How to make miserable fat loss a thing of the past…
For years we’ve been told that to achieve the bodies of our dreams we need to eat clean. Oats and eggs for breakfast, chicken and brown rice for lunch, steak and vegetables for dinner, and repeat each day until the goal is achieved. Sound familiar?
There’s no doubt about it, following such a meal plan day after day alongside a training program will allow you to drop inches and kilos quickly. But herein lies the problem — is this approach sustainable? First of all, when following a clean eating meal plan, you have no real understanding of the nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) and energy (calories) comprising each meal and subsequently your daily intake. So, what happens if the weight loss stalls? What do you do, eat ‘cleaner’? Secondly, what happens if you run out of oats one morning? What if the idea of having one more grain of brown rice makes your stomach quiver? Or, what happens if your friends invite you out for lunch?
The problem with clean eating meal plans is that you have no plan B, it’s an all or nothing approach. Dieting shouldn’t mean that you have to avoid your friend’s birthday because you don’t know how to manage the food being served there, or force-feed yourself brown rice, or drop your bundle because you can’t have your usual oats for breakfasts. There is a better way.
Insert flexible dieting…
Flexible dieting teaches you how to fit your favourite foods into your daily eating and manage a social meal with friends without going backwards, and how to course-correct when you don’t have your regular foods around you. Having this tool in your utility belt makes the likelihood of achieving your physique goals increase exponentially.
Flexible dieting is built upon the premise that weight and fat loss occur when the calories consumed from our food and drinks is less than the calories we expend through activity and living, termed a calorie deficit. This statement remains true regardless of what foods and drink comprise that calorie intake.
We can work out how many calories we need to consume to establish a calorie deficit by multiplying our body weight in pounds by 12 to 14 (12 if you’re sedentary in daily living, and 14 if you’re very active). So, for example, I weigh 220 pounds and I’m very active, 220 multiplied by 14 means my dieting calories would be around 3080.
The next step is determining what comprises this calorie intake. There are three macronutrients which make up our daily calorie intake; protein, carbohydrates and fats.
Protein
It is recommended to consume 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. I weigh 100 kilograms, so my recommended protein intake would be 200 grams. Protein contains 4 calories per gram, so I will be consuming 800 calories from protein each day (4 x 200).
Fats
For most people, 1 gram of fat per kilogram of body weight will be appropriate. This means my daily fat intake would be 100 grams. Fat contains 9 calories per gram, so my calories coming from fat each day would be 900 calories (9 x 100).
Carbohydrates
The remainder of our calories should be distributed to carbohydrates, because carbs are the important fuel for sustaining our hard workouts that allow us to lose fat and build muscle. So, continuing our example, as detailed above my calorie intake for weight loss is 3080 calories.
We calculated that I consume 800 calories from protein and 900 calories from fat each day, totalling 1700 calories. This means I have 1380 calories remaining to allocate to carbohydrates. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, so this means my daily carbohydrate intake will be 345 grams (1380 / 4).
So, now we have worked out how many calories I need to consume for fat loss, and how many grams of each macronutrient I should consume to reach that calorie intake. For the next part, we will need a food scale (for accurate measuring of food portions) and a food tracking app (I recommend MyFitnessPal). You will be able to input the previously calculated macronutrient and calorie targets into the app and then you are ready to go. Now here’s the cool part, as long as you are staying within your calorie and macronutrient targets, the foods and drinks consumed to meet those targets is completely up to you!
You simply add each food and the portion size into the app, and it subtracts from your calorie and macronutrient totals to show you how many remain to reach your daily targets.
Feeling like a protein shake instead of chicken, that’s fine!
Ran out of your oats for breakfast? That’s fine, have some toast!
Snickers are your favourite comfort treat? That’s fine too, as long as you save 250 calories each day you can fit it in!
As you can see, the benefits of flexible dieting really are in the name. The flexibility to adapt to different scenarios, the flexibility to have different foods based on what you feel like, or the flexibility to have a nightly dessert while not ruining your progress are all what contribute to flexible dieting being so great.
MyFitnessPal also has a database of millions of different food and meal inputs. So, you don’t even need to be weighing every single thing on a scale. Want to go to Nandos with friends? That’s fine, just search for Nandos in the app! This is a huge advantage of flexible dieting because it means we don’t have to be socially isolated while working towards our physique goals AND it creates an approach that we can sustain over the long term without cracking and bingeing!
Remember, there’s no need for dieting to completely suck and we don’t need to be eating chicken, broccoli and brown rice three times a day to lose weight! Give flexible dieting a shot and ENJOY your diet while you get in your best shape ever. ■
By JACKSON PEOS
Jackson is Bulk Nutrients Nutritional Science Advisor, a PhD candidate, accredited Sports Nutritionist, and competitive bodybuilder and boxer. He currently works at the School of Human Sciences, where he has completed a BSc in Sports Science and in Exercise & Health, and an Honours in Exercise Physiology. Jackson is also completing his PhD in the field of Nutrition where he is directing the first randomised controlled trial investigating the effects of intermittent vs continuous dieting on fat loss, muscle retention and muscle performance in resistance trained athletes. Follow him on Instagram at: @jacksonpeos
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