Lately the fitness and physique world has been a battle ground
when it comes to the best way to nutritionally prepare for a
competition. Although most people are still following some form
of meal plan it has become harder and harder to ignore athletes
showing up at competitions eating pop tarts and talking
about the ice cream they ate during prep. What has made it
even harder to ignore is that these “flexible dieters” or “macro
people” are showing up totally shredded.
how devastating an unregulated “cheat meal”
can be to your overall progress. Meals that put
you 2000 to 3000 calories over your caloric
deficit can prove disastrous to your overall
progress. As a matter of fact they can erase all
the progress made over a weeks’ time.
Instead of “cheat meals” or days, flexible
dieters often incorporate high carb days one
or more times a week. Essentially these
are days where the athlete will eat a higher
number of carbohydrates in order to prevent
binge eating and increase leptin production.
The mechanism of high carb days aiding in
the diet process is immensely complicated,
and beyond the scope of this article. What
is important to note is that some athletes eat
up to double their regular carbohydrate intake
on these high carb days, and let’s face it, who
doesn’t love that.
The primary advantage of Flexible dieting is
that it is a dynamic method. Adjustments are
easy to make, simply adjust one or more of your
macro nutrients to ensure the ball keeps rolling
in the right direction. Perhaps accompany
these changes with a slight modification of
cardio protocol and you are back in the game
making progress. What happens when one is
“clean eating” and the results stall? Does one
simply eat “cleaner”?
Many of you may be thinking that macro
measuring may sound like an effective
process after reading this article. Unfortunately
it is difficult to know where to start and how
to progress through a flexible contest prep
without proper coaching. Questions like: How
much protein, carbs, and fats should one eat?
How to manage high carb days? How long
should one contest prep for? And when should
macros be adjusted? Are the most common
questions and concerns that a qualified coach
must answer.
It is for this reason that it is a great idea to hire a
coach who follows these evidence based and
modern approaches to nutritional guidance.
One major advantage of flexible dieting is that
you are not dealing with an arbitrary meal plan,
but actual numbers, you learn so much more
about how your body works. This means that
every time you prep you get better and better,
and of course my fellow physique athletes this
is why we do what we do.
By: Mark and Lou
- Owners of Ripped Geek Fitness
- 2016 BC coaches of the year.
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