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Diet Tips
A GUIDE TO DIETING
By
Robert Ball
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A Guide to Dieting.
Firstly, the word ‘diet’ is banded around a lot in magazines articles and TV shows, so
let’s clear something up; you aren’t going on a diet you are simply changing your diet.
Fad diets and short term goals are absolutely terrible for your body. Eating nothing
more than a single apple per day may drop you 10lbs in 2 weeks but afterwards,
when you feel you’re happy with the results and you go back to eating Big Macs
three times per week…….. SURPRISE!!! You’re going to put the weight back on!!!
Rule 1: You are what you eat. If you want to look great, you need to eat great.
Permanently.
We eat to provide our bodies with energy so that we can sustain life. Our energy
consumption is measured in calories. A calorie is the energy that is required to heat
1 gram of water by 1ºC (this is usually around 4.2 joules of energy).
Unless you are a professional athlete then it is likely that the internal functions of
your body will consume more energy in a 24 hour period (60-70%) than any physical
activity that you may choose carry out. The brain, for example, uses approximately
20% of your daily base calories despite weighing only approximately 3lbs. Even
whilst sleeping, a 185lb person would burn approximately 56 calories per hour. By
contrast, the same 185lb person would burn approximately 260 calories during a one
hour weight training session. It is obvious that the simple act of living burns many
more calories in a 24 hour period than any exercise that you may perform in that
same time frame.
The question is, how much energy do we actually need? This varies from person to
person dependant on several physical factors. Age, height, weight and overall lean
mass all contribute to the amount of energy we need.
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The established baseline for the amount of energy used in a 24 hour period is known
as the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the rate at which the body will use energy
whilst in a resting or sedentary state.
There are various BMR calculators which can be found on the internet but the
mathematical way to calculate is as follows:
Step 1. Your Weight [Kg] x 10 = Answer A
Step 2. Your Height [cm] x 6.25 = Answer B
Step 3. Your Age [years] x (-5)* = Answer C
*the minus sign is important here!
Step 4. Answer C + 5 = Answer D
Step 5. Answer A + Answer B = Answer E
Step 6. Answer E – Answer D = BMR
Example: A person who is 80kg and 180cm tall at age 25 would be as below,
Step 1. 80kg x 10 = 800
Step 2. 180 x 6.25 = 1125
Step 3. 25 x -5 = -125
Step 4. -125 + 5 = -120
Step 5. 800 + 1125 = 1925
Step 6. 1925 – 120 = 1805 Calories
Rule 2: Know thyself! You need to be checking your weight every two weeks so that
you can re-apply the BMR formula and alter your diet accordingly.
But we don’t spend our lives simply sitting and doing nothing! So how do we work
out the actual amount of calories we burn during each day? We can’t. We can only
estimate. The intensity and length of your workouts will vary. The amount of waking
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time will vary. How much you walk around or lift and carry will also vary. Even the
amount of fidgeting you do will be relative.
So the widely accepted solution is to make a generalisation based on our basic
behaviour pattern. We do this as follows:
1. Sedentary Lifestyle (Limited or irregular exercise)
BMR x 1.2
2. Lightly Active (light exercise, 3-5 days per week)
BMR x 1.3 (female) BMR x 1.4 (male)
3. Moderately Active (Moderately intense exercise, 3-5 days per week)
BMR x 1.5 (female) BMR x 1.6 (male)
4. Very Active (Hard exercise or sports, 6-7 days per week)
BMR x 1.7 (female) BMR x 1.8 (male)
5. Extremely Active (Very intense daily exercise AND a physically demanding job
OR moderate training twice daily)
BMR x 1.9 (female) BMR x 2 (male)
This will give us our magic number. The number of actual real world calories
that we need per day.
Example: So our 80kg, 180cm, 25 year old male has a BMR of 1805 and he
works out 5 days per week. That’s 1805 x 1.6 = 2888 Calories
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So now we have a useable figure for our daily calorific needs. Where do plan
to get those calories from?
Calories are converted from the macronutrients that we ingest. The name
‘macronutrients’ tells us all we need to know. We consider something to be
‘nutritional’ if it contains something that our body needs on a daily basis.
Macro comes from the Greek word meaning large. So macronutrients are the
main ingredients which our bodies depend upon in order to function correctly.
Although there are over 30 sub categories, macronutrients exist within 3 main
categories; Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats.
