2011/2012 OFFSEASON DIET [EXPLAINED]
2011/2012 OFFSEASON DIET [EXPLAINED]
by Trainer/Competitor Marek Piecyk
This was my typical off-season meal plan for great gains and growth to my physique. Please note, that this diet plan may not be for everyone. I had to work upto eating this amount first. For many individuals, if they just jump into eating this much, they will put on more fat, then lean muscle mass. So, you may need to adjust things to work up-to certain amounts so that the gains are solid, and not flabby.
Meal 1 7:00am
14 egg whites
4 whole eggs
100-120g potato hash-browns or 2 cups oatmeal
1/2 banana
– 80g protein/120-140g carbs/20g fat
Meal 2 10:00am
10oz steak
16oz red potatoes or 2.5 cups white sushi rice
– 60g protein/120g carbs/15g fat
Meal 3 12:30pm
10oz chicken breast
16oz red potatoes or 2.5 cups white sushi rice
1/2cup green beans
– 60g protein/120g carbs
Meal 4 3:00pm
2 scoops whey protein
1 cup (raw measurement) oatmeal
– 50g protein/60g carbs
– workout period 5:00pm –
Meal 5 post-workout 6:30pm
2.5 scoops whey protein
45g waxy-maize (powdered carb source)
(1hr later 1.5 cups oatmeal with 1/2 banana)
– 60g protein/150g carbs
Meal 6 8:30-9:00pm
10oz chicken or steak
1 cup white sushi rice
1/2 avocado
1/2 cup steamed veggies
– 60g protein/25g fat/45g carbs
Meal 7 10:30-11:00pm
8oz fat-free Greek yogurt
1 serving cup of blueberry lite yogurt
1-2oz almonds
1 scoop whey protein
– 60g protein/20g fat/20g carbs
*Notes:
If legs or back was being trained, more carbs/fat would be consumed either that same day, or a cheat meal/refeed was had the night prior to that training session depending how I was feeling.
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Questions & Answers:
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Q: Why Eggs?
A: Eggs are the best overall absorbed protein source the body can take. It is basically the most anabolic protein that can be consumed. Want to grow? Eat your eggs.
Q: Whole Eggs are ok to Eat?
A: The media has portrayed all ‘FAT’ basically to be bad for you. Whole eggs, in moderation, are very important for the body. They actually lower BAD Cholesterol. They are full of vitamins and minerals, and eating them will only make you stronger.
Q: Fruit still ‘ok’ to eat with all the sugar involved?
A: Look, I can understand why sugar can be a bad thing, BUT when it comes to certain fruits, I’m ok with it. Personally, I love bananas, as they are packed with potassium, vitamins and minerals. Natural sugars, from fruits, are different then processed ones. So having fruit in your diet, especially in the off-season, is key to a good well-being, and healthy functioning system.
Q: What do you think is a MUST carb source in your diet?
A: Oatmeal. It’s slow digesting, plus very easy for the body to digest. I can make it as dense as I would like (adding more water to it for cooking), and it’s probably the most affordable carb source ($7 for 10lbs at Costco), next to potatoes. The best part about oatmeal is that you can make it taste anyway you would like. There are almost an endless list of items that can be added into it to make it taste the way you would prefer. Oatmeal is a MUST for me in my off-season and in my pre-contest stages.
Q: Why white rice rather then brown rice?
A: First off, white rice just tastes better. I usually get SUSHI rice from Walmart (the only place I can find it). Also, it takes very little time to cook (22min), and brown rice usually slows the digestion process down. Once in a while I will incorporate brown rice, but in the off-season, I’ve learned to just stick to white rice mainly. Brown rice gets put in during the final stages of pre-contest time for me.
Q: Red Potatoes rather then Sweet Potatoes or Russel Potatoes?
A: Well, red potatoes almost have the same GI as sweet potatoes, and they are far more inexpensive. Remember, in the off-season, the food quantity goes up! and so can the cost. The key is to keep costs down, while quality calories go up! Russel Potatoes are kept for when I make homemade baked fries in the oven. I have sweet potatoes as well, but I usually get them when they are on-sale. Red Potatoes are cheap, and easily cooked in the microwave….plus they taste great cooked on the pan (with PAM) to get that toasted flavor on them. Spray butter is great on them too with a little sea salt and pepper.
Q: Do you eat fish in the off-season?
A: Once in a while, mainly if I go out to dinner at a seafood restaurant, or if I’m in the mood for some fish. But I usually keep my fish consumption to only sushi meals. Plus fish isn’t the cheapest thing to purchase.
