The other day I shared about the modified Warrior Diet that I’m following. It’s pretty solid to cover all my bases but in case you’re wondering if there’s an alternative to undereating/fasting (WD isn’t fasting by the way) up until the final meal for the day.
Honestly, many ways to skin the cat and a lot depending on your goals. My goal is to lift the maximal weights without looking like a refrigerator. My body type is somewhere between a Mesomorph and an Endomorph — yeah, they exist — so it’s hard to settle to just one kind of diet.
Historically, I’ve used the Slow-carb diet (SCD) successfully. Losing well over 28 kilos/60 pounds (70% of which was fat)! I switched back to a more “traditional” way of eating since I took up powerlifting. Not that the sport requires doesn’t leave any room for a “diet” but one has to be smart about the food choices they make as they get serious about strength sports.
My biggest mistake after taking up powerlifting was not caring enough for carb as a major source of fuel for my training. And I thought the diet itself was the challenge. That isn’t so.
Here’s Tim’s Rule #1 from the 4-hour body:
Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates
Avoid any carbohydrate that is — or can be — white. The following foods are thus prohibited, except for within 1.5 hours of finishing a resistance-training workout of at least 20 minutes in length: bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe.
See what I mean? I can eat carbs (including the “banned” white foods) within 1.5 hours of finishing a resistance-training workout. I would add a little carb (30g) as a pre-workout as well. Especially if I’m not able to follow the 30-under-30 rule (30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up). This simple fix would have saved me a lot of trouble and experimentation after having successfully followed the SCD for close to two years!
Alas, that wasn’t meant to be. But I did end up studying a plethora of diet hacks on the way and all that helped me in some way for sure!
Here’s Rule # 2 from the SCD:
Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again
The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again. Mix and match, constructing each meal with one from each of the three following groups:
Proteins:
Egg whites with one whole egg for flavor
Chicken breast or thigh
Grass-fed organic beef
PorkLegumes:
Lentils
Black beans
Pinto beansVegetables:
Spinach
Asparagus
Peas
Mixed vegetables
Simple enough?
Now, here’s a twist. You now essentially have two rock-solid protocols to follow: the SCD and the Warrior Diet. And both can be modified to fit your needs.
I’ll be following the WD for at least a couple of months with a little tweak (just made this today): having SCD-type dinner instead of a regular carb-loaded one. What does that mean? I’ll swap out bread and rice and eat everything else!
My pre-workout and post-workout meals will contain adequate carbs to cover off at least 50-60% of the total carbs I’ll ingest the whole day! The rest of the day I’ll undereat until my last meal.
If the SCD above inspires you, please do consider having some carbs right before and after your training. It’s an important aspect that you shouldn’t ignore, especially if you’re into strength training or powerlifting.
Power to you!