Evening Hunger Template Frequently Asked Questions
1. Won’t I get bulky from eating all of this protein and lifting weights?
Not necessarily. While on a calorie-restricted diet it is extremely hard to build muscle. What will most likely happen is that you will maintain your lean body mass as it currently is and will lose a lot of fat, resulting in your arms, thighs, etc. shrinking in total girth. Also, muscle helps to burn more fat, thus helping to create the appearance of the “toned” look that most people find appealing.
If you’re on the massing plan instead of the cutting plan, you will absolutely get bigger, but it largely comes down to calories.
2. What about other supplements?
Multivitamins are ok for general health. Creatine is fine to use, and 5g of Creatine Monohydrate every day for the duration of the diet (3 months or so at a time) is effective for almost everyone. Stimulant and pre-workout supplements are ok, but MUST be used in moderation and in the recommended doses only.
Our recommendations for supplements are at the link below:
http://www.jtsstrength.com/grind-nutrition/
We helped design several supplements and got to choose the ingredients that went into these to ensure you are getting what you need and not being sold anything else.
You can use code “rp10” to save $10 on any order through the link above.
If you want a definitive guide on what supplements actually work, please check out Examine.com through the link below. They are the ONLY reliable and unbiased source of information on which supplements are actually worth taking and which supplements are a waste of money. Their recommendations are virtually identical to what we recommend to our clients.
http://examine.com/referstack/renperiod
3. Are there optimal meal times each day or an optimal amount of time between meals?
Yes, and those times are written in on the diet templates. Don’t worry about getting them EXACTLY right… just hit the recommended times within 30 minutes or so.
4. Can I replace any other meals in the day with a protein shake if I am running short on time?
Yes, but we suggest only doing this when you need to and sticking mostly to whole foods. While it is best to have mostly whole-food meals, a whey/casein blend shake, on occasion, is much better than missing a meal.
5. I take it there is no dairy? Can I have milk in my coffee?
There CAN be dairy on the diet. Just make sure the product you’re eating with your meal counts towards the carb, protein, and fat recommendations for that meal as closely as you can. This applies to all condiments that have more than 20 calories per serving, including cheese. Please see the additional note on cheese in #7 below.
Dairy and whole eggs are really the only exceptions to not just hitting the column that food is laid out in (ex – only worrying about the protein from the protein column, etc).
6. Can I eat the same foods for every meal?
Sure, but it seems as if variation tends to help prevent burnout. Also, in regards to cheese, please vary your healthy fats so as to not over eat cheese (due to it being high in saturated fat.) Same goes for sausage, bacon, etc… SOME is ok, but ALL of your fats from such animal sources may not be a great idea for health.
7. Are there salt restrictions?
No. We recommend using salt as you have been prior to beginning the diet.
8. Do you care about calories each day?
Yes we do. However, we find it is easier to list the meals in terms of ounces and grams for ease of measuring. The number of calories can be calculated from this very easily, which we do on our end. You don’t need to count calories… all you need to do is try to follow the diet as closely as possible, and the results will come.
Because each meal has multiple source options, choosing different foods yields slightly different calorie and macro amounts depending on choice. Peanut butter has extra protein, carbs, and calories that olive oil does not. This is why we do NOT lay out the total calories on a per day basis. These slight variances in food choices are already factored into the diet design created by us here at Renaissance Periodization.
The reason for this is SIMPLICITY. If we can simplify the dieting process for individuals, chances are they will be MORE successful on their diet. Less time spent worrying about calculations on a diet usually leads to greater diet adherence.
9. Are the carbohydrate measurements for cooked or uncooked pasta/rice?
The measurements are done after the pasta or rice is cooked. One cup of cooked pasta/rice = 40 grams of carbs. The measurements are not in the weight of the actual food, but in the content of carbohydrate, which can easily be found on the “nutrition facts” labels of most foods.
To help with measuring serving sizes, please refer to the sheet labeled “Serving Sizes” on the Excel document you now have. Also, approximate portions are listed at the top of the diet for vegetables (1 cup = 1 serving) and healthy fats (2tbsp nut butter = 15g healthy fats). If you need further help with measuring, please consider the following:
1 medium sized apple/orange/banana = 25g carbs
1 cup of COOKED pasta, rice or oatmeal = 40g carbs
*When in doubt, please refer to www.nutritiondata.com for accurate serving size nutritional data.
