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/

[High Protein] Almond Butter [Fudge]

When I was a kid I absolutely LOVED fudge.

Unfortunately, fudge isn’t the most macro friendly treat out there. Sure it’s fine to have as a treat every now and then, and could be enjoyed regularly within flexible dieting. However the macros on Fudge, when cutting, would take some severe flexibility to fit into your macro budget for the day. I tend to just avoid it all together when I’m cutting!

So I got my muscle chef hat on and came up with this.

An almond butter, high protein, white chocolate & raspberry home made fudge. Almond butter you hear me say…

Oh yeah… I’m kind of a peanut butter addict. Infact any kind of nut butter or sweet spread I enjoy. I’m a bit obsessed I started hoarding them, building a stash, and compiled a nut butter review series (only a peanut butter addict would understand).

So to be able to combine some almond butter, white chocolate, fruit, protein aaaaaand make a fudge out of it? Winner!

Ingredients

• 50g of Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (any flavour is fine, but make it whey)
• 100g Natural Smooth Almond Butter (any nut butter will do)
• 150ml-200ml Almond Milk (or any milk you like)
• 15g White Chocolate Chips & 34g Dried Raspberries (to your taste/macro budget)

The Process

1 – Add your whey protein & almond butter into a mixing bowl, combine.

2 – Slowly add your almond milk, and continue to mix.

3 – Add your white chocolate & raspberries to the “mixture” and thoroughly stir in.

4 – Place the mixture onto some greese proof paper, placed onto a tray.

5 – Leave it to set in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.

6 – Cut & Serve

Macronutrient Breakdown 

Per 1/6th: 10g Protein 10g Carbs 12g Fat – 190kcal

Notes about this recipe

This is such a versatile recipe, that can be experimented & tinkered with to get any number of flavours, and combinations. Here are some of my recommendations;

Different Flavoured Protein Powder

Change up the entire flavour of the fudge by changing up your protein powder. The vanilla is a good “starting point” however, you can create some really indulgent chocolate flavoured ones if you were to use chocolate flavoured protein powder.

Another suggestion I would make is to add 2 different flavours of protein powder to get a nice blend in the base flavour of the fudge.

Different Nut Butters

I prefer smooth fudge, however I know some people love it with nuts in. Swapping your smooth nut butter for a crunchy version will cover your crunchy desires.

By using a high protein nut butter, you can boost the protein content of the fudge, without having to add more protein powder and thus spoiling the consistency and ratio of the recipe.

Melting

Only remove from the fridge when you’re ready to eat. The gloopy consistency of the nut butter will quickly start to melt on your fingers and go claggy.

About Adam Foster

Adam Foster is an aspiring bodybuilder, wanna-be Gordon Ramsay and all round geek. If he’s not curling in the squat rack, or watching 90’s cartoons, he can be found publishing recipes & supplement reviews on his website http://www.cheapproteindiscountcodes.co.uk or uploading videos over at his Shreddybrek Youtube Channel http://www.youtube.com/shreddybrek

Follow Adam over on social at

• http://www.facebook.com/shreddybreklol
• http://www.twitter.com/shreddybrekgym
• http://www.instagram.co.uk/shreddybrekgym

‘Macro Friendly’ Protein Brownies

This is another one of those ‘I bloody love that food, but it just doesn’t really fit in my diet’ recipes. I aint gonna lie, brownies are amazing, sugar, butter, chocolate, all the chocolate, they’re delicious, soft, gooey. Just yum. But one little brownie can set you back 300 calories and normally 15g of fat and minimal protein or micronutrition. So this is one of those recipes, where obviously it isn’t as good as the real thing, but it isn’t bad either, and it is full of goodness.

What you’ll need:

• 100ml Skimmed Milk (any liquid would do)
• 20g Protein Powder (I recommend a whey or mixed protein)
• 240g black beans (any bean will work)
• 30g Philidelphia Lightest (optional)
• 45g Flour (can be reduced)
• 1 Medium Egg (can be switched to egg whites)
• 5g Cocoa Powder (optional)
• 4g Baking Powder
• Sweetener of your choosing
• Additional goodies e.g. oreos, chocolate chunks, kitkat (optional but a no brainer)

How To Do It:

1. Add all the ingredients to a blender and BUZZ.
2. Add all ingredients to a lined baking tray.
3. Cook in a 200 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.
4. Take it out and delve a knife into the middle of it, if it comes out pretty much clean, you’re good to go.
5. Leave to cool.

What You’re Getting From It:

• A massive brownie.
• 42g Protein, 55g Carbohydrates, 14g Fat (18g Fibre) – 532Kcal (without additional goodies)
• Eggs ‘natures multivitamin’ containing antioxidants helping protect our eyes, choline a powerful nutrient for brain function and a high quality amino profile.
• Beans one of the best natural sources of fibre on the planet. I recommend everyone gets a minimum of 25g of fibre, and in general 10% of their total carb intake (eating 300g of carbs, get in 30g of fibre minimum).

