If you have been struggling with weight loss or muscle gain you have most likely tried a few diet programs. Maybe it worked and maybe it didn't. What usually happens, especially when trying to lose weight, is you reduce your calories, lose some weight, can't maintain it, and gain the weight back plus some. There are so many diet plans out there that it can be overwhelming which one you should follow. Many of them are just gimmicky and probably won't lead to much success. Any change in diet usually will lead to some initial success. It is what happens after that initial weight loss that really reveals how good a diet plan is.
When you restrict calories for extended period of times a few things will happen. First, yes there will be weight loss. We have to say weight loss here because you are losing weight from a number of different places. If you drop calories low enough, you will drop fat, lean muscle tissue, bone density, even organ tissue. The body will start to wither away in order to save energy for survival. Remember, your body doesn't know you are just dieting. It thinks you are starving.
When you drop your calories below what you need (so you lose weight) for extended periods of time (multiple weeks will do it) your body will adjust by slowing down your metabolism. So if you once had a resting metabolism of say 1800 and have been eating 1500 calories, you will now reduce your metabolism to match your new caloric intake. You will stick with this program for a while, lose weight, and then you will most likely either hit a plateau or just get sick of it and quit. Now you have a slower metabolism and eating how you ate before your diet. This leads to not only gaining the weight back but most likely putting on a few more pounds.
So does this mean you are completely screwed since most diet programs just won't work in the long term? Of course not. You just have to be smart with your nutritional habits. So without further a-do here is the best nutrition advice I can give. Think of food as fuel and eat according to the amount of fuel you need each day.
Don't worry I will explain more. Most people will just try and stick to a calorie goal for weight loss. For example, like we said before, if you burn around 1800 calories per day and eat 1500 a day we run into the problem previously mentioned. But what we need to consider is we don't burn the same amount of calories each day so we shouldn't be eating the same amount of calories each day. So we have a whole new type of nutrient timing here. You just need to alter you calories and your macronutrient breakdown (carbs, fats, proteins) depending on how active your day is. Without confusing you too much here is how you can apply this. Carbs are a best source of energy. The problem is most people over eat carbs. So if we use carbs mainly for fuel then we want to consume more carbs on days we workout hard. On days you don't workout or low intensity workouts you consume less carbs or no carbs. Fats and proteins will pretty much stay consistent.
So to recap here is how you want to set up your diet plan:
Strength training days consume 2 servings of carbs throughout the day.
Cardio training days consume 1 serving of carbs throughout the day.
Rest days consume no carbs.
That is it. Pretty simple right? No give it a try and see how it works for you.
You Stay Healthy San Diego,
Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator
