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Here are the calories and macro breakdowns:
Lifting Days: 4,090 total calories. 395 grams of protein, 335 grams of carbs, 130 grams of fat.
Non-Lifting Days: 3,430 total calories. 355 grams of protein, 210 grams of carbs, 130 grams of fat.
Diet Plan For Training Days
I cut back significantly on off training days.
Meal #1 - 1¾ C liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1 tsp coconut oil, 1 C cooked rice, broccoli, and 1 tsp red palm oil OR 6g pasture butter.
Meal #2 - 5.25oz (cooked) chicken breast, 7.6oz baked sweet potatoes, 1 tbsp EVOO, and Brussel sprouts.
Meal #3 - 5.25oz (cooked) 97% lean ground turkey breast, kale, 1 C (cooked) rice, and 1 tbsp macadamia nut oil.
Meal #4 - Workout nutrition, 30 minutes prior - 40g carb powder, 1 tbsp olive oil, 5g BCAAs & 25g whey protein, and 5g creatine in 500ml water + ½ can Spike or 100mg caffeine.
Intra-Workout - 10g BCAAs + 10-20g carb powder (depends on training volume).
Post-Workout - 45g carb powder plus 2 scoops whey protein and 5g creatine.
Meal #5 - (About 1 hour later) 2 scoops whey/casein protein blend, ¾ C oats, 1 heaping tbsp almond butter.
Meal #6 - 5.25ox (cooked) lean steak (grass-fed!), 1 C rice, 1 packet wholly guacamole.
Meal #7 - 5 whole organic local eggs, 2 slices Ezekiel bread.
Meal #8 - 2 scoops Metabolic Drive w/ 1 tbsp olive oil (drink ½ before bed and ½ when I wake up during night).
Diet Plan For Off Days
30 minutes low-moderate intensity fasted cardio (I alternate between incline treadmill and StairMaster at Level 6 where my HR usually tops out at 138-139).
Meal #1 - 1¾ C liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1 tsp coconut oil, ¾ C cooked rice, broccoli, and 1 tsp red palm oil OR 6g pasture butter.
Meal #2 - 2 scoops whey/casein protein blend, 2/3 C oats, 1½ tbsp almond butter.
Meal #3 - 5.25oz (cooked) 97% lean ground turkey breast, kale, ¾ C (cooked) rice, and 1 tbsp macadamia nut oil.
Meal #4 - 5.25oz (cooked) chicken breast, 5.6oz baked sweet potatoes, 1 tbsp EVOO, and Brussel sprouts.
Meal #5 - 2 scoops whey/casein protein blend, 2/3 C oats, 0.75 oz walnuts OR 23g unsweetened shredded coconut.
Meal # 6 - 5.25ox (cooked) lean steak (grass-fed!), 2 slices Ezekiel bread, 1 packet wholly guacamole & fish oil.
Meal #7 - 5 whole organic local eggs.
Meal #8 - 2 scoops Metabolic Drive w/ 1 tbsp olive oil (drink ½ before bed and ½ when I wake up during night).
Yes, this is a lot of clean, quality food. It can be a pain in the back side to prepare and eat it all sometimes. No, this is not forever, and no this is not a fat loss meal plan. This will put muscle on you! If you’re afraid to “get fat”, you won’t.
Slowly work your way up to this level of food intake. Start at lower levels of carb and fat intake and watch the scale from week to week. When the scale stops moving or you start feeling run down, add a little more of the energy nutrients and keep repeating. It took me almost 7 weeks to get from my starting point to this level of food. In order, here were the changes I made:
Added 10g Carbs to meals #1-6 on lift days
Added shake at night
Added 3g fat to meals #1-6 on ALL day
Add 20-30g carbs to meal #7 (lift days only)
My next bump will be to add 5-10g Carbs to meal #1-6 again.
Ryan Munsey's Story - 10 Pounds In 2 Months
I have a confession to make – I’m obsessed with staying lean and not gaining fat. I was a skinny fat high school athlete with no appreciable muscle mass. In college I was able to gain enough newbie muscle to trick a few people into calling me a fitness model and I even got them to pay me a few dollars along the way! But then I realized that in the eyes of most bodybuilders and powerlifters, my 6’1” long-limbed frame resembled more of a lanky pretty boy than the cover model I perceived. That’s when I knew I had to change!
