How To Get In “Photoshoot Shape” In 2 Months

Here’s an easy-to-follow nutrition plan to help you whip your body into phenomenal shape in just two months.

My clients have used this high protein, moderate fat, carb cycling structure for years.

Now it’s your turn, and I promise that if you follow this plan to a “T”, you’re gonna wanna show off your abs at every fucking opportunity.

I put this together after receiving the following e-mail from blog subscriber, Ben:

“Hi Russ, I want to say thanks for opening my eyes to nutrition. I used to love working out and drinking protein shakes, but like most guys I never paid attention to what I ate outside of the gym! Nowadays, I’m eating much better and getting far superior results.

My question is this – if you only had one or two months to get into the leanest shape possible, what would you do with your diet?”

– Ben

See your nutritional targets below:

Phase	Protein	Fat	Carbs
A (Weeks 1 & 2)	1.2g	0.4g	1.5g
B (Weeks 3, 4 & 5)	1.2g	0.4g	1g
C (Weeks 6, 7 & 8)	1.2g	0.4g	0.6g

Phase A Explained

Our targets start off pretty high.

This will give you an opportunity to see where you’re at right now in terms of your energy output.

Some of you will lose weight in this phase because you’re burning a fuck-tonne of calories in your everyday life, whereas others (most) will need to wait until we reach the next phase.

Don’t worry, everyone will get to their goal by the final stage of this plan.

The first thing we need to do is write down your target body weight in pounds. This is the number you’ll use to determine your targets in the table above. So if your target body weight (TBW) is 180lbs then you’ll use that number for all of your calculations unless you decide to change your goal body weight further in the program.

During phase A you will aim for 1.2 grams of protein, 0.4 grams of fat, and 1.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of TBW, so if your target body weight is 180lbs you’d have these daily targets:

• 216g protein
• 72g fat
• 216g carbs

I’d also like you to aim for 3-4 litres of water every day, because this will help not only in the gym but in terms of overall dietary adherence.

When it comes to selecting the foods you’d like to eat, I’m a big fan of letting people base their diet around their own personal tastes. I believe you should include lots of lean meat, vegetables, fruit (the stuff you already know is good for you), but ultimately your diet is just a numbers game so if you want to slip a few treats in along the way this is easily done – just make sure you hit your numbers overall, and you’re good to go! (1)

I recommend tracking your nutrition in an app such as MyFitnessPal (free) or Carbon Diet Coach (not free but 10x cooler).

Phase B Explained

Now we tighten things up.

During weeks 3, 4 and 5 I’d like you to reduce your carbohydrate intake to 1g/lb.

This will create a fresh calorie deficit for you to work in, and you’ll still be keeping your protein and fat targets the same as last time which ensures you’ll be maximizing but muscle retention and muscle growth. (2, 3)

If your TBW is 180lbs, your new daily targets will be:

• 216g protein
• 72g fat
• 180g carbs
• Still drink 3-4l water per day

This phase of the plan is where things really start takin shape. You’ll start getting the hang of tracking your food intake and hitting your numbers on a consistent basis. It sets the stage for some cracking results in the upcoming final phase of the program.

Phase C Explained

We make a final reduction to your carb target here.

During weeks 6, 7, and 8 you will aim for 0.6g/lb, and once again you’ll keep your protein and fat the same as last time.

So if your TBW is 180lbs, your new targets will be:

• 216g protein
• 72g fat
• 108g carbs
• Still drink 3-4l water

Even though it’s only been eight short weeks, I expect you to achieve a transformation you can be very proud of. Feel free to show me what you have accomplished on social media.

During The Final Week

Not everyone is going to be using this diet for a photoshoot, so you might not need this section.

But if you do?

You’re about to learn how to manipulate the best possible end result by making a few tweaks to your nutrition choices during the final week of your program.

We will do this by tinkering with your water and sodium. This will force your body to flush out any unnecessary extracellular water (water which sits outside of the muscle cell), and this makes you look even leaner.

The second technique is to tinker with your carbohydrates in the final couple of days of the program. This will increase intracellular water (water inside the muscle cell), making you appear even bigger.

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

• Increase sodium at the start of week 7

There is a constant balancing act going on inside your body right now between water and sodium.

By consuming additional sodium you’ll force your body to adapt to its new surroundings. It’ll do so initially by increasing the amount of water it stores, so you might see a little bump on the scales due to increased water storage at this stage.

