CategoriesNutrition

How to Conquer Your Trigger Foods

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Registered Dietician and nutrition coach, Georgie Fear. I first “met” Georgie a few years ago when she was a coach for Precision Nutrition, and immediately found her take and approach to nutrition as refreshing and non-dogmatic.

Her new book, Lean Habits For Lifelong Weight Loss, was just released today.

What is a trigger food?

Most people would say that “trigger foods” are foods that they have trouble eating a reasonable portion of. Most commonly, it’s sweets like cookies or chocolate, and sometimes salty, crunchy snacks like potato chips or tortilla chips. If you feel like you have ever lost control while eating and consumed an unreasonable amount, you’re not alone, and you’re not messed up. The unpleasant experience, however, would make any level-headed person think “Gosh, I don’t want to do that again” and look for a way to prevent it.

It’s common to label a food that was involved in an incident such as this as a trigger food, and to be wary of it. If you’ve been bitten by a dog, it’s also normal to be a bit tentative to pet dogs afterward!

When a client refers to something as a “trigger food”, I always want to hear more. Further discussion usually reveals not just one unpleasant interaction, but a rocky ongoing relationship, where the food is like an on-again-off-again romance. They love the taste of the food, but repeatedly buy it, overeat it, and swear it off for a while.

After a while, they inevitably buy it again (either hoping it will end differently this time, or already accepting that overeating it is the plan) and go through the cycle again.

Break The Cycle: 3 parts

Three things will help you turn a trigger food into just a food you like. First, let’s clarify who’s in charge here. You. Not the food.

Is it hard to stop eating that food after one serving? Heck yeah, I will never say it is or should be easy. But difficulty need not be confused with impossibility.

You may have felt like you lost control in the past, but that doesn’t mean you did. The food did not jump in your mouth. I realize it can be very difficult to manage strong impulses, but you are never without control. You always have the option to not take another bite. With help and practice, I know you can do this.

Second: Forbidding specific foods rigidly leads to increased cravings for that food1,2.

Most people who do find peace with all foods only are able to do it after they start eating previously-taboo food in a planned, enjoyed, and allowed way. Associating guilt with a particular food, on the other hand, has been found to predict continued weight gain and feelings of helplessness around that food item3.

That doesn’t mean you have to eat your most willpower-challenging dessert with every meal, or every day, but planning to eat it at least every now and then and enjoy it mindfully is important.

Note from TG: ice-cream (and carrot cake).

Sometimes, people wonder if they have a physical addiction to that particular food, food in general, or sugar. Most contemplate that maybe, like an alcoholic, they would be best off abstaining.

Rest assured, you have options besides a.) keep the cycle going and b.) kiss the food goodbye for good. Here’s how you can choose c.) turn it into just another food that you can choose to eat or not, in whatever portion you choose.

Third: Start collecting experiences where you successfully eat your former trigger foods in a way that leaves you feeling good. Every time you prove to yourself that eating this food does not automatically result in an overeating experience, you’ll gain more confidence.

I know it can be a daunting or even frightening task to deliberately eat a food you have previously struggled with managing, so here are tips on ensuring a good experience.

Remember that your eating behaviors are significantly impacted by your expectations, including how strongly you believe you will lose control when eating4.

If you expect to lose control and be unable to stop after one cookie, you are more likely to have that happen. If you expect that once you eat your chosen portion of frozen yogurt, you’ll head to the park with your spouse for a walk, you have a better chance of making that happen.

Instead, think in small steps, and realize that not every situation is equally triggering, so you can start with easier scenarios. The physical environment, company, time of day, even the brightness of the lighting and whether it’s the weekend or not can impact how much you eat5.

It’s not about the food itself.

Let’s say potato chips have been a “trigger food” for you before (see what I did there, past tense because you’re leaving it behind and not believing in trigger foods anymore). It’s incredibly tough to eat a single portion of chips if you are stuck in a car, as the passenger, on a 12 hour drive across the midwest with nothing to do and a 2 pounds bag of Lays in your lap. That’s a perfect storm of challenge-increasing factors.

But, let’s say it’s 5 am, and you stop at a convenience store, half asleep, on your way to work. You have a slightly queasy “got up too early” stomach, and someone offers you a bag of potato chips with your coffee. They aren’t your favorite flavor. And they’re expired. You might not want ANY chips in those circumstances, and if you did get a single serving bag and eat it, the odds of driving back to the store in a chip-possessed maniacal fashion to buy and eat more are (I’m guessing here) slim.

To use an even MORE over the top illustration, if you were eating the food you used to think of as trigger food and the phone rang and your mother was in the hospital and you needed to come right now, would you be able to stop eating the food?

Gosh I hope so.

Everyone is different, but in general, eating excessive portions is harder to resist if we are home, alone, emotional, have a large quantity of the food in front of us, it’s later in the day, it’s a weekend, we have nowhere to go, and are stressed or upset5–7.

Ladies, throw in PMS. When you are working on reclaiming control over a food, you want as few of these factors increasing the challenge as possible. Make it as easy as you can for yourself to succeed! That means you may want to have company, be outside the house, only have immediate access to a single serving, on a day you’re feeling pretty good, and know after you have your treat you’ll be doing something else.

Start at the maximally supported situation you can think of, and get a few exposures to that food with success. Prove to yourself it is possible.

A typical one my clients use is going out with a friend or significant other to buy one single portion of the food, and then having something else planned to do. Popping gum in your mouth can help even more to move on from the taste.

Then, consider if you want to move along the spectrum and open up the flexibility of your eating that food. There’s no end point you “have to” or “should” reach. If you find it’s easy to avoid overeating certain foods by not keeping them in your house, or by only buying single serve portions – great! Use that knowledge to help yourself succeed.

Many people find that they quickly build confidence and soon don’t need the company with them or can bring the food home and be totally fine with it. Awesome!!

It’s also okay to decide to not bring a food home for the long term if it’s too difficult. There is no “I can keep every junk food imaginable in my house and resist it” merit badge.

If you choose to make certain foods “out of the house” foods, it’s not because you “can’t” but because it’s easier to eat it in the manner you enjoy if you choose to have it in a different setting. That’s not making a rule, it’s making a wise choice.

My husband Roland and I don’t keep cookies at home, because if we want a cookie, it’s easiest for us to eat one cookie if we go buy one cookie. Having cookies around here just makes it an added willpower challenge to not eat them in excess. Not having them around makes it easy to not even think of them.

The relationship you have with a particular food, like so many other things in your life, is one you can choose and make reality. You might choose to set some boundaries, and reserve particular foods for certain circumstances, or eventually feel at ease having any food at any time in any scenario. There is no right or wrong. 

For more help in attaining a healthy relationship with food and reaching your leanness goals without ever dieting again, pick up my book Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss and join my free Facebook Group for support. You can also find my latest articles over at AskGeorgie.com.

About the Author

Georgie Fear is a registered dietitian and professional nutrition coach and the author of Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss.

One habit at a time, she teaches clients around the world how to get lean and live better lives through improving their food habits, without suffering or calorie counting.

In her coaching, Georgie draws from her research expertise in appetite regulation and human behavior change to ensure clients are not only well fed physically, but supported emotionally and given autonomy throughout their journey.

She adores teaching, has an analogy for almost everything, and loves to help her clients fall in love with themselves. While she has worked with NCAA teams and Olympic athletes, her favorite type of clients are normal everyday people who are sick of dieting and want to an enjoyable, healthy relationship with food.

Works Cited:

  1. Massey A, Hill AJ. Dieting and food craving. A descriptive, quasi-prospective study. Appetite. 2012;58(3):781-785. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.01.020.
  2. Meule A, Westenhöfer J, Kübler A. Food cravings mediate the relationship between rigid, but not flexible control of eating behavior and dieting success. Appetite. 2011;57(3):582-584. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.07.013.
  3. Kuijer RG, Boyce J a. Chocolate cake. Guilt or celebration? Associations with healthy eating attitudes, perceived behavioural control, intentions and weight-loss. Appetite. 2014;74:48-54. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2013.11.013.
  4. Fitzsimmons-Craft EE, Keatts DA, Bardone-Cone AM. Eating Expectancies in Relation to Eating Disorder Recovery. Cognit Ther Res. 2013;37(5):1041-1047. doi:10.1007/s10608-013-9522-7.
  5. Stroebele N, De Castro JM. Effect of ambience on food intake and food choice. Nutrition. 2004;20(9):821-838. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2004.05.012.
  6. Rolls BJ, Morris EL, Roe LS. Portion size of food affects energy intake in normal-weight and overweight men and women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;76(6):1207-1213. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/6/1207.short. Accessed April 4, 2015.
  7. Crowther JH, Sanftner J, Bonifazi DZ, Shepherd KL. The role of daily hassles in binge eating. Int J Eat Disord. 2001;29(4):449-454. doi:10.1002/eat.1041.
CategoriesMotivational Nutrition Supplements

The Forgotten Quality of the Fitness Industry

I’d like to start with a story. It involves a temple, a monk, a woman, and her small child.

