Topped with a little sea salt and cayenne pepper. The chicken is marinated in nando’s tomato and basil sauce. Venison steak was a complete treat, not usually in my diet (in fact this was the first time I have had it) bought from Waitrose.
This is one of my 6 meals of the day, high protein, moderate carb and moderate fat.
The secret is, man I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but the secret really is; there is no secret! Wow thats a whole load of my chest, now I feel much better. Seriously though, the amount of people who think there is some magical reason others lose weight and they don’t is outstanding. Now I won’t keep you in the dark, I’m going to explain the fundamentals of fat loss right here.
Fat loss fundamentals
To lose fat you need to lose weight, its not possible (especially for naturals) to replace fat with muscle, weight must be lost for fat to be lost. Naturals really need to focus on one goal at a time i.e. gaining muscle, losing fat. Weight loss is simple, its all to do with a energy deficit, which is measured using kcal’s. To be in a deficit you need to be consuming less energy than you use in the day, energy is lost through a variety of ways such as the thermogenic effect of food (TEF- energy used to digest foods), non exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT- energy used through walking, standing, cleaning etc.), rest metabolic rate (RMR- energy used just to keep you alive) and obviously the exercise you take part in during the day. Once you work out how much energy that is you just need to create a deficit, how much you ask? well a good round number thats used is 500kcals. This is because a 500kcal deficit a day will give a 3500kcal deficit a week, which theoretically provides a 1 pound loss of weight a week. However, if you are especially small or extremely lean this deficit should probably be smaller, if of course your goal is to maintain as much muscle as possible. If muscle loss is not a concern you could have a much larger deficit and lose weight at a much faster rate. But, those concerned about muscle loss in general slower is better.
Now a very large determinant of muscle loss over fat loss comes down to your macro intake. A calorie is not a calorie, well it is a measure of energy but the actual food it comes from well thats what has a varied macronutritent profile, and well thats what truly matters here. 1000kcals from haribo will not provide the same nutrients as 1000kcals of milk, yes they provide identical levels of energy but the protein, carb and fat content of the two (let a lone the micro nutrient profile) couldn’t be more different. That is explained in another article. I will go through each macro by importance, starting with much loved protein.
Protein as a general guide should be consumed at 1gram per pound of mass, however you may want to push this up a notch say 1.5g per pound if you are older or extremely lean. Simply because the older you are the less amino acid sensitive you become and lean tissue needs more protein, a 180lb male with 5% bf has much more lean mass than a 180lb male with 20% body fat, fat simply isn’t very metabolically active. So the other way also applies, the younger you are the more amino acid sensitive you are and the more insulin sensitive you are, so it makes sense to lower protein down to say 0.8g per lb of mass.
Fats are next in the hierarchy of importance, this is because fat and protein are the only two essential nutrients the body needs to function. Carbs can be attained through breakdown of protein (however inefficient and wasteful this is) and can be internally produced, moreover ketones can be used for energy (hence the no carb ketogenic diet). A good recommendation of minimum fats is 0.25g per lb of mass, this is simply to make sure natural hormones are kept to healthy levels, and this is regardless of age and leanness. This I will add is especially important for natural fitness fanatics, as they do not have injected assistance etc.
Carbohydrates are now the filler macro nutrient. So you are 180lbs and you work out you need 3000kcals to maintain your weight, so a 2500kcal intake to provide a 1 lb loss a week. At 180lbs your protein intake will be 180grams which as 1g of protein has 4kcals is 720kcals. Fat at 9kcals per gram at an intake of 0.25 x 180 = 45g x 9 = 405kcals. Add these two together and you get 1125 (720+405), now subtract that total from the kcal intake you need for weight loss (2500-1125) and this will give you the calories you have left for carbs, which in this case is 1375. As 1g of carbs has 4 calories, you divide this figure by 4 to give the total number of grams giving 343.75g of carbs. God thats a lot of math, pretty sure its all right. Now if like this 180lb individual your energy expenditure is quite high then you can decide to drop some of these carbs and in their place up your fat in take. This is because the 0.25g of fat per lb is a minimum, and could be pushed up as much as you like but in general 0.5g per lb is a rough maximum (unless your aim is ketosis of course, in which case it might be higher).
For a while now carbs have been seen as a big no no, especially for fat loss. However they are typically underrated, they are very muscle sparing and really do enhance performance and energy levels. Ultimately it comes down to a calorie deficit, if you are in one of these you will lose weight (of course there are health conditions that may prevent this) there is no secret.
