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THE MACRO BOOK The flexible dieting protocol

By: Giulianni Giraldo

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his book is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians. The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to his/her health and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. The information in this book is meant to supplement, not replace proper training. Like any sport involving speed, equipment, balance and environmental factors, bodybuilding/fitness poses some inherent risk. The authors and publishers advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits. Before practicing the skills described in this book, be sure that your equipment is well maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training and comfort level. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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CONTENTS: 1. Introduction 2. What is proper nutrition and flexible dieting? 3. Where science defies “broscience”. 4. Learning how to read food labels 5. How to calculate your caloric requirements 6. How to adjust macronutrient ratios 7. Structured refeeds 8. Breaking plateaus 9. Reaching single digit body fat 10. The Reverse Dieting Protocol 11. Nutrient Periodization 12. Alcohol and bodybuilding 13. Counting macros when eating out 14. Counting macronutrients (a step-by-step guide) 15. Supplement Guide 16. Grocery list 17. Macro Friendly Recipes 18. Conclusion 19. About the author 20. Scientific references

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INTRODUCTION ¡Welcome to the flexible dieting protocol!

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his book is the perfect guide to understanding nutrition, how your body works and how to achieve the best results of your life! The intention of this book is to make the dieting process as simple as possible, but first I will take you through the basics because I want you to understand what food is and how it impacts your life. Because believe it or not, sadly the grand majority of people have no idea what it is they put in their mouth nor do they know how important it is to have a well balanced diet to promote longevity and quality of life. ¡We need to learn how to walk before we run, so I am going to teach you what nutrition is before you diet! The guidelines given in this book will help you understand how to accommodate your diet to your lifestyle and how to become a flexible dieter!

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I am going to teach you how to count calories and macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats and protein) and for this you will need a few things. 1. A food scale 2. A macro/calorie counting app 3. Measuring utensils The reason why you will need a food scale is to weigh some of the foods that will be a part of your meal; this way we control portion sizes. The app is to log and track the foods you eat based on your servings. And the measuring utensils (cups and spoons) are for you to make things a bit easier. Although this last one is completely optional, the food scale is more than enough for portion control. ¡SO LET’S NOT RAMBLE ON, LET’S GET TO THE POINT!

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THE FLEXIBLE DIETING PROTOCOL ¿What is flexible dieting?

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lexible dieting, or like most call it “IIFYM” (If it fits your macros) is not a diet per say, it’s more of a mind opener for those who have been following restrictive diets in the past, and to show new dieters that they don’t have to cringe every time they hear the word DIET. How many times have you dieted in the past? How many times have you succeeded? Can I assume that by reading this book it means you are looking for a different alternative to your previous approaches? The process of dieting is more of a psychological struggle than anything else, and every time we hear the word “diet”, I think a little part of us dies. Its because over the years we’ve always had this misconception that dieting is basically a punishment; it implies suffering, restrictions cravings, hunger, willpower, etc. simply because this is what they have made us believe. And every time our doctors advise us to start taking care of our nutrition, we immediately think about all the things

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we are going to miss out on, and all the things we have to stop enjoying because they are deemed “unhealthy”. This is the reason why so many dieters fail to accomplish their goals, its like we are immediately predisposed to fail. But it’s this same mentality of restrictions and deprivation that has been imprinted in our minds by the media and diet “gurus” that sets us up for failure. Because at that moment when we start to deprive ourselves and cut out all the things we like, we are immediately reducing our chances of achieving longterm success. So in this book I’m going to teach you how to get rid of that mentality and learn how to apply BALANCE and MODERATION into your life, so that you never feel deprived again! Because dieting shouldn’t feel like a punishment, dieting is about improving your life! When it comes to living a fit and healthy lifestyle there are three major factors to take into account: 1. Calories 2. Nutrients 3. Physical activity

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It seems simple right? It actually is; the problem is that a very large number of people are not following these simple guidelines, which in turn is making the obesity rates grow each year. And this is a very concerning topic. Obesity has grown to such extent that it has become as deadly as cancer itself. But what is more concerning is that obesity is an “illness” that has a relatively simple cure, unlike cancer. Yet people still neglect this “cure” and continue to live unhealthy lifestyles. The number one factor to take into account when it comes to body composition will always be CALORIES! All foods have calories; calories are chemical energy we ingest that through a series of metabolic processes is then turned into mechanical energy (i.e. walking, running, breathing, etc.), thermic energy (heat) and electrical energy (transmission of nerve impulses). Just the mere fact of living expends calories; its what we call BMR (basal metabolic rate). This is the amount of energy your body requires in order to sustain life. On top of our BMR we add our daily activities like walking, running, eating, taking a shower, cleaning the house, etc. all these physical activities add up to our daily caloric expenditure. The more physically active you are, the more calories you burn.

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A secondary factor that contributes to caloric expenditure is our body composition. A 200lb muscular male will have a higher BMR than a 200lb obese male, simply because muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat; so more muscle increases energy demands, meaning you expend more calories at rest. Now why are calories so important? Let me explain… the amount of weight we gain, maintain or lose will always be determined by the amount of calories we expend vs. the amount of calories we ingest. This simple conclusion is based on the laws of physics. The 1st Law of Thermodynamics simply states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed (conservation of energy). Thus power generation processes and energy sources actually involve conversion of energy from one form to another, rather than creation of energy from nothing. Let me put it this way… Our body has the capacity to store energy in the form of muscle mass, body fat and muscle and liver glycogen (short term). This energy comes from excess calories that are stored for later use. The reason why the first law

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applies to the human body is because we cannot store energy if that energy never existed in the first place, and we cannot burn off energy if we don’t have any energy stored. In simple terms, weight gain does not occur without a caloric surplus (overfeeding), and weight loss does not occur without a caloric deficit (underfeeding); hence calories in vs. calories out. This energy balance is what will determine whether we gain, lose or maintain our weight. The human body is much like a car, the mileage you get from your car is based on the amount of gasoline you put in; in our body it runs in pretty much the same way. You function according to the calories you ingest. The difference between food and gasoline is that gasoline is already refined and ready to be used, while our body has to convert food (protein, carbohydrates, fat and alcohol) into energy the body can use. Making it basically like crude oil, crude oil has to be refined to be used as gasoline in a motor vehicle. Our body “refines” food through our digestive system and converts those calories into usable energy. Our body burns that fuel based on energy demands, and when energy intake exceeds energy demands we store that extra energy as body fat and/or muscle.

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Some may argue that our body is much more complex, and to some extent it is. But at the end of the day, our body is a machine that works on energy and is governed by the laws of physics. So now you know what calories are, but let’s dig a little deeper and start talking about macronutrients, micronutrients, water and fiber. Macronutrients are carbohydrates, protein, fats and alcohol. These nutrients are what provide the calories to food. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and protein has 4 calories per gram. Proteins crucial role is building, maintaining and repairing tissue. Due to the wide variety of existing proteins and as a consequence of their structure, proteins have several functions in our body and participate in every biological process and constitute fundamental structures in living things. Carbohydrates are chains of small simple sugars that are broken down and enter the body as glucose and provide 4 calories per gram. Glucose is essential for the body, as it is the primary source of energy that fuels our brain, heart and central nervous system. Carbohydrates are divided into two groups. Simple and complex carbs; Simple

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carbs are those that digest rapidly in our organism and can in most cases be distinguished by their sweet taste. Among these simple carbs are fructose, galactose, lactose, maltose and sucrose. These simple carbs are found in fruits, dairy, candy, sodas, vegetables, table sugar, etc. Complex carbohydrates have chemical compounds that contain 3 or more chains of sugar molecules. These carbs can be distinguished by their fiber content, this fiber slows down the digestion and absorption. These complex carbs can be found in beans, lentils, potatoes, corn, legumes, nuts, whole grains, etc. Fats provide 9 calories per gram and help in the transportation of the essential vitamins A, D, E and K. fats also play a role in brain development, blood clotting, and managing inflammation and hormone production. Fats are divided into two groups, saturated and unsaturated (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). And alcohol on the other hand, while considered a macronutrient, is not essential for life (I’m sorry to tell you). And it is why it should be eliminated or limited within the diet. I’ll talk a little about that later on in this book because I know you’re interested.

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It’s important to understand that each macronutrient has different impacts and functions in the human body, and while the phrase “all calories are created equal” may hold some truth to it, it can also be quite misleading. When we compare 100 calories from carbohydrates with 100 calories from protein, you will find several differences. Beyond their energy contribution, both macronutrients have different tasks in our body, and they both have a different thermic effect. The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the calorie cost of digesting and processing each macronutrient in our diet. Protein has a TEF of 20-35% Carbohydrates: 5-15% And fats: 0-5% Now keep in mind that these are averages, there are no hard values to the thermic effect of food. To put this in tangible terms, if you eat 100 calories worth of protein, your body will burn between 20 to 35 calories in digestion. And if you eat 100 calories from carbohydrates your body will burn between 5 and 15 calories in digestions. So as you can see, there is a significant difference between calories coming from different macronutrients. BUT, when we compare 100 calories of carbohydrates coming from sweet potato vs. 100 calories

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of carbohydrates coming from table sugar, we have the same exact thing. They will both end up as glucose; and they will both provide the same amount of calories to our diet. And when it comes to body composition, your body will not know the difference between the two. It’s important to note that I said BODY COMPOSITION, because when it comes to nutrient density there are several differences. Now this is what opens the never-ending debate between clean eaters and flexible dieters about what’s considered “clean” and what is “dirty”. The reason why I use quotations is because these are not scientific terms, and it’s meaning is subject to interpretation. What is a “clean” food? And what are “dirty” foods? Clean foods, are what some may consider as healthy, nutritious, unprocessed, organic, etc. And dirty would be the contrary. Things like junk, processed, refined, etc. But this definition can be all over the place, and it’s a problem because what may seem “clean” to you may not be the same for me. Paleo dieters consider bacon clean, while clean

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eaters would put that in the category of dirty. Vegetarians would consider chicken as dirty while others would consider it to be clean. Vegans would say that dairy is dirty while others would say that dairy is clean because it is nutritious. And I can go on and on giving you different examples. So ¿where do we draw the line between what’s clean and what’s dirty, and does it really matter? Our body does not know the difference between a “clean” food and a “dirty” one. Our body sees calories and macronutrients and digests them according to its needs. It’s not like our body has some type of inner sensor that converts “dirty” foods into fat and “clean” foods into muscle. It simply doesn’t work that way. What will contribute to fat gain is the amount of food you eat and not the type you choose. No food is more fattening beyond its caloric contribution in the overall diet. It’s nonsensical to say that some foods promote fat storage beyond their energy content, just like its nonsensical to say that some foods have some type of magical fat burning effect. Calories are calories whether they are “clean” or “dirty”, and it’s the energy balance in the overall diet that will determine if we lose or gain weight.

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Now let’s move on and talk about micronutrients and fiber. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals. Micros are needed in much smaller amounts, hence the word ‘micro’. Unlike macronutrients, micros do not provide calories, but they do provide essential nutrients to enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances essential for proper growth, development and well-being. And their absence in the diet can come with severe consequences. There are several types of micronutrients: Sodium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A, iron, calcium, zinc, manganese, iodine, etc. just to name a few. Each have different rolls in our body and it’s important that we prioritize their consumption in our diet if we want to promote longevity and quality of life. In the regular diet very few people actually lack macronutrients/calories, while micronutrient deficiencies however are more common than you would think. Micronutrients are often lacking due to a poor diet and the low consumption of nutrient dense foods.

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They are important because they consist of a wide array of necessary substances that our body requires to function optimally, and without them our systems will not operate as efficiently. And it’s these deficiencies that cause a negative impact on cellular metabolism. This in turn will contribute to a series of health related issues resulting in diseases and early aging. Fiber, while not considered a micronutrient because it is needed in larger amounts is also an essential nutrient. Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that our body cannot break down for use as energy. It is crucial for gastrointestinal health and optimal nutrient absorption, and its lacking in the diet can promote nutrient deficiencies, constipation and a series of other gastrointestinal related issues. So ¿how do you avoid these deficiencies? Easy, we increase our consumption of nutrient dense foods (foods that contain more nutrients per calorie). This is where the 80/20 rule comes into play. The 80/20 rule means: 80% of your calories should come from nutrient dense foods like fruits, beans,

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nuts, vegetables, meats, dairy, whole grains; basically foods that can be considered as nutritious, less refined, natural, unprocessed, organic, “clean” or whatever you want to call it. And the other 20% of your calories can come from whatever you want. This is the meaning of being FLEXIBLE with your diet. 80% of your calories will provide your body with all the necessary nutrients needed to promote longevity and sustain a healthy lifestyle, while the other 20% will be the “fun” part of your diet that will contribute to maintaining a healthy relationship with food and promoting a more sustainable and sane dietary practice. The reason why this 20% can be whatever you want is because these calories will pose no risk nor will they be of any detriment to your health and wellbeing, and they will not interfere with your fat loss or muscle building goals. But will allow flexibility with your diet by allowing you to enjoy the things you love without having to restrict your food choices. “Honoring personal preference is one of the most powerful yet underrated tactics for achieving optimal health and body composition” – Alan Aragon.

