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The Bodybuilder's Kitchen: 100 Muscle-Building, Fat Burning Recipes, with Meal Plans to Chisel Your Physique
Build muscle, burn fat, and chisel your physique with 100 delicious recipes and customized bodybuilding meal plans.
How do professional bodybuilders get that unmistakable look? It's as much about what happens in the kitchen as it is about what happens in the gym. Professional bodybuilders fuel their bodies with specific nutrients delivered at precise intervals to achieve their sculpted physiques, and now you can, too. The Bodybuilder's Kitchen provides expert guidance on what to eat and when to eat it, and helps you understand how your body uses what you eat to burn fat and build lean, strong muscle. With five weekly meal plans, 100 delicious recipes, and expert insight from champion bodybuilder Erin Stern, you'll get everything you need to fuel your workouts and achieve the bodybuilder physique.
Here's what you'll find in The Bodybuilder's Kitchen:
· 100 delicious recipes for breakfasts, entrees, sides, salads, snacks, and desserts, including shakes and power bars, and with key macronutrients and nutrition panels for every recipe
· 5 custom-designed meal plans for bulking and cutting phases, as well as plans for ketogenic dieting, calorie cycling, and carb cycling
· Strategic guidance on when to eat, what to eat, and how to manage your nutrition for optimum fat burning and muscle-building results
How do professional bodybuilders get that unmistakable look? It's as much about what happens in the kitchen as it is about what happens in the gym. Professional bodybuilders fuel their bodies with specific nutrients delivered at precise intervals to achieve their sculpted physiques, and now you can, too. The Bodybuilder's Kitchen provides expert guidance on what to eat and when to eat it, and helps you understand how your body uses what you eat to burn fat and build lean, strong muscle. With five weekly meal plans, 100 delicious recipes, and expert insight from champion bodybuilder Erin Stern, you'll get everything you need to fuel your workouts and achieve the bodybuilder physique.
Here's what you'll find in The Bodybuilder's Kitchen:
· 100 delicious recipes for breakfasts, entrees, sides, salads, snacks, and desserts, including shakes and power bars, and with key macronutrients and nutrition panels for every recipe
· 5 custom-designed meal plans for bulking and cutting phases, as well as plans for ketogenic dieting, calorie cycling, and carb cycling
· Strategic guidance on when to eat, what to eat, and how to manage your nutrition for optimum fat burning and muscle-building results
387 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 22, 2018
218 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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May 13, 2018Good Cookbook … If You Know What You’re in for…
This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine program which included a free copy of the book.
All cookbooks are deceiving. All those fancy pictures of scrumptious looking appetizers, entrees and desserts do trick us into believing what looks good must certainly taste good … I’ll bet some of us could be convinced that an onion milkshake would be worth trying. THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN is a good cookbook that can deceive, unless you know what to expect from it.
Just do a Google search for Erin Stern and you will see that her physique is spectacular. She attained (and maintains) that physique through hard work … a fine-tuned balance of gym training and meticulous dieting. A bodybuilder’s (or figure competitor’s) diet is nothing like what we see advertised on television; a bodybuilding diet is extremely rigorous and structured, but extremely effective … if you can stick to it. That is the catch with THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN; it provides recipes that adhere to the strict dieting of a bodybuilder … a functional diet designed to cut fat and build muscle using strict ingredients that serve those purposes. The food in this book will not necessarily appeal to those who are simply looking for “healthier alternatives” to satisfy decadent cravings, but it will significantly mitigate the misery-factor of strict-dieting. The recipes may be too bland for some, but for those who want to real results, this cookbook WILL WORK and the recipes are actually pretty darn good.
What I like about this cookbook is that it is both educational, informative, organized and efficient. Rather than simply diving into the recipes, Stern does a good job of providing a preview of the rationale behind a diet that incorporates her recipes … we get a readable deciphering of the science factored into a bodybuilding diet, along with the how and why this type of dieting works. The book also offers a weekly meal plans using the provided recipes that center on specific diet goals (cutting, ketogenic, etc.).
THE RECIPES
Following the educating introduction, the bulk of this book is comprised of a wide variety of recipes that cover appetizers, snacks, entrees, deserts and shakes, but still adhere to the principals of a bodybuilding diet (provide energy, maintain/build muscle and burn fat). None of the recipes are complicated or time-consuming. I like the one-page format used for most all recipes in this book. Stern keeps a simple, clean format that makes everything extremely easy to follow. I also like how the macronutrients (protein, carb and fat) of each recipe are clearly visible in the bottom margin (this helps identify where each meal belongs in your dietary plan). As expected, appetizing photographs do accompany many of the recipes and yes, they are certainly persuasive. One issue to note is that the ingredient list made grocery shopping a little more challenging and expensive; many recipes require uncommon items you might not ordinarily purchase and call for several varieties of a single ingredient. For example, almond milk is a frequently used ingredient, but several recipes call for different varieties of almond milk. Whey protein powder is another common ingredient used for snacks and desserts … some recipes call for unflavored whey and others call for a flavored whey protein powder (usually vanilla). Quality whey protein (in terms of flavor and constitution) is not something you’re going to find in most grocery stores and it generally comes in large tubs (2-5 lbs.) … a 5 lb. tub of “decent quality” vanilla protein can cost $60 (or more). To go “all in” with this type of dieting may result in filling your fridge with several (perishable) items you may only use on occasion.
