Putting the nutrition information together.

This is a step-by-step on using all the information presented to build your meal plans. Remember to do through this part once every 5 weeks because as you are losing weight your caloric needs will change so today’s calculations won’t be relevant 5 weeks from now.

=Put together the accelerated fat loss meal plan=

Step 1. Calculate your maintenance level calorie needs.

How to do this was presented in the “How many calories do you need?” section of this chapter.

The activity level coefficient you should choose as a beginner is Light Active (1.35 multiplier) because you will be doing three exercise sessions per week. When you reach intermediate or advanced level you can start using the moderate or very active multipliers.

So for now:

(Maintenance calorie needs) = (BMR calorie needs) x 1.35 (Light Active) [calories]

Example: Maintenance calorie needs for me.

Stats: male, 20 years, 173 cm height, 81 kg, 12% body fat. BMR (Harris-Benedict) 66 + (13.7 x 81 kg) + (5x 173 cm) – (6.8 x 20 years) = 1904 calories 12% body fat -> 88% lean muscle mass; 0.88 x 81 kg = 71.28 kg lean body mass BMR (Katch-McArdel) 370+ 21.6 x 71.28 kg = 1909 calories You can see that both methods produce about the same result. My activity level multiplier: 1.35 (Light Active) (Maintenance calorie needs) = 1904 x 1.35 = 2570 calories.

Step 2. Decide by how much you want to reduce your calorie intake.

A 15% to 20% calorie reduction should be enough, when combined with exercising, to produce steady fat loss. But it will take a lot of time with suck a small decrease in calorie intake to lose fat.

If you are impatient and/or very obese make a 25% to 30% calorie reduction.

Don’t go below 30% to prevent the starvation mode response.

So your calorie intake could be:

(Calorie intake) = (Maintenance calorie needs) – 0.20 x (Maintenance calorie needs)

Or for faster fat loss:

(Calorie intake) = (Maintenance calorie needs) – 0.30 x (Maintenance calorie needs)

Example: Calorie reduction needs for me.

Because my body fat is quite low, 20% calorie reduction is enough for me. (Calorie intake) = (Maintenance calorie needs) – 0.20 x (Maintenance calorie needs) (Maintenance calorie needs) = 2570 calories. (Calorie intake)= 2570 – 0.20 x 2570 = 2056 ≈ 2000 calories

Step 3. Calculate how much protein, carbs and good fats you should be eating.

All the calculations must be made using the (Calorie intake) calculated at step two.

40% of calories should come from carbs.

1 gram of carbs equals 4 calories.

50% of carbs should be starchy carbs. A portion of starchy carbs equals 15 grams.

50% of carbs should be starchy carbs. A portion of fibrous carbs equals 5 grams.

You should not eat any simple carbs (no fruit and dairy no refined foods; review simple carbs to see what you should not eat).

(Calories from carbs) = 0.40 x (Calorie intake) [calories]

(Grams of carbs) = (Calories from carbs) / 4 [grams]

(Grams of starchy carbs) = 0.50 x (Grams of carbs) [grams]

(Portions of starchy carbs) = (Grams of starchy carbs) / 15 [portions]

(Grams of fibrous carbs) = 0.50 x (Grams of carbs) [grams]

(Portions of fibrous carbs) = (Grams of fibrous carbs) / 5 [portions]

40% of calories should come from protein.

1 gram of protein equals 4 calories. A portion of fats equals 7 grams of protein.

(Calories from protein) = 0.40 x (Calorie intake) [calories]

(Grams of protein) = (Calories from protein) / 4 [grams]

(Portions of protein) = (Grams of protein) / 7 [portions]

20% of calories should come from good fats

1 gram of fat equals 9 calories. A portion of fats equals 5 grams of fats.

(Calories from fats) = 0.20 x (Calorie intake) [calories]

(Grams of fats) = (Calories from fat) / 9 [grams]

(Portions of fat) = (Grams of fats) / 5 [portions]

Example: The calculations made according to my calorie needs.