Each of these 3 macronutrients can provide a certain amount of measurable
energy per gram.
1 gram of Protein provides 4 calories worth of energy (16.8 joules).
1 gram of Carbohydrates provides 4 calories worth of energy (16.8 joules).
1 gram of Fat provides 9 calories worth of energy (37.8 joules).
How does this apply to our diet?
The body is an amazing machine. It will adapt to various environmental variables
with relative ease. One of these variables is, of course, your diet. If an individual
consumes too many calories then the body will store the excess calories as fat and
glycogen. How and why this is done are beyond the requirements of this document.
We simply need to be aware that taking in too many calories will cause fat storage.
Whilst the last paragraph may be obvious to most, this one will not: consuming too
few calories can ultimately lead to excess fat storage.
Many fashionable diets of today are somewhat extreme in their methods. Calorie
intakes are dramatically cut and people are pleased with the short term results. Fat
loss is an inevitability. However, the body is much more complex than this. Have you
ever stopped to consider what may happen if you continue on one of these wonder
diets for 6 months? Would you continue to lose weight at such an impressive rate?
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You already know you wouldn’t without even trying it. It’s simply impossible. You
cannot diet to a point where you weigh zero. Why?
The body will strive for survival. This is how. At the start of an extreme diet, the
calorific intake is dramatically cut. The BMR hasn’t changed so the body needs to
make up for the deficit. This is achieved firstly by burning off any glycogen stored in
the muscles which causes the muscles to lose their fullness and appear more flat.
Next, the body will begin turning fat stores into Acetyl-CoA which is fed to the
mitochondria in your cells to provide energy.
The fat loss experienced by the individual will happen rapidly. After a week or so or
continued extreme dieting (which is more like fasting), the body will enter starvation
mode. During this period, fat conversion will slow down and muscle tissue will begin
to be broken down instead. This releases proteins into the blood stream. The
protein is broken down to amino acids which will be used by the liver to produce
glycogen for energy.
The body needs 3g of protein to produce 1g of glycogen. The brain alone requires
10g of glycogen per day. Muscle burns more calories than fat so when your body
switches from fat conversion to muscle conversion for its energy; two functions are
being performed.
Firstly, by converting the muscle, the body is reducing its overall calorific need and
secondly, fat is being stored in case the ‘starvation period’ becomes prolonged. If
this state of forced starvation continues past 2-3 weeks, the body will slowly begin to
store fat again (from converted muscle tissue) in preparation for prolonged
starvation. This way, when real hunger sets in and energy is low, it is easier for the
body to conserve energy by melt the fat rather than the muscle.
The individual is usually content with the results after 2-4 weeks and returns to a
more usual calorie intake for their lifestyle. As the metabolism has now slowed to
compensate for the decreased calorific intake, the sudden increase of calories will
cause the body to store fat for possible future periods of starvation. The result is that
body fat levels return to their previous state but now there is less muscle mass so
skin will look loose. Overall appearance is generally worse than before the ‘diet’ was
employed.
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So how do we diet successfully? It’s time to consider our goals. There are 3 basic
options; do we wish to (a) lose weight (b) gain weight (c) stay the same.
Losing Weight
When we say ‘lose weight’ what we really mean is lose fat. Nobody really wants to
restrict muscle mass. We already know that ‘crash’ dieting will cause us to lose
muscle mass as well as fat so how do we protect our heard earned gains and shift just
the unwanted fat? We trick the metabolism! We reduce our calorie intake by 500
calories. This allows our body to continue burning calories in the usual manner as we
are not working at such a deficit as to cause starvation. As the body is receiving
marginally less energy than is required for the day, it will compensate by breaking
down fat content to make up the small shortfall.
One pound of fat is approximately 3,500 calories. By reducing your calorific intake by
500 calories per day, you can expect to lose around 1 pound of fat per week without
compromising muscle. This can be increased to approximately 2 pounds per week by
cutting your calorie intake by up to 1000 calories however it is not recommended
that you do this for more than 4 weeks. Restricting your calorie intake by more than
this amount or continuing at a deficit of 1,000 calories for over 4 weeks will push the
body into starvation mode.
Maintaining Weight
The simplest of the 3. We take our ‘magic number’ and stick to it. (The magic number
being our BMR x ‘n’ where n is the multiplier based on the amount of daily activity)
Gaining Weight
By increasing our magic number by 500-1000 calories, we can begin to gain weight.
