Counting calories sucks. It’s impractical. It’s time consuming. And it’s largely inaccurate.

But nine out of 10 dietitians, doctors and trainers will tell you that “calories in vs. calories out” is the key to weight loss or gain. And generally, it is. The law of thermodynamics tells us that if we take in more calories than we burn, we gain weight, and vice versa. While this works most of the time, it would be wrong to dismiss the effects of macronutrients (protein, fats, carbs and fiber) and nutrient quality on body composition.

For my nutrition class, my professor asked us to keep a food log for three days. At first I cringed at the thought of counting calories, measuring and weighing portions and doing all the obsessive compulsive things that turned me off from the typical “body building” diets (along with my love for bacon cheeseburgers).

But I knew this would be a blessing in disguise. It forced me to actually count calories and macronutrients, and I gained a clearer picture of what I was actually putting into my body. Now that I know I can keep close track of my dietary intake, I can make better adjustments based on physique and performance goals AND help current and future clients make more educated dietary decisions.

In this post, I lay out exactly what I ate over three days. Keep in mind, this may not work for everyone, but it certainly works for me. Consider it a starting point – something to guide you if you’re looking to try a more radical dietary approach for building muscle and shedding fat.

But First, Some Background…

My disdain for all things calorie counting led me to the wildly-popular, largely controversial dietary approach of intermittent fasting. The Cliff Notes explanation of intermittent fasting is this:

• No breakfast
• Fewer, bigger meals
• Longer times between meals
• An extended period of time (12-16 hours) every day of fasting

More specifically, I’ve followed Jason Ferruggia’s Renegade Diet since getting a copy of his book at one of his strength and conditioning workshops earlier this year. It is one of the easiest, practical and most effective ways to use intermittent fasting for muscle gain, fat loss or both.

Basically, you have a fasting phase (14-16 hours of no food, including sleeping hours), an under-eating phase (four hours of low-calorie, low-carb eating) and an over-eating phase (four hours of eating everything in sight, especially carbs, within reason).

I could write a long review about the Renegade Diet, but you already know I think it’s awesome. To find out more, check out this review by Sean Hyson of Men’s Fitness.

Since Ferruggia’s approach is geared more toward fat loss while maintaining or gradually adding muscle, I’ve also dabbled in the approaches of Dr. John Kiefer’s Carb Backloading. Kiefer is more about mass gain with minimal fat accumulation, and fully advocates consumption of “junk food” at specific times to aid in getting huge. Since my next powerlifting meet has weigh-ins immediately before the meet (AWFUL), I can’t cut down to the 181-pound weight class and I have about eight pounds of leeway between now and November.

Sometimes I take the post-lifting binge a bit too far (as evidenced by my Italian food super binge that occurred at the Feast of San Gennaro in New York City a few weeks ago – look to the left for a glimpse of the caloric carnage). So forcing me to count my calories during future fiascoes helped me analyze the “damage” to see if it had any real effect – positive or negative – on my fitness goals.

Very rarely will coaches and trainers show you exactly how and what THEY eat as opposed to what they SAY you should eat, so I present to you an unadulterated look into three days of everything that entered my stomach. The following occurred over three days: two weight training days and one light conditioning day. All caloric values were calculated using FitDay. Be warned, this might make you hungry.

DAY 1 – WEIGHT TRAINING DAY

• 7:15 a.m. – 12 oz of water
• 8:00 a.m. – 2 cups of coffee

  

• 9:00-11:30 a.m. – 40 oz of water
• 12:15 p.m. – MEAL 1 (UNDER-EATING PHASE)
  • Raw Salad

    • 2 cups spinach and arugula

    • 1 cup broccoli

    • 1 cup sliced cucumbers

    • 1 cup chopped tomatoes

    • 4 green olives

    • 3 tbsp dressing (2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar)

  • Ground Beef and Veggies
    • 8 oz ground beef (85/15)

      

    • 1/2 cup onions
    • 1/2 cup broccoli
    • 1/4 cup yellow peppers

      

• 3:30 p.m. (pre-workout) – Monster Absolutely Zero energy drink
• 4:00-5:30 p.m. (during workout) – 80 oz of water
• 5:30 p.m. – MEAL 2 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • Protein Shake
    • 1 scoop Myofusion whey protein
    • 5 grams creatine monohydrate
    • 1 tbps Ormus Greens powder
  • 1 brown spotted banana
  • 1 jelly donut
  • 1 cheese Danish

  

• 8:00 p.m. – MEAL 3 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • 2 medium grilled chicken breasts
  • 10 spears of asparagus
  • 3 cups red potatoes
• 11:00 p.m. – MEAL 4 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • 6 oz grassfed steak
  • 1 cup sauerkraut
  • 1 medium cannoli
  • 6 fish oil caps
  • 10,000 IU vitamin D
• UNDER-EATING PHASE: 985 calories, 67 g protein, 33 g carbs, 63 g fat
• OVER-EATING PHASE: 3,080 calories, 232 g protein, 225 g carbs, 135 g fat
• TOTALS: 4,065 calories, 300 g protein (30%), 260 g carbs (24%), 199 g fat (45%)
• NOTES: Overall calories and protein intake were good. Probably too high on the fats for a “high carb” training day. Need to watch out for things like the olives and portion size of ground beef to keep fat lower. You’d think the high fat post-workout feedings like the donut and Danish should get nixed before the healthier fats, but these are part of the Carb Backloading strategy of cramming in as many simple carbs and calories during the extra-sensitive post-workout window.