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Another fundamental part of our diet is water. Water is what is called a solvent. Essentially, a solvent is a liquid that dissolves other solids, liquids or gases and can carry these chemicals dissolved in a variety of ways. In the body, the water acts to dissolve proteins (including enzymes, DNA, etc.) and transfers them through the body. Water is also responsible for transporting nutrients to cells and waste products out of cells. Our water intake is achieved through the food we eat and beverages we drink. On average, we get about 1 liter (4 cups) of water through food. Of course, this number varies based on our food selections. For example, fruits and vegetables in their raw form have a higher percentage of water. “Wet” carbs like whole grains and lentils have a good amount too. Foods high in fat, however, usually have very low water content (nuts, seeds, oils, butter and pork fat). In addition to the water we drink through our meals, a large percentage of the daily fluid intake comes from what we drink. A lot of factors can influence what we drink, including the climate, the demands of physical activity, the sweating, the overall size of the body, etc.

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¿How much water should you drink a day? For every kilogram (2.2lb) of body weight, you should drink 30-40 milliliters of water. For example, if you weigh 50 kg (110lb), you need 1.5-2 liters of water per day. And if you weigh 100kg (220lb), you need 3-4 liters of water per day. According to most of the literature, a general recommendation for daily fluid intake is about 3 liters of liquid (or 12 cups) every day. Up to this point we’ve covered the basics of nutrition and what you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and the things you need to take into account if you want to nourish your body appropriately. In the next chapter of this book we are going to talk about the myths in the fitness industry and how you should approach your diet.

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WHERE SCIENCE DEFIES “BROSCIENCE” Broscience, by definition is: “The predominant brand of reasoning in bodybuilding circles where the anecdotal reports of jacked dudes are considered more credible than scientific research”.

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here’s a certain problem with this reasoning, because as most scientist will tell you, anecdotal evidence is the worst kind of evidence.

And you would think that it’d be logical for people to follow the science and what is actually backed by research rather than the advice of the common gym rat. But sadly, this advice from “jacked dudes” goes way beyond simple gym talk. This advice ends up on the cover of fitness magazines and on social media. And despite the lack of evidence behind those claims, some people swear by them like the word of god. And it’s this propagation of misinformation that has filled the fitness industry with myths and misleading and sometimes ridiculous protocols, which for the general population seem incredibly complicated. To the point where people rather not diet at all simply

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because they find these protocols too difficult to endure. So here’s where I ask…¿does the dieter fail to diet? ¿or has the diet failed the dieter? You’ve probably heard it before… “95% of all diets fail”, and while this is from a very out of date study done in 1949, the recent research doesn’t seem to show much of a difference. A series of researchers from UCLA recently came to the same conclusion; most dieters gained back almost all their weight. ¿So what are we doing wrong? The fitness industry is booming, the Internet is filled with hundreds of thousands of dietary protocols, more than 40 million Americans go on a diet every year, yet obesity is still a mayor health issue. But what do all these diets have in common? ¡Restrictions, restrictions and more restrictions! Dieting should be about restricting calories, but not about restricting food choices. Diets need to be lifestyle friendly and should allow the dieter to

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have room for enjoyment. If you take out personal preference from the diet, you are setting yourself up for failure. We all have cravings; this is part of our human nature. And this is why it’s so important to teach the dieter how to include these cravings in a healthy way. If you restrict food choices, at some point the dieter will fall into a binge cycle that will be detrimental to their progress and mental sanity.

“Don’t let your diet define your lifestyle, let your lifestyle define your diet” – Giulianni Giraldo

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Now let’s talk about these myths that are perpetuated by “broscience”. Myth #1: Defining foods as “clean” or “dirty”.

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s we spoke about this in the last chapter, defining foods as clean or dirty is for all intended purposes a myth. You cannot define a food as “good” or “bad” without looking at the entire context of the diet. Any food can be fattening if eaten in excess and no food promotes faster weight loss when consumed. Too much of anything can be detrimental, it’s the amount that we eat that will determine whether a certain food will be “good” or “bad” in our diet. Even things like vitamins can be horribly toxic when consumed in excess and can even cause death (hypervitaminosis), same as water (Over-hydration) that can cause brain swelling, coma and death. Too much alcohol can cause cirrhosis. Too many fruits can cause weight gain, and I can go on and on about how “good” things in the right amounts can be detrimental. So that’s why its important to understand that anything in the right dosages can be harmful, and we need to look at the overall context of the diet to determine whether something is actually good or bad for you. And we need to learn how to practice

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BALANCE and MODERATION. Because a balanced diet is a healthy diet! Myth #2: Eating frequently boosts your metabolism

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his myth is probably the most perpetuated myth among fitness enthusiasts. The premise behind this myth is that by dividing your meals into smaller meals and eating on average between 6 to 8 times per day you can increase your metabolic capacity and turn your body into a fat burning machine. Sounds good in theory ¿right? But ¿what happens when we take it to the experiment? The grand majority of people that claim, “it works” can only provide anecdotal evidence to why they lose weight. But they don’t realize that what they think “works” doesn’t work for what they think it does. Weight loss occurs under caloric restriction, not increased meal frequency. This myth can easily be explained with the thermic effect of food (TEF). When we eat, our body burns a certain amount of calories to digest that meal (we spoke about this earlier). The amount of calories burnt through digestion is on average

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about 10%, because when we eat we always eat mixed meals; we don’t eat a single macro in isolation. So the average calorie burn is about 10%, meaning that if you eat a 300-calorie meal, your body will burn about 30 calories to digest said meal. Some individuals came to the conclusion that by eating frequently you can manipulate this TEF and keep your body burning through calories all day. But what they don’t realize is that TEF is directly proportional to the amount of calories ingested, not the frequency of the meals. Let me put it this way: If you eat 10 meals in one day, each meal comprised of 200 calories. That will give us a total of 2,000 calories. The TEF of each meal will be 10% (20 calories), so if we add that up it will give us a total TEF of 200 calories burned through digestion. Now let’s do this with 2 meals. Each meal of 1,000 calories; the TEF per meal is 10% (100 calories), and we add the total TEF of those 2 meals which will give us again, 200 calories. So as you can see, the TEF is exactly the same, because it is directly proportionate to the total amount of calories and not

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the amount of meals those calories were spread out in. If you like to eat 3, 6 or 10 meals a day, base it on your personal preference and not by the hour on the clock. Eat when you can, eat when you want to, but be accountable for your total calorie/macro intake. But one thing I do not recommend and its eating less than 3 meals a day, simply because it may not be optimal when it comes to protein synthesis. But again, at the end of the day what matters most is your total macros/calories and your adherence to the plan. Myth #3: Carbs at night make you fat.

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he myth that carbs at night promote more fat gain than they would during the day seems like a myth that somehow doesn’t die out, despite the fact that the evidence against it is overwhelming. ¿How is it that carbs at 6:00 p.m. are more fattening than they are at 5:00 p.m.?. The logic behind this doesn’t seem right, ¿does it?

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The studies conducted that came to this conclusion were very poorly developed studies. The reason being is that they mainly studied our eating habits and not our total daily caloric expenditure or intake. They only looked at the way we eat throughout the day. This is a huge problem because they did not take into account the most important factor: calories in vs. calories out! When you look at the eating habits of the general population you will find certain similarities. Most people work a 9 to 5 job, and if you’re at work it is very likely that you don’t have time to be eating all day or even thinking about food, because you’re working and you’re busy doing other things that are more important at the time. Well that’s the issue, while you’re at work or busy during the day, you don’t tend to eat that much because you have things to do and food isn’t always a priority at the time. But when you come home after a long day all you want to do is sit down, relax and get some food in. And in most cases you’re too tired to cook so you eat out or order food that most of the time ends up having much more calories than food that would be cooked at home.

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Now if you study our eating habits from this example you will notice that caloric expenditure throughout the day was higher because you were busy walking around and working, and food intake was lower because you don’t have much time to be overindulging. While at night your caloric expenditure would be less because you’re finally resting and at the same time your food intake increases. So researchers concluded that food at night promotes weight gain beyond its caloric contribution. But is this really a reasonable conclusion? The conclusion should have been: People at night eat more and move less, not that food somehow becomes more fattening because its nighttime. In a more recent study, researchers concluded the complete opposite of this carbs at night myth. They found greater weight loss and hormonal changes after 6 months diet with carbohydrates eaten mostly at dinner compared to a regular diet. A second theory to the “carbs at night make your fat” myth is that metabolic rate decreases after sunset. But this is far from being accurate. Our body is like a car that you can never turn off (unless you die of course); we are constantly burning calories throughout the day, the simple fact of living burns calories. And even if you consume a

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certain amount of calories that your body doesn’t need immediately, it will store them for later use. Your last meal from Monday night can fuel your workout for Tuesday morning. To say that a food in isolation is more fattening at 6:01pm than it is at 5:59pm is just nonsense. Myth #4: Calories don’t matter

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hey always will and I cannot stress this enough. To say that calories don’t matter is like saying you don’t believe in gravity, the laws of physics are what rule our entire existence; and don’t think that you’re somehow the exception of this rule. If you eat 5,000 calories a day you will gain weight, whether it’s chicken and brown rice or pop tarts and whey protein. It’s this excess that induces weight gain. That’s why we always have to take into account the caloric value of the food we eat, because no matter how healthy our food choices are, they can still add up to your total intake. The following graph is a perfect way of showing why calories matter.

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This graph shows us how our caloric intake is strongly correlated with the increase in obesity over the past 50 years. As you can see, the blue line shows the obesity rates and the green one shows how our caloric intake has increased over this time. You’ll notice that both have increased together. And this graph is only taking into account the average caloric intake of the general population. It is not taking into account our physical activity. Through the years and with new advancements in technology life has become so much easier; nowadays you can basically run your entire life from your smartphone sitting on your couch at home. Kids these days don’t ask for bike on Christmas, now they want an iPad. They

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no longer want a skateboard; they want a smart phone. So if you look at our physical activity and how it’s changed over time, you will notice it has decreased significantly. Just think about how much time you spend on the Internet and not outside performing physical activities. It’s easy to see this change in our lifestyles. We eat more and we move less; ¿is the increase in obesity really a mystery? Myth #5: High GI foods are bad for you

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he glycemic index (GI) is the foods ability to raise blood sugar. GI values are determined after an overnight fasted state using isolated foods. The problem with this is that this is not a reflection of a real life situation. When was the last time you woke up and ate a bowl of white rice by itself? Probably never I can imagine. A secondary factor that these values do not take into account is that when you eat a mixed meal – which is basically always – the GI is significantly altered. The presence of protein and/or fat in the meal can drastically change these values. Fiber, the digestion of previous meals, ripeness and even cooking methods can alter these numbers. So making food choices based on GI values

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doesn’t make much sense, to the point where it can sometimes become a problem. Because most fruits and vegetables are on the higher end of the GI values, so does that make them bad for you? Absolutely not, and it would be irresponsible to cut them out of the diet just because they rank high on the glycemic response. The major concern with people when it comes to GI values is that they are afraid of the insulin response from carbohydrates. What they fail to realize is that protein itself has the same effect on raising insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone, but its not only in charge of storing fat, it is also in charge of transporting amino acids into our muscles to feed them and make them grow. And it’s also important to note that the insulin response of a meal will never supersede the weight loss effects of a caloric deficit. And there comes certain disparities when comparing GI values to insulin response. For example: yogurt and milk are on the lower end of the glycemic index, yet their insulin index is comparable to that of white bread which is a high GI food. Baked beans are also a low GI food, yet they have an insulin index of 120. And it becomes even more problematic when you

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see that things like snickers bars, pizza and ice cream all have a low GI. And things like watermelon; cantaloupe and bananas rank high. So if you were to base your food choices on GI values that means you should choose pizza over watermelon, or snickers over bananas. ¿Does that seem logical to you? I sincerely hope not. Making food choices should be valued upon their nutritional value, caloric content and personal preference. Not by how they rank on the GI scale. Myth #6: Sugar is bad for you and should be avoided.

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Please be advised that if you suffer from diabetes or any other health related issue, you should consult your physician before seeking fitness consultation or following the advice stated next because carbs (sugar) have a different impact on you. Somehow sugar has been imprinted into our minds as one of the worst enemies to weight loss and overall health. ¿But is this fear unfounded?

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The main concern with sugar is its lack of micronutrients and fiber (vitamins & minerals), but this does not apply for all sources of sugar. Dairy and fruits are high in sugar, but they are also very high in micronutrients, and fiber in the case of fruits. One source of sugar that might cause concern, health wise, is refined sugars; Things like candy, lollipops, sodas, table sugar etc. the reason is that these foods tend to have little to no nutritional value, what some may call as “empty calories”, foods that provide calories but no nutrients. “Despite the epidemiological parallel between the marked increase of obesity and fructose consumption, there is no direct evidence linking obesity to the consumption of physiological amounts of fructose in humans (≤ 100g/day). A moderate dose (≤ 50g/day) of added fructose has no deleterious effect on fasting and postprandial triglycerides, glucose control and insulin resistance.” – Salwa Riskalla “In considering the volume of contemporary literature on fructose, 1 conclusion stands clear: fructose is safe at typical intake levels but can produce adverse metabolic effects when abused—as is true of most nutrients. It turns out that the largest abusers of fructose are not American consumers,

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but research scientists. It is only when researchers hyperdose human and animal subjects with fructose in amounts that exceed the 95th percentile by 1.5- to 3- and 4- to 5-fold, respectively, that adverse effects are provoked.”- John White “The practical take-away for the general population would be to keep added sugar (as opposed to intrinsic sugar in milk or whole fruit) limited to roughly 10% of total calories. This will allow for moderation & sane dietary practices while also hedging your bets away from the adverse potential of excess intake. Certain athletes involved in high-volume endurance competition (and other highly physically active folks) can safely exceed this in order to meet the demands of their sport.” -Alan Aragon ¿What is the take home message here? Sugar itself isn’t a problem and does not cause adverse health effects nor does it hinder fat loss, but its lack of nutrients (refined sugars specifically) makes it important to limit its intake. Because as I said before: nutrient dense foods should always be your priority, but also leave some room for enjoyment within the diet and practice flexibility with balance and moderation.

