Benefits of Protein

The diet I promote is very flexible. You can basically eat what you want, when you want as long your weekly calories are below maintenance level. For example, if you need 14,000 calories a week to maintain your weight (2000/day), eating 12,000 per week will result in sustainable weight loss. Cycling your calories can also make this more mentally practicable, and in combination with a lower meal frequency it enables us to enjoy larger meal sizes whilst losing weight. 

There is something I do highly recommend within my approach; a higher level of protein intake.

Increase your protein, just watch your calories at the same time

Protein is a macronutrient, like carbohydrates and fats. It is generally recognised as having 4 calories per gram, placing it on an even keel with carbohydrates. But there is more to protein than meets the macro’s. It has several benefits which can aid us not only in our weight loss, but making sure that more of that weight loss comes from fat stores and not muscle. This results in a tighter, more toned physique.

Protein and muscle loss and satiety

Muscle loss is almost inevitable during weight loss. However, higher intakes of protein have been shown to decrease the amount of muscle loss whilst dieting. This is because muscle is made of protein, and when our diet is low in this macronutrient our bodies will catabolise (eat) some of the tissue to release amino acids. However, by supplying the body with enough amino acids through a higher protein intake in our diet, we can minimise the muscle loss. If the body is catabolising less muscle for fuel, it is more likely to get the extra energy from fat stores, resulting in less fat, better lean muscle maintenance and a better physique.

Look how happy this toned couple are. Must be all that protein.

On top of the added fat loss, protein tends to increase satiety (gets rid of hunger) for longer. Studies have shown that people who eat higher protein tend to eat less calories in total, therefore they lose more weight through this. Add to this the psychological advantage of feeling fuller during dieting and you have a recipe for sustainable long term weight loss.

Protein and metabolism

Protein doesn’t really contain 4 calories per gram. The process of converting protein into fat is very difficult for the body to do. During this ‘energy expensive’ process, protein essentially loses almost 20% of its energy value. This is called the ‘thermogenic effect of food’, and whilst not a massive contributor to weight loss, it certainly helps.

On top of the essentially lower calorie count of protein, the extra muscle retained during the diet will have a long term effect on your metabolism. Muscle uses more energy than fat stores during rest. If two people who are 200 pounds are sitting on a couch, the one with more muscle mass will be burning more calories. This will help keep the weight off after you have finished your dieting.

Both of these guys are 200 pounds in weight, but the guy on the left is going to be burning a lot more calories, as he has a higher level of lean body mass

Where can I get protein

You don’t have to go out and buy a top notch protein shake to get your protein needs. In fact, I recommend eating your protein in the form of food, as it tends to produce better satiation. Protein shakes are a pretty good source of quality protein though, and Whey protein has been shown to blunt hunger effectively.

There are many sources of quality protein. Below is a list of low calorie sources for you to choose from.

Chicken breast

Turkey breast

Lean beef

Tuna

Salmon

Low fat milk

Low fat cottage cheese

Whey protein shake

Low fat yoghurt

Low fat Ham

 

There are several other sources of protein – eggs, beef, cheeses, pork,fish etc, although they tend to be higher in fat and hence calories (not that fat is bad for you, but too many calories will slow fat loss), so use sparingly, or on your higher calorie days. Non animal sources can be acquired from beans, soy, lentils, nuts etc, although the amino acid profile is not as good quality as from animal sources.

How much protein should I eat

Whilst there is a debate over this, general consensus says that more than 0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight, but no more than 1.2 grams per pound of bodyweight is acceptable. This means, for a 150 pound person, eating between 120 and 180 grams per day would produce optimal results. 

Since 100 grams of chicken supplies around 20 grams of protein, this means quite a lot of chicken breast (600 grams in fact). Imagine eating that amount of chicken and still being hungry, it is unlikely to happen. Obviously you don’t have to have all chicken, try to get different sources of protein so you ensure a fuller amino acid profile in your diet.