Q: What kind of steak do you buy in the off-season?
A: Flank, Skirt, Top Sirloin, Top Round and Filet Mignon.
Q: How OCD are you with rimming fat off your meats?
A: With chicken, I don’t really bother in the off-season. With Steaks, I usually do trim off the hefty portions of fat that are on the meat.
Q: Whey Isolate or a Whey blend protein, what do you prefer?
A: Offseason, blend. Cheaper, and it works just fine. Pre-contest, for the first half of the prep, I’ll stay with a blend, then towards the mid-to-end, (until 2-3 weeks out), I will switch to a isolate (ALLMAX Isoflex). But then I’ll cut out whey protein all together in the last 2-3 weeks, and just stick to whole foods.
Q: Why is a carb-powder consumed post-workout? Then you have whole food carbs a little while after?
A: Well, I want a fast carb that didn’t bloat me right after I trained. I don’t like feeling bloated all too often (who does?), so I want to replenish my glycogen as fast as possible with the waxy-maize. Then after all the absorbed, I’d intake some more carbs in the form of oatmeal; yes, I love my oatmeal.
Q: Not that much vegetables in your off-season?
A: Well, for me, at times, I just don’t have room for them. Sure, they are very important in any persons diet, but at times I just don’t have the room to intake them; I’m already full off protein and starch carbs. They are mainly a ‘filler’ for me during any diet stage (off-season or pre-contest).
Q: If you had 4 top FAT sources, what would they be?
A: In no particular order, almonds (eat raw), olive oil (add to shakes or foods that have already been cooked), avocados (add to meals), peanut butter (add on pancakes, shakes or eat with a spoon).
Q: Greek yogurt instead of eggs or cottage cheese at night?
A: The way I make it is somewhat like a dessert. I add things into it to make a treat meal. Greek yogurt to me is a superior dairy protein source to cottage cheese. Yes, eggs are better, but I already eat a ton in the morning for meal 1, so having this greek yogurt meal is a treat for me. It’s high in protein, and very low in sodium and carbs (especially sugar).
Q: Condiments, are they ok and which ones do you stay away from the most?
A: Well, I keep anything that is loaded with a ton of fat and sugar within it at the same time away from my diet (READ THOSE NUTRITIONAL LABELS!!). I usually don’t go over the 50-60 calories per serving size rule in my condiments. BBQ sauce, no sugar added ketchup, mustard, chill pepper sauces, hot sauces are all ok to me. Fat free dressings are used in moderation, since they are loaded with other junk when the fat is removed.
Q: When is your pre-workout meal? How long before you train do you eat it?
A: Well, as I stated before, I hate being bloated around training time, so usually my meal before I train is 90-120min prior to me lifting any weights, and I usually keep that rule even during pre-contest as well; it’s just personal preference, nothing more then that.
Q: When bulking, was this calorie amount constant?
A: No. On heavy compound movement days with big muscle groups (legs and/or back training), I would usually intake more carbs and some extra fat to increase the calorie intake. Another thing I would do is have a cheat meal the night prior to those workouts, just so that those extra calories would go into use the next day.
Q: On that ‘cheat meal’ topic, what did you do?
A: All depends on what I had a taste for at the time. But it had to incorporate all the micro-nutrients (protein/fat/carbs). So, I’d get burgers, fries and cheesecake at times. Pizza was a once in a while thing, but sushi was a good one to have. Chinese food was another thing I’d get, since I can have noodles, soup, chicken, rice, etc. Sodium wasn’t too much of a thing I worried about in the off-season, but I did monitor it to a degree; I had a balance for everything. If I wasn’t in the mood though for a cheat meal, I would have had a refeed-type meal, which would have been more ‘clean regular diet’ carbs to boost my system up. If I wasn’t in the mood or didn’t need either, I’d just keep going how I was. But usually, this was the protocol I did when it came to cheats/refeeds; I made sure those extra calories were going to be used if they were had.
Q: If you could give one piece of advise to anyone wanted to gain good clean size in the off-season, what would it be?
A: Don’t be afraid to eat. Have a balanced lifestyle when it comes to food, and you’ll gain good clean size if your training hard enough, and especially proper enough. The diet part is just as important as the training part; they both equally important to the development of a great physique.
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I hope that I explained my off-season plan, protocol and method to you all as best as possible. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. I will be happy to answer anything that you may have.