(Sorry, this story doesn’t begin with your standard “a cowboy, rabbi, and turtle walk into a bar…..”)

It’s a story I originally heard from strength coach Martin Rooney and few years ago, and it’s a story that has resonated with every since.

It begins with a woman and her small child walking up the stairs of a temple that houses a monk. At wits end, the woman reluctantly approaches the wise monk and asks, “wise Monk I’ve tried everything I can to get my child to stop eating sugar and nothing has worked. Can you offer any sage advice? Anything?”

The monk looks at the woman and the child, and calmly says, “come back and ask me again in two weeks.”

With a quizzical look on her face, the mother reluctantly walked away. Two weeks later, she brings her son to see the monk.

“Stop eating sugar,” he says to the little boy.

“Why did we have to wait two weeks for that?”

“Because,” the monk said, “I myself had to stop eating sugar.”

That’s integrity.

in·teg·ri·ty
inˈteɡrədē/
noun
  1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
    “he is known to be a man of integrity”

It’s something I feel that’s missing from the fitness industry.

But this isn’t to throw the entire fitness industry under the bus. Nor is it an attempt to single out the fitness industry as the sole proprietor of snake oil fishery.

By and large I feel the industry as a whole is rife with well-intentioned, good-hearted, truthful, and honest professionals who want nothing more than to help people and do so in a non-douchey manner.

Likewise, it would be naive of me to say that no other profession is immune to having its veins cut off from integrity with a tourniquet. All we have to do is take a hop, jump, and skip back to 2008 with the housing market and all the Wall Street and investment banking scumbags who purposely preyed on and sold subprime mortgages to unsuspecting home buyers knowing full well that what they were doing was unethical and likely going to bankrupt a lot of people.

Not to mention the economy.

Likewise, we don’t have to steer far off the beaten track to witness shady deals and actions by our politicians. And, have you not heard a good lawyer joke lately?

I don’t want to sound like a Jonny Raincloud, though; I truly am someone who gives most people the benefit of the doubt and feels most people are kind and good hearted.

While there’s a lot about the industry I love, there’s something about he fitness industry that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s partly because I’ve been “in it” for so long and have seen anything and everything that can happen. All I have to do is turn on the television at 2AM and see any number of shams being sold to the public. Anything from Shake Weights to 7-Minute Abs (or are we down to 6 minutes now? I’ve lost count) to detox diets to a certain “celebrity doctor” announcing that Acai Berries are the greatest miracle food in the history of ever.

They make you shit rainbows!

It’s nauseating at times.

And it all makes me reminisce about that Wendy’s commercial from the 1980s where the three ladies exclaim: “where’s the beef?”

Except in this case I want to ask: “where’s the integrity?”

But then again who am I to judge? All these people are making bank and it’s a free country, right? And this isn’t to suggest that all the aforementioned people and examples are the Spawn of Satan. For all I know they’re all lovely individuals who donate blood a few times a year, pay their taxes, volunteer their time at a local homeless shelter, or read scripture to orphaned kittens. Or whateverthef***.

All that said, while it’s my own opinion, there’s an astonishingly emaciated level of integrity in the fitness industry.

At the expense of coming across as a little holier than thou, I can count numerous times where I turned away distance coaching clients in lieu of encouraging them to purchase The New Rules of Lifting or The New Rules of Lifting For Women instead.

They don’t need to drop a few hundred dollars over the course of a few months when a book that costs $10 can be just as useful. Many times I tell them to buy the book, read it (<— this is important: they need to understand the WHYs of doing what they’re being asked to do), follow the program, and after 3-6 months, if they’re ready for a more personalized approach, to shoot me another message.

Moreover, while I could easily step away from coaching and do nothing but tap away on my computer on a day to say basis writing articles and fitness programs for people all over the world, there’s just something that doesn’t jive with me to write about training people and not actually train people.

In a gym.

In person.

In real life.

But that’s just me. I have all the respect in the world for those colleagues of mine who have the luxury to work from home seven days a week and travel the world. Many of them still do coach people, though. And many of them accumulated years of experience beforehand.

It’s when the new trainer who’s fresh out of school and feels he knows everything because he read SuperTraining (dude, you didn’t understand a thing! I still don’t understand it) is quick to jump on the “I’m-going-to-be-rich-because-I-wrote-an-ebook” train, that my gears starting grinding.

How can someone with little or no actual coaching/training experience write a book on how to train people?

My good buddy, Bryan Krahn, wrote an amazing article on this phenomenon not too long ago. Essentially on how to go about spotting the Liars, Scammers, and Douchebags in the fitness industry. Part I and Part II.

It’s a great read, and not for nothing…Bryan is someone you should be following.

And then there’s the supplement industry.

Oh boy…….now that’s a cesspool of douchebags to the douchiest degree if there ever was one.

Did I break the record for using the word douchebag in a post yet?

If not, douchebag.

Yes, I believe there are companies out there who provide awesome products and I’d be lying if I said I don’t use supplements or recommend them to my athletes and clients.

However, the “good” ones are few and far between.

Which is why I find the guys (and girls!) over at Examine.com invaluable. When it comes to integrity – and lets be honest, the supplement industry, at times, is severely lacking in that department – Examine.com is the integrity police.

It’s the largest (over 1 million visitors per day) and most trusted UNBIASED resource on supplementation on the internet. They have an advisory board full of physicians, researchers, scientists, and probably wizards that scrutinize and dissect every piece of literature released on their site.

You can be assured that the information they provide is 100% correct, and not to be reiterated enough….UNBIASED.

As it happens, the site itself just turned 4 years old yesterday. Holla!

To celebrate they’re placing all their resources on sale for the next 60 or so hours. Starting TODAY (3/17) at 12 PM.

That means…

– Supplement-Goals Reference Guide on sale.
– The Stack Guides on sale
– Examine Research Digest (<— monthly research review) on sale.

Up to 40% off in fact. Which is a steal given the amount (and quality) of information you’re getting.

Integrity in the fitness industry is hard to find; but it still exists. You just have to know where to look.

CategoriesNutrition

Losing Fat and Building Muscle With a Simple Lifestyle Diet

Note from TG: Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Ohio based personal trainer, Collin Messer. Collin wrote an interesting guest post a few weeks ago HERE, and afterwards proposed a post on how to help people develop a simple lifestyle diet. I like simple. Simple works. Enjoy.

As the saying goes, the best diet is the one that you stick to. Some people have the capacity to stick to intense or complex diets and they get great results. But that’s not me. I prefer a nice lifestyle kind of diet that I can just tweak here and there to burn some fat or grow some muscle.

Usually my clients resonate with this too after they’ve wrecked their metabolism doing all kinds of crazy diets and detoxes. This led me to take the most simple approach I could. I start with a general foundation, then make small adjustments as I go depending on the client.

This is how you do it…

The Foundation

First I start with a simple foundation that all my clients can adhere too pretty well. There are five rules that I have found to be fairly painless for most people to follow.

  1. Eat well 90% of the time and don’t worry about the other 10%.
  2. Eat 2-3 meals per day.
  3. The majority of your diet should be lean meats and vegetables with occasional intake of fruits and carb sources like white rice, quinoa, or oats.
  4. Avoid processed foods, food products, and sugar as best as possible.
  5. Try to only drink water, tea, or coffee.

Usually when I give new clients these foundational principles they drop a few pounds of water weight and lose some of the bloating they didn’t even realize was there. I’ll have people build good habits and focus only on these rules for 1-2 weeks before doing anything else.

One thing to notice here is that I didn’t give any recommendation on calorie intake. I have found that by cleaning up the food choices people tend to eat in normal amounts and their body adjusts to a healthier lifestyle.

 

Building Upon The Foundation

After I establish a solid foundation with the client then I’ll start to build upon it and tweak things depending on the person’s goals, habits, and lifestyle. There are a lot of things you could do from here but I have a few adjustments I routinely make.

Note that I only add one or two adjustments at a time and it always depends on the client. Not every option is good for everyone, use your own judgement and you’ll do just fine.

