Meal Frequency – Part 2

Why meals more isn’t better

In Part 1 we looked at whether there was any logic or reasoning behind this. Basically coming to the conclusion that what may sound good on paper, doesn’t actually come to fruition.

No more following theories like mindless chickens.

This time round we are going to take the nail in the frequent feedings and hammer it in a little further.
Why Frequent Makes No Sense

There are two main reasons:

1. Individuality
2. Impending Doom

Individuality
First up let us consider something that is incredibly important when starting diets or nutritional protocols; The Principle of Individuality. Which in simple terms just means you have to take the persons individual characteristics into account, cookie cutter, just doesn’t cut it. That means their physical characteristics, their environment, their preferences etc. etc.

So when we hear blanket statements about how eating every couple of hours, or eating mini meals, are given, they stamp all over the individual. So what might work for The Rock, may not be very suitable to anyone else.

For example, a small female, weighing in at 140lbs, trying to lose fat, may be aiming for 1400 calories a day. Split that between 6 meals, and you have 233kcal ‘meals’. Not only is it going to be a pain preparing 6 tiny portions of food, but they’re going to feel dissatisfied every time. It would make more sense to split it between 3 meals, making each 466 calories. Enough to actually represent a meal.

I am not saying frequent feeding is bad, but to say it is for everyone is wrong. Heck a 200lb male who is trying to pack on size may need over 4000 calories, he’d probably do well of more frequent meals.

We are all unique and different in so many ways.

Impending Doom
Sounds pretty horrific right? Well because the individual is removed from the equation failure in inevitable.

I remember back when I believed all the ‘theories’ about mini meals. So much so I would always have my tupparware with my food, and just incase I couldn’t take it with me I had a shake replacement. This added a load of stress onto my plate, and at the time I was studying for exams and it made the situation a lot harder.

We all have enough things to worry about during our day, nutrition need not add significant stress. How often do you hear ‘I missed a meal’ and the negative connotations associated with that? All the bloody time.

The person feels ashamed, like they have really done something wrong. This can led lead to giving up, stopping their diet and blowing out. Completely destroying their progress.

The truth is meal frequency does not matter for 99% of people. So trying to abide by some magical number of meals makes very little sense, and as seen above, can be destructive.

My View
We come back to the principle of individuality, and so long as you have the right overall nutrition in place, eat when and as you like. As I have said before, self experimentation is a wonderful thing. Find 6 meals is easy and keeps you fuller and more energised? Great stick to it. Maybe you find 2 meals allows you to enjoy your food more, great stick to it. Stick to what is providing you sustainable results.

Next time I am going to look deeper, into what might be an optimal frequency of meals for muscle gain and fat loss. Remember, optimal on paper may not always work out in practice, however it is still something we can strive for.

Spread facts, not dogma, if you liked this or any of my articles please feel free to share them using the social media icons below #ReviveStronger

Meal Frequency – Part 1

Optimal No. of Meals?

You read right, Dwayne Johnson, otherwise known as The Rock, consumes 7 meals a day! We ain’t talking salads either, we are talking proper meals, meat, vegetables and potatoes. Just check out his diet below:

 

Dwayne Johnson’s Diet	Meal 1 10 oz cod 2 whole eggs 2 cups oatmeal	Meal 2 8 oz cod 12 oz sweet potato 1 cup veggies
Meal 3 8 oz chicken 2 cups white rice 1 cup veggies	Meal 4 8 oz cod 2 cups rice 1 cup veggies 1 tbsp fish oil	Meal 5 8 oz steak 12 oz baked potato spinach salad
Meal 6 10 oz cod 2 cups rice salad	Meal 7 30 grams casein protein 10 egg-white omelet 1 cup veggies (onions, peppers, mushrooms) 1 tbsp omega-3 fish oil

 

This is his so called ‘muscle-building’ diet. No doubt it has worked for him, the man has some muscle! But, remember how I said we should question everything? I know it seems we have a winning formula, 1) The Rock is hench 2) The Rock eats 7 meals a day. So put two and two together and we should all be eating 7 meals a day to get hench?

Too often it is acceptable to have an idea of why something works, and then use this to sell it without any testing or proof. There is no experiment that asserts validity. And thus many of the accepted truths in the nutrition and training field fall within this, and they persist due to habit. I think that is ludicrous, I think times are changing and I want to push this change. In reality you should provide proof that the idea is based on facts, and testing to ensure it works.

