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Chicken breast

This is part 2 of the Rock Hard Challenge. For more eating tips, check out the meal plans from month 1 of the Rock Hard Challenge.

These two sample meal plans have been designed for a 200-pound male who consumes about 4,000 calories for bodyweight maintenance. The first meal plan is for your Baseline Days when you consume a little over 100 grams of carbs throughout the day. The second is for your Re-feeding Days when you take in about 400 grams of carbs.

As with part 1, we’ve based these samples on simple foods to help you understand how to construct your own meal plans. Feel free to make substitutions, but keep calories and macronutrients fairly equivalent.

See the Rock Hard Challenge Month 1 Meal Plans

BASELINE DAYS: LOW-CARB SAMPLE MEAL PLAN

This daily meal plan was designed to provide about 2,500 calories with 300–400 grams of protein and a little over 100 grams of carbs. Your total carb intake is 145, but this includes 16 grams of carbs from broccoli and 4 grams of carbs from lettuce. Vegetable carbs, which are high in fiber, are often considered by bodybuilders to be “free” carbs because their impact on insulin release is negligible. In general, you can discount the carbs you consume from fibrous, leafy, and cruciferous vegetables, which include spinach, cauliflower, arugula, romaine lettuce, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage.

FOOD Calories Protein (g) Carbs (g) Fat (g)
 ▼ Breakfast        
3 whole medium eggs 210 18 0 15
4 egg whites 72 12 0
1 cup oatmeal 150 6 25 2
▼ Mid-morning snack        
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese 80 14 3 1
6 oz turkey breast 169 39 0 3
▼ Lunch        
8 oz Atlantic salmon 420 45 0 24
1/2 cup brown rice 73 1 15 0
8 oz broccoli 80 5 16 0
▼ Pre-workout shake        
2 scoops MuscleTech Phase8 300 52 14 4
2 tbsp sugar 100 0 25 0
▼ Post-Workout Shake        
2 scoops Nitro-Tech 280 60 4 3
2 tbsp. sugar 100 0 25 0
▼ Dinner        
10 oz chicken breast 289 54 0 6
1 cup mixed salad greens 20 1 4 0
1 tbsp olive oil dressing 120 0 0 14
▼ Bedtime snack        
2 scoops MuscleTech Phase8 300 52 14 4
TOTALS 2763 359 145 78

GO BACK TO THE ROCK HARD CHALLENGE.

RE-FEEDING DAYS: HIGH-CARB SAMPLE MEAL PLAN

Here’s our plan for how you can take in 300 grams of protein and 400 grams of carbs while keeping calories in check. Note that on your Re-feeding days you’re also going to spike calories by necessity. To keep calories from getting out of bounds, we’ve cut dietary fats somewhat to balance the additional 1,200 carb calories. When you make substitutions to our sample plan, choose very lean protein sources and carb sources that are very low in dietary fats.

FOOD Calories Protein (g) Carbs (g) Fat (g)
 ▼ Breakfast        
2 whole medium eggs 140 12 0 10
8 egg whites 144 25 0 0
3 pancakes (6″ round, or 8 oz) 390 8 83 3
2 oz maple syrup 180 0 47 0
▼ Mid-morning snack        
6 oz turkey breast 169 39 0 3
1 medium bagel 289 11 56 2
▼ Lunch        
6 oz canned tuna 218 40 0 5
1 cup brown rice 219 3 45 0
8 oz broccoli 80 5 16 0
▼ Pre-workout shake        
1 scoop MuscleTech Phase8 150 26 7 2
4 Tbsp. sugar 200 0 50 0
▼ Post-Workout Shake        
2 scoops Nitro-Tech 280 60 4 3
4 Tbsp. sugar 200 0 50 0
▼ Dinner        
10 oz chicken breast 289 54 0 6
8 oz. sweet potato 225 4 53 0
▼ Bedtime snack        
1 scoop MuscleTech Phase8 150 26 7 2
TOTALS 3378 312 418 37

GO BACK TO THE ROCK HARD CHALLENGE.