Part 2
In part 1 of this article, we discussed what we need to do to lose body fat in a safe and effective way. Now we will dive into how you can utilize this information to begin implementing a diet that will help you reach your individual fat loss goals.
Eating the right amount and type of fat throughout the day is essential for losing body fat and reaching optimal health. Fats play a huge role in disease prevention and our ability to lose body fat without causing any hormone dysregulation. In order to meet our daily fat intake without being unhealthy we should try to stay away from hydrogenated, safflower, canola, peanut, and cottonseed oils as overconsumption of these fats can be harmful to the body. Instead, we should be eating healthy fat sources like wild caught fish (Alaskan Salmon, sardines, mackerel), grass fed bison, beef, lamb, and eggs. We should start by consuming 0.4 grams of fat for every pound of body weight we have (180lb person should eat 72g of fat in a day).
Once we know our fat and protein intake, we can then fill the rest of our calories in with carbohydrates. Using the information from the previous article titled: “How to Begin a Fat Loss Diet”, we can find our BMR. We will continue the example used in that article here (27-year-old, 180lb sedentary male – BMR = 2,176 calories per day). Since we know that carbohydrates and protein each have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9, if this person eats 72g of fat (648 calories) and 180g of protein (720 calories), they will then need to eat 808 calories worth of carbohydrates (648+720 = 1,368 then 2,176-1,368 = 808) to meet their maintenance BMR for the day. Since carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, this person would then eat 202g carbohydrates; again, this is to eat at maintenance, not in a “calorie deficit”.
If we were to train hard and frequently, we will actually lose body fat and build muscle eating right at our BMR – a 0 calorie deficit will cause our bodies to to replace our glycogen stores with energy pulled from our fat stores, and our muscles would be able to use the food we eat to repair themselves. Taking this a step further, eating in a 250-calorie deficit will have the same physiological adaptation as 0 but will require more body fat energy to be used and we will thus, lose body fat at a faster rate. Less food, however, means our body begins to share the energy we eat between replenishing glycogen stores and repairing the force producing components of our muscles. This means we will not be able to gain strength as fast with fewer calories. The full extent to the “calorie deficit” would be 500 calories below BMR. A 500-calorie deficit is considered the “full extent” because it is past this point where most of the food, we eat needs to be used to replenish our glycogen stores, so we are left with less to repair our muscles. No matter how big of a calorie deficit we have, protein intake should stay the same, only manipulating carbohydrates and fat to change how big our deficit is.
As we previously mentioned, if our example individual were eating at their BMR with a 0-calorie deficit, they should eat at least 180g of protein, 48g of fat, and 202g of carbohydrates. At a 250-calorie deficit, they would eat the same protein and fat, but lower the carbs by 62g to 140g at a total of 1,926 daily calories. At a 500-calorie deficit, I would still keep fat and protein the same but lower the carbs by 125g to 77g at a total of 1,676 daily calories. You can also manipulate fat intake as well (staying in our 0-500 calorie deficit) by using the multiplier from before, but we should go no lower than 0.3g/lb. body mass (54g fat for 180lb male). Eating below this should be avoided as hormone regulation can be negatively influenced beyond this point – this is especially true for females.
Remember, while more aggressive diet strategies do yield faster results, you may be able to lose more weight throughout a year with less aggressive strategies. One of the main reasons for this is our hunger hormones (leptin and ghrelin) are primarily driven by the food we eat so, the more aggressive of a calorie deficit we have, the more aggressive our hunger cravings will be and thus, the harder it will be to eat something healthy rather than something fast and easy just to keep the cravings at bay.
For more information on how to reach your individual fitness goals give us a call or email and one of our many qualified professionals can help you get started with a training or nutrition plan perfectly developed for your individual goals.
References:
- Wilkinson, 2016
- Helms, 2022
- Antonio, 2018
- MacNaughton, 2016