Ryan MunseyFrom the time I first started competing and posing in 2007 until mid-2011, I tried every conceivable diet strategy to gain lean muscle without losing my figure. Yes I said it that way to make fun of myself! Sure I made decent strength gains, and periodically saw changes in my physique. But the truth is, I had the diet equivalent of training ADD.
I’ve tried more nutritional strategies than I can name, but I will list a few: Paleo, low-carb, carb cycling, pulse fasting, pulse feasting, carb back-loading, weekly refeeds, not eating breakfast, Lean Gains, intermittent fasting, etc. And 4 years later, my weight and bodyfat levels were within one pound and 1% of my original numbers.
In my defense, I do have a degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition so everything I’ve done has had scientific merit! Truthfully, I liked experimenting on myself to discover how my body reacted and changed. I just made 2 critical errors:
I ate too few calories.
I couldn’t look at myself objectively because I wanted to be huge and shredded simultaneously!
I sacrificed strength and size gains in an attempt to remain as lean as possible. It wasn’t until I finally let go of that mental hang-up that I saw the progress I wanted. And a funny thing happened along the way. I didn’t get fat!
Sure I lost a little bit of crispness, but I gained very little body fat during this phase. My friends, this article is about building appreciable amounts of muscle. The kind that makes you buy new clothes and forces others to wonder what the hell you’re doing. You know, the muscle that makes you read this site to begin with!
In the strength game, there are no such things as blanket statements. Everything is individualized and goal-dependent. Young people, beginners, and even intermediates always look for those blanket statements: “What do you think of milk? What do think about the bench press? How many sets and reps should I do? What’s the best training split?”
The answer is goal-dependent and if you want to see the results you crave, your actions must be in line with your desired outcome(s). This is called congruent behavior and it goes for everything in life as well as the weight room and the kitchen.
Think about it: if you want to gain muscle, then you need to provide your body the raw nutrients it requires to lay down new tissue. This REQUIRES a caloric surplus – there is no way around it. We’re talking about going up in weight classes here, not getting stage-ready.
If you’re ready to see you strength go through the roof and feel you clothes shrink from week to week, this is the plan for you. Train hard, get plenty of rest, and eat like a champ. Stay humble and stay hungry.
Lifting Days: 4,090 total calories. 395 grams of protein, 335 grams of carbs, 130 grams of fat.
Non-Lifting Days: 3,430 total calories. 355 grams of protein, 210 grams of carbs, 130 grams of fat.
Diet Plan For Training Days
I cut back significantly on off training days.
Meal #1 - 1¾ C liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1 tsp coconut oil, 1 C cooked rice, broccoli, and 1 tsp red palm oil OR 6g pasture butter.
Meal #2 - 5.25oz (cooked) chicken breast, 7.6oz baked sweet potatoes, 1 tbsp EVOO, and Brussel sprouts.
Meal #3 - 5.25oz (cooked) 97% lean ground turkey breast, kale, 1 C (cooked) rice, and 1 tbsp macadamia nut oil.
Meal #4 - Workout nutrition, 30 minutes prior - 40g carb powder, 1 tbsp olive oil, 5g BCAAs & 25g whey protein, and 5g creatine in 500ml water + ½ can Spike or 100mg caffeine.
Intra-Workout - 10g BCAAs + 10-20g carb powder (depends on training volume).
Post-Workout - 45g carb powder plus 2 scoops whey protein and 5g creatine.
Meal #5 - (About 1 hour later) 2 scoops whey/casein protein blend, ¾ C oats, 1 heaping tbsp almond butter.
Meal #6 - 5.25ox (cooked) lean steak (grass-fed!), 1 C rice, 1 packet wholly guacamole.
Meal #7 - 5 whole organic local eggs, 2 slices Ezekiel bread.
Meal #8 - 2 scoops Metabolic Drive w/ 1 tbsp olive oil (drink ½ before bed and ½ when I wake up during night).
Diet Plan For Off Days
30 minutes low-moderate intensity fasted cardio (I alternate between incline treadmill and StairMaster at Level 6 where my HR usually tops out at 138-139).
Meal #1 - 1¾ C liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1 tsp coconut oil, ¾ C cooked rice, broccoli, and 1 tsp red palm oil OR 6g pasture butter.
Meal #2 - 2 scoops whey/casein protein blend, 2/3 C oats, 1½ tbsp almond butter.
