Summer/Fall 2026 Meal Plan (PM Gym Days)

My coach gave me a meal plan. The target on the other side of this is 205 stage-ready for the Stingray Classic in Honolulu, April 2027. I have been 200-plus at this body fat before. Currently 190-195ish in bulk phase. So, this is muscle memory, not a first build. Plus I don’t want to do any enhancement, so essentially, I have to eat like a beast, to compete.

Daniel’s logic was simple, and I agree with it. Start me with more food than a standard plan would, because I can use it. Keep carbs high on training days so the sessions stay hard. Slash them on rest days so insulin sensitivity tracks activity instead of sitting flat all week.

How the day is built

Five meals. Training days and rest days share the same skeleton. The difference is rice, potato, and the post-workout carb. Protein stays high either way. I am already on creatine, whey, casein, caffeine, citrulline, beta-alanine, ashwagandha, phosphatidic acid, and the rest of the stack. This plan does not replace that. It feeds it. Target remains about 200 grams of protein. Calories sit in lean-bulk territory on training days and come down when I am not lifting.

Meal 1.

• Three large Grade A eggs,
• 40 grams of minute oats or one Thomas’ English muffin,
• 16 grams of almond butter,
• 100 grams of strawberries.
• Plus a greens supplement, 5 grams of L-glutamine, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and half a lemon, or Good Morning by Project AD. This is the hold-me-over meal. Oats or the muffin are the slower carb so I am not hunting food before a late-morning weekend session. Strawberries stay fresh. Cinnamon and sugar-free syrup on the oats are fine. Flavored almond butter is fine too, HEB cinnamon or Justin’s maple. Cilantro, peppers, whatever belongs in the eggs. The morning supplements are digestion, gut lining, and stool, not a fat burner.

Meal 2.

• 160 grams of chicken breast or 99/1 ground turkey,
• 160 grams of jasmine white rice on training days and 120 grams on rest days,
• 50 to 75 grams of greens. This is the flexible savory meal. Chicken air-fried at 390 for 14 minutes with avocado oil spray, or a stir-fry, oriental or Tex-Mex, depending on the seasoning. Turkey in a pan with spray and taco seasoning, Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime, garlic salt, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, oregano. That becomes a taco bowl. Peppers and onions if I want volume without sneaking calories. Rice in a cooker, boil-in-bag, or Uncle Ben’s and VeeTee as the backup when I am not cooking. Greens are green beans, asparagus, bok choy, spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts, peas, zucchini, or a greens powder. Sear with garlic and soy, steam, or air-fry. Asparagus is about 8 minutes at 400.

Meal 3, pre-training.

• 40 grams dry cream of rice,
• 1.5 scoops iso whey,
• 16 grams of almond butter. Fast, easy, portable. He is sending the consistency method separately. The point is a carb I can digest before an evening session without sitting heavy. I work from home, so “on the go” is less of a problem than it is for most of his clients, but the meal still has to be something I will actually make at 4 p.m. instead of skipping.

Meal 4, post-workout.

• 1.5 scoops, 48 grams, of iso whey,
• plus three Quaker caramel rice cakes or one banana, about 118 grams.
• On rest days the rice cakes and banana come out, and the shake can land anywhere in the day. This one is built for the drive home from AR. Dry ingredients in the gym bag. Isolate only. Rule he gave me: about 25 grams of protein per scoop, essentially no fat and no carbs in the powder. Any isolate at AR works if it hits that. Thirty-calorie almond milk instead of water is allowed. At 1.5 scoops it should not taste watered down. The rice cakes or banana are the training-day carb. Rest days do not get them. That is the insulin-sensitivity lever, not a punishment.

Meal 5.

• 150 grams of 90/10 ground beef or top sirloin,
• 200 grams of red, russet, or fingerling potato on training days and 153 grams on rest days,
• 50 to 75 grams of greens. Last meal is the higher-fat one, on purpose. Red meat at night, a lower-glycemic carb so I am not dumping a fast starch on my system before bed, and enough volume that I am actually full. Beef in a pan, or steak on the pan or grill. His seasonings: Uncle Chris’s steak seasoning, Kinder’s Buttery Steakhouse. Potatoes baked, or blanched to pull starch then air-fried at 400 for 20 minutes with avocado oil spray. Frozen red potatoes in the pan, russet, Yukon gold, or Alexia hash browns in the air fryer, as long as the weighed portion stays honest. Greens same rules as meal 2.

The rules that actually matter

Weigh food after cooking, except oats, protein powder, and milk. If I lie about what went in, he is adjusting off a false log. That part is not motivational. It is the method.

Condiments are the zero-calorie lane: Sriracha, Frank’s, Valentina, Louisiana, any zero-cal hot sauce, Hugh G’s sugar-free BBQ or honey mustard, yellow mustard, Dijon, Worcestershire, fat-free ranch, a small amount of low-cal guac. Pico, lettuce, tomato, cilantro, onion. Pickled stuff is encouraged: sauerkraut, kimchi, okra, pickles. Do not drown the plate.

Fluids: a gallon to five liters of water, more if the meals and supplements demand it. Mio, zero-cal energy drinks, Propel, any zero-cal flavor. Minute Maid 15-calorie juice, twice a day, with a meal. Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Zevia, Gatorade Zero. Gatorade Zero or pickle juice when I am cramping. That is potassium, not a treat. Coffee stays unsweetened or stevia and sugar-free syrup, easy on the creamer, 30-calorie almond or cashew milk. Caffeine capped around 300 milligrams and done before 4 p.m., with room to go higher on long shifts. The actual priority is water and sleep. Recovery is the point of the cap, not a moral rule about coffee.

Cooking fat is avocado oil spray, Pam, or canola spray, used sparingly. Avocado oil is the one that survives high heat. Pink salt with most meals for the pump, pulled back if the sauces are already salty.

Chew. Space the meals. Week one is going to feel like a lot of food. That is the design, not a mistake.

Why I am running it this way

I have done 20-plus years in the gym and one NPC show. I do not need a lecture on protein. What I needed was a plan that protects training intensity while we still have room to diet later. Daniel estimated expenditure off a five-day split, minimal LISS, steps as the cardio. He would rather overfeed slightly and pull food than underfeed and add treadmill time I will resent. Carbs sit higher than a typical “balanced” plan because the sessions are the priority. Rest-day rice drops from 160 to 120 grams, potato from 200 to 153, and the post-workout rice cakes or banana disappear. Same proteins. Same structure. Different fuel for a day I am not squatting.