Diet timing for Mr.Olympia shape

Diet timing was one of the biggest changes in Jay Cutler’s 2006 Mr.Olympia preparation. He didn’t step onto the stage by starving himself. Instead, he kept his body full, watched how it responded and changed the plan whenever his body demanded it.

(Jay Cutler, Flex Jan/07)

Why did diet timing change Cutler’s shape?

This time, the pre-contest preparation lasted 12 weeks. In 2005 it had been 18 weeks. That’s a big difference, but the reason was simple: his off-season body fat percentage was already fairly low. Cutler didn’t have to start from zero or carry out a long rescue operation.

Only 4 weeks required serious effort to reach peak condition. Even then, it wasn’t about imposing strict rules but rather about small adjustments. This approach only works when your starting condition is good. If your body is already lean, you can move toward contest shape by eating smartly rather than by starving yourself empty.

The foods he had used before disappeared from the menu: oat flake porridge and protein shakes. He covered his protein needs mainly with fish and egg whites. The only meat he ate was fish, usually Atlantic orange roughy. It was a simple, lean and easily controlled source of protein.

Until 2 weeks before the contest, he ate no red meat or chicken at all. Then, to fill out, he added one chicken meal and one red meat meal to his diet, replacing 2 fish meals. The result was noticeable: by day 4 he had gained almost 3 kilos purely because animal meat had returned to the menu.

How did diet timing work in practice?

His carbohydrate sources were mainly white rice and Ezekiel bread, a flourless bread sold at his local store. He also used Ezekiel flakes in place of oats. The idea was to keep the choices narrow: the fewer random foods, the easier it is to tell what is changing your body.

A 7-meal diet was built on these principles. At the start of the preparation, Cutler kept his nutrient balance steady: 350g of carbohydrates and 500g of protein. He did this until his body caught up and stopped responding to the diet as well as before.

From that point on, things got more precise. He used low- and high-carbohydrate days depending on whether his body needed more or less food. At the end, once his condition had come in, his carbohydrate intake was high: 600–1000g a day.

Breakfast was always big and contained 120g of carbohydrates. The post-workout meal always contained at least 100g of carbohydrates. The remaining meals usually had 50g of carbohydrates. The last 2 or 3 meals contained only protein.

Until the last two weeks, he ate 450g of fish at five meals and 20 egg whites at two. There was more protein than in previous years, and his body responded well to it. He started the preparation at a body weight of 126kg. 10 days before the Olympia, he weighed 131.5kg. On stage on contest night, he weighed 124kg, compared with 119.7kg in 2005.

What does Cutler’s diet teach?

In the past, Cutler had told himself: OK, 2 weeks to go, time to start cutting weight. But he had seen several men who were in great shape 2 weeks out and still ended up 4.5–7 kg too light. This time he decided to do it differently.

He ate more, reduced his training volume and kept doing cardio sessions. The result was a bigger, more powerful look. The lesson is simple: if your body is lean to begin with, it may be better to eat your way into shape than to starve your way into it.

What nobody knew until after the contest was that he had suddenly fallen ill the week before. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were lost to a bacterial infection of the digestive tract. His weight dropped from 131.5kg to 122.5kg, and he was haunted by the thought that he might not make it to the contest at all.

He didn’t talk about it publicly because he feared people would write him off. Fortunately, he managed to bring his weight back up. Ironically, it even benefited his condition, because the body’s water reserves had decreased. The plan for the final week still had to be reworked. He didn’t carb-load or water-deplete. The diarrhea had flushed water out of his body, and the dryness came from that.

Jay Cutler’s Olympia diet
1st meal	450g fish, flakes, white rice
2nd meal	450g fish, white rice, Ezekiel bread
TRAINING
3rd meal	20 egg whites, flakes, white rice
4th meal	450g fish, white rice, Ezekiel bread
5th meal	450g fish
TRAINING
6th meal	20 egg whites
7th meal	450g fish
Note: In the last 2 weeks before the Olympia, Cutler replaced 2 fish meals with chicken and red meat

Diet timing and the next goal

According to him, the following year was supposed to be even better, with the support of his wife and TeamMuscletech. He had gotten to know his body better and had found some growth secrets that surprised even him.

Moving to Las Vegas gave him a better training atmosphere and better conditions. His training style, however, remained the foundation. For Cutler, basic exercises and free weights did the job. At that point he called himself a hardcore trainee, and he was already laying the groundwork for the following year’s shape.

FAQ

Is this diet suitable for the average gym-goer?

Not one-to-one. This was a top bodybuilder’s contest plan. What the average gym-goer can take from it is the principle: watch how your body responds and don’t change too much at once.

Why did Cutler eat so much protein?

He wanted to hold on to muscle mass and stay full even during the diet. His amounts were tied to his body weight, training volume and competition level.

What was the biggest lesson from this story?

Shape doesn’t come from eating less alone. Sometimes it’s smarter to eat enough, keep your training under control and let your body get ready for the stage.