Intermittent Fasting For Fat Loss

If the client is focusing on fat loss then I like to work in some intermittent fasting. I really like the 16/8 model found at LeanGains.com. It’s essentially a 16 hour fast followed by an 8 hour eating window. The easiest way to do this is to just skip breakfast and have your first meal at a your regular lunch time. So you would have a normal lunch, a normal dinner, and a meal or snack in between as necessary.

At this point I still don’t tell clients to try and eat less. For most people, the “diet” part is the fast in the morning. If you try to lower calories and skip breakfast then you’re probably going to be drastically undereating and clinging to that body fat for dear life.

Note From TG: for more information on Intermittent Fasting, I’d highly recommend checking out THIS resource by the peeps over at Precision Nutrition. Easily one of the best resources I’ve ever come across on the topic. It doesn’t make your head hurt with big words and it’s free. So there’s that.

Carb Back Loading For Fat Loss

Some people just don’t like skipping breakfast. It gives them a reason to get out of bed and not hate the early morning life. And that’s just fine because I can work with that. My go to solution here is back loading the carbs to later in the day.

By shifting the carbs later in the day you body will stay more sensitive to insulin for a longer period of time (one of the goals of intermittent fasting). Depending on the person and their lifestyle then I’ll have them eat their first carbs at lunch, post workout, or dinner. So, they’re eating breakfast but still taking advantage of the low levels of insulin that the.

My go to breakfast option that won’t spike insulin is a few eggs with a fatty meat like bacon or sausage. Top this off with some black coffee and you’ll be good to go.

IF or Carb Back Loading For Muscle Gain

While these strategies are great for fat loss you can definitely use them for muscle gain. I’m currently using the 16/8 IF strategy to build muscle myself. The main difference is to make sure you’re eating above maintenance on the calories. So if you can’t fit in all of you calories in 2-3 meals in an 8 hour window then this isn’t the method for you.

The reason why I skip breakfast even though I’m building muscle is because I feel it helps me stay leaner while still building muscle. More muscle with less fat is always a good goal. Plus it fits my lifestyle well as I feel very clear headed and focused in the morning, so I get a lot of writing and programming done.

Refeed Meals

With the foundation I laid out, it would be easy to find yourself eating a pretty low carb diet (less than 100g carbs per day). Though that’s not exactly the point of the foundation, it usually benefits people to reduce their carb intake a bit.

After the initial 1-2 week adjustment period, if the person seems to be continually eating lower amounts of carbs then I usually advise to up their carb intake at dinner. A sweet potato or some extra rice will work well here. If they have hit a fat loss plateau then we’ll usually break through it again.

This works well for some people, but not everyone. They either think they’re upping their carbs when they really aren’t, or they just still need more. This is where the gift of a refeed meal comes in. For one dinner, I want them to significantly ramp up carbs and whatever sugary dessert they want.

The refeed is going to really help kickstart more fat loss and provide more energy. Plus it’s always a great mental break for them to enjoy their favorite dessert again.

Be careful with these though. The refeed doesn’t mean you can go on a weekend binge fest while watching the entire Lord of The Rings trilogy in one sitting. Usually just having a big bowl of ice cream at dinner is going to work well.

Putting It All Together

There you have it folks, this is the template for building a successful lifestyle diet. You start with the foundation and then adjust it as you go to maintain steady progress towards your goal. Once you reach your goal, its as simple as adjusting your calorie intake to maintenance level and you’re good to go.

Sometimes the most simple things are the most effective.

About the Author

Collin Messer is a Personal Trainer at MesserFit Strength and Conditioning in Lebanon, OH. He primarily works with younger athletes and weekend warriors. When he’s not crushing deadlifts or back bends he’s writing at CollinMesser.com about all things life and fitness.

CategoriesMotivational Nutrition

My Diet Home Base

I have a home base or “go to” for just about everything. And by that I mean the thing – however ordinary, ornate, ominous, or obligatory – I’ll always default to when in a pinch or when I know I won’t be able to make up my mind and just want something familiar.

Home base restaurant (general): Chipotle

Home base restaurant (in Boston): Beehive or Sunset Grill.

Home base movie: GoodFellas

Home base television show: House Hunters International Fresh Prince of Bel Air re-runs.

Home base book: anything written by Kurt Vonnegut (or has lots of pictures).

Home base lazy day activity: hanging with my cat or going to the local bookstore.

Home base musical artist: Norah Jones. Whatever dude, don’t judge me! I saw that REO Speedwagon mix tape in your glove compartment.

Home base is simple. It’s what we know. It’s consistent. No matter what, it’s what we’ll always gravitate towards when left to our own devices and just want to go with the flow. It’s home.

Many of us have forgotten what our home base is when it comes to diet and nutrition.

There’s a lot of noise out there to distract us. Every week there’s a new diet book that hits the New York Times Best Seller list.

Last week it was Paleo Rules: The Ultimate Diet We Have Little Proof Existed In the First Place and Meant Different Things to Different Parts of the World Depending on What Food Was Available to Them At the Time (Yet Will 100% Cure Everything, Ever. Including How Fat You Are)1, and this week it’s the seminal hit, Gluten Is Basically Worse Than Ebola2.

Adding fuel to the fire, one week dietary fat is bad and will steal your lunch money, and the next it’s our BFF. A few years ago intermittent fasting was all the rage. Now it’s all about if-it-fits-your-macros, yo!

NOTE: for an excellent, all-encompassing (free) resource on intermittent fasting go HERE.

It’s no wonder so many people are so confused on what to eat! I overheard a conversation not too long ago between two women at Panera where one of them was having a mid-life crisis on eating an apple before bed. She had been so indoctrinated that all carbohydrates were bad, she needed to find solace from her friend to reassure her that it was okay. The fructose police weren’t coming after her.

Listen, I’m not a hater. I recognize that what works for one person, may not be an ideal fit for the next. I also recognize there’s going to be a bit of experimentation to figure out what works best for any one individual. If you want to eat nothing but grapefruits for 17 days or ingest some magical pills that have you shitting detox rainbows, have at it!

I feel the whole “detox” trend is BS, but if that’s your bag so be it.

If it works for you and it makes you happy, cool. However, I do feel it’s important to have a home base. A place you can feel “safe” and revert to when things get dicey or unclear.

Using myself as an example, I know what works for me and what makes my body feel good. I remember I did an intermittent fasting experiment two years ago for a month to see what all the buzz was about. I hated it.

I typically train between 9-11 AM and my lifts suffered because I’d get halfway through my session and think about nothing other than when I was going to eat.

I lasted 3-4 weeks and reverted back to my “normal” diet. Lots of whole eggs, beef, chicken, fruits/veggies, etc. Sounds very Paleolike, right? I guess you could say I roll with that crowd…..to a degree. Keep reading.

I also remember a stretch where Lisa and I went hardcore Paleo. We took grains, lentils, and beans out of our diet. We also omitted peanut butter – GODDAMMIT!!! – and pretty much all dairy.  It was tolerable, but I noticed after awhile I was feeling a bit more lethargic and tired during the day – especially in the mornings, which shouldn’t happen after 9-10 hours of quality sleep.

It didn’t take long before I went all Wilford Brimley and said, “fuck this I’m eating my oatmeal.”

I felt better.

I know my body. I know my body handles carbs well3; I know it prefers a big breakfast every morning; I know it prefers I “taper” carbs as the day progresses; I know it likes potatoes, beans, oats, grains, and everything else people who like to sell books hate; I know it loves eating dead animal flesh; I know it can handle dairy (I’m obsessed with cheese); I know supplements aren’t going to trump real food; and I know it loves mine and Lisa’s “Date Night,” where we go out to eat every Saturday night and not only eat bread, but ask for more than one basket. And then we eat dessert.

If I’m paying $30+ for an entree you better believe I’m having some carrot cake!

I know what works for ME and what allows me to hit my goals. If I ever stray too far away from what I know works, I can always go back. That’s the beauty of having a home base in the first place! Once you know what it is, you know where to find it.

It may take you or someone you know a bit longer to define home base – it can mean different things to different people. For some, home base is 10% body-fat year round and being able to “fuel” every grueling workout. For others, home base is eating GMO, organic sawdust. And for others, home base is eating well-balanced diet (what ever that means).

The point is: a home base exists. It works for YOU. You feel great and it allows you to reach (and MAINTAIN) your goal(s).

Basically what I’m trying to say is: oatmeal is my home base.

What’s yours?

UPDATE: maybe I need to write a little sumthin, sumthin in my training home base?

CategoriesNutrition Product Review

Tuning Out the Noise When It Comes to Research

Note from TG:  I know some people are put off when they read something only to get to the end and find out they’re being “sold” something. I just wanted to be straight forward from the get go that what follows is an endorsement for Examine.com’s Research Digest.

