Diet

If you eat like shit, you're going to feel like shit and chances are you'll look like shit too. I shit you not.

In a diet, the main things you need to be concerned about are your macronutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates). You want to make sure you are getting a good balance of these macronutrients in your diet, but you also want to make sure that they are coming from good sources.

Protein

Important for muscle growth and repair. You should aim for at least 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. Sources of protein include:

• Eggs
• Meat (chicken, beef, pork, lamb, seafood, etc)
• Milk
• Nuts

Fat

Fat is important for your skin and hair, and also allows for vitamins A, D, E, and K to be digested (thanks wikipedia). You need fat in your diet to stay healthy, but it needs to be the right kind of fat; unsaturated fats. Sources of unsaturated fats include:

• Olive oil
• Fish oil
• Flaxseed oil
• Fish

The fats on meat from farm animals like chicken, beef, pork and lamb are bad for you. Don't eat those kinds of fats (cut them off from the meat). I don't care if you like how chewy it is.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates provide your brain with energy. Try go a day without carbs and you'll most likely feel grumpy because your brain depends on it. Its not as important as protein and fats, but for skinny guys wanting to put on size, you need carbs in your diet. Sources of carbs include:

• Rice
• Bread
• Pasta
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Cereal

Trying to Get Leaner?

A lot of people have high body fat levels because they consume too many carbs in their diet. When you consume more carbs than your body needs it gets stored on your body as fat. Society is partly to blame. I know Asians like relying on eating rice to get full. When you go out to eat, carbs are in everything; burgers, pizza, pasta etc. Next time order a steak instead of a burger.

Certain sources of carbs (rice and pasta) are also very calorie dense, which means if you had 100g of rice vs 100g of broccoli, the rice would have more calories. Girls trying to get leaner, eat less carbs and consume more protein and healthy fats. I'm not saying carbs are evil, your brain needs them for energy but watch your intake. A good way to instantly lower your carb intake is to remove them completely from one of your meals in a day. For example for breakfast instead of having cereal you could instead have an egg. Or for dinner you just eat meat and vegetables without the rice.

However, make sure the meal you have after a training session has carbs in it. This is because your glycogen in your muscles get depleted during exercise, so you need carbs to restore the muscle glycogen. Glycogen is what allows your muscles to contract during prolonged exercise, so it is important to restore it once it has been depleted.

So how do you know how much to eat so that you can lose fat? On a typical day, write down everything you eat in that day (what the food is and the portion size). If you don't know the exact portion size, write what it is relative to the size of your fist (e.g a fistful of rice, half a fist of chicken etc); sounds silly but at least its consistent. Be honest with yourself. Take a photo of yourself and take measurements of your arm, waist and thigh. Now eliminate all carbs from one of those meals and stick to this for two weeks. Take another photo and measure yourself again. Notice any difference? If you have been exercising (like what I recommended in the previous blog post) you should notice an improvement. Usually you'll lose a few kilograms of bodyweight easily at the start and then it'll get harder and harder. If you're not improving, reduce the portions of food and see how your body responds. Be sure to reduce the food portions gradually. Lower the food portions too drastically and your body may freak out and instead of losing fat, you'll lose muscle. This isn't anything fancy but as long as you're being honest with how you're eating and training hard then I don't see why this shouldn't work.

How do you know if you're training hard? If its challenging. If you need to muster some level of willpower to make yourself finish all the exercises. If your time at the gym is pleasant and enjoyable, you're not training hard enough. Don't waste your time at the gym catching up with friends or watching TV, get in, work hard and get out. As I said before, you only get out what you put in. If you really want to improve how you look, put in the effort, then enjoy the results.

One final thing. Eat fast food as least as possible because the food is most likely processed and full of saturated fats, artificial colours and preservatives and whatnot. This is why its better to prepare most of your own meals, because you know exactly what's in it. Make sure the food you eat comes from organic sources, if it doesn't rot or go off after a long time then its not organic and you shouldn't eat it. That means don't eat too many snacks or junk food either. Its better to stay disciplined and indulge once in a while (once or twice a month) than to always eat terribly and constantly feel sorry for yourself. Be sensible when you indulge also.

Now you know what 'toning up' really means (the training and dieting aspects), please stop referring to it as such. Let the people who don't know what they're doing use the term.

Skinny Guys:

If you are of average height (170-180cm) then refer to the guide below to know if you're skinny. The first two points hold true no matter what your height though (unless you're really short).

• 50kg: you are very skinny and probably can't even look at yourself in the mirror. Hell I could probably eat you for lunch.
• 60kg: you are still skinny
• 70kg: you are average
• 80kg: you are above average but not big
• 90kg: you are big
• 100kg: you are massive

If you fell in the first two categories this is what you need to do. Eat like a horse. Eat like a glutton. Pretend the more you eat, the more kittens you'll save. Trust me, if you're skinny people don't respect you. They probably disrespect you behind your back. I would know I used to be skinny too. The perfect way to get back at them is to get big and strong.

When you're skinny, what you eat is not as important because your body needs the calories. So carbs is going to be your friend because it is calorie dense. The approach here is going to be different to the previous section. Wake up early, the extra hours will give you more time to eat. Follow the template below:

Breakfast: Eggs, ham, toast, milk

Snack: Chicken or beef sandwich

Lunch: Rice or pasta, vegetables and meat (chicken, beef, pork, lamb etc)

Dinner: Rice or pasta, vegetables and meat (chicken, beef, pork, lamb etc)

Pre-bed: Protein shake mixed with milk, or just milk if you're too cheap to buy protein

If you're lactose intolerance, mix protein powder with water instead.

When first starting off, try 2 eggs for breakfast, and 1 cup of milk. For lunch and dinner, start off with 250g of rice (weigh it on a scale so you have a point of reference from now on), and say a fistful of vegetables and meat each. Don't forget to take a 'before' photo. If you're training hard (do Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength, make sure technique is good, don't do cardio) the weight should be packing on for the first few months. Once you stop gaining weight, time to increase your food portions.

Increase it to 3 eggs for breakfast and 2 cups of milk. For lunch and dinner, 300g of rice and a fistful and a half of meat. Just keep how much vegetables you're eating constant. You need to save the room in your stomach for the rice and meat. Once you stop gaining weight again, increase to 4 eggs for breakfast and 3 cups of milk. For lunch and dinner, 400g of rice and two fistfuls of meat.

Make sure you don't gain weight too quickly either. Your body can only produce muscle at a certain rate, beyond that its just fat. If you're gaining 2 kilograms a week you're going to get fat.

Every time your weight stops climbing, assess where you are. How strong are you and how much do you weigh? Its good to have a certain level of relative strength just to know your strength is somewhat proportion to your size. So after months of consistent training (it could take 3 months or 6 months or even a year) and busting your ass in the gym, you should be squatting around 1.5xbodyweight, deadlifting 2xbodyweight, benching 1xbodyweight or higher (this will vary depending on if you have long arms or short arms), and pressing around 0.7-0.8xbodyweight. I wasted a year doing stupid bodybuilding programs but I still gained 10kg in the first year. So if you gain weight while training the right way a beginner should then you should be in a better position than I am now in once you have been lifting for 2-3 years.

Only once you have reached the above average weight range should you think about whether you are happy at this weight or if you want to keep getting bigger.

Sources:

http://www.eatingdisordersonline.com/nutritional/fats.php

http://www.livestrong.com/article/414187-why-do-we-need-carbohydrates-in-our-diet/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_primary_function_of_muscle_glycogen

http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/nutrition/shocking-but-true-your-body-needs-carbs-after-exercising/