As far as flavor, I have been quite impressed with the recipes I’ve tried so far (about 5) and there are several I’m looking forward to trying soon. They are extremely simple to make and while I was expecting such a diet to taste rather blah, these recipes get it right. I competed in my last bodybuilding competition in 2005 and I can confirm that hardcore dieting today is much more palatable that it was when I last tried it … there are so many better (tasting) alternatives today. Try using aspartame as a sugar substitute … it doesn’t cook well and tastes even worse; stevia is the magic elixir of sugar substitutes. THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN takes advantage of the wide variety of healthy alternatives available to make fat-burning meals quite flavorful and enjoyable to eat … this is not an easy task for this type of diet, but Stern’s recipes are far more enjoyable that others I’ve tried over the years.
THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN hits the mark on providing a solid regimen of simple, purposeful meals that taste good. If you want a good cookbook for a hardcore fat-burning diet … this is one of the best I’ve seen. Erin Stern offers a wide variety of recipes that should cover most any craving or flavor-niche. I highly recommend this cookbook … just be prepared for a jolt to the grocery bill.
This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine program which included a free copy of the book.
All cookbooks are deceiving. All those fancy pictures of scrumptious looking appetizers, entrees and desserts do trick us into believing what looks good must certainly taste good … I’ll bet some of us could be convinced that an onion milkshake would be worth trying. THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN is a good cookbook that can deceive, unless you know what to expect from it.
Just do a Google search for Erin Stern and you will see that her physique is spectacular. She attained (and maintains) that physique through hard work … a fine-tuned balance of gym training and meticulous dieting. A bodybuilder’s (or figure competitor’s) diet is nothing like what we see advertised on television; a bodybuilding diet is extremely rigorous and structured, but extremely effective … if you can stick to it. That is the catch with THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN; it provides recipes that adhere to the strict dieting of a bodybuilder … a functional diet designed to cut fat and build muscle using strict ingredients that serve those purposes. The food in this book will not necessarily appeal to those who are simply looking for “healthier alternatives” to satisfy decadent cravings, but it will significantly mitigate the misery-factor of strict-dieting. The recipes may be too bland for some, but for those who want to real results, this cookbook WILL WORK and the recipes are actually pretty darn good.
What I like about this cookbook is that it is both educational, informative, organized and efficient. Rather than simply diving into the recipes, Stern does a good job of providing a preview of the rationale behind a diet that incorporates her recipes … we get a readable deciphering of the science factored into a bodybuilding diet, along with the how and why this type of dieting works. The book also offers a weekly meal plans using the provided recipes that center on specific diet goals (cutting, ketogenic, etc.).
THE RECIPES
Following the educating introduction, the bulk of this book is comprised of a wide variety of recipes that cover appetizers, snacks, entrees, deserts and shakes, but still adhere to the principals of a bodybuilding diet (provide energy, maintain/build muscle and burn fat). None of the recipes are complicated or time-consuming. I like the one-page format used for most all recipes in this book. Stern keeps a simple, clean format that makes everything extremely easy to follow. I also like how the macronutrients (protein, carb and fat) of each recipe are clearly visible in the bottom margin (this helps identify where each meal belongs in your dietary plan). As expected, appetizing photographs do accompany many of the recipes and yes, they are certainly persuasive. One issue to note is that the ingredient list made grocery shopping a little more challenging and expensive; many recipes require uncommon items you might not ordinarily purchase and call for several varieties of a single ingredient. For example, almond milk is a frequently used ingredient, but several recipes call for different varieties of almond milk. Whey protein powder is another common ingredient used for snacks and desserts … some recipes call for unflavored whey and others call for a flavored whey protein powder (usually vanilla). Quality whey protein (in terms of flavor and constitution) is not something you’re going to find in most grocery stores and it generally comes in large tubs (2-5 lbs.) … a 5 lb. tub of “decent quality” vanilla protein can cost $60 (or more). To go “all in” with this type of dieting may result in filling your fridge with several (perishable) items you may only use on occasion.
As far as flavor, I have been quite impressed with the recipes I’ve tried so far (about 5) and there are several I’m looking forward to trying soon. They are extremely simple to make and while I was expecting such a diet to taste rather blah, these recipes get it right. I competed in my last bodybuilding competition in 2005 and I can confirm that hardcore dieting today is much more palatable that it was when I last tried it … there are so many better (tasting) alternatives today. Try using aspartame as a sugar substitute … it doesn’t cook well and tastes even worse; stevia is the magic elixir of sugar substitutes. THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN takes advantage of the wide variety of healthy alternatives available to make fat-burning meals quite flavorful and enjoyable to eat … this is not an easy task for this type of diet, but Stern’s recipes are far more enjoyable that others I’ve tried over the years.