I love what they do and what they stand for, and feel this is something that will help a lot of people tune out the noise and chaos propagated by the mainstream media. 

I hate reading research. There I said it.

I know it seems sacrilegious for someone who makes a living doing fitness writing to say that, but it’s true. I hate it.

If I had to choose between sitting down to read an entire research study or swallowing live bees I’d seriously contemplate the latter.

This isn’t to say I don’t feel research isn’t important or that I never do it. Before people start grabbing their pitchforks and storm the castle, to be clear: I do feel it’s very important and I do read it.

Sometimes.

Photo Credit: Astronomy Blog

It’s just that whenever I attempt to read a research study I get through two paragraphs before I start falling asleep. And if by some miracle I do make it through to the end, I rarely ever remember anything because I either 1) blacked out or 2) started making paper airplanes out of the study itself.

When I do read research, however, particularly research reviews, I always appreciate when it comes from sources that I recognize and trust.

Shit gets convoluted real quick once the mainstream media gets their dirty paws on a study. Anything that they can sensationalize and distort in order to separate themselves from the masses and to garner viewership is all they’re after.

Remember the whole egg yolk consumption is worse than cigarettes debacle?

Anyways, as much as I disdain reading research I do like to stay a head of the curve. And to that end, any chance I have to allow someone else do the “dissecting of research” for me, the better.

Introducing Examine.com’s Research Digest

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of the guys (and girls) over at Examine.com. They’re my GO TO source for unbiased information on supplementation. I can’t begin to tell you how many athletes and clients I’ve referred to them.

They single-handedly solved that niche.

Now they’re goal is to make research more accessible.

And it isn’t just ONE person doing the grunt work.

Here’s what separates ERD from everyone else:

– They have a panel of nerds researchers doing researchy things.

– Before anything is put to print, all their references and claims are double-checked by a group of editors hand picked for their experience and expertise in their respective fields.

– THEN there’s another round of edits and “checks and balances” done by outside industry and academic leaders to ensure a more fair and balanced representation of the information.

In addition:

1. It’s written in laymen’s terms and in a way which won’t require a Klingon-English translation.

2. It provides unparalleled professional development on a monthly basis.

3. If you don’t have the time to read ERD, you can listen to it instead. It’s also available in MP3 format.

4. And, it’s stunning to look at. The production value is top-notch. I.e., there’s pictures!!!

I was lucky enough to land an advance copy of Issue #1, and it’s sooooooo good I can’t even stand it. Here’s the table of contents.

Of Note: one of my favs, obesity doctor, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, wrote this month’s editorial The Shady Underbelly of Evidence Based Medicine. And each subsequent issue will highlight other industry big wigs moving forward.

All in all it’s an excellent way to stay on top of the research, stay up-to-date with the research, and not feel intimidated by the research. All for about a $1 per day. It’s a monthly subscription.

HOWEVER, you can save 20% off the monthly price starting TODAY (Nov. 6th) through the rest of the week by going HERE.

Check it out. Doooooooo it.

CategoriesNutrition

Carbohydrate Rotation Revamped

Note from TG:  I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: Han shot first I don’t post nearly enough nutrition related topics on this site as I should.

Truth be told my approach to nutrition is simple, self explanatory, and mirrors that of the Jen Sinkler school of thought.  Which is: don’t eat like an a**hole.

I don’t think many fitness professionals will disagree with me when I say that the thing that serves as the biggest bottleneck preventing many people from seeing the results they’re after is their nutrition.

People have a habit of making things waaaaay more complicated than they have to be. I’m always perplexed when someone asks me my opinion on macronutrient timing, intermittent fasting or, I don’t know, whether or not I feel drinking green tea every two hours mixed with deer antler powder (and a drop of unicorn tears) is the key to losing weight (or even putting it on).

Why put the cart before the horse and make things more complicated than they have to be?  Why do some people feel like they’re soooooo special and it’s beneath them to apply the basics, and instead skip 27 steps and jump right into the advanced stuff?

How about just sitting down, being honest with yourself, and making a concerted effort to make better/healthier food choices?  Or, as Dan John put it: stop eating like a child!

Still, I recognize that telling someone to “eat their veggies and take their fish oil” gets a little old and lacks a certain pizzaz.  It’s just not exciting.

And it’s with that I want to introduce everyone to Jonathan Acosta who’s a personal trainer in the San Antonio area.  He offered to write a Cliff Notes article on Carb-Cycling, which is something I’ve used sporadically myself and with my own clients/athletes to aid in fat loss or body recomposition.

While it sounds like something complicated, it really isn’t….and I’d argue it’s actually one of the best approaches to SUSTAINABLE body composition changes.

Enjoy!

Carbohydrate Rotation Revamped

When it comes to nutrition there’s so much info out there that it becomes confusing. Seriously, there’s some crazy info out there.

There are “Guru’s” preaching that kipping and nuts are the breakfast of champions. Or if you wanna see your abs and get more anabolic you have to have a post workout shake exactly 42 minutes and 42 seconds after your workout. Preferably on the first week of the month or on the next solstice.

With all the magic bullet pills and cabbage soup diets, it’s easy to get misled. Just remember, 10 years ago dudes used to crank out workouts and drink breast milk after because it was the holy grail of muscle building. CRRRAAAAZZZZYYYY.

What happened to simplicity? What happened to eating the best possible nutrient dense foods for your goals? 

Whether the goal is building muscle or fat loss, CARB ROTATION is my weapon of choice……….aside from Mjolnir. <—–Google it.

But here’s the thing. Counting macros and using formulas isn’t for everyone. It’s great and don’t get me wrong everything NEEDS to be counted. Even if you don’t count it you’re body does. I’d even go as far as say if you hit a plateau and start weighing all your meals you’d see things revamp fast.

But in the real world this isn’t always possible. At least not for the long haul.

I’m pretty sure you’re busy, and have a family, and one of those things everyone calls a J.O.B. The last thing you wanna have to do is worry about one more thing.

So today I’m aiming for simplicity. HOW TO MEET YOUR NUTRITIONAL GOALS, BUT IN THE SIMPLEST WAY POSSIBLE.

So what is carb cycling?

Since you’re already reading Tony’s blog I assume you enjoy the finer things in life and read high quality stuff. So more than likely you’ve come across carb rotating before. But as a quick recap, carb rotation in a nutshell is basically having some days that are high carb to promote muscle growth and recovery and low carb days to promote fat loss. So ……yea…basically that.

Simple right?

LET ME EXPLAIN:

High carb days

  • Stimulate insulin
  • Replenish your glycogen stores
  • Keeps you from being a hungry bear
  • Fuel the machine

Low carb days

  • Help improve your body’s insulin sensitivity
  • Promotes fat loss by having your body use fat for fuel instead of the glucose from carbs
  • Get rid of unwanted friends or coworkers with your grumpiness

There are a ton of ways to use carb cycling but I’m not gonna get too in depth today. Why?

1. Because you can go a long way with just the basics. Were simplifying things remember.

2. Because honestly I don’t have the attention span right now to write out that much.

The Magic Formula

STEP 1.  Eat starchy carbs on the days you lift weights.

STEP 2.  On the days you don’t lift weights or are doing some sort of HIIT or Intervals don’t have any starchy carbs.

NOTES:

-High carb days don’t have to be lifting weights only, it’s just the days you have your MAIN workouts. The roughest and toughest ones.

-Also, protein should always be high and veggies should always be thrown in the mix along with healthy fats. The only thing that changes is starchy carbs.

-High carb days should always be on days where you do skwatz, or the lifting of the deads.

I know what some of you may be wondering. “But Jonathan what are starchy carbs?”

I knew you were gonna ask that. These qualify as starchy carbs. Its not limited to just these but they’re are just a few.

CARBS 

Oatmeal

Sweet potato

White potato

Red Potato

Rice

Ezekiel bread

Ezekiel tortillas

Quinoa

Fruit

Notice there weren’t any donuts, cakes, or pizza in there……….yea we avoid those Mmmmmmkay…

While we’re at it lets give you a run down of approved proteins and fats too.

PROTEIN

Lean red meats (all the rib eyes in the world)

Chicken

Eggs

Turkey

Shrimp

Fish

Lean pork

Basically lean meats, seafood, and eggs.

FATS

Coconut oil

Avocado

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)  <—–read it in Rachel Ray’s voice and it makes you more anabolic.

Red palm oil

Nuts

So lets give an example what a week on carb rotating would look like. Say if someone works out 3x a week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then their week would look like so.

