This article will discuss the importance of creating your own diet plan based on your goal. You will learn how to arrange your diet in a way that fits your life style and not contradict with your daily tasks so you can apply it forever.
1- Multiple Meals vs Fasting, Which One is Better?
2- Best Diet Plan For Burning Fat
3- Best Diet / Diet plan For Strength
4- Best Diet For Building Muscle Mass
1- Multiple Meals vs Fasting, Which One is Better ?
If your main goal is to lose fat, please consider fasting as it is the quickest yet safe method to lose weight. Fasting is not meant to be a life time routine, but it is a great routine to implement every while to stay in shape. In order to prevent adaptation for low caloric intake, it is advised to break your fasting routine every period of time especially once you achieved your goal.
On the other hand, if you are a fulltime athlete training for a competition, multiple meals in this case will have an advantage over fasting because it provides consistent supply of nutrients to your cells and resulted in better overall athletic performance.
Fasting for Regular Individuals (Everything You Need to Know)
How to fast for weight loss? | What type of fasting is best for me? Around 16 Hours of fasting (while drinking water), 8 hours of eating 1 or 2 meals. If you want to have fasting as your regular routine, you need to make it as easy as possible. The most applicable method of fasting is to delay your breakfast as much as possible so you have a period of 14 to 16 hours (the longer the better) between dinner and breakfast. During this period of time, you can drink water, tea or coffee (without sugar). To start doing this method correctly, you need to prepare from the day before. For example, have your dinner at 9 PM, go to sleep at 11 PM, wake up at 6 AM, drink lot of water, have a cup of coffee 2 hours later, and keep your self busy until you achieve 14 hours or more without eating.
Other types of fasting are also beneficial but above method is easier and more applicable as a daily routine. Therefore you can maintain it for longer periods of time and get your goals achieved. Other type of fasting includes longer fasting time like 24 hours or more, and Islamic fasting which includes cutting out all type of food and drinks including water daily from time of dawn to sunset.
As mentioned, it is better to avoid fasting as a permanent life style as it can lead to slower metabolism because of adaptation. In other words, fasting for long period of time can cause weight gain because your body starts to adapt to fewer calories.
1 or 2 meals? How many meals to eat in the remaining 8 hours?
It totally depends on your personal preference, but if you are exercising daily, it is recommended to have two meals, One at the beginning of feeding time (once you complete 16 hours of fasting) and another one before 2 hours of going to bed. Avoid snacks in between as it will slow down the beneficial effects of fasting.
What food to eat in the 8 hours feeding window?
Assuming you are exercising daily and eating two meals a day, try to have a high protein, fibers, and very little amount of carbohydrates in the first meal. A simple example of such meal is boiled eggs with cucumber and tomato. For the second meal, add more carbs and fat, and make sure you get completely satiated in order to prepare for fasting in the next day.
When to exercise while fasting?
Instead of looking for the best time for training, look for that period of the day when you are at your maximum level of focus and energy. It does not matter if you train in the morning, afternoon or evening! It is your lifestyle, mood, and other factors that decide when is the best time for you to train. Make sure to have a regular routine that does not contradict with your responsibilities. It is recommended to exercise early in the morning so you can save time for the rest of the day and enjoy your full energy in the first hours. For morning workouts, It is not necessary to eat a meal before your workout, especially if your goal is to lose fat.
What type of exercises to do while fasting?
If your main goal is to lose fat and build some muscles, focus on resistance training. If you want to lose fat as fast as possible, focus on HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training).
How much time of training do i need while fasting?
Fasting will limit your overall stamina, so it is better not to exceed 45 minutes of training especially if you are doing HIIT. But in case you are doing low intensity exercises which are more used for building muscles, then you can extend that time to reach 60 minutes or more depending your resting in between the sets.
What to do if I am not able to fast?
That is not the end! The purpose of this article is to let you understand how to create your own diet. So if you like the benefits of fasting but in the same time you find it very hard to do, try to reduce the hours of fasting to 12 hours and eat no more than 3 meals in the 12 hours remaining. This will help you to gradually suppress craving and be able to fast after then. Another factor that can really help you to fast easily is low intensity cardiovascular training. This type of training can reduce stress through out the day and help you control your appetite.