10. Can I mix carbohydrate sources to get the total I need?
Absolutely!
11. How much water do you want me to consume each day?
Continue as you normally have before the diet. As a general guideline, just drinking to thirst is usually just fine. If you’re consistently peeing clear or off-yellow, you’re very likely well hydrated, and don’t force-hydrate yourself... there is no advantage in consuming more water than you need.
12. Can I eat foods that are not on the list?
Yes, but please make sure they are fitting. Lamb chops are NOT lean meat, neither are sausage or bacon. Potatoes are a carb, NOT a green veggie. Coconut oil MIGHT be good for health, but we’re not sure, so we don’t recommend using it too much. It’s still a good idea to get MOST of your fats from the healthy fats listed and to limit your consumption of saturated fats like coconut oil, grass-fed beef/butter, and whole eggs.
Basically, if you want to add a food into your diet and it fits the general guidelines (it’s a healthy carb and you want to use it as a healthy carb in your meal), please feel free to do so! Just look up the nutrition facts in www.nutritiondata.self, factor in the macros to that meal, and eat up!
13. Is caffeine or diet soda allowed?
Plain black coffee, DIET soda, sugarless gum and Crystal Light are all fine while on the diet. It’s likely a good idea to use these in moderation though.
14. Can I add herbs and spices to add flavor when cooking?
Absolutely. Any calorie free herb or spice can be used on your foods to help improve the taste. If it has more than 20 calories, count the macros that make up those calories into your meal and subtract out other foods to make the fit. We recommend not going too crazy with this as most of your nutrients should come from whole foods, not Kraft ranch dressing!
Be aware, however, that increasing the tastiness of your food will usually make cravings WORSE and not better. Eating bland foods the deeper you get into your fat loss diet is our best recommendation.
15. Is the protein amount for raw or cooked meat?
The protein amount is to be measured in the raw amount of the meat. Thus, a 6oz raw steak has 35 grams or so of protein, but if you cook it down enough, it might only weigh 4oz, but still has just as much protein.
16. What about grass fed butter, coconut oil and egg yolks?
These types of fats can be consumed, however we suggest eating no more than 1/3 of your daily fat requirement from these sources. The reason is that they are saturated fats and the best idea is to consume MOST of your fats from the healthy variety.
With egg yolks, the protein and fat content from them must be factored into the meal allotment as well.
If you do eat egg yolks, be sure to count the protein and fats from the yolk into the meal allotment of macronutrients.
So for example, if your meal says 40g protein from lean meat, 30g carbs and 15g fat from healthy fat, once you eat two whole eggs (12g protein, 0g carbs, 9g fat), then the rest of your meal should only contain about 28g protein, 30g carbs and 6g fat.
17. What about “cheat meals?”
The more cheat meals you have, the WORSE your cravings will usually be. This means that while it feels like a good idea to cheat, the cheating usually just means more cravings will come back even stronger down the line. Our best advice is to cheat as little as possible or not at all, and especially not towards the latter half of the diet.
The more often you cheat, the slower your results will be. We typically recommend NOT having cheat meals while dieting to reduce cravings AND to get your results faster. If you can reach your goals faster, then you can return to a more normal way of eating quicker and not delay/extend the dieting process.
18. I have a conflict in my schedule; What should I do about the timing of my next meal?
You are free to move the mealtimes around a bit to fit your schedule. So long as you’re eating about every 3-6 hours, you will be fine.
19. I’m busy all day, what can I do to get in a meal?
Using something like a quest bar or a protein shake can be a suitable meal replacement. If you can take some nuts with you, a protein bar or shake (or even some jerky) and, say, an apple (if carbs are needed) that’s a fairly easy to consume and portable meal on the go. Waximaize is actually a low-glycemic carb, so you can make olive oil, waximaize and whey/casein shakes work for you. ZERO guarantees on the taste!
20. How do I know if my workouts are light/moderate/hard?
There are detailed guidelines in our book, The Renaissance Diet, as well as template FAQ, but here are some much simpler filters:
· Light: Workout under 45 minutes (NOT including warmup), you hardly break a sweat in normal gym temperature. The workout might be heavy but you don’t feel super tired afterwards.
· Moderate: Workout between 45 min and 1:30 long and you work plenty hard and sweat a bunch. You’re pretty tired afterwards but you could do more if push came to shove.
· Hard: Your workout is longer than 1:30 of actual hard training and you sweat like you just stepped out of a pool. After the workout, there’s no way you’re capable of any more hard training for the next couple of hours.