MONDAY– Workout- High carb day

TUESDAY– Non workout- Low carb day

WEDNESDAY– Workout- High carb day

THURSDAY– Non workout- Low carb day

FRIDAY– Workout- High carb day

SATURDAY– Non workout- Low carb day

SUNDAY– Non workout- Low carb day

What?!?!?!? No pizza and barbacoa on Sunday?!?!?!?!  I know I know but it’s just a small temporary sacrifice. I mean if you’re wanting your body to sacrifice fat to the exercise Gods then you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice something too.  Ok……moving on.

Based off of what we talked about earlier a typical high carb day’s meals would consist of: Protein, Starches, and Veggies.

 

A low carb day’s meal would look like this: Protein, Veggies, Healthy fats (the veggies are what will replace the starches for you to keep you full)

 

Basically just replace a starch for cruciferous veggies on your low carb days.

Here’s an example of a high carb day from a current client:

She’s extremely busy and eats out for lunch mostly so we find restaurants that she can choose plenty of stuff from. She also lifts 4x a week and has the appetite of the hulk. <—– Can we just safely say this is all women who lift!?!?!  Can I get an AMEN!

Remember this is just an example of what SHE eats and should give you a general idea. So don’t copy it exactly and then email me angrily that it sucks and didn’t work for you.

BREAKFAST:

3 free range eggs

1 cup spinach

1/2 cup steel cut oats

1 banana

SNACK:

1 Quest bar

LUNCH:

(At Cracker Barrel)

3 grilled chicken tenderloins

steamed veggies

Medium sweet potato

SNACK:

2 scoops whey isolate

DINNER:

Burger on Ezekiel bread

4 oz lean ground beef

1 oz cheese

Kale

2 slices Ezekiel bread

Example low carb day from same client:

BREAKFAST:

3 free range eggs cooked in 1 tbsp coconut oil

1 cup spinach

Avocado

LUNCH:

Hangar steak

Brussel sprouts

DINNER:

3 oz chicken

2 oz shrimp

Grilled veggies

“DESSERT”

1 warmed up quest bar

Here’s an example of one of our male clients:

He works mostly outdoors doing construction so 3 meals a day plus a snack works great for him. He also feels sluggish in the mornings whenever carbs are added so we just spread them out through the rest of the day.

This is where it’s important to learn your body and what you work best with. The only thing worse than doing something that makes you feel shitty is not being aware you’re doing it or what it is.

High Carb Day:

BREAKFAST:

5 egg whites

4oz of turkey sausage

1 cup kale

SNACK:

2 scoops whey isolate

handful of Udi’s all natural granola

LUNCH:

6oz chicken

2 cups jasmine rice

any veggie

DINNER:

6oz lean meat

1 large baked potato

salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Low Carb Day:

BREAKFAST:

5 egg whites

3 strips uncured bacon

1 cup kale

cooked in coconut oil

SNACK:

2 scoops whey iso

handful of almonds

LUNCH:

Shrimp fajitas

onions

bell pepper

4oz avocado

DINNER:

6 oz Wild caught salmon

Broccoli

grass fed butter

There you have it. Simple as that.

Final tips (I promise)

  • If you’re hungrier on your low carb days simply eat more protein and veggies. <——Higher protein is NOT bad for you.
  • Don’t worry about counting macros (carbs, proteins, and fats) yet……..YET!!!!!!
  • Since I know someone’s going to ask. If you’re gonna cheat try and keep it on a high carb day and at least 6-7 days apart. NOT every high day, just to be clear. Some people can get away with those cheats a lot more frequently; they are not of this world and should not be trusted.
  • Carbs should always be for sure around the workout time. Preferably post workout.

This is a perfect starting point for anyone looking for fat loss or some body recomposition. It’s even an awesome autopilot once you’ve gotten around where you wanna be with your goals.

The beauty of this is its simplicity. Don’t put too much thought into it. There’s no need to complicate anything. Just take this time to learn how your body works with things and reacts and adjusts to things. Learning your body is the most important and rewarding part of your fitness journey.

Author’s Bio

Jonathan Acosta is the founder and head trainer at Get Sexy San Antonio and is a certified personal trainer though both ISSA and the NCEP, as well as Precision Nutrition Level I certified.. He also likes to lift heavy things.

CategoriesNutrition

Understanding the Importance of Satiety

I guess some people took my comment that I don’t include nearly enough nutrition content on this site to heart.  The “Dynamic Duo” (Chris and Eric Martinez) are back, and with some quality information concerning the topic of satiety.

We’ve all been around someone who’s been “hangry” before.  You know… hungry and angry. And it’s not pleasant. Borderline dangerous if you ask me.

How can we combat this phenomena?  Read on to find out!

“In all pleasure there is satiety.” –George Hakewill

In all honesty how many of you can relate to the above quote?

We sure hope many of you are nodding your heads and saying yes. When you stop and think about it, isn’t life more enjoyable when you feel satiated and not hungry? Who wants to be that guy or gal with their stomach growling like there is a volcano about to erupt? We certainly do not; all you can really do when you hear hunger pangs like that is just look straight forward with your eyes widened like you saw a ghost.

We all should be aware that satiety means to feel satiated (aka feel full).

By accomplishing this feeling, one must actually eat throughout the day!

With how society works now there is quote on quote no time to eat right? We get it, life can be stressful, we are all on the go, we don’t have time to cook, we don’t know what to eat, etc.

These are just excuses at the end of the day. By not eating throughout the day you are just doing your entire body and brain a disservice. So, the question becomes, how long can you stand being hungry before you start eating again? Well, only you can really determine that.

Understanding Hunger and Satiety

Hunger is one of your body’s strongest and most beneficial stimuli, it helps ensure you consume enough calories for your needs. It also works against you when you’re trying to lose weight. You could easily lose weight just by eating less, but the less that you eat or the longer you postpone eating, the hungrier you become, and the longer it takes your hunger to subside once you do begin to eat. (1)

Typically the hungrier you are, the more likely it is that you’ll overeat, consuming extra calories that can quickly inhibit or reverse your weight loss progress.

As we mentioned earlier, the only way to end hunger and feel satiated is to eat. Yes eat, which is one of the most enjoyable things to do in life and pretty important from a human physiological stand point. With that said, our main point here is eat and cure those awful hunger pangs and give your body the nutrients it needs to operate and function properly throughout the day.

Are All Foods High in Satiation Levels?

Some foods are better than others for satisfying your hunger. A baked potato, for example, will most likely “fill you up” much more than a serving of candy that has the same number of calories.

We have often heard people claim that you have to cut potatoes out in order to lose weight. Funny thing is they never have any data or proven references to back up these narrow minded claims.

For example, Chris Voigt, head of Washington State Potato Commission, went on a 60 day potato only diet and lost 21 lbs while improving his blood lipid profile and reducing his fasting glucose levels. Still think you can’t lose weight while eating potatoes? Another study found that potatoes were far more satiating than all 38 common foods tested, including protein dominant foods. (2)

Some foods fill your stomach faster and/or remain in your stomach longer, and therefore do a better job of holding off hunger. For example, Higher GI carbs, which are fast digesting breakdown faster into the blood stream and store faster in your glycogen levels. As opposed to complex carbs that take longer to break down will keep your satiety levels much higher throughout the course of a day along with keeping your blood sugar levels stable.

In another study which was conducted by Suzanna Holt of the University of Sydney, fed human test subjects fixed calorie portions of 38 different foods, and then recorded the subject’s perceived hunger following each feeding.

The results of Holt’s study, like many similar studies, indicate that satiety is most strongly related to the weight of the food consumed. In other words, the foods that weigh the most satisfy our hunger best, regardless of the number of calories they contain.

However, higher amounts of certain nutrients, such as protein and dietary fiber, also appear to improve satiety. (3)

Can Satiety Be Predicted?

Sure it’s that popular hormone we call “Ghrelin” that many of us dislike.

All kidding aside, if there was a way of predicting satiety, we would be able to select foods that satisfied our hunger, but contained fewer calories. These foods would greatly improve our ability to create meals that were effective for weight loss. Some research studies have mentioned to consume foods with low caloric densities (foods that have the lowest total calories per gram). (4)

We feel caloric density alone is not a reliable predictor of satiety, and it overlooks many enjoyable foods that would make awesome additions to your diet. The last thing we would ever suggest is to cut out certain food groups or foods that people enjoy. This is a recipe for disaster, possible binge eating occurrences, eating disorders, and more.

The best way to predict satiety is to have foods that contain large amounts of water, dietary fiber, and are high and rich in protein. Whole foods such as complex carbs, veggies, fruits, quality fat sources, and lean meats do a better job of satisfying your hunger.

