Start with the 7 Habits

• The crux of every diet plan should be a focus on good health. There is no point in working out, training hard and regularly, just to undercut our own lifespan because of poor nutritional habits. That is why a solid bodybuilding diet always revolves around the 7 Habits of Canadian nutritionist Dr. John Berardi. Berardi preaches that by following these rules, individuals will be healthier, jump start their metabolism and turbocharge their muscular gains.
  
  For bodybuilders looking to follow the 7 Habits, consider the following:
  
  1. Eat every two to three hours for a total of five to eight meals a day. Bodybuilders should fall near the high end of this spectrum, as their bodies will need a surplus of calories to ensure growth potential.
  
  2. Consume lean protein with each meal--meat, eggs, fish, and chicken. Bodybuilders should strive to ingest at least a gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. That means a 150-pound bodybuilder would need 150 grams of protein each day, split evenly among his meals.
  
  3. Consume fruit and veggies with every meal. This will ensure that you receive adequate nutrition to keep training strong in the gym.
  
  4. Make sure that most of your carbohydrates are coming from fruit and veggies. For bodybuilders, they can deviate from this rule safely on the meals immediately before and after their workouts. Although they can have alternative carb sources at these times, they should keep things as clean as possible: Stick to oats, rice, sweet potatoes and other "natural" carb sources.
  
  5. Consume at least 25 percent of your daily calories from fats. Examples include animal fat, oils (fish, flax and olive), avocados and coconuts.
  
  6. Drink only zero-calorie beverages.
  
  7. Eat only solid meals--no liquid nutrition. Bodybuilders can also diverge here to have liquid meals (a protein shake) immediately after their workout.
  
  Bodybuilders should keep a food log while on this diet, tracking (at the very least) total calories and protein intake. They should shoot for a 1- to 2-pound weight gain every week. If they are not gaining on schedule, increase daily calories by a modest amount, such as 200, then reassess after two weeks at the higher total.
  
  

Carb Cutoffs

• Another, simpler, plan for bodybuilders revolves around dieting with "carb cutoffs." A carb-cutoff plan used in conjunction with a modified 7 Habits is a good way to gain or lose weight from fat while keeping muscle intact. A carb cutoff simply refers to a time of day after which the dieter will no longer consume carbohydrates. As the general purpose of carbohydrate intake is to provide the body with immediate energy, this need lessens as the day ends. Ergo, consuming additional carbs at night will most likely lead to fat storage as the body will not be burning them off immediately because the individual will be preparing for rest.
  
  A good "carb-cutoff" plan would set the cutoff around 4 p.m. or 5 p.m., after which the bodybuilder complies fully with the 7 Habits, only eliminating fruits from the recommendations as fruits tend to have more carbs than vegetables. Before the carb cutoff, the bodybuilder may eat any carb-laden food(s) he likes, keeping in mind that best results and the least fat gain will be seen by keeping his carb sources "clean," that is to say, by sticking to carbs found in nature and not any man-made carbs or processed foods. Of course, although he is allowed to consume carbs, he should still attempt to meet his daily protein requirements (at least a gram per pound of body weight) and consume sufficient healthful fats as well.
  
  

Final Thoughts

• Some individuals can eat a fair number of carbs and remain lean. For those bodybuilders, the carb cutoff should be their plan of choice, as it allows for a greater range of possible foods while still minimizing the possibility of fat gain. For bodybuilders who, for whatever reason, do not function so well (or gain fat easily) with added carbs, they should stick strictly to the 7 Habits as listed above, limiting their carb intake to the meals surrounding their workouts, as it is not likely that the body will store fat at these times.