(Calorie intake) ≈ 2000 calories (Calories from carbs) = 0.40 x 2000 calories = 800 calories (Grams of carbs) = 800 calories / 4 calories =200 g (Grams of starchy carbs) = 0.5 x 200 g = 100 g (Portions of starchy carbs) = 100 g / 15 g ≈ 6.6 portions (Grams of fibrous carbs) = 0.5 x 200 g = 100 g (Portions of fibrous carbs) = 100 g / 5 g = 20 portions (Calories from protein) = 0.40 x 2000 calories = 800 calories (Grams of protein) = 800 calories / 4 calories = 200 g (Portions of protein) = 200 g / 7 g ≈ 28.5 portions (Calories from fats) = 0.20 x 2000 calories = 400 calories (Grams of fats) = 400 calories / 9 calories ≈ 45 g (Portions of fats) = 45 g / 5 g = 9 portions

Observation: After doing you will see that the number of portions is large. For example 20 portions of protein sounds a lot but, on this eating system, portion sizes are very small – if you were eating chicken you would get the 7 g of protein found in a portion from a piece of meat the size of a matchbox.

Step 4. Redo step 3, only this time make the calculations for maintenance level caloric intake.

You need to know how many portions of fat, carbs and protein you should be eating to maintain your current weight because, as mentioned in “How to adjust your calorie consumption for fat loss”, you will be zigzagging your calories: 3 days fat loss and one day maintenance.

There’s no point to rewrite the formulas again, just redo step 3 but this time using the (Maintenance calorie needs) calculated at step one.

Example: The calculations made according to my calorie needs.

(Calorie intake) = (Maintenance calorie needs) = 2570 calories. ≈ 2500 calories The calculations are simple so I won’t waste more time on this.

Step 5. Calculate the amount of water you should be drinking.

Water consumption should be:
On high calorie days: (Maintenance calorie needs) {calculated at step 1} x 1.25 ml

On low calorie days: (Caloric intake) {calculated at step 2} x 1.25 ml

Feel free to increase the quantity if you want to but no more than 1.5 per calorie “burned” and remember to drink water every 2 hours even if you are not thirsty.

Example: Amount of water I need on a low calorie day.

(Calorie intake) ≈ 2000 calories (water) = 2000 x 1.25 = 2500 ml = 2.5 liters

Step 6. Spread your portions over the four meals a day according to the menu template.

You need to do this operation once for maintenance level and once for reduced calorie intake, again because of the zigzag.

The menu template looks like this:

Meal 1 – Lean Protein (medium serving), Starchy carbs (medium serving)

Meal 2 – Lean Protein (medium serving), Starchy carbs (medium serving), Fibrous carbs (vegetables)

Meal 3 - Lean Protein (medium serving), Fibrous carbs (vegetables), good fats

Meal 4 - Lean Protein (medium serving), Fibrous carbs (vegetables), good fats

Your are eating a medium serving of protein with every meal which means that your are eating approximately (Portions of protein)/4 portions of protein at every meal.

The same with fibrous carbs and good fats: you are eating (Portions of fibrous carbs)/3 portions of fibrous carbs at every one of the 3 meal you will be serving fibrous carbs at and eating (Portions of fat)/2 portions of good fats at each of the 2 meals involving good fats consumption.

The way you should eat starchy carbs is 2/3 of total starchy carb portions at the first meal and the rest (1/2) at the second one.

When the number of portions per meal is not a round number round; example if you would calculate that you need 6.34 portions of something per meal then round the number to 6.

After you calculate the portions rewrite the menu template using the appropriate portions for every meal.

Example:

The protein, carb and fat portions that should be used are the ones calculated at step 3 and 4. Calculations for reduced calorie intake(using the number of portions calculated at step 3): Protein: 28.5 portions / 4 meals = 7 portions per meal. Fibrous carbs: 20 portions / 3 meals ≈ 6 portions per meal Starchy carbs - first meal: 6.6 portions x 2/3 of number of portions ≈ 4 portions - second meal: (rest of starch carb portions) = 2 Healthy fats: 9 portions / 2 meals ≈ 4 portions per meal The menu rewritten: Meal 1 – 7 portions protein, 3 portions starchy carbs Meal 2 – 7 portions protein, 3 portions starchy carbs, 6 portions fibrous carbs Meal 3 – 7 portions protein, 6 portions fibrous carbs, 4 portions fats Meal 4 – 7 portions protein, 6 portions fibrous carbs, 4 portions fats ------------------------------------- Total: 28 portions protein, 6 portions Starchy carbs, 18 portions fibrous carbs, 8 portions good fats Calculations for maintenance level calorie consumption using the number of portions calculated at step 4): It’s pretty straight forward so I’ll let you crunch the numbers.

Step 7. Combine step 6 with foods from the approved lists to build efficient fat burning meals.

By step 7 you have 2 menu templates that present the amount of portions of protein, carbs and fat you should be eating in total and the way to arrange them in meals – one for maintenance level calorie intake (high calorie day) and the other of reduced calorie intake (low calorie day). Now all you got to do is look in the approved lists of foods and pic which ones you want to eat on a given day.

