Justin’s Food Log

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Some readers are really interested in what my diet looks like. I’m the first to point out that it’s not perfect (or interesting), but whether or not there is a perfect diet is debatable anyway. I’m 6′ and usually weigh between 210 and 212 pounds. If I had to guess, I’d say my body fat is about 10%, however lower ab veins are said to be visible under 7 or 8%, so I guess I could be as low as 8 or 9%? In any case, my diet and training has evolved to the point that I’m stronger in most lifts than ever (with the exception of squat due to injury and overall body weight loss) while being the most lean and athletic I’ve ever been. Monday I pressed 220×3 on my third triple, and last week I push-pressed 260×2 on my fifth double after clean and jerking up to 315 for three singles.

I don’t really like talking about my training because I don’t like the lack of privacy inherent in a voyeur look at something that takes up a lot of my time (training, eating, recovering, etc.), especially when other aspects of my life will dictate and alter these activities. I’m not so narcissistic (like the late Zyzz) to think anyone really gives a shit anyway. The point is that I’m not that great, but I’m above average in most things to the point where my diet might be relevant. It’s not something that everyone needs to try and emulate, since I think diet is a very individualistic kind of thing, but hopefully you can get some pointers or ideas by looking at it.



My average day involves:
– Water, vitamins, and fish oil
– Fruit and whey protein smoothie
– 6 Eggs and bacon (random carb)
– Random meal (pre-workout is typically whey and random simple carb)
– At least one pound of meat, typically beef with salad and/or sweet potato
– Whey and sunflower seeds or peanut/almond butter
– Fishoil again

There are more specifics, but you can watch the video to hear them. The first three parts are always the same every day with slight variations (e.g. today I had 7 eggs), and the latter meals are variable. I’ll change things depending on if I have a high carb or sodium meal or if I drink a lot of alcohol (which is uncommon). This is sort of the baseline thing I do, and when there are significant perturbations, then I react in specific ways. I don’t shy away from awesome things like bacon cheeseburgers, waffles, or chocolate, but sometimes prepare my day around them or have set reactions to return to normal after eating them. In any case, enjoy the video. Oh, and the it’s kinda long, but it isn’t necessarily boring. Especially the beginning because I had just woken up.

86 thoughts on “Justin’s Food Log”

  2. I’ve heard of people keeping their fish oil softgells in the freezer to help with the smell.

    But then you have to remember that the fish oil pills are in the freezer and not with the other supplements…

  4. @Justin, yeah, that includes shipping (yay amazon super saver). The cost is kind of a secondary thing again because of the soy thing.

    I did a bunch of research awhile back and settled on the stuff I’m currently taking (from Source Naturals who I am not affiliated with in any way) and it’s got about the same total EPA/DHA as the NOW stuff Chris mentioned, but the NOW is 500 mg EPA, 250 mg DHA, and 250 mg non-omega-3. The stuff from Source is 450 mg EPA, 340 mg DHA, 60 mg “other” omega-3, and 400 mg non-omega-3. Chris, big ups on the NOW recommendation, I’ll probably order that stuff from now on.

    For the record, I had some anterior knee pain (I think it was from excessive rowing) and high doses of fish oil really helped get rid of the pain. I also feel like I recover a little quicker using this stuff.

  5. @icanmakeyouaman – the fish oil bottles I’ve seen always state to keep it stored at room temperature.

    @mando – I don’t actually take the NOW stuff, I currently use Costco’s brand, but since smithb9 posted the NOW stuff I decided to break down the cost for each since Patrick and I need to take about the same amount for our weight.

    RE: storage — High temperatures can damage fats in general. Some fats are more sensitive to heat and light than others, but I’ve been told by nutrition expert Sherman Ledford at http://www.Quest-Athletics.com to store them in the fridge. There was a more technical explanation by him, but I just listened. He also coaches IPF World Champions and World Record holders. He sells fish oil — go ahead and compare it.

    –Justin

  6. Oh, and jtschultz… reduced sodium bacon is pretty fucking tasty, at least the Costco brand is. I actually prefer that level of salt. Then again, I just bought about four pounds of raw pork belly I’ma cure up for some homemade bacon.

    I like thick cut because then at least I get 5g of protein per slice despite the sodium.

