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Bio - Eric Mihelbergel is an intermediate level windsurfer and kiteboarder living in the Great Lakes Region of New York State who enjoys writing about windsports and fitness.
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How I Lost 30 Pounds in 30 Weeks Without Losing Muscle Mass
A Calories In/Calories Out Approach
By Eric Mihelbergel
Written January 2017
(Edit: This article and my experience losing weight was done under the energy balance model of weight loss.
Since the writing of this article I have learned a better way to achieve weight loss which is a
combination of the energy balance model and the carbohydrate-insulin model.)
Since the writing of this article I have learned a better way to achieve weight loss which is a
combination of the energy balance model and the carbohydrate-insulin model.)
Up until about the age of 30, I was always ‘the skinny kid’. I was 153 pounds forever. But, when I hit age 35, my body chemistry changed some, and my social life and eating habits changed some as well. All of the sudden I started being able to put on weight. I enjoyed it. It felt really good to feel some thickness and have some size. But by the end of 2014, I had reached 198 pounds. While I enjoyed my size, I was too heavy, and I was FAT. My life’s passion is windsurfing. The heavier you are, the bigger the board and bigger the sail you need. (Click here for an article about "Riding Smaller Wave Sails - 16 Tips"). Bigger gear is not as much fun to ride, and it is much more tiring to ride. The extra fat is heavy to carry around while windsurfing. I realized that if you want to be an extreme athlete without getting injured, you have to prepare like a pro. I decided to slim down. (Click here for an article about "Trimming That Last Bit Of Stubborn Fat").
My goal was to lose one pound per week until I hit 168 pounds, but I could NOT afford to lose muscle. I love the look of muscle mass, and the strength necessary for extreme windsurfing requires significant muscularity. So, I needed a very deliberate approach. People keep asking me regularly how I did it. It was a lot of different things, and I can't remember it all in the 60 seconds that I try to explain it to people. So, I decided to write it down so that people can get all the details that I forget to tell them when they ask me. Keep in mind that EVERYONE is different. This is very important!!! What works for one person may not work for you. You may have to tweak what I did to make it work for you. Here are the principles that I used to lose 30 pounds in 30 weeks without losing muscle mass:
Please note that I am NOT a physician or certified trainer/nutritionist. In fact, I have no credibility at all. This is just information about what I did with hope that it may help and inspire some others with their health. Consult a licensed physician, a certified trainer/nutritionist, a psychic, your dog, or whomever else you consult with on health issues to verify that my suggestions are appropriate for you. Do NOT do what I suggest without checking with a professional.
Principle #1 - Set A Calorie Deficit, Enough To Lose One to Two Pounds Per Week
Do NOT try to lose too much fat too quickly. One to two pounds per week is a reasonable amount of fat to lose without sacrificing muscle. If you try to lose more than that you could risk sacrificing muscle. This is VERY important because the more muscle mass that you have the more calories, and thus fat, your body burns. If you start to lose muscle then you are essentially making it more difficult to lose fat. In the beginning, if you are fat like I was, you don't have to worry as much about sacrificing muscle because you have so much extra fat that your body will burn mostly fat. Your body won't catabolize too much muscle with all that fat available. But as you start to get leaner there becomes a greater risk that you could catabolize muscle if you try to lose too much fat too quickly. When I was a fat slob at 24% body fat, the fat came off pretty easy, and I didn't have to worry about losing too much muscle. But once I got under 15% body fat I really had to be careful to follow all of the Principles in this article. The leaner you get the more careful and calculated you must be to protect your muscle mass. Keep your goal to losing one to two pounds per week and you should be ok.
A reasonable calorie deficit is around 20%. That is a good place to start. But, you are going to have to find what works for you. Start with 20% and then you can go up or down. So, that means if you weigh say 200 lbs and require say 2,500 calories per day to maintain your current body weight, then you need to reduce your calorie consumption to 2,000 calories per day (a 20% deficit, or 500 calories less) to lose about one pound per week. There are about 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so reducing 500 calories over 7 days equals about one pound of fat. If you have a lot of fat to lose you might consider a 25-30% deficit, but be very careful. If you try to lose too much too fast it’s possible that your body could go into starvation mode, you could lose muscle, or you might feel so hungry that you quit the whole thing.
How do you know how many calories your body requires to maintain the same weight? It’s different for everyone, but you can start with averages that are calculated by the fitness industry and then adjust those average numbers to see what actually works for you. I used an app on my phone called MyFitnessPal. It has worked great for me, and I still use it every single day. And, no, I do not get any kickbacks from MyFitnessPal to say this. I don't give a crap which app you use, but I like MyFitnessPal because it is easy to enter all of your calories for each meal and adjust your plan. Use any app that you like. Yes, you will need to enter every calorie you eat every day in some sort of a log. This is a MUST. It is not as tedious or as laborious as it sounds. The first week is a little tedious and intimidating, but once you create ‘meals’ within the app and have past ‘foods’ already entered in the app, then it is very easy to enter what you eat or plan to eat for each meal. You can cross reference the suggested calories per day that MyFitnessPal gives you by simply Googling ‘calorie calculator’. Just remember that the numbers these apps give you are based on averages, so you might need to play around a little to learn what is ‘maintenance calories’ for you.
