Multi-tasking is a joke. If you want something done right you put all your effort into that one thing to make it perfect. You don’t half-ass it while you’re doing other things at the same time. This applies to eating as well. When it comes time to eat, eat.
And eat BIG!
There are hordes of brainwashed people who believe you’ve got to eat 6-8 small meals a day to “stoke your metabolism”. There are hordes of people who have believe the propaganda that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and if you miss breakfast your day will be ruined. What a bunch of baloney!
Eating 6-8 small meals a day is a nightmare! You’re completely ruled by the clock, you’ve got to eat every 2-3 hours or you're feeling irritable and angry. You’re never full, tiny meals don’t satiate you like big meals do. It’s a never ending cycle, I don’t know how anyone can get anything done eating so much! Imagine the time saved if you ate only one or two meals a day and completely stopped worrying about getting your next meal in. Leave this type of grazing to the cows.
Eat like a Lion.
A Lion eats once every day to every few days and a Lion eats huge. This type of eating plan is called Intermittent Fasting. On IF (Intermittent Fasting) you have a set eating window where you get in your meals and you fast the rest of the day. Typically you have an 8 hour eating window and a 16 hour fasting window.
I like to eat just one or two giant meals per day and get it over with. I skip breakfast. Breakfast is completely overrated and is not the most important meal of the day. In fact, breakfast slows down your mental acuity. When you skip breakfast you are a lot sharper. It takes a lot of energy to digest food, energy that could be used for more useful things during the day. So forget breakfast, eat later in the day and use your energy to get your business going.
You are what you eat.
If you eat nothing but processed garbage you’re going to look and feel like garbage. Eat nothing but real food 6 days out of the week. By “real food” I mean food that will eventually spoil. Stick to the outer section of the grocery store for your food. A Lion eats pounds and pounds of meat. My two meals of the day I eat Steak and Eggs, what Vince Gironda called the strong man’s diet.
Eating this way takes care of any hunger pangs. I’m almost never hungry. All the protein and fat from the Steak and Eggs keeps you full for far longer than any carbohydrate based meal, eliminating any need to snack or graze.
Steak and Eggs keep your energy steady throughout the day as well, you’re not dealing with sugar crashes because you aren’t eating sugars. On the plus side Steak and Eggs will make you very lean and muscular (as long as you’re lifting).
My eating window is from 1-9, so I get my two meals in during that time frame. Always eat the biggest meal post-workout, the real most important meal of the day.
Pick one day out of the week to have as a cheat day. On this day eat anything and everything you want. Live was meant to be lived after all. If you’re eating right on the other days this cheat won’t make you fat but will actually help to lean you out. Plus you will probably be so disgusted at what you ate you’ll be really happy to start eating good again the next day.
For all you muscle-heads scared of losing all your gains – stop worrying! You're not going to lose all your hard-earned muscle just because you don't eat for a few hours. Serge Nubret ate only one meal a day – 4-5 pounds of meat topped off with rice and beans. Does it look like his muscles wasted away?
Eat like the majestic Lion.
Not like fat cows.
Simplify your lives, gentlemen. It makes things so much easier.
excellent article, what about if I train in the morning, should I eat big too. ? or should I wait for the evening big meal?
I don’t much like eating in the morning, I woud say experiment and see what works for you. I always have a bigger appetite in the evening and not much appetite in the morning, and I don’t like feeling sluggish all day from eating big in the morning.
Victor –
What do you think of Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Coffee in the AM? Seems like a solid supply of healthy fats, like you mention via steak and eggs. Although all those items combined might be a little much.
Thanks!
Rob
Despite the fact that lions are obligate carnivores and humans are omnivores, and that we are different species which evolved under very different conditions, there are no actual studies to support the opinions stated in the article. Gorillas, who are at least in the primate family, are quite massive with a diet of plant based foods and forage throughout the day.
Mr. Nubret’s physique, while impressive, is not just a product of his eating and lifting habits, but also a product of his genes which control everything from how quickly his body adapts to physical stress, his resting (basal) metabolism, hormone levels, and the shape, tone, size and vascularity of his muscles.
If looking like Mr. Nubret only required consuming “pounds and pounds of meat” once or twice a day and lifting weights, then men with Serge Nubret’s physique would be everywhere, but they’re not, and that’s what makes his physique so impressive.