    –Justin

  8. The oil comes from coldwater fish, wiki tells me they like to live in temperatures 5.6 to 14.6°C, which is 42 – 58 Fahrenheit, lethal upper limit of 25.8, which is 78* F.

    Perhaps the coldest part refrigerator would be ideal for both storage and smell, but unless you think freezing your grassfed meat will ruin the fat, I doubt freezing your fish oil will ruin it.

    It’s more to maintain the integrity of the fat. I say if we’re going to spend money on a supplement for the fat, then we should protect it every way possible, so I put mine in the fridge.

    –Justin

  10. I bet you totally graped that delicious looking cheese spread!

    Ha, I don’t know what that means. I don’t much like cheese. I spit the limburger out.

    –Justin

  11. storing fish oil in the fridge generally only applies to the liquid form, the caps do just fine at room temp. I think the issue is air getting to the oil, and the oil oxidating.

    @Stroup, I’m not really a big supplement guy, but fish oil definitely works. From my own experience, I used to get real bad inflammation in my arms/elbows when I wasn’t taking fish oil. After taking it for 1-2weeks, the pain went away. When I ran out of fish oil and hadn’t been taking it for a while, the pain came back, and subsequently went away when I started taking it again. In general, there really wasn’t any other factors that changed, so I attribute the fish oil to actually working. If I remember correctly, knee pain was almost non-existent as well.

  13. @jschultz

    I’ve tried the reduced sodium bacon. It tastes pretty much the same but it never seems to cook right. It’s got this bad consistency too it, almost like it’s bacon that you cooked, let cool, then reheated in the pan and it all stuck to the pan.

  14. I know people who use freezing as a method of controlling fish-oil breath. I’d always gotten the enterically coated caps, so never had the breath problem.
    …though you’d think that the pills would melt in the stomach even though they were frozen solid, it did work for them.

    +1 for anti-inflammation effect

    Enteric coated are supposed to be taken before you eat so that the food pushes it into the intestines, making it absorbed better too. It won’t dissolve as easily since it has a thicker coating of whatever.

    –Justin

  15. In regards to Justin’s response to the first comment, I eat potatoes and rice every morning for breakfast. I just pre-cook them on Sunday, and throw them in with my turkey and eggs and fry them all up together (potatoes and rice go in after eggs are cooked). I use half regular potatoes, half sweet potatoes, a little olive oil, garlic, and italian seasoning. Rice is simple boil in bag.

    It takes me about 10 mins to cook each morning and is delicious with a little salsa on top.

    I am not able to eat a large meal when I wake up, and I also don’t like potatoes with eggs in the way you describe. I’ve had a sweet potato in the second meal (my traditional breakfast), but I need to figure out a different way to cook them. Maybe to make them like the consistency of oatmeal or something.

    –Justin

  16. This post/thread is entirely too helpful, considering it’s mostly just softcore Justin porn (two thumbs way up in that regard, btw). Also, I hate all you jerks who actually notice a real difference when taking fish oil. I even went up to >15g of high quality liquid oil/day for 6 or 8 weeks and noticed jack shit in relation to my inflammation issues. I had something insightful to say but now I just want to smash things.
    Also, store your fish oil and/or supps in the fridge, in the dark. Just a good rule of thumb.

  17. Oh yeah – you guys all cook bacon like assholes.
    Step 1: Steal your Mom’s/Granma’s/Great GamGam’s cast iron skillet.
    Step 2: Clean it. Never use soap.
    Step 3: Put in a shit load of bacon. Cook in the oven at 350-375 until it’s golden brown and delicious.
    Step 4: Spoon out whatever bacon you need to cook your eggs, but leave the majority of it in the pan. It should harden to a creamy white deliciousness over a few hours (if not, you burned it – start over). Keep it covered and out of the way, or display it proudly on your stovetop.
    Step 5: (The Next Day) Cook more bacon in the existing fat.
    Step 6: Repeat. Every. Day.
    Deep fried bacon in bacon fat: The best. Cast Iron that has been subjected to hundreds of pounds of bacon: the best heirloom possible.
    Also, there are plenty of non-nitrate options out there, if you’re concerned about such things.

    This.

    –Justin

  18. @Jacob, maybe you process omega 6 FA really, really, well.

    significantly reducing your intake of that stuff is hard both $$ and practically.