As your weight decreases you will need to adjust your calories because as you get lighter your body does not require as many calories. So, once you get down to say 180 pounds, from say the 200 pounds in the above paragraph, then your body would only require 2,400 calories per day to maintain current body weight. Thus to continue losing one pound per week you will need to adjust your calorie deficit so that you only eat 1,920 calories per day (20% below 2,400 calories) instead of the 2,000 calories (20% of 2,500) you were eating when you were at 200 pounds. If you use MyFitnessPal then all you have to do is update your weight under ‘Goals’ and the app automatically calculates your new calories for you. That is how I did it.
My goal was to lose one pound per week until I hit 168 pounds, but I could NOT afford to lose muscle. I love the look of muscle mass, and the strength necessary for extreme windsurfing requires significant muscularity. So, I needed a very deliberate approach. People keep asking me regularly how I did it. It was a lot of different things, and I can't remember it all in the 60 seconds that I try to explain it to people. So, I decided to write it down so that people can get all the details that I forget to tell them when they ask me. Keep in mind that EVERYONE is different. This is very important!!! What works for one person may not work for you. You may have to tweak what I did to make it work for you. Here are the principles that I used to lose 30 pounds in 30 weeks without losing muscle mass:
Please note that I am NOT a physician or certified trainer/nutritionist. In fact, I have no credibility at all. This is just information about what I did with hope that it may help and inspire some others with their health. Consult a licensed physician, a certified trainer/nutritionist, a psychic, your dog, or whomever else you consult with on health issues to verify that my suggestions are appropriate for you. Do NOT do what I suggest without checking with a professional.
Principle #1 - Set A Calorie Deficit, Enough To Lose One to Two Pounds Per Week
Do NOT try to lose too much fat too quickly. One to two pounds per week is a reasonable amount of fat to lose without sacrificing muscle. If you try to lose more than that you could risk sacrificing muscle. This is VERY important because the more muscle mass that you have the more calories, and thus fat, your body burns. If you start to lose muscle then you are essentially making it more difficult to lose fat. In the beginning, if you are fat like I was, you don't have to worry as much about sacrificing muscle because you have so much extra fat that your body will burn mostly fat. Your body won't catabolize too much muscle with all that fat available. But as you start to get leaner there becomes a greater risk that you could catabolize muscle if you try to lose too much fat too quickly. When I was a fat slob at 24% body fat, the fat came off pretty easy, and I didn't have to worry about losing too much muscle. But once I got under 15% body fat I really had to be careful to follow all of the Principles in this article. The leaner you get the more careful and calculated you must be to protect your muscle mass. Keep your goal to losing one to two pounds per week and you should be ok.
A reasonable calorie deficit is around 20%. That is a good place to start. But, you are going to have to find what works for you. Start with 20% and then you can go up or down. So, that means if you weigh say 200 lbs and require say 2,500 calories per day to maintain your current body weight, then you need to reduce your calorie consumption to 2,000 calories per day (a 20% deficit, or 500 calories less) to lose about one pound per week. There are about 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so reducing 500 calories over 7 days equals about one pound of fat. If you have a lot of fat to lose you might consider a 25-30% deficit, but be very careful. If you try to lose too much too fast it’s possible that your body could go into starvation mode, you could lose muscle, or you might feel so hungry that you quit the whole thing.
How do you know how many calories your body requires to maintain the same weight? It’s different for everyone, but you can start with averages that are calculated by the fitness industry and then adjust those average numbers to see what actually works for you. I used an app on my phone called MyFitnessPal. It has worked great for me, and I still use it every single day. And, no, I do not get any kickbacks from MyFitnessPal to say this. I don't give a crap which app you use, but I like MyFitnessPal because it is easy to enter all of your calories for each meal and adjust your plan. Use any app that you like. Yes, you will need to enter every calorie you eat every day in some sort of a log. This is a MUST. It is not as tedious or as laborious as it sounds. The first week is a little tedious and intimidating, but once you create ‘meals’ within the app and have past ‘foods’ already entered in the app, then it is very easy to enter what you eat or plan to eat for each meal. You can cross reference the suggested calories per day that MyFitnessPal gives you by simply Googling ‘calorie calculator’. Just remember that the numbers these apps give you are based on averages, so you might need to play around a little to learn what is ‘maintenance calories’ for you.
As your weight decreases you will need to adjust your calories because as you get lighter your body does not require as many calories. So, once you get down to say 180 pounds, from say the 200 pounds in the above paragraph, then your body would only require 2,400 calories per day to maintain current body weight. Thus to continue losing one pound per week you will need to adjust your calorie deficit so that you only eat 1,920 calories per day (20% below 2,400 calories) instead of the 2,000 calories (20% of 2,500) you were eating when you were at 200 pounds. If you use MyFitnessPal then all you have to do is update your weight under ‘Goals’ and the app automatically calculates your new calories for you. That is how I did it.
