Credentials
Age: 28Height: 180 cm
Weight: 98 kg
Goal: To see some muscle definition
Start Point: It’s fair to say that Ryan was very much. ‘king of the take away’, washed down with a lot of coffee. Convenience, simplicity and tasty where key ingredients in changing Ryan’s habits.
Nutritional Analysis
Ryan was fairly new to counting calories, but something that really stuck with him was Ollie Marchon’s opening gambit; that calories are like currency – earnt, saved, and spent in the right way - this will all dictate the end result. Based on Ryan’s height, weight, age and activity level, we calculated his nutritional intake to be the following:| Total Calories = 2627 kcal per day | ||
| Carbohydrate | Protein | Fat |
| 50% | 25% | 25% |
| 1313 kcal | 657 kcal | 657 kcal |
| 328 g | 164 g | 73 g |
| 3.4 g/kg/bw | 1.7 g/kg/bw | ------ |
Q&A
To help paint the picture and put it in Ryan’s own words, here’s a Q & A we did with Ryan based on his experience.
Maximuscle: Hi Ryan, please share with us a typical day in the life of Ryan Royal, from a nutritional perspective.
Ryan: Ok, so I’m not proud of this, but I want to be honest:
7.30am- (2 pork sausages/ 1 bread thin) + white coffee
8.30am- coffee
9.30am- coffee
10.30am- coffee
12.45pm- a mexican chicken oval sandwich + coke zero bottle
1.30pm- handful of yoghurt coated nuts and raisins
3pm- 1/4 pot natural yoghurt/oats/honey/4 strawberries/8 grapes
3.15pm- handful of yoghurt coated nuts and raisins
6pm- 1 x bowl Homemade Chilli/2 slices garlic bread/handful wedges/ 2 chicken bites/handful halloumi salad/2 handful boiled rice (1 x can diet coke)
6.45pm- 2 x slices chocolate cheesecake
Maximuscle: (INFO) Hmm, as you can see, plenty to work with. Forgetting the food and drink choices for a moment. Firstly, we need to look at spreading that calorie load more evenly throughout the day. Eating 5-6 meals a day and more in line with the suggested calorie load, rather than Ryan’s less healthy options.
Ryan, what has been the hardest thing about the challenge?
Ryan: Weekends were tough, longer days because I don’t work on Saturday or Sunday, so more time for your brain to think about eating. More options to eat, i.e. cafes, home kitchen, restaurants, the takeaway mode kicks in.
I compensated pizza, Indian or Chinese takeout’s with chicken or beef wraps, or meat kebabs with salad, trying to put protein as the priority, but with the same budget as well, and it’s still great food. It didn’t actually feel like sacrificing at all.
Maximuscle: Great! What was the easiest thing about the challenge?
Ryan: Oats on a morning with maxi choc protein, has been a revelation for me really, always thought that 'PORRIDGE' was boring, but a bit of chocolate Promax Lean and some peanut butter and we are flying! This was very repetitive in my diet and definitely helped structure my day. On the days where I have more time, in the mornings I’d have eggs of some sort, but usually the oats are too quick and easy, and I could make them at work.
Maximuscle: What about your snacks and lunch?
Ryan: I found that preparation is the key. If I left it to get something whilst a work, temptation was really hard to resist. The Maximuscle protein bars and Promax Lean shake were a great help, easier to get the protein in, without thinking, but as advised I wanted to mix it up a bit, with increasing my fruit intake. Some of my snacks included mixed nuts and natural yoghurt. My other saving-grace was having alternatives, for example, using thins or crackers, instead of bread. I love bread!
Maximuscle: You have already mentioned swapping your old take-away habit with healthier alternatives, what else did you have for evening meal?
Ryan: To be honest I used the Cutting meal plan, trying to keep my options simple. It was much easier to follow a plan, rather than trying to decide what is good and avoid the bad. Chicken is probably my go to, but I tried to have fish and red meat at least once a week.
Maximuscle: Thank you Ryan, you’ve been fantastic and well done on the results. Just before you go, what would be the number 1 Ryan Royal recommendation?
Ryan: In all honesty, the protein bars are great! I have a huge sweet tooth, and they’re better than most choc bars really.
I cannot go without mentioning 'Almond Dream Non-dairy' Ice cream, what a treat!
View The Plan
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