In the last several decades, we have seen so many different diets and nutrition information come and go and come back again, which making us confuse more than it needs to be.
Although information from Instagram, website, TV, magazine may seem confusing but there are basic science which will never change. What media is doing is putting extra layer on top of basic science to make it look more glamorous to make it their own so that they can make more business out of it.
So what are the basics?
1. Create Caloric Deficit
In order to lose weight or fat mass, you will have to create caloric deficit. This is the famous "calorie in/calorie out" concept. Whether you are on Keto diet, protein, diet, south beach, paleo diet, in order to lose weight, you will need to make sure that calorie out is more than calorie in.
Calorie in and calorie out is not only about how much food should you eat but also how active you will need to be. It is also about building muscles so that the rate in which you burn calorie while at rest, or resting metabolic rate, will be higher.
It is also about types of food you should be consuming. Consuming mainly whole and natural food will provide more energy and satiation compared with highly processed food and beverages. If you are overweight or obese, you can have carbs only when you deserve them, which would be below 15% of body fat.
Remember, if you are not losing weight, most likely your caloric deficit is not in the right direction.
2. Building Muscles
As mentioned above, building muscular strength and mass will help improve your resting metabolic rate, or rate in which your body use energy while at rest. More muscle you have more calories you will be burning.
But odd thing is when people go through fat or weight loss, majority of population would go for steady state cardio such as walk, jog, bike, and so on. You may be able to burn off calories but efficiency of building muscles will be far less than when you actually lift weights.
Ever wonder, why sprinters have more muscle definitions than marathon runners?
Ideally, if you could do 3 times per week of strength based training and 2-3 times per week of interval based cardio will help you shed those fat faster.
3. Managing Stress
By far, this is one of the most underrated basics, not only for fat loss but also for overall health. Not properly managed stress can lead to obesity, digestive issues, diabetes, sleep issues, and so on.
When stress level is high, body produce insulin to bring the stress hormone, cortisol, down. However, in order to lower insulin body needs glucose. Quickest way to send glucose is by consuming sugary food sources, such as ice cream, candies, sodas, and so on. This is where cravings start kicking in, which your body will be asking for more of it when you are stressed out.
Best way to manage stress is to organize the source of stress. For example, rather than checking e-mail or text every 5 mins, set a time to answer them, such as before lunch and before leaving work. This helps tremendously.
Another way to improve stress management is improving sleep quality. I used to believed that sleeping is not necessary and I can get by with 3-4 hours of sleep. This is the dumbest mistake I ever done and learned in the hard way. Quality sleep of 7-8 hours will give the brain more capacity to do the work. My training quality deteriorates when my sleep is under 6 hours.
Conclusion
So before you complicate your dieting with intermittent fasting, paleo, keto, and so on, check the 3 basics first and see how you are doing.
Stay healthy,
Kota Shimada
Comments