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Secret Pre-Contest Diet of a Fitness Model

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[youtube NoLCDmDzCk8]

Many people asked how I did at Fitness America www.fitnessamerica.com.  If you didn’t hear already, I lost 27 lbs in 6.5 weeks.  Keep in mind about 15 of those lbs was water.  I placed 25 out of 52 (which was better than last year), I also placed 19th in swimwear, which I was please about!

A lot of fitness models and bodybuilders keep it a secret to how they prepare nutritionally for a show, but I enjoy sharing how I prepared.  Keep in mind, I don’t necessarily recommend many of these strategies for the average person, but I think there are two important take home messages you should take from this video.

1.  Prepare in advance:  A fitness model knows EXACTLY what they are going to eat for many days in advance.  They make a menu, and measure and cook the food, and then find a way to transport the food.  Being prepared is so important for you as a mom.  You need to know what you have to cook for the day, what you need to buy at the store, and if you are eating the same meals as your kids.

2.  Know your body.  I would say that about 80% of nutritional information and guidelines apply to everyone, but that last 20% is where you need to learn how your body responds.  Some people might respond pourly to certain carbs, dairy, or fats.  It is your job to make careful observations as to your exercise and nutrtional habits and how they affect how you look and feel.  This doesn’t happen overnight, but be trying new things out and observe.  It is great once you know how your body responds, because you feel like you are in total control over everthing.

Have you nominated that deserving mom yet to receive $500, you have two more weeks to do so.  Visit http://www.dustinmaherfitness.com/index.php/2008/12/01/nominate-deserving-mom-to-win-500/ for more details!

Keep moving,

Dustin

Comments { 3 }

Organic Foods: Buy Some, Skip Others

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I get asked all the time what my viewpoint on organic foods.  I believe that I have a well-balanced approach to it, not being on one extreme or the other.  One observation that I find interesting (and to me comical) are those individuals who are hard core extremist when it comes to buying ALL organic, yet they still eat lots of high sugar, high fat foods and are overweight.  Buying all organic will not ensure healthiness by any means!  There are so many things in this world that aren’t good for you (ie toxins) that it is impossible to avoid all of them.  I believe in a balanced approach that finds the fruits and vegetables that are most susceptible to pesticides and try to buy those organic and skip on those that have very low levels of pesticides.

So here is a list of 43 fruits and veggies that have been rated for their amount of pesticides.  I would recommend to buy accordingly.  This study was done by Environmental Working Group (EWG) you can visit their site at www.ewg.org

RANK

FRUIT OR VEGGIE

SCORE

1 (worst)

Peaches

100 (highest pesticide load)

2

Apples

96

3

Sweet Bell Peppers

86

4

Celery

85

5

Nectarines

84

6

Strawberries

83

7

Cherries

75

8

Lettuce

69

9

Grapes – Imported

68

10

Pears

65

11

Spinach

60

12

Potatoes

58

13

Carrots

57

14

Green Beans

55

15

Hot Peppers

53

16

Cucumbers

52

17

Raspberries

47

18

Plums

46

19

Oranges

46

20

Grapes-Domestic

46

21

Cauliflower

39

22

Tangerine

38

23

Mushrooms

37

24

Cantaloupe

34

25

Lemon

31

26

Honeydew Melon

31

27

Grapefruit

31

28

Winter Squash

31

29

Tomatoes

30

30

Sweet Potatoes

30

31

Watermelon

25

32

Blueberries

24

33

Papaya

21

34

Eggplant

19

35

Broccoli

18

36

Cabbage

17

37

Bananas

16

38

Kiwi

14

39

Asparagus

11

40

Sweet Peas-Frozen

11

41

Mango

9

42

Pineapples

7

43

Sweet Corn-Frozen

2

44

Avocado

1

45 (best)

Onions

1 (lowest pesticide load)

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Fat Loss Tips: Secret foods at the grocery store

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I get asked all the time what I eat and what my clients eat who get such great results.  I documented my weekly trip to the grocery store and shared my secrets to fat loss foods.

I have completed 3 weeks of my diet and dropped 12 lbs.  I will update my progress on Monday again.

Enjoy the video and please comment on this post!

