The Nutrition Blueprint

Abs are made in the kitchen not the weight room!

As I speak with individuals who have embarked on their fitness journey, I have noticed a recurring theme coming from those who are unhappy or discouraged with their results.  As a group they tend to be less than precise on their nutrition habits, tracking or goals. I thought I would offer what I believe in and has worked for me to date.

You know the likely refrain is along the lines of the following: "I watch what I eat, but don't really track my calories" or "I think everything I eat is healthy and I limit my calories so why am I not losing weight?" The answer of course is that nutrition has the single biggest impact on results and is the most likely misunderstood aspect at the beginning of any health and  fitness regimen. It is not impossible to see results without really focusing on nutrition but without giving eating habits your full attention, you can severely hamper your efforts.

Let's start from the beginning. The very first thing you have to do to establish an effective nutrition plan is to determine what your daily caloric intake should be. To do that you must first figure out your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR). What is that you may ask? Basically, it is the number of calories you burn in a typical day without exercise. In order to lose weight you must determine your BMR, caloric intake and calories burned from your chosen form of exercise. For the pounds to come off, the net result must be a caloric deficit. If you are looking to maintain your current weight but improve fitness you want the net result to be even(calories in, calories out). If you are trying to gain weight while engaging in a fitness program your net result needs to be a calorie surplus.

For example let's say your maintenance level based on the above factors is  2000 calories a day. To lose weight you would wan to consume less than that. Typically a 500 calorie deficit daily is a good place to start. For most this will result in a loss of about 1 lb. per week. you can go as low as 1000 calories for a deficit, which should average out to about 2 lbs. a week weight loss but it must be noted that going into a deficit greater than 1000 calories a day may lead to not taking in enough calories which causes the body's survival instincts to kick in. When this occurs  your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to as much fat as possible and will even burn lean muscle mass. This result is 100% counterproductive to health and fitness particularly if you are trying to lose weight during your transformation.

Now that the number of calories you need has been established it is important to determine how those calories should be broken down. There are three main categories that our calories are derived from and as a group are commonly referred to as macro nutrients, which are: protiens, carbohydrates (carbs) and fats. If  you want to know my thoughts on carbs click here. There will be a post on fats and proteins in the near future. I am aware of three basic diets that vary an individuals caloric break down. I refer to them as the maintenance diet, fat shredder diet and bulking diet. Each requires a different percentage of calories from each macro nutrient. The maintenance diet is a comprised of 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat (40/40/20), the fat shredder is 50% protein, 30% carbs ans 20% fat (50/30/20) and the bulking diet 30% protein, 50% carbs and 20% fat (30/50/20).

I know, I know, that's a lot to swallow but here's the good news, you will not need a slide rule,calculator and tons of notes to keep track of all of this. I use www.myfitnesspal.com. It is set up to track your diet for you. Once you sign up (It's Free!) you input your daily caloric needs and macro nutrients and it does all of the hard work for you. They have a vast database that includes many restaurants so even dining out in addition to maintaining your diet is simplified. You can add foods that aren't in the database as well as some of your favorite recipes. There is an app for both iPhone and android which allows you to track on the go. You can even scan bar codes with your phone and the nutrition info is added instantly! You can see other member profiles and allow them to see yours which can lead to increased ACCOUNTABILITY.

Now that you have a solid foundation for good nutrition, you can create the body transformation you have been aiming for.