You don’t need to do anything complicated, just follow your regular week 7 daily targets and either choose foods which contain more salt or simply add more salt to your meals. Aim for about 4000mg/day.

• Decrease sodium and drink more water at the start of week 8

Now we reduce your sodium to less than 1000mg/day.

This is where a classic old-school bodybuilding diet plan comes in handy, as foods like chicken, fish, and green vegetables enable you to hit your daily targets with a miniscule sodium intake.

This sudden sodium reduction will put your body into an adaptive state where extracellular water is flushed out of your system, making you look even leaner as we enter the final week of the nutrition plan.

We couple this move with drinking even more water than usual.

I realize it sounds crazy when the goal is ultimately to flush excess water from our body, but trust me, it works like a charm! Water is also a great appetite suppressor, so increasing it at this stage of the diet plan is a great way to ensure you remain consistent in the final stage. I want you to aim for 6-8 litres of water per day.

• Reduce carbs as low as possible for the first 5 days of week 8

You’ll be using a pretty low carbohydrate target during weeks 6, 7, and 8 but we’re going to take it even lower than that.

I simply want you to reduce your carbs to as low as you can comfortably handle.

Now, you’ll still be working out at this point as well, and you definitely won’t be feeling as strong as usual as you enter the final stages of any nutrition plan so I recommend switching to full-body workouts and avoiding max lifts.

When we make this reduction to our carb intake it encourages our body to flush out any additional water, and it sets the stage of a grandstand finish… (4)

I still want you to train during this time, too, but you’ll definitely not be feeling as strong as usual so I recommend switching to a full body workout like this and avoiding any max lifts.

• Reduce water and increase carbs for the final 2 days of week 8

So during this peak week strategy we’ve been drinking even more water than usual and eating even fewer carbs than usual… and now we flip the script!

I want you to reduce your water all the way down to 1.5-2 litres per day (NOTE: lowering water is always risky, and even though you’re not reducing it to anywhere near what I would consider challenging levels, if you feel headaches or dizzy etc just have a fucking drink and don’t be a douche).

At the same time I want you to increase your carbohydrate target to 3g/lb.

Yes, that’s a massive increase! You’ll still be keeping your protein and fat the same (as you have throughout the entire diet plan), so if your TBW is 180lbs you’ll have targets like this:

• 216g protein
• 72g fat
• 540g carbs
• Drink 1.5-2 litres of water per day

So why the fuck are we doing this?

Well, suddenly boosting your carbs at this late stage will force your body to re-stock its depleted glycogen stores, and one of the side-effects of this is that it’ll pull as much available water into your muscle cells – which not only makes your muscles look fuller and harder, but also turns extracellular water into intracellular water, making you look even more shredded! (5, 6)

That’s not a cue to binge eat, of course!

Remember, we are still trying to keep our sodium intake as low as we can in these final couple of days, and we also want to avoid carb-based foods which absorb water (e.g. pasta, rice, etc) because you don’t have a lot of water to go round as it is.

My advice is to keep it simple by adding white potatoes or sweet potatoes to your meals and by snacking on Haribo Gold Bears throughout the day. Yes, seriously! These little bad boys do a great job of increasing your carbohydrate intake without impacting protein or fat, and they also operate as a good sweet tooth satisfier, which is fantastic in the final couple of days of any diet plan.

• Additional tips for photo shoot day (if needed)

If you’ve followed the tips above in the final 2-weeks before your bit photoshoot, you can expect to wake up on “the big day” feeling absolutely fucking diced.

I like to prepare for all situations, though, so let’s say you wake up feeling a bit flat.

Some people would say there’s not much you can do about it now, considering your photoshoot is today, but they’d be dead wrong; there’s always something you can do!

I would simply indicate that you’d lost more water than intended, so your muscles weren’t able to “fill up” as much as we wanted from increasing our carbs two days ago.

In this situation, a person’s natural instinct upon hearing they’d “lost too much water” would be to drink more water, but don’t make that mistake. This would encourage your body to start storing water and actually worsen the situation, so instead we keep your water intake low (1.5-2 litres) and increase your sodium intake to tip the water/sodium balance back in your favour, and then monitor your progress throughout the day.

One of the best ways to do that is to grab a burger from Burger King or McDonalds, because they’re loaded with sodium and they’ll fit your nutrition targets because we’re still using the high carb numbers from the last section.