Particularly when more of these calories are made up of carbs and protein. Don’t be
fooled, just because we can lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week by decreasing calories by
500-1000, don’t think you will automatically gain weight at the same rate by
increasing your intake by 500-1000. A tailored training program, proper motivation
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and rest are all key factors in putting on good weight. As this article is about dieting, I
felt the need to include something about the requirements for gaining mass.
Breaking Down Macronutrients
So now we’ve established how much energy our bodies need. We also know that we
get the energy from food. So what foods do we choose?
I think this question is answered, in part, by giving some consideration to how much
of each macronutrient we need. Think about it; if we ate chocolate cake until we had
consumed our entire quota of calories in only fats, would that be okay as long as we
ate nothing else in that 24 hour time period?
Well already know that the body depends on macronutrients so cutting out a whole
group (or two) wouldn’t be wise if we aim to remain healthy.
So how do we strike a balance?
The balance is decided based on 3 things:
(1) Fitness Goal:
(a) Increase Muscle Mass
Protein 25%-35% Carbs 40%-60% Fat 15%-25%
(b) Decrease Body Fat Percentage
Protein 40%-50% Carbs 10%-30% Fat 30%-40%
(c) Maintain Current Physique
Protein 25%-35% Carbs 30%-50% Fat 25%-35%
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It is important to state that there are no hard and fast rules. If your diet leaves
you feeling groggy or run down then it needs to be altered. Likewise, if after 3-4
weeks your body fat readings* have not dropped then a change is needed. What
we have is 3 benchmark starting points to compliment out 3 basic requirements.
*changes should be measured using actual calliper readings, not just relying on the mirror as a guide!
(2) Body Type:
The reason there are no exact macronutrient ratios is because there is no exact
categories for body types. We are all different. However, there are basic
categories to use as a guide.
(a) Ectomorph
Characteristically, these people tend to be of slender build. They are often
referred to as ‘hardgainers’ due to their fast metabolisms and their
difficulty in gaining mass. The build is typified by small shoulders and chest.
Ectomorphs tend to be lean and have little trouble with excess body fat.
They generally require higher carb intakes to prevent muscle catabolism
and a higher overall calorie intake.
Ectomorphs should stick to the higher end of the carbohydrate percentage
values so that they total between 30%-60% of the total calorie intake. At
least 25% of calories should come from protein and the remainder from
fats.
(b) Mesomorph
These people tend to have a more muscular or athletic appearance. They
are often well defined with broad shoulders. Mesomorphs can gain muscle
and lose fat with more ease but will put on excess fat quicker than the
ectomorphs.
Mesomorphs should stick to the middle percentage values for carbohydrate
intakes so that they total between 20-50% of the total calorie intake.
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(c) Endomorph
Endomorphs are generally stock with shorter limbs or a ‘pear shape’ body.
They typically have a slower metabolism than other body types. These
people can carry a lot of muscle but also struggle to reduce body fat levels.
Endomorphs should stick to the lower end of the carbohydrate percentage
values, never raising above 40% of total calorie intake. 25%-50% of the
remaining calories should come from protein (dependant on goals) with the
remainder coming from fat.
(3) Gender:
(a) Women
Women are generally considered to be better at burning fat but struggle to use
excess glycogen. This means they should operate on the lower sides of the
carbohydrate intakes but your body type is generally a better guideline than
your gender.
(b) Men
Men are generally considered to be better at using glycogen but struggle to
burn off excess fat. This means they require slightly higher carbohydrate
intakes than women but your body type is generally a better guideline than
your gender.
It is very common for people to fall between body types so a combination of
endo/meso or ecto/meso is possible. In any case, you can take these 3
important categories (and their subcategories) and use them to determine a
start point that can be tweaked to suit your needs.
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Now that we know how many calories we need and how those calories are
broken down into the correct amounts of macro nutrients, we can decide
which foods we need to eat in order to meet our nutritional requirements.
Pick the foods for your meal, total up the amount of protein, carbs and fats
then deduct the meal total from your daily total.
An extract of an example diet is below:
Using our 185lb man. We will now assume he is trying to increase muscle mass
and he is an ectomorph.
To increase muscle mass, he needs macronutrients in the following range,
Protein 25%-35% Carbs 40%-60% Fat 15%-25%.
As an ectomorph he needs a higher percentage of carbs and at least 25 percent
of protein.