A pound of chicken - like this - is only 450 calories and a whopping 100 grams of protein. Imagine eating this and feeling hungry afterwards. Whip up a nice sauce to go with it with the rest of your calories.

If we take the middle ground number – 150 grams – this means an intake of 600 calories (150 grams times 4 calories per gram). If your diet allows 1,600 calories in the day, this means you have 1,000 calories to ‘spend’ how you wish on a mixture of fats and carbs. Use that calorie allotment to add some nutritious veggies, or some nice sauces to put with the meat. Hell, why not even add a bun with that burger, or have some sweet dessert for afters. Just make sure you don't exceed your calorie allotment for the day.

Take home message

Increase your protein intake for better control of hunger, better body shape, increased fat loss, increased metabolism (both long and short term), and better blood sugar control. Try to get around 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. Feel free to fill the rest of your calorie allowance with foods of your choice, although favour healthier, nutrition rich foods.

As a side note, lots of people go on low carbohydrate diets, where they eat nothing but protein an fat. I am not a fan of these. Whilst they work, they are often not the healthiest of plans, and people often have issues with rebound weight gain after they have gotten over the initial short term success. Keep carbohydrates in your diet, fats too, just increase your overall proportion of calories from protein sources. 

Like my page www.facebook.com/theflexiblediet  for more updates, and like the twitter account @theflexiblediet

Does Sugar Make us Fat?

If you get your nutrition advice from a woman’s magazine, you will probably be under the assumption that sugar is the source of all evil. Fear not, my fellow sweet tooth; you can indeed have your cake and eat it – and enjoy it! This current attack on sugar is ludicrous, and just another scapegoat for the obesity ‘epidemic’. Through reading the next few paragraphs, you too will be more informed to make flexible choices in your diet, leading to more long term success and better weight management without having to deprive yourself.

So where does this idea that sugar makes us fat come from? Well, there are a load of theories which look at how insulin raises when we eat foods high in sugar. Insulin is a hormone which helps shuttle carbohydrates into fat stores, and also works to inhibit fat burning. High insulin levels are also linked to obesity. All this makes it seem, to the uneducated observer, that sugar causes fat. But is there any substantiation to this claim beyond wild accusations from petri dish observers viewing a small time scale out of context to the human body in the grand scheme of things? In short – no.

Surwit and colleagues (1997) compared two separate diets, one containing 43% table sugar and one with just 4% table sugar. These people completed 6 weeks of these diets, and then the results of their body composition were taken. The results? There were NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES seen in both the loss of bodyfat or bodyweight between the two diets. So a diet almost half in sugar produced the same weight loss as one devoid of sugar. On top of this, a whole load of biomarkers and things such as satiety remained the same for both groups.

But I thought sugar enters your blood faster and raises insulin more

It does – but weight gain/ loss is more complicated than simply blaming one hormone and the amounts/speeds that it raises. You can look at short term studies all you want, but the real answer is in the long term trials.

In 2008 Aston et al. studied the effects of glycemic index on bodyweight in overweight and obese women, finding no correlation between faster acting carbohydrates and increases in weights when calories are the same. So even when the carbohydrates come into your blood at a faster/slow rate or insulin released is high or low it doesn’t mean you will get fat.

What does this mean for me?

What it means is that, in terms of weight loss, eating sugar is not going to impede your goals. In fact, if you are a sweet tooth like me, eating sugar can help you achieve your weight loss goals. Depriving yourself of some sweet things will more likely damage your motivation, leading to ditching the diet and stalling your weight loss/gaining weight.

Weight loss is a product of being in a calorie deficit, regardless of what your diet looks like. Look at This Study by Sacks Et al (2009) comparing diets with different amounts of carbs, protein and fats. There was no difference in the weight loss or lipid profiles of the subjects, even though they ate wildly varying diet compositions. Sure, I would make sure your protein intake is adequate (1 gram per pound of bodyweight) to ensure you lose more fat than muscle, but after that, feel free to make flexible choices with your calories.