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Principle #2 - Invest In A High Tech Scale
You are going to need to weigh yourself at least once a week right after you wake up, empty your bowel and bladder, and before you ingest any food or fluid. I actually do it every day, but that can be frustrating for some people because your weight doesn’t go down every single day. Once a week is fine. By doing it under the same conditions each time you ensure that your measurements are as consistent as possible. It is worth investing in a high tech scale that directly downloads to your computer via an antenna or Wi-Fi and has the ability to approximate body fat percentage. I use the Tanita BC-1000, but there are many others on the market.
Principle #3 - Spread Your Daily Calories Over 5 Meals Per Day
Every time you eat, your body has to burn calories to process the food. This is called the thermic effect of food, and it basically means that your metabolism remains relatively higher throughout the day if you eat more frequently. Some studies disagree with this, but even if it is wrong it won’t hurt. Plus, in Principle 8, you will see that it is important to spread out your meals for another reason. So, spread your calories out over at least 5 meals per day. Sometimes I spread my calories over 6 meals per day, but 5 meals per day is good.
Principle #4 – Include a Cheat Meal Once a Week
By the end of the week your body may recognize that you are in a calorie deficit, and it may start to go into a bit of a starvation mode. This is not as big of a problem in the beginning of your fat loss progress when you have a lot of fat to lose, but once you start getting leaner it can be a problem. In this starvation mode, your body finds a way to cling on to stored fat because it has recognized that not enough calories are coming in to maintain body weight. So, one day a week it is important to eat a little extra. Trick your body into thinking that you are not starving it any more. This will increase your body's metabolism for the next week and keep you burning as much fat as possible even while you are resting. I generally do this on either a Friday or Saturday evening because those are the days I am most likely to attend a party or family dinner. It’s nice to have this one meal a week to enjoy yourself. Use that one meal to increase your calories for that day to your maintenance calorie number (or maybe a little more). If you have been consuming 2,000 calories per day and your maintenance calories are 2,500, then you will consume 500 extra calories at this meal. That's a lot of extra calories, so have fun and enjoy it. Do it! If you are obsessive like me, you may feel a little guilty. DON'T.
Principle #5 – Do Regular Resistance Training
As mentioned earlier, the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn. Plus, every time you do a resistance workout your metabolism remains elevated for 5-8 hours after. This helps burn fat. So, you MUST do some regular weight training even if you don’t intend to look like a bodybuilder. I’m not going to get into the details of weight training in this article, so consult a trainer or Google to get a program. Perhaps at another time I will write an article on the topic. But here are four basic suggestions to implement and/or discuss with your trainer. 1.) Do some weight training every other day. 2.) Focus on progressing. That means, add weight as you get stronger. 3.) Start with the main compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses and lat rows. 4.) Don't do too much volume. Doing too much volume of weight training is one of the biggest mistakes I have personally made and seen others make. This is one of those cases where less is sometimes more, especially for beginners and intermediates who are not using performance enhancing drugs. Spread out volume over several shorter more intense workouts. Go into the gym, tell your muscle to grow, and go home to recover. Just make sure you warm-up your muscles very well before you tell them to grow.
When you do exercise of any kind, you will burn extra calories. If you have already set a calorie deficit in Principle #1, then you need to eat back most of these calories that you burned during your workout because it has changed your calorie deficit. That means that if you burn 200 calories in the gym then you need to increase your calories for the day by 200. Be conservative though. If I burn 200 calories in the gym I usually only eat back about 150 to make sure I’m still keeping with a good net deficit. Calculators on fitness machines or in heartrate monitors that estimate calories-burned are only based on averages, not your personal specifics. Even if you enter your weight and age into a fitness machine calories are still calculated based on averages for that weight and age. In addition, some take into account calories that you would still be burning if you were just resting, and others do not. So just be conservative and eat back a little less than the calories you estimate that you have burned. Cross reference your estimated calories burned by Googling 'exercise calories burned'. The other nice part about eating back these calories from your workouts is that it allows you to eat more than you would eat if you were not doing exercise. For those of us that enjoy the act of eating, this is a nice benefit. Do some exercise and you can eat more food.
Principle #6 – Do Regular Cardio Training
Doing cardio accomplishes 2 things. First, it burns a few calories while doing the cardio. And, second, it helps to keep your metabolism elevated for 3-5 hours after. The one drawback to doing excessive cardio is that your body could start to break down your lean muscle mass for energy as it runs out of glycogen. Glycogen is stored energy from carbohydrates that you ate. As we noted earlier, you need to keep as much muscle mass as possible because it helps you burn more calories throughout the day. So, alternate cardio with days of resistance training, and keep your cardio sessions under 40 minutes. Make sure you eat before your workout and after. This will reduce the possibility that your body will catabolize muscle mass. I have seen a lot of research showing that short high intensity cardio, like sprints, is just as effective for fat burning as low intensity cardio, and it does not sacrifice as much muscle. And don’t forget to eat back most of your cardio calories. If you burn 200 calories doing cardio then eat an extra 150 calories or so that day. If you miss a day or two of cardio or resistance training it's not a big deal, but try to get 5-6 days of cardio/resistance per week.