 

Trouble is it seems kinda logical to have many meals in the day if building muscle is our goal. And traditionally bodybuilders have been under a strict eat every 2-3 hours rule, to ensure constant supply of nutrients to our muscles. By eating more often you not only provide our muscles with fuel, you stoke the metabolic fire and avoid spikes in our blood sugar levels amongst other benefits. While that all sounds great, and on the surface I see the potential logic, but often the premise is flawed, lets look at each claim in further detail.

 

Yo Bro

“Eating more often spikes your metabolism”

 

OK so where does this claim come from, because every claim has a source. When we eat we do in fact increase our metabolism, through something called The Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). TEF equates to the energy burnt to digest the food, yup, we don’t ingest something and get 100% of the energy, some gets lost in digestion (around 10%). So the thought was by eating more often, we are stimulating more TEF, thus increasing our metabolism. Mini-meals ftw.

 

However, TEF is directly proportional to the amount you’re eating. This is where the above argument losing its standing. When two people consume identical diets, no matter how many meals they eat, the amount burnt in TEF is the same. So when diets are matched studies have shown no differences in expenditure between nibbling and gorging. It becomes another one of those situations where people miss the forest for the trees, because when you focus on the bigger picture, the entire diet over the long term, there is no difference.

Hang on, I heard if you skip breakfast you don’t ignite your metabolism, and if you don’t do that you’ll burn less. Intermittent fasting, in which you go through periods of typically 16 hours of no food has destroyed this argument. Our metabolism doesn’t operate that quickly, we do not impose some sort of starvation response by missing a meal.

 

Whether you eat 3 meals, 11 meals or Dwayne’s 7 meals, when diets are matched, there is no difference in metabolic rate. Any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of our body weight are mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation. Increasing the number of meals in hope of boosting your metabolic rate is a total waste of time.

 

But Bro

“What about your blood sugar, it’ll crash”

 

This claim again on surface seems very logical, that if we want to keep stable energy levels, we need to be grazing constantly. Feeding our bodies little and often, to keep a nice flow of energy coming in. Further to that, surely eating frequently means we avoid getting hungry too. Again, that all makes sense on the surface, so lets delve into it.

Contrary to the above, our bodies actually regulate our blood sugar levels incredibly well. You know what our bodies love? Homeostasis. Whether it’s our body fat, temperature or blood sugar levels, our body is extremely well adept at keeping them tightly bound to a strict range. Assuming you are perfectly healthy we don’t see our levels climb and sink like a crazy yoyo. In fact more recent studies done on younger fit and healthy subjects have shown them to have greater blood sugar control on 3 as opposed to 6 meals, go figure.

 

But Bro

“You’ll go catabolic if you don’t keep feeding your muscles protein”

 

So we know our blood sugar levels do just fine without frequent feeding, and it doesn’t magically jack up our metabolism. But surely if we want to maintain or grow muscle, and protein is the key to this, we need a constant supply of it. If we go for hours without, won’t our bodies start eating away at our hard earned muscle?

 

Right so the thinking is we are better off having say 30g of protein split into 6 meals as opposed to 60g split into 3 meals. Because, we want a constant supply of aminos to not lose muscle. This misses something quite important, and that is digestion speed. You eat more, it takes longer to digest. After a high protein meal amino acids are released slowly into your bloodstream. A typical meal takes 5-6 hours to get digested, so even if you are having 3 larger meals, you’re still digesting and using the last one!

 

The only time meal frequency shows to make any difference with this is when protein intake is inadequate. In cases where the person isn’t getting enough protein (1g per pound or so) a higher frequency of feedings can help spare lean body mass.

So the body does not trigger a hormonal cascade to signal starvation if it goes without food for hours, in fact it copes well with this. The only time a ‘starvation response’ really kicks in is after 3-4 days of very low calories.

 

But Bro

“Your body cannot digest loads of protein at once”

 

The thought is that our bodies can only digest a certain amount of grams of protein at once, the rest gets wasted. Thus we are better off eating smaller amounts more frequently. I mean it isn’t like we are masses of meat in one sitting in the past is it…oh wait. Therefore, lets look deeper into this.

 

So we know our ancestors were hunter gatherers, they went through times of feast and famine. They certainly had no problem eating a tonne of meat at once. When you eat more protein, it takes longer to digest and be used. That is about as complex as it gets. a standard meal is still being digested 5 hours later, that means amino acids are still being released into the bloodstream and absorbed by our muscles.

