-whole milk
-nuts
-jerky
-cold cuts
-pork rinds
-100% fruit/vegetable juices

Also, there's the great "stay lean" option of just fasting until you can get to a grocery store!

Yeah…I typically go low carb during the days that I'm eating 3 meals. It just keeps my energy levels stable…plus it keeps the insulin levels low which is key to burning body fat for energy.

Giselle,

The caffeine assists in the release of Fatty Acids from your fat cells (lipolysis). You can do the same thing with green tea…just drink 2-4 cups.

BurritoKid,

My ability to get to low body fat levels easily is based around my strategic cardio workout (click the link in the footer "Low Body Fat Percentage"). This works wonders…body fat doesn't stand a chance.

MikeTS,

You should start a blog if you haven't already. People love reading about those who travel the world. Somebody who stays fit while going on amazing adventures…that makes for great reading! Thanks for the compliment!

Diti,

Most of us don't have the time or desire to workout that much. The more calories you eat, the more you need to workout to stay lean. Hey that is a good post title (note to self). To a certain extent, eating 4,000 calories a day and having to workout to burn 2,000 calories is "spinning your wheels" to a certain extent. The same could be accomplished by eating 1/2 of that amount and 1/2 the physical activity. Michael Phelps had to eat that much due to the unusual demands of being an Olympic swimmer. Good point about calories…it all depends upon how hard you want to work.

Helder,

Michael Phelps is a freak of nature. He is the most dominant athlete in his sport, along with Usain Bolt…that guy is amazing as well!

Thamas,

Stay at that weight…that is roughly the same proportions and body fat percentage as Brad Pitt in Fight Club…it is a great look. You will look much better in clothes and have that "GQ" look instead of looking like a "gym guy"…good job buddy!

NancyJ,

Swimmers do hold on to more body fat than other athletes, but like Jen said…most look pretty good. If I was a swimmer, I would add in 2-3 days a week of interval sprinting and that would help in reducing the body fat a little. Christian Finn over at Facts About Fitness, states that he believes that swimmers aren't as lean due to swimming increasing the craving for food…while sprinting can decrease the appetite a bit.

Mike,

Yeah…not the ideal food to live on…more of damage control if you don't have the option of healthy whole foods.

Rusty

Sorry for the slow response – I had my trip down to the hospital in the meanwhile.

As for London – your taste would be easy to satisfy….many clubs pumping out Daft Punk for you haha…

No mini-marts as such – but all chain food/gas station type stores tend to be pricey indeed.

Stay fit,

Luke

I have a question for you. Is it my imagination or do some (most) of the olympic swimmers seem to have a higher level of subcutaneous fat than most of the other olympic athletes? They all seem to me to have a "smoothness" or a soft noticeable layer of subcutaneous fat around their necks, shoulders, arms, and torso area, in general…even though they are quite fit. Maybe theirs bodies have adapted to hours and hours spent in water and they have accumulated a layer of fat — especially in the upper body — to give them some buoyancy. Sure, they are contiditioned to compete anaerobically under oxygen debt and they are probably aerobically conditioned, too, but most of them have a slight "whale" or "seal" or "dolphin" marine-mammel look to me, and some are more like that than others. Also, why do they all look barrel-chested? Do the people who look that way choose the sport? Or does training for the sport cause their bodies to adapt? Or both?
I just wondered what your thoughts were about this…Thanks!
NancyJ

Loved the article on mikes daily apple. Skim boarding! I just started doing the the low reps not going to failure its works amazing I was suprised how cut my abs have gotten in a week from it. The question is I have is i have lost weight and gotten to 5 percent body fat but I am 6 feet now 163 at night I feel so small now even though I am more cut then I have ever been. whats your take should I try to gain weight

See, of course for the average man the warrior diet or [IF] is a lot more practical.

But the man, like many other olympian athletes and tour de france cyclics, packs down 12000 – 13000 calories a day. He does, however, swim for 5 hours a day, so his metabolism is crazy.

Have you seen him? He is ripped.

It IS possible to eat what you want, as long as you workout rigorously. I want to dispel any myth of having to have an extremely low calorie diet to be ripped. It's a lot about the intensity and duration of the work. Diet.. isn't ALWAYS 80% of it.

Look at Michael Phelps typical day:

Breakfast

Phelps kick starts his day and his metabolism with three fried-egg sandwiches, but with a few customised additions: cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and, of course, mayonnaise.

Amuse-bouche out of the way, he throws back two cups of coffee and sits down to an omelette – containing five eggs – and a bowl of grits, a porridge of coarsely ground corn. He's not finished yet. Bring on the three slices of French toast, with powdered sugar on top to make sure there's no skimping on the calories. And to finish: three chocolate chip pancakes.

Lunch

With breakfast wearing off and the hunger pangs biting, Phelps downs half a kilogram – ie a whole packet – of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches. On white bread with loads of mayo on top. To remove any chance that his body will run out of fuel, he washes this down with about 1,000 calories of energy drink.

Dinner

Time to load up on carbs for the next day's training. Another half kilo of enriched pasta goes down the hatch with a chaser of an entire pizza and another 1,000 calories of energy drinks. And so to bed. As Phelps told US television channel NBC yesterday: "Eat, sleep and swim, that's all I can do."

Anyways, sorry for the novel man, but I just love seeing passionate ppl doing great things and I just wanted to say that I think you site is an amazing free resource to pll who want to learn more and let you know how much it is needed. Hopefully I can contribute sometime (the experiment of getting fitter is never ending). Thanks and keep up the good work.

thanks R.

I know I'm not Rusty, but yes it is genetic. Although it can be exaggerated by other causes.

most of my family members have rings under their eyes. they say its genetic but i doubt it since all of them are overweight or out of shape. Is this inevitable or can i avoid this by being healthy and fit( you say doing cardio n sweating causes the toxins and 'dirt' to come out of your face)

Can you reassure me? I hate the rings

For the Low Body Fat Mini-Course, What is the purpose of the Coffee/Caffeine? Can this be replaced with green tea?

thanks!

You can be extreme for really short periods of time. You can be really strict for 4-6 weeks, but back off a bit after that.

Burritokid,

I do the Rapid Fat Loss Hanbook diet when my life becomes too busy to workout…so that is about 1-2 times per year….for 10-16 days at time. It is an outstanding plan when you can't get to the gym as much as you would like. I should do a better review of it and how to work it into your gameplan. When I'm doing this I get very little exercise and it works well every time.

Eric,

I like doing it 3 times per week. It just seems more realistic to me. Also…I don't eat as large of meals at night as Ori recommends. Even on the days I don't do this type of eating, I eat a VERY small lunch. I just don't like a blood sugar spike followed by low blood sugar during the day when I am trying to be productive. I get so much more done when I don't get weighed down with a bunch of food.

Rusty