Macros, flexible dieting and living life!

Hellooooooo everyone.

On a daily basis through some form of social media I am asked what are my macros, do I track, do I eat clean and how to survive on poverty macros as well as a bunch of random crap!

So I'm going to take some time to answer a bunch of these questions and give my opinion on it all and how to incorporate it into your day to day life if you feel it is necessary .

Firstly what my macros are don't mean anything, because it is a totally personal thing depending on age, weight, gender, activity level and personal goals! So with that said I am not hugely strict at the moment with tracking as I am not currently prepping for a show/comp or meet.

For those who are just learning about tracking macros and understanding it all the best way to figure it out is honestly to use an online calculator to figure it out! (IIFYM.com is great) If you are old school and want to figure it out yourself then these are the number you need to crunch.

First thing you need is to know your BMR (base metabolic rate)

The old school way of calculating it is using the Harris Benedict Equation. Looks a bit full on but if you have a calculator then you'll be right!

• BMR Calculation for Women: 655 + (4.35 × weight in pounds) + (4.7 × height in inches) – (4.7 × age in years)
• BMR Calculation for Men: 66 + (6.23 × weight in pounds) + (12.7 × height in inches) – (6.76 × age in years)

After this activity level is then incorporated into the mix and use the multiplier below to figure it out!

  

Amount of Exercise	Daily Calories Needed
Little to no exercise	BMR x 1.2
Light exercise (1 to 3 days per week)	BMR x1.375
Moderate exercise (3 to 5 days per week)	BMR x 1.55
Heavy exercise (6 to 7 days per week)	BMR x 1.725
Very heavy exercise (intense workouts twice per day)	BMR x 1.9

Now that you have figured out your BMR/Maintenance calories next is whats your goal.If your goal is weight loss a rule of thumb is 3500cal reduction per week is the equivalent to weight loss of 1 pound per week, again this will depend on the individual and I ain't going to start preaching any special method or secrets because then I will just sound like a typical Bro!

There is no magical macros to start on, you need to pick the number you believe is right for you and from there CONSISTENCY is going to give you the results, I can not use this word enough, CONSISTENCY is going to be the driving factor whether you succeed or not. Also the macro break down percentage to start on (Protein/Carbs/Fats) will be something again a good online calculator or app will breakdown for you! (Myfitnesspal is the go to app for most people)

So now comes the first day. Get up, go to the toilet and weight yourself. This is what you should be doing every morning for the first 2 weeks, again being consistent with the time of day you weight yourself will give you a consistent reading day to day. The reason to do it for 2 weeks is so your body can adjust to it and along with training you can then monitor if you have overshot or undershot your macros and if you have lost weight/gained weight or maintained weight you will then from here adjust your macros according to your goals. From personal experience as I reverse dieted and was aiming to put on lean mass I would add 20C every time I maintained weight for about 4 days straight, and then 5F after each week of maintaining weight. So as you can imagine after 4 - 6 weeks of this I was able to add an additional 500cal to my daily diet with very minimal weight gain!

That sums up finding your macros and how to monitor and adjust them once your maintenance macros are achieved.

Actually tracking them is not hard, will take a week or so getting the hang of weighing your food and inputting it on your app. Again be consistent with what you enter, don't go crazy if things are a few grams over. Just make sure when scanning stuff the same stuff on label is reflected on the app correctly. If you are a basic eater during the week like myself, then it's easy because you can fill out your diary and make your meals in bulk and then when it comes to weekend just track as you eat and get creative and enjoy yourself :)

Tracking macros is one thing, but also monitor your micro nutrients. Pretty easy really, just make sure you eat enough veg and hit a healthy range of fiber each day too, this can also be aided by using things like psyllium husk or other forms of supplementation. As great as IIFYM and flexible dieting is, it's not your ticket to being a fat slob just for the sake of it. Like most things use an 80/20 rule! 80% good wholesome nutrient dense foods, 20% YOLO enjoy yourself foods.