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And if you are a macro counter, just count sugar with your carbohydrates and remember to prioritize your consumption of fiber. Myth #7: Saturated fats are bad for you.

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sually dietary fats are divided into two groups: The “bad” fats (saturated and Trans) and the good fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). What’s important to note is that not all “bad” fats can be considered bad, and it’s the overall balance of that total fat intake that determines whether the diet is healthy or not. Trans fats are one of the few food components that are generally considered unhealthy, due to the strong correlation they have with heart diseases, but as I said before: not all “bad” fats are bad. CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) is a trans fat, yet it is a very common supplement used by the general population. The difference between CLA (a “good” trans fat) and the industrial trans fats is that CLA is naturally occurring in ruminant animals (cows, pigs, etc.) While industrial trans fats (the bad kind) are man made by a process called hydrogenation, in

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which vegetable oils are converted to solid fats by adding hydrogen atoms. The process of hydrogenation was first introduced to increase the shelf life and flavor stability of foods. But this way of “improving” certain foods came with a problem. The grand majority of the research suggests that these man made trans fats can be extremely detrimental to our well-being, so as a general recommendation its important to avoid them or keep them to an absolute minimum. Now lets talk about the rest of the fats within the diet (saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). These 3 groups are what make up our daily fat intake. Saturated fats can be found in butter, cheese, coconut, animal fats, processed meat, etc. Monounsaturated fats come in foods like avocados, peanut butter, nuts, seeds, olive oil, canola oil, etc. and polyunsaturated fats are predominantly in walnuts, sesame seeds, salmon, chia seeds, olive oil, etc. Generally all foods containing fat have a mixture of the different fats. For example: you will find saturated and monounsaturated fats in animal meats. You will also find that olive oil has both mono and polyunsaturated fats. The most important thing about your daily fat intake is knowing how to balance your saturat-

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ed, mono and poly fats in a 1:1:1 ratio. It’s not the avoidance of one or the other but the overall balance that will promote health. The problem is that western diets tend to be high in omega-6 and low in omega-3 with an approximate ratio of 15/1-16.7/1. * Omega 3, 6 and 9 are the essential fatty acids (EFA) This omega-3 deficiency found in todays western diets promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 exert suppressive effects. So its important to balance out your fat intake and avoid this disparity of high levels of omega-6 with low levels of omega-3, because not only will this improve your health but also your body’s inflammatory profile and will aid in the recovery of injuries.

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Myth #8: Sodium (salt) is bad for you

S

odium and potassium work together, they both impact blood pressure and a diet rich in potassium helps to counterbalance some of sodium’s harmful effects.

The usual dietary recommendations often focus on one or the other, without taking into account that both minerals work hand in hand. And it’s the imbalance between sodium and potassium in the average American diet that causes concern. We need to see these two as a duo and focus on the balance of these essential minerals, and not the avoidance of one or the other. Sodium and potassium are essential minerals for life. These two minerals are important for energy production, fluid balance and they assist the kidneys for proper function. Potassium enters the cells and pushes sodium out, and this process creates a chemical battery that drives the transmission of signals along nerves to power the contraction of muscles. In healthy individuals, the kidneys are in charge of excreting the excess sodium through the urine. In this process some potassium will be lost. And if potassium levels are low the body will attempt to hold on to it as much as possible, which means that it will

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also try to hold on to sodium. This causes an increase in water retention in the body since water follows sodium, which also increases the volume of blood in circulation. Due to these effects of sodium-potassium imbalances blood pressure rises and demands the heart to work harder. Excess sodium blunts the ability of blood vessels to relax and contract. All these negative responses of a high sodium intake can be counterbalanced with a high potassium intake. The average American diet is always higher in sodium than it is in potassium, and as research suggests, it’s the changing of this balance of these minerals that will help the heart and arteries and prevent a negative impact on our health. Increasing the amount of potassium in the diet is essential for overall health, and by increasing your potassium intake you counterbalance the negative effects of a high sodium intake. Now, this does not mean that sodium is bad; it’s still an essential mineral for life and should never be cut out completely. An extremely low sodium intake can be as damaging as a low potassium intake. So focus on increasing your potassium instead of avoiding sodium.

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The recommended amount of sodium per day is 2,500mg and for potassium its 4,700mg or a 2:1 Potassium/sodium ratio. Although in most cases athletes can safely exceed these sodium guidelines due to intense training, since sweat excretes sodium And on a side note: Sodium (salt) does not promote fat gain, it is physically impossible to gain fat on salt because it has no calories. In some cases it may cause some weight gain due to water retention, but this does not mean an increase in body fat. It just means your body is momentarily holding on to water because of an imbalance between sodium and potassium. But it will eventually find balance (homeostasis). Up until this point we have talked about the basics of nutrition and gone through the common myths that swarm the fitness industry. The reason why I talked about these myths is because it seems important to me to help you understand what dieting really is, and that the majority of protocols given out by diet gurus are mostly myths with no substantial evidence. And its all these myths that make people believe that dieting is actually a complicated task, when in reality

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it isn’t. All these myths do is complicate our lives. At the end of this book you will find all the scientific evidence to back up every single claim in this book, because I think its important that whatever protocols people follow, they should always contain sound scientific evidence to back it up. And the more I can teach you about nutrition, the better off you will be on your journey of finding that perfect physique and living a long and healthy lifestyle. ¡Now you know what Flexible Dieting is! Flexible dieting is about getting rid of all these myths and unnecessary restrictions. It’s about eating according to your body type, your individual requirements, your goals and your personal preference.

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LEARNING HOW TO READ FOOD LABELS   SERVING  SIZE:  A  serving  size  

CALORIES:  A  calorie  is  a   measure  of  energy  use.  Also   listed  is  the  number  of   calories  from  fat.  The   general  rule  is  that  20-­‐30%   of  your  calories  should  come   from  fat.

is  usually  less  than  most   people  eat.  If  you  eat  2   servings,  make  sure  you   double  the  calories  and  all  of   the  daily  values.  When   comparing  foods,  make  sure,   the  servings  sizes  are  the   same.

%DAILY  VALUE:  This  shows   how  much  of  the   recommended  amounts  of   these  nutrients  are  in  one   serving  (based  on  a  2,000   calorie  diet).  These   percentages  make  it  easy  to   compare  one  brand  with   another,  just  make  sure  the   serving  sizes  are  the  same.

FAT:  This  lists  the  total   amount  of  fat  in  one  serving.   Try  to  limit  the  amount  of   Trans  fats  you  eat. CHOLESTEROL:    Limit  to   300mg  a  day. SODIUM:  Should  be  less   than  2400mg  of  sodium   (salt)  each  day,  or  counter-­‐ balance  a  high  sodium  intake   with  a  high  potassium   intake.

VITAMINS  &  MINERALS:   This  shows  you  how  much  of   the  recommended  amount   of  certain  vitamins  and   minerals  are  in  food.  Your   goal  is  to  reach  100%  for   each  vitamin  and  mineral   every  day.

CARBOHYDRATES:  These   help  give  you  energy.  They   are  found  in  bread,  pasta,   potatoes,  fruits  and   vegetables.  Good  sources  of   fiber  include  fruits,   vegetables,  whole  grains,   and  beans.  Try  to  eat  20-­‐35g   of  fiber  per  day.

RECOMMENDED   AMOUNTS:  Here  you  can   see  the  recommended  daily   amount  for  each  nutrient  for   2  calorie  levels:  a  2,000   calorie  and  a  2,500  calorie   daily  diet.  Your   recommended  daily  calories   may  be  higher  or  lower   depending  on  your  age,   gender,  and  how  active  you   are.

PROTEIN:  Protein  helps   build  muscle.  It  is  found  in   meat,  nuts,  fish,  poultry  and   dry  beans.  Preferably  choose   lean  sources  of  protein.

Source: Adapted from: http:/nutrition.about. com/od/recipesmenus/ss/learnlabels.htm

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HOW TO CALCULATE CALORIC REQUIREMENTS The following chart will help you set up your caloric requirements adequate to your goal.

If your goal is to burn fat (weight loss) then you will have to create a negative energy balance (caloric deficit). If your goal is to build muscle (weight gain) you will create a positive energy balance (caloric surplus). Or if your goal is simply to maintain your current weight, you will need an isocaloric balance (maintenance calories).

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Generally when we want to calculate our caloric requirements, we do it based on our weight, age, height, sex, physical activity, body fat percentage, muscle mass, metabolic capacity and our goal. But in the following formulas I will teach you how to calculate your daily requirements in a much easier way, and its based on our daily physical activity and our weight. For those of you on the metric system, if you want to know your weight in pounds you will simply multiply your weight in kilograms by 2.2. Knowing your weight in pounds will now allow you to use the following chart to calculate your calories Activity Level

Goal: Weight Loss

Goal: Weight Maintenance

Goal: Weight gain

Sedentary

Body weight (lbs.) x 10-12

Body weight (lbs.) x 12-14

Body weight (lbs.) x 14-16

Body weight (lbs.) x 12-14

Body weight (lbs.) x 14-16

Body weight (lbs.) x 16-18

Body weight (lbs.) x 14-16

Body weight (lbs.) x 16-18

Body weight (lbs.) x 18

(Minimal exercise)

Moderately Active:

(3 4 Times a week)

Very Active:

7 Times a week)

* Kilograms x 2.2 = Lbs. Now you know your caloric requirements, now its time to set this up in macronutrients.

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ADJUSTING MACRONUTRIENT RATIOS Step 2: Calculating protein intake * If you are over weight, use your target weight as a guideline

P

rotein requirements may vary according to your current goal. A general guideline for adequate protein intake is (1g x bodyweight (lbs.)) for active individuals that train on a regular basis. If a persona does not workout, protein requirements will be about half that. During a caloric deficit protein requirements will slightly increase above the (1g x bodyweight (lbs.)). This is because when you restrict calories your body is going to be in a catabolic state (breakdown of tissue), meaning that the chances of losing muscle mass increases. So to avoid this loss of lean mass in the process of a fat loss approach, we increase protein to have a higher intake and make sure that your muscles are adequately fed to maintain the muscle mass you already have. The adequate intake for protein during a fat loss phase can be anywhere between 1g and 1.3g x bodyweight (lbs.).

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If you have just started a fat loss approach you can start with (1g x bodyweight (lbs.)) and the further you go into the diet, the more you will increase your protein intake. For example: • Weeks 1-4: (1g x bodyweight (lbs.)) • Weeks 5-8: (1.1g x bodyweight (lbs.)) • Weeks 9-12: (1.2g x bodyweight (lbs.)) • Weeks 12 and beyond: (1.3g x bodyweight (lbs.)) These are the general guidelines for protein during caloric restriction. For maintenance or weight gain (lean mass phase) protein intake can remain at 1g x bodyweight (lbs.) the entire time. There’s really no need for more than that while caloric intake is at maintenance or above. This is because our body does not have the capacity to utilize exceeding amounts of protein for protein synthesis; you will get more benefit by increasing your carbohydrates during this time.

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Step 3: Calculating fat intake Fat requirements will be set up between 0.25g 0.5g x bodyweight (lbs.). The amount of fat you choose between these guidelines can be based on personal preference for both weight loss or weight gain. For those of you who are going through a gaining phase and have a hard time fitting in so many calories, I would recommend shooting for the higher end of these guidelines, or maybe even above that. The reason why a higher fat intake can be beneficial during a gaining phase is because at times people tend to have difficulty eating so much, and since fat provides more calories per gram than any other macro, it can help you reach those extra calories you need without necessarily feeling the fullness that protein or carbs give you.

Step 4: Carbohydrates Your carb intake depends on your caloric requirements. Carbs should fill in the rest of the calories you have left to hit your daily needs according to your goals.