A person may not need to have 6-8 small meals a day for optimum health, and breakfast might not be as important as General Mills wants you to believe, but eating like a lion, while beneficial for a lion, is probably not the path to health for us Homo sapiens.
Sure man, but not only meat or eggs. See eating those is great cause you get a whole load of protein, which makes your musscles bigger and meaner, while not eating those you turn into a wimp, a disgusting exscuse of a man. Normaly humans intestines are much longer then those of a lion and carnivores in general who have shorter intestines which means people are generally more oriented to eating plants, BUT you can eat fruits and vegetables a lot but not only that. You need meat, you need it because without it you are just a sad wimp, it impoves your testosterone level, you musscles, and more over your general mind and physical health. Take a look at vegetarians they arent much, they are really just a bunch of losers, you can see that just by looking at them. Another thing is that people who go to the gym take proteins when they have it in from of them, they have eggs and stake. The reason those protein powders are because steak tend to lose its proteins while you cook it, so thats why i prefer it rare, because you take the proteins and general stuff in there directly. And it works. What i recommend for people reading this is 60%-70% fresh vegetables and 30%-40% fresh steak and eggs, preferably rare. It will give you lots of energy and its the most natural diet that one can come up with.
Show us the pics of your physique to prove it
Lies. I follow this plan to the letter. Fuck “health”. That is an empty term
Hey, do you ever burst out sweating during meals? I’ve been IF’ng for months now and recently during my one bog meal, my whole body heats up and I burst out sweating. It’s only when I eat the big meal. It’s almost like a sauna. I’d like to think it’s because I ignited my metabolism but I don’t know.
Yes, I get the sweats too sometimes. Seems to be working though, I’ve lost about 20 lbs with IF in about 5 weeks. My goal is weight loss, and fat loss however.
lol pathetic vegan. You re pseudo argumentation is fuarkin flawed :
– First : human = omnivore / gorilla = vegan
– Second : your guts are nothing co:mpared to those of a gorilla
– Third : you can’t extract energy (caloris) from anything with cellulose
–> Result : you should eat only leaves and see what happens ;)
I think this article is great. Some don’t understand that the lion diet its an analogy, humans from some cultures in the past eated like that. They didnt had breakfast until they hunt it. During this periods I am sure they were not fat and lazy. They had no opcion.
Well actually guy’s not a professional health care coach, I think he’s just trying to say eat healthy with certain amount of proteins so you can build muscle. Besides, fasting has certain benefits to the body, and it’s not just about staying hungry.
Hey guys, I started using this intermittent fasting ordeal, and I have to say is this is awesome. I feel less hungry than usual and I don’t feel obligated to eat to eat a certain amount during those feeding periods. I recently started working out and bought some protein powder to drink after the workouts, but I usually workout in the mornings since those are the only times I can actually workout. Is a protein shake considered a meal? Because I wanna stay true with intermittent fasting, but at the same time, I feel I need to drink these after the workout. Any thoughts guys?
A protein shake after your workout is not necessary at all. Just another myth created by supplement companies. I think there is an article on this site talking about it, can’t remember the title though. Unless your trying to gain weight, you don’t need a protein shake/food after your workout. As long as you get two large meals full of protein and fats from real foods you’ll be fine and still be able to make progress at the gym consistently.
New research suggests that eating a 30g protein meal 90 minutes before a workout reduces the need to eat anything immediately afterwards, as that protein will still be being broken down into your body.
Protein shakes are useful, but they are not a replacement for real food
Hey man I really like your blog but I disagree with you about the meat eating thing. I am eating vegan and my physique is incredible. Many of the strongest men in the world live on a dairy and meat free diets.
Check your facts. Not all of us are wimpy half men
Hey Amir, are you interested in writing a vegan piece for my blog?
Get in touch with me at msalway@gmail.com and I’ll give you some further details. Cheers.
Name a few, not to be a dick but I lift with some of the strongest men in the world and they all eat meat so please name a few vegan strongmen because I would very much like to hear about this.
Patrik Baboumian is the strongest man in germany and has several world records. You don’t have to eat meat to get your proteins.
This is a good intro to the very basics of intermittent fasting. If you are serious about IF, or experimenting with IF, visit leangains.com; the IF bible.
