My 3,000 Calorie Diet
I totally nailed the Round 1 diet and lost a ton of body fat. I’ve discussed that diet extensively. For Round 2, I changed it up to meet the new goal of gaining muscle and shedding that last bit of extra body fat (while maintaining my body weight at 210 lbs). If you’ve seen my Day 180 update and “Updated Results Video”, I’d say I nailed it again with the Phase 2 energy booster diet for maintenance!
I want to share with you what my typical 3,000 calorie daily diet looks like (Energy Booster, Maintenance Level):
*Note = the #’s after each item are: *Calories / Protein / Carbs / Fat
*Note = It is easy to adjust this plan to meet various calorie goals (for instance, instead of eating BOTH jerky and almonds, eat just one. Adjust the serving sizes on meats and veggies. Adjust the # of scoops of protein on shakes. You get the idea)
6:30 AM
Results / Recovery Formula (immediately after my 5:30 AM workout) *220/10/39/2
7:30 AM
Chocolate Reeses Shakeology (see my recipe video) *360/44/24/10
Whole Wheat Toast (2 slices) with Natural Peanut Butter *200/11/23/10
10:00 AM
Whey Protein Powder (Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60 from GNC) – 3 scoops *280/60/7/1
Almonds – 12 ct. *80/3/3/7
12:30 PM
Chicken – 8 oz *200/40/0/2
Whole Wheat Bread – 2 Slices *100/8/20/2
Baby Carrots – 15 count *53/0/12/0
Apple *116/0/30/0
Pure protein bar *180/20/17/4
3:00 PM
Turkey Jerky – 2 oz *160/30/6/1
Almonds – 24 ct. *160/6/6/14
5:00 PM
Chicken – 10 oz *250/50/0/3
Broccoli – 15 clusters *46/3/9/0
Black Beans – 1 cup *220/16/46/1
Wheat Bread – 2 slices *100/8/20/2
7:30 PM
Banana Shake (1 banana and 2 scoops Wheybolic Extreme 60 protein) *307/41/35/1
TOTALS FOR THIS SAMPLE DAY = 3,030 calories / 350 g Protein / 298 g Carbs / 59 g Fat
This is just a sample. It’s my “Base Eating Plan”, and I default to this plan many days (or at least for many meals unless I make plans otherwise). If my wife makes fish for dinner, I sub that for the Chicken. If I want an omelette for breakfast, I sub it for the toast. I can plug in different veggies. Etc. Etc. Once you get in the habit of what your “Base Routine” is, you can get into a very sustainable long-term healthy lifestyle change. My Base Eating Plan gives you a good idea of how I space out my meals and snacks, how I balance the protein / carbs / fats throughout the day, and hit my goal of 3,000 calories of ALL very healthy food!
Keep Bringing it on the nutrition! That’s the most important part gang!
235 Responses to “My 3,000 Calorie Diet”
Leave a Reply
NEW – my X2 Results Video!
Wayne’s P90X Results Video
Most Popular Products
Coach W, thanks. I am in fact planning to make the bread recipe and was trying to nail down a possible diet and the bread was throwing my carbs and cals through the roof. Using sparkpeople.com. They have a tool that you enter the ingredients and it calculates everything. 3 loaves ~~approx 45 slices…*101/4/22/1. I use the Natures Own Sandwich rounds now. Trying to decide to stick with those or make my own. Natures Own concerns me because they basically do not go bad. Normal loaf bread is moldy in a week. Whats up with that.
Hey Wayne, what are your thoughts on the GOMAD (Gallon of milk a day) bulking plan? Im halfway through my 1st round of p90x and once i’ve leaned out i want to up my calories, not to the 1 gallon prescribed by GOMAD of course, but do you think milk is fine way to reach caloric goals? I just find it hard/expensive eating that much per day and milk seems to have a great macro ratio
Hey JP, I suppose it depends on what type of milk — whole milk would put you WAY over on fat and saturated fat. Skim milk would be okay, I guess, but the carbs would still add up in a hurry. I think a better plan is to get more calories overall, but not all from one food source (milk in this case). I feel like you are better off increasing a wide variety of foods to get the calorie totals up.
