I have put together some pointers and guidelines to help ANYONE looking to create their own fat-loss diet: First off, this is most certainly not a replacement for one-on-one coaching. I wanted to post a quick “Do it yourself” guide on how you can go about setting yourself up to succeed with a ‘fat-loss’ style diet. This is a framework to begin with & nothing more – it’s designed to assist you with taking that first step, rather than explore the WHY & CONFUSION behind it all. I’m going to presume you’re already involved in some form of resistance training, it’s up to you as to how much cardio you want to do but my recommendation is to get this whole fat loss job done with AS LITTLE CARDIO AS POSSIBLE…Yes – as little as possible! Being a beast in the weight room always trumps being a skinny cardio queen ;) Ready? 1 – Set Your Daily Calorie Requirements A typically maintenance diet is calculated by multiplying your bodyweight in pounds by 15. So, let’s create a starting deficit by setting our calories at anywhere from 10-12 x bodyweight in pounds. Remember to plan for longevity; we want this diet to be as sustainable as possible. Eat as many calories as possible while still getting the fat loss job done, so start near the middle or top of that range. E.g. 140-pound woman would end up with anything from 1400-1680 calories. Beginning from the lower end of the scale will obviously promote faster weight loss but also leaves her with less room to move should she hit a plateau. 2 – Set Protein Intake Set protein intake at about 0.85 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. If you happen to be particularly overweight, you can go a little lower than this (perhaps using a reasonable goal weight as a multiplier instead of your current weight). 3 – Calculate Fats & Determine Carbs Once you’ve accounted for your protein, you can essentially fill in the rest of your calorie requirements with fats & carbs depending on your needs & preferences. For fats, I recommend between 15% & 25% of total daily calorie intake, while carbs can then be allocated the balance. If you prefer a higher fat intake, that is fine – it is important to note though, that the only two macronutrients REQUIRED by the body are protein & fats – so make sure you calculate those needs first. Remember, 1 gram of protein contains 4 calories, 1 gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories & 1 gram of dietary fat contains 9 calories. This will help you figure out your intakes once you’ve allotted certain calorie numbers to each macronutrient. Despite old school myths & certain “broscience bullshit”, carbs DO NOT need to be eliminated from your diet to lose fat so don’t feel you have to do this! Weight loss or weight gain is determined by calories in vs calories out – so eat carbs if you can fit them in there; they’ll help keep you satisfied, assist with training intensity & help you maintain thyroid function when dieting. 4 – Create Your Meals Figure out how many meals you want to eat each day. Split your macros (proteins, fats & carbs) between your meals – you might prefer to eat greater percentages of your carbs around your workout to assist with intensity & recovery. Protein should be split fairly evenly. I typically recommend 4-6 meals per day but DO WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU. Remember – make it sustainable! You don’t need to have a post workout shake – food will do the same trick – but if you do, obviously you will need to track this & count it in your daily macros. There are plenty of websites & apps to assist you with writing your ‘diet’. Calorieking & the MyFitnessPal application are two of my favorites but there are plenty of others out there. If you want to make your diet more optimal, consider consuming no less than 30-40g of protein each meal & (if possible) 30-50g of carbs each meal. This will help with optimizing muscle protein synthesis. 5 – Execute This can be the hardest part for a lot of people. Hold yourself accountable & determine a certain day each week where you will wake up, go to the bathroom, jump on the scale & measure your waist too. Do this the same each time you do it (every week or every other week) so your results will be more accurate, it’s all about tracking your progress. 6 – Assess & Adjust Anybody can estimate their daily calorie needs. ESTIMATE…Trial & error is your friend here. Track your progress & objectively assess your results. Make necessary changes in order to optimize fat loss. Don’t aim for more than 1-2lbs of weight loss each week. If your weight is stagnant, lower your calorie intake slightly or increase your activity levels, the key is consistency! If you consistently hit your macros (proteins, fats & carbs), you will be in a position where you can make a fair judgement. If you aren’t consistent, you have no way of knowing whether or not the estimates you have made are on the money. Under no circumstances should you change a program that you haven’t been following consistently – it clearly isn’t the program that’s failing. DO NOT be disheartened by slow progress, slow progress is the only acceptable progress! You should be aiming for slow progress, why? It’s proof you’re doing it RIGHT. Fast progress doesn’t equate to a sustainable lifestyle. This is a journey, a marathon…a damn ironman – not some 50m sprint! Trust & enjoy in the process & turn little wins each day into something much, much bigger down the road. Any questions? Shoot me an private message, I happy to help. Hope this info helps you along YOUR fitness journey – JnS ;)
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 18:49:14 +0000
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