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Meal Planning 101: Variety Sucks

Meal Planning 101: Variety Sucks
By Marc David
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

In the next 2 minutes you are going to learn why meal variety sucks and how that can be the single factor that leads you away from your goals.

Pull up a chair and hear me out please.

"Variety Sucks!" - he said.

My eyes were wide open like a kid who just heard his first swear word when I heard that. In fact, stunned because many people who I’ve run across told me that variety in my meals is the KEY to success.

You know what I mean don’t you?

"No not that kind of variety," he said. "Meal variety. When you change your meals all the time. Everything has to be new for each meal. You get bored right? So you always have to have something different. That sucks."

Again, I couldn’t believe my ears and yet, he was right.

You probably already know this…

What if you continually change your meals all the time, so it’s always a new meal every day. Of course you won’t be bored but what you will find impossible to do is stick with your plan and maintain a steady goal.

Obviously you can understand that makes perfect sense!

You’re probably wondering if most professional bodybuilders and those who you admire have pretty boring diets.

Let’s take an example of Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers or any number of other commercial diets on the market today.

Okay, you’re probably wondering…

What do they all have in common?

Face it… they are all using pre-planned meals!

Don’t miss a word of this…

You are never guessing at what to eat or making hasty choices without full well knowing exactly how many calories are in that meal, the protein, carb and fat contents too.

Knowing this is critical to keeping your meals targeted towards your goals. The more variety you have, the harder it will be to stick with a set meal plan to ensure you are getting the proper nutrients as well as enough calories.

And now you begin to realize that variety does suck.

Do you ever try and create a meal on the fly?

No planning just go to a restaurant and pick something off the menu only to track your meal later and find out you were way over your goal or you aren’t close to your calories for the day and have to literally stuff yourself later?

Here’s my confession…

My greatest success in terms of nutrition have come from a variety of pre-planned meals. 7 day meal plans where I know what I’m going to eat, what to shop for and all of them laser targeted towards my goal.

You see, variety in the food choices isn’t a bad thing at all. Variety ensures we are getting the proper nutrients and ratios. It helps to have several pre-planned meals so that you aren’t too bored but you know what’s ahead.

Pre-planning your meals for the week lets you go shopping for the foods you need as well.

Think of how impossible it will be to just "eat" if you don’t give some thought into the meals you are having to reach your goals.

Grocery shopping would be a nightmare if I didn’t already know my meals well in advance.

I know your boring alarm is going off right now but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Plan out your meals. The more pre-planned meals you have, the easier it will be to shop. The faster you can put together something that meets your needs.

The people who simply must have a new breakfast, lunch and dinner so they don’t get bored with foods, are the ones always counting calories. They are always guessing at what meal they are about to eat if it fits their goals. They find out AFTER they have eaten it.

The successful people know before the food hits their mouth what the meal is doing for them. They already know how many calories. They know the portions. Calorie counting only had to happen once.

Think about this for a minute.

If you want variety in everything you eat and you don’t want to have pre-planned meals because that just sounds too boring, then realize that might be why you aren’t reaching your goals.

I’m not saying meals have to be boring and bland but you should know before hand what you are going to eat.

That’s a pre-planned meal.

That’s why variety in one sense of the meaning sucks!

About the Author

Marc David is an innovative fitness enthusiast and the creator of the "NoBull Bodybuilding System" method on www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com

He can show you how to reduce your body fat through diet, how to gain weight or create more muscle through an abundance of workout tips by training LESS, not more!

Once a self-confessed skinny, "135-pound weakling." Today Marc is a 200 pound bodybuilder who teaches thousands of people to gain weight, build muscle and reduce body fat with a workout and nutrition system so simple that even a complete beginner can understand it!

Marc dispels many "bodybuilding myths", tells you what most people never realize about nutrition, and what the drug companies DON’T WANT YOU to know. visit www.nobullbodybuilding.com

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The Scary Truth About Soy Protein and Bodybuilding

The Scary Truth About Soy Protein and Bodybuilding
By Marc David

Inevitably there’s a myth that soy protein is horrible for bodybuilding and that if you are any where near serious about working out or building muscle you will stay away from it. In fact, some sites show ‘studies’ that soy protein and soy products can be detrimental to your health. And while it’s true that early claims of soy wonders might not be entirely true, there’s also myth that soy protein is bad.