Lastly I'll quickly touch on poverty macros/comp prep macros! This can be killer but at certain times for shorter periods of time it may be necessary to reach goals. After dieting and maintaining under 5% body fat for about 7 months to compete in multiple physique shows, I learnt very quickly that it had fatigued me physically but also mentally and with my physiology. So now I feel very strongly if you don't need to put yourself through it for no reason other then you 'want to cut' then just don't do it. But when it comes to comp, if you are relatively lean going into prep then you should really only need around 8 -12 weeks max on a cut, other wise there is metabolic and hormonal damage as potential side effects (and I know this personally unfortunately) Some people have no trouble eating normal bro foods for prep, and if this is the case for you, then great. If your like me and love food and lots of it then learn how to make protein fluff and become friends with sugarfree jelly and things like that which will fill you up for very little calories.

Anyway, that's enough out of me. Please feel free to contact me for any further questions as I'm more then happy to help and have trained many people who have loved using flexible dieting with great results. All the best and I'll be back!! :)  justin.d.donnelly@gmail.com

Justin.

#Cake-A-Day - Recipe of dreams!

Ok, so I know some of you would have been cursing my name for taking ohhhh so long to put this recipe up. But never fear, I'm true to my word and here it is! Prepare to have your freakin mind blown by this macro witchery!

Main Ingredients:

30g self raising flour

20g coconut flour

25g vanilla protein powder

60g egg whites

75ml milk (almond,coconut,normal)

1 tin Butter beans (230g drained)

1 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn almond essence

1/2 - 1 tspn vanilla extract

100g (roughly) blueberries/raspberries

Stevia to taste

MACROS - 16F/65C/46P    ~610 calories

Method:

Step 1: Combine all dry ingredients and mix, then add egg whites, milk, essence, extract and mix into a thick batter.

Step 2: Add in rinsed and drained butter beans and using a stick mixer combine until nice and smooth. Add stevia now to make your level of desired sweetness.

Step 3: Pour half the mixture into a cake tin/baking dish and then chuck on some berries, add remaining mixture and add more berries on top to make it look all nice and prettyyyyyyy.

Step 4: Bake at 180 degrees for 25min, remove from oven and let cool in tin for 5min before taking it out and allowing to completely cool on a wire rack.

Step5: EAT IT!!!!!

Now how easy is that? Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did, and get creative with your combos!!


Justin.

Bread like NEVER before!!

Ok, firstly if you have an understanding of bread making then you may question the method involved but it works, if you don't know much, then do as I say and you will be shoving crusty dense bread in your face in the matter of hours!!

Ingredients:

100g Plain flour (+10g for coatinf/kneading)
60g Protein powder (I used a USN brand whey protein)
1.5 tea spoons dry yeast
125ml lukewarm water
1 heaped teaspoon cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Liquid stevia to taste

Macros for entire batch - 8F/90C/50P
(This includes the addiotional ~10g of flour for sprinkling, ~4/5g Olive oil spray)

So as you can see from above, there is no additional oils/fats except for the few sprays of oil you will give the loaf. And for under 100C it is well worth it!!

Method:

Step 1: Combine all dry ingredient and mix together, add the water and stevia and combine with a wooden spoon.

Step 2: From here you would traditionally work and knead the dough on a floured surface, but I believe due to the protein powder and no use of oil it creates a very sticky dough which I would not find suitable to battle it on a counter top. So from here sprinkle a small amount of flour on the dough and work/knead it in the bowl with back on spoon, once it becomes sticky again do this process 2 more times or for about 5min.

Step 3: Roll the dough into a ball shape by adding a bit of flour and spinning the dough around the bowl and believe it or not, it will roll itself into a ball. Give it a light coating with a spray of olive oil and cover bowl with glad wrap and let prove for 60min.

Step 4: Once dough has nearly doubled in size uncover and knock the dough back (punch it!) this releases the build up of carbon dioxide and removes the yeast taste if you were to bake it as is. From here work/knead the dough for a few minutes using same method above and spin it into a ball again.

Step 5: Tip into a loaf tin (i use a silicone one so you don't need to grease it) and form into a loaf shape, from here cover for 15-20min and allow it to rise slightly. sprinkle in cinnamon and put it into a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius  for 40-45 min.

Step 6: Remove from oven and tip onto a wire rack straight away  and give the base a knock with your knuckles, if it sounds hollow allow it to cool slightly before serving, if it does not sound hollow put back in oven for further 10min.

ENJOY!!!

Please leave comments on how it turns out for you, and tag me in your posts!! @love_lifting

Take care and talk soon!

Justin.