If you liked this you will want to check out the following:

• 5 Ingredient Protein Pancakes
• 5 Steps to Ramp Up your metabolism (so you can eat more!)
• The Perfect Diet
• 5 Minute Protein Cake
• Joghurt – 2 ingredient mega volume protein jelly

If you enjoyed this or any of the above please share the love!

‘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.

My First Natural Bodybuilding Show

Highlights, thoughts and feelings

First off I apologise for the lack of a newsletter last week, those of you who follow me on the social media know I competed in my First Natural Bodybuilding show. This was through the NPA and was the South East Championships. As I said it was my first show, I actually never planned to do it but I am so glad I did, because I learnt LOADS!

The Game Plan

1. Shave body hair and apply tan, to best show off muscle detail.
2. Eat/drink enough to achieve fullness but so not to ‘spill over’ and look less defined, and maintain this look.
3. Ensure to come under the upper cut off limit for the lightweight novices weigh in.
4. Pose to best demonstrate symmetry, size and definition to the judges.

The above is the basic elements to what I was trying to achieve on the day, essentially to best represent my physique to the judges and meet their criteria. However, being my first show, not everything went to plan, so let me take you through the reality.

The Reality

1. So I had been shaving my body hair for the past month. I thought that was fine. However, for some reason I didn’t consider my underarm or forearm hair. This counted against me and the judges picked up on it. Lesson learnt, get rid of ALL body hair (facial hair is OK). Second, my tan, this was a bit less certain, the night before my girlfriend kindly applied a layer of pro tan. The next day you’re advised to shower it off, I did so and it looked very weak. So we did another layer, this was an error as the showering off process is very important to its proper application. Back stage we had the finisher by pro tan, and were applying this, it wasn’t going on so well due to adding the extra layer of tan in the morning. But we felt we had gotten a dark enough tan, and from some pictures you’d think we did. However, we were wrong, I looked washed out on stage. The lights were VERY bright. The judges commented that it looked like I didn’t have a tan, and looked washed out. Again, counting against me. They stated that I may well have placed higher if I had amended the above two points. Yes I am very disappointed in myself, but I will not make these errors again!
2. My coach had provided some guideline macros and meal timings to eat. These were quite wide and he said it would really depend on how I was responding on the day. But I have been dieting for over 30 weeks, tracking my macros with precision. So I definitely have a pre-occupation with hitting numbers and so was too focussed on tracking then I was on the impact on my body. This led me to not achieve a pump or fill out, I was flat and didn’t look my best. 
3. This one was hit. Weighed in after my breakfast well below the cut off and then just sipped on water till the final weigh in. It was at 11am, so obviously you had to be careful about how much you consumed beforehand. However, I expected digital scales, but they had old fashioned ones, and so I question the degree of accuracy.
4. I have been practicing my posing each week for months. However, not spending much time on it and when into the final months you’re pretty exhausted all the time. So my willingness to practice was very low, plus I personally don’t have any good areas in my home to pose. So looking back, I would practice more early on, and then make it a habit to pose every single week, and film it. However, my posing on the day was OK, but I didn’t angle myself to the judges. This was key error on my part, and you will notice it in the videos (youtube link below), it makes a massive difference. Also I held my legs too close on some poses, purposefully done, but looking back, it was an error, making the sought for X frame hard to come by.

So there you have it, I messed up a little. However, learnt a great deal and the mistakes made are pretty easy to fix and work on. It wasn’t like I was told I was top heavy, or wasn’t lean enough. So it was a very positive experience. My main show is now in 2 weeks time, below is what I am going to do to improve upon my performance and do myself justice :).

Actions

1. In comes Veet, to rid the under arm and forearm hair! And to get a perfect tan I have booked a professional tan on the day, it was expensive, but I think worth the investment. I will not get these two things wrong!
2. Stop being such an obsessive tracker. I do not need to be precise with macros on the day, I just need to eat carbs and fats to achieve the look I desire. Pizza post weigh in and plenty of food, that is not tracked, only tracked by how I am looking.
3. So for this show the cut off is even lower, so since my first show I am continuing to lose weight. I have been consistently under 75kg for the past few weeks, but of course weigh in is not first thing, so I need some leeway.
4. Continue to practice my posing up until the show and be sure to angle myself towards the judges during the competition.

Overall the show was an AMAZING experience. People there to show off their hard work and share their journeys with one another. Some had lost huge amounts of weight to be there, and that in itself is commendable. I won’t lie, it was stressful, and I am a stressful person, so that didn’t help.

For my next show I am going to almost sit back, relax and just do my best, no point stressing because overall it is just about getting on the stage and enjoying myself. For me the journey getting here has been the reward, trophies or placings are nice, but mean little in reality. I have learnt SO much getting to such low bodyfat levels, and will use this not only to help others but it has given me confidence that I can achieve anything.

I vlogged the whole thing, to check it out visit HERE.

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.