Take home message

As usual, when it comes to weight loss, calories are king; set your weekly goals for calories and stick to them. Don’t deprive yourself of a bit of sugar every now and again, if you want a bit of cake and it fits into your calorie allowance, go ahead and enjoy it.

I should point out that I am not advocating a diet full in sugar. Whilst this could (as demonstrated by the scientific study) produce weight loss, it would not provide you with adequate nutrition in terms of vitamin, mineral, fibre, content etc. I would limit sugar intake to 100 grams per day if you are sedentary, and allow more if you are active. Don’t go crazy and eat nothing but sugar, but at the same time don’t completely eliminate it from your diet in the fear that it will make you fat (it won’t).   

As always, eat food high in nutrition on the whole, but enjoy sweets in moderation.

Scientific References

   Surwit RS, et al. Metabolic and behavioral effects of a high-sucrose diet during weight loss. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Apr;65(4):908-15.

Sacks FM, et al. Comparison of Weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein and carbohydrates. N Engl J Med. 2009 Feb 26;360(9):859-73.  

Aston LM, Stokes CS, Jebb SA(2007). No effect of a diet with a reduced glycaemic index on satiety, energy intake and body weight in overweight and obese women. Int J Obes (Lond). 2008 Jan; 32(1):160-5. Epub 2007 Oct 9.

Calorie cycling?

No, this has nothing to do with getting on a bike and cycling away your calories. This is a concept that can, once again, really aid you in your weight loss goals for several reasons. It will allow you more freedom to eat larger portions, get rid of cravings, aid in maintenance of metabolism and therefore keep your weight loss continuing for longer, and your ability to diet will be improved dramatically.

Remember, the person who loses half a pound a week for a year will be better off than the person who loses 10 pound a week for a month, and then quits. This is why choosing a diet that is sustainable in the long term and which doesn’t cut out any of your foods is the best option.... like this one.

What is calorie cycling?

A typical dieting approach involves a method (direct or indirect) of cutting overall calories. Most approaches employ a specific daily deficit – one where every day is a low calorie day. The main problem with this, as you will have found, is that your metabolism will eventually drop to match the new calorie intake. For example, if you normally eat 2,000 calories a day, dropping to 1,500 a day will initially see weight loss. But after a week/month, your metabolism will drop down so that it only uses 1,500 calories per day. The result – no more weight loss.

Has your weight loss frustratingly stopped?

Calorie cycling is where you would alternate the amount of calories you eat per day. For example, one day you would eat 1,300 and the next you would eat 2,000. The advantages of this approach are;

·         You are only really dieting one day at a time – when it gets tough, you can remember that “Tomorrow is a high calorie day”. This is a huge psychological advantage over an orthodox diet.

·         Human metabolism is much more reactive to 3 day spans. By using your ‘up days’ (high calorie days), you are essentially telling your body that there is still food available and there is no need to drop metabolic rate.

·         You can combine your high calorie days with your exercise days (if you are exercising) so that the extra nutrients are used to support muscle maintenance/glycogen replenishment rather than fat replenishment.

·         You can use the high calorie days to eat some foods you have been craving – how many other diets can say this?

·         Even if those foods are a little sugary, they will be better partitioned as your skeletal tissue will now be more insulin sensitive (a good thing) and your liver will be glycogen depleted.

What this means for you is less fat, more lean body tissue (think toned body), and a diet which is mentally easier to stick to and physically easier to stick to.

There is evidence that this type of calorie cycling can also be valuable for a range of health benefits, such as lower inflammation, positive effects on asthma, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood glucose levels, heart disease markers etc. There are even animal studies showing that it can extend life-spans a very significant amount, and lower risks for Parkinson’s disease. It is too early to say regarding humans, but preliminary tests look good.

How to do this?