THE BODYBUILDER’S KITCHEN hits the mark on providing a solid regimen of simple, purposeful meals that taste good. If you want a good cookbook for a hardcore fat-burning diet … this is one of the best I’ve seen. Erin Stern offers a wide variety of recipes that should cover most any craving or flavor-niche. I highly recommend this cookbook … just be prepared for a jolt to the grocery bill.
May 5, 2018
Thank you to Erin Stern, DK, Alpha Publishing, and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy for an honest review of “The Bodybuilder’s Kitchen.”
A heavy weightlifter of over three years now, I get leery on which lifting books, advice or cookbooks, I’m willing to picking. Especially because most of them are by men, and thus, are only about 25% applicable to me, my present, and my future goals. So, you can imagine how fast I snapped this book up the moment I saw it was written by a female bodybuilder.
I wanted to like this book so much more than I ended up liking it. I was so excited to receive the notification of being accepted for review and for getting the book down, but neither of my perusals through it turned up much for me. I like that she includes some early persona anecdotal information, but the rest is a little bland.
The 5 full-week plans are nice, and I do like how widely she uses her three-tier scale on every one of the recipes, but for a book being sold in ‘Cooking, Food, & Wine’ and not being touted as an exercise book, it’s highly lacking in a lot of helpful notes a cook book might. It’s definitely missing having more examples of what her dishes look like, or even notes about how to change up more than a handful of them.
A heavy weightlifter of over three years now, I get leery on which lifting books, advice or cookbooks, I’m willing to picking. Especially because most of them are by men, and thus, are only about 25% applicable to me, my present, and my future goals. So, you can imagine how fast I snapped this book up the moment I saw it was written by a female bodybuilder.
I wanted to like this book so much more than I ended up liking it. I was so excited to receive the notification of being accepted for review and for getting the book down, but neither of my perusals through it turned up much for me. I like that she includes some early persona anecdotal information, but the rest is a little bland.
The 5 full-week plans are nice, and I do like how widely she uses her three-tier scale on every one of the recipes, but for a book being sold in ‘Cooking, Food, & Wine’ and not being touted as an exercise book, it’s highly lacking in a lot of helpful notes a cook book might. It’s definitely missing having more examples of what her dishes look like, or even notes about how to change up more than a handful of them.
April 15, 2018
***Thanks to NetGalley and DK for providing me with an ARC and the understanding that any review posted will be my honest opinion.***
I am always looking for new recipes to try out. My boyfriend lives in the gym 5 days a week and is a power lifter so healthy recipes are always a bonus. I have lifted in the past to gain definition but over the years I have lost a lost of muscle tone and find myself in the position of starting at the bottom. I love to eat healthy but as I approach 40 I have realized that my metabolism is not what it used to be and a lifestyle change is needed. This book appealed to me because it was written by a female bodybuilder. Once I opened the book I knew it was going to be amazing. I love that it is filled with awesome recipes (Meatza was the first one we tried....and loved) but it also had some amazing tips and techniques to get the most out of your routine. I think this book is fantastic and will be used a lot around our house.
I am always looking for new recipes to try out. My boyfriend lives in the gym 5 days a week and is a power lifter so healthy recipes are always a bonus. I have lifted in the past to gain definition but over the years I have lost a lost of muscle tone and find myself in the position of starting at the bottom. I love to eat healthy but as I approach 40 I have realized that my metabolism is not what it used to be and a lifestyle change is needed. This book appealed to me because it was written by a female bodybuilder. Once I opened the book I knew it was going to be amazing. I love that it is filled with awesome recipes (Meatza was the first one we tried....and loved) but it also had some amazing tips and techniques to get the most out of your routine. I think this book is fantastic and will be used a lot around our house.
January 18, 2019
This really helped to break down macros and how to use them. I've been trying to figure it out for awhile now but there is so much info online to weed through it has still baffled me. This made it simple and broke down several ways to use them from bulking, to losing, cycling and even keto. After explaining them it then has some sample one week meal plans. Then the rest of the book is recipes that also gives the calories and macros to help you decide which ones will be best used by whatever system you decide to go with.
August 1, 2025
Great tips and recipes
I'm actually excited to start making some of the dishes On this book. Figuring out healthy ways to education muscle us important to me at this stage in my life.
I'm actually excited to start making some of the dishes On this book. Figuring out healthy ways to education muscle us important to me at this stage in my life.
February 16, 2023
I love this book and am a fan of Erin Stern. Thank you Erin! I am constantly motivated by you and appreciate all of the training tips you share on social media.
January 9, 2024
Very informative. Slow cooker recipes are excellent.
January 21, 2024
Nothing I couldn’t find online, online has better pictures. You eat with your eyes first.
January 21, 2025
What is this? A cookbook for ants?!
How can we be expected to build muscle if we can't even meet our maintenance calories?
The cookbook has to be at least... three times more calorific than this.
How can we be expected to build muscle if we can't even meet our maintenance calories?
The cookbook has to be at least... three times more calorific than this.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews