Narrow Your Focus, Crush Your Diet
Diets fads are never going to die, and desired results are never going to happen unless a diet is focused. Many diets complicate something as simple as eating. Our body tells us when to do it, and shows us when we have done it a bit too much. There are now supposedly revolutionary diets, with names that sound like they came out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a number of them like MCU as well. Macronutrients, micronutrients, and intense supplementation along with a rigorous diet is the lengths some people will go to lose weight, or stay lean. Yet, despite incredible efforts in every direction, they might just fall short.
The key to successful diet results is maintenance. This shouldn't go into a list of accomplishments to have been done once, and never achieved again. A successful diet should be consistent, and low maintenance. Like in training, we often need to change our nutrition, just by simplifying, and narrowing the focus. If this is something meant to be done for a lifetime, it should be easy, like clockwork. The routine shouldn't become obtrusive, and lead to an inevitable failure. Type-1 diabetics know about this, as they depend on it, for their entire lives.
Carb-counting like life depended on it.
A person with diabetes, above all things in their diet, has to control the carbohydrate intake. That doesn't mean completely avoiding carbohydrate intake completely, but instead knowing how many carbohydrates they are eating, and how much insulin they will require for that meal. It's recommended for diabetics to log and track their carbohydrate intake, and adjust after seeing the diets impact on the blood sugar. As they do for their overall health and wellness with their nutrition, people should also monitor their carbohydrate intake.
While My Fitness Pal, and Lose it! and other applications monitor all of your macronutrient intake, monitoring carbohydrate intake alone can work wonders with weight loss. Someone trying to reduce their body fat will have no other way to do it, than to have a deficit in caloric intake. While carbohydrates, proteins, and fats all do contain calories as macronutrients, he bulk of that deficit can be made in the carbohydrates consumed, and it probably wouldn't negatively affect the intake of other macronutrient groups. If anything, it could improve it!
Less equals more [Weight-loss].
All you need is a deficit. A caloric surplus will lead to gaining weight, a caloric deficit will shed it. This is the endgame of weight management. It is ideal to work towards a daily diet that needs no surplus or deficit, once the ideal weight is achieved. Even if one ate ketogenic (little to no carbohydrate intake), if there’s a surplus, weight will in fact be gained. Likewise, crappy, less nutritionally dense food choices can still allow cause weight loss if it leaves one at a deficit. While not advocating for either of these diet choices specifically, the main point is to not make it complicated, just make a deficit.
Where one will most likely have success with this deficit is reducing carbohydrate intake. Not banning them from your pantry completely, but tracking your carbohydrate intake, and cutting much of it out until the desired weight is achieved. Besides reducing the potential to eat simple sugars, reducing your carbohydrate intake might also help you avoid fatty foods full of saturated fat, and make better nutritional choices. For a second, sideline the concern with the other macronutrient intakes, and pick one variable to isolate and notice change from. More than likely, it should be the carbohydrates, here's why.
Less food with better value.
Think of foods that are high in protein, and low in carbohydrates. There are plenty, including just about every non-fried meat, as well as certain vegetables. Even if someone is a vegan, there are still low carb options for protein. Now think of the healthy fats, like avocados, coconut oil, and nuts. Avocados are a low glycemic index food, and nuts are relatively low in their glycemic as well, with the added benefit of protein and minerals.
Now think of the options with multiple macros, that do have carbohydrates. Potato Chips are high in saturated fat, as well as carbohydrate. Fried chicken, and other breaded meats also have carbohydrates with the protein they pack, and with sauce on top, now it’s swimming in sugar. Spinach and other salad mixes are great, but the fruity vinaigrette covering it is driving up your blood glucose. Clearly, it's not difficult to get full and lower the caloric intake, but losing weight requires the right food choices, or struggle with the temptation of hunger.
These are the relations that smart diabetics come to, when they want to choose food that tastes delicious, and is free of health consequences. They should usually pick the better option, and consume the carbs more sparingly. Diabetics are often only allowed a limited amount of carbohydrate intake throughout the day. Because of this, diabetics trying to satisfy their hunger cravings, while keeping their carbohydrate intake lower, have to eat complex carbs, and more satiating foods. Even the general population can learn from this.
If you want to weigh less, eat less. If you want to weigh more, eat more. Though execution is rigorous, the goal is simple. Weight loss= Usage>Consumption.
Remember, carbohydrates contain 4 calories a gram. Protein also contains 4 a gram, fat contains 9 calories per gram, and alcohol contains 7 calories, amongst other issues. Fiber isn't always considered a macronutrient, but it contains 4 calories a gram. The average diet can have carbohydrates as anywhere from 35-65% of the caloric intake. If one subscribes to a 2000 calorie a day diet, that would mean 700-1300 calories, from carbohydrates alone. There's plenty of room for reduction in the macronutrient alone, and if you do it properly, that other 65-35% will stay in check, with hopefully higher quality food! Use one of the many methods to find a rough estimate of a Basal Metabolic Rate, log your exercise for caloric burn estimates, and make the adjustments here.
The cut and dry about getting cut and dry.
500 calories a day. That's a great deficit to aim for. A pound of fat contains roughly 3500 calories. If you can keep your 500 calorie a day deficit, 7 days a week, that will lead to 1 pound of fat being burned per week. While adding more exercise can help you achieve this, a bad diet can't be out trained, and overtraining does the body serious harm. Make some changes in the kitchen, and start phasing out some carbohydrates from the diet. Make better choices, eat foods that satisfy hunger, and fuel incredible workouts. Keep your dietary changes simple, and make success more simple. Target the biggest villain to weight loss, and cut those carbohydrates lower, the results will follow.
By David Corrado, CSCS, TSAC-F, Founder of Trainathlon.
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