Work out how many calories you need per day to maintain your weight. For example, if you are a typical active male, this would be around 2,500 calories per day. Eat at maintenance level every other day, and in between those days, cut your calories by 500-1,000 calories. So it may look something like this;

Day	Calories
Monday	2,500
Tuesday	1,500
Wednesday	2,500
Thursday	1,500
Friday	2,500
Saturday	2,500
Sunday	1,500

That totals 14,500 calories for the week, which is a 3,000 calorie deficit – almost a pound of fat. With the above plan, the person was also on high days for the weekend (when they may be going out, socialising), and only had 3 diet days in the week. By eating the correct foods on the ‘down days’, the person would be able to feel fully satiated. By combining the calories like we discussed last week, this could also mean two big meals of 750 calories each. Then on ‘up days’, they would be able to be a little more lenient on their food choices and have a little of what they felt they were missing out on. Maybe a bit of ice cream J

 Ice cream on a diet? surely not!

Meal skipping for weight loss

This is going to controversial, possibly taking everything you know about weight loss and throwing it down the drain. I am going to advocate skipping meals as a method of weight loss. There, I’ve said it. How many times have you read in ‘Mens Health’ magazine, or ‘Womens fitness’ magazine that you absolutely must eat every 2-3 hours. The rationale behind this is that it fuels your metabolic fire, ramping up your internal engine to burn more and more calories. The main problem with this is that it’s bullshit, and absolutely NOT supported by science.

This myth probably started with rat studies, seeing that the metabolic rate declines when a rat skips a meal. This was then further added to by studies which linked breakfast eaters with lower obesity rates. Cue a bandwagon of idiots believing that if you don’t have a constant supply of energy running through your veins, your body will shut down and cower in a corner in a metabolic mess. Men magazines produced scare tactics claiming that their muscles are going to waste away unless they supply protein on a consistent 2-3 hour interval. The protein powder industry cleaned up, along with the ‘healthy’ snack industry. But it’s all rubbish.

Stop fuelling this bullshit deceptive façade 

Firstly, we are not rats. Our metabolism is much more stable than that of a rodent. Yes, a rat will start to experience a drop in metabolism if it goes a few hours without food. How long does it take for a human to experience a drop in metabolism? Around 72 hours – that’s 3 days of absolutely NO FOOD! This idea is actually supported by research.

Many fasting studies actually show an increase in metabolic rate for short term fasting (up to 4 days). Like the study from Zauner et al (2000) showing an increase of 14% in Resting energy expenditure after 3 whole days of fasting before it started to drop off. The results were put down to an increase in norepinephine ( a hormone that inhibits the release of insulin helping you to burn more fat). Mansell et al (1990) also found an increase of 3% in resting metabolic rate after 48 hours of fasting, again proving wrong the myth that skipping one meal (or breakfast) will slow your metabolism down. The body also releases small amounts of Ghrelin, Adrenalin and Cortisol which help motivate us to go out and look for food. The shaky feeling you get when you are low on energy is not often down to low blood sugar levels, but small amounts of these other hormones in your blood charging you for hunting/gathering.

What about my blood sugars?

There is a common misconception that if you don’t eat every 2 hours your blood sugar levels will drop dangerously and your body will start shutting down. Actually, the human body is very adept at keeping the blood sugar levels very stable. When they fall, our body releases the stored sugar in our liver and when that has gone we can convert fats and proteins into sugar keeping our blood levels very constant in a process called gluconeogenesis. The only time this system starts to fail is in subjects that are hypoglycaemic.

A meta analysis of all the meal frequency studies (La Bounty et al. 2011)recently reported no benefit to resting metabolic rate or to body composition by increasing meal frequency. ‘Fuelling the metabolic fire’ as the media would put it, does not exist. This is all you need to know.

So how do I do this?

If you enjoy preparing small, bird size meals and snacks every 3 hours, then go ahead. If, on the other hand, it is more convenient, for you to eat 2 much bigger meals in a day, then follow what I do.