Best Food Options to Maximize Satiety Levels are?

This list of foods was adapted from Holt et al. (5) The foods are listed from most filling to least filling:

  • Potatoes, boiled
  • Ling Fish
  • Oatmeal/Porridge (<—- Tony’s personal fav!)
  • Oranges
  • Apples
  • Brown Pasta
  • Beef
  • Baked Beans
  • Grapes
  • Whole Wheat Bread
  • Popcorn
  • Eggs
  • Cheese
  • White Rice
  • Brown Rice
  • All-Bran

As you can see it is quite the variety and the list still continues, but we feel you get the idea of which foods are more filling than others.

Wrapping This All Up

As we mentioned earlier, isn’t life more enjoyable when you feel satiated and not hungry and deprived of food?

We hope this article cleared up some confusion about satiety and what foods are more satiating than others.

The bottom line here is pretty much trial and error. Experiment with different food sources and see what foods are more filling for you. Of course we are not saying to go out and splurge and try a bunch of chocolate or candy. We are simply saying do this experiment all while hitting your macronutrient ranges and micronutrients and enjoy life. If you are confused about macronutrients, we suggest you read this very informative article on FLEXIBLE DIETING.

Once you really figure out what food sources keep you full throughout the day, it is a thing of beauty because you are not always thinking about when your next meal is, you are less likely to pick at foods which will hinder weight loss progress, and depriving yourself from certain foods you want.

Oh yea, and you won’t be that person everyone can hear your stomach growling.

References:

1.)   Anderson, G.H., and Woodend, D., “Effect of glycemic carbohydrate on short-term satiety and food intake,” Nutr Rev 2003.

2.)   Voight, Chris., “20 potatoes a day,” 1995. http://20potatoesaday.com/

3.)   Holt, SH., Miller, JC., Petocz, P., Farmakalidis, E., “A Satiety index of common foods,” Eur J Clin Nutr 1995.

4.)   Porrini, M., “Effects of physical and chemical characteristics of food on specific and general satiety,” Phys Behav 1995.

5.)   Holt, SH., Miller, JC., Petocz, P., Farmakalidis, E., “A Satiety index of common foods,” Eur J Clin Nutr 1995. 

About the Authors

Chris and Eric Martinez, CISSN, CPT, BA, also known as the “Dynamic Duo” operate a world class personal training and online training business “Dynamic Duo Training,” They’re also fitness and nutrition writers, fitness models, and coaches that love helping people reach their goals. Their philosophy is “No excuses, only solutions.”

Visit them at:

Dynamic Duo Training

Blogsite

Twitter

YouTube Channel  

 

 

CategoriesNutrition

Recovering Your Metabolism: Do You Need to Increase Or Decrease Calories (Part II)

We’re going to dive right back into Lucas Serwinki’s article on metabolic damage.  For those who missed Part I you can play catch up HERE.

There was some great discussion and commentary with part one, and I suspect the second half will be no different.

Enjoy!

So, It’s the Carbs, Right?

I’ve actually been asked this exact sentence quite a few times and the answer is….sort of.  Or maybe.  Or it depends.  All terrible answers to someone who wants a yes or a no.

If you have significant weight to lose, as in obese and/or insulin resistant, then carbohydrates are not your friend at the moment.

But is it the chicken or the egg?

Did over-consuming carbohydrates get you to your current state or just over-consuming calories?  Science has actually found that obesity is more the culprit for insulin resistance rather than just carbohydrate consumption.  That means, being overweight can lead to having decreased insulin resistance, not the other way around.  Insulin resistance is ultimately an inflammation issue, and obesity causes LOTS of inflammation the way smoking, low-quality food and inactivity does.

So even if it was simply over eating total calories that got you into this predicament, you are ultimately faced with a decreased ability to tolerate carbohydrates, meaning they will most likely need to be reduced in order to restore metabolic function.

This is where it gets personal.

It is easy to say, “Drop the carbs, put your hands on your head and slowly face me”, when someone is slamming soda, cookies and chips.  In fact, I know someone who has lost nearly 100lbs just from switching from Coke to Diet Coke.  Now that’s a lot of soda and the poison is certainly in the dose.

Intervention

What about the person who just eats one piece of Ezekiel bread at breakfast and a potato at dinner?  Are they going to go ketogenic?  Is that realistic and attainable for 99% of the population? This is where we need to look at someone’s food journal and see the following, as an example

Breakfast:  One slice Ezekiel bread, one whole egg, one egg white

Lunch:  Salad with no dressing, apple, 3oz chicken, black coffee

Snack:  palmful of almonds

Dinner:  3oz ground beef,(85/15) baked potato, green beans, glass of wine.

In individual components, the food choices in this diet are good, but it is often the food combinations, heavier reliance on non-protein foods and low calories that are prevalent in so many of the individuals I see.

Many people still seem to think fruit is the best weight loss food, most likely because it is so light on calories.  There are almost always not enough vegetables and WAY too little protein.

This is a sample meal plan that is nearly identical to some of the diets I see when clients have me review their food journals.  Just for the sake of accuracy and for some visual representation, here is the calorie and macronutrient breakdown of the above foods, as taken from Nutrition Data.com.

Total Calories: 1177

Total Fat: 40.6 grams

Total Carbohydrates: 105 grams

Total Protein: 73 grams

Taken into context of Person B above (the leaner of the two above):

Basal Metabolic Rate 1561 calories

Daily Energy Expenditure from Exercise:  851 calories

Total Daily Calories Needed to Maintain Weight:  2420 calories

Again, simply crunching numbers, it would make logical sense that this person would be in a deficit of 1243 calories a day if they are exercising; but even a non-exercising individual would still be at 384 calorie a day deficit.

Now, don’t get me wrong, some people WILL lose weight this way and maybe they can ride it out long enough to make some progress, but we are really getting into the bottom end of calorie restriction here and it is not a fun place to be especially if you aren’t planning on doing some bodybuilding or figure competition.

Time and time again, though, this low calorie, low protein and commonly low-fat approach just doesn’t work, at least not for more than a few weeks.

Most of us aren’t super Type-A planners with ultra-adherence to life sweeping changes so I would not make all my recommendations at once.  In order though, I usually just try to get people to increase calories/protein in the following order, to make it mentally manageable and give the body time to adapt.

  1. Increase protein at breakfast
  2. Drink more water daily
  3. Increase protein to near 1g/lb bodyweight (adjust if they are very overweight)
  4. Replace starchy carbohydrates with more greens, cruciferous veggies and/or root veggies
  5. Increase fat as needed…..usually a tablespoon of oil or small palmful of nuts per meal
  6. Add in fish oil, minerals, multivitamin or specialty supplements only as needed, such as sleep aids, adaptogens etc.
  7. Introduce meal timing as needed depending on person.

This sequence isn’t a hard and fast rule, but if you give people about a week to adapt to each change, they end up systematically making all the necessary and  advantageous adaptations in what is a very simple and easy step by step process.

The reason I like increasing protein first only at breakfast is because people almost always instantly feel better (though that is a subjective term) and have better hunger management later in the day.

 

From there, they increase total water consumption, which can also result in a lot more energy and stress tolerance.

Once you are used to eating more protein at breakfast, it becomes a little more manageable to increase total protein because you have already experienced how great you feel on more protein at breakfast and it isn’t as scary to eat more total calories.

At this point, they have increased total daily calories and then we can start reducing them a bit just by switching starchy carbohydrates for cruciferous ones, which maintain fullness but at a lighter calorie load. 

If necessary, fat may, and often does, need to be increased for satiety and energy.  From there we may add in whatever small supplement change is needed to maximize overall health.  Meal timing may be discussed when a person is already relatively lean and following all the components above.

At the end of about a month, Person B may very well end up eating the following daily:

Total Calories: 1700

Total Fat: 92 grams

Total Carbohydrates: 75 grams

Total Protein:  135 grams

This person may even end up eating more than this on a daily basis, but it is a reasonable starting point, is actually way more food and fiber (from veggies) than before, doesn’t go too low with carbohydrates and is almost always more filling.

In fact, most people are surprised how much they are eating when following guidelines like this despite still being in a calorie deficit.  If this was a man, or just a larger person overall, you could easily expect the calories to be in the mid 2000s, which doesn’t feel like dieting at all…….which is the point.

My goal here would be to get someone to eat as many total daily calories possible while still losing or maintaining weight.  So, we may end up increasing someone’s portion sizes even a little more to find that spot where they are just below maintenance.