[youtube EhqQKTZlN5Y]

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Fat Loss Tips: 80/20 Rule for Fitness

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Dear Friends,
I want to first welcome the 120 of you who heard my fitness show yesterday and signed up for my newsletter.  I am proud of you for taking that step.  If you have questions that you would like me to cover in an upcoming newsletter please let me know!  If you missed yesterdays radio show listen to it at Ask the expert call-in show
If you missed my NBC news segment this morning where I talked about eliminating lower back pain you can watch it at

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You may have heard of the 80/20 rule which is applied in nearly every aspect of life.  For example 20% of the population holds 80% of the wealth.  This can also be applied to health.  Doing 80% of the right things will allow you to achieve a great looking and feeling body.
So many times we are looking for those “secrets” that make up the 20% which we think will give us the results.  There are many tips that I share that many people don’t know about, but they would fall in the 20%, but without living a healthy lifestyle these “secrets” won’t do much.
I recently was on google looking for common phrases people were searching for related to fitness.  One of the most common phrases was “diet pill.”  When I saw this it got my blood boiling and just reminded me again how lazy people are, looking for the miracle pill.
So what is the 80% I am talking about?  I am talking about 4 pillars that I believe will allow you to reach all your goals.
1. Nutrition
2. Exercise
3. Social Support
4. Right Mental Attitude
I get emails from people wanting to know which weight loss supplement they should take (I think most supplements don’t work, and if they do, only when combine with the above formula) Very seldom will I recommend a supplement to someone who has poor eating habits and inconsistent exercise.  If someone is doing many of the right things, some supplements will definitely help some.
So lets stop trying to dissect quite so much the minute details of training and instead focus on the big picture.
1.  Don’t eat crap
2.  Get involved in high intensity exercise (sweat a lot)
3.  Surround you with positive supportive people
4.  Realize healthy is a life long process and ever evolving, don’t see it as a short term commitment.
Once you get those 4 pillars understood and start practicing them, then we can get into the small details and “secrets.”
As promised I am unveiling the new indoor bootcamp schedule.  You can find all the details at www.madisonbootcamps.com.  If you are interested in McFarland you can begin attending now.  Supreme location will begin Nov 3rd.  No need to be a member and shower are provided.
6 AM MWF Supreme Health and Fitness for 6 weeks
5:45 AM T/Th/F Karate America in McFarland
There is still some time to sign up for the Fit Fun Cruise that I am hosting in the Caribbean.  Visit www.fitfuncruise.com
Have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you Monday!
Keep moving,
Dustin Maher

Comments { 1 }

Weight Loss Tips: Yesterday’s Food Journal

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Yesterday I decided to do my low calorie day (1000 cals).  I was a bit nervous going into it, but having gone through it I swear I have never felt better.  It was amazing.  I think part of it was that I drank over 2 gallons of water and before that I hadn’t been drinking enough (shame on me for not practicing what I preach).

Here is what I ate.

7 AM

1/3 cup of oats 100 Cals

1/2 scoop of protein powder 60 Cal.

8-11 AM 1 gallon of water

1 pm (still not feeling hungry)

1 very small cookie (whoops) 100 Cals

3/4 cup of homemade hominy chili with chicken (Yum!)  200 Cals

5 pm

25 Almonds 200 Cals

1-8 pm Drank another gallon of water

7 pm 

3/4 cup of hominy chili 200 Cals

9 pm (not hungry but wanted to get to 1000 cals) 

Salad: Spinach, peppers, tuna, tomato, low fat dressing  200 Cals

 

Total 1060 Cals and 2 gallons of water

Like I said, I felt amazing all day and had boundless energy and focus.  I look forward to next weeks ultra low calorie day now!

Please realize that this isn’t a typical day, and very low calorie days in a row will slow metabolism greatly!

Comments { 1 }

Female Fat Loss: Day 9′s food journal

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Yesterday I finished the 9th day of my diet leading up to the competition.  I have 36 more days to go.  I am now down about 7 ish lbs so far and happy with the progress.  I will take bodyfat again on sunday.  Here is what I ate yesterday.

5:00 AM

Handful of almonds 200 cals

6:30 AM

protein bar  160 cals

9:45 AM

protein bar  160

11:15

Protein Drink 300 cals

12:45

Big salad with tuna and kidney beans:  400 cals

3:30

Apple with lots of all natural peanut butter (went a little overboard)  350 cals

8:45 pm (hungry)

3 slices of deli roast beef 150 Cals

Homemade vegetable soup (had 10 different veggies in it with some kidney beans) 100 cals

Low fat popcorn 200 cals

Total 2020

Today was a good day, still a little low on cals, but not too bad.  Energy was good for most of the day.  I should have had another snack at 6 or 7 pm, but I had clients and was teaching for many straight hours.

I hope that helps you, feel free to comment!

Keep moving,

Dustin

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Female Fat Loss: Week 1 of my diet is over!

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I have finished the first 7 days of my diet and I am down about 5.5 lbs.  I have been quite disciplined the last week (with the exception of Saturday), turning down going out to eat with friends, and avoiding Camp Randall Food.  My body is coming along well and am happy with the progress.

On Saturday I let myself have a cheat day.  I am still 6 weeks out of the show so I still have some leeway, but I let my flesh and my desires get the best of me.  I planned on eating one caramel apple and one brat as my cheat foods for the day.  Because I didn’t plan ahead and had no food with me during the day, I caved in a had two of each.