In the approved food lists, next to every food you will find the amount of it that should be considered a portion.

Source	Portion size	Protein/portion
Chicken breast	1 oz or 28.35 g	7 g
…	….	7 g
Egg whites	1 egg white	7 g

For example if I would have to eat 7 portions of protein at a meal, I could look at the approved list of protein sources (fragment of it presented above) and pick:

• a 7 oz piece of chicken or
• 7 egg whites or
• a 5 oz chicken breast and 2 egg whites.

Source	Portion size	Starchy carbs/portion
Baked potato	2 oz or 57 g	15 g
…	…	…
Brown rice	2.5 oz or 70g	15 g

For example if I would have to eat 2 portions of starchy at a meal, I could look at the approved list of starchy carb sources (fragment of it presented above) and pick:

· A 4 oz baked potato

· 5 oz brown rice

Example on how I could choose my portions on a low calorie day. The principles are the same for the high calorie day just there are more portions to eat then on the low calorie day.

Here’s my menu template: Meal 1 – 7 portions protein, 4 portions starchy carbs Meal 2 – 7 portions protein, 2 portions starchy carbs, 6 portions fibrous carbs Meal 3 – 7 portions protein, 6 portions fibrous carbs, 4 portions fats Meal 4 – 7 portions protein, 6 portions fibrous carbs, 4 portions fats A meal build on this template: Meal 1 4 oz turkey breast boiled [4 portions of protein] 3 egg white omelet [3 portions protein] 4 oz oatmeal [4 portions starchy carbs] Meal 2 7oz Chicken breast [7 portions of protein] 4 oz baked potato (no butter toping) [2 portions starchy carbs] Green paper, tomato and cucumber salad (use some olive oil) [6 portions of fibrous carbs] Meal 3 7 oz water packed tuna [7 portions of protein] 3 cups broccoli [6 portions of fibrous carbs] a piece of avocado [4 portions good fats] Meal 4 7 oz lean beef [7 portions of protein] Peas and a carrot-celery salad [6 portions of fibrous carbs] A hand full of peanuts [4 portions good fats]

Observations:

• Usually, it’s best to stick with one protein and starchy carb source per meal, but you can combine fibrous carb and fat sources.

• Always eat your protein first!

• Because fibrous carbs have very low calorie density you will be eating large quantities of them. The probability that you won’t be able to eat the recommended number of portions of fibrous carbs is very high. It’s not a problem if you can’t eat all of your fibrous carbs. Listen to your body, if you fill full don’t force feed yourself in order to meet the recommended number of portions, you’ll just be hurting yourself.

• It is possible to even gain weight first before you start losing fat .That’s because you are building your muscles and the bodies is receiving nutrients that it never received before that help it flourish. Don’t rely on your weight as a measurement for your progress – muscle is denser than fat meaning that roughly 3 lbs of muscle occupies the same amount of volume as 1 lb of fat. Remember that your goal is to lose fat not weight. There are situations where a person’s weight stayed the same during the diet but he replaced all of the fat with muscle mass and so, even if he weighed the same, his appearance changed completely – he reengineered a blob of fat into a lean, chiseled physic that is turning heads and demanding respect.

• Because of the amount of food that you will be eating the only way to make the diet work is to eat as clean as possible and pay special attention to the way your food is cooked (review “IV. How to eat your food for maximum fat loss.” )“Don’t eat food that is not found in the approved food lists.” for reasons why you should do this and how to do this).

• Don’t ruin your diet by eating junk food and simple carbs, saturated fats and trans fatty acid containing products (review the sections on simple carbs, saturated fats and trans fatty acids)

• Never drink your calories; the only liquid accepted is water!

• Zigzag your calorie intake for the best results: 3 low calorie days, followed by a high calorie day.

How many calories do I need?

Failing to determine how many calories you need is usually the mistake holding people back from reaching their fat loss goals. Even if you are making the right food choices and exercising regularly, if you don’t manage to create a caloric deficit you’ll be getting nowhere fast.

In chapter 1 (Basics of fat loss) it was established that in order to lose fat a caloric deficit should be created by decreasing caloric intake and increasing total energy expenditure (TEE). But, before you can decrease caloric intake you need a reference point from where to start. The reference point should be your TEE, because you need your caloric intake to be below your TEE in order to lose fat.

A method of calculating TEE is by multiplying your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) to your activity factor.