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Now gather round boys and girls. Math class is now in session: Calories per gram: • 1g Protein = 4 calories • 1g Carbohydrates = 4 calories • 1g Fat = 9 calories Example: A 160 lb. moderately active male is in a caloric deficit at 2,240 calories 160lb x 14 = 2,240 calories His macros will be the following: Protein: 1g x 160lb. = 160g Fat: 0.45g x 160lb. = 72g This would be the equivalent of 1,288 calories. (160 x 4 = 640), (72 x 9 = 648) (640 + 648 = 1,288)

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So the 952 calories he has left to hit 2,240 calories should come from carbohydrates, which would be 238g. (2,240 – 1,288 = 952) (952/4 = 238). End result: Calories: 2,240 Macros: Carbs: 238g / Protein: 160g / Fat: 72g One thing that I want to point out here is that the bigger the deficit the greater the weight loss. BUT, fast weight loss is not a good thing. You want to aim for losing around 1 to 2 pounds per week, any more than that is going to increase catabolism and compromise your hard earned gains. Now lets do this same example but with a lean mass phase approach Its important to note that during a lean mass phase (caloric surplus) some fat gains are expected. This is due to the fact that a caloric surplus (overfeeding) causes our body to go into an anabolic state, meaning a state of growth. During this time our muscles will be sufficiently fed with adequate macro/calories to promote growth. The only issue is that this surplus of calories comes

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with an unwanted side effect, fat gains. But don’t worry; the fat you gain isn’t going to be much, that’s why we count macros! To avoid getting “too fat” in the process of a caloric surplus, we control the surplus. What I mean is that we cant allow that the surplus of calories be too big. Because the bigger the surplus of calories the more weight you will gain. BUT, fast weight gain just like fast weight loss is not a good thing, because your body does not have the capacity to build enormous amounts of muscle in a short period of time – at least naturally it doesn’t – but for people using AAS (androgenic anabolic steroids) it’s a whole different story, but that’s a sensible topic that will not be included in this book. During a gaining phase you want to aim for about 1 to 2 pound increases per month. The process of growing muscle mass naturally is a very slow and tedious process; so it’s important for you to be patient and focus on the long-term goal and not try to rush into things. Because if you try and gain too much weight too fast you’ll only be working against yourself by putting on unnecessary fat.

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Example: A 160 lb. moderately active male is in a caloric surplus at 2,880 calories. (160lb x 18 = 2,880 calories) His macros will be the following: Protein: 1g x 160lb. = 160g Fat: 0.5g x 160lb. = 80g This would be the equivalent of 1,360 calories. (160 x 4 = 640), (80 x 9 = 720) (640 + 720 = 1,360) So the 1,520 calories he has left to hit 2,880 calories should come from carbohydrates, which would be 380g. (2,880 – 1,360 = 1,520) (1,520/4 = 380). End result: Calories: 2,880 Macros: Carbs: 380g / Protein: 160g / Fats: 80g Something that is important to take into account with these macro calculations is that these are not perfect numbers; they are basic estimations to help you get started on the right track. And a

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secondary factor – which is a very important one – is the metabolic adaptations that occur when dieting. Metabolic adaptations are a way of your body trying to adapt to a certain amount of calories you give it. This is your body looking for homeostasis. Homeostasis by definition is: a series of highly complex interactions in which the body tries to find balance. This balance is a built in survival mechanism in our body that adapts to its environment. Losing weight (caloric deficit) is basically a “controlled starvation”. We underfeed our body in order for it to cannibalize itself by eating away our fat stores. Our body perceives this as a threat to your life and tries to adapt in a way that your life will no longer be threatened. In this search of homeostasis our body responds by reducing our metabolic rate during this time under an energy deficit. This way the body adapts to the amount of calories it is receiving and finds homeostasis again. This adaptation is what makes the dieting process such a difficult task to endure. Because the further into the diet you go, the greater the metabolic and hormonal adaptations; and these

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adaptations start working against you. So with time these macro calculations will have to be readjusted to break through those adaptations. I generally never recommend restricting calories for more than 20 weeks at a time, because at a certain point this attempt to lose weight starts doing more harm than good, so its important to come out of that deficit every once in a while and apply nutrient periodization. Nutrient periodization is simply changing your goals every few months by changing the amount of calories you take in. This is important because of the hormonal and metabolic adaptations that I was just talking about. In the following chart you will see the series of adaptations that occur inside our body while we are in a diet to gain (overfeeding) or lose (underfeeding) weight. Overfeeding

Underfeeding

Calories

Increases

Decreases

Insulin

Increases

Decreases

Testosterone

Increases

Decreases

Growth hormone

Increases

Increases

Thyroid

Increases

Decreases

Cortisol

Decreases

Increases

Leptin

Increases

Decreases

Ghrelin

Decreases

Increases

Protein synthesis

Increases

Decreases

Body fat

Increases

Decreases

Muscle mass

Increases

Decreases

Net effect

Anabolism

Catabolism

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An example of what happens when we are losing weight (caloric restriction) is an increase in cortisol (stress hormone), reduction in testosterone production and reduced leptin (satiety hormone). Leptin is the hormone in charge of telling our brain that we are full, and without that hormone our brain doesn’t receive that message. This is a common issue that you can see very often, this happens to people that have been dieting for a while and start suffering binge episodes. They feel an immense amount of hunger and when they given in, it feels like they can eat the world and never be full. Another hormone that affects appetite is ghrelin, this hormone is in charge of telling our brain that we are hungry and need food, and when we are in a deficit our body increases the production of this hormone to make us eat, this in turn makes the dieting process difficult, because this hormone is constantly telling us to eat, which would not allow us to be in that deficit that we need. Now you know why dieting is never an easy task, it’s the reason why discipline and patience are everything when it comes to reaching your goals. But the more I get you to understand how your body works, the more you will know to fight these adaptations and learn how to diet in the most optimal way for you. In one of the following chapters I will teach you how to break these adaptations, its what we call ‘reverse dieting’.

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*Notes: • The average weight loss expected with the calculations stated in this section of the book is 1 to 2 pounds (0.5-1kg) per week. • The average weight gain expected with the calculations stated above is 1 to 3 pounds (0.45 - 1.3 kg) per month, depending on the metabolic capacity of the individual. • For faster weight loss you will have to create a larger caloric deficit, which I would not advise. • For faster weight gain you will have to create a larger surplus of calories, which I would not advise. • Weight gain or loss is not a linear process, so weight changes may not always be as expected. • When it comes to burning fat and building muscle, slow and steady wins the race. ¡Be patient! Now that you know how to calculate your macros/calories according to your individual goals we can move on to the next topic.

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STRUCTURED REFEEDS

“

Refeed” is just a fancy word for a ‘high carb day’. High carb days have a series of benefits that can assist you while in the process of losing weight. Keep in mind that refeeds are only necessary while restricting calories. When and how to structure refeeds depends on several different factors: 1. The amount of body fat you have. 2. The amount of time spent under caloric. restriction. 3. Your sense of hunger. 4. Your energy levels. Taking into account these 4 factors will depend how and when you add refeeds. Refeeds are one day of the week when you will increase your carbohydrate intake significantly. This increase of carbohydrates can be anywhere between (1.5 – 3 x daily carb intake). As a general recommendation an increase of (2 x daily carb intake) is good enough to get the best out of these high carb days. The only reason why I would suggest an increase of (3 x daily carb intake) is if you’ve been dieting for more than 16

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weeks and your daily carbohydrate intake is below 70-90 grams. So for example: If you’re daily carbs are at is 150 grams, on a reefed day you will double this amount (2 x daily carb intake (150) = 300g). This increase of 150 grams of carbohydrate means a total increase of 600 calories over your regular daily amount. (150 x 4 = 600). Remember that as we said before: each gram of carbohydrates is equivalent to 4 calories. Refeeds are more of a ‘how you feel’ kind of thing, since the longer you diet for, the harder things become. This is when refeeds come into play, to help you go through the dieting process. For those of you that have just started a fat loss phase, refeeds won’t be necessary. Only after about a couple of months into your diet should you consider adding these high carb days once every 2 weeks. This is when your energy levels will start feeling compromised and hunger will start becoming a problem. For those of you below 15% (Men) 20% (Women) body fat or those that have been dieting for about 3 months or more can consider adding refeeds once a week. And for those below 10% (Men) 15%

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(Women) body fat or that have been dieting for a while now and probably have a low carb-high protein intake can consider adding them even twice a week, because at this point the dieting process becomes more difficult to endure. And your energy levels are probably low and your strength is suffering, so adding these high carb days can help you improve in that aspect. Refeed benefits: a common misconception about refeeds is their ability to raise leptin (satiety hormone), this hormone is made by fat cells to regulate the amount of fat stored in the body. In other words: • High leptin = less appetite • Less appetite = less calories ingested • Less calories ingested = less fat stored The drop in leptin is a survival mechanism that tells us to eat and not starve to death. And since dieting is basically a controlled starvation, our leptin drops in an attempt to avoid this “starvation”. So the whole idea behind refeeds was to have a high carb day or a “cheat meal” – like some gurus suggest – to raise leptin and turn your body into a fat burning machine. But this simply isn’t true, although carbohydrates do have the ability

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to raise leptin, a 24-hour reefed is not sufficient to ‘tell’ the brain that you’re fed, and leptin levels will drop again very quickly. But this does not mean that refeeds are useless, they still have a variety of benefits that can help you while dieting. Benefits: 1. Lower cortisol (stress hormone) 2. Increase serotonin (happy hormone) 3. Boost in energy 4. Restore glycogen stores 5. Increased thyroid function 6. Decrease catabolism 7. Mental break from dieting Keep in mind that a refeed day is NOT a cheat day, and it is not an excuse to overindulge or binge. You will have a lot more room to fit in ‘treats’ that you don’t usually eat much, but a refeed must be structured and controlled to bring out the benefits of it. And the day you include a refeed during the week is completely up to you, I generally recommend including it on your hardest training day of the week or the day before it to give you that extra push to go through that workout.

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BREAKING PLATEAUS:

E

ventually you will hit a plateau when it comes to losing fat or building muscle; this occurs because of the metabolic adaptations caused by underfeeding (calorie deficit) or overfeeding (calorie surplus). Under a caloric deficit you lose weight, less weight to carry means less calories to burn, which means your metabolism will start to slow down due to fewer energy demands. What this means is that your body will eventually demand less energy (calories) to function. This metabolic adaptation is one of the reasons why people hit weight loss plateaus, because it turns out that your body doesn’t need the energy it needed when you were weighing 20+ pounds over your current weight, and in its search for homeostasis it has adapted to fewer calories. So what do you do to break this fat loss plateau? You have 2 options: • Increase physical activity • Decrease caloric intake By increasing your physical activity you will burn

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more calories and create a greater caloric deficit. Or you can keep physical activity the same and just decrease calories. This will break the metabolic adaptation and put you in a caloric deficit and weight loss will occur again. Now let’s talk about how much you should increase your physical activity or reduce your caloric intake. For physical activity you can increase the amount of cardio you do a week. For example: If you’re currently doing 3 20-minute cardio sessions a week, you can increase this to 4 cardio sessions. Or increase the 3 20-minute cardio sessions to 3 40-minute cardio sessions. In most cases this should be enough to see weight loss occur again. In the case that this increase in physical activity isn’t enough to break through this plateau, you will have to decrease your caloric intake. How many calories should you reduce? This reduction can be from 70 to 100 calories from your current intake.

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These calories will be reduced mainly from your carbohydrates. Remember, 1g of carbs = 4 calories. So a 100-calorie reduction means reducing 25g of carbohydrates from your current macros. For example: Your current macros and calories are the following: Calories: 2, 200 Macros: Carbs 248g / Fat 61g / Protein 165g To break this fat loss plateau you will reduce 20g of carbs, which is an 80-calorie reduction from your current intake. This would leave you at the following macros: Calories: 2,120 Macros: Carbs 228g / Fat 61g / Protein 165g This should be enough to break through your fat loss plateau while in the process taking care of your metabolism and your hard earned gains. It’s important that the adjustments you make to your diet or training are subtle and as less drastic as possible. Drastic changes like absurd amounts of

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cardio or extremely low calories may give you fast results but they are terrible for long-term success. You also have the option of slightly reducing your fat intake if you want to save up a few grams of carbs. This means you will trade fat macros for carb macros and adjust according to the caloric reduction. Breaking muscle gain plateaus: During a gaining phase (caloric surplus) you have the same metabolic adaptations that occur during fat loss, only this time things are the other way around. Your metabolic rate increases, leptin increases and ghrelin decreases, etc. all these adaptations will make you hit plateaus and will demand more food to break them. How many calories should you increase? During s surplus the increase of calories can be a bit more than what you would generally decrease during fat loss to break through plateaus. This increase can be anywhere between 150 and 300 calories mainly coming from carbohydrates. You can also add more fat during this time if you prefer. But protein will remain the same the whole time, there’s really no need for changes in your

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protein intake while in a surplus. For example: Your current macros and calories are the following: Calories: 2,965 Macros: Carbs 430/ Protein 165g / Fat 65g To break this plateau lets say you increased 200 calories coming from carbohydrates, meaning 50 grams (200/4 = 50). Or you can also add some fat by increasing slightly less carbs to exchange them for a few grams of fat. For example: 40g of carbs + 5g of fat = 205 calories So after the increase of 205 calories (carbs + fat) you will end up with the following macros: Calories: 3,170 Macros: Carbs 470g / Protein 165g / Fat 70g During a gaining phase breaking through plateaus is done by increasing macros, during this time adding more physical activity (cardio) will actually be counterproductive because it means you will burn more calories overall. But as a general recommendation always keep in cardio year

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round, whether your goal is weight gain or weight loss, always keep in some form of weekly cardio. During a gaining phase do a minimum of 1 or 2 sessions per week to keep your physical endurance high. And remember that your heart is also a muscle, so work on it! *Notes: • Weight gain or weight loss is not a linear process. And while you should expect some weekly changes, these will not always occur as predicted, so do not change your macros very frequently. Wait at least 2 to 3 weeks before readjusting your numbers. • Be patient! Changing your macros too frequently searching for fast result can do you more harm than good in the long run. • Macro adjustments are better if they are subtle. This way you are less likely to lose muscle during a deficit and you will also be less likely to gain fat during a surplus.