You are going to need to weigh yourself at least once a week right after you wake up, empty your bowel and bladder, and before you ingest any food or fluid. I actually do it every day, but that can be frustrating for some people because your weight doesn’t go down every single day. Once a week is fine. By doing it under the same conditions each time you ensure that your measurements are as consistent as possible. It is worth investing in a high tech scale that directly downloads to your computer via an antenna or Wi-Fi and has the ability to approximate body fat percentage. I use the Tanita BC-1000, but there are many others on the market.
Principle #3 - Spread Your Daily Calories Over 5 Meals Per Day
Every time you eat, your body has to burn calories to process the food. This is called the thermic effect of food, and it basically means that your metabolism remains relatively higher throughout the day if you eat more frequently. Some studies disagree with this, but even if it is wrong it won’t hurt. Plus, in Principle 8, you will see that it is important to spread out your meals for another reason. So, spread your calories out over at least 5 meals per day. Sometimes I spread my calories over 6 meals per day, but 5 meals per day is good.
Principle #4 – Include a Cheat Meal Once a Week
By the end of the week your body may recognize that you are in a calorie deficit, and it may start to go into a bit of a starvation mode. This is not as big of a problem in the beginning of your fat loss progress when you have a lot of fat to lose, but once you start getting leaner it can be a problem. In this starvation mode, your body finds a way to cling on to stored fat because it has recognized that not enough calories are coming in to maintain body weight. So, one day a week it is important to eat a little extra. Trick your body into thinking that you are not starving it any more. This will increase your body's metabolism for the next week and keep you burning as much fat as possible even while you are resting. I generally do this on either a Friday or Saturday evening because those are the days I am most likely to attend a party or family dinner. It’s nice to have this one meal a week to enjoy yourself. Use that one meal to increase your calories for that day to your maintenance calorie number (or maybe a little more). If you have been consuming 2,000 calories per day and your maintenance calories are 2,500, then you will consume 500 extra calories at this meal. That's a lot of extra calories, so have fun and enjoy it. Do it! If you are obsessive like me, you may feel a little guilty. DON'T.
Principle #5 – Do Regular Resistance Training
As mentioned earlier, the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn. Plus, every time you do a resistance workout your metabolism remains elevated for 5-8 hours after. This helps burn fat. So, you MUST do some regular weight training even if you don’t intend to look like a bodybuilder. I’m not going to get into the details of weight training in this article, so consult a trainer or Google to get a program. Perhaps at another time I will write an article on the topic. But here are four basic suggestions to implement and/or discuss with your trainer. 1.) Do some weight training every other day. 2.) Focus on progressing. That means, add weight as you get stronger. 3.) Start with the main compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses and lat rows. 4.) Don't do too much volume. Doing too much volume of weight training is one of the biggest mistakes I have personally made and seen others make. This is one of those cases where less is sometimes more, especially for beginners and intermediates who are not using performance enhancing drugs. Spread out volume over several shorter more intense workouts. Go into the gym, tell your muscle to grow, and go home to recover. Just make sure you warm-up your muscles very well before you tell them to grow.
When you do exercise of any kind, you will burn extra calories. If you have already set a calorie deficit in Principle #1, then you need to eat back most of these calories that you burned during your workout because it has changed your calorie deficit. That means that if you burn 200 calories in the gym then you need to increase your calories for the day by 200. Be conservative though. If I burn 200 calories in the gym I usually only eat back about 150 to make sure I’m still keeping with a good net deficit. Calculators on fitness machines or in heartrate monitors that estimate calories-burned are only based on averages, not your personal specifics. Even if you enter your weight and age into a fitness machine calories are still calculated based on averages for that weight and age. In addition, some take into account calories that you would still be burning if you were just resting, and others do not. So just be conservative and eat back a little less than the calories you estimate that you have burned. Cross reference your estimated calories burned by Googling 'exercise calories burned'. The other nice part about eating back these calories from your workouts is that it allows you to eat more than you would eat if you were not doing exercise. For those of us that enjoy the act of eating, this is a nice benefit. Do some exercise and you can eat more food.
Principle #6 – Do Regular Cardio Training
Doing cardio accomplishes 2 things. First, it burns a few calories while doing the cardio. And, second, it helps to keep your metabolism elevated for 3-5 hours after. The one drawback to doing excessive cardio is that your body could start to break down your lean muscle mass for energy as it runs out of glycogen. Glycogen is stored energy from carbohydrates that you ate. As we noted earlier, you need to keep as much muscle mass as possible because it helps you burn more calories throughout the day. So, alternate cardio with days of resistance training, and keep your cardio sessions under 40 minutes. Make sure you eat before your workout and after. This will reduce the possibility that your body will catabolize muscle mass. I have seen a lot of research showing that short high intensity cardio, like sprints, is just as effective for fat burning as low intensity cardio, and it does not sacrifice as much muscle. And don’t forget to eat back most of your cardio calories. If you burn 200 calories doing cardio then eat an extra 150 calories or so that day. If you miss a day or two of cardio or resistance training it's not a big deal, but try to get 5-6 days of cardio/resistance per week.
