Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 127: 5 Diet Hacks For Weight Loss & Muscle Gain +Tips for Hardgainers

Episode Date: September 23, 2021

First off, there are no “hacks or quick fixes” these are habits and behaviors I have found helpful and implement with clients to help them.-Weight Loss (calorie deficit is optimal):#1. It’s okay to eat later.#2. Replace a meal with something high in protein and fiber.#3. Include Protein at every meal.#4. Put the fork down in between bites.#5. Drink water across the day and with mealsMuscle gain (calories surplus is optimal)#1. Have a high protein breakfast or shake to start the day (play with a lead)#2. You have nothing to lose making the most of the “anabolic window” (whether or not you think it’s real)#3. For hard gainers (the high-calorie smoothie)#4. Load up on the stuff that’s easier to eat and still fairly nutritious (grains, fruits, dairy proteins, etc). #5. Switch to fattier cuts of meat.---Thanks For Listening!---Grab the new Female Physique Advanced HERE!---RESOURCES/COACHING: I am all about education and that is not limited to this podcast! Feel free to grab a FREE guide (Nutrition, Training, Macros, Etc!) HERE! Interested in Working With Coach Danny and His One-On-One Coaching Team? Click HERE!Want Coach Danny to Fix Your S*** (training, nutrition, lifestyle, etc) fill the form HERE for a chance to have your current approach reviewed live on the show. Want To Have YOUR Question Answered On an Upcoming Episode of DYNAMIC DIALOGUE? You Can Submit It HERE!Want to Support The Podcast AND Get in Better Shape? Grab a Program HERE!----SOCIAL LINKS:Sign up for the trainer mentorship HEREFollow Coach Danny on INSTAGRAMFollow Coach Danny on TwitterFollow Coach Danny on FacebookGet More In-Depth Articles Written By Yours’ Truly HERE!Support the Show.

Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, it's your host, Danny Matranga. And today I'm going to share five diet hacks that I like to use with my clients who are looking to lose weight or those who are looking to gain muscle. So we're going to go over five habits and behaviors that I think are really high leverage, can really help you make a difference for your weight loss. Of course, that is always going to occur best when you are in a calorie deficit. In fact, it's the only reliable way to lose weight long-term is to be in a deficit. So we're going to talk about five behaviors I've implemented with clients over the years. What I think the evidence is clear in that it supports these behaviors, not just from a mechanistic, hey, here, go do this

standpoint, but also from a scientific, like we can reasonably expect these outcomes if we pull on these physiological levers. So we'll talk a little bit about weight loss. And I'm also going to share with you the five hacks or tips I recommend for my clients who are looking to position themselves better to gain muscle. So we'll look at that through the context of being in a surplus. But I do think it's important to acknowledge while you can only lose body fat when you're in a deficit, like if we're talking about a large amount of body fat, you're one of those 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 pounds, you're going to need to get into a deficit for that, right? If you want to build muscle, you can build muscle in a deficit. It's not optimal. You can build

muscle at maintenance. It's not optimal, but you can definitely build the muscle the most optimally when you're in a small calorie surplus, enough to actually give you the calories and extra macros to facilitate hard training and recovery. So we'll talk about muscle growth in that context, but I do think it's important to stipulate you can still gain muscle in a deficit or at maintenance. However, it's not optimal. So when people come to me and say, hey, my number one goal is muscle building and performance related. I'm gonna say, okay, cool.

We're not gonna start you in a deficit. We'll start you at maintenance or in a surplus. And if somebody comes to me and says, hey, my number one goal is fat loss. I'd like to build a little muscle and perform better, but my number one goal is fat loss. Then we'll start you closer to maintenance or in a deficit. Just so we can, again, gauge how you respond to food. A lot of clients that we work with, my team over at Core Coaching Method,

we're starting them off around maintenance, using a formula to determine about what their total daily energy expenditure is or their maintenance calories, starting them right there, positioning them there, watching how they respond to training. Because oftentimes when you're working with clients, you're adjusting their training program pretty heavily to optimize it for whether it be their goals, their anthropometry, the way their body's shaped, aches, pains, et cetera. But starting them off in maintenance, if you start people off in a deficit, give them a bunch of new shit to do in a gym, it might be a little bit too much. So again, these are things that I have tried through and through. My team has tried through and through with clients that work really, really well. So starting off with the five diet hacks that I think work the best for weight loss.