Hey Coach – I’m starting Round 2 on Sunday and have been creating my diet. The first two months of Round 1 I was on the fat shredder (50p/30c/20f). This month I am doing the 40/40/20. I couldn’t find anytime you actually did the 30p/50c/20f plan. Have you ever used this many carbs and if so, what kind of affect did it have. My goal for Round 2 is to continue losing body fat but NOT to lose anymore weight. I am ramping up the calories by 700 a day. If I gain some weight, fine. I still need to lose BF% though.
Hey Doug, the only time I did the 50% carbs was during my bulking round (round 4 — “bulking diet”). Unless you want to GAIN some weight (and a bit of body fat in the process), don’t go to that diet. Stay at 40/40/20 for your goals.
Great, thanks! You just saved me another 2 hours of refiguring out what my diet was gonna look like. I’ll stay with the 40/40/20.
Hey coach! Just wondering if your wife could give you the recipe to the bread she makes because with normal 100% whole grain bread you get the same from one slice that you get from two. Kinda hard to eat a chicken sandwich with one slice LOL
Hey Gibson, she actually posted her recipe on this site a while back. Search “homemade bread” and read all about it!
Hey coach just wanted to ask you is it possible to substitute a meal with the recovery drink? I ask this because one of my meals fall into place right after my work out which is the protein drink but I wouldn’t want to take both recovery and protein drink together because they add up on calories. My work out starts at 3:00 pm and my next meal is due at 4:00 pm, what should I do about this? thanks you!
Hey Henry! I would recommend taking the recovery drink immediately after your workout, then having your meal about 30-45 minutes later.
Hey coach is it normal to feel sleepy during the day even when you’re taking in low gi complex carbs? I have oatmeal for breakfast and almonds with an apple for snack but I always feel a little sleepy. Did this ever happen to you?
Hey DJ, there are lots of reasons a person might feel sleepy — too little food, not enough sleep, tired from a hard workout, bored. I always feel fine during the day, but in round 1 when I was at a calorie deficit, I would get real tired after dinner — my body was running out of gas and needed to get some sleep!
Its probably boredom because I get enough sleep and I get the right carbs but it keeps happening a little before lunch idk why but its true I am just sitting down playing with my phone when I feel it
LOL sounds like you are bored! Not sleepy!
Round #2 in the books. 25 lbs gone and now sitting at 138 lb at 5’6.5″ w/ 6% bodyfat. Time now to get completely shredded. During rounds #1 and #2, I was hovering around 1,500-1,800 calories. Now I’m going to do 3 lift days and 3 Insanity days in this next Hybrid. For someone 5’6 who’ll be burning approx. 800-1k calories daily, what is a good benchmark to set a daily caloric req. at in order to not lose/gain but to stay around 138-140 while I try to get down to the 4% bodyfat mark or better? Afraid that my body has come accustomed to 1,600-1,800 and if I ramp up to 2,400-2,700 that my body will start storing.
Hey Tyler, 2400 is probably about right, and you’ll be surprised that your body will just get stronger and not add fat. I was worried about jumping to 3,000 but it went great for me!
I just finished my 1st recovery week of my 2nd round Hybrid and I start Phase 2 with Double Stacks tomorrow. During my first round I stuck to a 1800 cals fat shredder. When I started my hyrid I bumped it up to 2100 40/40/20 and at the end of phase 1 I am down to 158 and 5.94% BF but this past week I have been totaly drained and lathargic! With Insanity MAX workouts and Double Stacks do you think that bumping it up to 2500 cals is enough?
Hey Sofaman, yes, you’ll need to bump up the calories. Your body doesn’t have any reserves left since your body fat has dropped (that’s a good thing), but you’ll need to give it more fuel to use. 2500 would be a good place to start.
How many grams of protein are in a scoop of Shakeology? It has a protein and a whey protein measurement listed. I assume you add both and they’re not duplicative? Thanks.