 

From E.M. Forster

“Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”

 

Just as the point Forster is making, stop abiding by so called ‘theories’ that people have repeated enough times so they become ‘facts’. If you allow others to give you orders, you do not learn, instead question everything and come to your own conclusions and #ReviveStronger

 

In part 2 I am going to look deeper into why eating frequently can actually be a bad thing for some, and then in the final part I will finish with some practical application. It isn’t as cut and dry as eat whenever you want…

 

Further Reading:

• Learn more about intermittant fasting: http://www.leangains.com/
• Lyle McDonald on meal timing and energy balance: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html/
• [NEW] The Coach & Client Connection Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82CHJbe00no
• [NEW] Blog Post for Physiqu Apparel: http://www.physiqapparel.com/blog/can-we-outwork-our-genetics/

How to [Eat Pizza Daily] & Stay Lean

Achieving Adaptability

The person who can eat anything they like, and often does, without any problems, can consume the most amazing food combinations without any issues.

This individual must have amazing metabolic health and adaptability. Everyone has this ability (bar those rare few with dietary misfortunes) to eat everything and anything, yet remain healthier than ever.

Achieving Amazing Metabolic Health

Your metabolism is a wonderful thing, it is incredibly adaptable and will change according to what it is given. It’s simply the total sum of energy burnt by our bodies. Whether it be brushing your teeth, digesting food, lifting weights or keeping you warm, all of these things add up to be your metabolism.
So how do we make our metabolisms amazing, so we can eat pizza daily? The most important thing you can do is to not restrict food intake needlessly. If you are constantly eating less than your body needs, your metabolism, being the adaptable bugger it is, will adjust downwards, meaning you will burn less total energy. So make sure to eat well, and by well I mean do not needlessly restrict intake.

Another simple addition to the above can be to move. It doesn’t need to be a load, but please avoid being sedentary for long periods of time. The largest component of our metabolic burn is our Non Exercise Activity Thermogensis or NEAT. This is the energy used for all movement outside of formal exercise, so it is the walking to the shops, cleaning our rooms and getting down in the bed room. That stuff really adds up! Stop laughing…

To take it a step further you can further ramp your metabolic rate up by implementing a few dietary changes. Protein out of all the macronutrients takes the most energy to be digested. So by changing the macro composition of our diet we can increase our metabolic rate. Also make sure you’re eating in a balanced way, that means not restricting any foods unnecessarily. Our body loves carbs, they provide the best fuel for us to perform exercise. You should be eating them if you want to get the most from your training.

And finally there is exercise, most people think that this has a dramatic impact on our total energy burn, but as I said previously NEAT is the biggest factor. However, it is an important aspect of having amazing metabolic health. I am going to start with the exercise to avoid, and that is slow, utterly boring, steady state cardio. That stuff really aint going to to do much for your metabolism. Our bodies will adapt to it in a jiffy, one month you might be burning 300 calories doing an incline walk for 30 minutes at 5mph, the next month you will definitely be burning less.

You want to be purposely increasing the intensity, volume and or distance of your chosen exercise. This way your body is continually adapting upwards, and you’ll be getting stronger and fitter. However, this is where the catch 22 comes in, now you’re fitter and stronger, that means you’ll burn less energy doing day to day activities. BUT, you can now perform at higher intensities, recover faster and handle more work all of which leads to burning more calories. Don’t over think it, do exercise, make sure to get outside of your comfort zone. 

So now you have the knowledge of how to get amazing metabolic health, how do you go about achieving amazing adaptability?

Amazing Adaptability

Remember how I said our bodies are incredibly adaptable? This can work against us, I am going to show you how. If you eat an all vegetable diet, you will adapt to that, if you eat an all meat diet, you’ll adapt to that. If you eat an all raw food diet, you will get sick if you consume cooked food. If you want to consume wonderful worldly combinations of any food and remain healthy, you need to adapt to the modern food environment and be able to handle pretty much anything.

Do you really want to feel like crap when you eat out, or go to a friends for dinner because you’re not eating your special diet food? On the other hand, do you want to get stomach ache when you eat any sort of vegetable, due to only being used to eating processed food? No of course not. You want to be healthy, and have it all.The number of people who can eat whatever they want without becoming fat or ill doesn’t need to be just a ‘lucky’ few.

How do we get to that point? It really is simple; be sure to eat a diet that is varied, that means it includes processed foods, high fibre foods, calorie dense foods, low GI carbs, high GI carbs, you get the picture.

Now You are an Adaptable Metabolic Animal

If you follow the above, you will have the digestive and metabolic machinery to annihilate anything. You want to do your best to feed yourself well, be active and eat a varied diet that consists of mainly wholesome nutritious foods but with the occasional meal out, bowl of ice cream and take away pizza.

Go eat some great food, get out of breath, enjoy life and #ReviveStronger

Further Reading:

• Body Fat set point – fact or fiction?
• 2 Rules to a getting a 6 pack
• Why we suck in the short term

The Fundamentals Make The Athlete

Back to basics

We all know those people who want to know the latest best exercise, or the new amazing supplement on the market. They are so focussed on the latest and greatest but have not taken the time to develop what matters most, and that is a strong foundation.

