Although, I do not do meal planning, I do give my clients hormonal focus based nutrition guide based on their goal. May sounds synonymous, however, it is different.
Before learning how to plan your diet for fat loss or muscle gain, you will need to understand how those two mechanism actually work in our body.
Catabolism
When you are in fat loss mode you want to keep the insulin level low so you can promote something called catabolism or breakdown pathways where your body is breaking down things. Why is this important? If catabolism is not happening, the body is not ready to breakdown fat into energy.
During this catabolic phase, another process will be happening. It is called autophagy. Autophagy is self eating process where body actually consuming the body cells. This process is very important for those who are working on building healthier muscles and rejuvenating skin. It is not just lifting weights, although this process is also important, however, it is vital to get rid of old and damaged cells so the body can grow stronger and healthier cells.
Think about remodeling your bathroom. First thing you should be doing is get rid of old sink from 1930s. Keeping that sink in there will be not productive for your bathroom remodeling. Same thing goes for muscle building. As you exercise and stimulate your muscles, at some point, you will need to get rid of old and weak cells that is not working anymore.
Catabolism is also important for those who are wanting to lose fat. If the catabolic process is not happening because insulin level is high, then it will be super difficult to lose fat or use it as energy source.
To promote catabolism you will need to lower the insulin level. Some of the ways to do so is fasting and low carbohydrate diet.
Anabolism
Anabolism process is the opposite of catabolism where body is building or storing. This process is also important especially after you have done your workout. Concept is you should replenish what you have lost. It doesn't really matter what type of exercise you have done, but when you stress your body, you will need to replenish so that body can rebuild what has been damaged.
Anabolic process is also important for storing energy. Let's say that you have busy day ahead and may not have time to eat. Anabolic process from day before can store energy so that you can use the store energy in catabolic process so that you will be able to function on that busy day.
Anabolic process can be triggered when the insulin level is higher.
Practical Application
Fat Loss Dominant
Now that you've got the idea of catabolism and anabolism, let's put this in to practice.
Let's say for example that you need to lose fat and that is your main objective. Your primary focus is to activate catabolic pathway. This should make sense, because you will need to breakdown your body fat and get rid of it.
So you will need to have a monthly meal plan which may look like below.
Week 1-3 Low carb diet and 12-24 hour fasting combo
Week 4 Add more vegetable based carbs to your diet with 12-24 hour fasting.
Week1-3 will be focusing on keeping the insulin level low and promoting catabolism as long as possible. To do so, carbohydrates like, sugar, bread, pasta, rice will need to be almost eliminated.
12-24 hour fasting can be practiced if needed. Duration of fasting is optional based on your comfort level. 12 hour fasting in general is from dinner of previous day to breakfast of the next day. 16 hour fasting is from dinner of previous day to lunch of the following day. And 24 hour fasting is from dinner to dinner fasting.
Week 4 is a recovery week for the body and provide more nutrients to the body so it is ready to go for following week. You may re-introduce carbohydrate, however, stay away from sugar and flour.
Fat Loss and Muscle Gain
If you are looking to lose fat and gain muscle at same time, you will need to plan catabolism and anabolism on week to week basis.
So monthly week to week plan will be like below.
Week 1 Low carb diet and 12-24 hour fasting combo
Week 2 Higher carbohydrate only on days you are working out
Week 3 Low carb diet and 12-24 hour fasting combo
Week 4 Higher carbohydrate only on days you are working out
This plan is flip-flop between catabolic week and anabolic week. Rather than changing your meal on daily basis, it is more reasonable to switch week to week basis and will allow your body to learn both catabolic and anabolic process better.
Although higher carbohydrate is suggested, you main carbohydrate should be consumed with vegetable base. You may have rice, pasta or bread but if you are not working out that day, then avoid them.
Muscle Building Dominant
Building muscle will help increase your metabolism. So regardless of what your ultimate health goal is, you will want to get into muscle building process because as you get older, you will be losing them. However, if you have fat to lose, focus on first 2 plans.
Monthly week to week plan will look like this.
Week 1-3 High carbohydrate overall with higher frequency of physical activity
Week 4 Low carb diet and 12-24 hour fasting combo
First 3 weeks will be focusing on recovering from the physical activity. To do so, carbohydrate consumption is vital. Fastest recovering carbs are rice and fruits. Honey is also a great source for recovery.
Week4 is to get rid of all the damaged cells for better muscular growth. This process is important even when the focus is on muscle building.
In a Nutshell
How you plan your diet should be focused on what you want to accomplish. There are meal plans online that are changing on day to day basis, however, hormonal adaptation does take some time and should train your body so hormone can respond the way you want it. To do so weekly plan seems to be more efficient than daily meal plan.
Yes, you should vary your food source throughout the week, but focus on which hormone (insulin or glucagon) to stimulate should be monitored week to week basis.
Kota Shimada
Comments