I would much rather eat this, than 5 bird sized meals

Look at the typical female dieter; she may need only 1500 calories a day whilst dieting. Split 5 ways (the typical protocol for many diets) and you are looking at a pathetic 300 calories per meal. That’s a pint of beer, or 3 tablespoons of olive oil. On the other hand, this same person could have a massive 750 calories in 2 meals, feeling fully satiated at the end of each meal, so they don’t even feel like they are dieting. I know which one I would prefer. Sometimes, I would even split it to a 500 calorie meal, and a 1000 calorie meal later at night, when I feel hungrier. The choice is yours.

What meal should I skip?

Again, the choice is yours here. Depending on when you generally feel the least hungry during the day, you could skip this meal, or just eat a very small snack, like an apple (50 calories). Some people feel the need for breakfast and so could have a big breakfast, skip lunch, and then have a large evening meal. Personally, I prefer to skip breakfast, As I have never really been a fan of it, and simply do not feel hungry at this time. Some other people may prefer to eat a bigger lunch, and then skip dinner. Maybe they have digestion issues at night which would make them sleep poorly if they were to have a big dinner. Personally, I sleep like a baby after having a massive late night meal (Before you start talking about how eating late at night is bad, I will also tear this myth apart in due time).

Summary

So call this meal skipping, or calorie combining, or decreased meal frequency (with increased meal size). The choice is yours, the freedom is yours. Use it wisely, along with your calorie counting. Skipping a meal, followed by a free for all feeding frenzy will not make you lose weight. Use it as an intelligent tool to allow you the ability to have larger meals when you would like. Calories in V’s Calories out is the main thing we need to look at for weight loss. If you skip one single meal, you are not going to see a drop in metabolism, hence energy out. Study after study proves this point. People who eat their calories in 10 meals a day, or 2 meals a day will lose the same amount of weight, if their overall calories for the day are controlled.  

I have personally experimented in the past with meal frequencies of 8 small meals a day, and even just 1 big meal a day. Keeping calories the same, weight loss/muscle loss was identical. However, the lower meal frequency was much easier to adhere to. I only had to endure hunger for a small time whilst dieting. With the higher meal frequencies, I was hungry all throughout the day, and it never went away. 

I have to put a disclaimer in that, if you have diabetes or blood sugar control problems or other pre-existing illnesses, it would be best to consult your physician before making any radical changes to the way you eat. 

References

Christian Zauner, Bruno Schneeweiss, Alexander Kranz, Christian Madl, Klaus Ratheiser, Ludwig Kramer, Erich Roth, Barbara Schneider, and Kurt Lenz. (2000). Resting energy expenditure in short-term starvation is increased as a result of an increase in serum norepinephrine. Am J Clin Nutr. vol. 71 no. 6 1511-1515

·        Mansell PI, Fellows IW, Macdonald IA. (1990). Enhanced thermogenic response to epinephrine after 48-h starvation in humans. Am J Physiol. Jan;258(1 Pt 2):R87-93

·         Paul M La Bounty, Bill I Campbell, Jacob Wilson, Elfego Galvan, John Berard, Susan M Kleiner, Richard B Kreider, Jeffrey R Stout, Tim Ziegenfuss, Marie Spano, Abbie Smith, Jose Antonio (2011) International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: meal frequency. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 8:4

Lose 25 pounds easily

What if I told you it was possible to lose 25lbs relatively easily? Do you even need to lose that much weight, maybe 10lbs is your goal – even better. Here’s a simple formula for you

Weight loss x time = Big change

It is possible to achieve huge weight losses over long periods of time with relative ease

Simple enough... half a pound of weight loss per week for a whole year equals 25 lbs – a huge difference. Multiply that by 2 or more years and you have a massive, awe inspiring goal. 1/2 pound a week is not difficult to achieve either – with the right strategies it can be almost unnoticeable – this would allow the occasional slip up/diet break throughout the year and still achieve our goal. The problem most people have is they set silly goals such as lose 20 pounds in a month – which is very difficult to do and not sustainable, although possible. Wouldn’t it be better so set a more realistic goal and give yourself a longer time to achieve it? I’m sure no one would mind being 25 pounds lighter at the end of the year, but how many people do you know actually achieve that kind of success? Could it be that people are setting goals that are too lofty, with too small a timeframe within which to achieve it?

