Getting Ha-uge Nutrition

Yep, this is a 2 pound burger - Get Ha-uge!

It's difficult to give broad and general nutrition recommendations beyond Greg Glassman's beautifully simplistic yet potent statement of: "Eat meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, little starch and no sugar.  Keep intake level that will support exercise but not body fat."  I don't believe any two sentences could sum up nutrition better.

Having said that, I have gotten a bunch of questions regarding nutrition and if you should be doing something different during this phase.  The answer to that question is...  it depends.  It depends on where you are right now.  So I will try and break this down for a few.

DUDES
Dudes under 175# and 8% body fat or less/ Chicks under 130 and 12% body fat or less:
You need to get bigger and these next two months are the time to do it.  The way you do this is...wait for it... eat more.  You are probably a hardgainer so you need to eat way more.  If you like The Zone, prescribed blocks for guys would be 15 or 16 blocks.  Over the next few months you should up this to 22-25 blocks.  Prescribed Zone for girls this size would be around 12 blocks and you could up that to 16-18.
Start by eating more protein, fats and starches (sweet pots, yams, squash, etc...) and see what happens.  If you still aren't gaining add a full second lunch or dinner.  Still not gaining?  If you tolerate dairy try adding heavy cream to a protein shake or whip heavy cream and vanilla protein powder together, add some berries and you have a super delicious, super calorie dense, low sugar dessert.

Dudes between 175 - 195# and 9-11% body fat/ Chicks between 130-150 and 12-14% body fat: This where you want to be right now, and you could compete here.  It's ok if you gain 5-10 lbs over the next few months, but it doesn't need to be a goal.  Instead focus on dialing in your supplements and pre/post wod nutrition.  My recommendation is to fuel your wods with something like Fuel For Fire.  You can play with BCAA's, Glutamine, Beta Alanine, Creatine and Whey.

Dudes over 195# and 12% body fat or more/ Chicks over 150# and 15% body fat or more:  Yes, we are trying to get bigger and stronger over the next few months, but you are big enough.  To compete at the highest level you don't need to be gaining more size, especially if you are already over two bills.  Continue to eat clean and stay with your prescribed zone blocks.

I realize that you might not fall directly into one of these groups you might be a 205# dude with 9% body fat.  I trust that you have the ability to use the above information to help you set your targets for the next few months.

You can eat clean AND get strong.