In my last blog post I talked about adjusting mindset towards food. It is time for a shift in thinking about "dieting". Here are several things that you must realize:
1) In order to lose body fat you MUST eat in a caloric deficit
2) The goal of your "diet" should be to eat as much as possible while maintaining a deficit
3) The QUALITY of your calories is just as important as how many calories you are eating.
4) It's time to stop listening to popular media and uneducated trainers who throw out arbitrary calorie counts.
Just a Review....
Read these words carefully: It is okay for you to EAT.
This may take some getting used to, but feel good about eating! EAT!
I remember when I first started with my coach, she increased my food significantly. At first I thought “what is up with all this eating. I’m going to get fat” but I hired her because I knew she got results. That first cycle I lost 2 pounds. As i told her in that first update, I knew that I was under eating but I needed someone to tell me that and to let me know it was okay to eat.
I was scared to eat too much because I worried I would get fat. When I meet with some clients and tell them I need them to increase their food, they look at me as if I were nuts and then they look at me even crazier when I tell them that they don’t have to run to lose fat or they don't need to do endless amounts of cardio. When they follow that advice, appetites start raging, metabolism begins firing back up, inches are lost, and the scale begins to move.
About Calorie Counting....
I’m not a big fan of calorie counting because some studies state that calorie counts on some food labels are off by as much as 20%. Besides that I think it sets people up to become obsessive and also leads to people not making good choices because we get the following scenario:
This banana has 140 calories but this package of Oreos has 100 calories….so because I want to stay under this amount of calories I’m going to go for the Oreos. No thought to nutrient value...just calories.
Now we DO need to know how many calories we are ingesting on daily basis in order to make more efficient changes to nutritional programs so I recommend keeping a food journal in My Fitness Pal for about 3 days to see how many calories you are ingesting on a day to day basis. I’ve had people complete this exercise and find they are eating 1000 calories per day. No good.
Caloric Deficit
In order to lose body fat you MUST eat in a caloric deficit. There is no way around it so you need to know how many calories you are currently ingesting, and then begin to make changes from there.
How Many Calories should you be eating?
This is a tricky question because everyone is SO different and reacts differently to foods so my action plan for clients is this:
1. Keep a Food Log for 3-5 days: Note time, and how you feel afterwards, I also think it’s important to write down when you feel hungry so that you can begin to plan your meals more effectively.
2. Put the foods in my fitness pal: Look at your macro nutrient intake. What is your percentage of Fat, Protein, and Carbs? Your macro nutrient ratios will depend on your goals.
3. This is where the individuality of the programs come in. When someone comes to me wanting to lose fat, I like to start with one meal at a time so they aren’t overwhelmed and learn that change is a process and not an event.
Most people are not ready to get to the point where they are able to follow a structured meal plan. It's a big win if they begin to eat more fruits, vegetables, and stop drinking so much.
Application
1) Keep a Food Journal for 3-5 days
I recommend My Fitness Pal because they make life so much easier. You can even use the bar code to scan foods. From there, you can see how many calories you are currently taking in and then begin to make changes from there.
2) Change one meal at a time:
Add foods in slowly - People who are chronically under eating should not increase food drastically because psychologically it will take time to get used to. I always think it’s best to add food in one meal at a time.
Most people need to improve breakfast and lunch. If those two meals are taken care of, then you are less likely to eat the whole cupboard when you get home.
Breakfast is a great meal to make over because it sets the tone for the rest of the day. I’m an advocate of front loading the day with carbohydrates because it stabilizes blood sugar to prevent extreme highs and lows, gives you energy for your day, and studies have shown that people who eat a solid breakfast make better food choices for the rest of the day.
If you’re going to eat salad for lunch, then add some oomph to it. Add some good fats like avocado or nuts. If you’re not a vegetarian, then add in some protein. Eating sad salads that hold you for 10 minutes is counterproductive.
In my last post, I cited a study done by Dr. Layne Norton who is an expert on metabolic adaptation where they concluded that protein intake and resistance training are imperative to fat loss for athletes, but I believe those principles hold true for general population clients as well.
3) Stop reading magazines and listening to trainers who give out arbitrary numbers for caloric intake
Such and such actress eats this per day and that's how she manages to stay a size 2. Listen, most of that Hollywood stuff is FAKE. People are either genetically designed to be that small or they do things that people should NOT do in order to maintain that type of weight. Remember it is their JOB to look that way and we don't REALLY know what they are doing to achieve that look.
As someone who was training for a competition, I will tell you that diet was not sustainable long term. After my competition was over, I would have had my calories increased slowly with what is termed a reverse diet.
Run far away from any trainer who tells you that in order to lose weight you need to eat 1000-1200 calories a day. This is the number I hear most often from those who give this advice. 1200 calories a day is not some magic number for fat loss. Will you lose weight if you go down to 1200 calories per day? Yes, but you most likely will not just lose body fat, you will also lose muscle mass which leads to the skinny fat look.
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| Certified does not mean qualified. |
Did the trainer ask you about your past dieting history? Did they ask about hormonal levels? Do they know how you react to certain foods? My guess is no. They are just throwing out numbers that sound good and most trainers are not qualified to discuss nutrition with clients. Certified does NOT mean qualified.
Remember your body loves ADAPTATION so you’re doing more harm than good by going down to such a low caloric intake. Once you get tired of this “diet” you will inevitably increase calories and gain weight back plus some (rebound) because your body has adapted to existing on 1200 calories and the excess calories will be stored as fat.
The goal is to “diet” on as many as calories as possible. The goal is to eat as much as possible and still lose body fat. Dr. Norton's study concluded that fat loss happens with small incremental changes.
If you don’t believe me, then think about all of the people you know who have gone on these diets and how successful they have been long term.
4) No more Guilt and No More Shame: Get used to eating and enjoying your food
We should eat and enjoy it. There shouldn’t be shame for enjoying food and feeling that if we do, then we’re going to get fat. This whole restricting and martyrdom attitude towards food (example: Fit people don’t eat those foods and I’m so hardcore!) leads to the secret eaters and binge club.
Oh yes binge and eating in secret is a huge problem for women. As I said in the beginning I know in public we like to act as though we eat like birds, but when we get home it’s open season on anything in the cupboard.
No more guilt. No more shame. You need to eat to live and you have the right to enjoy it!
5) Quit Listening to others and begin to listen to your instincts. Eat intuitively
Stop listening to people who want to make you feel guilty for eating
Examples:
You’re eating that!
You’re eating all of that!
Oh no! You’re going to fat!
I have heard stories where someone was criticizing another woman because she was eating almonds and they were too high in fat. Meanwhile the critic was busy munching on her chips and caramel frappauchino
Please do not let others criticism or two cents steer you off track. In my experience many of the nutrition experts and critics aren’t speaking from knowledge or experience but from feeling convicted for what they are NOT doing.
If you really struggle with anxiety when it comes to food, STOP and then listen to your gut. What do you want to eat? Why is this such an issue? I have found when I eat intuitively my body leads me naturally towards fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, and lean meats. I eat when I'm hungry and take the focus off of restriction and denial.
Hopefully this helps and begins to break down those ingrained ideas about food that we've heard all of our lives.
