My Daily Diet

by Mark Briggs Fitness Tips & Advice, General News Tags: , , 37 Comments

My Daily Diet

This is more of a food journal entry than it is an actual article today.  One of the biggest topics that so many people struggle with is their diet.  I mean, lets face it, when most of us average around an hour a day for our workouts, that leaves us 23 hours to be doing other things, like sleeping, working, and through it all, EATING.

In one of my prior posts, I covered the basics on eating;  what to eat, when to eat, and figuring out your nutritional requirements to keep you on track in reaching your fitness goals.  Since that article, I’ve received numerous emails from people, asking me specifically what I ate throughout the day, so I will answer that question below.  Another question I received from several people was “How do you eat in order to bulk up, but keep lean mass?”.  That question I will answer right now.

In order to bulk up, you obviously have to take in more calories than you burn.  Unless you are a bodybuilder, preparing for an event, the easiest way to accomplish this is by upping your caloric intake by as little as 300 calories per day!  Don’t feel like you have to shift the content of your food, just add to it.  Its really that simple.  Now, typically, for weight LOSS, I suggest a 500 calorie per day DEFECIT in your nutritional intake – but for adding, I suggest the slightly smaller increment of 300 calories.  This is what I have done to add bulk in the past, and going slower has taken a bit more time to add the mass, but its also kept all of the gains lean (no bloated look or feel – just solid muscle).

Ok, now I’ll go into a staple of my daily intake.  Let me start by saying that I no longer count calories, and I don’t measure the amount of food I eat, so these are going to be ballpark estimates on quantities.  ;)    Now, this is just a staple of one day, but I eat very close to the same things on a daily basis.  Breakfast, for example, is always the same for me, and ALL of the ingredients are mixed together.  When it comes to fluid intake, I drink either water (1 liter per 50 lbs of bodyweight), green tea, and occasionally (but rarely) 1 cup of coffee.

Breakfast

  • Oatmeal (approx. 1.5 cups)
  • Whey Protein Powder (varied brands), 2 scoops, 48 grams of protein
  • Creatine Ethyl Ester powder (4 grams)
  • Flax seed (2 tablespoons)

AM Snack

  • Fruit (apple or banana – any fruit is fine)
  • Cliff Energy Bar or Cascadian Farms organic granola bar

Lunch

  • 1 lbs of vegetables (varies from day to day)
  • (2) Morning Star Vegetarian burgers

PM Snack

  • Protein Shake (mixed with water/ice), 2 scoops, 48 grams of protein or Greens Plus Protein Bar
  • Cascadian Farms Organic Granola Bar

Dinner

  • Bag (1 lbs) of Spinach
  • 1 can of Albacore tuna or salmon
  • 1 cup of diced tomatos
  • 1 cup of Black Bean Pico De Gallo
  • Salsa or Balsamic Vinegar

PM Snack

  • Shakeology
  • 2 scoops of Whey Protein Powder (48 grams of protein)

*NOTE*  I would like to point out that quantities above may vary slightly from day to day based on how I’m feeling.  In time, you will learn to read your body and know if you need to increase or decrease your intake slightly.  On days that I train in double sessions (for example), my food intake is almost always higher – simply because of the additional caloric burn.*

On occasion, if I’m really hungry within that 3 hour window of bed time, I’ll have one additional Protein Shake (always mixed with just water and ice).  Because I eat a Pescatarian diet (fish and veggies), and I do not consume dairy, I supplement quite a bit as well.  Without getting too specific, below is a summary of my supplements:

  • P90X Multivitamins
  • Flax Oil Capsules
  • Thermogenic Fat Burners
  • Calcium with Vitamin D
  • CLA
  • Ginko Biloba
  • St. John’s Wort
  • Alfalfa (for joints – VERY cheap alternative to Glucosamine/Chondroitin)

There you have the summary for a day of my nutritional intake.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them here and I’ll get them answered for you.