What makes up a strong base?

We all know that the best things in life are based of a few simple core principles. Apple products are great because they are so easy to use, this is the strong base they develop from. Costa produce some fantastic coffee variations and these all stem from top quality coffee beans. To be the best or to develop and grow you need a strong foundation to do it from. For the athlete this means perfect (or near to) technique on the main compound lifts, that’s squats, deadlifts and pressing varieties. It also requires a strong nutritional base, that’s your protein, carbs and fats, getting what you require by the end of the day, consistently. Developing these two aspects in the early stages of an athletes career pays massive dividends later on.

Stop looking for ‘training secrets’ & ‘magical supplements’
I know when I first started training I was far too concerned with the wrong things. Thinking if I took this shake and did this bicep tri-set routine I’d be cut and jacked in no time. I missed the bigger picture, and that was getting key basic principles correct. Any supplement or new training protocol is only ever going to be like the sprinkles on a cake. If you have a poor quality sponge, no matter how good those darn sprinkles are every bite will taste terrible. Just like no matter how good a supposed supplement or training method is meant to be, if you have poor technique on the main compounds or do not hit the your personal macro requirements by the end of the day, you will not see the results you desire. I know this first hand.

A coach can really help you get these aspects nailed, and keep you from straying too far from what matters. Not only do they keep you accountable for your nutrition, but if they are any good they know no matter how advanced you are as an athlete you can’t go wrong with a good squat, deadlift or pressing pattern. Making sure you are continually getting the basics right, each and every day.

‘Honey Monster Puffs’ The New Health Food?

‘Honey Monster Puffs’

The new ‘health’ food?

So Sugar Puffs are re-branding themselves to Honey Monster Puffs because sales have been driven down by the sugar scare that is currently rife. Not only that but they are changing the recipe of our beloved sugar puffs to contain 20% more honey and less added sugar.

So they will now contain 8.6g sugar per 30g serving, from the original 9.3g. Big whoop. Critics rightly pointed out that once broken down by the body, honey will do the same thing as the added sugar would have. Furthermore, there are worse offenders out there such as Coco Pops and Frosties which contain 11g of sugar per portion. Thus, we can clearly see the change is a marketing ploy, removing sugar from their brand name and assigning a ‘health halo’ by adding that the product contains honey, which is seen as natural and therefore good for you. This frustrates the hell out of me, and highlights how ignorant the consumer is and why education is still the only way to help people make wiser choices.

Education , Education, Education

People need to understand that when it comes to their diet what makes it healthy vs. unhealthy are not individual food choices, but the overall macronutrient and micronutrient contents of their entire diet. However, because the majority of the population do not understand this, they get mis-guided by companies, the news and word of mouth.

Governing Bodies are clueless
Companies are now required to put nutritional traffic lights on their products, assigning different colours to a choice of dietary aspects of the food. Typically calories, sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt.

I have a two big problems with this. One the colours are referring to a guideline daily amount, this is a generic and completely unindividualised figure. Just think, a athlete needs a load more calories and therefore fat than an office worker who is sedentary.

Second, they are focussing on some of the wrong things. I am fine with the calories and overall fat being put there, but sugar, saturated fat and salt? The governing bodies are focussing on the wrong things, they would be better off providing a macronutrient breakdown of the product i.e. fat, protein and carbohydrates.

Sugar at the end of the day is the final form of any carb, and we are not really helping by pin pointing just sugar. Why saturated fat is on there I really don’t know, as no one is sure how much we should really be getting, what we do know is we need a balance of each type of fat and that saturated fat is essential for healthy hormone function. Finally salt, this has been highlighted and vilified by the nutrition press recently, and in my view wrongly. It’s been known for over 20 years that people with high blood pressure who don’t want to lower their salt intake can consume more potassium-containing foods. It is the balance between the two minerals that matters. So if they do have salt on their, surely the potassium content should also be provided?

Confused Consumers

I feel bad for calling the general population ignorant, because I don’t think it is largely their fault. As shown above the government are focussing on the wrong things, and do not provide adequate education. So consumers only have the news, media and branding to base their choices off. And there is the problem, the news often tout complete bull, governing bodies focus on the wrong things and companies are concerned about their bottom line, not our health.

People need to educate themselves, but they need to use legit resources and question everything. This is good daily practice that can be used throughout life. Be open minded but skeptical, base your opinion on facts and if something sounds fishy, question it.

