Diet n. 1. The usual food and drink of a person or animal. 2. A regulated selection of foods, especially as prescribed for medical reasons. 3. Something used, enjoyed, or provided regularly: subsisted on a diet of detective novels during his vacation

The Dictionary gives us a few definitions of the word diet.  I am sure most people who think of this word would think of at least one of these definitions.  Unfortunately most of those people would think of definition number two.  I say “unfortunately” because when we now say the word “diet”, it brings to mind eating food we don’t like, constant cravings and fears of failure.

The key to success with your diet is to plan ahead.  If you know you are going to be eating three pounds of chicken breast over the week, then you should precook all your chicken for the week and store half in the refrigerator and the other half in the freezer.  As the week goes on and you start to get low on your chicken, you thaw the cooked chicken from the freezer.  The same can be done with vegetables that you need to chop or slice and any rice or pasta you will need cook. 

If you take a few hours one day of the week to do all this prep work, it will save you many more hours during the week preparing meals.  It will only take you a few minutes to weigh and measure each of your meals for the following day before you head to bed each night.

All right, its time to learn a few things about the food you eat and what it does to your body.  The more information you are armed with, the better you can see your problem areas and start addressing them.  Don’t worry, I am not going to bore you with too much information but enough that you get a really good understanding without your brain going numb.

There is a very distinct correlation between the calories (cals) from macronutrients and the fat loss or muscle gain experienced while dieting.  Lowering calories alone will not get the job done, it may help you lose unwanted weight but at what expense?  Raising calories alone will not get the job done.  You may gain weight but how much is muscle? It all comes down to the types of foods we choose and the quality of macronutrients in those foods.

1 gram = 4 calories

As far as I am concerned, the type and amount of carbohydrates you consume can affect you diet dramatically. They offer both advantages and disadvantages, sometimes you need to consume lots and other times as little as possible. Carbohydrates are probably one of the most misunderstood of the macronutrients and are often eaten without regard as a low fat healthy food choice. The overeating of carbohydrates has helped lead to the increase in both obesity and diabetes, more so than dietary fat.

Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred source of fuel. All tissues in the body have the capacity to use glucose for energy. Some tissues, however, (notably the heart) prefer to use fats under normal dietary conditions. There are no “essential” carbohydrates, this means that the body can function normally in their absence. This is done by converting proteins and fats to glucose in the absence of carbohydrates in our diet.

1 gram = 4 calories

Protein makes up nearly half of the dry weight of your body. Studies have shown that within six months every protein molecule is broken down and completely rebuilt. As well, the more intensely you train the more protein is required for repair and growth.

Although protein isn’t converted to body fat as easily as carbohydrates and fat, consuming more protein than your body can utilize will result in fat storage. Also, too much protein can result in the formation of a toxic ammonia called urea. Since urea is excreted, an overabundance puts added strain on your liver and kidneys. Studies have shown however, that this is only the concern of individuals with pre-existing liver or kidney problems, or a family history of them.

1 gram = 9 calories

Fat is not always the “bad guy”.  We need fat for many reasons.   Fat acts as a storage substance for the excess calories we consume, not just calories from fat but also carbohydrates and proteins.  Fat is vital in maintaining healthy hair, skin, and transports fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.  Fats also provide us with essential fatty acids that our bodies can’t produce (more on those later).  Fat aids in many bodily functions including regulation of cholesterol in your blood and regulation of blood pressure.

So now I will discuss macronutrient ratios, this is a touchy subject.  Many diets out there don’t consider these ratios at all, as a matter of fact they don’t even want you to monitor you caloric intake.  By following point systems or portion sized systems, you can still lose weight.  This is generally only effective for the clinically obese.  People who are very overweight will benefit from almost any diet but will still lose lean body mass overtime slowing their metabolism even more.

The diets that do consider the macronutrient ratios are often pretty slack in the ratios.  Some of these diets will give you foods you can eat and foods you cant, but depending on how many of these certain foods you eat your macronutrient ratios will change.  You caloric level will vary quite a bit as well, since you aren’t monitoring the amount of food you are eating you have no way of knowing how many calories you are consuming.

Alright, so you know how to maintain your body at your present body fat So how do we get rid of excess fat?  This is going to require a caloric deficit of some sort.  How much is too much and how much is too little, that depends on the individual.

Most people want to loose as much fat as possible in a short period of time.  The thing is, if you are losing weight really fast chances are it’s mostly lean body mass (LBM), not body fat (BF).  If we drop our calories too low, we trigger our “famine alarm”.  Your body assumes that we are in a famine situation and starts to store BF and burn LBM. 

Many people strive for ways to gain muscle.  In order to gain weight (by “weight” I mean lean body mass of course) you must increase your daily caloric consumption.  You must consume more energy than you use.  Often when people try to “bulk up” they end up gaining lots of fat along with the muscle.  Since you don’t want to gain fat you must know how to increase your muscle mass without increasing body fat. 

It is said that a successful weight gain is one of 75% lean mass and 25% body fat.  I have had most clients gain lean mass while losing fat on a high calorie diet, once again everyone is different.  As a matter of fact there are so many misconceptions out there about “bulking up” and this is usually because most people will never get as precise as they have to in order to gain just lean mass without gaining body fat.  At Emerge it’s our job to ensure your approach is a precise one that enables you to add muscle without having to worry about the fat loss diet to follow to get rid of the fat you gained in the process.

When having to eat at a restaurant all you have to do is use a little common sense.  I don’t know how many times I have had people tell me about the terrible meal choice they made when eating out.  “I had to go to McDonalds so I had the chicken nuggets, it’s chicken!”   I guess it is … in name. 

There are certain things we want to stay away from and there are certain things that we should be drawn to when looking at a menu.  Lets cover cooking terms that you should stay away from.  Deep fried, pan fried, sautéed, battered and breaded to name a few.

Cheat meals are a nice way to keep your sanity and that is about it.  The theory behind a cheat meal a week is to keep your metabolism from dropping due to consuming low calories all week.  Well that one meal isn’t going to change a thing in that regard.  It may not do a lot of harm either so what’s the concern?

Ahhh, the sun, the sand, the bottomless drinks and all you can eat buffets!  Sounds like the perfect environment…for weight gain.

Many of my clients go away at some point over the course of the winter, and MOST come back feeling relaxed, refreshed, and very guilty!  Generally you tend to forget about your fitness goals when you go away, but you are reminded of them as soon as you step on the scale when you get back.  Even hitting the weights again can feel like starting from scratch and recovering from a workout can hurt just as much as day one.