It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight…
There are many times in our fitness lives that we actually put ourselves at a major disadvantage from the beginning (and we don’t even know it).
I like that phrase “like bringing a knife to a gunfight…” because it really lays out how if you don’t plan for the right situation, you’re really gonna get messed up.
(Granted, what does a sheltered boy like me living in a quiet suburban neighborhood know about gunfights…)
But I’m trying to relate this to your student diet for building muscle.
I know in the beginning it can seem daunting to start eating a certain way when you’re not used to it.
However, if there was only one thing that you should focus on right off the bat… I’ve got the answer for you.
First of all, when you’re trying to build muscle, your diet is the most important thing.
Most guys think it’s training, but it’s not.
And lots of things need to work together for it to be effective.
But like a hinted in my video, Your College Diet Plan is Too Complicated (And Going to Fail), not everything is important to you depending on your current progress.
What I want to tell you today is if you’re trying to ease yourself into this muscle-building game (and you’re tackling the diet portion)…
This is the first thing you should pay attention to to start seeing fast results and get yourself mentally focused.
The Most Important Thing in Your Student Diet
If You Only Pay Attention to One Thing in Your Diet, This is It
I’ll say right off the bat, that your body requires a combination of diet principles in order for your weight and composition to change.
You can’t just pick one thing and expect your body to act right.
(That’s another mistake for another day, but even if you wanted to know how to lose weight in college without exercise this will get you there…)
But if you’re going to get started and you really want to ease your way into this student diet thing, the first thing you should pay attention to are your daily calories.
You also need to TRACK your daily calories.
And there’s actually a difference when I say “pay attention” and “track” your daily calories.
Let me explain…
Your Starting Approach Might Be Like Mine Was
When I first attempted to “transform” my body, I did some quick research and realized that if i wanted to get bigger, I needed to eat more.
So what I did was started prepping meals that seemed like a lot of food.
Often I had a big plate full of ramen noodles (gotta get those carbs) with five eggs on the side (and that protein), and a big bowl of lettuce for volume.
This was my dinner for a long time, and by the time I was done eating, I was completely stuffed (like I didn’t want to move).
This is the Crucial Mistake I Made
While everything I ate seemed like it was enough to build up my body and spur muscle growth, I was actually way off on my student diet.
Just to go through it, here’s a quick breakdown of the calories I was consuming at dinner:
- 2 bricks of ramen = 700 calories
- 5 eggs = 400 calories
- Lettuce = 0 calories (basically)
So my “massive dinner” I was having each night was about 1100 calories.
(If think that’s pretty big for a single meal, wait ‘til I make a video on intermittent fasting and blow your mind.)
For lunch, I ate about 500 calories too, so my daily caloric intake was about 1600 calories.
Now what I didn’t tell you was that I weighed about 170 lbs and based on my current estimated body fat % at the time and my weight, I needed to eat over 1800 calories to gain any weight.
So every single day, I was eating roughly 200 calories less than I was supposed to.
And I was such a knucklehead that I did this for a full year, didn’t change my thinking, and basically saw no progress.
That’s the difference between “paying attention” and “tracking” your calories.
Paying attention means using vague words like “eating a lot” and “eating less”.
“Tracking” means you have your foods dialed in, logged, and you have a very good estimate of how much you need to consume in terms of actual numbers.
Understand?
When is It OK to Stop Tracking?
The only time it’s OK to stop actually “tracking” your calories is after you’ve done it long enough that your estimates are actually accurate.
For example, I’m at the point where I know exactly how many calories 8 oz of grilled chicken breast is right off the top of my head.
I also know how many calories are in ¼ cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
I also know how many calories are in ¼ cup of shredded FAT FREE cheddar cheese as well as REDUCED FAT cheddar cheese.
So if I really wanted to, I could stop tracking my calories and reduce my efforts down to just estimates.
(But I actually kind of like the structure and the “scheduling” aspect of my meals. Calms my minor OCD.)
If you’re just starting your student diet, wait until you build up your knowledge and guessing skills first.
Here Are Some Quick Diet Calorie Reference Tips
So you’re next question about all this calorie chaos is probably “how many calories should I be eating?”
Well that’s a very complicated question that’s different for everyone and requires a personal calculation for any diet plan for college students.
In most cases I recommend that someone simply tracks their calories for about two weeks and then makes an adjustment based on what the scale says.
This gets you really close to maintenance, lets you learn a thing or two about your own body, and then you can make better adjustments moving forward.
However, you can also follow a couple very simple tips…
Like I outlined in the Alpha Student Fat Loss Diet Series, you can simply take your body weight in lbs and multiply by a factor of 13, 14, or 15.
- 12 – Rapid fat loss
- 13 – Moderate fat loss
- 14 – Slow fat loss
And after you’ve run these calories for awhile and you get to the desired leanness, you want to increase them just enough to go back to maintenance.
After you maintain for a couple weeks, you can begin to add around 100 calories per day and start to bulk up without putting on too much fat.
At least that’s the method that I’ve been using and it’s been working great.
However, don’t let me fool you… calories are the FIRST thing you pay attention to, but not the ONLY thing in your college diet.
Are You Making This Student Diet Mistake Right Now?
From what I just mentioned, are you making the mistake of not actually tracking your calories?
Leave a comment below and tell me if you’re currently guessing or if you have in the past (and what you plan to do to fix it).
I’d love to hear you story and I’m sure others would too!