Summing up
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Peace Out.
So it was my first time going to the body power expo, which was held in Birmingham in the NEC. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I heard samples were in order and competitions etc. were taking place, but all in all it was just a great place to meet up with like minded people. I purchased a VIP ticket, essentially because I was only going for one day out of the three, so wanted to get the most bang for least time as it were. This entitled me to the ‘super theatre’ where conferences with some of the biggest stars were taking place (I will go into some detail of what I took from some of these). It also meant getting in an hour earlier and gave some extra benefits that I didn’t really get to use.
Summary of the day
I set off with my training partner (Stef Bit) on Saturday morning to get a train which got us in for just before 9am. He’s currently in ketosis so it was a carb up day for him, for me well I am still trying to gain some mass, so I took it as a ‘free’ day diet wise. Got there and it was pretty packed immediately, with several queues in place. Finally got in at about 20 past 9. First impression was a bit odd, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves, kinda standing there in ore of all the stands with massive guys and fit girls giving out free samples of their products, along with various stands with competitions or pieces of equipment to try out. The day really consisted of going round stalls grabbing every free sample possible (I must have had the equivalent of three protein bars and 50g+ of whey- sample size was tiny btw) in-between conferences at the super theatre. It was hard to take it all in and was really busy and so got a bit annoying and tiring walking round people etc. However, the time really did fly bye and it was soon 6pm and time to leave. If I was to do it again I would recommend something more like: VIP, get there 20 minutes before 9am so as not to queue, grab all free samples before super theatre, take your own food and sit in the super theatre all day basically being chilled and taking note of good info, when all conferences finished or any your not bothered about go round doing competitions, by about 4pm it got quite so this would be an ideal time to catch up with people on stands and getting pictures if desired (this is basically mine and Stef’s plan of action next time).
Personal highlights
Super theatre
We all know water is good for us and we should aim for at least 2 litres a day, I take on board a lot more than that, but then again your personal intake will vary according to your activity etc. Anyway, I often see fruit juices and the like advertised as healthy and many people have these as an alternative healthy beverage to water. Another alternative are fizzy drinks, diet or regular, these are often a very nice change from water. After doing some reading (Wolf A, Bray GA, Popkin BM. A short history of beverages and how our body treats them. Obes Rev. 2008 Mar;9(2):151-64.) I have discovered some quite shocking things.
Americans typically drink 1.5 litres of fluids other than water a day, which is quite a lot, and on average 35 gallons of drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup are consumed each year, being the most popular drink, followed by beer. These drinks have been slowly replacing those such as milk, replacing a load of healthful nutrients with sugar, calories and stimulants. Over one billion fizzy drinks are bought a day, beer and tea have also increased, however milk and wine consumption has fallen.
In the past humans predominantly drank water and breast milk and nothing else. Milk contains protein, carbohydrate, fat and water, as beverages go its a good one. And water, well is just that, water, and it contains no calories. Why is this important? well humans have shown to show poor compensation for fluid calories. This means that the body will not adjust properly the calories consumed later in the day or another day for a given amount of calories consumed as liquid. The body is quite good at compensating for food calories, and so you eat say 2 slices of toast extra for breakfast, your body ‘compensates’ by then being less hungry later on and you eat a few hundred calories less than normal. Liquid calories on the other hand are not well compensated for. However, this is not true for milk, so bare that in mind, its only those such as coke/pepsi/fruit juice etc.
The paper found either we didn’t evolve consuming liquid calories and therefore our bodies doesn’t handle them like food calories, or the liquids get treated as if they were water and so are digested too quickly to have any compensatory effect on food intake. Studies have shown this; one being Jelly Beans vs. a soft drink. One group consumed 450kcals of Jelly Beans, the other 450kcals of soft drink, and as you can guess the Jelly Bean eaters subsequently reduced their food intake later in the day, the soft drinkers did not, and in fact they increased their food intake slightly. Thats a double hit to weight gain.
Carbohydrates alone stimulate the least number of appetite blunting factors, protein and fat stimulate the release of more. So you’d expect much less of a compensatory response to a drink containing protein and fat (think lowfat milk) as compared to one containing only carbohydrate (think fruit juice or a high sugar soda). Which is exactly what the studies have shown. Milk shows a nice normal compensation to intake; it’s effectively a liquid ‘food’. Sugar sweetened soft drinks show no compensation.
