Eating For weight loss:
So you're thinking about embarking on a diet with weight loss in mind. But you've struggled with this before in the past, and you're sick and tired of trying to navigate your way through all the shit information you come across on the web.
Yes, yes, I did say SHIT, I know I know I shouldn't write rude words, and it might be offensive and all that jazz. If that offends you, I can tell you with one hundred per cent certainty that we should never meet. We most definitely won't get along. And it's my blog, so na-nana-naa-nah! and I did just stick my tongue out.
You hate dieting
I hate dieting
(All together now)
we all hate dieting
Well, not necessarily..........wait what?
Just hearing the word "Diet" or "Dieting" is enough to give most of us PTSD conveying up feelings of restriction, starving, monotonous, boring, rabbit food, despair, and just outright torment.
Before embarking on this journey, you must change your view of what a "diet" is before you begin. You have zero chance if you try to start and just push through the monotonous hunger. Yep, zero, zilch, nada, this has everything to do with energy balance "dieting" doesn't end. That is why you must learn how to eat the foods you like as well also adhere to the energy balance requirement.
Because nobody absolutely nobody should be eating bland food for the rest of their life or ever. This is why when I see trainers giving clients bodybuilder style chicken and rice meals 8x a day out of Tupperware, I cringe a little.
(P.S - if you're a trainer and this is how you help your clients lose weight. Congratulations, while your temporarily helping them lose weight, you're also ingraining an eating disorder.)
That's enough waffling on mmm waffles! Stay on track, Jordan. So I want to talk about energy balance and why it's crucial for you to understand this. No matter which way you slice it, you need to be in a calorie deficit (this is relative to your current interaction with gravity, aka your weight) <--- That little part is significant, so write that down!!
Before your mate pipes up and bangs on about some specific thing they did once that worked.
Low carb - They eat fewer calories than they usually do
Low fat - They eat fewer calories than they usually do
weight watchers - They eat fewer calories than they usually do
Slimming world - They eat fewer calories than they usually do
Paleo - They eat fewer calories than they usually do
Fasting - They eat fewer calories than they usually do
See the trend? I bloody hope so because if I haven't got that across im not doing very well with this post, am I?
Care to take a guess what happens if you follow one of those protocols but instead happen to eat more calories than you usually do.
Put your hand down. This isn't school.
In short, what im saying is you can pretty much make any "diet" work for you as long as you apply the energy balance. No, that doesn't mean you can just eat 3 mars bars a day. You will probably lose weight, but you won't be healthy. And shhhhhhhh, I know this isn't the best way to fuel your 300kg back squat or prep to play front row. This article isn't written for you guys, so wait your turn. It's coming.
So energy balance now all these numbers are just made up arbitrary numbers for the purpose of exampling this concept. When working out a client's calories, we first look at their TDEE
(totals daily energy expenditure, the total amount of calories they use in 1 day to maintain homeostasis.)
Once we know this, we then look at setting a 5-10% deficit, something that's not too drastic but enough to get the ball moving in the right direction.
So let's assume that both of these males are exactly the same except for their weight. Male one, let's call him Ernest, weights 80kg has a TDEE of 3,000Cal's. Male two, let's call him Douglas is 60kg and has a TDEE of 2,000Cals.
Now let's assume they eat the same foods in the same ratios. The only difference is portion size. Now let's say, for some reason, they accidentally eat each other's food for 1 year. What going to happen?
Let's say they realise after a year then switch back to the meals they are supposed to eat; what happens to them 1 year from that point?
Right, now do you see why you embarked on a diet, lost a bunch of weight, and started to eat the old meals you just rebounded back to your old weight in the past. That's why I say a Diet just like a dog a Christmas for life! And that's why it's so vital that you understand creating a calorie deficit. But also essential that you start viewing diets not as restricted and on a timeframe to trying to learn how to eat the foods that you enjoy but within your TDEE requirements. Because when you do this it won't feel like a "diet" and you'll keep the weight off for life whilst also being able to enjoy your meals.
So how do you achieve this? Well, you need to work out your TDEE. I'm not going to bore you with the calculation just google TDEE calculator then punch in your numbers. Now minus 5-10% from this total number. Download an app like myfitnesspal, and for 2 weeks, just record the food you currently eat. Don't do anything drastic. How does it compare to your TDEE - 5/10%?
What can you do to what you were eating to make it fit these numbers? Less snacking, portion reduction, maybe just have that 1 glass of wine, perhaps you should be including more vegetables? Don't make it to difficult get the ball moving before you start to worry about all the nuances.
I'm not going to sit here and pretend things like protein aren't essential, but it's about stages here. Learning how to eat and control your portions with your everyday meals is a great place to start. We can look at what these meals are made up of later. Something else that's really helpful is learning how to cook lower calorie meals; imagine if someone provided a monthly recipe book filled with ideas already linked with scannable barcodes for my fitness pal.
Wink wink, nudge nudge. I mean, what an absolute legend they'd be right.
P.S we provide a monthly recipe book. If you'd be interested in it, let me know.
Over and out!
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