain diet. Traveling in a foreign country, being stuck in an airport, living in a college dorm or military installation, being on a low budget and even a situation where you are a guest and someone else is cooking all allow for portion control and thus calorie control. If you are dieting at all, calories matter the most, and they always matter.

When to count Macros (When it really matters for results)

Once you have your calories set in place (which should basically be under all circumstances remotely within your control), it can become worthwhile to attempt to control how much protein, carbohydrate, and fat you’re taking in per day, and in that very order of importance.

Counting macros is worthwhile when your goal isn’t just to lose weight (which calorie manipulations alone do just fine), but to keep as much muscle as possible while doing so. As well, macros are important to track when your attempt to gain is mostly with regard to muscle and not just shear body weight. Counting macros (especially protein) is feasible on most trips, vacations, and inside airports. It’s possible to get mostly right even when living in dorms and eating dining hall foods (eat more meat and less of the other stuff and you’ll get more protein, for example), and it’s absolutely possible on even very low food budgets, as milk, tuna, eggs, chicken, oatmeal, and olive oil are usually some of the cheapest items in the grocery store.

One of the biggest advantages of counting macros is that it can allow you to stay on track to meet your main medium- and long-term goals even if your diet is not ideal for some of that time. This last point is huge. IIFYM works very well. The very biggest and leanest people tend to be the ones that never fall off the wagon completely even during stressful times and travel. Even when IFBB pros guest pose in 10 countries in as many weekends, almost all of them manage to at least get in enough protein, carbs, and calories to meet their general requirements. Even if the details of timing, composition, and supplements are not in place, macros and calories are so powerful together (80% of diet success) that they can keep you on a rough track even when life wants to throw you off.

So next time you’re stuck at the airport, get a steak burrito to begin meeting your protein, carb, and calorie goals instead of having a couple of potato chips and setting yourself back.

When to Time Nutrients (When it really matters for results)

For many goals and many situations, calories and macros are literally all you need. As a matter of fact, and as the IIFYM trend has demonstrated quite well, just counting calories and macros can get people into damn good shape! Nutrient timing is a detail, but one that’s worth following under a couple of circumstances. The first circumstance is when someone is preparing for a competition in any sport, particularly powerlifting, bodybuilding/figure/physique, and even endurance sports.

Because you have to actually compete against others and placing matters, so do details like timing. So if you’ve got a competition coming up soon, timing is almost certainly worth it. Next, timing is also a good idea for those involved in occasional or regular multiple daily workouts. Crossfitters that train 2x per day several times per week need to replenish their glycogen stores as much as possible between the first and second training sessions in order to get the best performance and adaptation. Timing has been repeatedly shown to exert a meaningful beneficial effect on glycogen resynthesis speed.

Lastly, if convenience allows, timing can be followed in any other situation. For example, getting protein in multiple meals throughout the day can be quite easy if batch-cooking is done, or if you’re simply gonna grab a shake or a bar between main meals. If you’re working out on vacation, buy a protein shake and a Gatorade from a convenience store and have it right after your workout… it’s a small difference, but if it’s not too much effort it might be worth it.

When to Control Food Composition (When it really matters for results)

Food composition is a very small detail in the grand scheme of body composition alteration.

There are only a few circumstances in which tracking food composition is a VERY high priority. One of these is the concern for health. The kind of carbs and fats you eat may not have much of an effect on your body composition, but they can sure have an effect on long term health. If health is a high priority to you, eating largely low GI carbs and sticking to mostly mono-unsaturated fats is probably a good idea for the most part.

Another important application of food composition is in the final weeks before a weigh-in for a meet or a stage appearance in bodybuilding/physique competition. This late in the game, certain foods may have different effects on body water, and can thus make your appearance/bodyweight suffer even if your calories, macros, and timing are on the money. Bodybuilders are known to stick to a few very simple, constant foods in the weeks and days leading up to a show in order to highly stabilize their appearance by normalizing their body water. IIFYM is all good, but no one’s gonna eat a pizza the night before a show (unless you sodium load early on purpose).

One final application of food composition control is in its help with cravings. While a cheeseburger a day can fit your macros, it might also be so delicious on a hypocaloric cutting diet that it drives your cravings through the roof and makes you miserable. Eating “boring” foods may actually prevent cravings in the first place, which can go a long way in making a serious diet both sustainable and enjoyable.

When to Use Supplements (When it really matters for results)

Most of the best supplements (as listed in the supplement summary in the “what are the diet principles” section above) are actually quite cheap and usually pretty easy to integrate into a normal daily diet.

However, if you’re bringing protein powders on vacations to all-inclusive resorts and getting searched because the customs guys think you’re smuggling drugs, it’s probably not worth it! Because all of the other principles are so powerful, not using your supplements for a trip here and there is really not a big deal, and is often easily not worth the hassle of packing them and trying to mix them into shakers in the middle of a café in Paris!

Lastly, it’s worth noting that while supplements can be used at all times, it’s a very good idea to get calories, macros and timing in order before you even buy any supplements. If you think you can screw up calories and macros but a whey protein shake outside the workout window can somehow magically save your physique, you’ve got another thing coming. Get the basics down first, then move onto details like supplements. There are no magic pills.

Summary and Implications

Just a couple of points to round out the discussion:
– Don’t overwork yourself on the details, especially when life stressors abound. Get the calories and macros right most times, and save thing timing, composition and supplements when you’re in a conducive setting. Don’t go crazy if you can’t get a workout shake right after a vacation workout…. Just eat food and grow!
– Level of depth of your diet control should be commensurate with seriousness and difficulty of your goals. If you’ve got a show coming up in two weeks, you had better damn well be counting everything and eating boring foods like a perfectly timed machine. If you’re trying to lose that spare tire for beach season or drop 5lbs for a powerlifting meet, don’t drive yourself nuts with details that hardly matter!
– Don’t go the ‘perfection or nothing’ diet route… You can always do your best with any given circumstances, even if it just means calorie control in some occasions. Some people seem to think that if they can’t have their perfectly-measured meals of chicken and broccoli every 3 hours, they might as well be eating donuts and only donuts all day long. This is just completely false and leads to a lot of “two steps forward, one step back” scenarios. Do your best given what you have in front of you, and your goals will be that much easier to achieve, especially in the long term.

Lasty, if you want a very in-depth discussion of the diet principles and the deep science behind them, check out our book “The Renaissance Diet,” available at the JTS store!