Nutritional Plan: July 8th

Finally, some new stuff to report on the nutrition front. As we head into the last phase of the competition, we're going to have Michael make a few small changes. His nutrition is pretty well established as a lifestyle and new way of eating, now, so there is nothing drastic to alter. We don't want to mess with too much, but in some ways we've been fortunate. Let me explain. Most people would look at Michael's food log and overall caloric intake and be surprised that he has lost and is losing as much weight as he is. For your average person that isn't really doing much physical activity, or even for those who are doing some, say weekend warriors or interment exercisers, the amount of calories that Michael takes in would probably be too much. There are a few reasons why he can get away with this right now, and actually why he has probably needed them. One big reason is the amount of phsyical activity he has been doing, and also the intensity that he is doing it at. It is one thing to go for a walk for 30 min. to an hour every day. This will actually burn a minimal amount of calories in relative terms. It is another to work in a structured, challenging, and progressive workout program, where trainers are pushing you to maximize your efforts for every moment of every workout. In other words, the amount of work, and the level to which Michael is doing it, means he is burning a substantially higher amount of calories every day, and his metabolic rate has gotten much higher. So, even while still consuming what would be considered by most to be a higher amount of calories than normal when in "weight loss" mode, he has simply been burning substantially more than what he is taking in. The reality is, that if his workout frequency decreases, as well as the focus and intensity, or when he goes into more of a "maintenence" stage, he will probably need to decrease his caloric intake. Maybe not by a large amount, but small changes will probably be in order.

Heading into this last month, we want to start tweaking some of the things that will help him not only see some better results through this last month, but also will be good concepts to carry through in the future. Up until this week, we had Michael focusing on intaking some extra calories very soon after his workouts to help with recovery, even on his cardio days. This month, we are going to cut the post workout recovery on his cardio days, only incorporating on the days he does resistance training. This will help cut out some additional calories by the end of the week. We are also going to start paying a little closer attention to the amount of starch in Michael's diet. It has already been regulated fairly naturally through our basic balance concept, but we're going to cut out most starches at his dinners. He can have a little extra protein or vegatables at that time if he chooses, but the starches will be limited after lunch or a mid-afternoon snack. This will also be a small way to cut back a few calories, that during one meal on one day, won't have much noticeable affect, but over the course of a week or month can mean some extra pounds lost. As we go, we may add back in, or "cycle", some starchy carbs at some dinners when it will benefit us to do so. This will be a new twist for Michael, so we are going to work on it, and we'll report back on how it is going.