And number one is acknowledging that it's okay to skip breakfast or it's okay to eat a little later. And this is a huge kind of, let's call it anecdote spread around the communities that are really into keto and really into intermittent fasting and that's that breakfast is the biggest myth in American nutrition culture. We don't need to eat breakfast

and this is actually something that I do agree with. If your goal was to gain the most muscle possible, I wouldn't recommend skipping any meals and I think that's really important to outline. But we're talking particularly about tips that will help with fat loss. One of the things you'll find is that when you wake up early in the morning, or not even early, just whenever you wake up, one of the things, one of the zeitgeibers, the biological triggers, these things inside of our internal biology that help wake you up,

is a rise in cortisol. So our cortisol slowly trickles up as we get closer and closer to waking. And that's a very normal thing. Cortisol is often thrown around as being this incredibly negative hormone and cortisol in excess is probably not ideal. But, you know, we need to bring nuance and context whenever we talk about hormones. So a rise in cortisol in the morning is very normal. Cortisol is antagonistic to the hormone insulin. Insulin is very low in the morning, right? It usually rises when we eat things that contain carbs. Dairy proteins can raise insulin, right? But insulin is what we think of when we think of diabetes. So you've got diabetes type 1, which is basically, you know, your pancreas just kind of quit on you. It's unfortunate. You're going to need to use insulin to, again, synthetic insulin in place of insulin

being produced by the pancreas. And then you have diabetes type 2, which is generally from weight gain, eating too many refined carbohydrates, a lot of dairy proteins. you can get an insulin spike from those kinds of foods. And the more you spike your insulin, in theory, the more resistant you would become to the secretion of insulin in the presence of those foods. The heavier you get, the more prevalent these things become. And so diabetes type 2 is much more common, whereas type 1 diabetes, or it's often called juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune thing that you really can't control for. So insulin is something you're probably familiar with, but we all have a relationship to insulin, whether we're diabetic or not. People who are not diabetic have a traditional

relationship to insulin, which is when they eat food, they get a proper insulin response. They have an elevation of insulin, which helps remove circulating glucose from the blood to be used by muscle for whatever we may need it by the brain, right? Lots of things. But in theory, your insulin should be low in the morning when you wake up and your cortisol is going to be higher because they're antagonistic. So your cortisol rises to wake you up. You haven't had food in a while. So insulin is going to be relatively low, right? And it's antagonistic with cortisol. food in a while, so insulin's going to be relatively low, right? And it's antagonistic with cortisol. So because insulin has a very, very high tendency to, let's say, play a role in appetite, if you wake up and you don't have much of an appetite, that's not uncommon. And so eating behaviors are hard to manage, and it can be very, very challenging to deal with decreased

appetite when you're dieting or in a calorie deficit. So I often remind people, hey, that insulin remains low in the morning after waking and it probably won't rise again until you have that first meal. And we're not talking about insulin mechanistically as how it's driving fat loss. We're just saying, hey, it might keep your appetite lower to wait until you're hungry to have that first meal. Now, this sounds a little bit like intermittent fasting, and I'm not advocating for or against intermittent fasting, but I'm saying, hey, maybe we could borrow from this concept and say, if I have a limited amount of calories to eat and I naturally wake up with very little

appetite because my insulin is super low, it might make more sense to wait until I'm hungry and get to eat more calories in a shorter timeframe. So maybe that means eating breakfast two or three hours after you wake up. And again, this might sound a little bit like intermittent fasting. I think intermittent fasting windows tend to be a lot greater.

Something that's common that you'll see a lot is 16-8 fasting, meaning you won't eat for 16 hours and then you'll have an eight-hour eating window, I'm not advocating for anything like that. If you're awake for, let's say you sleep eight hours and you're awake for 16, I'm not saying wait eight hours to have your first meal. I'm saying maybe wait two or three if in fact you wake up with a low appetite and that low appetite may be due to the relationship, the antagonistic relationship between cortisol and insulin. So can we use that to our advantage?

It's very possible. I've seen it work really well with clients who are like, hey, you know, is it okay if I wait to eat? I do not wake up hungry. I'll go, yeah, absolutely, especially if your goal is weight loss. Let's work with those natural appetite signals that you have and try to tailor this as much as we can to those so we can make this as easy as possible. Number two tip for helping to create a calorie deficit is to replace one meal a day with a protein shake and something high in fiber. If you're somebody who's not a fan of protein shakes, there are other options. One of my favorite is Icelandic skir, which is an

Icelandic form of yogurt or Greek yogurt, right? Both. You've probably heard of Greek yogurt. I think of skier as much more similar to Greek yogurt than the conventional Americanized Yoplait yogurt. Um, uh, Yoplait not being a brand of preference, just being like, when you think of like Yoplait, Dannon, Go-Gurt, what, what is basically just unfrozen ice cream. Um, Greek yogurts tend to be higher in protein. They tend to be higher in those bacterial cultures that might be beneficial. They tend to be lower in sugars because that fermentation process is different. A lot of what's fermenting, like when you think about when wine ferments, a lot of what's fermenting when you're fermenting

wine is the actual sugar in the grapes. And so fermentation is going to, the fermentation process is going to burn off some of those sugars. Not that there's anything wrong with a little bit of sugar in context, but I find that the dairy proteins make for an awesome snack replacement for vegetarians too. Vegans, you might have to get a little more creative. Maybe you do a vegan protein and then pairing that with something high in fiber. My favorites are things like apples, watermelon, and blackberry. I tend to find they all taste slightly different. So rotating through the three is fairly palatable, but all of them are very high in fiber. Strawberries are another phenomenal answer. Very high volume foods. Go look at the amount of

calories in a cup of strawberries, the amount of calories in a cup of watermelon, the amount of calories in a cup of sliced apples. That will go a long way. There's quite a bit of water there as well. So you'll get the satiating effect of the higher fiber food paired with the satiating effect of the higher protein food. And if you are dieting, if calories are at a premium and you can replace, say, a 600 to 800 calorie average sized meal with a 300 calorie high protein snack and something fibrous and plant-based, I find that that can keep you very, very full and go a long way. If you wanted to do the whole foods replacement of this, this is slightly less practical, but this is something that I will recommend. And that would be take a salad, whatever salad mix you like, whether it's spinach, arugula, I like a mix of

baby spinach, baby arugula, baby kale, things that are high in nitrates, very high in micronutrients, very high in fiber. Those are the greens I like to lean into. And I stay away from things like iceberg lettuce because truth be told, I kind of despise all of the cruciferous greens equally. And so if I'm going to suffer through it, I want to make sure that I'm getting the most nutrition possible. So do exactly what I mentioned and find something that's rich in protein to pair with that salad. So usually that's going to be some type of sliced animal protein. But again, for vegans and vegetarians, you can do things like quinoa salad, where you take some quinoa and pair it with a salad, usually chilled. Brown rice, not particularly high in protein,

but you can add things like cheese if you're vegetarian or beans if you're plant-based to get a little bit more protein on this really satiating, really nutrient-dense, low-calorie option. And using that to replace a conventional meal is a really good way to keep your kind of eating timing, your eating habits in check. Like if you're like, oh, I always have lunch at this time and I usually go out to lunch with the people that I work with, I'd be like, hey, just go out to lunch with them

and just bring your salad or bring your shake and apple. And I find that those can go a long way and they become habits that are fairly easily implemented, which is big. Number three, this is an every meal thing that I recommend and that is to include protein and vegetables in all of your feedings or all of your meals. So for weight loss, this becomes very important as calories become increasingly more and more

at a premium. The longer you stay in a deficit, the greater that deficit becomes. The longer you've been dieting in general, your appetite can start to make things tricky, right? Particularly for women, I find when you get down to those lower levels of calories, because women do have to eat considerably less than men to lose body fat, not all the time, but I find that most women tend to have to eat less due to smaller body masses and generally having less muscle mass. And like if you're a woman and say you're eating 1500,

1600 calories, that can feel like very little food. So including some nutrient dense greens that are very filling and satiating, like we mentioned in the second tip, as well as protein in every meal can be a really good thing, not just for feeling full, but also for preserving muscle. So preserving muscle is really, really important when you're in a calorie deficit. Your body's going to prioritize losing body fat first if you are resistance training and eating adequate protein. If not, you'll lose quite a bit of muscle when you're in a deficit. But my guess is that you're doing some kind of training as well as dieting. But having protein feedings frequently across the day will elevate something called

muscle protein synthesis. And having elevated muscle protein synthesis is really important. The best way to do this is with 20 to 30 gram protein feedings. 30 grams seems to be that sweet spot. You might be able to get away with less if you're a smaller person. But I would aim for 30 gram protein feedings. If you're a 120 pound female and you're eating 30 grams of protein at every meal, that's going to equal one gram per pound of body weight after four meals, which is great. I did a podcast several months ago with Danny Lennon where we talked a little bit about chrononutrition and that's kind of the relationship between the circadian rhythm