10 years from now, if you are like most people, there is a massive chance that you will be much heavier than you are now. Why? Because the formula works in reverse too. Small weight gains multiplied over time make massive weight gains. We don’t notice the 2 pounds we put on in a year; we quickly brush it aside as the heavy meal the night before. But sometimes, that 2 pounds stays with us and we get a little too comfortable with it – no one noticed so it can’t be that bad. The problem is, 10 years also passes very quickly and we can easily be 20 lbs heavier as a result. But imagine the type of weightloss you could achieve in 10 years as opposed to what the average person does. Whilst they are gaining weight, you could be achieving small, sustainable weight losses.

Why don’t we do this then? Most people see weight loss in the wrong light. Their experiences of it from magazines and previous attempts have been gruelling hours on the treadmill and nothing but rabbit food. Whilst this would provide results, our body will quickly go into metabolic decline slowing our results, and our mental state would be awful as we dread the next workout session. This combination of slowed results, horrible food and massive cravings leads us to quickly abandon the diet. The problem was that the diet was not sustainable for long enough to see lasting results.

Most people see dieting as only eating rabbit food, like above. If only they knew

Here are two very different dieters.

• Dieter A picks up the latest fad book and cuts out all their foods. They lose 10lbs in the first week, 3 lbs in the next week and 2lbs third totalling 15lbs weight loss. After 3 weeks, they can’t stick the diet anymore, come off it and instantly gain back 7 pounds water weight, get more depressed and stuff more food in their mouth. At the end of 2 months, they are back to where they have started.

• Dieter B makes a small change and loses 1lb per week. As it is not so drastic and they are not exercising so hard or cutting too much food out, they find it is easier to maintain for a long time. After a year, it has simply become a part of their life, and they are now 30lbs lighter. They came off the wagon a couple of times so didn’t achieve the full 50lb weight loss expected, but they found it easy to get back on again.

Which one do you want to be? The quick fix nation, or the actual success story?

So how do we do this? 

How much weight do you need to lose really? 20 pounds? Do yourself the biggest favour you can and see this as a one year plan rather than a 2 month plan. If you have a holiday coming up and you need the quick fix, - go ahead. Do the fad extreme diet and lose 10 lbs (of water) in a week, but don’t go expecting to keep it off. If you’re serious about getting yourself in shape for the long haul, be sensible about it. Set a BIG goal – something that inspires you, but give yourself a realistic time period to achieve it.

In the last article we talked about possible energy needs to maintain your weight. Our average, semi active woman may need 2,000 calories to maintain her weight - this equals 14,000 calories per week. In order to lose 4lbs of fat per week we would need to eat literally nothing all week. Even then, there is no guarantee we would lose all fat – some would be muscle loss and as our metabolism slows down we would see a less weight come off – not to mention this would be impossible to maintain for more than a few days. So don’t set yourself a silly goal like this.

If your goal is to lose 20lbs, aim for 30lbs spread over a year. This accounts to about 2,000 calories less per week than maintenance. Use the following formula;

(Goal weight loss *5000) / 52

This will give you a realistic target of calories to cut from your maintenance level in order to achieve your goals in a year. Multiply this by 2 to do that goal in 6 months – but then also see how much more difficult it is to achieve, and decide whether it is do-able. 

So, set yourself a goal, make it inspiring enough that it excites you (5 pounds weight loss is not inspiring enough) but give yourself a long enough time span to achieve it – 6 months to a year. Factor in a little ‘fudge’ room for mistakes and diet breaks and you will be laughing at the end of a year. Remember how quickly a year passes, you will be kicking yourself if you are at the same weight (or heavier) again 12 months from now. Make a commitment to make a positive change today. 

