"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art." — Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Defining Ideal
The nutrition section is by far the most important section towards reaching the ideal physique. How much you eat and what you eat will determine whether or not you leave the gym in a year feeling satisfied or not at all.
Without getting too dramatic, if you do not get your nutrition down it is near impossible to reach ideal. Pay close attention and get it right the first time before you come complaining about your not-as-fast-as-promised-but-still-quite-fast progress to us!
Your journey to the ideal body is nicely split into three phases: The cutting phase, the lean-bulking phase, and the maintenance phase.
The Cutting Phase covers how to best lose fat while building muscle
The Lean Bulking Phase will tell you how to eat to grow muscle without gaining much fat
And the 
Maintenance Phase outlines how to keep your ideal physique forever
To know which phase you need to start, check your BMI score to see how close you are to the ideal physique. If you've made a copy of "The Ideal Male Body Calculator" spreadsheet and entered your information, you'll find your score under the "Current BMI Score" tab.
If you're confused about your BMI score, here are the steps to follow:
- Open up "The Ideal Body Calculator" copy you made
- Make sure that you’re on the “BMI” tab
- Fill out your your general information (if not filled in already)
- Your BMI score will be under “BMI Calculator”
Click here if you haven’t made a copy yet
Once you have your BMI score, make a mental note of it. One of the best feelings in the world is seeing your progress towards ideal validated and then finally completed.
To begin on your short nutritional journey to ideal, read both options below and then head over to the nutritional phase page you need to be at. After you're done going through it, come back to this page to continue onto the next portion of the guide. By the way, you're already done with half of this guide.
Remember to click the bolded, underlined links above to go to the page you need to be at! After getting your nutrition phases details, come back here to finish this page.
The nutritional cycle to ideal
To get started, go through the infographic below:
Notice that you need to cycle between the cutting phase and the lean-bulking phase until you reach ideal. The average male will complete the cycle twice before reaching ideal, or in other words, cutting → bulking → cutting → bulking → cutting → ideal → maintenance.
When you reach 21 BMI, you start lean-bulking. Then, when you reach 22 BMI, you start cutting. You will repeat the process of switching between cutting and lean-bulking until you reach ideal.
While the lean-bulking phase is meant to maximize muscle growth while minimizing fat gain, you will inevitably add some fat.
This is where the guide's magic begins: The cutting phase between lean-bulking phases removes any unnecessary fat so that you look good year-round! There is no need for the stereotypical "bulked up" look—you will be beach-ready all the time, every time.
The number of times you cycle through the cutting and lean-bulking phases will mostly depend on your nutrition. Remember, what you eat is the most important factor in your health, muscle growth, and attractiveness. Get your nutrition right the first time, and you'll never have to worry about it again.
Reminder: The day you reach 21/22 BMI, your calories/macros goals and more are on your copy of "The Ideal Male Body Calculator.”
Moving on
After getting the information for your current nutrition phase, browse the 
Nutrition Research page for all the studies used. If you are not the research type (why are you here then, eh?), continue to the next page.
5. Workout Prep 7. Training