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REACHING SINGLE DIGIT BODY FAT:

W

hen it comes to reaching extreme levels of body fat it’s important to understand that men and women carry different amounts of adipose tissue. The minimum fat percentage in men is 3-4%, while in women it’s more around 9-11%. Now when I say minimum I mean the absolute minimum body fat required to sustain life. Anything below this can cause your body to completely shut down. So I need you to understand what a realistic goal is when it comes to optimal body fat percentage. And this may vary from person to person.

For competitive athletes prepping for a bodybuilding show, hitting that 4% body fat (men) and 9% (women) is a must. It’s what’s going to make the difference between 1st place and last. But for the regular gym goer I do not recommend trying to hit such low levels of body fat. Why? Because it’s dangerous and unnecessary, and not to mention the fact that being that low on body fat can only be achieved for a few days at a time, you cannot sustain that conditioning and be healthy.

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Reaching very low levels of body fat will make the dieting process a lot more difficult. This is because our body has several survival mechanisms and being shredded is going against most of them. Adipose tissue is one of them; it’s how our body stores calories in the case it might need them for later use. The less body fat, the fewer chances we have to survive in a famine state. And even though in this modern age there’s really no reason for us to be in a famine, our body is still built to survive such conditions. This is due to millions of years of evolution. Because if you think about it; we’ve only really been overfeeding ourselves for the past 50 to 100 years, how do you think living organisms fed themselves 10 million years ago? Or even just a few centuries ago? People didn’t have the food availability that we have nowadays. So reaching extreme levels of body fat is basically fighting against your body’s natural instincts of survival, that’s why it’s not a simple endeavor. But nonetheless, everyone wants to get “shredded”, so I’ll teach you how! When it comes to extreme levels of body fat, we sometimes need drastic measures, and this is

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where an old method called “carb cycling” comes into play. Not everyone will need to do carb cycling, because genetics play an important role when it comes to how we store fat. Some people are just naturally lean, while others are naturally thick. So you can guess who has a harder time achieving single digits. How do we apply carb cycling? You will have some low carb days to promote fat loss, some normal carb days and some high carb days (refeeds) to replenish glycogen stores and promote muscle growth or prevent muscle loss (catabolism). You can do the following protocol: Day 1: Low carb Day 2: Low carb Day 3: Moderate carb Day 4: Low carb Day 5: High carb Day 6: High carb Day 7: Moderately high carb During this process fat and protein macros will remain pretty much the same as you’ve had them before starting to cycle your carbs. Only on high

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carb days you will reduce your protein intake by 20%, this will avoid going to high on calories that given day. Low carb days are going to be the most difficult to endure, for these days you will set your carb macros to 25% only. This means that if on your normal days you have 200g of carbs, you will drop this to 50g of carbs. And as I stated above: protein and fat will remain the same. On moderate days carbs will be established at 75% of total carbs, meaning that on these days if you had 200g of carbs you will drop them to 150g. On high carb days you will double your total amount of carbohydrates. This means that on these reefed days you will increase carbs from your current 200g to a total of 400g. And on moderately high carb days you will maintain the 200g of carbs you started with. Now let me set this in an example: * Carbohydrate set point is currently at 200 grams. Day 1: Low Carb (25%) = 50g Day 2: Low Carb (25%) = 50g

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Day 3: Moderate Carb (75%) = 150g Day 4: Low Carb (25%) = 50g Day 5: High Carb (200%) = 400g Day 6: High Carb (200%) = 400g Day 7: Moderately High Carb (100%) = 200g Keep in mind that as you manipulate your carbs, your calories will also change. Meaning that when you have low carb days this also means it’s a low calorie day. Now I want to point out that carb cycling is not absolutely necessary for achieving low levels of body fat. A linear deficit can also help you achieve your desired leanness. If you notice in the example the total of weekly carbohydrates adds up to 1,300 grams. In a linear deficit you can also just set your carbs to 185g per day and you will achieve the same 1,300 grams of the week.

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So as I stated earlier in this chapter, carb cycling is not necessary for everyone, but for some, this way of cycling carbohydrates can help them burn off those last few pounds of stubborn fat. Or like some might say “it’s just another way to slice the cake”. And remember, you can only lose so much fat, at some point you will need to stop and begin a reverse diet (I’ll explain that in the next chapter). * Notes: • Calories will change depending on the amount of carbs of the day; low carb days are also low calorie days. • Remember that on high carb days you will reduce protein by 20% • Carb cycling is only meant for those that already have low levels of body fat. Sub 10% men, sub 15% women; and are trying to achieve a stage ready physique. • If you do not fall within these guidelines, a linear fat loss approach is sufficient.

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THE REVERSE DIETING PROTOCOL

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everse dieting is one of the most important steps to make fat loss successful. Yet few people actually know what it is and why it’s such a big deal for long-term weight management. A general estimate says that about 95% of all dieters fail to achieve their longterm goals. This is mainly because most people learn how to lose fat, but never learn how to keep it off once the fat loss goal is achieved. Keeping the weight off once you’ve lost it is not an easy task, and you’ve probably seen this problem occur to many people, the-oh so dreaded “rebound” effect. You see individuals lose 30, 40 and even 50 pounds in a matter of months; and out of nowhere they somehow gain it all back again with a few extra pounds on top of it in the same time it took them to lose it or in some cases even faster. ¿Why does this happen? In the process of dieting (caloric restriction) to lose weight everyone focuses on how to lose fat as fast as possible, but they don’t think about what happens after they lose that unwanted fat.

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¿What do you do after you’ve lost all that weight? ¿What happens to your diet? ¿Do you just stop and go back to your normal life? ¿Do you just go back to your old eating habits? ¡No, no and no! You don’t want to throw months or even years of dieting down the drain by gaining it all back again, especially after you’ve gone through so much and know how hard dieting really is. ¡You need to make this goal a long-term change! Reverse dieting is a process you have to go through after you have completed your fat loss phase, because you cant expect to lose weight forever right? There has to be an end to caloric restriction. So here’s where we make sure your fat loss goal is a long-term success. The process of reverse dieting has two major goals: 1. Restoring your metabolic capacity in order to increase your calories and have a high intake of food in the diet to maintain good energy levels,

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strength and health. 2. Slowly transition into a “bulk” to start a lean mass-gaining phase. After prolonged periods of dieting (caloric restriction) your body goes through a series of adaptations in order to “survive” this “starvation”. One of the major adaptations that occur under caloric restriction is “metabolic slow down”. What this means is that your metabolism adapts to the amount of calories you are giving it and slows down in an effort to sustain life. Since your body is not receiving the calories it needs to maintain its normal physiological functions, it needs to find a way to survive on fewer amounts of calories. To do so not only does your metabolism slow down, but it also reduces the production of most hormones. This is a common problem that fitness/bodybuilding competitors have when trying to achieve extreme levels of leanness. With low calories and low body fat their body basically goes into “survival mode” by shutting down important physiological functions like hormone production. Women tend to lose their period (amenorrhea) and in men testosterone production can sometimes come to a complete halt. This is the body saying:

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“we are not at a healthy state where reproduction is an option”. So it’s important that we understand what we need to do to come out of this “survival mode”. If you’ve been through a fat loss phase before you know how much worse dieting gets the further along the road you’re into it. Hunger increases, energy and strength decrease and mood swings become a frequent issue. These are all common side effects of dieting and low body fat. This is because hormonally you’re in a downfall; testosterone, growth hormone, leptin (satiety hormone), thyroid (T3) all decrease. While Ghrelin (hunger hormone), Cortisol (stress hormone) increase, etc. Everything in your body starts working against you. This may seem like a lot of info to take in, but it’s important to understand how your body works and why you can’t stay in a perpetual fat loss mindset. If you want that homeostasis, that healthy balance in your body, ¡you need to eat more food! ¡You can’t restrict calories forever! You’re probably thinking… Well, yeah, I want to be healthy but I also want to maintain this body that was so hard to achieve.

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¡Well, then you reverse diet and get yourself the hell out of that deficit! This is where Reverse Dieting comes into play; this is the step we take after we achieve our fat loss goals. With reverse dieting you will slowly increase your caloric intake over time to increase your metabolic capacity. A healthier metabolism means more chances for long-term success. First of all, I’m going to explain reverse dieting for the general population; I’ll talk about competitive bodybuilding in a minute. For those of you who have come to the end of your fat loss phase, and have achieved a certain degree of leanness and just want to maintain that desired physique or maybe even transition into a lean bulk, you will start to increase your calories over time. This increase in calories will come primarily from carbohydrates and fat. Protein can stay the same, there’s no need to be changing protein or increasing it beyond the normal 1g – 1.3g / lb (2.2g -2.8 / kg). Unless of course you prefer a higher protein intake which is completely fine. These increases in calories will be done on a weekly basis. The length of the reverse diet can vary from person to person and on the severity

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of their past diet. I generally recommend a minimum of 4 weeks of reverse dieting. Some may even go up to 12 weeks, but in my opinion this is just way too long, unless during this time you intend to transition into a gaining phase; which by 12 weeks should probably have you a long way into your surplus of calories. Now let’s talk about how big these increases should be: There’s been a lot of debate about how much you should increase your calories every week. Some say that you should increase as slow as 3 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fat, which means an increase of 21 calories per week. For me, this is ABSURD! 21 calories won’t make a difference at all; these numbers are so low that they will just be lost in general daily macro counting. And on top of that, the macros/calories on the nutrition label of a certain food are just estimations, they are never perfect numbers. So no, don’t make such small increases, this will not help you at all and will only drive you crazy.

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Let me put this in an example: Let’s say someone is in a deficit on 1,400 calories a day (I’m going to use easy numbers for this), and let’s assume that their maintenance calories are somewhere around 2,000 calories per day. It will take that person around 28 weeks just to come out of that deficit and bring up their calories to maintenance, that’s illogical! So no, don’t reverse diet so slow. My recommendation is making increases between 80 and 150 calories per week, depending on the person and how long and hard they dieted before. In most cases I recommend a big jump in calories in the first 2 weeks, something around 200 calories for week 1 and 2. For week 3 and further it can vary. Sometimes you can push someone’s metabolism and make big increases, and sometimes you’ll have people that their metabolism just doesn’t work as well and you’ll have to make smaller increases. Now let me give you an example of what a reverse diet SHOULD be: And keep in mind that these are just numbers I find have worked best for my clients, no macros are written in stone so it’s just a matter of experimenting with yourself and seeing how your body reacts over time.

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*Reminder Calories per gram: Carbs: 4 calories Protein: 4 calories Fat: 9 calories Again, I’m going to use easy numbers just to help you guys understand without getting into too much unnecessary math. Let’s say someone just ended their diet with the following calories/macros. Calories: 1,400 Macros: Protein 150g / Carbs 87g / Fat 50g So for week 1 we are going to make a big increase right away and see how things go by adding 30 grams of carbs and 9g of fat; this is a total of 201 calories. (30x4=120) + (9x9=81) = 201 Calories. So macros for week 1 are the following: Calories: 1,601 Macros: Protein 150g / Carbs 117g / Fat 59g If after week one your weight has remained the

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same, then you can make another big increase. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter if you choose to add just carbs or carbs plus fat; it all really comes down to personal preference. The important thing is to increase your calories/macros gradually over time, don’t just end your diet with a binge and start eating anything and everything in sight. For weeks 3 and further I generally recommend slowing down your increases, anything between 80 to 150 calories is a good number. The reason why the first couple of weeks have bigger increases is because it’s important to get you out of that deficit as fast as possible, but at the same time making sure you don’t rebound. The goal with reverse dieting is to slowly restore your metabolic capacity. While minimizing fat gains. BUT, some weight gain is expected, so don’t get scared if the number on the scale slightly increases, guide yourself by what you see in the mirror. If and when your weight starts increasing too rapidly, then you can stop increasing calories and stick to those numbers until you see your weight level again, or you may have to take a step back with your macros to avoid gaining too much weight.

