Aug 13 2012

3 Weeks to Awesome – Nutrition and Diet Plans

Today is day 13 of my 3 week program to get into the best shape of your life. After the mentally and physically tough track workout in day 12, today is definitely a physical rest day.

While the body rests, the mind must get to work. Today we’re going to start the mentally challenging task of focusing on nutrition.

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You Day 13 – Nutrition and Diet Plans

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You Day 13 - Nutrition and Diet Plans

Maybe you have heard that nutrition is 80% of your success when striving towards a fitness goal. I challenge that. I say in order to hit your fitness goals you need to commit 100% to nutrition and 100% to exercise. You also have to focus on sleep, hydration, discipline and goal setting.

You have to give it your all in each area.

So far I have given you little tidbits of nutrition advice here and there throughout this 3 week program. The last week of the program we are really going to hone it in and focus on nutrition almost exclusively.

Why did I wait until the last week? Because nutrition is hard. Focusing on a diet is scary. You need at least 2 weeks of momentum in order to feel confident enough to tackle your nutrition.

You need to see your progress pics, see your results, feel stronger, see your body changing and see it is possible when you start to honestly work toward it. Once you see that initial change in your body, the daunting task of changing your diet becomes less beastly.

Most people believe ”diet” is a nasty, bad word and avoid it at all costs. The fact of the matter is the word diet has a non threatening, simple meaning.

Take your emotional response to the word “diet” out of the picture for a moment. The simplest meaning of the word diet is “habitual nourishment.”

The super power I want you to develop today is equally as simple. Simple, but that doesn’t mean it is going to be easy. You are going to start by taking a long, hard look at your diet.

Next you are going to take a long, hard look at my diet. I am providing you with my own personal prepping diet and my off season diet.

This is what it takes for me personally to achieve my own fitness goals. I want you to honestly understand this is what it takes and that it is possible.

There are no quick fixes. There is no special short term diet that is going to get you to where you want to be. It is going to take lifestyle change. That means changing the style that you eat for your life time.

You have to decide what you want and act accordingly. If you want abs, but you can’t stop eating cookies, you don’t really want abs. You want cookies. If you want tight thighs, but you can’t give up eating 5 pieces of fruit a day, you don’t want trim thighs. You want fruit. You get it?

Today I’m not asking you to change anything yet. First I want you to open your eyes to what you are actually eating on a regular basis. What is your “habitual nourishment?”

Today I’m only asking you to rest your body and to look at my own personal diet, then start thinking about your own nutrition with your eyes wide open. Today the super power is simple, but don’t dismiss it. Every aspect of this program counts. Every little detail matters. Trust the process and try your best to commit 100%.

xoxo ~ Cori

Invoke Your Super Power: Diet – Understanding What It Takes

Here is a copy of my competition prepping diet and my off season diet. Click on the image below to download the complete google document.

What does a competition prepping diet mean exactly? Well, when I am prepping for my competitions, I start eating extremely strict about 12 weeks before the competition date. That is when I follow the competition diet plan on the left side of the page.

The rest of the year, the other 9 months, I follow my off season, muscle building diet on the right side of the page. Does this mean I eat pizza, cheeseburgers, fruit, fried chicken, candy, alcohol or a bunch of grains the other 9 months? No. I have a goal. I live my life according to my goal. I follow a regime. I regiment myself.

I truly enjoy the food I eat on a regular basis. That is the key. This is my personal diet. My coach and I created it specifically for me, based on my body and my food preferences.

Does this mean you need to be strict with yourself for the rest of your life? No. Of course not. That would create an inevitable rebellion and result in binging. It is important to have balance, but you need to keep it in check.

During my off season I have 1 rejuvenation meal each week. What is a rejuvenation meal? It’s my term for a cheat meal. I’m not cheating. I’m still living my life according to my goals. I’m rejuvenating myself and maintaining motivation toward my goals.

What is a typical cheat meal for me? Well, it could be oatmeal protein cookies and a piece of salmon. It could be coconut ice cream, banana and steak. It could be gluten free birthday cupcakes. It could be sashimi. Honestly, it is usually a bit of a strange combination. I have unique tastes. Whatever it is, it is something that gives me satisfaction and enjoyment.

I like to try to keep it balanced with protein, carbs and fats, but that’s not necessary. It is my treat. It is well deserved. I feel absolutely no guilt about it because it is a part of my goal. It is a part of my plan. It is necessary. I understand the big picture and enjoying a meal is an important part of that.

The trick is to only treat yourself once a week. Not every day. Not after each really tough workout. Once a week, but that is only if I’m meeting my goals. My target range is 10-12% body fat while I gain muscle in my off season. If my body fat climbs up I won’t have that rejuvenation meal. If my body fat dips low, I might have two.

These same foods on my diet might not appeal to you. Even if they do, this same diet might not be right for you. We are each different and unique. What I want you to do is look over my diet and come to the realization that this is the reality of what it takes.