and nutrition, but we also talked about protein timing. And one of the big take-home points for me in that episode was spacing the protein out has beneficial effects for body composition and muscle retention, particularly while dieting. So spacing that stuff out has beneficial effects for body composition and muscle retention, particularly while dieting. So spacing that stuff out is really, really valuable. So that's my third tip. The fourth tip is actually a eating behavior nuance, like a really small, almost technique thing. And that is in between bites, put your utensils down and chew your food 20 times. I know this sounds extremely rigid, and it is, and my goal isn't that you do this every meal. My goal is that you do this for one to two weeks to the point where you become aware to, one, chew your food completely. This will enhance digestion.

There's also some links between mastication or the act of chewing and our satiety centers in the brain. So think about how much easier it is to drink calories than it is to eat the equivalent amount of calories. That comes down to a few things, food volume, of course, being one of them, but the action of chewing may play a role there as well in upregulating our feelings of satiety and upregulating our feelings of fullness. So what I tend to recommend is in between every bite, whether you're eating with a fork, spoon, chopsticks, if it's convenient, let your utensil leave your hand by either leaving it in the Tupperware, the bowl, the container, or on a napkin. Chew your food thoroughly and then go for your next bite. Don't inhale your food.

Don't eat as fast as possible. That's not good for digestion. That's not good for nutrient absorption either. When I did the Muscle Nerds Program Design Course with Luke Lehman, Luke Lehman's another guy who we've had on the podcast quite a while ago. You could go listen to that. We talk about the importance of chewing your food. And this is something that a lot of people, particularly personal trainers, hairstylists, nail technicians, nurses, people who work appointment to appointment, who are often on the go and don't necessarily have time to eat, sit down and eat slowly, they tend to eat really fast. And one of the things that he believes is why some of the gut health issues tend to be more prevalent now than maybe they were previously. We're not taking our

time to eat. We're inhaling. We're not chewing our food well. So this is something else that would be beneficial for the health of your gut. And when you talk about nutrient absorption, when you break things down, like when you actually chew your food up and form what's called a bolus, that's the actual thing that you swallow, you're creating more surface area when you chew things thoroughly. And that lets the microvilli and the small cells in your intestines that actually gather those nutrients, it gives them more surface area to work with. So it's better for your long-term nutrition as well as your digestive system. Now, I also find that eating slower and being more mindful is a really big deal. So an extension of this is try not to be on your phone or watching television when you eat.

Just try to eat, put your fork and spoon or whatever down in between bites while you chew, and then pick it back up when it's time for the next bite. Hey guys, just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're finding value, it would mean the world to me if you would share it on your social media. Simply screenshot whatever platform you're listening to and share the episode to your Instagram story

or share it to Facebook. But be sure to tag me so I can say thanks and we can chat it up about what you liked and how I can continue to improve. Thanks so much for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. Number five, the final tip here for weight loss, the final behavior is to constantly be drinking water.

Being hydrated is a wonderful thing to do for your health, for your performance, for your body composition, right? As well as your recovery. It's never a good idea to be dehydrated unless you're doing some kind of water cut for athletic competition. And most of you are not doing that. Additionally, drinking water across the day will help you feel fuller. So what I tend to recommend for clients who are dieting or who deep into a cut is to start your day off with 32 ounces of room temperature water. Pound that back first thing so you're not playing catch up. We'll talk clients who are dieting or who deep into a cut is to start your day off with 32 ounces of room temperature water. Pound that back first thing so you're not playing catch up. We'll talk a little

bit more about similar tactics we might take with protein when bulking, but I don't want you playing catch up all day on your hydration. It's way too important. So do everything you can to get water in early so you stay ahead. Our five tips again, guys, our five hacks for weight loss are five tips. Number one, it's okay to eat a little bit later and push your first meal back. To borrow from the intermittent fasting crowd a smidge, if you're doing morning training, this might be something we would adjust. But if you're not doing morning training, I don't like the idea of waiting to have that first meal until your appetite actually says, hey, let's eat.