MyFitnessPal is screwing you over

How could it be screwing you over?

I love myfitnesspal, if you have me as a friend on it you know I have a streak of over 600 days (to add me snhall1990). That literally means I have logged into and tracked foods for 600+ days. That consistency with my macronutrient intake is what has gotten me results, along with following a solid exercise regime. However, there are ways in which using myfitnesspal could be your downfall, and I want to touch on these today.

1) Using their calorie calculators

Myfitnesspal has it’s own inbuilt calorie calculator, which is great, it gives you an idea of how many calories you need to maintain your weight. Key in that sentence is idea, these calculators are just estimates, you cannot guarantee these to be right, and I have seen them really mess people around, being out by 100s of calories. Say it was out by 200 calories a day, you were eating this much to sustain your weight, a 200kcal surplus each day is 1400 calories by the end of the week. After a month that’s an extra 5600kcal for the month, which is 67200kcals extra for the year, which could lead to over 15lbs of unwanted fat gain.

I am certainly not against calorie calculators, but they must be used with caution. If you do use them, then make sure to keep an eye on your scale weight, and how you are looking, then adjust from there.

2) Applying a macronutrient Ratio to your diet
I HATE ratios, people asking whether a 40/40/20 split is superior to a 60/20/20 split etc. The problem is that these are extremely unspecific and not individualised. Everyone has a given amount of protein that they can successfully utilise, a general rule of thumb is 1g per lb. Next up is fat, it’s great, full of nutrients and makes food taste awesome, but again past our EFAs and getting a good mix of them all there is an upper limit of how much we want. Carbohydrates have the biggest individual variability, because they are our bodies ideal energy source, and therefore the amount we need is dictated by our personal energy expenditure.

Lets take a 40/40/20 split of carbs, protein and fat and apply that to two people weighing 180lbs, one who needs 2000 calories and another who needs 3000 calories. The 2000 calorie individual will consume 200g of protein and carbohydrates with 44g for fat. The other would get 300g of protein and carbs with 67g for fat. Now you can see both are getting too much protein, and for the person consuming 3000 calories it is getting really excessive. Blanket ratios are not specific at all, and are by all means useless and a waste of time. Every macronutrient serves it’s own purpose and each person requires different amounts of each.

3) Silly sugar recommendations
If you have a decent intake of fruit you will notice that you go over your sugar recommendations every single day. There is nothing wrong with sugar, especially that which is naturally occurring in foods, such as in fruit. I hate to think that people reduce their fruit intake because they feel they need to get below a recommendation made by myfitnesspal. If anything they could have an added sugar recommendation, but even then I think it’s best ignored.

4) Incorrect food entries
This is really frustrating, because on myfitnesspal anyone can enter the data for foods. So you could end up with the wrong numbers through human error. Furthermore, sometimes when you scan an item the numbers fed back are off. If you are not careful this could really mess with your totals by the end of the day. I have had it where someone didn’t bother entering the protein on items, and then over-consuming on protein to hit my totals. Doing this rarely is fine, but if it is done with any consistency it could really throw you and if you are in contest prep it could be really important to be as accurate as possible.

These are just some of the things to be aware of when using myfitnesspal. Nothing is perfect and myfitnesspal is actually a really really great thing. So don’t delete the app and ruin your streak, but be aware of the above, because it could be ruining your progress.

Not sure where to start with your macronutrients? Need someone to take away the guess work to allow you to start using myfitnesspal and eating a diet you love and getting results you want? Be sure to check out my online coaching services, you can see a few of my clients who have had terrific results here.

Why diet plans SUCK

Meal 1 – 50g Oats, 300ml Skimmed Milk…

I hate diet plans, they are restrictive, boring, ineffective and problematic long term. Yet people love them, I get emails from people asking for ‘Diet Plans’ that outline specific times and foods to eat. I understand, it makes life simple and easy, you just look at what’s on the menu and eat it up and get the results you wanted…well simple and easy might be right but results? Maybe initially but in the long term a ‘Diet Plan’ is planning for failure. Here’s why…So your nutrition coach gives you your diet plan, it lists out Meals 1 through 6, giving you the exact foods, weights and timings to eat everyday. Brilliant, you go out to the supermarket, pick up all your grub and you’re set on your path to the body you want. Right? I mean all you have to do is follow this plan, day by day, week by week, eating specific foods, at specific times and you will be onto a winner. Chicken, Oats, Broccoli every single day, at 1pm…

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with any of the foods named above, heck they’re great and could be incorporated into your diet. But everyday, the same foods? Don’t you think you might get bored? Might a social event pop up that requires you to eat something off the menu? Maybe your busy at work at a time you’re meant to eat? Now we are starting to see the beginning of just a few of the problems with meal plans.

