I have had many diets and have tried many things just to regulate my eating habits, but i still end up with the same amount of body fat i started with. I have even had a nutrionist from MAX MUSCLE write one, but it is not diverse enough. Where or how can i find a diverse diet that will compliment my training program and not make me grow tired of eating the same thing each week?

I can understand your frustration for trying to find the best eating plan. I have searched literally for years to find the best “system” or “plan” for dieting. I have found everything from the Anabolic Burst Diet to the Jenny Craig Food System. I can also tell you that when a diet has a huge amount of variability within its menu plan, two things can happen. The first thing is that it becomes difficult to shop for, prepare and cook a different dinner every night for more than 2 weeks in a row. The second thing is that most people won’t even like some of the foods on the menu. This is why most diet or menu plans have somewhat limited variability.

Did you not like some of the foods on the diet plans that were written for you? Was this the reason there was not enough variety? If so, you can see my point. It becomes almost impossible to design a menu plan that has enough variability and include foods that a majority of people will actually like!

Let’s go in a different direction for a second. We have talked about diet variability. But we have not said anything about the breakdown of the actual diet or the diet style. The diet that I have found to work for most people is the 40, 30, 30 diet. Very simply, this diet starts the process of blood sugar control, more frequent eating times, and quality protein and fat intake. Now, if you would like to find a huge amount of variability within this particular style of diet you should check out a book call “Mastering the Zone” by Dr. Barry Sears. He has literally hundreds of different menu’s and food combinations in this book.

I will also send along a response that I gave to a person that wanted to gain muscle and lose bodyfat. However, I don’t make food recommendations. I make macronutrient and calorie recommendations to bring about the desired response. Just use the book to find some great tasting and interesting foods that work for you!

Here is a response that details what to do to put on more lean mass and reduce body fat levels at the same time. The response below has been individualized for a person that weighs 215 pounds. However, all of the information can be converted to your individualized needs by using your own bodyweight in the calculations. Let me know how it goes!

Response:
You need to be doing either the 5 Day Bodybuilding Mass Program or the 5 Day Strength and Power Program. You can choose the EXPRESS or the Advanced EXPRESS version of the Strength and Power program if you would like. Then, you need to diet! To start with, take in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. This would be 215 grams of protein in your case. Then, to find the number of carbohydrate grams you should take in, just multiply your bodyweight by 2. This would be 430 grams of carbohydrates in your case. Finally, you should take in 72 grams of quality fatty acids like Flax seed oil, Olive oil, or Udo's oil. This is found by dividing your bodyweight by 3. Check out the recommended readings in the fitness info section of our web page to find out about Udo's oil! I have done some calculations for you but I also want to explain what is going on here. Here goes.

1 gram of protein has 4 calories. 1 gram of carbohydrate also has 4 calories. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories. For you this means.

First Week of Program:
Protein (215 grams x 4 = 900 calories)
Carbohydrates (430 grams x 4 = 1720 calories)
Fat (70 grams x 9 = 630 calories)

First Week Total - 3250 calories.

When you start your program you should start with the 3,250 calories with the appropriate balance of protein, carbs and fat that I have outlined above. But, here's the kicker! Each week of the 12 week program you should add 10 grams of protein and subtract 15 grams of carbohydrates to your diet. But, keep the fat intake the same.

So, you should end up on the last week of your 12 week program with these totals:

Protein (325 grams total)
Carbohydrates (250 grams total)
Fat (same at 72 grams total)

This would give you a new caloric range of:
Protein (325 x 4 = 1300 calories)
Carbohydrates (250 x 4 = 1000 calories)
Fat (70 x 9 = 630 calories)

Total on week 12 of your program - 2030 calories

Make sure you spread out your eating to 6 times per day so you are always bringing in some nutrients into your body for growth and recovery without eating so much that you store any extra calories from fat.

You will also need to kick in some cardio training to really get lean. But, not too much so that you start to lose your mass. On weeks 1-4 you should do 25 minutes of cardio, 3 times per week. On weeks 5-9 you should do 30 minutes of cardio 4 times per week. On weeks 10-12 you should do 30 minutes of cardio 5 days per week. Keep your heart rate between 130 - 140 beats per minute or 70% of your age predicted maximum heart rate (APMHR). You can find out how to get your APMHR by typing these letters into the Search function on the Fitrex home page. Finally, you will see a drop in bodyweight with this type of diet plan. However, If you eat the way I have told you to, and if you are mentally strong enough to push yourself with your training you will keep the mass that you have built and the weight loss will come from fat loss! Since everyone is different you may have to adjust your carbs and fat intake down slightly but don't reduce the protein level. However, I followed this very same plan (with adjustments for my specific body size) and I lost 36 pounds of fat in the first 8 weeks of the plan! Give it a shot and let me know how it goes. Train hard!