Number two is replace a meal with something fibrous and high in protein. That can be a protein shake or a salad, something like that with some fibrous pairing for the protein shake and some protein pairing for the fibrous salad. Number three, include protein and vegetables at every meal. That's for satiety as well as nutrition and muscle protein synthesis. Number four, put your fork down between bites. Look at your phone and TV another time. Just try to be focused and be mindful. You look at that shit enough all day anyway.

Number five, try to drink water across the day, being extra mindful to drink more early so as to stay hydrated and get hydrated early instead of constantly trying to play catch-up. So guys, let's shift gears a little bit here to talk about muscle gain. For those of you who might be looking to be in a surplus, you're having a challenging time being in a surplus, for most of the clients we work with at Core Coaching Method, our deficits are going to be between 200 to 500 calories a day depending on the person, and our surpluses are going to be between 200 and 500 calories a day depending on the person. Some people will do more aggressive if they're very, very specific, that they have a weight cut that they need to accomplish by a certain time. So this would be anybody preparing for a vacation,

anybody preparing for an athletic competition, anybody comparing for a bodybuilding show. But for most people, the deficit's fine at 200 to 500 calories. You can go greater. With bulking or lean massing or trying to position yourself in a way that's optimal for muscle growth, a surplus makes a lot of sense, but it's not a direct correlation for every additional calorie I eat, I'm going to gain a proportionate amount of muscle. There are diminishing marginal returns here. And the science seems pretty clear. A lot of the people who I respect in the industry seem to be at the similar consensus that a smaller surplus will minimize excessive body fat gain while still positioning you to build muscle optimally. somebody who is dieting, you can still borrow from these tips. So even if you're in a deficit,

even if you're in a surplus, or I'm sorry, even if you're at maintenance, keep listening because you can still borrow from some of these tips, but this is designed for people who are optimally looking to build muscle. But pay attention because there's a lot to learn here. So the first tip I have for these people, because we know that that calorie intake is important, but also the protein intake is super important. And we highlighted earlier the importance of positioning your protein across multiple meals to help with muscle protein synthesis. That's our number one tip here is to have a high protein breakfast or shake to start the day so that you're playing with a protein lead. I'll use myself as an example. I'm almost 190 pounds. So I'd say I want to get 190 grams of protein a day. Remember, you can get between 0.7 and one grams per pound and be right in that sweet spot for muscle gain. But let's say I want to get 190 grams of protein a day. Remember, you can get between 0.7 and 1 grams per pound

and be right in that sweet spot for muscle gain. But let's say I like to eat a lot of protein. So I'm going to start my day every day with a 40-gram protein shake, a greens powder, and that's my first thing right in the morning. So I start out with 40 grams of protein. Why I like this, remember how satiating protein is, guys? So having a bunch of protein to get through at the end of your day, like let's say I had 190 grams of protein to finish between noon and 8 p.m. when

I went to bed or 9 p.m. That's nine hours to eat 180 grams, 190 grams of protein. It's like 20 grams every hour. That's very filling and makes it really, really challenging. So I like the idea of having a high protein meal, even something like a shake early on, because it will get into your system quickly. It'll be absorbed quickly. It'll turn on muscle protein synthesis immediately upon waking, which is not necessarily a bad thing if your optimal goals or your goals are to build muscle optimally. And then you won't be playing from behind with protein. You'll have from using myself as an example,

let's say the number is 190 and I have a 40 gram shake. Now I only have 150 to go. I have more room for carbs. I can have more carbs and more fats with every meal. All of that stuff tends to work well. So I like to do a, I really, really like to do that for those clients. And then additionally, we'll talk about another tip for that's very similar to this for people who have a hard time hitting their calories. That's going to come up in tip number three. Number two, you have nothing to lose making the most of the anabolic window, whether you think it's real or not. So the anabolic window was something that was perpetuated long ago, decades ago, probably before I even got into fitness.

And it was this idea that immediately after your workout, you had to have protein. And this was perpetuated almost exclusively early on by, I won't name company names, but there was a company whose slogan was, never waste your workout. Have a protein shake immediately after your workout, or it goes to waste. So the implication there was if you didn't maximize that post-workout environment by feeding your muscles, which are made of protein with dietary protein to help them recover from being broken down, that your workout would go to waste. And, you know, just like the whole lightweights make you toned, heavy weights make you bulky thing,