The trickiest part of doing this is not the burger itself, but instead resisting the urge to drink water alongside it. Anything salty makes us want to drink more, but if we were to do that at this stage it would lead to increased water storage, which isn’t what you want.

Anyway, that’s how you solve any last-minute issues which crop up!

Photoshoot Diet: Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Do I need to stick to a list of foods or just hit my daily targets my own way?

I recommend gravitating towards lean meat, starchy carbs, ad plenty of vegetables because they’re awesome. However, your diet is ultimately just a numbers game, so it can be built around your own personal preferences for the most part. Doing so actually leads to better consistency versus trying to eat a bunch of foods you fucking hate. Read this article.

Q. What should I do after the diet ends?

You have two choices.

If you were doing this diet plan to prepare for a photoshoot or a big event (e.g. wedding day) feel free to give yourself some time off to recharge your batteries and enjoy your hard earned results. When you’re ready for a new challenge, just login to your russhowepti.com members area and select a new trainin program.

However, many of you will be using this diet plan without a “big day” in mind (e.g. you just wanted to get in great shape). At the end of the plan your goal might simply be to retain the results you have achieved, yes?

If that’s the case then listen up.

It would be very unrealistic (and very unenjoyable!) to attempt staying on your Phase C nutrition targets beyond the end of the program, but I understand that you wouldn’t want to sacrifice your results too, so the best method is to reverse back through the phases (C > B > A) until you find the “sweet spot”. For most people this will be Phase B, but some lucky individuals will be able to work all the way back to their Phase A targets without regaining any body fat.

Q. What should I do if I achieve my results before then end of the program?

You should remember this is just a template.

If moving to Phase B helps you unlock the goals you were aiming for, then you can either simply stay on those nutritional targets or you can set bigger goals and push further into Phase C.

Your body, your choice.

Q. Can I use this over longer than 8-weeks?

Of course you can, you’d just lengthen each phase to suit your goal.

I made it 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 3 weeks because this generally enables most people to be in each phase for long enough to see great results, but there’s no need to use this framework if you have longer, or if you’re experiencing good results from one phase and don’t want to change it until you hit a plateau.

Q. Is the first phase necessary?

When people hear me say that “some will lose weight during Phase A, but most will do it during Phase B and Phase C” they sometimes wonder if they should just jump in that those stages instead.

Don’t do that.

The main reason people fail on diet plans is because they make it too hard, too fast. It’s not about determination or willpower, it’s a lack of strategy.

Phase A gets you into the habit of consistently hitting your daily targets (something which most people have never actually done), and nailing this before you move any further forward.

You’ll master this before hitting Phase B and C, where your daily targets are tightened, enabling you to focus entirely on that. (7)

Q. I enjoy eating the same things every day, is that OK?

I prefer variety, but everyone is different. Ultimately the best diet is the one you can stick to so just hit your numbers are you’re good to go.

Q. Which supplements should I use?

Your diet is going to help you unlock fantastic results, but sure, we can use supplements to help along the way.

I recommend picking up a decent whey protein powder to help you hit your daily protein target, a multivitamin to plug any gaps in your diet, some creatine monohydrate to improve power, and a strong pre workout to help you train harder. That’s all you need.

Further Reading:

If you enjoyed this blog, then you’ll probably also like reading these.

>> The Rules To Ripped
>> Russ’ Guide To Supplements
>> Workout Programs Now Available On RussHowePTI.com!

References:

1. Smith C. F., et al. Flexible vs. Rigid dieting strategies: relationship with adverse behavioral outcomes. Appetite (1999).
2. Morton R. W., et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med (2018).
3. Whittaker J., et al. Low-fat diets and testosterone in men: Systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies. The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2021).
4. Kreitzman S. N., et al. Glycogen storage: illusions of easy weight loss, excessive weight regain, and distortions in estimates of body composition. Am J Clin Nutr (1992).
5. Jensen J., et al. The role of skeletal muscle glycogen breakdown for regulation of insulin sensitivity by exercise. Front Physiol (2011).
6. Acheson K. J., et al. Glycogen storage capacity and de novo lipogenesis during massive carbohydrate overfeeding in man. Am J Clin Nutr (1988).
7. Ingels J. S., et al. The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time. J Diabetes Res (2017).