Now obviously it’s not enough to just fast for a portion of the day and expect to look amazing. It’s imperative that you eat the proper number of calories and protein.

If you fast and eat 5,000 calories, you will not be dropping fat - not in the slightest. Contrarily, if you fast and under eat, you risk losing muscle and slowing your metabolism.

Because of this, it’s important you consume the right number of calories and protein to produce the perfect rate of fat loss and support training performance.

The magic number for moderate fat loss is about 12 calories per pound of bodyweight.

Let’s say you weigh 200 pounds. You should be eating 2,400 calories per day. You don’t have to be exact, but ideally try to stay within 50 calories on either side (so the range would be between 2,350-2,450 calories total).

This calorie level is perfect to allow for a moderate level of fat loss and improvements in both strength and muscle mass.

Maintenance calories tend to be around 15 calories per pound of bodyweight.

This means that 12 calories per pound of bodyweight is about a 20% calorie deficit. If you eat fewer calories than this, there’s always a risk of losing muscle and down regulating your metabolism.

Plus, I’m going to show you the Warrior Training Program that will boost your strength and carve your body out of steel. If you eat too few calories, it won’t be nearly as effective.

I want you to get leaner, stronger and more muscular on this program. Therefore we need to follow the right strategy.

How Much Protein?

I recommend consuming 0.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight. If you’re 200 lbs that’s about 164g. You don’t have to be exact but ideally within 5-10g in either direction. The research states that this is the maximum amount needed to promote muscle growth.

Moreover, going higher than this will cut into the amount of carbs and fats you can consume. Carbs and fats are vital for promoting optimal testosterone levels in men. If you cut either your fats or carbs too heavily, sex drive and hormonal levels will take a hit.

In the fitness and bodybuilding industry, very high protein diets have been promoted heavily. Unfortunately, these diets fail to work well and work long term for natural trainees - due to the down-regulation in natural testosterone and metabolism.

In fact, I repeatedly failed and suffered trying to get lean when I stuck to very high protein, low carb diets. These diets produce fast fat loss for the first few weeks, then your metabolism slows down, cravings skyrocket and it becomes very difficult to stick to. When you cheat and go on a carb binge, the weight comes on fast. Many people I talked to stated the same thing, as well as the lowered sex drive.

As Kino Warriors, we can’t have any of that! Low carb and low fat is out. We need to eat at a balanced macronutrient intake to promote great energy and health.

This means sufficient protein and an adequate balance of carbs and fats...

The Ideal Macronutrient Ratio

I recommend a calorie split of about 27% protein, 33% fat and 40% carbs.

Make no mistake: this ratio does not have to be exact. It can be anywhere between 25-30% protein, 27-35% fat and 35-45% carbs.

In the beginning, I recommend tracking your calories and macros using an app like MyFitnessPal. It's free, you can use it on both phones and computers, and it has virtually every kind of food (and nearly every brand name as well) that you could possibly eat - and it's updated all the time.

Eventually you will be able to simple eye ball what you eat and go by feel, but in the beginning, best the play it safe and get exact with what you're consuming.

I have an internalized idea of how much I should be eating, so I haven't busted out the food scale and MyFitnessPal in a long time - but until you know exactly what you're eating and get the accountability, track everything.

But Carbs Will Make Me Fat, Right?

Remember, if you’re in a calorie deficit, you will be forced to burn fat. Carbs do not make you fat. Eating too many calories make you fat.

Carbs are highly beneficial. They are directly involved in building muscle. Carbs restock muscle glycogen and promote anabolism. Carbs boost insulin and reduce excess cortisol. Carbs also increase energy so you can train harder.

Furthermore, carbs help increase and promote serotonin, which helps with sleep. So going low carb, sleep usually suffers big time. Adequate sleep is extremely important in promoting optimal recovery and keeping cravings at bay.

As well, carbs promote higher testosterone levels in men. It’s a known fact that low carb diets suppress testosterone.