21. What if I ate normally, but then ended up not training at all?
Just switch to an off-day of eating as soon as you find out you’re not training that day.
22. Can I drink alcohol on this diet?
Drinking alcohol while on the diet should be kept to a minimum. Drinking has no positives for body composition. Just be aware of the tradeoffs involved with deviating from the diet; the more you go off the plan, the less certain we can be of the final outcome.
For obvious reasons, we will never recommend drinking alcohol on a diet.
23. How flexible is the diet?
The RP Diet has lots of flexibility to it; you’re free to use any of the food choices from the acceptable foods list at any meal. Variety is a good thing on a diet! However, there are limits to this and everything is written on the diet for a very specific purpose. If you sub in candy or doughnuts instead of healthy carbs, this is NOT ideal. If you sub in whole grain bread instead of brown rice, that is totally fine. We’d love to list the macros for the diets, but they vary quite a bit based on particular food choices. You can calculate your own macros based on the foods you choose, just be consistent and don’t replace all of your 90/10 beef with fat-free chicken breasts for a week and wonder why your weight is going down!
24. Can I eat veggies that are not on the list?
Yes, you probably can. The veggies listed under that column are there because they have a very low net carb content. Brightly colored veggies can be eaten, but they would be counted towards the healthy carb allotment at that given meal. If a meal calls for no carbs, please try and use veggies from the list provided. There is an abundance of veggies listed to help provide a lot of flexibility with choices.
A general rule is if a serving of veggies has more than 5g net carb, then just count it towards the healthy carb column. All of the veggies listed are lower carb, thus the carb content is low and we factor those trace amounts into the initial calculations when we designed the templates.
25. I want a food item that’s not on the food options list, but I can’t tell if it’s a veggie or healthy carb (spaghetti squash is a great example).
No problem. Just look up the nutrition facts for your serving size on this amazing website: www.nutritiondata.com. If your item has more than 5g of non-fiber carbs, then you’ve got to count it in healthy carbs. If it’s got less than 5g of non-fiber carbs, you’re golden!
26. I’m very hungry the first week on the cutting diet. Is that normal?
It can be quite normal for clients to be a bit hungrier than normal during the first week or so. This is usually a result of having certain meal times listed and not being able to eat or snack whenever they’re hungry. This usually goes away for most clients after their bodies adjust to the schedule. However, as more and more weight is lost, calories have to be restricted at some point to continue that weight loss, so being hungry is an unfortunate side effect of losing weight. This is likely going to be true at some point as you progress through the cut phases, though with the design of these templates, evening hunger in particular should be much lower than most other effective cutting plans.
27. I’m on my menstrual cycle and I’ve gained weight. Do I adjust the diet?
No. Wait a week for the cycle to abate before making any decisions about tissue loss. Menstrual cycles increase weight due to water retention, thus we need that water to come off before making a reasonable conclusion about bodyweight changes that actually reflect tissue loss rates. Also know that it is perfectly normal. Stick to the diet you’re doing and don’t bat an eye. Most diet changes are tracked through WEEKS of changes in weight, not days. Don’t let the bloat get you down… it goes as fast as it comes.
28. My weight has gone up quick over the last couple of days but I haven’t changed my training or eating.
If you actually haven’t changed anything and your weight just jumps up by several pounds all of a sudden, chances are it’s water weight. Sometimes salty foods make us hold water. Sometimes it’s female hormones. Some supplements like creatine can do that too. Summer heat leads some people to over-consume fluids and put on a couple of water weight pounds. This is no big deal at all and nothing to worry about. Weeks of changes are what really inform us about calorie balance and fat/muscle loss and gain.
29. What if I unintentionally skip a meal?
If you’re on the cutting diet, just eat the next meal as if nothing happened. If you’re on the mass or maintenance, try to combine the missed meal with your next one or spread it over the next several meals. In any case, don’t make this a regular thing!
30. I ate too much at my last meal. What should I do?
If you eat too much at a meal, subtract the food amount you ate extra from the next meal or several meals. It is worth repeating; to maintain a stable psychology of eating, we recommend not doing this too often and doing your best to stick to the meals as-written.
31. I cheated on the diet. What should I adjust?
Nothing. Go on like it didn’t happen and keep following the plan as-written. Cheating on the cutting diet is likely not a good idea, but cheating and adjusting constantly tends to f...
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