January Offers for Nutrition Plans, Macro Coaching and FREE Seminars

 

January Offers from Unorthodox Nutrition For the First time in 6 years we are doing some Offers on Nutrition Plans, Coaching and Free Seminars. YOU CAN USE THESE OFFERS FOR ANY COMPETITION OR PRE BOOK THE TIME FOR WHEN GYMS REOPEN ETC Click the Images below for details.  Visit the Website for more details

Great Video on Dieting for Guys with a lot of Muscle

Hey Guys,

While I was on Youtube the other day I came across the gem of a video by Justin Harris and his work with Dave Tate of Elite FTS. Both of these guys are incredible in their fields and this video has some really good tips for a lifter with a lot of muscle mass!

Take a look and let me know what you think!

Stay healthy,

Mike

Diet Update - Refeed baby!

Hey Guys,

Well this weekend was my Refeed. Currently I am taking in just one high carb day every 2 weeks. This is to help with hormone production, boost metabolism and give me a little bit of a mental break. During this day I limit how much fat I take in and go for carbs and protein to help fill me back out. During this day I gain anywhere between 2-5 pounds due to water weight and refilling glycogen stores.

Most of you will know by now that I like cheat meals and high carb days for clients. It is very rare that I have to take them out completely (although it can happen depending on what the clients goal is).

The thing about these meals is that they can be a bit of a double edged sword. While a meal won't break your diet, some people just can't stop at one meal and go into an all out binge, sabotaging their diet.

In light of this I thought that I would give you a few thoughts on these days to help you out. These are all tips and tricks that I use with myself and clients to get the best results possible!

1. Make sure that this is a planned meal or day. If it isn't in the schedule then it doesn't happen! Coaches pick when you have a cheat or refeed for a reason. You don't just get to move the timings as you like or this will mess up everything (and you will have to many).
2. Make sure that you can actually stop if you start. Some people just need a sniff of chocolate to go on an all weekend eating binge. If thats you, then stay away from refers and meals without guidelines.
3. Have guidelines in place i.e. how many calories you can have for that meal.
4. Know what foods work best for you. I personally do well with high sugar foods and feel terrible on things like pizza. However I know clients that are the complete opposite.
5. Drink LOTS of water. This will help you from storing to much water in your system.
6. Some people do very well on a very high fat day and stay completely away from carbs. This is a good idea if you need a bit of a boost but you still have a fair bit of fat to lose.
7. Train! Make sure you exercise on this day so that your body puts all those calories to good use. Squats are good here.
8. Use a coach. I know I go on about this but if you don't know what you are doing then please ask someone who does (or use the free Q&A on the website)

That's it for this post. However if you have any questions at all then please let me know in the comments.

Stay healthy,

Mike

Diet adjustments!

Hey Guys,

It's that time of the week again, diet update time!!!

I seriously can't believe that so many of you are reading this (although I love your e mails and messages so keep them coming!)

This week I really need to ramp things up as I only have about 12 weeks left to be ready and I know I am still way to soft to by this close! Because of this I am doing the following things,

• Taking 100 cals of fat out of my diet.
• Cheat meal every 2 weeks
• Upping cardio on the form of BJJ training from 3 times per week to 4-5 times per week.

While this seems like a lot of steps (I would never do this many with a client) I know that I need low cals and to really be getting a sweat on a few days a week to get really lean. This is unfortunately what I have to go through to get lean. Out of every client I have ever had, I have never had one that needs to suffer as much as me.

Now this could be because my metabolism absolutely sucks or it could be down to the fact that I am my own worst coach lol. Either way, suffer we shall!

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Stay healthy,

Mike

PS if anyone needs a hand with their own diet, feel free to use the FREE Q&A SERVICE on the website :)

Back from travelling - Diet Update

Hey Guys,

Well I'm back from a weeks travelling. Thank you to everyone who was patient with me getting back to you as I had a really crappy internet connection while I was over there.

Ok so as many of you know, even though I was travelling it was no excuse for me to throw everything away and break from the plan (no matter how much I wanted ice cream and cocktails). In a previous post I outlined what I would be doing so that I didn't pile on the beef!

So did it work?

Well yes it , I lost 2 pounds :)

So what worked and what didn't?

Everything pretty much went to plan apart from having a gym to train in. Unfortunately the pictures of the hotel gym were greatly exaggerated. Pretty much everything in the gym was broken or faulty, so there went training...

Diet wise is was easy. The hotel served every food imaginable and always had loads of fresh veggies and meats at every meal. What I did have to watch out for was portion size. As you can have as much as you like it's pretty tempting to have 5 steaks for your tea. The idea was to have lean protein with green veggies for 2 meals and a higher fat meal for breakfast consisting of eggs and a bit of red meat.

The main contributing factor to making this work (apart from will power) was to make sure I took in an adequate amount of water. Thank fully the hotel did 500ml bottled water which makes things much easier rather than having to drink a million 250ml ones!