It would be reasonable for him to consume 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20%
fat.
We established the he requires 2888 calories due to his lifestyle and we will
add another 500 because he wishes to increase mass. So he needs 3388
calories.
3388/100 = 33.88 (or 1%)
33.88*50=1694 Calories from carbs (50%)
We know 4 calories are equal to 1 gram of carbs so:
1694/4=423.5g carbs
3388/100=33.88 (or 1%)
33.88*30=1016.4 Calories from protein (30%)
We know 4 calories are equal to 1 gram of protein so:
1016.4/4=254.1g protein
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3388/100=33.88 (or 1%)
33.88*20=677.6 calories from fat (20%)
We know that 9 calories are equal to 1g of fat, so:
677.6/9=75.2g fat
Our man needs 423.5g carbs 254.1g protein 75.2g fat
For breakfast he may have:
4 whole eggs – 0g Carbs 24g protein 20g fat
2 slices of toast – 40g carbs 8g protein 2g fat
Total Consumed: 40g carbs 32g protein 22g fat
Remaining for day: 423.5g – 40g = 383.5g carbs
254.1g – 24g = 230.1g protein
75.2g – 22g = 53.2g fat
Repeat this for each meal until your remaining allowances are all 0.
There are no hard and fast rules to controlling but there are some basic
guidelines to follow:
1. Bodybuilders may eat 6-8 times per day but they need many more calories
than the average person so for most of us, 4-5 times per day is adequate.
You could use an example break down such as;
(A)
Breakfast
Pre-Training
Post-Training
Lunch
Dinner
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(B)
Breakfast
Mid-Morning
Lunch
Dinner
Post-Training
How many meals suit you and when you need your nutrition are all down to
personal taste as long as your total daily calories are around your required
target.
2. Try not to eat for 2 hours before bed. Whilst we are still burning calories in
our sleep, it is only minimal.
3. Consume higher amounts of carbs either before or during the busiest parts
of the day.
4. Try to minimise your food intake if you know a specific period of the day
will be sedentary, ie, don’t consume a large meal at 6pm if you know you’re
going to spend the next 4 hours simply sat on the sofa watching tv.
5. It can be challenging to think up a new meal plan for each day that meets
your exact requirements. I find it less taxing to figure out a meal plan to
meet my daily requirements and then stick to that same plan for 1-2 weeks.
6. If you choose to follow the advice in tip 5 then make sure you pick foods
you won’t struggle to eat.
7. Drink plenty of water. Women should be drinking at least 4 pints per day
and men should be drinking 6. Spread this out through the day.
8. Eat the right fats. It’s best to divide your fats up and ensure at least one
third of them are polyunsaturated and one third are monounsaturated.
These are the good fats we need.
A Word on Fats.
You will have noticed earlier that fats make up at least 15% of your macros at
all times. Cutting fats further than this will only succeed in damaging your
body. Some vitamins such as A, D, E and K are fat soluble so if you aren’t
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taking in the right fats then you can’t absorb these nutrients. As I’ve already
alluded to, not just any fats will do.
Trans-fats are a type of unsaturated fat which are uncommon in nature but
commonly produced in industry. They are present in a lot of snack foods like
cookies. They should be avoided where possible.
Try to get at least one third of your fats in the form of monounsaturated fats
from red meats, whole milk, nuts, olives, avocados or sunflower oil.
Also try to take at least one third of your fat intake from polyunsaturated fats
from walnuts, peanut butter, salmon, tuna or whole grain wheat.
Final Note.
Never trust an advert! Read the nutritional guide. An item may state ‘low fat’
and have you believing that you are consuming something that is healthy for
you but removing that fat often negatively affects the flavour so large amounts
of sugar are added to compensate. This is true of milk, crisps and may other
food stuffs so choose wisely.
This guide is a platform. A basis for which you can restructure your eating
habits to suit your life goals. It may not be exactly right for you as an individual
but it will put you in the right area and help start you off with clear and defined
objectives. With minimal planning, you can achieve your goals with the
confidence that what you put into your body is right for you.
DISCLAIMER: The author of this document is not a qualified dietician, nutritionist or medical professional. The contents contained have been
compiled based on personal knowledge gained from many year of studying a variety of articles, forums and videos. Nothing contained herein is
directly copied from any particular location. No medical papers were referenced. The information is presented in an easy to understand format for
whoever wishes to read it. This is a point of reference for informational purposes only.
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