Hey Vic…I know this is an old post but I was wondering can you bulk on I.F diet. On one of your posts “How to Get Big Naturally: Building Muscle, Gaining Size, and Wetting Panties: you say to eat 4-6 meals to get big. but you also stress only eating 2-3 BUG meals. which one should I go with if I’m trying to get big.
Here’s the thing, I’ve been intermittent fasting for years and I’m strong as fuck. My day consists of waking up at 6am, drinking some water and coffee and walking for an hour to clear my head. Around 12, I lift weights and have a glass of either juice or almond milk for the light carbs. At 6pm, I head to muay thai. I eat my first and ONLY meal at 10pm usually consists of 1lb of steak or turkey, a dozen eggs, some onions and some broccoli with a lot of coconut oil. Currently I weigh 255lbs
Intermittent fasting jacks up human growth hormone manufacturing up to 300%. If you want to get big, eat a larger amount of food while intermittent fasting. Find your base caloric intake and add about 300 calories more of CLEAN calories. This dirty bulking shit these losers do where they just get fat is useless.
You also need to lift heavy. This bullshit 10 sets of 12 is a joke. Natural muscle grows under tension. Follow Body of a spartan like it’s your job.
Other than that, drink one and a half to two gallons of pure water a day and sleep 8 hours and you’ll be wetting panties before you know it.
Just started IF. Feel great. Black coffee with coconut oil at 5am stretch then lift as heavy as humanly possible. All finished before my one and three year old wake up. I am a pharmacist and I think clearly all day long. 30 min lunch and I eat protein and veggies for 25 of it. Try this mantra: open eating window eat then shut the damn window! BTW 36 to 33 waist in three weeks. Thanks Vic. Awesome site!
These older posts are gold. Anyone commenting on B&D should be forced to go back to page 25, work their way forward, and pay attention to the avalanche of content that led to your success. I think I learned more in the last 15 minutes from doing that than passively digesting stuff when it comes out the past 3 months
well said. I am doing that as well, check out his writing style too. evolved so much.
What if you’re bulking??
See my reply to the last guy who said this.
Nice post! Do you also do IF on your cheat days?
So you don’t eat carbs 6 days of the week? I guess if your on TRT its okay – but for the regular folks not eating carbs daily will lower T levels.
I agree with IF and Steak and Eggs but adding potatoes/fruit/veg in the evenings, best time is post work out meal or last meal before bed as the insulin spike before sleeping is actually beneficial to boosting T.
What are you talking about? Natural testosterone is manufactured from fat and cholesterol. It has nothing to do with your insulin levels unless they’re too high.
I’ve been eating between 1-5 pm for 3 weeks now, and i’ve made a nice transformation. I’m shedding the fat and my muscles are looking great. It’s a myth that you need 1 gram of protein for every lb of body weight. They literally say that shit so that you keep buying protein powders lol. I eat 2 steaks and 8 eggs for the whole day, and twice a week I carb up but only allow myself 2600 calories on my carb days. Imagine how much money you save when you eat once or twice a day, plus you get shredded! I’m so sick of the fitness industry, they’ve confused us for our whole lives, i’m glad i finally understand how this all works. Good luck to all of you in your fitness endeavors, but if you were thinking about intermittent fasting, it really does work.
Somehow I missed this article when I first started reading your site. IF is great! I have not only lost weight using it, but I feel amazing as well.
Like you I skip breakfast and then eat my first meal around 11 AM. I stop eating everyday between 6-7 PM.
The Spartans ate fruit and veg.
Noob here, and just found this site recently.
I’m trying out the steak-and-eggs diet. My concern is, wouldn’t this induce gout? My friends have been telling me to stop because it will make me have gout. Been trying to research, but I couldn’t find a definitive source or conclusion. Maybe someone here can point me to one.
Also been doing IF for 3 months now. I can say it’s pretty effective for me.
I find the hardest part is staying focused. I eat kind of the same way, but 2 small meals during the day and a big dinner at night. The trick is not to cheat in-between.
Hi,
Can you mix IF with the Zero carb diet?
I saw that no one else answered, so I thought I’d hit you up.
Yes, you can.
I am currently combining IF with keto (Ketosis diet, very low carb, ~20-50 or less a day). I like IF overall because it better fits my lifestyle, and keto can actually help provide more satiation making IF potentially easier.
I no carb diet with high fat and moderate to high protein I would imagine can do the same.
thanks Tim!