How many Calories do we need?

Last time we looked at the simple equation for weight loss; energy in vs energy out. So, how much energy do you need to sustain your weight? This is almost an impossible question to answer, as everyone is different. But there are a number of formula’s out there that can give you a very good estimate.

As a rough rule, the GDA recommends women consume 2,000 calories and men 2,500 per day to maintain their weight. Although a much larger male who is very active throughout the day (standing/walking for long periods or manual labour) could need upwards of 3,500 or more; small ladies who are inactive (sitting at desk all day) could need as little as 1,500 per day. You need to adjust this calorie amount based on your own situation (size, weight, age, activity levels etc) and keep re-adjusting until you find out what works for you.

How do you know if you are consuming too many calories? Easy, you gain weight. There are unusual situations where you can lose weight whilst consuming more calories than normal, and also situations where you can gain weight whilst on a calorie deficit. But these situations are rare and temporary – usually associated with water weight and not true fat/weight gain/losses. But over longer periods of time (a week/month) if you are eating more than you burn, you will put on weight.

How many extra calories do you need to create/burn fat?

A pound of fat is 3,600 calories - FACT, therefore 10 pounds is 36,000 calories. Not every extra calorie you consume will be stored as fat – some will become muscle and some will go into glycogen stores, so this is the minimum amount of calories needed to create 10 pounds of fat. If you have ever gained 10 pounds (or close to) in a week, it is unlikely that you consumed an extra 36,000 calories. More than likely, it is water weight re-gained, usually after coming off an extreme diet (like Atkins or any other low carb approach). This can be easily put on over the course of a year through a small 100 calorie a day surplus (100 calories times 365 is 36,500 calories extra).

                                                                                                    3,600 calories in a pound of this stuff

The reverse is also true, it would require a minimum of 36,000 calories less than what you take in to burn 10 pounds of fat. As not all of this energy would come from fat, so it would probably be a higher number than this. But once again, this could potentially mean as little as 100 calories a day less would lead to you being 10 pounds lighter in a year.

Control

Our body has a ‘normally’ very tight regulatory system that avoids overconsumption and under-consumption, although, due to our evolutionary past, it is much more biased towards avoiding under-consumption. Generally, once you feel satiated eating, you should stop. The Japanese have an ‘eat until you are 80% full rule’ and also enjoys the lowest rates of obesity and obesity related illnesses (along with long lifespans). Our problem is that we are cultured into having what we want when we want it – eating well past satiation and into ‘stuffed’. Do this a few times a month and you can easily put on weight. Even over-consuming by 10 calories a day could mean just one pound of fat in a year and 30 pounds in 30 years – that’s exactly how people get overweight. When the weight creeps on that slowly, it goes unnoticed until you suddenly ‘wake up’ 30 pounds overweight. 

Overeat a small amount every single day, and this will be the result after many years

Whilst it is very easy to over-consume small amounts of calories over time, leading to big weight gains, the reverse is not true. Eating less than your body needs was potentially life threatening when we were roaming the plains of Africa, so our body sends out alarm signals. Hormones such as Ghrelin raise, increasing hunger, and Thyroid and leptin drop. This puts us in an uncomfortable state mentally – this is where we start to get our cravings. Done over a couple of days is not normally a problem. But try to do it over a year and we will go mad as these hormones go out of control.

The bad news is, losing weight is not and never will be easy, there are just too many mechanisms in our body set up to avoid weight loss. The good news is, I know certain strategies that will make the journey much easier and still allow you to eat every food you eat now and lose weight in the most comfortable way possible. But for now, try to work out what your maintenance calorie intake would be, and start to become aware of how many calories are in certain foods.