The Western World doesn’t actually have a problem losing weight, yes there is an obesity epidemic but we are actually great at shedding that weight. The problem we have is keeping it off, as studies show more often than not, people put the pounds back on, and more. So why can’t we keep that weight off? Well it’s because our diets do not allow for sustainability. We get bored, a social event comes up, and we give that diet up and go back to our usual habits. The typical yoyo dieter you know the ones.

That’s why diet plans SUCK, they are not sustainable. Further to that they are actually unhealthy. They encourage binge eating, being unsocial, putting certain foods on a pedestal and encourage a limited diet that can lead to micronutrient deficiencies. You also gain no knowledge or education about foods, what they contain and the impact they have on your body. All you know is that the ones on the menu get you results, at least in the short term.

So what’s the solution? We need a diet that is sustainable we know that much, and to be sustainable it needs to allow for social occasions, cravings and a varied food choice. That sounds like a kinda, flexible diet, one that gives you control over your food, so eating becomes a lifestyle, not a chore. But, how do we keep this churning out results? Surely I am not saying we can eat out, and any foods we want and still lose fat? Ah and that is where the education comes in, you need to be aware of the macronutrients the foods you are consuming are giving you, how many of those each food provides and how much you need as an individual. Man, that sounds like a lot of work? Well with a little graft at the start, tracking your macro nutrition on a mobile app such as myfitnesspal and eventually it’ll become a habit, one you can sustain for long enough to see results.

By tracking your macronutrition intake for a period of time, you get an understanding about what foods contain and how much you need. This can then allow you in future to flex, and so you can eat out, you can eye ball foods instead of weighing them every time. You have the power over food, you know you how much you can eat.

I have written two articles on this topic, that I think are really great for getting started with a sustainable, liveable and enjoyable diet. Part 1 can be accessed HERE and Part 2 (practical application) HERE. Further to that, I provide online coaching and have got tremendous results with my clients using this flexible dieting approach, their results can be found HERE.

Lyle Mcdonald: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com

Other Approaches to Macro/Calorie Counting

I want to introduce you to Scott Edmed, currently working for the RAF with a passion for everything fitness and health. In great shape himself and he has a terrific outlook on nutrition. Here Scott shares some approaches that you may want to try if you do not feel ready or so inclined to count your macros or calories. Without further ado…

Let me first start by saying when ever I mention counting calories I refer to counting calories along with macronutrients.

Gaining weight is a matter of consuming excess calories while losing weight is a matter of consuming less calories than you are burning.

So what are macronutrients?

Macronutrients or macros are nutrients that provide calories. These are the nutrients that are needed for our body to function. There are three macronutrients, carbohydrate, protein and fat and whilst each of these macronutrients provides calories, the amount of calories that each one provides varies. Carbs and protein provide 4 cal/gram while fat provides 9 cal/gram.

This means that if you looked at the nutrition facts label on a product and it said 20 grams of carbs, 1 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein per serving, you would know that this food has 109 calories per serving.

I choose to count my macronutrients (pro, carbs, fats) but for some this can be hard, boring and frustrating. Managing macros is essential to maintain, lose or gain weight, but counting them is not always necessary. Nor does calorie counting help us balance our goals with our natural enjoyment of food. In a lot of cases people have lost weight without counting.

How do you know if counting calories and macros is for you? Give it ago and see how you cope.

Someone completely new to health and fitness does not need to, and should not start counting calories from the start, they just need to make small changes to their current routine and lifestyle to make progress, to lose weight.

Here are some approaches to use to help you control your calories without counting calories –

1. Eat more veggies

Vegetables contain fibre resulting in them being filling. It has been shown in research that added veg, to a calorie deficient diet, correlated with improved weight and fat loss. (1) Add to that all the micronutrients they contain for the very few calories and veggies are one of the most important sources of calories. Try and make sure that half of your plate is covered with colourful veggies and you should reduce the number of calories you eat .

2. Eat more lean protein

Again, simple and obvious but extremely effective. Protein has a powerful satiating effect, along with a high thermic effect, the amount of calories required by the body to break down a given a food. Eating more protein and vegetables can help you control your calories, as this has been shown to lead to restricting calories due to the satiety caused by increased protein and fibre from veg. (2) Protein also stimulates protein synthesis and creates an environment for the increase muscle mass. The more muscle you carry, the higher your metabolism and the better you look. 

