Dieting for a powerlifter

[hawkeye]

Some of you that know me, know me as a powerlifter. Those who know me, know my biggest issue has been dieting. Recent events have likely put me on the sideline a bit so I am really thinking hard of focusing on my diet. The biggest issue I struggle with is hunger between meals and of course eating clean can be tough as well as finding foods I like. I have read both Carb-Nite and CBL. A friend of mine has recommended spending the money and hiring John Meadows. BUT $750 is a whole lotta cash.....is it really worth it, or can I get by doing other things? I will always want to be a powerlifter and train as one but leaning out wouldn't hurt me. Any suggestions?

 

[RageBlanket]

Hire JM. I'm going to retain his services in 2014, but I've worked with Skip Hill & Shelby Starnes in the past and I can tell you it's 100% worth it.

They do the thinking for you, all you have to do is follow a plan and put in work. Obviously you learn A LOT along the way, but it's so nice having an expert design & tweak your nutrition.

There's also some accountability; you can bet your ass will get called out for being noncompliant, which was awesome for me.

I vote for hiring him.

 

[PillarofBalance]

Hawk - I hired Spongy (Helios Nutrition) and it was the best money I ever spent. He got me in 12 weeks from 250 to 236 at weigh in. My lifts were not yet competitive in the raw 275 and would have got my ass kicked. I wound up in 3rd in the 242 and looked and felt fantastic.

Hiring a pro diet guy will get you to where you are going with out the constant hunger, lack of energy or any of the other quite frankly traumatic type things you experience when cutting on your own.

They simply know things that we don't. Spend the money if you can spring it brother.

 

[macgyver]

Personally, I took the time to learn about nutrition myself. After all, I dont want to be hiring someone every time I want to make a dietary shift.


It really is not all that complex and there are no magic secrets. It comes down to macros and calories. You use estimation methods to start and then track and make adjustments based on what you observe. Really it is quite simple.

Not taking anything away from the guys who do it for a living, but something as important as basic nutrition is something that I felt was worth learning. LOTS of resources out there if you want to learn.

 

[hawkeye]

Thanks,JM and Shelby both really have my respect and I truly think my ass needs the motivation, but I do need to have someone to think for me. Nutrition only gets me in trouble.

 

[Turbolag]

Hawk eye I just finished my diet and I have to recommend it to you.

Flexible dieting (IIFYM) worked great for me. And It still allowed me to eat some stuff I liked.

It's the easiest diet I've followed. All you need is a program to track your food intake. I have my fitness pal.

I was skeptical to try it but man I'm glad I did. I can really see it fitting into powerlifting.

Pm me if you're interested.

 

[BrotherIron]

Hawk eye I just finished my diet and I have to recommend it to you.

Flexible dieting (IIFYM) worked great for me. And It still allowed me to eat some stuff I liked.

It's the easiest diet I've followed. All you need is a program to track your food intake. I have my fitness pal.

I was skeptical to try it but man I'm glad I did. I can really see it fitting into powerlifting.

Pm me if you're interested.

Turbo you should post info on it for everyone. I'm always interested in reading about new things.

 

[Turbolag]

Turbo you should post info on it for everyone. I'm always interested in reading about new things.

Here is how I did mine. When I started my diet I weighed 265lbs.

For every pound I weighed, I ate 1 gram of protein and 1 gram of carbohydrates. For every pound I weighed, I ate .25g of fat. Here is what the start of my diet looked like:

265g protein

265g carbohydrate

50g fat

BUT, after about two weeks I lowered my food intake to this:

250g protein

180-200g carbohydrate

50g fat

My total calorie intake started at about 2,400 calories a day.

Then when I made the change , my calories dropped to 2,200 a day. KEEP in mind, my calories were so low because this was RIGHT after my back surgery. So no weights, and no cardio. Diet only.

Basically this is a flexible dieting plan. So instead of only eating brown rice, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, plain rice cakes, it allows you to eat more appetizing foods. Like these:

flavored rice cakes, cereal, graham crackers, peanut butter, etc.

KEEP this in mind too, even though this is flexible dieting, you should still show SOME restrain for your meal selections. If you are hungry for a certain food during the day, you can have it, BUT it has to be portioned to fit into your calorie needs for the day. SO, if you are eating at 8pm and you are hungry for pizza. Yes you can have a slice of pizza. BUT, you have to keep in mind how many carbohydrate and fat macros you have left for the day. If you have 50g of carbohydrates and 20g of fat left for the day, you can safely have 1 slice of pizza with your protein source.

This is where the discipline comes in because 1 slice of pizza isn't really enough, know what I mean? Yea you are gonna want more of it, but you have to remind yourself that you are on restricted calories and that at least you are able to have a little something you like.

Other foods can be low fat ice cream, yogurt, milk, .... see where I am getting at ?

I ate 5 times a day when I was on my diet. However, a lot of people that do IIFYM eat only 3 times a day. I keep hearing that eating 5-6 times a day doesn't work, but I disagree. I like eating smaller multiple meals a day, but that's just me. I'm not arguing with anyone who eats 3 times a day. To me its just a personal preference.

Here is the website where you can read up more on this eating style:

http://iifym.com/

 

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Hit Woodswise up as well, sure he's not strictly a PL'er but he's pretty well clued up on how to maniuplate bodyweight through food intake.

Weight-wise he's usually up in the 240-250's so he isn't a small guy by any means. All the best MF.

 

[hawkeye]

Definitely want to lean out a bit. My strength is ok, but I know I'm carrying around weight that isn't helping me. I'm a 242er and could potentially get to 220 with some help. As always, I hate losing weight and strength. I want the best of both world. Hard to do. I figured I should get on it now. I have had some elbow issues for the last few years. Had an MRI because I requested some pain management and they found some serious issues. I lift with the pain, but apparently, I have bone and cartilage floating around and fractures at the end of the ulna, radius and humerous. They are thinking athroscopy, but we have had a dozen docs say it is too difficult of surgery. So I am being referred onto the so-called experts. Apparently, there are only a handful in the US. Two are in Minnesota. One at the University of Minnesota and one at Mayo....so Idk...it's been a long time coming so it was nothing I did recent. Heck, I have probably only trained a few times in the last month. Today was the first day back at it.

 

[BrotherIron]

Thanks Turbo. I'll check out the link.

 

[shortz]

Almost every person you work with will structure a macro or calorie plan. In the end, both of these methods will end up being very similar. For instance, if I set you up on a calorie plan, you will end up at about 260g protein, and if I set you up on a macro plan, you might end up at 240. The end results on body comp and and fat loss will be similar as well, as long as key requirements are met.

A lot of guys can post information they regurgitate from the internet, but when you work with people that have gone through it, and done it many times and have personally perfected it, there is a huge difference. For instance, I have been as low as 7%, but will have guys who have never seen below 16% trying to tell me my methods are bad or say "Well, that might work for you, but not for me". There is more than one way to skin a cat, sure, but I have had no issues with any clients, save for the ones that dont want it badly enough and screw off.

JMO...jimmies will be rustled this day, but I am speaking with honesty. Everyone is a diet guru, but few can prove it.