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If your goal is to just maintain and you weight is increasing rapidly, that means you have surpassed your maintenance calories and you will have to make one decrease in calories and go back to the macros you had before you started gaining weight. At that point you can just keep your macros/calories the same during the time you wish to maintain your weight. At this point weight maintenance will be a lot easier because you will have a lot more calories to play with, and your caloric intake will be high enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle and enough for you to enjoy good food. For dieters that want to transition into a lean bulk, I recommend reverse dieting until the point that you start gaining weight at a slow pace. For example: if on week 6 you haven’t gained weight, but then on week 7 you made a new increase and you did, that means you have reached your caloric surplus. This means enough calories to help you start building lean mass. So stick to those macros/calories that began to increase the number on the scale. This way you know you are in an energy surplus and your body will start building muscle mass. The surplus will be small, but this is a good thing, because this way you will

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avoid gaining too much unwanted fat in the process of bulking. Because too many calories over your maintenance, and you will gain too much unnecessary fat; so keep the surplus small and be consistent. I recommend a gain rate of about 2-3 lb. (1-1.5 kg) per month. Now for those of you that compete in bodybuilding, bikini, etc. it’s important to understand that you cannot walk around with the conditioning you had on stage. You have to let yourself gain some fat post show to restore hormonal imbalances. Your body will always seek survival, and being shredded is not healthy nor is it optimal for survival, so it perceives it as a threat to your life and will do everything possible to restore your wellbeing. So allow yourself to gain some amount of weight, and fat post show; The same protocols stated above apply for you also, at first make a big increase then followed by smaller increases. The amount of time needed to restore your metabolic capacity depends on a few different factors. 1. The amount of time spent under caloric restriction. The longer you have dieted for, the more

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time you will have to spend reverse dieting. 2. The amount of calories and carbs you were dieting on. If your diet consisted of very low calories and low carbs for a prolonged period of time you will have to take things a little slower than usual, so I recommend shooting for the lower end of the given guidelines. This applies specially for those who have been on ketogenic diets. 3. Your future goal. After a fat loss phase some will just want to maintain the body they have by keeping the fat off. In this case you will reverse diet until you are on as many calories needed to maintain a healthy life style while not gaining weight. For those of you who want to build muscle after losing the unwanted fat I recommend going through the reverse dieting process and slowly transition into a lean bulk (caloric surplus). Training and reverse dieting: Your training will also change during the process. A general recommendation when reverse dieting is to slowly decrease the amount of cardio you

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are doing over time. This way we will not just increase caloric intake, but we will also slightly decrease caloric expenditure. So if a person is doing five cardio sessions per week consisting of 1 to 2 hours each, you will start to decrease this amount every week or two. It can be by eliminating an entire cardio session, or you can also decrease the time of the cardio sessions. I recommend that you keep at least 2 cardio sessions per week year round. Cardio is a good tool to always keep in your training routine, just don’t abuse of it. *Notes: 1. Keep in mind that reverse dieting is mainly a metabolic recovery process, and fat loss is not the goal here. 2. Being consistent with your reverse diet plan can be as important as your fat loss diet if you want to make sure that the weight you lost stays off. 3. Try to be as accurate as possible with your macros. 4. If you use My Fitness Pal to track your macros

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you will not be able to set up your reverse dieting macros, since MFP only allows changes of 5% per macro. So you will have to keep your macro targets separate from the app. 5. Reverse dieting is crucial for long-term success; so do NOT neglect the process.

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NUTRIENT PERIODIZATION

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hat I mean by nutrient periodization is simple. It means that you will divide your nutrient intake (caloric deficit, maintenance and caloric surplus) over different periods of time. The reason why this is important is because in our quest to change our physique we need to constantly change the focus of our goals.

Many people think that you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time, but this is far from being likely. Our body grows if it has a sufficient amount of calories to grow off of. And it loses weight when there is a deficit of energy in which our body will have to turn to our fat stores in order to fill in this energy gap. Building an amazing physique takes years, it’s not done in a few weeks and it’s not achieved by just shedding off a few pounds of fat. The complexity of this endeavor is far beyond this simplicity. If you want a great physique you will have to work for it. Nutrient periodization is important for a few things.

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As stated above in the past chapter on reverse dieting you probably have a good understanding about what happens when you restrict calories and why its important to come out of that energy deficit. But it is also important to help you build that physique that you’ve always dreamed of. Because simply losing fat is not enough, you need to build muscle to shape your body. Without the muscle you’ll only look “skinny-fat”. So going through a gaining phase should be a part of your goals if you want to build that muscle mass. If you’re beginning this program being over weight then you should focus primarily on losing fat, after you’ve lost a good amount of weight then you can start a gaining phase to focus on building muscle to make some significant gains. If on the other hand, you are one of those people that are already skinny but cant seem to achieve the body you’re looking for, its because you need to build muscle to create that aesthetic shape. There’s a very common problem that I see way too often, and its young boys and girls trying to achieve that cover model body by losing weight. But what they don’t seem to understand is that those models on the cover of fitness magazines didn’t achieve that physique by just losing fat. That person has probably been training for years

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non stop, and thanks to those years of training and consistent dieting they have managed to build a significant foundation of muscle that has given them that shape. With years of experience you will come to understand this. So ¿how will we periodize our nutrient intake? When it comes to weight loss I do not recommend restricting calories for more than 20 weeks at a time. So anywhere between 4 to 20 weeks can be your fat loss period. For a lean mass phase it can be for a very long period of time, BUT I would recommend doing mini-cuts in between if you decide to bulk for a long time. Because bulking means a caloric surplus, and a caloric surplus brings some fat gains. So if you stay in a perpetual bulk – like many do – you will gain too much fat during this time. But this is also based on preference, not everyone has to be lean and shredded. If you like being big and strong, by all means keep at it. For those that choose to follow a long lean bulk, a good rule to follow can be 12 to 16 weeks in a lean mass phase followed by a 4-week mini-cut. And just repeat this periodization over and over until you achieve your desired physique.

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If your main goal is fat loss and being lean than a good periodization guideline can be 12 to 20 weeks for fat loss, followed by a 6 to 8 week reverse diet. And repeat this cycle until you have achieved your desired body. Train hard, be consistent and be patient.

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ALCOHOL AND BODYBUILDING * This section of the book is by no means an attempt to persuade individuals to use or abuse alcohol under no circumstances. It is merely a guide to help you understand the “do’s” and “don’ts” of alcohol consumption.

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lcohol, one of the oldest, most widely used drugs on the planet. Its considered one of the macronutrients yet is not taken into account as an essential part of the diet. This is because alcohol has several effects on the body, some good but for the most part bad and it is not essential for life. Without knowing it, alcohol plays a big part in our lives. It serves as enjoyment for us and is widely used in social events like gathering with friends or family, a dinner with your significant other, parties, etc. Between the benefits of alcohol are its salutary effects, such as thinning of the blood, which is beneficial to the heart. And maybe even your doctor at some point has recommended some type of alcohol consumption for you. But this “beneficial” amount of alcohol is very low, about a glass or two of wine, or maybe a couple of beers every now and then.

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Anything beyond that does more harm than good. Alcohol as a macronutrient contains calories just like carbs, protein and fats. Each gram of alcohol contains 7 calories, making it more calorically dense per gram than protein and carbohydrates. Its thermic effect is around 20%; meaning only 80% of energy from alcohol is used as metabolizable energy for biochemical processes. The consumption of alcohol can be considered as “empty calories”, since it provides calories but no nutrients, and worse than that, it has detrimental effects in our body. Many people tend to be concerned about the combination of alcohol and sports in general, because they are afraid that by getting into sports like bodybuilding they will have to quit alcohol entirely. And for a lot of people this sounds like the worst news ever. There are several problems with alcohol consumption and bodybuilding (and all sports in general) because it can be seriously detrimental for your progress; since it can interfere with recovery, protein synthesis, hydration and nutrient intake. Processes that are essential for bodybuilding.

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Without proper recovery, hydration and protein synthesis ¿what physique do you expect to build?. And not only that, alcohol is considered a central nervous system depressant, which causes the brain to relax and decrease inhibitions. Alcohol impacts the cardiovascular system, disrupts sleep, causes vitamin and mineral depletion, depletes aerobic capacity, negatively impacts performance and inebriates the brain. And this is just to mention a few of the issues caused by alcohol consumption. Any look at the research and you will find that alcohol has a wide variety of detrimental effects on our entire body. Another problem that arises is what I call the “oh fuck it” effect that it has, you’ve probably been there before and you know what I mean. That moment when you’re dieting and maybe take a few too many shots of tequila, and just completely forget about your diet by eating and doing whatever you want without taking into account the consequences or its detriments on your bodybuilding or sport related goals. It seems to be that alcohol and sports just don’t mix. Taking a few too many shots can not only cause an immediate negative impact but it also has a long lasting effect; with a hangover that can last even a few days. And to make it clear… Never workout if you have a hang over! It can be ex-

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tremely dangerous because you are dehydrated. One thing is important to note. Most of the detrimental effects of alcohol consumption come from the constant abuse of it. As we’ve spoke before, everything in MODERATION can be included into your diet and progress. If it’s a couple of beers with friends, or a glass of wine on a date its completely fine and can be included in your diet and even counted with your macros. What is detrimental is getting drunk, consuming alcohol too frequently, partying nonstop, etc. If you are serious about making a change and building an amazing physique, I would advise you to stay away from that kind of alcohol consumption, because it can slow down or even completely hinder your progress, because alcohol literally suppresses fat oxidation and protein synthesis. If the consumption of alcohol is in moderation and done only once in a while you can even count it within your macros. The only issue you will have is that calorie apps don’t count alcohol as a macronutrient. So if you were to add for example a glass of wine or a beer, you will notice that the app adds up the calories but few or none of the macros. This is because alcohol has 7 calories per gram but is not

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accounted for on the app and it will only add up calories, so it will create a disparity between the macrocalorie goals. One way to include alcohol within your macros is by counting the calories as if they came from carbohydrates. This means that you will still prioritize your protein and fat intake, and the alcohol you consume can be accounted for as carbs. And remember to stay within your daily caloric requirements.

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COUNTING MACROS WHEN EATING OUT

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question that I get often, “¿how do I count macros when eating out?

A simple answer to this would be: estimate the amount of calories the food has. But this isn’t always so simple, especially if you’re new or relatively new to counting macros. Maybe over time you will master the art of counting and estimating macros just by looking at a meal. But if you want to be more accurate there are a few things you can do about it. When eating out and counting macros I would advise you to go to restaurants or food chains that have their nutritional facts. Most food chains do, just search for it in your app or go the website of their restaurant and they might have it. If you eat places that don’t have their nutritional facts, I’d recommend eating simple things, meals that are not too complex and may be counted easily. Things like chicken breast and veggies, or steak with a side of mash potatoes, this sort of stuff. Don’t order something too complex like a chef type meal like a Terrine of foie gras coated with sumac with roasted pineapple in rosewood

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honey mango condiment…because honestly, what the hell is that? And how can I even count it? Well, you cant, it would be basically impossible to do so. So just keep it simple and try to estimate it. Or, you can always ask the waiter to tell you how much your serving of steak or fish weighs, because most restaurants always have their foods previously portioned out to reduce cost and increase efficiency. So just ask the waiter because they almost always know. That way you can at least know the size of your serving to count in your macros. Other than that’s there’s not much you can really do. My best advice would be to cook your meals at home if you want to be more accurate with your diet. And understand that if you are on a diet, some sacrifices will have to be made.

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COUNTING MACRONUTRIENTS

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step-by-step guide

STEP 1: Download a calorie counter app for your smart phone and purchase a food scale because there are many foods that you will need to weigh in order to count appropriately. There are many different apps to choose from and most of them are completely free to download. In this example we are going to use My Fitness Pal, because it is the most commonly used app and with a very extensive food database. STEP 2: Open the My Fitness Pal app and introduce the information required to create a user.

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STEP 3: At this point you should be at the home page of MFP

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STEP 4: At the top left corner you will find a menu where the My Fitness Pal logo is located.

Click the MFP logo to enter the menu. STEP 5: Click on the menu that says “Goals”.

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STEP 6: In this menu you will adjust your caloric and macronutrient targets that you have calculated from the guide earlier in the book. After setting up your numbers click on “goals” in the top left corner to go back to the main menu.

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STEP 7: You should be back to the main menu with your macros and calories set up. Now click on the home button to go to the home screen of the app.

STEP 8: Now you’re going to start adding the foods you eat to the app.

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Every time you want to add a food you will click on the big blue button on the top right side of the screen where it says “add to diary”. By entering the “add to diary” button you will find a new section of the app where you will start to add your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. *Note: If you have calculated your macros based on the guidelines from this book, you do not have to add your caloric expenditure (exercise) to the app, since these calories have already been accounted for in the calculation of your caloric requirements. STEP 9: In this step you’re going to start adding your foods one by one. Enter the “Breakfast” option to start adding your first meal of the day. You should see that a new menu opens up.

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STEP 10: Notice that at the top of the screen there is an option that says, “Search for food” and beside it you will see a bar code. You have these 2 options to search for the food you’re going to add to your daily intake. In the search field you can look for any type of food you like, or you can use the bar code scanner option that the app has to find the food you’re going to add. By choosing the bar code the app will open a scanner that will ask you to scan the bar code from the package of the meal. You won’t always be able to use this option, but in some cases it is quite handy. The rest of the time you will use the search field to search for the food you’re going to add.

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STEP 11: Search for food. In this example we are going to search for skinless chicken breast and choose the raw, boneless and skinless option.

STEP 12: You will find many different results to choose from, make sure you choose the right one. It’s important to analyze what that option says; if it has skin, bone, etc. Also take into account that when weighing your food it will weigh a lot different if it’s raw or cooked, so this is another variable to take into account when choosing the right option. Within the different options that the app gives you, you will usually find different cooking methods

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like fried, baked, broiled, grilled, etc. If the app doesn’t specify, it usually means that that option is for the weight of the food in its raw form. STEP 13: Adjusting the portion size of the food. This is one of the most important steps of the whole process, adjusting the size of the meal you’re going to add. The size of the serving will determine the amount of calories and the macro nutrient breakdown of the meal; this is why the food scale is so important, for portion control. Notice that the following image shows the amount of servings “Serving(s) of” and below you will find the weight of the serving. In this example we are going to use a 6oz skinless chicken breast without skin or bone (raw). As you can see the size of the serving says “1.0 ounces” and since I am going to add 6 ounces I will need to change the amount of servings to 6 total servings. The servings can be changed to grams, cups, tbsp. tsp., etc. with the little arrow on the right side of the serving size. This is important to take into

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account when measuring the portion size of your foods. So make sure you choose the appropriate serving size for your meals.