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Principle #7 – Map Out Your Macronutrients
First, what are macronutrients? They are carbohydrate, protein, and fat. You need to decide what percentage of each you are going to consume each day and then record every calorie that you ingest. This is where I found MyFitnessPal to be so helpful. It makes it easy. Learn to use an app like this, and it will save you a lot of time. An example would be 50% carbohydrate, 25% protein, and 25% fat (50/25/25). Some people will use a 60/20/20 split or 40/30/30 depending on what they are trying to accomplish. I suggest starting with 50/25/25 and then adjust as you read more and learn more about your body. Everyone responds differently. Some people are very carbohydrate sensitive, and they need to ingest lower carbs. Some people need higher amounts of protein to gain a little muscle. You will have to experiment to find exactly what works for you.
Principle #8 – Break Down Your Macronutrients
It’s not enough to just set and eat your macros. You must break down each macro into the best foods in each category.
Carbohydrates: The most important part of carbohydrate management is its effect on your insulin production. When you eat simple high glycemic carbs like sugar, a large amount of insulin is secreted by your pancreas to take the glucose out of your blood. This glucose is stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen, and when those storage facilities are full, the extra glucose is converted to and stored as fat. By eating carbs with a lower glycemic index like whole grains, green vegetables, brown rice, and sweet potatoes, your pancreas will not produce as much insulin because low glycemic carbs are digested very slowly compared to high glycemic foods, and, therefore, do not result in as much glucose in your blood all at once and such a dramatic insulin spike. The result is that your body will be healthier without such dramatic spikes in insulin. Fiber also reduces the release of insulin when sugar is ingested. This is why the sugar in fruit is usually ok, as long as you eat the whole fruit. Fruit juice alone can spike insulin, so you may want to avoid this. Consuming fiber supplements on a regular basis is not only good for your colon and digestion, but research shows that it has benefits in keeping insulin levels lower. I consume a dose of a psyllium husk supplement twice a day in addition to the fiber in my vegetables and fruits.
Protein: When it comes to protein consumption, the best suggestion I have is to make sure that you are getting a sizable serving of high quality protein with 4 of your meals. Carbs and fat can be stored in the body, but protein cannot be stored like carbs and fat. Protein can be robbed from muscle if it is needed in other parts of the body, but we definitely do NOT want this to happen. Remember, we want to keep as much muscle as possible because our body uses more calories to maintain muscle. I currently eat about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. I weigh 168 pounds, so I’m eating about 168 grams of protein per day. Research seems to show that you should eat somewhere between 0.7-1.0 gram of protein per pound of body weight for optimal muscle gain. Looking back at Principle #7 about setting macros, you might consider determining your protein intake first and then use that as your basis to figure out your carbs and fat. That’s what I do because I have found that 168 grams of protein is about right for me. But you may be different.
The quality of your protein is important. The most complete sources of protein include egg whites, milk, chicken, fish, beef, casein, and whey isolate. Whey isolate seems to be a good source because it contains amino acids in roughly the proportion that your body needs to repair itself. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Essential amino acids cannot be manufactured by the body from other materials. If you are trying to gain some muscle then there are 3 essential amino acids, called branched-chain amino acids, that are extra important. They are named leucine, isoleucine and valine. These 3 are available in most quality whey isolate supplements. But you don’t have to buy supplements. You can get these from regular food. Supplements are convenient however. You don’t have to cook them, and they are easy to take places with you. And if you compare the cost of say chicken breasts to whey isolate supplements it is often cheaper to buy whey isolate. I use whey isolate as my protein source for 1-2 meals in my day. I would like to note that casein makes some people (like me) VERY constipated. I do NOT use casein protein, but some people can handle it.
As stated above, our bodies do not have a storage facility for protein like they do for carbs and fat. Our bodies can manufacture non-essential amino acids, but we cannot manufacture essential amino acids. So, it is essential that you have a regular supply of protein (especially essential amino acids) consistently coming into the body for cell repair.
Fat: Back in the 1980’s, the U.S. government very poorly advised Americans to consume a diet low in fat. Fat was vilified nationwide. So, food companies started selling food low in fat. But it tasted like crap without the fat, so what did they do? Well, they added sugar. The sugar industry boomed, and with all that money, the sugar companies gained great influence over politics. When you look at the Nutritional Information on a food label, sugar is the only nutrient that does not list a percentage of calories because the sugar industry has lobbied to keep it off the label. They don’t want you to know how much sugar is in the product. Sugar is a major problem currently surrounding the obesity issue in the U.S. It goes down easy, doesn't make your feel very full, and tastes good. The calories can add up fast. Of course, fat is very dense in calories too, so if you consume large amounts of fat you will gain lots of weight as well. However, some fat is also important for your body to function well. Don't exclude fat. Cell membranes are made from fat, so you need consistent fat in your diet for cell repair. Fat must be consumed properly. To start, stick with the macro percentage for fat that you set back in Principle #7. Keep it around 20-25%. This way, you won’t have to worry about consuming too much of it. Then break your fats down into the different types described below.