that kind of stuck. And even though there's been quite a bit of science that's somewhat debunked the anabolic window to the point where people, I think, kind of think it doesn't, they're almost still mad about it. They're still mad that they got bullshitted. So they're like, okay, well, I'm not even going to bother with this. I don't think it's necessarily bad to address the anabolic window, quote unquote, the peri-workout nutrition window, right? So I don't think it's bad to acknowledge nutrient timing around your workout if your goal is building muscle. So for example, the period before training, I like to recommend 90 minutes before my clients train,

they have a protein source and carbohydrate from two different sources, one fructose-based, one glucose-based. So example would be rice checks with raspberries and a protein shake. Why? Well, I want amino acids available to help initiate the recovery process before we even start training. So we'll have circulating amino acids going into the gym, which I love. Why the two carb sources? Carbs use different transporters and they they move at different rates and so something with fructose and a little bit of fiber might digest and turn into blood sugar a little more slowly given that it has to go through the liver and there's more fiber than something like rice checks so those rice checks might hit me at the midway point of my

workout and the berries might carry me through to the end using different carbohydrate transporters keeping my insulin high while i'm training and my cortisol low, which is not a bad thing. Remember, we talked about insulin and cortisol earlier. Different mechanisms entirely here. Cortisol can be catabolic to muscle growth. Insulin can be protein sparing, meaning it can actually help you maintain muscle and build muscle when you're training. And so thinking about that too, if carbohydrate and insulin have a protein sparing effect and they can minimize how much

muscle damage is done from a workout, we might want to get something in after the window too, or after the meal, still in that quote unquote window. Because I don't think it hurts. What the research shows is if you get all this shit done within a reasonable amount of time, you're going to be good to go. And I tend to agree with that, but I also don't think it's a bad thing to have a post-workout meal. And a lot of people I know whose primary emphasis with their training is building muscle swear by it. And I think having a little bit of anecdotal spice to your recipe is good. You want to follow the evidence base, but if there's something that's inconclusive or something that, let's say, doesn't have a robust body of evidence,

but there's a few studies that say, nah, you don't need to worry about it too much. There's a bunch of people who say, hey, it makes a difference for me. It's not a bad idea to try it. So tip number two, not to abandon the anabolic window. Before we move on, I do want to acknowledge if you train in the morning and you're like, how do I get food in 90 minutes before I train if I train at 5 a.m.? Don't worry about it. You can go and you can train fasted. When I train fasted, I train with electrolytes. I use LMNT's electrolytes.

That's my favorite stuff. It's the best. I love the citrus and the mango chili. The mango chili is so good in the sauna too. You just start sweating so much faster. Which for whether you like that kind of stuff or not, I love it. And if you guys want to check that out,

you can head over to www.drinklmnt.com slash coach Danny. Get your sample pack, support the show. If you want to buy some as well, if you've tried them and you like them, I get the big pack and I go with raspberry, mango chili, citrus, and watermelon. I find jumping between those makes a really, really big difference. So if you train fasted, I'm all about getting some electrolytes in system. So you'll get a better pump. That's one of the most annoying things

about working out earlier in the morning is you're flat as a pancake. You get no pump. It kind of blows. But if you get those electrolytes in, you'll get hydrated early, which is one of the tips we had earlier. But also you need to nail that post workout window if you're training fasted and your goal is muscle gain. So moving on to number three, this one specifically is for hard gainers and it kind of plays on number one to have a high protein breakfast. For hard gainers, it's to have a first thing in the morning smoothie. So starting your day off with a nutrient dense whole foods, high calorie smoothie can be a really good way to get a headstart on some of those macros if you have a higher calorie total. So think about your people with really active jobs, your guys who do construction, maybe your women who are nurses, maybe your women who do construction,

maybe guys who do nursing, you name it. People who move around a lot and wants to gain tissue, and gaining tissue can be challenging if you're not eating enough food. So starting your day off with a big blender full of protein powder, you can use Greek yogurt if you'd like instead, because you'll probably get a little bit more associative carbs and fats there, or you don't need to use something like a whey protein isolate. You can use a whey protein concentrate, which is going to contain a little more lactose, a little more milk sugar, almond butter, something I'll often include in these smoothies, or peanut butter. Again, people think I hate peanut butter because I made a couple of reels, but remember, I think peanut butter is a fine source of calories, good source of protein,