  20. Justin, with you watching your sodium intake, do you avoid adding salt to anything?Meat being the easiest example, do you avoid pre-made seasonings/marinades with added salt? Or do you just factor that into your potassium intake?

    Also, I love the “don’t give a fuck, I do it because I don’t really care” attitude you use as explanations for your decisions.

    And props for shirtless all the time at home, feels so unnecessary

    I don’t add salt to anything and avoid marinades and rubs that have it. Except when I make ribs this weekend, I’ll use the same rub. The last time I made them, I just used less of the rub than I had normally done. They came out better, but I think it’s because I removed that sheath of fascia from the underside and I hadn’t done that the first few times. Made a big difference though.

    –Justin

  21. Pre-nuke sweet potatoes and store them in the fridge. Chop some up while waiting on bacon to fry and then just put them in the hot bacon fat with your scrambled eggs at the same time. Salt and pepper and done. That’s what I wake up with pretty much every morning. Fucking delicious way to eat sweet potatoes in the morning.

    Interesting. I don’t know that I would want them in my eggs, but chopping them up after cooked would make it go down easier (sometimes I just don’t like eating them if I’m not ravenously hungry).

    –Justin

  22. Justin, I work in a warehouse where its constant walking and lifting heavy boxes. We get frequent breaks where I try to pack in roughly 60C/35P/15F per meal about 2 hours apart(based on portion estimation.) You think this is too much too close together? Trying to pack on muscle while burning so much energy at work is tough and I dont want to eat like shit to keep up.

    It depends on what your results are. You might be using those carbs as energy quite well, but take a look at your health and your body fat. You could always increase the protein slightly, bring the carbs to about even with protein, and increase the fat to equate a similar caloric content. 40g of carbs would still get the job done for alertness and energy.

    Maybe consider taking BCAAs in addition to all of this? You need all the help you can get given the caloric expenditure.

    –Justin

  23. Alanzo I do the prenuking of sweet potatoes in microwave then stick in fridge too, but then I just eat them cold (skin and all) gives em a different taste…in fact I enjoy the majority of my food cold (cept for like chicken and steak way too dry cold) or room temperate guess I’m fucking weird

  24. No milk?

    And forget Chipotle Tabasco, Tapatio is the best hot sauce around.

    I’m not big on hot sauce. Must be the vinegar taste to most of them. I’ll have to try it out.

    And no, I don’t currently drink milk unless I put it in some oatmeal or have a glass of it after eating chocolate and peanut butter.

    –Justin

  25. Hey I used to work with Zyzz ( he was on reception at the gym I work at)

    He kept a plastic bag full of all kinds of Poliquin supps and fill his hand with about 15-20 pills and pop them all in the one swallow.

    I asked him why all at once and he answered, I shit you not

    “Because its fucking Alpha”

    I’ll assume this is a true story, but I fucking lol’d anyway.

    –Justin

  26. The previous post on the Lats was outstanding. Made me realize that I know jack f’ing squat about anatomy. I need to get a copy of “Anatomy without a scapel.”

    This post also made me realize that I know lumberjacking f’ing squat about proper nutrition and how much protein and such I really need in a day. I’m way under…crap.

  27. In response, I am 6′, 195, ~13%bf, and slooowly gaining. My worries are also about giving muscles proper recovery, as I alternate training and work days. I do have some bcaa collecting dust so maybe ill mix up a 64oz jug and drink it throught the shift

  28. I know this just sounds wrong when typed out but still…i didn’t realize there were so many nut butters out there? I’ve only seen just regular old peanut butter…probably the small hick town I live in. Anyway good video/post. Love the dog interaction.

  33. Just a note about fish oil caps, specifically the Costco ones: They are full of soybean oil. It’s too bad they don’t just make a smaller pill with no fillers, but that’s what you get with fish oil pills. I had severe reactions to the soy in the form or GERD, had to leave school and work twice.
    If I ever get back on fish oil, it will have to be the ‘pure’ liquid kind.

  34. Justin…say you had a m-f 8 to 5 job. How would a training and non training day look meal-wise if u trained right after work?

    Plan protein rich meals throughout the day. Have a sweet potato at lunch, and then a faster digesting carb with whey 60 to 90 minutes before training. Juice could work.

    –Justin

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