OK, this little article is being written in part because of the recent thread on the G%O board and the debate that I and others have had with Adam concerning his so called diet principles. These are my opinions based on many many years of either first hand research and working very closely with others. There are many different scenarios when it comes to dieting. For example, I may be working with a bber precontest or I may be working with an obese person or I may be working with an obese diabetic or maybe it an off season bber.
Let me state here that I am NOT against eating carbs. They are very good for you and taste great too.
but I may and most likely will at some time or another cut them down, in fact way down to zero at times. When dieting someone down for a contest I "use" carbs and I mean that in such a way that someone would use and ex girlfriend for sex. I am exploiting them and their abilities for what they can do to the body, get it now.
I really hate to see people being mislead. I can see how anyone would ever think that eating McDonalds everday can be healthy. Although I agree in the purist sense of the definitions that there is no such thing as "junk food", but we all use the term so I think that it is OK. Food is food, it is something that the human body can use as nourishment. Junk on the other hand it something that does not supply or even robs the body of nutrients without giving something back. So there is a lot of sugar in some foods such as the food served at McDonalds. There is also other things such as chemicals. Now even if you did not care about the chemicals, when you are trying to keep track of your diet in a precise manner such as a bber there is no way of knowing exactly how much your body is being robbed of nutrients and how it is affecting you fat loss. It becomes a guessing game. If you are eating say a half pound of sugar a day from sugar laden food you are seriously throwing a monkey wrench onto your plans. IMO there is no reason what so ever to put something into your body on a daily basis that is that unhealthy for you. Remember, sugar gives nothing back and robs you in return!!
I wish that it was as simple as just eating X amount of protein and the rest of the calories in any form that you want and get ripped. Now before anyone comes on here and gives me the what about this guy example, let me tell you that I know plenty of skinny muscular looking guys who eat very little and drink a case of beer a nite. If you ask these guys how they got that way they may tell you to do what they are doing. Do you think that it would work? It might but I doubt it. It's kinda like a really short guy walking up to a really tall guy and asking him how he can be tall like him. Just because a guy is very lean does not mean he will know how to make everyone like he is!!!
Anyone can lose "weight" at least for a while on 2000 calories per day. This is not to say that they are building muscle or even maintaining it either. Even though dieting is not rocket science there are some basic rules to follow. There basic rules apply to everyone, but they can and eventually will need to be adjusted to keep the weightloss going. The leaner you get the harder it is to get any leaner. It is not normal for your body to sit at 4% BF. It will do everything that it can to stop you from getting there, it's basic survival.
Protein, you need it to live and build muscle. I recommend 1 and up to 1.5 gr per pound at times.
Fats, you need them to live. I usually never count them cause I get them in a correct ratio form the protein that I use.
Carbs you DO NOT need them to live. You need glucose and you body can get that elsewhere.
Dieting is actually very simple once you catch on a realize what ratios work for you. Once you get ripped or at least very lean I suggest that you add in the correct amount of carbs for your body and what it can handle. Cheat days are OK once a week and you can maintain your level of BF by doing that. In fact, a my clients eat whatever they want during contest prep once per week. I am going to end this here for now, but will add more later. Feel free to ask questions if you like.