If we crept this person up to around 2000 calories a day and maintaining weight, then this is almost 900 calories more per day than they were eating before without gaining any bodyfat and having better energy, recovery and wiggle room to adjust diet as needed.

The reasoning for this ideal is that dropping calories too low results in significant decreases in total daily energy expenditure.  There is an adaptation that occurs when calories are dropped too low, too fast and acts as a protective mechanism to keep the body from burning too many total daily calories so as not to cut into necessary bodily functions.

One study in particular had subjects either reduce overall daily calories by

A. 25%,

B. Reduced to just below 1000 calories/day or

C. Reduced calories by only 12.5% but adding in weekly exercise.

With the very low calorie as well as the 25% reduction groups, there was a significant drop in total daily energy expenditure; 6% greater than would be expected even when factoring in fewer calories.  This means that the individual’s metabolisms had adapted to the sudden drop in calories by lowering the average amount of calories burned daily.

However, the group that only reduced calories by 12.5% but added in exercise actually saw a slight increase in total daily energy expenditure over baseline.  So, in addition to reducing calories enough to be burning bodyfat, the subjects still had an increase in total daily calories burned, furthering their fat loss.

In relation to Person B above, if we restored some metabolic function to get them eating 1700 calories a day and then decreased by 12.5% as in the study, and included exercise, they would STILL be eating more than they were at the onset.

Wrap-Up

There is quite a bit of research, number crunching and hypothesis to consider here.  However, studies back up the claims that low calories, low protein and inadequate hydration and nutrients really hinder your progress.  Furthermore, find me a person who wouldn’t want to heal their metabolism and improve their performance and fat loss by eating more and I’ll eat my size 13 shoe.

Getting healthy should always be the first goal.

If you had poor internal shoulder rotation and some impingement, you wouldn’t keep bench pressing to fix your shoulder, even if you wanted a bigger bench.

You’d need to take a step back, improve soft tissue quality, mobility and correct imbalances and then most often, performance improves after correcting these issues even without benching during the healing process.

No matter who you are, if you are at the point where your energy, performance and overall zeal for life has decreased I would encourage you to compare your dietary numbers to the recommendations above.  If you aren’t anywhere close to eating maintenance calories, protein or nutrients and feel and perform below expectations, then the answer may be taking some time away to get your metabolism back on track.

And yes, sometimes eating more is the answer.

Note from TG:  I think Lucas would agree that this is just the tip of the iceberg. For those interested if digging a little deeper into the rabbit hole on metabolic damage, I highly suggest checking out Leigh Peele’s Starve Mode.

References:

Bray, G., Smith, S., et al. Effect of Dietary Protein Content on Weight Gain, Energy Expenditure, and Body Composition During Overeating. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2012. 307(1), 47-60.

Barr, S., Wright, J. Postprandial Energy Expenditure in Whole-Food and Processed-Food Meals: Implications for Daily Energy Expenditure. Food and Nutrition Research. July 2010. 2(54), 144-150.

Astrup, A., Pedersen, S. Is a Protein Calorie Better for Weight Control? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2012. 95, 535-536.

Danforth, Elliot., Horton, Edward S, O’connell, Maureen, Burger, Albert G, Ingbar, Syden H., Braverman, Lewis and  Vagenakis, Apostolo G.  Dietary Induced Alterations in Thyroid Hormone Metabolism during Overnutrition.

American Diabetes Association, New York, 15-17 June 1975 (Diabetes. 24: 406).

http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/894/Why_the_Calorie_Approach_to_Weight_Loss_Doesnt_Wor.aspx

Leanne M. Redman, Leonie K. Heilbronn, Corby K. Martin, Lilian de Jonge, Donald A.    Williamson, James   P. Delany,  Metabolic and Behavioral Compensations in Response to    Caloric Restriction: Implications for the Maintenance of Weight Loss Published: February 09, 2009 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004377

 Author’s Bio

Lucas Serwinski is a Strength and Conditioning coach and nutritional consultant for athletes and weekend warriors alike. Lucas holds a Bachelor’s in Strength and Conditioning from UCONN as well as an Associate’s in Culinary Arts from NECI,and is currently coaching at Bodylogy Fitness Studio, located in Hamden, CT.

Lucas has interned at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA, worked on low-carbohydrate research for fat loss and health,and  trained and competed in powerlifting.

He extensively studies the roles of digestion, sleep, nutritional habits and homeopathic medicine to help people of all walks achieve greater health. Lucas has also worked in multiple award-winning restaurants, including Arrow’s which was named 14th best restaurant in the country by Food magazine. Lucas incorporates knowledge and skill from cooking experience into creating a comprehensive plan for those he works with. Lucas has also worked as a social worked for years and takes mental and emotional considerations into each person’s plan and goals for success.  You can visit his blog HERE.

CategoriesNutrition

Recovering Your Metabolism: Do You Need to Increase Or Decrease Your Calories? (Part I)

Today’s guest post comes from personal trainer and strength coach Lucas Serwinski.  Some of you may remember his name from an excellent series of articles he wrote for my site last year titled How Did Your Food Live? Know the Health Behind Your Food Parts One and Two.

He did a bang-up job with that article, and given I don’t discuss nutrition nearly enough on this blog I felt inviting him back would be a welcome change of pace.

Enjoy!

PS:  I also understand that this is a topic that MANY people are passionate about, and to give full disclosure this is NOT an area that I am an expert in.  Ie: I did not write the article.  Someone who has more experience on the topic did.

I understand that by posting it I’m “vouching” for it, but having said that, if it sparks some debate and conversation, fine.

Hopefully we can all get along….;o)

Recently I’ve been considering the path I’ve taken with my eating and how my calories and macronutrients have changed and increased or decreased so many times that it’s mind boggling.

With some influence from Layne Norton and John Berardi (always giving props)I’ve been delving back into the science concerning the adaptations our metabolism makes while increasing or decreasing calories.

Let me tell you right now, I can feel this article giving a Tolstoy novel a run for its money in length, but I think understanding that the relationship between our metabolism and necessary functions of our body are so heavily influenced by our diet is important to know.

Observationally, I’ve noticed ( and other coaches may tell you the same thing), that some diet approaches work best the first time and only the first time.

Some people respond the same to supplements.  They’ll take creatine for the first time, gain 10lbs and get stronger.  However, the next time they add it back into their regimen, nothing happens.  I find this approach work very similarly with low-carbohydrate diets, low calorie diets and the addition of excessive exercise.

Ask yourself what happened the first time you ever dropped your calories very low?  You probably lost a significant amount of weight, albeit some of it was probably water weight and muscle, but I bet some bodyfat came with it.

How about the first time you ever dropped your carbs way down, or went from no exercise to four-days of exercise a week?  These initial changes sometimes produce drastic and impressive results, but the momentum is usually short lived and such extreme waves in calories and exercise duration often produce the most inconsistent results.

Here’s a scenario comparing two women who both need to lose significant bodyfat.

They are both 5’2” but  Person A is 210 lbs and Person B is 180lbs.

Person A – Basal Metabolic Rate 1692calories

Daily Energy Expenditure from Exercise and Activity:  946 calories

Total Daily Calories Needed to maintain Weight:  2623 calories

Person B – Basal Metabolic Rate 1561 calories

Daily Energy Expenditure from Exercise:  851 calories

Total Daily Calories Needed to Maintain Weight:  2420 calories

Consider that Basal Metabolic Rate is just the energy it takes to keep you alive.  Energy expenditure is added on top of that to factor in exercise and daily activity.  These samples are merely hypothetical but are taken from the Harris-Benedict Equation and give you an idea of how two people of the same height, age and sex with different bodyweights “hypothetically” expend different amounts of energy.

Even if both people are overweight, we can assume Person B has less total bodyfat from Person A simply because they are 30 lbs lighter.  I would find it highly unusual, especially for a woman, to have 30 lbs more muscle than someone of similar height.

At 5’2” and 210lbs, Person A may very well be about 45% bodyfat.  Since Person B is significantly lighter but still considered “overweight”, she might be closer to 35% bodyfat.

Person A:  210lbs, 45% bodyfat =  115.5lbs lean body mass

Person B:  180lbs, 35% bodyfat =   117lbs lean body mass

Here’s where the above formula doesn’t really hold up.

Simply weighing more doesn’t mean you are expending more energy than someone who weighs less.

As noted above, person B is lighter but actually has slightly more muscle mass than person A who is heavier.  Consider that fat tissue has barely any mitochondria, unlike muscle cells which use mitochondria to burn nutrients.

So fat tissue is almost entirely inactive from an energy use perspective.

“Well, Luke….wouldn’t someone who weighs more have to exert more energy because they are carrying extra weight around?”. 