Basically, our body needs both saturated and unsaturated fats. It’s pretty easy for most of us to consume saturated fats as long as you eat meat. You really can’t avoid it. Saturated fat is in most animal foods like beef, chicken, eggs, and milk. So I don’t focus too much on trying to add saturated fat because I know I’m getting plenty of it in the animal foods that I eat. Plus, if you eat too much saturated fat it can cause cholesterol problems. But I do pay attention to adding unsaturated fats to my diet. There are 2 types of unsaturated fats known as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (essential fats). Both are important. Monounsaturated fats are found mostly in nuts and olive oils. The olive oil, however, loses some of its benefits if it is cooked. So I add the olive oil to my food after it is cooked. Polyunsaturated fat is broken down into 2 types: omega-3 and omega-6. Most of us get adequate amounts of omega-6 in our diets, but not enough omega-3. The best source of omega-3 seems to be fish oil. I take a fish oil supplement to make sure I get omega-3 every day. Omega-6 is mostly found in vegetable oil. Some research suggests that too much omega-6 can cause inflammation in the body which may possibly increase the rate of some diseases, while omega-3 reduces inflammation in the body. You might be interested to research that topic more.
Once you start getting lean to the point of being under 15% body fat your body may hoard fat if you don't consume enough fat in your diet. This is why it is sometimes very difficult for people to lose that last bit of fat on their waistline (mostly for men) or their thighs (mostly for women). If you don't consume fat in your diet your body may refuse to let go of that last bit of fat on your waistline and thighs. (Learn more here about Trimming That Last Bit of Stubborn Fat). Set your fat consumption percentage in your macro settings and stick to it. You MUST consume fat in your diet in order for your body to feel safe enough to let go of that last bit of fat on your waistline or thighs. When marathon athletes go into their high volume period of training they know that they must already be at the body fat percentage that they want for competition because sometimes it can be difficult to lose fat while they are training at extreme long distances. Sounds crazy, but the body sometimes just won't let go of fat when it feels there is not enough fat available. The body will find calories from other sources. So eat the fat that you set in your macros.
Principle #9 – Drink Lots of Water
Water is very important for all your bodily functions. I drink 3-4 liters per day. Just keep your water bottle full and drink from it regularly. Try to get in several liters per day.
Principle #10 - Limit Alcohol Consumption
During the first 12 weeks of my program I continued consuming about 1 glass of wine per day at dinner. I just fit it into my calories for the day. A glass of red wine has about 120 calories, so I would just count it as part of my daily calories. I had no problem losing one pound of fat per week while doing this. But somewhere around week 12 or so I started to get more serious about my fitness for windsurfing and weight training. I wanted to get stronger and more muscular, while still losing fat. When I looked at my macros I noticed that 'alcohol' was not one of the macros, yet, it still contained calories. That was a wake-up call that said ALCOHOL HAS NO NUTRUTIONAL BENEFITS. So, since then, I only consume alcohol on my cheat day.
A Few Other Tidbits
Coffee: I continued to consume one cup of coffee every morning throughout my program. It has very few calories if you drink it black. I have read both advantages and disadvantages of caffeine. I'm not sure if it has helped me or hurt me, but regardless, I still had no problem losing one pound per week while consuming one cup of coffee per day.
Sleep: It is very important to get 8 hours of high quality sleep per night. The darker your room the better. I cover all my clocks and have a very good window shade. Any light will stimulate your brain, and it's so easy to avoid this. I also take melatonin before bed. Put your cell phone in a different room too. Just having your cell phone next to you makes it more difficult for your mind to relax. Get your phone out of mind by simply keeping it in another room while you're in bed. You'll be surprised how much more relaxed this will make you feel.
Supplements: I take a quality multi-vitamin, plus a joint health supplement in addition to the other supplements that I mentioned above. I also consume Creatine and branched-chain amino acids, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D in the winter.
Hunger: What do you do if you feel hungry? I suggest that you add low calorie volume to your meals. Select a food that has low calorie density and eat a high volume of it. Broccoli works well for me. I like broccoli, and I can eat a huge bowl of broccoli and it is still less than 100 calories. I'm not hungry anymore. Add raw spinach to your blender when you make a shake. You will NEVER taste it and it will really fill you up. Fiber makes you feel more full. Keep your consumption of high glycemic carbs very low. When you eat sugar it makes you feel more hungry. And you might try drinking seltzer water. The carbonation in seltzer water can make you feel more full.
My hope is that by writing down this information it will help a few people with their goals. (Click here for an article on "Trimming That Last Bit Of Stubborn Fat") For me, it is a lot of fun. I like working towards a goal. Find a way to make it fun for yourself. Good luck!
Please note that I am NOT a physician or certified trainer/nutritionist. In fact, I have no credibility at all. This is just information about what I did with hope that it may help and inspire some others with their health. Consult a licensed physician, a certified trainer/nutritionist, a psychic, your dog, or whomever else you consult with on health issues to verify that my suggestions are appropriate for you. Do NOT do what I suggest without checking with a professional.
