Your Diet Tips

This year, we asked for your diet secrets. And we've heard it all, from the low-carb, high-protein plan to the no-eating-after-6-p.m. strategy. But we wanted to discover what works for you, the men who have learned through experience and found out what actually works.

Here are the top five responses.

5.Eat, gym, eat

How you diet depends on how you want your body to look. Do you want to stay lean or do you want to build your body to look like a massive structure? I personally try to accomplish both.
I work for a bank in a corporate office, sitting at a computer screen. It's not the best job for keeping active and in shape, and I’m sure lots of you are in the same boat. It can be tricky to manage a good diet in the office, but in reality, it’s very easy. Here’s how I do it.
    
I start my day off at 6:30 in the morning with a banana orsome type of fruit to jumpstart my metabolism while packing my lunch. On my way to work, I drink a very lean, high-protein powder mixed with milk in my favourite shaker bottle. About an hour and a half after I get to work (around 10 a.m.), I start on my lunch. Today, for example, I have tuna, sliced lemons, sliced turkey, a chicken lettuce wrap, a muesli bar, five boiled eggs, and a tin of chunky soup.
    
Now, don’t think for one second that I eat all of this at once. The trick is to eat all of this little by little throughout the day. This will keep your metabolism continuously working with no break. Also, because all these items are very lean, I do not gain the wrong kind of weight.

Directly after work is time for the gym, where I do heavy weight-lifting along with abdominal work. Directly after the workout, I go home and eat a large high-protein, high-calorie, high-carb meal. This is because right after a workout, your body is craving anything it can get to repair those muscles. After all is said and done, I end my night with a run, normally 5 to 6 kilometres.
  
I do this five to six days a week, and I have had amazing results. My body fat percentage stays around 10%, and I have a very built/lean body that gets compliments all the time. But the best thing is, I am healthy and feel like I can take on the world.
- Treveron Anglin

4.Go Vegetarian

A vegetarian diet produces amazing results. By feeding your body the nutrients you need, it removes the cravings for any “bad” food, and you lose weight while feeling great. I am 47 years old and switched to being a vegetarian six weeks ago. So far I've lost 14 kilograms and have never felt better. I also work out three to four times a week. My blood pressure has also dropped from 160/100 to 125/75! I encourage others to give this a try.

- Tom Hughes

3.Water After 7:30

Here is the easiest tip in the world: don't eat anything after 7.30pm. Be sure to have dinner before then to let yourdigestive system slow down for the night. You will, surprisingly, lose a kilo or two within a week. Just remember. the only thing you can have after 7.30 is water.

- Peter Klein

2.Trim The Fat

I used to be 55 kilograms overweight. I was the type of guy who enjoyed five beers in a night, ate lots of fries, loved fast food, and loved treating myself to a large pizza. I felt OK with myself until one day I went to the doctor's office, and he told me I was medically obese. That is when my life changed.

More than starting a diet, I wanted to change my lifestyle. To begin with, I cut the worst things off of the menu: mayonnaise, butter, everything that had cream in it, and drinks with sugar in them. I knew it was going to be hard to let the other things go, so instead of completely erasing them off my diet, I cut them in half. For example, I used to eat six slices of pizza. Now I eat three pieces and a large salad.

At the beginning it was hard, but then I got used to it. I used to eat out probably six times a week; I changed it to once a week. Little by little, I started deleting fast food and dining out from my diet. I took a sandwich to work with a bottle of water and a salad. At night before supper, I had a large spinach salad, then some protein and replaced rice with quinoa or couscous.

To begin with, I didn't lose much weight, but I knew I had to be patient. I bought myself a bicycle - a nice one, so every time I saw it I would feel guilty for watching it just stand there catching dust. I rode about 10K a day, five times a week. I felt tired and sore, but I kept on pushing. Little by little, I started increasing the intensity. I felt the same, really, and thought not much changed.

Five months later, I went back home. People were shocked. Some even did not recognise me. That’s when I knew the hard work was worth it.

Instead of celebrating, I decided to work even harder. One year later, I was running 10K three times a week and riding about 40K four times a week.

By then, my diet changed completely. I removed beef from my diet, zero alcohol, no mayo, no creams, and I hardly ever ate out. The best part of all is that now I don't miss them at all. I actually feel disgusted by them.

People make fun of me now for the way I eat, and I tell you it feels good. Now I'm training for my ultimate goal - to compete as an Ironman. I'm starting with a triathlon next month and hopefully in a year I can proudly accomplish one of the toughest competitions on the planet. After that, who knows - I'm just starting. I'm 27 years old, I weigh 75 kilograms, and I feel good.

It might seem hard and slow, but in the end, it’s worth every single drop of sweat. 

- Roberto Guerrero   

1.Grow Up Overweight

I have, for a very long time, been a notorious dieter. I grew up as an overweight child and lived through the torment and comments that kids make to one another.

Since becoming an adult, I have focused my entire 20s on maintaining a healthy diet and exercise program. I am 27 now and absolutely in the best overall athletic shape and the strongest I have ever been. I am thankful for growing up overweight, as it allows me to empathise with overweight people and try to inspire them myself. 

I spend January through April every year on a body-building-contest-style diet that allows me to take my body fat down to the 6%-7% range. The rest of the year, I focus on a moderate complex carbohydrate intake that is high in fibre, and I eat three servings of fruit per day. My protein intake is close to one gram per kilo of lean body weight, which keeps me from getting too big. I try to keep fat (healthy fats only) under 40 grams per day. I am 6'5" and 90 kilos, as I write this email. 

My meal schedule is focused around six timed meals throughout the day, with a calorie focus of 2,500-2,700. When trying to lose large amounts of fat, I start watching the calories closer and aim to be in the 2,100-2,200 calorie range. I have an awful sweet tooth and am not afraid to treat myself with mini pieces of candy twice a week to satisfy my cravings, but not overdo it.

I have been studying nutrition for years and take all of the new fads and try to incorporate what I think will work into my daily routine. I limit alcohol intake to five drinks a week, and they will typically be all in one night.

Normal daily foods:
-Greek yogurt with muesli
-Egg whites
-Up to 700 grams of lean protein
-Sweet potatoes or quinoa
-Flax oil
-Lots of fruit and vegetables

I maintain a lean physique with a notoriously slow metabolism by doing four weight-lifting workouts a week of about one hour each, in addition to two one-hour cardio sessions per week. The workouts are based around the olympic lifts and change every three weeks. 

I must have a complete program to stay in great shape. But when my diet suffers, things get worse a lot faster. I can take a month off from the gym with little change to my overall look, but if I eat whatever looks or sounds good for a month, I will gain weight faster than most people can imagine. Hope this was helpful.

- Daniel Smith