This would make sense if you think simply in terms of more weight equating to more energy expended.  However, fat tissue is all about efficiency.  It is highly calorie dense, doesn’t require much energy to stay on the body and even insulates against cold.

People with more bodyfat are simply more efficient with their energy than leaner people.  Muscle tissue is highly active and literally IS your metabolism.

In addition, individuals with significant bodyfat may even find it (and I note this observationally) harder to exert the same level of intensity during exercise, when similar muscle mass is taken into account.  Having a lot of bodyfat and not being well-trained just means its going to be hard to exert your full potential any time you exercise, making your total calorie expenditure, again, less than a leaner person with similar muscle mass.

Back to the Harris-Benedict Equation above.

I’ve seen many times people fitting the height and weight used in the above equation consuming much fewer calories than Person A and not losing weight.  Why?  Remember, there is a baseline number of calories you need daily just to maintain a healthy metabolism.

Add to that the stress of work, kids, commuting and then exercise and you have significant requirements for energy.

Cutting your calories too low doesn’t leave much wiggle room for intense weight training, jogging, gardening, making dinner for the family and anything else you do on a daily basis.

The body’s response is to down-regulate the amount of energy it needs by lowering thyroid (t3).  T3 activates mitochondria in your muscle cells and organs  to burn nutrients.  T4 is the inactive form of thyroid and is the majority of what your thyroid produces.  You rely on liver and kidney enzymes to convert T4 to T3, but if your body is over-stressed from dieting, excess cortisol can suppress thyroid stimulating hormone and decrease thyroid function.

Still following me here?  I didn’t lose you did I?

The two most disruptive changes to thyroid levels are first, reducing calories too low and second, reducing carbohydrates too low. 

A study on hypo and hyper caloric diets with different ratios of macronutrients showed that when calories stayed the same, but carbohydrates were replaced with fat, concentrations of T3 dropped significantly.  So, even if you don’t drop your calories too low, dropping carbohydrates too low can inhibit your metabolic functioning.

You’ll find people who reduce their calories too low are often less energetic, cold and don’t respond to stress very well.

Note from TG:  They’re also 10x more likely to scissor kick you in the face the second you eat a piece of bread in front of them. It’s science.

Maybe they exercise often and keep doing their normal life activities but at the cost of their metabolism.

I’ve seen real people such as Person A above who is exercising often and leading a busy life consuming less than 2000 calories a day. 

Hmmm….shouldn’t they be burning at least 623 calories a day from fat, leading to over one pound of fat lost a week? (3500 calories in a pound of fat).

Quite often, they don’t because their metabolism has adapted to such a low calorie diet that it won’t chance increasing energy expenditure for fear of burning through it’s precious energy stores.

Calories in and calories out work to a point, especially with a healthy metabolism.  However, with some metabolic issues, consuming more of the right calories might be the first step to losing weight.  If you’re already at rock-bottom with your calorie consumption and exercising often, you have only one caloric place to go:

Up.

What the First Step?

Here’s where things get personal.  That is, they need to be personally adapted per person, as just prescribing all encompassing recommendations rarely work for most people.

Even though calories count in total weight loss or gain equations, actually counting them is an exercise in futility. Furthermore, simple fixes need to be applied to most diets before getting obsessed with the details.  These usually are eating more protein, hydrating properly and getting enough vitamins and minerals.

Thermic Effect of Food

First off, each of the three macronutrients; protein, carbohydrates and fat require a certain percentage of their inherent calories to just be metabolized.  What’s the percent?

-Protein 20%

-Carbohydrates 5%

-Fat 5%

Right off the bat, consuming greater percentage of certain macronutrients directly affects how many calories are burned for digestion.

In one study, participants consumed either 5, 15 or 25% of their calories from protein, with each group consuming almost 1,000 calories a day OVER maintenance.

Each group gained  about 3.5 kg of fat over the course of the study,  but the high protein group actually gained 3.5 kg of muscle while the low protein group lost a kg of muscle.

In addition, the high protein group saw an 11% increase in their metabolic rate.  Researchers concluded while over eating, the low protein group turned about 90% of their excess calories to fat while the high protein group only turned about 50% of calories into fat.  Pretty cool.

Thermic Effect of Whole vs Processed Foods

Studies have shown that while consuming equal calories and macronutrients, whole food has a 50% greater thermic effect than processed foods.  The whole food groups in such studies had an increase in their metabolic rate hours after eating while the processed food group actually had a decrease in metabolic rate.

Hydration

I’ve noted in past articles that a 2% decrease in bodyweight from water loss can have a 22% decrease in aerobic performance and 10% decrease in anaerobic performance.

Remember that your aerobic metabolism runs primarily on fat for fuel.  Inhibiting general aerobic performance by being dehydrated actually makes burning fat for fuel harder!  Dividing your bodyweight in half and consuming that many ounces a day in water is a good jumping off point.  Even more feedback-based is checking urine color.  Anything the color of hay/straw is good.  If your urine is dark, you are already dehydrated.

Vitamins and Minerals

This is certainly a tough one to tackle because to check if you are deficient in any vitamins, minerals or micronutrients you’d have to get a blood test.

You can do a dietary recall and plug it into an online database but that may not be as accurate.  Even for those of us who consume lots of greens and veggies, we most likely consume the same ones week in and week out, out of habit.

As a whole, many Americans are deficient is some of the most important nutrients.  86% of us are not meeting the RDA for Vitamin E, 68% for magnesium and 73% for calcium, just to name a few.  The RDA is quite conservative as well, so not even meeting their standards is pretty lame.

Vitamin E is the body’s most powerful antioxidant, more than C.  Magnesium is involved in hundreds of metabolic reactions and calcium is necessary for bone growth, blood clotting and nerve function (depolarization, anyone?).

Taking a chance on being deficient in just a few areas can lead to trouble, so a low-level multivitamin and mineral is probably a good idea.

Note from TG: And that’s it for part one.  In part two Lucas covers intervention strategies and numerous measures one can follow to help “recover” their metabolism.

And just to throw it out there, for those interested in reading more into the topic – it’s a doozy and something that affects more people than you think – I’d HIGHLY suggest checking out Leigh Peele’s excellent manual Starve Mode.

Author’s Bio

Lucas Serwinski is a Strength and Conditioning coach and nutritional consultant for athletes and weekend warriors alike. Lucas holds a Bachelor’s in Strength and Conditioning from UCONN as well as an Associate’s in Culinary Arts from NECI,and is currently coaching at Bodylogy Fitness Studio, located in Hamden, CT.

Lucas has interned at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA, worked on low-carbohydrate research for fat loss and health,and  trained and competed in powerlifting.

He extensively studies the roles of digestion, sleep, nutritional habits and homeopathic medicine to help people of all walks achieve greater health. Lucas has also worked in multiple award-winning restaurants, including Arrow’s which was named 14th best restaurant in the country by Food magazine. Lucas incorporates knowledge and skill from cooking experience into creating a comprehensive plan for those he works with. Lucas has also worked as a social worked for years and takes mental and emotional considerations into each person’s plan and goals for success.  You can visit his blog HERE.

CategoriesNutrition

Meathead Fro-Yo (Yo!)

Lisa and I are heading on vacation to the Dominican Republic in 23 days, 17 hours, and 43 minutes (but who’s counting?), and as such have both been “dialing it in” on the nutrition side of things.

We haven’t been depriving ourselves too much. We still venture out into the city every weekend to find a new restaurant to try out and raid their bread basket, but she and I have definitely been a bit more “strict” during the week.

Lately, Lisa’s been making this cool low-carb/low sugar concoction every night that I thought I’d share with all of you since I’m sure many are similarly looking for healthy snack alternatives that don’t taste like sandpaper.

Meathead Fro Yo

1 Scoop Vega Chocolate Protein Powder, or Biotest Metabolic Drive Chocolate Protein Powder.

Note:  Any brand of protein powder will get the job done. But for those with gluten or dairy allergies, VegaSport would be the best option.

1 TBSP Spectrum Decadent Mix Blend (this stuff is delish —->)

2/3-1 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

1/2c Cup Canned Pumpkin (Note:  this is just regular ol’ pumpkin.  NOT pumpkin pie mix.  Nice try).

Some Ice

Blend it up! (Magic Bullet or some kind of serious Vitamix or Ninja recommended)

Choose a topping (or two…)

1 TBSP Cacao Nibs

1 TBSP Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

1 TBSP Chia seeds

It’s Creamy. It’s a little crunchy. It’s the perfect way for a meathead to end the day!

Give it a try and let me/Lisa know what you think.