A short term cleanse or average diet is not going to give you the results you are truly after. It is going to take lifelong education, deliberate choices, consistency, planning and determination.

Even though we are each different, there are a few things that are the same for each one of us, no matter what the goal. To maximize your results you will need to back it up with smaller portion sizes and more frequent meals. I know you have heard that before. That’s because it works.

Eating small portions 6-8 times per day will have a dramatic impact on your metabolism. Take a few minutes to go through the food and diet section of this site to read about nutrition. You can also read the next section to get more information about nutrition.

Follow Through

I like to post something about cardio and nutrition at the end of every post because it is important.

Cardio and nutrition are going to be two of the most important parts of achieving your results, no matter what what your goal is. You can not work off your nutritional decisions with exercise. What? You can’t eat a donut, then just do 2 hours of cardio and *poof* it will be like it never happened? That’s what I’m saying. Come on. No. You can’t.

Your body doesn’t work like a simple addition or subtraction problem. It is not calories in vs. calories out. What you eat has a chemical effect on your body. Even if you do cardio to ‘burn it off’ the chemical effect is still present. Different sugars have an affect. Different proteins have an effect. Different fats have an effect. When you take a vitamin, you understand that it has an effect in your body that cardio will not ‘work off,’ right? Food works the same way. Different foods have positive and negative chemical effects within our body. You can’t just work them off.

You have to unlock and unleash the body fat by working with your body in every aspect. Your body works in harmony like a symphony. When one instrument is off, the entire song doesn’t sound right. A good steady drumbeat can’t make up for a guitar that’s out of tune. 2 hours of cardio cannot make up for a donut. Or pizza. Or macaroni and cheese. Or wine and a baguette. Got it?

Cardio

I recently cut my cardio to a minimum of 30 minutes of stairs with intervals as cardio 5 days per week.

When I’m trying to lose fat I usually do two separate 45 minute cardio sessions a day, but one session is really more like light activity and less like cardio.

I love my cardio and I like to stay conditioned. I personally prefer to do a little more cardio than the average figure competitor, then also eat a little more. It takes more time and effort, but I feel the pay off is well worth it.

The pay off is that I feel awesome. It might take me a little longer to build muscle because I do love my cardio, but it’s the cardio that helps me to keep focused and positive for the long haul. It’s important to know what keeps you motivated for the long haul too. I feel energized by cardio. I love it.

Post Workout Nutrition

When I was trying to gain muscle I finished every workout with a protein shake, animal protein, and some complex and simple carbs. These are healthy choices for gaining or for performance. These are not the right choices for me for trying to lose fat, define and sculpt muscle. Trying to define and sculpt muscle is different from gaining muscle. This means I need to eat something different.

When I am trying to lose fat and sculpt muscle, I am much more strict with my diet. Only true food sources. No protein powder.

I finish up every workout with lean protein from true food sources (a little red meat, white chicken, white fish and egg whites are best) and some dark green veggies or Super Greens mixed with water only. Again, no protein powder. If you are a vegetarian you would most likely need to supplement with protein powder. If you are not, let me say again that true food sources work best for losing body fat.

Even when I am trying to lose fat, I still FEED my body.

Want more information about nutrition? Check out BPM.tv Nutrition 101.

You can also look at my current personal fat loss diet in order to get ideas on how to develop your own nutrition plan.

Cori Ann’s Prepping Fat Loss Diet:

You can click on the image above to link to my fat loss diet to get details about what works for me, but here is the basic breakdown.

This is my meal plan while I am trying to lose fat and define muscle. My carbohydrates come from complex sources only and are kept to about 100 grams per day.

My sugar is kept at about 18 grams per day. That’s it. That is less than what is in one banana. That means fruit is not in my fat loss nutrition plan. My sugars come from minimal amounts that naturally occur in veggies and in the complex carbs I eat each day. No matter what your goal, I highly recommend you watch your sugar intake, even ‘healthy’ sugar like fruit, and moderate it to a minimum based on your own personal goals.

My protein is kept at about 250 grams per day and comes from high quality, organic, free range (or wild) lean animal sources. My fats are kept at about 40 grams per day and come from my protein and complex carbohydrate choices (not additional plant sources like olive oil, coconut, nuts, or avocado).

That equals about 1800 calories per day. I don’t drop it much lower than that.

I eat natural, organic, whole foods that I cook myself, or if possible I eat them raw. I drink 1 to 2 gallons of water and a couple cups of either coffee or tea. There is no mysterious, magical diet. If you want to lose bodyfat you need to eat a fair amount of lean protein and A LOT of green veggies at every meal. Period.

Did you like this post? Tell me in the comments!

Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments. Don’t be shy! Your comments may help to inspire another. Your questions may help someone else who has the exact same question, but is too shy to ask. I love hearing from you!

By Cori Ann Lentz • Food & Diet • 3 • Tags: Calves, Competition, figure, Fitness Model, Food, Gluten free, High protein, Lactose free, Nutrition