Energy Booster Meal Plan –
At the start of January I created two weeks worth of the sample diet that used fat shredder percentages in 1900 calories. You can see it HERE. It was much like the diet I used on my very first round of P90X when shedding body fat was my primary objective. If you started with us in the R1PP3D Challenge at the start of the year, then you’ve already completed one 90 day program. If you nailed the nutrition aspect of your program, you might be ready to move on from fat shredder and your deficit.
Now it’s time for an Energy Booster meal plan. The next step for most people is to transition to more calories and the “Energy Booster” percentages. That’s what I did for my second round (when I did a P90X/Insanity hybrid with a focus not on losing weight but on fine tuning my results with muscle definition and strength while still melting a bit of body fat).
Much like I did for my sample fat shredder diet, I’m going to track two weeks worth of sample days at 2400 calories and 40/40/20 using MyFitnessPal so that you can follow along.
What’s different about Energy Booster?
The biggest difference you will notice with Energy Booster is the transition of 10% of your calories from protein to carbohydrates. This is why it’s called Energy Booster. Carbs are an energy source, so when you eat them you get energy. The reason carbs often get a bad name is because they can more easily be stored as fat — especially simple carbs. Most of the food that we call “bad” is high in simple carbs and fat. That makes that food very calorically dense and easy to eat a lot of.
Since you will be increasing your calories AND decreasing your percentage of protein (shifting from 1900 at 50/30/20 to 2400 at 40/40/20) you’ll notice that your overall grams of protein will stay pretty consistent. Instead of taking 50% of a smaller number of calories to get your needed protein, you’ll be taking 40% of the larger number of calories. This will still give you plenty of protein to build and maintain muscle and get all those good muscle protein synthesis responses.
What you’ll also notice though is that you will get to eat a lot more complex carbs! Grains, brown rice, whole wheat breads and pastas … I felt like I was pigging out when I made the transition to phase 2 Energy Booster because I had gotten so used to strictly limiting the carbs. It’s quite a treat!
Why 2400 calories?
I picked 2400 calories because that seems to be a good middle ground for most people of average size to maintain their body weight. Since I’m a larger than average person, I actually ate about 3000 cals when I transitioned to the Energy Booster diet. You can see where your calorie total should be for your size by looking at the Dialing It In section.
It may seem odd at first to eat 500 extra calories, but if you’re working hard and you’re close to your body fat goal, you’ll use them all. If you want to see if 2400 calories is still a deficit are now a surplus for you, just enter your weight in the simple calculator below.
Now if 2400 puts you are at a slight deficit (less than -300 calories), great. You aren’t quite at maintenance and you will still lose BF and a little weight. If 2400 puts your over (positive number – surplus), I would dial back 2400 by the amount it puts your over. At this point you just want to maintain, not gain.
Here’s what you can do to see my Diary of the 2400 Calorie Energy Booster Diet on MFP
1.) Log into MyFitnessPal.com (OR set up a free account if you are new to MFP).
2.) Search for “coachwayne” under COMMUNITY > FIND MEMBERS.
3.) Don’t add me as a “friend.” Wait what? I am maxed out on friend for MFP – Sorry!! It’s nothing personal. Just click my profile and then VIEW DIARY.
4.) Navigate to the starting day of April 22nd.
By the end of these two weeks you will have a bit more to work with if you are using transitioning from Fat Shredder and 1900 calories to Energy Booster and 40/40/20 with 2400 as your target. Take that knowledge and build your own days of Energy Booster. Most people find it extremely beneficial to plan their day the night before. Log all the food you will take with you to work (meals and snacks), get an idea for dinner, be prepared. Remember the R1PP3D Challenge… ’13 is YOUR YEAR! I will again post a summary report and printable log/plan at the end of two weeks.
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