carbs, and fats, but not a particularly great source of protein. You can also use things like frozen berries, frozen avocados, whatever your favorite fresh or frozen fruits are to get the calories in this smoothie up, hemp seeds, chia seeds. And because you don't have to chew it, it's easy to chug, you can start your day off with like a thousand calorie smoothie. And I've worked with some hard gainers who, given their activity, need to eat more than 4,000 calories to start to see the scale go up, start to see their strength go up. And that can be really hard if you're focusing on eating only whole foods and only healthy foods, quote unquote healthy foods. So I tend to recommend the hard gainer smoothie. And for those of you who don't need to eat a ton of calories, it's also not a bad idea to include something that's nutrient dense,

full of plant matter, because if you're bulking, you might find bad idea to include something that's nutrient dense, full of plant matter, because if you're bulking, you might find it easier to include less vegetables because of their satiating effect, but you still want to get the benefits of vegetables. So something like a smoothie that has, you know, it's not blended into a full blown juice. There's still going to be some fiber and you can include things like hemp and chia with that. that can really work into your favor. Number four, load your house up with fairly nutritious, high calorie, high protein options. So things like jerky, things like nuts, things like seeds, things like yogurt, things like string cheese, things like almond butter, multigrain bread. These are things I keep around when I'm bulking because they're easy to eat, they're fun to eat, They're high in protein. They're fairly high in calories. They help me get my calories to where they need to be to gain muscle optimally.

And he's somebody that I've become pretty good friends with. I like him quite a lot. I think he's a good dude. He said something once. I don't know if it's his quote. I think it's his quote. But he was like, oh, you think bulking is hard? Have you never met like a peanut butter and jelly?

This is a butchered quote, by the way. And I was like, that's a wonderful point because getting enough calories is challenging when you're constantly trying to eat quote unquote clean. But there are some decently balanced macro-friendly foods that taste really, really good. For example, peanut butter and jelly. It's got some protein. It has quite a bit of carbs. It has some fat. That can be a good option.

You could get like five grams of protein per slice of bread and then another 10 grams of protein from your peanut butter. So you could get a sandwich that's like 15 grams of fat, 20 grams of protein, and 50 carbs. That might be really effective for you if you're looking at gaining muscle and being in a calorie surplus. And I just thought that that was a wonderful example of a food that you could keep around, put together really quickly that made eating easier. Something else that comes to mind

is something like chicken nuggets. I know that sounds very childish and silly, but they're high in protein. They do have a little bit of fat and they have some carbohydrate. They're quick. You can put them together and have a nice meal there if you're in a hurry. So I like to keep my house loaded up with the right kind of foods. The same could be said for weight loss, loading it up with foods that are harder to over consume, that are lower in calories, higher in fiber, lower in carbs and fats. And the last tip I have for you is if you're looking to get those calories up and you're doing a bulk with a reasonable amount of dietary fat, so let's say between 55 and 80 to 90 grams of fat a day, you can just switch to fattier cuts

of meat. So switching from whitefish to things like salmon, from things like sirloin to things like skirt or ribeye, from things like chicken breast to things like chicken thigh that can be an easy way to still get some protein those leaner cuts you tend to be able to get away with less because there's um you can eat more protein with less dietary fat so per fruit for from a food volume standpoint 100 ounces of ribeye is going to have okay first off nobody's eating 100 ounces of ribeye let's rephrase this eight ounces of ribeye is going to have more fat than eight ounces of sirloin. Eight ounces of chicken thigh is going to have more fat than eight ounces of chicken breast. And therefore on an eight ounce basis, you're going to have more calories in the fattier options. So my five tips for those who are looking

to gain muscle optimally, remember you will do this best being in a small surplus. With my coaching company, we're looking at 250 to 500 calories max per day for 90% of the people we work with. Number one thing, have protein early in the day so you can get ahead on that most important macro and spread those servings out across four primary servings. Lose adding macros prior to training and post-training. There's a lot of reasons why you might consider doing that. So don't toss the anabolic window, quote unquote, anabolic window out altogether. Muscle preservation is a really big piece of the optimal muscle gain puzzle. So making sure you're taking care of that can be really, really valuable. Number three, this is for hard gainers in particular. Don't be afraid to have a high calorie smoothie. You can still do this with nutrient dense foods.

Don't be afraid to have a high-calorie smoothie. You can still do this with nutrient-dense foods. Number four, load up on the stuff that's easy or quick to consume that helps you get those macros. And number five, switch to fattier cuts of meat if you're having a hard time getting your dietary fat. So there you have it, guys. Five diet hacks for weight loss, muscle gain, all of it. If you guys haven't yet, do me a huge favor.

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