The following will illustrate the steps that I take personally and with all my clients when seeking to formulate a diet will suit the needs of the dieter.
BMR - The first step in creating a successful diet is to know what your baseline is. Your Base Metabolic Rate is the amount of fuel you body needs to sustain the weight you are at. It should be mentioned that this is the weight you are at given your current activity level. Activity level includes exercise routine and daily activeness. There are lots of calculations for figuring out your BMR online. However, most of them, no matter how scientific, are a waste of time. This is largely due to factors that cannot be accurately accounted for such as genetic disposition, metabolism, and activity level. There is, however, an accurate way to calculate BMR and that is based on the FACTS that are given in your life. For several days you will need to record how many calories you consume each day. It is very important here to NOT eat extra healthy just because you are keeping track. This will only set you up for failure. We are trying to figure out what you eat on a random day, not a day when you are trying to eat more healthy than usual. If you cheat now, your BMR will be figured much too low and your diet will be all the harder to follow as it will be MUCH more aggressive than it should be. As I have said before, the more aggressive a diet or exercise plan, the more likely you will fail. The reason it needs to be done over the course of several days is that there may be one outlying day that can skew the results if you were busy at work and skipped a meal or were stressed out and binged on a tub of ice cream. Once you have recorded your caloric intake for at least 4 days, take the average and that will give you what we will call your BMR.
Why is this the most accurate procedure? Because everything is custom suited to your body, your genetics, and your lifestyle. If you eat what you currently eat, exercise as much as you do (or don't), and maintain all of your daily activities you WILL weigh what you currently weigh. The only room for failure is if you were not honest with yourself and cheated on the numbers a bit.
MACRONUTRIENTS - The next step, whether you are trying to loose weight or build lean mass, is to configure what percent of your daily calories will come from which nutrients. Every calorie you consume will either come from a fat, protein, or carbohydrate source. Manipulation of macronutrient ratios can have dynamic effects on the body, both in terms of weight and composition. As a loose figure Protein intake should be between 40 and 50 percent, fat between 20 and 30 percent, and carbohydrates between 20 and 40 percent. It is important to know that your body needs ALL of these nutrients. Having an extremely high content of any of them, or an extremely low content, does more harm than good. As a starting point, for those looking to maintain their weight I recommend 40% protein, 30% fat, and 30% carbohydrates. For those looking to gain weight a good starting point would be 40% protein, 35% carbohydrates, and 25% fat. If you are looking to lose a few pounds; 45% protein, 35% fat, 30% carbohydrates. It is also important to know that these are NOT concrete figures. Everyone's body is different and will handle the energy intake sources differently. It will take a lot of trial and error to figure out which nutrient ratios are right for you. That is just the way it is. There is no quick fix. More on this topic later...
GOALS - You need to know what your plans are. Do you want to build lean mass? Do you want to get in shape for summer? Do you simply want to maintain your weight but be more fit? These are general goals that must be determined before beginning a diet plan. You also need to account for the time that you want to achieve your goal. I have mentioned many times before that loosing or gaining too fast will only mean that you are more likely to fail at your goal. Thus, your goals need to be lofty yet attainable. Typically whether you are losing or gaining weight it should not be at a rate of more than 1-2 lbs per week. One pound per week would be conservative, but two per week would be very aggressive. Keep in mind that it takes a surplus/deficit of 3500 calories to gain/lose one pound of body mass. I typically recommend that clients plan to gain/loose about 5lbs per week which is a good , stable pace. We will also revisit this topic later.
MACRONUTRIENTS 2 - Everyone's body is different and will handle the switch to proper macronutrients differently. This is why it is important to spend a couple weeks trying out different macronutrient ratios. This should be done without adding or subtracting anything from your BMR. You should spend this time consuming the same amount of calories you normally would, but get them from good sources and in adequte ratios. Proteins should be lean. Carbohydrates should come primarily from green vegetables, few colored vegetables, occasional fruits, and sparring starchy vegetables (such as corn and potatoes) and grains/pasta. Fats should also come from good sources such as nuts and fish, with a bit from vegetable and animal fats. As a side note, if you feel like you never recover fast enough from your workouts, try adding some protein. If you get hardcore sweet tooth cravings, add a little fat. If you feel like you don't have enough energy to get through the day, add some carbohydrates.
GOALS 2 - Now that your goals are set and you know which macronutrient ratios will best suit you, you can begin planning a time frame to achieve your goal. For example 12 weeks or 3 months. Next, decide the amount of weight you would like to loose or gain. As an example 15 lbs. This is still a pretty aggressive plan to loose 15 lbs in 3 months, but for mathematics sake we will go with it. It is always best to start conservative and then work your way up rather than start too aggressive, fail, and have to start all over again. Now, 3500 calories/lb x 15 lbs is 52,500 calories. This means that if you're looking to gain 15 lbs in 3 months than you will need to consume an excess of 17,500 calories and have the same deficit if you're looking to loose 15 lbs. If we are going by a weekly measurement this comes out to 52500 / 12 = 4375. 4375 / 7 days per week = a surpluss/deficit of 625 calories per day. If you are looking to gain, add this to your BMR, if you are looking to loose, subtract it. Apply the macronutrient ratios that work best for you to your new BMR (nBMR).
MAKING MEALS - When deciding what to eat first choose your protein source. Then choose a fat source. Lastly select a carbohydrate source. Remember that some foods will count as a double selection. That is, eggs and cheese are high in protein but also in fat for example.
WHEN TO EAT - You should be eating 5-7 small meals per day. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that eating small meals will ramp up your metabolism. The opposite is true if you were to only eat 1-3 times per day. The result of that would be that your body cannot use all that fuel at once or does not know when it will be fed next and will store the excess calories as fat. If your metabolism is slower then your body will also hold onto those calories longer making it much more difficult to get rid of them. The second reason is that eating several small meals per day controls your insulin levels. Insulin increases testosterone in the body BUT it also blunts the fat burning process; something that is a strong negative for both hardgainers and dieters alike. Keep in mind that there is also an adjustment period for this process. If you eat too many meals per day then your body, and more importantly your brain, will never feel like it is satisfied from a feeding, and thus you will feel like you are always hungry. If you are eating too few meals per day, we have already discussed that. Essentially the VERY general idea here is that no matter how long your day is, you should be eating lean protein, green vegetables, healthy fats, and a small amount of fruit or starch every 2-3 hours.
DAILY BREAKDOWN - If you have applied your macronutrient ratios to your nBMR, then you will know how many grams of each macronutrient you need each day. Protein content should be steady throughout. Fat and carbohydrate intake should also be relatively consistent with the following exceptions. You need the most carbohydrates first thing in the morning (as your body has not been fed for 6-8 hours while you slept) and following your workout for restorative purposes. Fat content should be low in the morning and post-workout and relatively high at the last meal of the day. You should not eat anything 1-2 hours before going to bed. You want your body to have fuel overnight, but want it to start digesting before your metabolism slows during sleep. You don't want your body to store calories (stored calories are fat), but you don't want to push it so close that you're hungry right before bed.
THAT'S (ALMOST) ALL SHE WROTE - There you have it! ALMOST everything you need to know about building a diet. This is a free blog to view, read, and subscribe to. It would simply be bad business for me to provide the same services here that I do to clients who pay hard earned sweat, blood, tears, and dollars for it. Hope you enjoyed the read!