First off, there’s a concept called the Biological Value Scale that was developed to measure the quality of specific proteins. It basically rates how efficiently your body will use a given protein source. The higher the BV (biological value), the more amino acids and nitrogen your body is retaining from the foods you eat. In sum, it becomes a way to measure the potential for quality muscle growth and strength.

There was a time when egg whites were at the top of the BV with a score of around 100. Since then, whey proteins have toped out the scales around 106-159 BV. This means that whey protein is better used for quality muscle growth.

But first a warning!

This doesn’t mean that all you would utilize is whey protein for all your needs. Many times bodybuilders will use a variety of proteins depending on the BV and the times of day and if they just finished a workout.

Let me explain… Your protein needs in the morning are different then the middle of the day and are different again AFTER a workout and again different before bed.

All this means is that no one protein is the best for any given time. But before I get lost… let me show you the biological value scale in a simple form.

Type of Protein :: Biological Value Rating

Whey: 106-159 Egg: 100 Cow’s Milk: 91 Fish: 83 Casein: 80 Beef: 80 Chicken: 79 Soy: 74 Wheat Gluten: 54 Kidney Beans: 49

For all these reasons, you can and should see that soy protein is listed lower. That just means it’s not the most anabolic of proteins for optimal muscle growth.

But don’t get me wrong…

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat soy protein if you enjoy it. It simply means that barring any religious beliefs or personal preferences, soy would not be the ideal protein source for enhanced muscle gains. This doesn’t mean you cannot have it or that it’s bad for you.

In fact, let’s continue on with a little example.

John Q. Public 13% body fat 184 lbs 160 lbs of LBM (lean body mass)

For simplification we’ll just say that for every LB of LBM (pound of lean body mass) John wants to get 1 g of protein.

John should be consuming 160 g of protein a day.

Here’s where the myth and some problems come into play! Read carefully.

If you get a vast amount of your protein from less BV sources then optimal (beans, soy) you will not prime your muscles for optimal anabolic growth. John shouldn’t be getting 150+ grams of soy protein a day IF he wants to create the most muscle mass and he has no personal reasons not to use better quality sources.

John also won’t be in jeopardy of losing muscle or wasting his efforts if he ingests small quantities of soy proteins because he likes them. Having soy in his cereal is not going to make a difference.

The myth that soy will cause men to produce estrogen is when VAST quantities are ingested. Far beyond what any rational person would want to do on a prolonged basis.

A bodybuilder that has soy will not feel any differences, be any less anabolic then another person who does not consume soy at all.

Fact: A long-term metabolic balance study in young men to assess the nutritional quality of an isolated soy protein and beef proteins (VR Young, A Wayler, C Garza, FH Steinke, E Murray, WM Rand, and NS Scrimshaw) was published in 1984 by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, Jan 1984; 39: 8 - 15.

After 84 days of two groups, one totally isolated soy protein and the other on beef proteins, found a conclusion that:

"Body cell mass measurements did not reveal any deterioration in protein nutritional status. These observations confirm the prediction, derived from previous short-term nitrogen balance studies, that the nutritional quality of isolated soy protein is high and that this plant protein can serve as the sole source of essential amino acids and nitrogen for protein maintenance in adults."

So let me summarize and review…

Soy is not the most biological available source for optimal anabolic muscle growth. If you were to finish a workout, you would want to ingest some high quality whey protein vs. soy proteins. However, simply having soy doesn’t mean it’s bad for bodybuilding unless you are getting a majority of your protein from soy products. Then it’s not optimal. You’d also need to ingest quite a bit on a daily basis for any negative effects of soy to manifest (specifically aimed at males in this sentence).

Stop wasting your time with myths and half-truths. Discover the real secrets to building muscle and burning fat from somebody who’s tried it all. The Beginner’s Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding is jam-packed with 250 pages of factual information you can use today to make the best gains of your life. Check it out now at: http://www.beginning-bodybuilding.com

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The last two issues of Muscle and Fitness also didn’t tackle this subject, though I’m thinking of subscribing to their magazine anyway.

Funny thing is, they even had an article quoted one guy saying, "99% of the people working out don’t meet the caloric requirements" but then the article doesn’t tell you what those requirements are!!

Anyway, there was more in the Top 12 Beginner Mistakes that I foundd

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much calories I need to take. I was a bit confused about that until I read your e-book!!

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I have been researching for about a month on how to start losing weight, gaining muscle, making myself look better, so far this e book has pointed me in the best direction, thanks.
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"Okay - So What’s The Cost For This Incredible Resource?"

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Is It Better to Skip a Meal Than to Eat Unhealthy Food?

Is It Better to Skip a Meal Than to Eat Unhealthy Food?
By Marc David

Imagine your in a situation (work, plane, train, automobile) where you just didn’t prepare any healthy foods. Maybe you are in a situation where the only choice to eat something is junk food.

I’m sure this doesn’t happen to you that often right?

But when it does, should you eat junk foods to keep your metabolism up or would it be more beneficial to not eat at all?

Let me tell you a little story about a guy who got into a few situations where the food choices were not ideal. His goal was to build muscle and burn off fat. This guy worked out pretty hard, was trying to eat right but occasionally life got in the way and he made poor nutrition choices. Not all the time mind you just when there was nothing else to eat and he was between a rock and a hard place.

He choose to eat the junk food.

Guess what happened to him?

He’s fine!

That guy was me (duh) and I’ve been in plenty of situations where I didn’t plan or the food around me at the time wasn’t ideal.

Key Concept … if you can follow your nutrition plan 90% of the time you will be perfectly fine.

That means you can get away with eating junk every so often and not make a dent in your progress.

By now, you’re probably wondering if there’s any difference if a person is trying to lose fat or bulk up and if that makes any difference in the answer.

If you are trying to lose fat, then having a protein is ideal as you won’t store as much of the "junk" food as fat. Let’s say you have no choices for whatever reason, then get your hands on the best protein you can and stick with that. I would suggest eating the least un-healthy parts of any available food.

The most important part of any meal is keeping your body’s nitrogen balance in the positive. That means protein!

If you are trying to bulk and gain weight, you can give yourself a little more room to make mistakes. While it’s still true that you wouldn’t want to put on any excess fat, bulking does require a surplus of calories so the rules loosen up a bit.

In either case, don’t eat more calories than you normally would for that meal.

If you find yourself at a fast food restaurant, check out any available nutritional facts and make the best choices possible (salads, grilled chicken, etc.).

If you find only vending machines in your location, look for the lowest fat and sugar snacks.

If all you have is a choice of a candy bar, then hold your breath until the next meal.

Here’s what else…

"There’s no ideal preparation place at work."

Many people fall into that category and there’s a wonderful and cheap solution to the preparation conundrum.

It’s called Tupperware and a small lunchbox cooler.

Guess what you can put into something like that?

* cottage cheese * sandwiches * vegetables * fruits

All it takes it a little prep time at home for the work environment where there’s no ideal preparation situation.

So it all adds up to this…

If you occasionally find yourself hungry and in a situation where the food choices are not ideal, then go ahead and eat that burger or pizza. You can still toss off any of the items on it that are just sugary or horrible to eat and still make the best of a bad situation.

If you find yourself daily in these situations then you need to plan more at home before getting into them as eating junk will be part of your routine and that will affect your goals.

I’ve never known anybody who made some junk food choices ever so often to lose their abs or put on 15 lbs of fat overnight.

While you want to be strict most of the time (90% rule) you do have room to play when life throws you a curve ball.

Marc David for AtoZfitness

Stop wasting your time with myths and half-truths. Discover the real secrets to building muscle and burning fat from somebody who’s tried it all.

The Beginner’s Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding is jam-packed with 250 pages of factual information you can use today to make the best gains of your life.

Check it out now at: http://www.beginning-bodybuilding