The take home points:
I recently read a few journals regarding milk and its use post workout. I love milk and always drank a lot as a child, however I discontinued its consumption after it being put as a ‘less clean’ food source for various reasons such as Lactose, Carb content and hormones. However, after reading a great deal about milk I have come to question why people seem to think of it as a lesser dietary source, or one to avoid (unless lactose intolerant). So I decided I would utilise milk a lot more, its tasty, its cheap, its convenient, as far as I was concerned there was nothing to loose by at least giving it a go.
The Science
OK back to the topic in hand, I am going to use some typical nutritional figures to compare chocolate milk and post workout recovery products. A typical chocolate milk will contain 300 calories, 18g of protein, 44g of carbohydrates and 6g of fat, a typical post workout supplement would contain 300 calories 25g of protein and 45g of carbohydrate and 2g of fat.
Carbs: Post workout supplements will usually be made up of a carbohydrate such as dextrose, chocolate milk has a mixture of sucrose and lactose. It has been found that no significant difference between dextrose and sucrose in terms of glycogen storage. An advantage of sucrose is that its 50% fructose and this supports liver glycogen better than glucose on its lonesome. Liver glycogen use occurs to a significant degree during exercise, the amount depends on the intensity of the exercise of course. This points to the preference of choosing sucrose over dextrose (glucose) post workout.
Fat: In terms of saturated fat both items in question have a similar amount but milk will have a higher overall fat content. Fats bad post workout right? It slows everything down and blunts high gi carbs and fast acting proteins getting to our muscles fast? Well tests have been done and its been found that post exercise ingestion of whole milk was actually better for increasing overall protein levels then skimmed milk. So it looks like post workout fat is actually not something we should avoid, in fact it may even be beneficial in terms of protein synthesis. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, but if you want to save on calories go for low fat and if you are interested in the potential of faster protein synthesis go higher, either way its not something to get worried about.
Protein: Post workout products typically use whey protein isolates, these in theory are favourite as they are readily broken down and easily processed by our bodies, leading to the assumption that it would be taken up by the muscles faster increasing anabolism. Milk protein is made up of 80% casein and 20% whey. The verdict on whether whey or casein is a better protein is split currently. What is known is that faster does not equate to better when considering the total anabolic effect of protein. Its been found that milk proteins have the best nutritional quality, proposing a synergistic link between casein and whey. So which is better milk protein (whey/casein blend) or whey in an isolate form? Well these two have not been consistently compared, thus a conclusion can’t fully be made. What can be said is both seem to be beneficial post workout.
Micronutrients: milk boasts some strong stats; 624mg of calcium, 70mg of magnesium, 920mg potassium, 558mg phosphorous…when comparing such with a typical post workout supplement, milk comes out on top. I will also add that milk has been found to be superior to water for providing rehydration following exercise (down to its sodium and potassium content).
Other than the above you might still opt for your post workout supplement, I mean milk hasn’t shown to come out markedly above, but definitely on par if not slightly better. However, consider the saving your going to be making, the markup from milk to a supplement must be several 100′s of percent, or at least double the price. On the other hand, how convenient is milk? Powders are non-perishable and don’t need to be kept cool so they don’t go off, so its much more convenient. Another argument to made is taste, although its subjective the supplement companies know how to make a great tasting shake.
What do I do?
I often try and take a balanced approach to nutrition, as I am still discovering what works best for me, but my post workout shake consists of:
25g Whey, 350ml skimmed milk, half a tin of peaches.
For me its ticking some boxes: using milk I get the potential benefits of it including the fact I like the cost and its very cheap, the whey provides a convenient and easy way to boost the taste of the shake and up its protein content, the peaches are dead cheap and again add to the flavour, in addition they have a high glucose to fructose ratio so are pretty ideal post workout. I will experiment with this and find what gives the best recovery, I recommend you do the same with your own post workout protocol. And hey if you fancy a Frigg or Mars milkshake post workout then GO FOR IT, its likely to do you a lot of good.
Proven to increase muscle strength and training intensity when used as a Pre Workout. Furthermore it has been seen to decrease muscle soreness by more than 50%. I recommend only using this earlier in the day as taken too late at night supplementation can ruin a nights sleep (ever been out boozing all night on red bull mixers and found it hard to sleep, its all the caffeine – also the sugars and other stimulants – keeping you from your slumber). Be careful with extra supplementation, many are unaware that if they are consuming coffee and taking a weight loss supplement they are getting large amounts of caffeine, if they added in a caffeine tablet or pre workout formula they may find they get what people call the ‘jitters’.
How to take it:
Neither are necessary but both would be ideal times and quantities to use this supplement.
