I’ve been putting together the basics of Berardi’s “Don’t Diet” Plan at the recommendation of Jason Norcross. Thanks man. So far, I love it and I know it just helped finally tracking down everything that went into my body. I have a few questions though for Jason, or even Berardi, if he’s listening. First, I’m a student and I really don’t know how to judge my activity level. I used 1.7 because I’m pretty active, walking a lot on campus and I always am running errands and such. Is this too high? I weigh about 191 with about 8% body fat right now and my base cal. intake came out to be about 3000. To me this seems just a tad high, but I may be wrong. Also, I found my previous diet was way too low in fat and too high in protein. So, in an effort to put more fat in my diet I upped the Flax, and my strength has increased. I will be getting some fish oil this week though as I know it is “King.” But, are these high doses of Flax bad? Say, 3 tbls. a day? I’ve read some mixed info. on its effect on T. Lastly, what should my normal macro. profile be and can this manipulated to lose more fat? Any other tips to maximize this diet? As I said, I love this diet so far, mainly because it’s just so darn practical, and when I want to put on some mass in the winter, it’ll be easy to convert to the massive eating diet. Berardi is the man. I would appreciate ANY insight from those who have had experience with this diet.
To determine your macronutrient ratio read “Massive Eating Part II” and it will give you a pretty good idea. If, after reading the article you are still unsure what to do then just assume you have normal, but not excellent, insulin sensitivity and try something like a 40% car/30%pro/30% fat diet. As for your activity level formulations it seems a lot of people have found the numbers (calories) too high to lose fat so you will just need to experiment.
First off, I agree with Kelly about reading Massive Eating part 2 and then if you are unsure a 40C,30P,30F should be pretty good. Don’t worry about 3 Tbls of flax. That is fine. I usually do 2-4 a day.
As for the optimal number of calories, the initial calculation is a ballpark figure. You need to keep a meticulous food log and monitor changes in body composition to make sure that things are going in the direction that you want them. Depending on my activity level, I can lose a lot of fat when eating 3000 cals, but Kelly is right that the activity factor calcs are usually a little high for most people. I would use a factor that is at least .1 less than what you think it is to start and then track your food log and body comp to make changes.
Thanks to both of you. You always provide conisitant advice. I read the article and it cleared things up. Right now, the diet says I should take in 2600 to lose. That’s for the most part right. But I may drop it to 2500 and it should be fairly painless. Also, after reading tha article, I believe I am carb-intolerant. I do get sleepy after high carb meals and I lost a ton of fat on a reduced carb diet. Plus, to me carbs just dont fill me up so I tend to go way overboard. Neverthelss, if I get my cal. intake under control there is no reason I cant include a couple of P-C meals early in the day. Once again thanks, and Ill keep you posted.
The following are Joel Marions recomendations for caloric intake.
Calculations should not be based on total bodyweight, but rather Lean Body Mass (LBM). There is no reason to include fat mass in the calculation unless you wish to maintain the fat. Simply take the subject's total weight and multiply it by (1 - BF%) to get his LBM. 235.5 X .60 (40%) = 141 LBM For a moderate diet, I have found the following calculations recommended by Vinch Andrich to be very beneficial for macronutrient breakdown:
Protein: 1.35 x 141 = 190 grams X 4 = 760 CALORIES = 44%
Carbs: 1 x 141 = 141 grams X 4 = 564 CALORIES = 33%
Fat: .3 x 141 = 42 grams X 9 = 378 CALORIES = 23%
= 1702 TOTAL TARGET CALORIC INTAKE
This is working for me. KraigY
Thanks Kraig. That’s simplier than the Kilo. breakdown Berardi does.
Your welcome I hope it works for you as well as it has for me.