3. Portion control

For example your portion of protein could be equal to the palm of your hand. A portion of carbs will be equal to the size of your clenched fist, and a portion of fat will be equal to the tip of your thumb, and for nuts you can choose a handful. These are all great ideas from Precision Nutrition. (http://www.precisionnutrition.com/calorie-control-guide) You can then control the number of portions of protein, carbs and fats you have a day dependent on you bodyweight. For example; 10 portions of protein, 4 portions of fat and 5 portions of carbs. This can then be altered depending on body assessments and progress. The method is great as no calculator is needed.

5. Eat slowly

It takes time for the body to register the fullness and after a while it signals satisfaction. If you eat slowly you stand more chance of consuming less calories.

6. Drink More Water

Drinking more water can make you fill fuller, leading to you consuming less calories. Also sometimes you can think you are hungry but you are really only thirst or bored. So drinking water can be the answer.

7. Following a Meal Plan

Following a step by step guide can be beneficial for some, but this will only work if the client has been taken into consideration when it was designed by the nutritionist. This means the clients preferences, lifestyle, tolerances, goals and knowledge were all tailored for. It is also important to have similar food and meals that can be swapped in and out depending on what the client wants to eat that day, as following the same plan day in day out is boring, not sustainable and not teaching the client anything about food choices and calories. You do not want to be following a meal plan for the whole of your life so education is key with this approach.

Other approaches range from using smaller plates, removing carbs from 1 or 2 meals per day, keeping stress to a minimum and getting adequate sleep and hydration or removing cooking oils from your kitchen. These will all help control you calories.

Are these ways optimal for fat loss, maintenance or muscle growth?

No of course not as they are not as accurate, as actually counting macronutrients and hitting the numbers but counting calories isn’t for everyone!

Always look to adopt healthy habits first and foremost before macronutrient counting as it can be a big step for some, not saying its too big for everyone, but it can be hard when starting off and lead to problems, even OCD and eating disorders. Instead of trying to adopt a brand new routine and turn your life around all in one week, make a plan to implement small, new, sustainable lifestyle habits. For example drinking more water, getting out for a walk or workout once per week, or eating 2 pieces of fruits per day. Small steps that won’t disrupt your current routine too much will be easier to implement and stick with in the long run. Once the first step becomes a habit, start a second one.

So find what works best for YOU and always ask yourself, ‘can I see myself eating like this 2 months or a year down the line?’ if you can then great. If not then you need to find an eating routine which is sustainable and enjoyable for YOU! We do not want a diet that only lasts 10-12 weeks, we want enjoyable healthy lifestyle changes. Then once you are ready, try keeping a food diary for a week or two to work out your exact calories and macronutrient breakdown you have been consuming, and adjusting based on goals and progress with the help of a professional.

You can follow Scott here:

– www.facebook.com/ScottEdmed.PhysiqueAthlete

References –

1. L D Whigham¹, A R Valentine², L K Johnson³, Z Zhang², R L Atkinson⁴ and S A Tanumihardjo^{2 .} Increased vegetable and fruit consumption during weight loss effort correlates with increased weight and fat loss. Citation: Nutrition and Diabetes (2012) 2, e48.

2. David S Weigle, Patricia A Breen, Colleen C Matthys, Holly S Callahan, Kaatje E Meeuws, Verna R Burden, and Jonathan Q Purnell. A high-protein diet induces sustained reductions in appetite, ad libitum caloric intake, and body weight despite compensatory changes in diurnal plasma leptin and ghrelin concentrations. Am J Clin Nutr July 2005 vol. 82 no. 1 41-48.

Your ‘Macro’ Budget

What’s your discretionary spend?

IIFYM ‘if it fits your macros’ or if you prefer Flexible Dieting gets a bad name because people wrongly believe it means all you eat is junk, because it fits your macros. However, this is totally false and is frustrating to hear. This weeks newsletter is inspired by Layne Norton, who recently did a podcast looking at clean eating vs. IIFYM which can be found here.

Essentially what IIFYM is founded upon is the fact if micro nutrition needs are met then no matter what foods you eat, so long as the total macronutrients are identical the resulting impact on your physique will be the same (all other things being equal of course). This means you eat your veggies, your healthy fats and fibrous foods but can do this while enjoying things like ice cream and pizza.This is where I would like to introduce the concept of the macro budget, just like a financial budget; you have a currency (your macros) and can spend it on products (food intake). The more you currency you earn the more things you can buy and enjoy.