It is possible to stay in shape (and enjoy yourself) while on holiday if that is what you want to do. All it takes is a bit of will power and some forward planning.

Stay healthy,

Mike

Next instalment of article series

Hey Guys,

Recently I have been sharing this great article series on someone dieting down to a very low body fat for the first time.

If you have been reading along you can find the next instalment HERE

Thanks for reading!

Stay healthy,

Mike

PS Sorry if you have been trying to get in touch with me this week. I've travelling and haven't always had an internet connection. If you have E mailed me, I'm working my way through them and will get back to you shortly!

Great article on dieting down to 7% body fat - Part 2

Hey Guys,

Last week I posted a great article on a powerlifter dieting down to a very low body fat percentage for the first time. While not many of the people who read this blog are bodybuilders, it is always interesting to find out how people approach different goals (plus summer is coming and I know you all want to look a little better).

You can find the second instalment HERE

Next part coming next week!

Stay healthy,

Mike

Great article on getting down to 7% Body Fat

Hey Guys,

Today I thought I would share with you a great article on a power lifter dieting down to single digit body fat for the first time. The first time you really diet down is always the toughest and your body fights you nearly every step of the way. However after the first time it get a little easier (much easier if you use a coach).

You can find the first part of the article HERE

I will post the second half next week.

Enjoy!

Stay healthy,

Mike

Diet Update

Hey Guys,

This week I have made a big change to my nutrition plan.

For the last few weeks I have mainly just been steadily lowering carbs (and calories) without following a specific plan. From now on I will be following the Get Shredded Diet by John Berardi (you can read up on it HERE).

I've ran this diet in the past and got great results. In the past I've played around a little bit with it to include some more carbs for BJJ training but we will adjust it depending on the results I see.

Next week I will be traveling through Egypt so things will be a little more tricky to stay on track. However nothing is impossible so here are the strategies I will employ to give myself the best chances of success,

• Stay away from anything that isn't a lean meat or fresh veggie. This means no sauces, no red meat, no oils etc. Not that any of these foods are bad, it is just this gives me the best chance to control my calorie intake.
• Train. I will be training pretty much every day either weights or conditioning circuits with a band.
• I will drink LOTS of water. Double what I ma drinking now to stop water retention and to stay hydrated in the heat.
• I will also be taking a few Quest Bars with me to help with keeping away the sweet tooth when confronted by mountains of free goodies.
• Suck it up and remember what my goal is. 

Hopefully I will get the chance to update this blog while I'm there as I will still be working.

Stay healthy,

Mike

Diet Update

Hey Guys,

Sorry I didn't post this update sooner but things have been crazy this week!

As far as my diet goes, my weight stayed the same but my measurements went down. I imagine this would confuse a lot of people as they are very conflicting pieces of information. the trick in this situation is not to panic and make massive adjustments.

I was talking to a client the other day who had been going through a sticking point. They have stuck to the plan and have now moved past it. I had to explain that although it may appear that nothing is happening on the surface, a great deal can be happening below it. If you are following a specific programme, whether it is from a Coach, book or article, make sure you stick exactly to what is written and you will see results (providing it's a decent plan).

So what have I done?

Well not much really. This is the week where my volume goes up a bit in the weights room so I have decided to do nothing. Everything will be monitored for the next week and changes will be made if needed.

Got questions on your own diet? Just drop me an E Mail to mike.unorthodox@gmail.com :)

Stay healthy,

Mike

Weekly Diet Update

There isn't one.

Well not much of one.

I lost another pound this week and can see that things are tightening up as needed so there are no adjustments this week.

One thing that I have noticed is my metabolism speeding up. When I switch to regular meals of fat and protein with little to no carbs I can always feel a jump in my metabolism. I feel hotter than usual and my skin feels tingly after each meal. This is a really good sign and it shows that I am on the right track.

I will say that without the extra carbs my recovery does take a bit of a hit. I ma now feeling sore after most weight sessions and a bit rinsed after BJJ. cardio still feels ok and strength is still slowly climbing so I'm happy over all.  

Workouts look like this,

Monday - Weights
Tuesday - Weights
Wednesday - BJJ
Thursday - Weights or BJJ
Friday - BJJ
Saturday - Light weights or off
Sunday - Light weights or BJJ.

I will get a maximum of 7 sessions in a week with a minimum 3 of those weights. Cardio is in the form of 2 sprint sessions after weights.

Nutrition looks like this,

Monday - High Protein, High fat, low Carb
Tuesday - High Protein, High fat, low Carb
Wednesday - High Protein, Medium fat, Medium Carb
Thursday - High protein, Low fat, Low carb
Friday - High Protein, High fat, low Carb
Saturday - High Protein, Low fat, High Carb
Sunday - High protein, Low fat, Low carb

If you have any questions just give me a shout :)

Stay healthy,

Mike