Sunday I worked VERY hard at going low carb from my big carb day.  It took 36 hours to lose the 3.5 lbs (mostly water) that I had gained on Saturday, but I am back to my pre saturday weight.

Lesson for you:  When you have a cheat day or a period of time where you are not making the most responsible food choices, acknowledge what you did and get right back on to eating healthy again.  So often I see or hear people who eat bad for a few days and then continue to and justify it by saying they already ate some bad foods and might as well continue.

This mentality will sabotage you so quickly and will guarantee you poor results.  The same thing goes with exercise… just because you miss a couple days, doesn’t mean you should stop altogher.  Evaluate why you stopped, make some changes and start up again.

From this weekend, I was once again reminded that I need to be prepared ahead of time and not get myself into tough situations.  I packed a few protein bars in my car now, so if I feel like caving in, I can grab one of them.

Talk to you soon!

Dustin

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Female Fat Loss: Day 2 of diet

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Yesterday I finished day two.  It was a busy day.  Started work at 5 AM and was finished at 8:30 PM.  I find on days where I am on the go, I keep my energy up by eating frequently… keeping busy also decreases the amount of time I spend thinking about food. 

Here ya go:

5 AM

 

Banana 100 cals

 

7:30 AM

 

Hot Chocolate mix 150 cals

1 cups skim milk 90

¾ Cup oatmeal 1 scoop of Protein powder 110

 

11 AM

Handful of Raw Almonds 200 Cals

 

1:15 PM

 

Salad: organic mixed greens, tomato, 1.5 chicken breasts, vinegarette dressing  300 Cals

 

4:15 PM 

 

Protein Drink: ½ banana, 1 scoop of whey protein, frozen berries, ½ cup skim milk  300 cals

 

6:15 PM 

 

Protein Drink: Same thing as above 300 cals

 

8:45 PM

 

6 inch black forest ham sub (it pained me to only get a 6 inch!)  Guessing 500 cals

 

9 PM 

 

Small cup of Wendys Chili  Not Sure maybe 300 Cals

 

Total Cals 2250

 

This is right where I want to be for the first of 7 weeks.  I will see how my body responds in the next 10 days and adjust accordingly… the low carbs haven’t been too bad yet, but I do get a few tired spells.  As of this morning I am down 4.5 lbs.

 

I have been asked what to do if you are a women and you should only consume maybe 1500 cals.  This is by no means perfect eating, but most of it is good, just make the serving sizes 30% smaller and you will achieve your calorie goals.

 

Feel free to leave a message!

 

Dustin

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Weight Loss: Day 1 of my Diet

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Yesterday was day 1 of my 7 week diet to prepare me for the Fitness Modeling World Championships in Vegas.  In the next 7 weeks I will be going from 9 % body Fat down to 4 ish %.  I started the diet weighing 194 lb at 6’5.  I will probably drop to 175-178 for the show.  The weight lost will come from fat, water, muscle (hopefully not too much!), and less intestinal crap.

I have had a lot of people asking how I do it and what I eat.  So, every few days I will update you will some sample days of my eating… Here was yesterday.

7 AM

¾ cup oatmeal 100 Cals

1 scoop of pp. 110 Cals

1 low fat string cheese 50 Cals

 

12:30 PM

Salad: organic mixed greens, tomato, 1.5 chicken breasts, vinegarette dressing  300 Cals

Medium apple 100 Cals

2 tbs of all natural peanut butter 200 Cals

 

3:30 PM

 

Medium Apple 100

 

5:30

 

Protein Shake: 1/2 skim milk, frozen berries, 1/2 banana, 1 Scoop of Advocare Whey Protein   300 Cals

https://www.advocare.com/08063358/Store/ItemDetail.aspx?itemCode=P4602&id=B&flavor=B&size=P

 

7:30

 

Low carb tortilla 80 Cal

Oven roasted delie Turkey 150 Cals

Spinach leafs 5 Cal

Mustard 20Cals

Beef Jerky 60 Cals

 

9 PM

 

Low Fat Popcorn  300 Cals

Handful of Almonds 200 Cals

 

 

Total Cal 2075.  For the first day and first week of dieting this is a little too low.  I would like to see between 2300 and 2600.  In order for my to maintain bodyweight I need to consume between 3200 and 4000 cals a day.  If I start out too drastic I will lose weight too fast and lose muscle in the process which is the last thing I want to do.

 

Hopefully you enjoyed this!  Feel free to follow along and modify things accordingly.  In an ideal world this is how I would always eat except that the portions would be much bigger and there would be a few more carbs added.

 

Please feel free to post comments.  Love to hear your feedback.

 

Check in soon for my next post!

 

Dustin

 

 

 

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