So for example, you’re a banker who earns a six figure salary, you can afford to go on some lavish holidays, however if you’re a student you can barely afford to go on nights out. Much in the same way as you can earn more money to spend on luxuries, people earn different macronutrient budgets that they can spend on food intake.  For example, a small male office worker who exercises once a week earns a very small budget, and therefore cannot afford to eat an entire pizza to himself. Whereas a large male who is a personal trainer and works out five times a week, earns a much larger macro budget, and therefore can afford to have pizza and ice cream if he wants.Just like the banker who can pay off all his bills, puts food on the table and clothes on his back while still having enough money to go on holiday, the highly active male has a large enough macro spend to get in all his essential micronutrients and eat ice cream. Whereas this is not the case for the non earning student and inactive small male, who cannot afford to spend their earnings frivolously.

If the student or inactive male did decide to buy what they just cannot afford they would see negative consequences. The inactive male would start to gain unwanted fat and the student would go into debt. You see everyone has a budget that they must work within, not everyone can afford to do the same. If the student wanted to go on holiday they would have to get a job on the side and save, just as the inactive male if he wanted to eat pizza, he would have to get more active.

So as you can see, we all have different macro budgets. This is dictated by how much we earn, essentially this is our metabolism. The greater our metabolism the greater our potential discretionary spend, which means more goodies can be enjoyed. The less energy we burn, the lower our metabolism and therefore the less macros we have to spend, meaning fewer goodies.Our earnings can change, if we get more active, lose weight, or build muscle. Again just like if you get a promotion or get fired and earn more or less money, you can earn more or less macros. For example, at the start of my contest prep I was consuming over 3500 calories. I was eating all sorts of goodies. However, now I am down to under 2000 calories, and most days eat mainly vegetables, lean meats, eggs and protein powder, very few goodies. This is because my earnings went down, as my weight fell my metabolism dropped (in very simple terms).

IIFYM or flexible dieting is not about fitting in as much processed rubbish as you can into your diet. It is about ensuring micro and macro nutritional needs are met. It is about being inclusive of foods not exclusive. It teaches us that we are all different and some of us can afford to eat more goodies than others. However, empowers us to know we can change our macro budget. So next time you’re sitting down to eat a big bowl of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce, think ‘does my macro budget allow for this’ and likewise, if you’re struggling to get in enough carbs to maintain your weight, think ‘do I need another bowl of oats or will a poptart make me less bloated and serve my macro goals?’. It isn’t about what’s better or worse, it is about whether or not it suits the individual in question.

Flexible Dieting – You’re Missing the Point

You’re Missing the Point

So recently I made a video on my YouTube channel regarding flexible dieting, and how people aren’t understanding it correctly, which can be found HERE. Some of you may not have heard of flexible dieting, and here is Lyle McDonald’s definition from his book ‘A Guide to Flexible Dieting’:

‘The basic idea of flexible dieting is that you aren’t expecting absolute perfection and strictness in your dieting behaviour. Rather, small (or even larger) lapses from your diet simply aren’t any big deal in the big scheme of things.’

Now flexible dieting and something called If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) have merged into one, to bring out what I think is the best way to diet. Due to this convergence, let me re-define flexible dieting:

‘Flexible dieting is about having an understanding that everyone is different in terms of their dietary needs and requirements, depending on goal, activity & age amongst other things. It is inclusive of all foods and allows the individual to enjoy a wide varied diet, that is based around whole foods. The approach is prefaced on being stress free, allowing the individual to fit nutrition into their life.’

So what does this mean in practical terms? Using me as an example, I have a protein, carbohydrate and fat range that I aim to hit each day, not an individual number. I pick and choose the foods that allow me to land within that range based on preference, quality and availability. Typically ensuring that 80% of my choices are unprocessed whole foods, allowing me the flexibility to choose some discretionary items. I do not put any foods on a pedestal, I understand that the body just see’s nutrients and as long as I ensure I meet my micronutrient needs, all things being equal the impact on my body composition will be the same.

That means I can go out for meals with friends and family, enjoying the food with everyone else, but accounting for it. Furthermore, it allows me to travel and enjoy the food cultures that exist around the world. All this while heading towards my fitness, performance and aesthetic goals. I am accountable to what goes in my mouth, and I understand it’s impact and do not stress or worry about eating certain things.

What Flexible Dieting/IIFYM isn’t

Flexible dieting is not an excuse to fit as much ‘junk’ food within your macronutrient guidelines. It isn’t about the fact you can eat what you like and so long as the total macronutrients are the same your body will look the same.

What Flexible Dieting/IIFYM is

• Inclusive
• Social
• Evidence Based
• Enjoyable
• Results based
• Sustainable

The above bullet points are why I love flexible dieting, it allows me to smash my goals and live my life under my terms, not under some ridiculous rules based on nothing but hearsay. All my clients follow flexible dieting, and they love it too, join us 🙂