First, what are macronutrients? They are carbohydrate, protein, and fat. You need to decide what percentage of each you are going to consume each day and then record every calorie that you ingest. This is where I found MyFitnessPal to be so helpful. It makes it easy. Learn to use an app like this, and it will save you a lot of time. An example would be 50% carbohydrate, 25% protein, and 25% fat (50/25/25). Some people will use a 60/20/20 split or 40/30/30 depending on what they are trying to accomplish. I suggest starting with 50/25/25 and then adjust as you read more and learn more about your body. Everyone responds differently. Some people are very carbohydrate sensitive, and they need to ingest lower carbs. Some people need higher amounts of protein to gain a little muscle. You will have to experiment to find exactly what works for you.
Principle #8 – Break Down Your Macronutrients
It’s not enough to just set and eat your macros. You must break down each macro into the best foods in each category.
Carbohydrates: The most important part of carbohydrate management is its effect on your insulin production. When you eat simple high glycemic carbs like sugar, a large amount of insulin is secreted by your pancreas to take the glucose out of your blood. This glucose is stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen, and when those storage facilities are full, the extra glucose is converted to and stored as fat. By eating carbs with a lower glycemic index like whole grains, green vegetables, brown rice, and sweet potatoes, your pancreas will not produce as much insulin because low glycemic carbs are digested very slowly compared to high glycemic foods, and, therefore, do not result in as much glucose in your blood all at once and such a dramatic insulin spike. The result is that your body will be healthier without such dramatic spikes in insulin. Fiber also reduces the release of insulin when sugar is ingested. This is why the sugar in fruit is usually ok, as long as you eat the whole fruit. Fruit juice alone can spike insulin, so you may want to avoid this. Consuming fiber supplements on a regular basis is not only good for your colon and digestion, but research shows that it has benefits in keeping insulin levels lower. I consume a dose of a psyllium husk supplement twice a day in addition to the fiber in my vegetables and fruits.
Protein: When it comes to protein consumption, the best suggestion I have is to make sure that you are getting a sizable serving of high quality protein with 4 of your meals. Carbs and fat can be stored in the body, but protein cannot be stored like carbs and fat. Protein can be robbed from muscle if it is needed in other parts of the body, but we definitely do NOT want this to happen. Remember, we want to keep as much muscle as possible because our body uses more calories to maintain muscle. I currently eat about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. I weigh 168 pounds, so I’m eating about 168 grams of protein per day. Research seems to show that you should eat somewhere between 0.7-1.0 gram of protein per pound of body weight for optimal muscle gain. Looking back at Principle #7 about setting macros, you might consider determining your protein intake first and then use that as your basis to figure out your carbs and fat. That’s what I do because I have found that 168 grams of protein is about right for me. But you may be different.
The quality of your protein is important. The most complete sources of protein include egg whites, milk, chicken, fish, beef, casein, and whey isolate. Whey isolate seems to be a good source because it contains amino acids in roughly the proportion that your body needs to repair itself. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Essential amino acids cannot be manufactured by the body from other materials. If you are trying to gain some muscle then there are 3 essential amino acids, called branched-chain amino acids, that are extra important. They are named leucine, isoleucine and valine. These 3 are available in most quality whey isolate supplements. But you don’t have to buy supplements. You can get these from regular food. Supplements are convenient however. You don’t have to cook them, and they are easy to take places with you. And if you compare the cost of say chicken breasts to whey isolate supplements it is often cheaper to buy whey isolate. I use whey isolate as my protein source for 1-2 meals in my day. I would like to note that casein makes some people (like me) VERY constipated. I do NOT use casein protein, but some people can handle it.
As stated above, our bodies do not have a storage facility for protein like they do for carbs and fat. Our bodies can manufacture non-essential amino acids, but we cannot manufacture essential amino acids. So, it is essential that you have a regular supply of protein (especially essential amino acids) consistently coming into the body for cell repair.
Fat: Back in the 1980’s, the U.S. government very poorly advised Americans to consume a diet low in fat. Fat was vilified nationwide. So, food companies started selling food low in fat. But it tasted like crap without the fat, so what did they do? Well, they added sugar. The sugar industry boomed, and with all that money, the sugar companies gained great influence over politics. When you look at the Nutritional Information on a food label, sugar is the only nutrient that does not list a percentage of calories because the sugar industry has lobbied to keep it off the label. They don’t want you to know how much sugar is in the product. Sugar is a major problem currently surrounding the obesity issue in the U.S. It goes down easy, doesn't make your feel very full, and tastes good. The calories can add up fast. Of course, fat is very dense in calories too, so if you consume large amounts of fat you will gain lots of weight as well. However, some fat is also important for your body to function well. Don't exclude fat. Cell membranes are made from fat, so you need consistent fat in your diet for cell repair. Fat must be consumed properly. To start, stick with the macro percentage for fat that you set back in Principle #7. Keep it around 20-25%. This way, you won’t have to worry about consuming too much of it. Then break your fats down into the different types described below.