STEP 14: After clicking “save” when adjusting the serving of your food a new menu should pop up. In this menu you will find the complete nutritional facts that include caloric content and macronutrient breakdown of the type of food and the size of the serving that you chose.

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STEP 15: Select the check mark on the top right corner of the screen to save this meal and add it to your daily intake. STEP 16: Now you have successfully added your first meal to your daily macros/calories.  

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STEP 17: Now that you have added your first meal, it’s time to start adding more. Select the (+) sign at the top right corner of your screen to add more food.  

STEP 18: Add more food.

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STEP 19: Now that you have successfully added your meals to your daily intake you can follow the next steps to check your current progress and the macros/calories that you have left to achieve your objective intake.

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Note: When tracking your objectives it is better to track them by looking at the “Nutrient Details” rather than looking at the “Calorie Breakdown” option that shows your macros in percentages. The “Nutrient Details” option can be found by selecting the button on the top right of the screen shown in the third image.

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COUNTING MACROS:

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ow that you know the basic steps to counting your macronutrients and calories you will start adding up the foods you eat on a daily basis and adjust them to help you reach your daily macro/calorie requirements. The first few days of counting macros might be overwhelming and you probably won’t be very accurate at mastering the art of counting macros. But with time you will learn to use the app properly and learn how to accommodate your foods to fit into your daily requirements. As I tell most people when they ask me for nutritional advice; all diets demand some sort of effort, no way of dieting will ever be a walk in the park, if it were, everybody would have cover model physiques. The effort demanded in this sort of dieting is weighing a few foods and counting macros. Being 100% accurate is extremely difficult, but don’t worry, you don’t have to be 100% accurate. You can give yourself some wiggle room, about a 5% error or 10 to 15 grams per macro. Or at least try to stay within your caloric requirements while you learn to properly fit your macros. Hitting your macros every day is essential; not only for your goals, but for also measuring your

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progress and taking care of your metabolism. If you have a set amount of macros, these numbers are to be met every day, try your best to not stay below or over these macros too often.

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SUPPLEMENTATION

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upplements are probably the most controversial topic in the fitness industry. Many believe that supplements are a must and that they are absolutely necessary to achieve you goals, and that somehow these supplements have some “magical” effect when it comes to building muscle and losing fat. On the other hand you have the anti-supplement proponents who believe that supplements are actually detrimental not only to your goals but also to your overall health. I believe that both sides of the story may have some truth to them, but they also fail to understand that there’s a gray area in between. You don’t need a huge stack of supplements to reach your goals, but you also shouldn’t dismiss them entirely. Knowing how to incorporate the right supplementation to your diet and training program can be beneficial for your long-term goals. And as the word says it itself “supplement”, they supplement a good diet and training routine, they do not replace a bad diet or poor training program.

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Many people tend to get the wrong idea about what supplements do and the benefits that some may have on your body, and this is due to the fact that supplements are extremely overhyped by the bodybuilding and fitness industry. Wherever you look all you can see are jacked dudes with amazing physiques promoting all kinds of “magical” supplements. The problem is that people actually believe that these amazing physiques on the cover of fitness magazines were achieved by a certain kind of supplement. What they don’t understand is that the person on the cover of those fitness magazines didn’t achieve that cover model physique in a short period of time, that body that you see on that cover is a results of years, if not decades, of proper nutrition and training. And in some cases something else. So before I get into the whole supplement recommendations I want to make a few things clear: 1. Supplements are not completely necessary and they do not have any magical fat burning or muscle building effect. 2. Most supplements are extremely overhyped and are a waist of your money.

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3. Always choose food over supplements. 4. If money is a concern, don’t worry about spending on supplements, save your money for food. 5. Supplements are meant to SUPPLEMENT, not replace a bad diet or training regimen. 6. If the claims of the supplement seem too good to be true, THEY ALWAYS ARE. 7. And last but not least. Speak to your physician before you intend to add any supplement to your stack. There are 2 major categories for nutritional supplements: 1. Essential nutrients 2. Non-essential nutrients The essential nutrients are nutrients present in food that are necessary for normal physiological functioning. The reason why these nutrients are essential is because our body does not produce them and

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they must be ingested through food. In some cases these essential nutrients are not met with our daily diet. This is when supplements come into play. In the case that a diet may be lacking in some of the essential nutrients like proteins/amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, some supplement guidelines can help aid in nutrient deficiencies. Phytochemicals/phytonutrients also fall into the category of essential nutrients, as many of these nutrients help aid the body in proper functioning and warding of diseases. Since these nutrients are all present in food, supplementation is not necessary, unless the individual is lacking in the area of proper nutrient intake. Non-essential nutrients: Nonessential nutrients are nutrients that the body can either make itself or that they are not needed for normal physiological functioning.

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Supplements like creatine, glutamine, beta alanine and caffeine fall under this category of nonessential nutrients. These non-essential nutrients are meant to help aid in the enhancement of certain specific goals. Now keep in mind that these supplements may help improve in some areas but they are not the magical fix for your specific goals. In the next page we will start talking about the supplements I recommend and dosages that may help you achieve your goals. ** Special note for athletes: Not all supplements are free of banned substances. If you are concerned that a supplement may contain a banned ingredient, you can check at http://www.wada-ama.org.

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*Notes: • Preferably choose supplements that are manufactured in a GMP certified facility. GMP means “Good manufacturing practice”. Companies that manufacture their products in these certified facilities guarantee that the products are of high quality and do not pose any risk to the consumer or public. This way you know you’re spending your money on quality products. • Avoid supplements that have “proprietary blends”, this is just a fancy term to hide the dosages in the product. Look for supplements that specify the dosages of the ingredients. • No supplement is absolutely necessary nor do they bring any kind of special or “magical” effects that will give you amazing immediate results.

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• Your eating habits and training program will always determine your results. • Supplements do not provide a quick fix, they are only meant to slightly assist in strength, performance and aid in nutritional intake. • Although the supplements stated above may bring some benefit, none are necessary to achieve your goals; this is simply a guide for those of you that do choose to buy supplements and are unaware of the dosages, effects and benefits that these may bring. And in the case that you do want to supplement your diet, these are a part of the few supplements out there that may actually have some kind of benefit, since most supplements are overly marketed and are a waste of your money. •Consult with your physician before taking any supplements.

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GROCERY LIST PROTEIN:

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ean sources are best; you don’t want to buy your meats with too much fat, because they add too many unnecessary calories.

Lean ground beef, beef top sirloin, salmon, tilapia, tuna, shrimp, skinless chicken breast, lean turkey breast, lean ground turkey, egg white, bison, whey protein, casein, etc. CARBOHYDRATES:

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arbs can be divided into 2 groups, carb with fiber and carbs without fiber. Carbs with fiber should be your priority, while carbs without fiber will be the “flexible” part of your diet.

Whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat tortillas, fiber one cereal, quest bars, artic zero ice cream, oats, all kinds of fruits and vegetables, high fiber pancake mix, plantains, lentils, beans, whole wheat pasta, etc.

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FAT:

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here are 3 different fat sources (saturated, unsaturated and Trans fats) remember to find balance between saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Trans fats should be avoided. Avocados, nuts, peanut butter, almond butter, olive oil, light mayonnaise, fatty fish, whole eggs, flaxseed, walnuts, fatty fish. HIGH FIBER SOURCES:

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vocados, oatmeal, fiber one cereal, quest bars, red kidney beans, white beans, garbanzo beans, black beans, lentils, whole wheat pasta, edamame, artichoke, whole wheat bread, peas, brown rice, nuts, whole wheat grains, broccoli, barley and most fruits.

This grocery list is what I recommend to add to your diet mainly for the nutritional value that these foods have, they are high in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and fiber. 80-90% of your calories should come from these whole unprocessed foods so that we can ensure that you’re receiving an adequate amount of nutrients to fuel your body

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and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The other 10-20% of your calories can be whatever you want as long as they fit your macronutrient targets. I call these “discretionary calories” this gives you flexibility with your diet and room to enjoy the process. So you can include the occasional treats like pizza, burgers, ice cream, pop tarts, candy, cake or any kind of food that you enjoy and crave, just make sure to fit them into your daily macros and enjoy your diet.

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MACRO CHEAT SHEET

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THE BURGER MASTERPIECE

INGREDIENTS: 1 Sausage // 150g lean ground beef // 100g refried beans // 1 slice mozzarella cheese // 1 slice cheddar cheese // 1 tsp brown sugar // Burger buns // Lettuce // Tomatoes // Onions

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DIRECTIONS: Spread lean ground beef and add 1 slice of cheddar cheese before making the Burger Patty, make sure that the cheese fills the patty before cooking, cook the patty at medium heat. • Sauté onions with 1 tsp. brown sugar. • Slice 1 sausage into 4 flat pieces and pan cook • Heat 100g of refried beans • Now put it all together and enjoy

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RAINBOW BACON WAFFLES

INGREDIENTS: High fiber pancake mix // 100ml 1% Milk // 1 egg white // 6 bacon slices // 2 tsp. brown sugar // 20g almonds // Food coloring DIRECTIONS: Mix 100g of pancake mix with 1 egg white and 100ml of 1% milk for waffle mix.

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Glaze bacon with 2 tsp. of brown sugar and pan fry. Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately. Wrap bacon with the waffles, or you can cut up the bacon and add it to the batter and cook it all together. Almonds are optional.

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TUNA SANDWICH

INGREDIENTS: 1 Can tuna in water // 2 slices whole wheat bread ½ lemons // 15g light mayonnaise // 1 slice mozzarella cheese DIRECTIONS: Drain one can of tuna fish into a bowl. Add 15 grams of light mayonnaise. Squeeze ½ lemons.

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Put the toaster sideways and slide In 2 slices of whole wheat bread and on one of those slices of bread add 1 slice of mozzarella cheese, but be careful, don’t let the toaster pop out your bread because it’ll fly out. Toast until the cheese melts.

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HIGH FIBER BANANA PROTEIN PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS: 100g high fiber pancake mix // 1 egg white // 150ml 1% Milk // 1 Banana // 1 scoop Vanilla whey protein // 1 tbsp. Nutella // Vanilla essence // 20g raisins // Almonds DIRECTIONS: 1. Mix 100g of high fiber pancake mix with 1 egg white, 100ml of 1% milk, a few drops of vanilla essence, 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein, 1 banana and 20g of raisins. Stir all together until proper consistency is achieved, and make pancakes.

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2. For topping: mix 1 tbsp. of Nutella with 10g of crushed almonds and 50ml of 1% milk, mix together and put in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, add topping to pancakes and enjoy.

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EASY LUNCH

INGREDIENTS: 200g skinless chicken breast // 150g White rice // Herb seasoning // Lettuce // Tomatoes DIRECTIONS: 1. In a saucepan with a good fitting lid bring water, salt and butter if desired to a boil. 2. Add rice and stir. 3. Cover and reduce heat to medium low. You will know that your temperature is correct if a little steam is visible leaking from the lid. A lot of steam means your heat is too high.

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4. Cook for 20 minutes. 5. DO NOT LIFT LID! 6. The steam that is trapped inside the pan is what allows the rice to cook properly. 7. Remove from heat and fluff with fork. 8. Serve! 9. Add herb seasoning to skinless chicken breast 10. Cook at medium heat 11. Add lettuce and tomatoes.

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CEVICHE

INGREDIENTS: 100g small raw shrimp // 2 large tomatoes // 2 limes, juiced // 2 lemons, juiced // 40g cilantro leaves, chopped // 1/2 red onion // Salt and pepper DIRECTIONS: 1. Lay out the shrimp in the bottom of a glass-baking dish.

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2. Pour lemon and lime juice over them and refrigerate for 3 hours. The juice will “cook” the shrimp. 3. Chop the onions, cilantro and tomatoes and mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate again for one more hour, and enjoy!

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OVEN BAKED SALMON

INGREDIENTS: 200g raw salmon // Broccoli // Carrots // Mushrooms // Salt // Pepper //Lime DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat the oven to 400 °F. 2. Season salmon with salt and pepper; Place salmon, skin side down, on a non-stick baking sheet or pan. Bake until salmon is cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes.

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3. Broccoli and carrots: Bring about 1/4 inch of water to a boil in a large frying pan. Add about 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt. 4.. Cover and steam until as tender as you like (about 3 minutes for crisp-tender and up to 8 minutes for completely cooked).

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DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER WITH OVEN BAKED FRENCH FRIES

INGREDIENTS: 150g Lean ground beef // 2 slices mozzarella cheese Burger bread // Lettuce // Tomatoes // Ketchup // Mustard //150g Frozen French fries DIRECTIONS: 1. Make 2 patties with the lean ground beef, each of 75g and grill them. When they are almost done, place 1 slice of mozzarella over each patty so the cheese melts on top of the meat.

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2. Build your burger by adding the patties with cheese and add some lettuce, tomatoes, 1 tsp. mustard and 1 tbsp. ketchup for extra taste. 3. For the French fries, use 150 grams of frozen packed French fries and place over some tinfoil and spray with a little bit of Pam and then place them in the oven for about 30 minutes at 400 °F and add some paprika and salt for taste. They will come out just as if you would have fried them, except this way you don’t need to add any oils.

