Muscle_&_Fitness_JulyAugust_2016

2016 ROCK HARD CHALLENGE PART I
THE NUTRITION
Building rock-hard abs owes more
to what you do in the kitchen than
what you do in the weight room.
First, decide if your main priority is
gaining muscle or losing fat. To simplify
the decision-making process,
consider this: Your body’s ability
to put on muscle rather than fat is
determined by its insulin sensitivity,
and if you’re currently soft (that is,
no visible ab definition whatsoever),
any efforts you make to bulk will
only make you fatter. For 90% of the
people undergoing this program,
getting lean will be the ultimate
goal, but we’ll show you how to
both gain and lose accordingly.
To begin eating for fat loss, set
your calories at 12 times your goal
body weight. That is, if you want to
lose 20 pounds, eat as if you were
20 pounds lighter already. So if
you weigh 180 and want to be 160,
consume 1,900 calories daily (160 x
12—you can round the number off ).
Now determine how those calories
break down into grams of protein,
carbs, and fat. Set your daily protein
intake at one gram per pound of
body weight. You need carbs to
provide energy for workouts and to
recover from training, so again, one
gram per pound is good. As for fat,
keep it low to keep calories under
control (one gram of fat has more
than twice the calories of a gram
of protein or carbs), but not so low
that you negatively affect hormones
like testosterone: Start with 0.4
grams per pound per day. So for
our 180-pound man who wants to
be 160, his macros are 160 grams of
protein, 160 grams of carbs, and 65
grams of fat.
To gain weight (remember, you
must already be quite lean to do
this—some abs showing), multiply
your current weight by 17. So
a 160-pound guy who wants to
put on muscle size will consume
2,700 calories daily. From there,
the formula is the same as for fat
loss—except you’ll want to double
the carbs to two grams per pound.
Our 160-pounder will then eat 160
grams of protein, 320 grams of
carbs, and 65 grams of fat.
Note that these numbers provide
just a starting point. If you’re not
losing weight after two weeks,
cut calories to 10 times your body
weight. You may have to experiment
with cutting more carbs than
fat. Likewise, for the muscle seeker,
you should increase calories to 18
per pound if you’re not gaining,
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inspired by sharing
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progress with other
M&Fers throughout
your transformation on
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#rhc2016. Go to
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rhc2016 for more.
and even as high as 20 if necessary.
If the number of carbs you need to
eat to put on size seems too daunting,
you can add more fat to your
meals. For any change you make,
give it time to work and make sure
you’re hitting your numbers. You
can’t just guess blindly at what
you’re eating and blame the program
if you don’t see results. Track
your macros.
For more tips to help you keep
your diet on point, check out the
complete guide to our nutrition
philosophy at muscleandfitness
.com/foodpyramid.
JULY/AUGUST 2016 MUSCLE & FITNESS 41