How to get Lean with VI Phase 3: Eating for Fat Loss

You are what you eat…

There is some truth to that. 

Achieving low levels of body fat (i.e. getting ridiculously lean) comes down to nothing more than what and how much you eat.

As I’m writing this, I’ve already completed Phase 3 of Visual Impact Muscle Building.

And I’ll tell you this: Results speak loud and clear. This shit works!

I showed you guys exactly how I’m training to develop incredible strength and burn serious fat. But today…

Today I want to talk to you about the most important aspect of getting lean – the diet.

When it comes to eating for fat loss, there are tons of strategies out there and a lot of them work for a lot of people. What I’m going to do is give you an overview of my exact eating strategy for this phase.

Note that this strategy is different from what Rusty suggests in his program, but you can decide for yourself which route you’d like to take.

I’m also going to give you a list of supplements I’m taking for Phase 3. It’s nothing extravagant so don’t expect that you’ll have to go out and buy all sorts of crazy supplements. That’s not the objective. We just want to cover all our bases.

With all that being said, let’s get into the meat of the Phase 3 dieting strategy.

How much do I eat?

Everyone knows that to lose weight, you have to drop your calorie intake. Although it’s never as simple as calories in vs. calories out (trust me), for the sake of simplicity let’s just say our aim is to keep our overall calories consumed below our calories expended.

In his program, Rusty recommends to consume 8-10 calories per pound of your target body weight.

So let’s say you’re weighing in at 180 lbs and want to come down to 170 lbs…

Your caloric intake should range from 1,360 to 1,700 calories per day. This may seem low – and it should be.

Our primary macronutrient will be protein. The goal is to aim for 0.5 to 0.6 grams of protein per pound of current body weight.

So, once again, if you are currently at 180lbs you should be aiming for 90 to 100 grams of quality protein every day.

Now what I’ve decided to do is use a diet called the Slow-Carb Diet. It’s a very powerful dieting strategy that I discovered when reading Tim Ferriss’s book The 4 Hour Body. It requires you to follow five simple rules:

Rule 1: Avoid “White” Carbohydrates

Make sure you are avoiding any carbohydrate that is, or can be, white. Avoid the following foods: all bread, rice (including brown), cereal, potatoes, pasta, tortillas, and fried food with breading.

Rule 2: Eat the same few meals over and over again

Apparently there are roughly 50,000 products in the average U.S. grocery store, but only a handful of them won’t make you fat. The idea is to select three to four quality items and repeat them.

The aim is to keep things simple. By choosing a few simple meals to repeat over and over, you’ll make things much easier for yourself.

Rule 3: Don’t Drink your Calories

Do not drink milk (including soy milk), normal soft drinks (you never should), fruit juice or any other high calorie, high fat, or high sugar drinks.

Drink massive quantities of water and as much unsweetened tea or coffee (without milk) as you’d like.

Rule 4: Don’t Eat Fruit

I’ve boggled a lot of minds when I told people that I don’t eat fruit. Fruit has natural sugar – simple carbohydrates. Their principal sugar, fructose, is converted to glycerol phosphate more efficiently than almost all other carbohydrates. This leads to fat storage.

Don’t worry about the vitamins and minerals. We’ll take care of that in a sec.

Rule 5: Take One Day Off Per Week

This is your day off. This is the day you get to go wild. Eat and drink whatever you want. Pizza, bananas, chocolate, beer, ice cream, or whatever else tickles your taste buds – it’s all good. Everything that you’ve craved over those past six days, you can have on the 7th.

This rule serves two purposes:

First, it gives you your fix. Six days of tough dieting are awarded with a 7th day of complete and utter satisfaction. It’s a psychological thing.

The second purpose is killer. It’s where science becomes a thing of beauty. Dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week increases fat loss by ensuring that your metabolic rate doesn’t downshift from extended caloric restriction.

Yes, you read that right. Eating like a maniac increases fat loss. What a beautiful world we live in..

I’ll make sure to put up a post later to show you exactly how this process in the body works.

Saturday was my day of satisfaction, but you can choose whichever day of the week works best for you.

So what exactly am I eating?

So here’s a list of the meals I’ve chosen for my week. My meal schedule is based on my sleep schedule (when I get up in the morning and when I go to sleep) so you might want to alter yours to match your sleep schedule.

Breakfast – 7:00 AM

As soon as I wake up I have a protein shake that consists of:

• 2 scoops of 100% Natural Whey protein powder
• 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon of maca powder
• 250ml of water

This gives me roughly 300 calories, 48g of protein and 8 g of carbohydrates.

Important Note: there is no set amount of carbohydrates that you’re trying to hit – your aim is to keep it low and keep it slow (i.e. no simple carbohydrates).

All of the supplements I’m taking for this phase are taken in the morning so I might as well list them here. Here’s the list:

• 2 Omega 3 pills
• A multi-vitamin
• A 1000mg of Vitamin C (every other day)
• Protein powder (part of my shake)

The Omega 3s are my source of good fats. The multi-vitamin and the Vitamin C are my source of vitamins and minerals, making up for my lack of fruit consumption. Apart from the protein, those are the only supplements I’m taking for Phase 3.

Lunch – 12:00 PM

For lunch I have a bean salad with mixed vegetables and tuna. It consists of:

• Black beans
• Red kidney beans
• Lentils
• Raw spinach
• White flaked tuna
• Raw red peppers
• Raw mushrooms

I’ll have about a cup or a bit more of this mix and add 2 hard boiled eggs to the mix. It comes out to about 600 to 800 calories, 20 to 30g of protein, and 30 to 40g of complex carbohydrates.

Lunch: Bean salad with tuna and raw vegetables

Note: I always completely wash and drain my beans. This gets rid of chemicals that make you gassy. Trust me – you’ll want to do this!

Dinner – 6:00 PM

My dinner is quite simple. I have one chicken or turkey breast with a cup of cooked vegetables. It’s quick and simple to make.

It comes out to about 300 to 400 calories, 15 to 20g of protein and very few carbs.

Dinner: Chicken breast and cooked vegetables

Note: I really don’t keep a top lid on my vegetable consumption. Vegetables are something you can consume in large quantities because they’re so good for you and they’re not calorically dense. So, on the days that I’m feeling the hunger, I’ll have more vegetables than usual during dinner.

Post Workout Meal – 9:00 PM

My post workout shake is a protein shake that is very similar to my morning shake. I throw in one scoop of protein powder and a teaspoon of cocoa and maca powder.

This comes out to about 150 calories, 24 g of protein, and 5 grams of carbohydrates.

On most days of the week I like to have a coffee or green tea. These are great appetite suppressants if you’re feeling hungry in between your meals and you can have them as much as you’d like.

So there you have it…

This is my eating regimen for 6 days of the week. On the 7th day (my cheat day) I like to go a little crazy because my cravings are high throughout the week. All-you-can-eat sushi is always at the top of my list.

I hope this little outline of my eating strategy for Phase 3 is useful. If you’d like to check out Rusty’s dieting strategy, you can check out his program here.

Feel free to leave any comments or questions in the comment section below.

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Related posts:

1. How to get Lean with VI Phase 3: Training Strategy
2. What are you Eating After a Night Out?
3. Visual Impact Challenge: Eating for Size
4. Keeping a Food Journal can Reveal your True Eating Habits – Take the Test
5. Guest Post: Why Eating Local will Make you Healthier