Hey Brad, I use a scoop of Shakeology and a scoop of whey when making my recipe for my shakes. The actual amount of protein in Shakeology is 15g in greenberry and 17g in chocolate.
Here’s the product page for Shakeology, and if you scroll down you can see the full PDF format for the nutrition label on both.
So, the 15g of whey protein listed at the very bottom of the label is included in the 18g listed at the top. I was thinking it was 15g + 18g for a total of 33g per scoop.
Oh, no Brad, what you see as the total for protein is the total, just like on any nutritional label.
Hey coach. I’m interested in gaining weight. I got myself down to a consistent 6% body fat. I’ve viewed your bulking diet and an folioing it accordingly. I concerned however that my bf% will go up to a point where I won’t be ripped. I’m wondering if I can do a bulk round then a cut round following and what protein carb fat ratios I should be looking at for the bulk round then the cut round. I assume bulk round is 30% pro 50% carb and 20% fat then the cut round 40/40/20 or back to fat shredder? Thanks for all you do by the way.
Hey Nathan, you’ve got it. You can bulk and then cut, but until you do a bulking round with the 50% carb bulking diet, don’t just assume you’ll gain a lot of body fat. I didn’t. Many other guys who followed my bulking diet gained mass but still kept the body fat quite low. It will take you less than a month to re-cut after you finish bulking because your body fat will only tick up a bit (1% or so).
Hey Coach
My workout falls in between breakfast and my morning snack. My question is, is it okay to have a protein shake right after my workout then eat my snack right after that or should i try and space it out?
Hey Craig, that’s perfectly fine. You may want to bump the snack back a bit if your shake fills you up though.
Is this a 40/40/20 diet?
Yes Joe!
Hey coach,
When you were bulking, how exactly did you decease cardio? and if you you’d be so kind explain to me how decease ok ng the cardio would benefit the bulking process? P.s can you give my some advise on high calorie,but low gi foods or recipes?
Hey Shawn, look at my “constant confusion” hybrid and you’ll see that it’s a bit lighter on cardio than my other hybrids (only 2 cardio days per week, 2 ab only days).
Lots of cardio will put your body in a catabolic state, which will break down muscle mass and make it very hard to bulk up (that’s why distance runners are thin). Short cardio sessions (less than 1 hour) with lots of rest in between (either lifting or abs) will help you build mass.
And as for foods that are good for a bulking diet, look at my bulking diet! It’s in the “nutrition zone” just like this 3,000 calorie diet.
Coach,
i seem a bit confused on your diet here you state “Chicken – 8 oz *200/40/0/2″ but anywhere i check on the web says 8oz is about 340 or so.. also 8oz should = 8*29 = 232 grams chicken breast, 1g protein = 4 calories… so i dont see where the 200 comes from, i know that 40g protein * 5calories per gram = 200.
any clarification would be appreciated
hama
Hey Hama, I’m not sure where you are seeing that! Chicken breast is about 25 cals per ounce unless it’s got the skin on it. I got those numbers straight off the bag of frozen chicken breasts I bought.
coach,
i was under the impression that each gram of protein is 4calories, i worked out that 8oz = 227 grams, therefore i guess 8oz=227grams of protein *4 calories per gram ??? = 908 calories, or have i confused myself
just want to be self im not recording my calorie intake wrong.
Hey Hama, 8 ounces of chicken is 227 grams of chicken per weight — Not 227 grams of protein per weight. There is all sorts of other stuff in that chicken breast that adds to its weight (mostly water). Imagine if you dehydrated that chicken breast into jerky. It would only weigh an ounce or two. What’s missing? The protein? No. The water! Don’t confuse the weight of the food with the grams of the macronutrients in the food. You have to look those up to know.
Hey Coach
Great post!! I am almost @ my goal BF so im going to start upping my calories to 2,500 phase 2 on the nutrition plan to put on some muscle, should i eat before i do a workout?? if so what?? i currently take a scoop of protein shake 1 hour before workout followed by 2 scoops of Jack3d bout 30 minutes before workout followed by Res/Rec formula afterwards, + should i start taking creatine? thanks for your time coach
Regards Paul
Hey Paul, your plan is right on (that’s what I do as well, as I talk about in my article “on an empty stomach”). Taking creatine is up to you. Read my review of it in “the scoop on creatine” and “creatine revisited”.
