Like I mentioned in the last post about determining your own optimal diet, I have been eating purely per my optimal diet and I thought I’d share my results from eating like this for about 8-9 months now.
The Training:
- Trained 3-4 days a week for a total training time of about 3 to 3.5 hours per week.
- 2 days a week – 60 min strength training sessions, 1 day a week – 40 min bodyweight session, 1 day a week – 15 min sprints session
- Strength training involved back squats, front squats, deadlifts, presses, weighted pushups, weighted chinups, rows and cleans.
- Bodyweight training involved planks, pushups, chinups, burpees, sprints, jump squats, pistol squats, handstand pushups, elevated pushups and pike presses.
- I walked about 15 miles (24 kms) per week. This was just my usual walks to clear my head and my strolls with the lady and Calvin.
The Diet:
The following was my diet for the most part. And most part would mean 85% of the time.
- I didn’t eat breakfast and ate lunch directly. This was mostly because my last meal ended at midnight most days and I’m just never hungry until lunch time. Most of my calories were consumed after training irrespective of when I trained.
- I ate real food. I mostly ate white rice, vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, spinach, onions, peppers), fruits (orange, apple, banana, plum, berries, avocado), free range poultry (chicken thigh), wild caught seafood (salmon, cod, snapper, oysters, turbot), organic free range eggs, whole milk yogurt, almond milk and coconut products.
- I didn’t count calories but made sure I ate about 150-175 g of protein everyday. I supplemented with whey or cottage cheese if I didn’t get good quality meat (which happened a lot).
- I ate carbs everyday. On workout days I ate rice twice a day along with some vegetables and plenty of roots/tubers. On rest days I ate rice or some roots/tubers during my main meal (which was dinner).
- I didn’t add fat to my food except for a little bit of ghee/coconut oil. Most of my fats came from avocado, yogurt, meat, coconut milk, fish and eggs.
- Anytime I ate out I ordered some lean meat and vegetables. If it was PWO, I got rice too.
- On workout days I ate very few fibrous vegetables and focused on protein and starch. On rest days, I loaded up on plenty of different kinds of vegetables.
- I drank 2-3 cups of black coffee everyday just because I like coffee.
- I drank about 3 liters of water everyday. Never forced myself to drink any water but at the same time didn’t let myself get thirsty either. There were days when I was out and didn’t get to drink any water.
- I never starved but I did overeat a little too often.
Here are the supplements I took.
- Nothing except whey protein if and when I didn’t quality meat.
Here is how I got my micronutrients.
- Other vitamins and minerals from diet (so no need for multi-vitamin)
And here are the deviations…
- Every week. Sometimes twice a week as I got leaner.
- I ate plenty of frozen yogurt during this period. If I had to guess I’d say I averaged about 10-12 ounces every week.
- My ‘true cheats’ were epic. For eg. One weekend, in a 16 hour period, I had a plate of Moroccan tagine, 14 oz frozen yogurt, 1 plate of french toast topped with syrup along with potatoes and eggs, 1 large Vietnamese sandwich, 3 pretty big and exquisite donuts, 1 medium pizza and 3 bread sticks.
- My cheats included frozen yogurt, pizza, bread, ice cream, cereal bars (people eat this for breakfast? seriously?) and more.
- Days when food was total junk or if I got no vegetables and fruits whatsoever, I’d take one multi-vitamin.
The Lifestyle:
- Was pretty erratic to start with. I had to travel every week. I’d fly out Monday and fly back in on Thursday. This messed with my routine ‘cos I had to adjust to food availability depending on where I was and since I had to wake up at 4am on days I flew I couldn’t train on those days.
- Lot of airport and commuting time. I made it a point to never roll my suitcase, to never take the elevator/escalator and to never sit at the gate. That helped in staying active.
- I ate out a lot with the lady and met friends for dinner/lunch too many times.
- I kept my stress levels low. Super low actually.
- On days that I flew sleep was messed up. But on all other days I think I averaged about 7-8 hours of sleep.
Results:
- Strength in all lifts were maintained and I PR-ed on the front squat and deadlift.
- No injuries. No joint pains. No lethargy. No depression. No uncontrollable cravings.
- Energy level was super high throughout the day. I woke up every morning feeling strong and ready to go!
- No gut issues. No constipation or loose stools.
- I wasn’t fat or anything to begin with but I definitely was carrying around some excess fat ‘cos I was preparing for the Starting Strength Cert etc etc, but body composition definitely improved.
The Picture Evidence:
And here is a picture of myself from yesterday.
Yea I know I look like a tool here, but I don't think anyone is here for my purty face. Deal with it!
I know this isn’t the perfect diet or the perfect way to eat or train, but who gives a crap? This is what works for ME. This is what is sustainable for ME. This is what makes ME enjoy fitness. And guess what,
- I seem to get more than the required macros and micros.
- I’m getting stronger and faster.
- My mobility seems to be spot on.
- I wake up energized and have no issues falling asleep.
- I feel great throughout the day with no physical or mental drag whatsoever.
- My blood work looks great.
Clearly, MY optimal diet is working for ME from both a health and a fitness perspective! How about you? Have you found your optimal diet yet?
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