The secret of weight loss

This is not going to be a full blown physics lesson, just a simple idea that could enlighten you. Amongst all the bull out there about low carb, low fat, low fructose, low everything foods and diet plans, only one thing has been scientifically proven to work.... EVER. 

Want the physique of your dreams? Listen up

Losing weight is a game of energy in v energy out. What does this mean? Well, in order to slim down, you have to either decrease the amount of energy coming into your body on average (those last two words are very important), or you have to increase the amount of energy going out of your body. Simple huh?

When you are in an energy surplus (more coming in than going out), that energy has to be stored (the body will not waste it unfortunately, millions of years of evolution have ensured that). Where is it stored? Fat cells, muscle cells, liver are the main places. Theoretically, we would prefer the body to store the excess in our muscle or liver, although in reality, regarding pure weight loss/gain, this is completely irrelevant. If you are an athlete needing to replenish muscle glycogen (muscle fuel) stores quickly, then it becomes more relevant, but most reading this will not fall into that category.

Bottom line is, as we take in more energy than we burn, we will put on weight; And the reverse too, as we burn more energy than we take in, we will lose weight. Some of this will be muscle, some will be fat. The influences for this are;

• Genetic - people will tend to gain fat and muscle and lose fat and muscle in the same ratios. For example, random Joe puts on 10 pounds, 7 of this is fat and 3 is muscle. This also works in reverse - Joe loses 10 pounds and 7 of it is fat, 3 of it is muscle. This is called our P-Ratio, and is largely genetic. 
• Gender - Men will tend to lose less muscle than women will with the same weight loss.
• Your current fat% - the more fat you are holding, the higher proportion of fat you will lose when you lose weight. Obese people can lose almost exclusively fat with no muscle loss. As you get leaner, more muscle tissue is lost as a percentage. But this is generally not a problem until you're in the athletic ranges of bodyfat %
• Age - Regardless of gender and genetics, we all get worse P-Ratios as we get older. In other words, we will tend to gain less muscle and more fat when we gain weight. Life's a bitch eh!

None of the above things are in your control. The below things ARE;

·         The types of food you eat - can influence (to a lesser extent) where that excess energy is stored. Eating certain macronutrients (you will know these as Carbohydrates, fats and proteins) can increase the amount of fat lost through decreasing the amount of muscle lost during dieting (and also the reverse during weight gain). This is not the magic bullet that most people think it is though.

·         Exercise – certain types of exercise (click link) can decrease the amount of muscle lost during a dieting stage, thusly increasing the amount of fat lost.

·         Drugs – steroids, clenbuterol, testosterone, HGH etc can all improve your body’s ability to both store excess energy in muscle tissue, and decrease energy losses from muscle tissue during dieting. That’s why bodybuilders use them – although none of my advice will involve any of this. Some other drugs can improve or worsen your energy expenditure through metabolism drops/increases.

Regardless of the above information, if you are in an energy deficit YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT, some of it will come from muscle, some from fat. Why would we want to maintain muscle? For guys, this is a no brainer. For girls, maintaining muscle is going to keep everything toned and firm leading to the look you probably want. And I am talking about maintaining as much muscle as you can – building muscle is a different game, and you are not going to do that with your female hormones in a dieting situation. So no worries about waking up liking like the hulk, you are more likely to wake up looking like the below picture. The muscly women you see in bodybuilding mags are usually either insanely low bodyfat (like Maddonna) or taking huge amounts of steroids to achieve that look.

In Conclusion

• Decrease average amount of energy in (within reason)
• Keep energy out as high as possible (within reason)
• Improve the partitioning of those energy sources, so that more of it comes out from fat stores
• Maintain this for long enough to see a noticeable effect on our physique

The last one is very important, I will go through all of them in more detail. Look out for the next updates (follow my posts by putting your email address into the bar at the top of the page), I will be explaining how to do each of these thoroughly. I will also get to the good parts - how can we eat whatever the hell we want in large quantities, and still lose weight.