DAY 2 – CONDITIONING DAY

• 7:15 a.m. – 12 oz of water
• 8:00 a.m. – 2 cups of coffee
• 9:00-11:30 a.m. – 40 oz of water
• 12:30 p.m. – MEAL 1 (UNDER-EATING PHASE)
  • Raw Salad
    • 2 cups spinach and arugula
    • 1 cup broccoli
    • 1 chopped tomato
    • 1 medium avocado
    • 3 tbsp dressing (2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar)

    

  • 2 medium grilled chicken breasts
• 12:30-5:00 p.m. – 80 oz water
• 5:30 p.m. – MEAL 2 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • Protein Shake
    • 1 scoop Myofusion whey protein
    • 5 grams creatine monohydrate
    • 1 tbps Ormus Greens powder
  • 10 oz grassfed steak
• 9:15 p.m. – MEAL 3 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • Raw Salad
    • 2 cups spinach and arugula
    • 1/2 cup sliced cucumbers
    • 1 medium yellow pepper, chopped
    • 2 tbsp dressing (1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar)
  • 4 scrambled eggs (cooked in 1 tbsp grass fed butter)
  • 6 oz grassfed steak
  • 1 cup sweet potatoes (cooked in coconut oil)
  • 6 caps fish oil
  • 10,000 IU vitamin D

    

• UNDER-EATING PHASE: 949 calories, 65 g protein, 24 g carbs, 67 g fat
• OVER-EATING PHASE: 2,406 calories, 204 g protein, 63 g carbs, 145 g fat
• TOTAL: 3,355 calories, 270 g protein (34%), 88 g carbs (10%), 212 g fat (56%)
• NOTES: Pretty much hit the nail on the head this day. Ate very “clean,” reduced calories and carbs from the weight training day. Kept protein consistent and upped the fat intake.

DAY 3 – WEIGHT TRAINING DAY

• 7:15 a.m. – 12 oz of water
• 8:00 a.m. – 2 cups of coffee
• 9:00-11:30 a.m. – 40 oz of water

  

• 1:00 p.m. (pre-workout) – Monster Absolutely Zero energy drink
• 1:30-3:00 p.m. (during workout) – 40 oz water
• 3:30 p.m. – MEAL 1 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • Protein Shake
    • 1 scoop Myofusion whey protein
    • 5 grams creatine monohydrate
    • 1 tbsp Ormus Greens powder
  • 1 brown spotted banana
  • 2 medium chicken breasts
  • Raw Salad
    • 2 cups spinach and arugula
    • 1/2 cup sliced cucumbers
    • 1 chopped tomato
    • 2 tbsp dressing (1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar)
• 7:00 p.m. – MEAL 2 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • 1 serving fried calamari
  • 1 cup New England clam chowder
  • 2 lobster rolls
  • 8 oz fried haddock

  

• 11:00 p.m. – MEAL 3 (OVER-EATING PHASE)
  • 12 oz grassfed steak (cooked in grassfed butter)
  • 2 cups red potatoes
  • 1 cup sauerkraut
  • 5 green olives
  • 2 cups homemade coconut milk ice cream (here’s the recipe I use)
  • 6 caps fish oil
  • 10,000 IU vitamin D

    

• UNDER-EATING PHASE: n/a
• TOTAL: 4,399 calories, 308 g protein (34%), 274 g carbs (23%), 228 g fat (44%)
• NOTES: This is how I would structure every day if I could. Trained early (1:30 p.m.) in a fasted state except for water, coffee and a zero-calorie energy drink. Then stuffed my face the rest of the day.

Summary

So to summarize my dietary approach:

• Practice intermittent fasting daily
• Early in the day, keep calories low and carbs nonexistent except for fibrous veggies
• Consume the majority of calories (and all starchy carbs) later in the day
• On training days, eat moderate protein, high carbs and low-to-moderate fat
• On non-training days, eat moderate protein, high fat and low carbs
• Consume a TON of veggies
• Consume a TON of grassfed and pasture raised meat
• Minimize dairy, wheat, grains, corn, soy and artificial crap
• Limit any and all “junk food” to post-workout to maximize the chances of extra calories/carbs being used to replenish glycogen stores and aid in recovery

Many people will scoff at me for committing dietary heresy and breaking some of nutrition’s most dogmatic rules (e.g. skipping breakfast, eating carbs at night, eating a limited number of meals, eating junk food after a workout, etc.).

But I’ve been on the other side of the coin. In college, I ate 8-10 times a day, with huge helpings of chicken and rice at most of those meals. And I wasn’t nearly as strong, lean or healthy as I am now. My digestion was a mess from constantly bombarding my body with food, especially things I didn’t react well to like rice and oatmeal. My roommates will attest to my many desperate, knock-kneed shuffles from the cafeteria back to the dorm. Canterbury 201’s toilet will never be the same.

It wasn’t until I started reducing meal frequency, increasing portion sizes, practicing intermittent fasting and trading my post-workout “healthy” carbs like fruit, oats and whole wheat bread for “bad” carbs like potatoes and sweets that I started to feel and perform better.

But notice that I’m still eating “clean” 80-90 percent of the time. Three days is a small sample size, but the majority of my meals are from nutrient-dense, whole food sources. And the timing of my “cheat” meals help to minimize the negative effects and maximize the positive effects of eating less-than-nutritious foods.

What Did I Learn?

What did I learn from counting calories and macros for three days? That it’s entirely possible to be right where you need to be nutritionally without keeping track of every intricate detail. But counting calories certainly helps to reaffirm accuracy and make adjustments on the fly if progress indicators (strength gain, weight loss, etc.) aren’t where they should be. And if you’re dead set on getting to a single-digit body fat percentage or dieting for a physique contest, neglecting to count calories would make your quest pretty damn difficult.

In the end, do you need to count calories? My answer is no. To be strong, lean and athletic, you need to cycle carbs, time your meals appropriately, and eat the majority of your calories in the form of nutritious whole foods. And indulge every now and then.

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