Basically, our body needs both saturated and unsaturated fats. It’s pretty easy for most of us to consume saturated fats as long as you eat meat. You really can’t avoid it. Saturated fat is in most animal foods like beef, chicken, eggs, and milk. So I don’t focus too much on trying to add saturated fat because I know I’m getting plenty of it in the animal foods that I eat. Plus, if you eat too much saturated fat it can cause cholesterol problems. But I do pay attention to adding unsaturated fats to my diet. There are 2 types of unsaturated fats known as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (essential fats). Both are important. Monounsaturated fats are found mostly in nuts and olive oils. The olive oil, however, loses some of its benefits if it is cooked. So I add the olive oil to my food after it is cooked. Polyunsaturated fat is broken down into 2 types: omega-3 and omega-6. Most of us get adequate amounts of omega-6 in our diets, but not enough omega-3. The best source of omega-3 seems to be fish oil. I take a fish oil supplement to make sure I get omega-3 every day. Omega-6 is mostly found in vegetable oil. Some research suggests that too much omega-6 can cause inflammation in the body which may possibly increase the rate of some diseases, while omega-3 reduces inflammation in the body. You might be interested to research that topic more.
Once you start getting lean to the point of being under 15% body fat your body may hoard fat if you don't consume enough fat in your diet. This is why it is sometimes very difficult for people to lose that last bit of fat on their waistline (mostly for men) or their thighs (mostly for women). If you don't consume fat in your diet your body may refuse to let go of that last bit of fat on your waistline and thighs. (Learn more here about Trimming That Last Bit of Stubborn Fat). Set your fat consumption percentage in your macro settings and stick to it. You MUST consume fat in your diet in order for your body to feel safe enough to let go of that last bit of fat on your waistline or thighs. When marathon athletes go into their high volume period of training they know that they must already be at the body fat percentage that they want for competition because sometimes it can be difficult to lose fat while they are training at extreme long distances. Sounds crazy, but the body sometimes just won't let go of fat when it feels there is not enough fat available. The body will find calories from other sources. So eat the fat that you set in your macros.
Principle #9 – Drink Lots of Water
Water is very important for all your bodily functions. I drink 3-4 liters per day. Just keep your water bottle full and drink from it regularly. Try to get in several liters per day.
Principle #10 - Limit Alcohol Consumption
During the first 12 weeks of my program I continued consuming about 1 glass of wine per day at dinner. I just fit it into my calories for the day. A glass of red wine has about 120 calories, so I would just count it as part of my daily calories. I had no problem losing one pound of fat per week while doing this. But somewhere around week 12 or so I started to get more serious about my fitness for windsurfing and weight training. I wanted to get stronger and more muscular, while still losing fat. When I looked at my macros I noticed that 'alcohol' was not one of the macros, yet, it still contained calories. That was a wake-up call that said ALCOHOL HAS NO NUTRUTIONAL BENEFITS. So, since then, I only consume alcohol on my cheat day.
A Few Other Tidbits
Coffee: I continued to consume one cup of coffee every morning throughout my program. It has very few calories if you drink it black. I have read both advantages and disadvantages of caffeine. I'm not sure if it has helped me or hurt me, but regardless, I still had no problem losing one pound per week while consuming one cup of coffee per day.
Sleep: It is very important to get 8 hours of high quality sleep per night. The darker your room the better. I cover all my clocks and have a very good window shade. Any light will stimulate your brain, and it's so easy to avoid this. I also take melatonin before bed. Put your cell phone in a different room too. Just having your cell phone next to you makes it more difficult for your mind to relax. Get your phone out of mind by simply keeping it in another room while you're in bed. You'll be surprised how much more relaxed this will make you feel.
Supplements: I take a quality multi-vitamin, plus a joint health supplement in addition to the other supplements that I mentioned above. I also consume Creatine and branched-chain amino acids, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D in the winter.
Hunger: What do you do if you feel hungry? I suggest that you add low calorie volume to your meals. Select a food that has low calorie density and eat a high volume of it. Broccoli works well for me. I like broccoli, and I can eat a huge bowl of broccoli and it is still less than 100 calories. I'm not hungry anymore. Add raw spinach to your blender when you make a shake. You will NEVER taste it and it will really fill you up. Fiber makes you feel more full. Keep your consumption of high glycemic carbs very low. When you eat sugar it makes you feel more hungry. And you might try drinking seltzer water. The carbonation in seltzer water can make you feel more full.
My hope is that by writing down this information it will help a few people with their goals. (Click here for an article on "Trimming That Last Bit Of Stubborn Fat") For me, it is a lot of fun. I like working towards a goal. Find a way to make it fun for yourself. Good luck!
Please note that I am NOT a physician or certified trainer/nutritionist. In fact, I have no credibility at all. This is just information about what I did with hope that it may help and inspire some others with their health. Consult a licensed physician, a certified trainer/nutritionist, a psychic, your dog, or whomever else you consult with on health issues to verify that my suggestions are appropriate for you. Do NOT do what I suggest without checking with a professional.