Meal #3 - 5.25oz (cooked) 97% lean ground turkey breast, kale, ¾ C (cooked) rice, and 1 tbsp macadamia nut oil.
Meal #4 - 5.25oz (cooked) chicken breast, 5.6oz baked sweet potatoes, 1 tbsp EVOO, and Brussel sprouts.
Meal #5 - 2 scoops whey/casein protein blend, 2/3 C oats, 0.75 oz walnuts OR 23g unsweetened shredded coconut.
Meal # 6 - 5.25ox (cooked) lean steak (grass-fed!), 2 slices Ezekiel bread, 1 packet wholly guacamole & fish oil.
Meal #7 - 5 whole organic local eggs.
Meal #8 - 2 scoops Metabolic Drive w/ 1 tbsp olive oil (drink ½ before bed and ½ when I wake up during night).
Yes, this is a lot of clean, quality food. It can be a pain in the back side to prepare and eat it all sometimes. No, this is not forever, and no this is not a fat loss meal plan. This will put muscle on you! If you’re afraid to “get fat”, you won’t.
Slowly work your way up to this level of food intake. Start at lower levels of carb and fat intake and watch the scale from week to week. When the scale stops moving or you start feeling run down, add a little more of the energy nutrients and keep repeating. It took me almost 7 weeks to get from my starting point to this level of food. In order, here were the changes I made:
Added 10g Carbs to meals #1-6 on lift days
Added shake at night
Added 3g fat to meals #1-6 on ALL day
Add 20-30g carbs to meal #7 (lift days only)
My next bump will be to add 5-10g Carbs to meal #1-6 again.
Ryan Munsey's Story - 10 Pounds In 2 Months
I have a confession to make – I’m obsessed with staying lean and not gaining fat. I was a skinny fat high school athlete with no appreciable muscle mass. In college I was able to gain enough newbie muscle to trick a few people into calling me a fitness model and I even got them to pay me a few dollars along the way! But then I realized that in the eyes of most bodybuilders and powerlifters, my 6’1” long-limbed frame resembled more of a lanky pretty boy than the cover model I perceived. That’s when I knew I had to change!
Ryan MunseyFrom the time I first started competing and posing in 2007 until mid-2011, I tried every conceivable diet strategy to gain lean muscle without losing my figure. Yes I said it that way to make fun of myself! Sure I made decent strength gains, and periodically saw changes in my physique. But the truth is, I had the diet equivalent of training ADD.
I’ve tried more nutritional strategies than I can name, but I will list a few: Paleo, low-carb, carb cycling, pulse fasting, pulse feasting, carb back-loading, weekly refeeds, not eating breakfast, Lean Gains, intermittent fasting, etc. And 4 years later, my weight and bodyfat levels were within one pound and 1% of my original numbers.
In my defense, I do have a degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition so everything I’ve done has had scientific merit! Truthfully, I liked experimenting on myself to discover how my body reacted and changed. I just made 2 critical errors:
I ate too few calories.
I couldn’t look at myself objectively because I wanted to be huge and shredded simultaneously!
I sacrificed strength and size gains in an attempt to remain as lean as possible. It wasn’t until I finally let go of that mental hang-up that I saw the progress I wanted. And a funny thing happened along the way. I didn’t get fat!
Sure I lost a little bit of crispness, but I gained very little body fat during this phase. My friends, this article is about building appreciable amounts of muscle. The kind that makes you buy new clothes and forces others to wonder what the hell you’re doing. You know, the muscle that makes you read this site to begin with!
In the strength game, there are no such things as blanket statements. Everything is individualized and goal-dependent. Young people, beginners, and even intermediates always look for those blanket statements: “What do you think of milk? What do think about the bench press? How many sets and reps should I do? What’s the best training split?”
The answer is goal-dependent and if you want to see the results you crave, your actions must be in line with your desired outcome(s). This is called congruent behavior and it goes for everything in life as well as the weight room and the kitchen.
Think about it: if you want to gain muscle, then you need to provide your body the raw nutrients it requires to lay down new tissue. This REQUIRES a caloric surplus – there is no way around it. We’re talking about going up in weight classes here, not getting stage-ready.
If you’re ready to see you strength go through the roof and feel you clothes shrink from week to week, this is the plan for you. Train hard, get plenty of rest, and eat like a champ. Stay humble and stay hungry.