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HIGH PROTEIN HOME MADE PIZZA

INGREDIENTS: Whole wheat pita // 4 egg whites // 150g skinless chicken breast // 3 tbsp. Tomato sauce // Pepper Salt // Garlic // 2 slices mozzarella cheese // 50g Mushrooms

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DIRECTIONS: Instead of using pizza dough for this pizza, we used a whole-wheat pita. This way its easier to prepare and without all the mess of making the pizza dough. 1. Cook 150 grams of chicken and breast with some mushrooms, and after its done chop it up into small pieces. 2. Boil 4 eggs in water for 5 to 7minutes. Peel the shell and remove the yolk (or keep it if you prefer adding the yolk). Chop the cooked egg into small pieces. 3. Place the pita on a pan and heat on both sides until its crispy. 4. Place all the ingredients on top of the pita and add 2 slices of mozzarella cheese. 5. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. 6. Place in oven for 3 minutes until the cheese has melted.

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LOW CARB BANANA PROTEIN PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS: 3 egg whites // 1 scoop vanilla gold standard whey protein // Baking powder // ½ banana // No sugar strawberry jam DIRECTIONS: 1. Mix the 3 egg whites, 1 scoop of whey protein and a pinch of baking powder together until achieving good consistency.

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2.Add half a banana in pieces and smash together with the other ingredients. 3. Cook on a pan at the lowest heat for about 4-5 minutes per side. 4. Add Jam based on preference

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QUEST BAR DONUT

INGREDIENTS: Quest bar // Rainbow sprinkles // Caramel DIRECTIONS: 1. Shape your quest bar into a donut 2. Place in oven at 400 °F for 2 minutes 3. Add 1 tbsp. of caramel 4. Add 1 tsp. of rainbow sprinkles

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CHICKEN BURRITO

INGREDIENTS: Whole wheat large tortilla // 200g skinless chicken breast // 2 tbsp. guacamole // 2 tsp. parmesan // Tomatoes // Onions // Lettuce // Salt // Pepper DIRECTIONS: 1. Grill 200g of skinless chicken breast; add salt and pepper to taste. After cooking, chop into small pieces. 2. Sautee onions and tomatoes on a small pan at low heat.

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3. Heat tortilla on a pan at low heat for 3 minutes per side. 4. Place chicken and sautéed vegetables over the tortilla. 5. Add 2 tbsp. of parmesan cheese. 6. Add 2 tbsp. of guacamole. 7. And 2 leafs of lettuce.

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PEANUT BUTTER PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS: 2 tbsp. Peanut butter // 100ml skim milk // 1 egg white // 100g high fiber pancake mix

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DIRECTIONS: 1. Mix in a bowl 100g of pancake mix, 100ml of skim milk, 1 egg white and 1 tbsp. of peanut butter until proper consistency is achieved. 2. Place on a pan by dividing the mix into 4 pancakes. 3. Place a lid on top of the pan and cook at the lowest heat for about 3-4 minutes per side. 4. Spread a second tbsp. of peanut butter over the pancakes. *The green color was achieved by using food coloring.

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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

INGREDIENTS: 2 Whole eggs // 3 Egg whites // 2 slices extra lean ham // 2 slices low fat mozzarella cheese // 50g waffle mix // 50ml skim milk // 1 cup orange juice // 30ml light syrup DIRECTIONS: For waffles: 1. Mix 50g of high fiber waffle mix with 50ml of skim milk and 1 egg white. 2. Cook in a waffle maker for 5 minutes

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For omelet: 1. Add 2 whole eggs with 2 eggs whites to a bowl and scramble until bubbly consistency is achieved. 2. Cook on a pan at low heat (don’t scramble it while cooking), add salt to taste. 3. Wait until the eggs have achieved a dense consistency and flip carefully. 4. After flipped add 2 slices of mozzarella cheese and 2 slices of extra lean ham in pieces on top and wait 3 more minutes. 5. Flip the sides inwards to create the omelet with the ingredients inside. * Macros for entire breakfast, including syrup and orange juice

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BANANA-QUEST DESSERT

INGREDIENTS: Cookies and cream quest bar // 1 Banana // Small chocolate bar DIRECTIONS: 1. Slice a banana through the middle, but don’t slice it all the way. Leave space to fit the quest protein bar. 2. Mold the quest bar into the banana like a sandwich.

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3. Don’t peel the banana. 4. Put in oven for 8 minutes at 400 °F. 5. Remove from oven and add chunks of chocolate.

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SUMMARY:

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hen it comes to losing or gaining weight, calories are what matter most, because it’s this energy balance (calories in vs. calories out) over time that will determine whether we gain, lose or maintain our weight. But, and this is a big BUT, our goal isn’t to lose or gain weight, our goal is to burn fat and build muscle. So for this reason I will always recommend that you look at your calories into more detail, meaning you need to worry about your macronutrients and make sure you have an adequate intake of protein, fats and carbohydrates. We can’t just look at the calories. • Calculate your calories and adjust macronutrient ratios adequate to your goals. And be consistent with your daily food intake. • Prioritize the consumption of nutrient dense foods, foods that are high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients. • Allow flexibility with your diet and don’t be restrictive with your food choices. Allowing this flexibility can do amazing things to your progress and long-

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term adherence. •Base your meal frequency on personal preference. Because at the end of the day what matters most is your adherence to the plan. • Workout on a regular basis. Physical activity is a crucial component of any weight control regimen. • Focus on one goal at a time; remember that to build muscle or to burn fat it requires a different approach to your diet. • Don’t forget to have fun!

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CONCLUSION:

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here tends to be a misconception about what Flexible dieting or IIFYM (if it fits your macros) really is. Somehow people have come to misunderstand that it’s just a junk food based diet. But let me stop you right there. This book is NOT intended to teach you how to eat junk food; it’s meant to teach you how to incorporate BALANCE and MODERATION into your life. It’s meant to end the binge-hate relationship with food; it’s meant to teach you how to follow a more lifestyle friendly diet, its meant to end the myths that make bodybuilding seem so complicated when it isn’t. It’s about finding a way of dieting that you can do for the rest of your life and not just a few weeks. Because if you can’t see yourself doing what you’re doing for more than a few months, its time you think about the road taken and find a different alternative; because fitness and health aren’t a onetime thing. This is for life! This is the reason why I preach flexible dieting and the reason why I promote this movement so much. Flexible dieting has taught me how to make my diet fit my lifestyle and not the other way around. I want you to understand that the process of losing weight or building muscle isn’t as complicated

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as the media has set it out to be. And I know this is probably something you don’t want to hear but… There are no “magic” supplements or super foods that’ll make you lose fat faster, there are no shortcuts, there’s just hard work, discipline and consistency! What’s the take away message of this book? Flexible dieting is about finding balance and being FLEXIBLE with your food choices. It’s about understanding that food is your best friend and not your worst enemy. Many of today’s health issues come from bad eating habits, and most of them can be treated with good eating habits. That’s why it’s so important to understand that food can be both the poison and the cure in your life. Probably the most important thing that I want you to take home is that life is to live it! Don’t forget to enjoy the things you love with the people you love just because you’re on a “diet”. End this deprivation with food, don’t feel guilty when you eat something that isn’t a part of the plan, it’s a part of life! I also don’t want you to think that this book is meant to tell you that you MUST count calories and macros the rest of your life or that you should be con-

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stantly weighing yourself and defining your existence based on numbers on a scale. The protocols given in this book are a tool for you to make dieting as optimal as it can be, so that you achieve your results as fast as possible and in a healthy way. But don’t let “results” consume your life, you don’t have to count macros forever, with time you’ll come to understand this and you’ll see that eating intuitively can do huge things for your life. Eat to fuel your body, eat to promote health, eat to live! Don’t live to eat! Thank you! Thank you for being a part of this movement, little by little we can change this industry together and end the pseudoscience that poisons it. Thank you for supporting MacroFitness and for supporting this book! Eat meticulous, train ridiculous!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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ometimes I look back at my life and think about how I came to be involved in fitness and bodybuilding. And I realize that I was born and raised in this world. I grew up in a house with two bodybuilders, my dad and my uncle; in that time they were the ultimate “bros”. Their lives revolved around dumbbells, barbells, chicken breast, egg whites, brown rice and Tupperware. They were passionate about what they did and for many years I couldn’t understand how they could live their lives eating the same bland foods 8 or 10 times a day, or how they could wake up every morning at 5am to hit the gym. But now I know what it feels to be that person, that person that loves being in the gym and challenging himself every day and doing something that can better his life, I now realize why my dad was so invested in getting me to be involved in sports. He was concerned about my future and wellbeing. And I can’t thank him enough, thanks to him I’ve been an athlete my entire life. I still have about 30 trophies in my closet that I save to this day to remember that distant past, from the days when I even played in the little league for the Miami Marlins, from when I was named best soccer player in my county, from when I earned my black belt in karate… and other memories that in that time

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didn’t seem to be important for me, but I now know how important they were. They made me who I am today, a man passionate about sports and fitness in general. I’ve dedicated my life to this, and I built a company based on this passion, a company that I started from scratch and that today is a major influence in the fitness community. MacroFitness is my never ending project, a fitness consultant company that has been dedicated to changing the lives of thousands around the world, a project that I’ve created with the intention to provide the world a non “BS” approach to training and nutrition, a way that’s based on scientific principles and gets rid of the gimmicks, myths, pseudoscience and “broscience”. I want the world to understand that dieting doesn’t have to be as complicated as it has been portrayed to be. So as part of this movement I have created this book, to provide you a more “flexible” approach to living a fit and healthy lifestyle. A book that will hopeful-

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ly help you understand that food is your friend and not your enemy. A book that compiles over a decade of my own knowledge and experience put out in the simplest way I possibly could, to give you a practical dietary guideline to follow. Flexible dieting is the best thing I could ever recommend to anyone, out of the tens and maybe even hundreds of guidelines I’ve seen and in some cases followed, flexible dieting is by far the best way of dieting I can imagine and I hope I get to you with this book and help you find a way of dieting that you can adjust to your lifestyle. My name is Giulianni Giraldo, I am certified in nutritional science, specialized in fitness nutrition, a certified strength and conditioning coach and non-fitness related I have a bachelor’s degree in business administration. And for the past decade I have dedicated my life to fitness and reviewing scientific literature on nutrition, training and the human body, to find the best way possible for improving the lives of my clients. And based on this knowledge and experience I have created this book for you!

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17. Mischler I, Vermorel M, Montaurier C, Mounier R, Pialoux V, Pequignot JM, Cottet-Emard JM, Coudert J, Fellmann N. Prolonged daytime exercise repeated over 4 days increases sleeping heart rate and metabolic rate. Can J Appl Physiol. 2003 Aug;28(4):616-29. 18. Ostman EM, et al. Inconsistency between glycemic and insulinemic responses to regular and fermented milk products. Am J Clin Nutr 2001; 74(1):96-100. 19. Elements challenging the glycemic index By: Alan Aragon. 20. Eelderink C, et al. Slowly and rapidly digestible starchy foods can elicit a similar glycemic response because of differential tissue glucose uptake in healthy men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Nov;96(5):101724. doi: 0.3945/ajcn.112.041947. Epub 2012 Sep 18. 21. Raatz SK, et al. Reduced glycemic index and glycemic load diets do not increase the effects of energy restriction on weight loss and insulin sensitivity in obese men and women. J Nutr. 2005 Oct;135(10):2387-91.

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WELCOME TO TEAM MACROFITNESS!

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n behalf of MacroFitness, we would like to thank you for putting your trust in our programs, and give you a warm welcome to our Team. We hope you enjoy this program, as you will find all the tools necessary in this book to help you reach your fitness goals and acquire the physique you have always dreamed of. Now that you have the theoretical part, it’s up to you to apply these principles and put in the work, because nothing works if YOU don’t work. So give it your all and good luck! We would love to hear back from you, send us your feedback and let us know what you think about this ebook. And Hashtag your pics on instagram with #TeamMacroFitness and let us see how we have helped you change your life! We would love to shoutout our teammates! BE A STRICT DIETER, NOT A RESTRICTED ONE! Team MacroFitness

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TANK YOU PAGE

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would like to give a special thanks to my beautiful fiancée Kiara Castillo for always being by my side and supporting me throughout my carreer and this entire journey. None of this would have ever been possible without her constant love and support. I will also like to thank Alan Aragon and Lyle McDonald, two of the people I admire most in the fitness industry. For their integrity and willingness to end the “broscience” methods that have been perpetuated by so many years by falsifying all these claims with real substantiated scientific research. They may not know this, but its thanks to them that I have also taken the road of the anti-bros, and have dedicated my life to provide thousands of people around the world with the truth about nutrition and training, and end the myths that make people think that this way of life is extremely complicated and difficult to follow.

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If you aren’t already, I highly recommend you follow their websites; they continuously post great articles regarding training and nutrition with sound scientific research. Alana Aragon: www.alanaragon.com Lyle McDonald: www.bodyrecomposition.com

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR PURCHASE! If you have any questions regarding this eBook, feel free to email us at any moment, we will be more than happy to help!

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DISCLAIMER

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lease recognize the fact that it is your responsibility to work directly with your physician before, during and after seeking fitness consultation. As such, any information provided is not to be followed without the prior approval of your physician. If you choose to use this information without the prior consent of your physician, you are agreeing to accept full responsibility for your decision. This program and its attachments may contain privileged or confidential information and are addressed exclusively to their intended recipients. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete this program and its attachments from your system. The storage, recording, use or disclosure of this program and its attachments by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.

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