Losing Fat is Hard – Part 2

How to get past the hurdles

Last time we touched on why losing fat is hard, and now we are going to delve into each of these hurdles. I am going to give you some tips and tricks on how I approached these and got over them. Fat loss is hard, getting into single digit body fat is even harder, but the same principles apply, just I have had to find every trick in the book.

So what’s so hard?

Making sure you’re in a calorie deficit.

How do you know you’re in a calorie deficit? You first have to estimate how many calories you burn, there are various calculations that can be performed for this one you might want to try can be found here. Once there you need to create a deficit by moving more and eating less. Now you should be in a deficit you need to track your progress to make sure you actually are. This means taking weight measurements, I recommend you take these at least 4 times a week first thing, and take the average for the week. A loss of 1% of total bodyweight is a healthy and quite sustainable rate for most. If your losing much more or less, you need to adjust your calorie intake or output. For women you might also need to take weekly photos and focus on monthly weight changes instead of daily or weekly, due to the hormonal differences between the sexes.

When fat loss stalls, what to do?

So you will come to a point where the fat just won’t budge anymore, this is when you need to either reduce the amount you’re eating again or increase your output. What you decide to do is very much individual, and down to many aspects. Yet the key is to get into a deficit again. I will note however that dropping 25g of carbs each day would account to 100kcal a day and 700kcal a week. Think how long it would take to do 700kcal vs. dropping a slice of bread out of your diet a day, one seems much easier. However, when food intake gets low the idea of doing 700kcal of cardio gets more appealing. There is a careful balance to be made.

When are refeeds/diet breaks appropriate?

The only people who should be having a refeed are those who are lean. If you are pushing above 15% body fat as a male or 25% as a female you don’t really have a need for a refeed. However, diet breaks may be necessary for anyone, because these have many purposes over and above reducing the negative impacts on your metabolism. A general rule is for every 12 weeks of dieting you take a break. A catch all approach would be to eat at maintenance for a period of 2 weeks. This can vary depending on body fat levels, hormonal responsiveness and psychological factors.

When social occasions arise, what to do?

Plan plan plan. This is my main tip. Diets should be permissive, not restrictive. However, this means you need to plan occasions in. So if you know you are going out later for a meal with family, put it in your food diary early and adjust round it earlier in the day. If you find it hard to avoid treats available at work, make sure you have your own snacks on hand, that fit within your diet. Whatever you do, don’t stress out, if you do slip up, just make sure to get back on track.

Keeping motivated for training.

Getting weaker is no fun, feeling tired is no fun. I know what this is like and training gets tough. What you must do is focus on the process, know you are lifting at your best, and take you eye off the number of kgs pressed and focus on doing your best. The key is to get the work done, performance losses are inevitable and stressing about them doesn’t help the situation.

Find foods that keep you satiated.

This was an interesting one for me, high volume foods seemed to do the trick for a very long time. Such as going for veggies, slow cooking your oats and eating things such as puffed wheat. Great choices are butternut squash, mushrooms, cucumber, leafy vegetables, puffed wheat, beans, lentils, salsa, american mustard, egg whites, courgettes and many more. Yet the point will come where nothing fills the hole. I also found I was bloated a lot of the time, but still hungry, and this wasn’t good for my training and wasn’t comfortable. So I made a switch to starchier carbs, and focussed on making meals and enjoying my foods. Tricking yourself into thinking your eating more is also useful, using smaller bowls, plates, and cutlery. I like to stuff my smaller bowls and eat with a tea spoon, this makes it look like more food and it takes me longer to eat.

Cravings, making you want to break your diet.

This is where flexible dieting really helped me. No foods were off limits, but the amounts were, I have to account for everything. However, so long as I account for what I eat and adjust my other choices round it, I could pretty much eat anything I wanted. That was a major plus. However, sometimes there are things we just cannot fit into our diets. So good ways round it is to make homemade varieties, such as using low calorie wraps for pizza bases, and switching to low fat cheeses. You can also make great tasting protein pancakes and cakes themselves. Something else that helped me was chewing gum, coffee and diet sodas, these gave me a sweet kick and curbed hunger for a period of time.

Low energy levels.

This is almost unavoidable, you have to accept it. However, small things can go a long way. Such as caffeine, energy drinks and coffee have been very handy indeed. However, don’t abuse these as we do get de-sensitized to caffeines effects. I personally restrict myself to 3 larger caffeine servings a day. This is normally 3 Americano’s, I could easily drink more but I know more would lead to more, so having a limit is a good idea. Another thing that helped me in times of low energy was sugar free gum, the flavour it provided kinda hyped up my brain, sounds odd but there is some research showing that flavours can actually help with energy levels. Furthermore, having some good music can really help.

When it comes to getting through long cardio sessions, having a distraction is great. I could get through 500kcal of low intensity cardio easily if I had someone to talk to. If there isn’t anyone around, and for the most part there wasn’t for me, then podcasts are a good alternative.I hope some of my experiences and tips help you in your fat loss pursuits!