Two Meal Muscle
This diet is like a watch. Beneath the simple-looking surface layer that ticks and tocks, there's a more complex system of gears and levers controlling the show. Some foreshadowing will make it easier to understand the madness behind the method.
Let's foreshadow.
1, Global principles.
I strive to eat mostly Mother Nature's food (and her low-processed variants. Mother Nature’s food consists of things that can be found in nature (fruits, plants, fish, and animals) and consumed almost immediately, with minimal preparation. Mother Nature’s food tends to be nourishing and not harmful, which isn’t surprising because it supported human life for millions of years prior to the advent of creating (fake) food in laboratories.
Almost every other food requires some kind of processing (alteration) in order to become edible. Processing isn’t inherently evil: Cooking is a form of food processing. However, processing has a dark side. It’s one thing to char salmonella off a turkey leg or turn a cow’s tit juice into cheese. It’s another thing to create a handheld stay-fresh-forever chocolate cake designed to deliver an intense dopaminergic spike in the name of consumer addiction. And so, it’s useful to distinguish between two types of processed foods.
- Low-processed foods are derived from Mother Nature’s materials and have few ingredients. Things like cheese, yogurt, rice, and (some) grains. Low-processed foods have been around for ages.
- High-processed foods are derived from processed materials and have a lot of ingredients. Things like chips, candies, crackers, cookies, cakes, and, of course, protein bars. High-processed foods were created within the past century or two.
The bulk of my food intake (around 80% on a good week) consists of Mother Nature’s food and her low-processed variants that serve a nutrient end with minimal negative side effects.
I eat pure-pleasure foods more than I should because I'm a former fat kid. Pure-pleasure foods are eaten for enjoyment as opposed to utility. They generally have minimal nutrient yield and potentially undesirable side effects. Around 20% of my food intake (on a good week) consists of pure-pleasure foods.
I drink mostly water and black coffee (but I never shy away from the occasional Topo Chico). Hydration is important. Humans can store enough energy inside of them to survive for three weeks (on average) without food. Dehydration can turn a human into dust in days.
Dogs, cats, and other animals replenish the water their body loses with a super complicated strategy: They drink water when they’re thirsty and then, when they aren’t thirsty, they don’t drink water.
I'm a fan.
I also use the color of my pee as a guide.
- Pee is clear or pale yellow: I'm well-hydrated, and I drink water according to thirst.
- Pee is lemonade yellow: I'm not hydrated, and I drink a cup of water sooner rather than later.
- Pee is apple-juice yellow: I'm dehydrated, and I drink a few cups of water immediately.
I eat plenty of proteins every day, around one gram for every pound I weigh. Proteins contain nitrogen. Nitrogen is necessary for muscle growth. Trying to build muscle without proteins is like trying to build a house without wood.
I adjust my energy intake toward my objective with “shortcut” strategies. Fat loss requires a smaller energy intake. Muscle growth requires a larger energy intake. Toggling between the two is simple: understand foods' (not macronutrients') energetic yields.
Foods with less energetic material: lean proteins and plant carbs.
Foods with more energetic material: non-lean proteins, starchy and sugary carbs, and fats.
To lose fat, I eat fewer high-energy foods (starchy/sugary carbohydrates, fats, and non-lean proteins) and more low-energy foods (lean proteins and plant carbohydrates). The degree to which I restrict myself depends on the size of the calorie crater I'm trying to create for the day. Sometimes I'm sane and create smaller, more sustainable craters. Sometimes I'm insane and create larger, less sustainable craters.
To build muscle, I eat more starchy and sugary carbohydrates, fats, and non-lean proteins (but not infinitely more). I'm less restrictive, but I'm still measured. Eating too much energy creates more fat than muscle.
2, Local particulars.
I eat two meals per day. My first meal is lunch around twelve o'clock noon. In the morning, prior to lunch, I sip on black coffee. My second meal is dinner around six o'clock at night.
I backload my energy intake. Lunch is small. Dinner is big. This allows me to eat a filling meal every night, even when I'm keeping my energy intake low. This also limits the negative impact of pure-pleasure feedings; I can eat whatever I want (in moderation) for dinner without stress because I have a big afternoon budget.
I split my total daily protein intake somewhat evenly between lunch and dinner. To maximize muscle growth.
In an ideal world, I'd spend an extended period of time trying to achieve one objective (either fat loss or muscle growth). This doesn't happen. In the real (not ideal) world, every week contains a mixture of fat-loss strategies and muscle-building strategies.
Pure-pleasure feedings are the wrench in the wheel preventing my real world from being an ideal world. Eating with less concern for energy or nutrients carries consequences. I deal with these consequences in a timely fashion.
Many days are devoted to “undoing” the effects of pure-pleasure feedings. This limits my fat-loss and muscle-building potential. I can tread water rather easily, but making strides toward a specific destination is (sometimes) difficult. There's an inverse relationship between my degeneracy and my ability to better my body composition.
3, Movement madness.
This diet is simple. Even though a more complex system is controlling the show, the mechanics don't change.
- High protein intake.
- Less energy for fat loss.
- More energy for muscle growth.
Time to go below the face.