Multiple Meals for Fulltime Athletes
If you are a fulltime athlete or a regular person who have enough free time, you can consider 5 to 6 meals a day as your daily routine diet in order to guarantee a consistent nutrition supply to your body. The reason why this routine is not recommended for regular people is because it is often hard to prepare 5-6 healthy meals everyday. Also, lot of people think they needs multiple meals to meet their recovery requirements just because they exercise 45-60 minutes daily. While in fact this physical activity does not necessarily require such amount of food. Athletes on the other hand can train for 2 or more hours especially when preparing for a competition.
2- Best Diet Plan For Burning Fat
The fastest way to lose fat without losing muscles is to combine fasting routine with high protein diet & resistance training. This will help you to burn fat and get in shape very fast. Remember that losing muscle mass while you are on a fat loss plan will result in bad shape, furthermore it is not healthy. Therefore you need to focus on resistance training for your major muscles by doing compound exercises. This will force your muscles to reserve their volume in order to keep up with the tension applied during training. High protein diet is crucial for this type of routine because not only it will feed your muscles to be bigger and stronger, but also will play a key role in controlling your appetite and eventually help you lose fat. Fasting routine is recommended to be 12 – 16 hours daily, with 8 – 12 feeding window consisting of 2 – 3 high protein meals. Consider adding high value vegetables like broccoli to those meals. For carbohydrates, consider zero to very little amount. However, if you have limited access to protein sources, consider reducing resistance training and increasing cardiovascular exercises so you can reduce your protein needs and have more carbohydrates. Healthy fats like olive oil are important to add to those type of meals as it will help you with satiation beside it is important for your health. On the other hand, try to strictly adhere to the diet plan in the first meal as it will control your appetite through out the day.
3- Best Diet Plan For Strength
If your main goal is to get stronger like power lifters, you need to load on carbohydrates. For maximum strength progress, carbohydrates are as important as proteins. It represents the favorite type of fuel for muscles. For meal frequency, like any fulltime athlete who wants to ensure consistent nutrition and recovery, you need to consider multiple meals (5-6 meals) as mentioned previously. The difference here is that you need to focus on carbohydrates especially before your workout to guarantee that there is enough glycogen in the muscles.
4- Best Diet For Building Muscle Mass
Proteins alone will not get you the muscle mass you want to get especially if you are hard gainer. The presence of carbohydrates in your diet is essential for your muscle cells to absorb water, proteins and other nutrients. All you need to do is to have 3 or more meals a day of high quality proteins and carbohydrates.
The real challenge is how to build lean muscles without gaining fat ?
This can be achieved through consuming enough carbohydrates but not more than what you need. A great way to measure and test your carbohydrates needs is to consume it close to your workout time with a regular amount everyday in the same time and see your body response within a week. For example, you can include starchy carbs like rice or potato in two meals (prior and after a workout, or both meals after your workout) with a regular amount (like cup of rice every day). The rest of meals through out the day can only include low carb vegetables like cucumber, broccoli, asparagus, etc.. Note that above vegetables also considered carbohydrates but contains very little amount of carbs compared to rice and potato and provides more fibers.
Another way to build more muscle without gaining fat is to do more low intensity cardiovascular activities throughout the day especially after your main workout. This type of activity includes some basic movements like walking, light jogging, cycling, and other movements that get your hear rate no more than 140 bpm.
5- Best Diet Plan For Endurance
For endurance training, you need slow & fast absorption carbohydrates to be available in your diet, especially in meals prior and after your workout. Slow absorption carbs can be included in all meals while it is better to include fast absorption carbs only close to your training time. Consuming enough carbohydrates will not only help in endurance but it will prevent muscle mass loss. Meal frequency depends on your lifestyle and goal. Consider 2 to 3 meals if you are training for general endurance and more than 3 if you are training for a competition.