Hey Coach Wayne,Like you Im going to be taking a before bed snack a protein shake
and since it’s going to before bedtime would you recommend taking Casein Protein Powder instead of Whey Protein Powder since it’s a slow digesting source of protein and according to Bodybuilding.com it’s ideal to take before bedtime?
Im also going to be taking Glutamine as a separate supplement just so you know.
Hey Jay. Yes, casein is a better choice than whey before bed, although the casein I bought tasted bad so I went back to whey lol!
Hey coach,
Paul here, just wondering is there anything i can sub for shakeology?? its not available to buy in Ireland,+ nearly @ my BF% another couple of weeks id say, when i reach it do you recommend i go to phase 2 level 2 nutrition(40/40/20)? or up the calorie intake even more and start a bulking round and then a cut round like what “Nathan”was talking about ?? bit confused!! LOL Thanks for your feedback,
P.S did you ever do hanging leg raises for your abs?? if so what did you think
Cheers Paul
Hey Paul, I’d recommend going to the 40/40/20 for a while to see how you do at that level before going all the way to a bulking plan. There is no substitute for Shakeology, so the best you can do until it’s available in Ireland is to try to get a wide assortment of healthy, nutrient rich fruits, berries, and veggies into your diet.
The only hanging leg raises I do are on the P90X Plus routines (there are several such moves in there).
Keep it up man!
Many Thanks Coach :) :)
i was wonderin hw much lbs you buy of the whey protein
does it have to b turkey jerky
I get the big tub (it lasts longer and is a better value). And no, it doesn’t have to be turkey jerky. It doesn’t even have to be jerky at all. It can be whatever you want as long as you know the foods you should be eating and as long as you are tracking your nutrition.
thnx for the info
Hey Coach,
Im on still on fat shredder @ the moment B.F is @ 10.9% my goal is 6-8%, when I reach this ill be moving up to phase 2 level 2 (2,400 cal) p90x nutrition, looking @ your 3,000 calorie I have made up this:
7.30- 1 scoop pro shake
8:00- pre workout (Jack3d or 1.M.R)
8:30- workout (Liftday workouts will take 1hr 40 mins I do extra core work+ my own stretching)
9:30- Recovery drink + creatine
10:15 Breakfast (1 cup dry oatmeal cooked on water with walnut and honey + 6 boiled egg whites)
12.30- Snack (2 scoops pro shake)
3.00- Lunch (2 slices wholewheat brownbread, 6 ounces chicken or turkey + 1 apple)
5.00- Snack (1 can of tuna, raw carrots+low fat cottage cheese)
7:00- Dinner ( 6 ounces of fish, steak, chicken or turkey with 1 dry cup measured brown rice+ 2 portions of broccoli and cauliflower)
9:00- Snack (1 scoop pro shake)
I will have my recovery drink after I do weights but I will not be finished workout will this be okay?? + eating my dinner @ 7.p.m will this be too late in the evening?? do you see anything wrong with this plan?? if so could you correct it?? very long mail APOLOGIES LOL!!
Thanks for your help Coach
Tom
Tom, that’s absolutely perfect!! Don’t change a thing. And yes, you can take your recovery drink after the lifting but before abs/stretch. I love the organized diet you have. I’m pumped to see you totally shredded!!
I learn from the best Coach!!!! LOL
Cheers
Tom
Hey Coach,
Tom here,
When i move to onto my 2,400 phase 2 level 2(shown above)
lift days will stay the same with core work + insanity twice a week with yoga on Saturday this okay?? this too much or not enough?? + any other pointers you could give?? I know too much cardio can be too bad for when bulking. Thanks for your time
Regards Tom
Hey Tom, yes, too much cardio can make it harder for your body to build muscle mass, but 2x per week of Insanity is just fine. You’ll do great with that amount (which is similar to what I did when bulking). Bring it!