Calculating BMR using the Harris-Benedict Method

This method of calculating your BMR does not take into account your lean body mass, so it is not accurate and therefore should not be used to calculate BMR calorie needs for very muscular people (underestimates calorie needs) and very obese people ( overestimates calorie needs).

Use this formula only if you don’t know your body fat percent.

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years)
Conversions: 1 inch = 2.54 cm; 1 kg = 2.2 lbs.

! Note: Make sure to always convert your weight from lbs to kg and height from inches to centimeters otherwise you will calculate BMR’s multiple times large then what you need.

Now that you know your BMR it’s time to multiply it by your activity level coefficient.

Activity	Activity level description	Multiplying Coefficient
Sedentary	Desk job, no exercise	1.2
Light active	Light exercise x 1-3 times/week	1.35
Moderately Active	Moderate exercise 3-5 times/week	1.55
Very Active	Hard exercise 6-7 times/week	1.7

And you are done; now you know your daily caloric needs in order to maintain your current weight/body fat level. The next step is to figure out how to efficiently decrease caloric intake.

The basics of fat loss

The only way to lose fat is stated in the law of weight/fat loss also known as the law of energy balance:

“In order to lose weight you must use more calories than you eat every day.”

A calorie is a measurement for a form of energy – heat.
The food you are eating releases, when digested, an amount of energy (heat). So each type of food has a caloric value.

The total amount of calories that you consume in a day is the sum of the caloric values of the foods eaten on that particular day.

Calories are also used as a measurement for the amount of energy stored in the body as adipose tissues (fat) or glycogen (stored carbohydrates).

The amount of calories that you use in a day is also known as your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and consists of:

• The calories used for normal bodily functions like digestion, circulation, eating etc. – your Basal Metabolic Rate.
• The calories used while performing physical activities.

What happens when your total energy expenditure is greater then the number of calories eaten is that a caloric deficit appears. The body, in an attempt to reach energy balance, must tap into stored fat for energy – calories are released from body fat and used for energy.

Using body fat for energy (because of the caloric deficit) leads to lower body fat levels and, implicitly, weight loss.

By now it’s clear that “being on” a caloric deficit is the only way to go about losing fat. The reverse is also true – “being on” a caloric surplus will ultimately lead to fat gains.
When your total energy expenditure is equal to your caloric intake, body fat levels stay the same because the body has enough calories from food to compensate fro the energy expenditure. This is known as the maintenance level.

How to create the caloric deficit?

If we where to sum everything mentioned in the previous paragraphs into an equality, it would look something like this:

(Total energy expenditure) – (Calorie intake) = (Caloric deficit)

If you know a bit of math (and I bet you do), you would clearly see that the calorie deficit can be created/increased in 3 ways:

1. Increasing total energy expenditure above calorie intake
2. Decreasing calorie consumption below total energy expenditure
3. At the same time decrease caloric intake and increase energy expenditure

The obvious pick between the three is number 3. The chapters on nutrition and exercising will discuss in length how to do this, so there is no need to go into details here.

Overview of “The basics of fat loss”

• In order to lose fat you need to create a caloric deficit.
• The best way to create a caloric deficit is by increasing your total energy expenditure and cut back on your calorie intake.

5 Things you can do NOW to start losing body fat.

Imagine this situation:

You are wrestling with the same 10-30 pounds for years. You’ve tried everything out there, from no fat to high fat diets, low carbs, high carbs, you name it but only managed to lose a few pounds here and there.

Every time you look in the mirror you don’t like what you see - you know it’s time to get serious about losing body fat but are not prepared to make a major dieting effort.

If that’s the case with you, then I have some good news – you don’t have to make an major dieting effort in order to lose fat.

In fact, the trend in the fitness world has shifted from complex fitness solutions that turn your lifestyle upside down (and for that reason are hard to follow) to focusing on thing you can incorporate into your life style with ease and act on NOW!.

Below is a list of things you could do to start losing body fat now:

1. Don’t touch that first piece.
Everybody knows that you can eat any kind of food and still don’t get fat as long as you eat in MODERATION. But let’s face it – some types of food you can’t just eat in moderation. One cookie or a hand full of chips will do for you? If not; if you can’t stop there it is better to avoid those types of food altogether.

2. Spread your calories over the entire day.
Most people have the following eating pattern: one or two light meals during the day and a HEAVY dinner. Geese’s! At night you are the least active (with the exception of night jobs) so you burn the least amount of calories. The extra calories from the large dinner are stored as body fat.
So, make breakfast your largest meal and dinner the smallest. Chances are that you will be burning the calories eaten during the day so minimal amounts of them will be stored as fat.

3. Fill up on fiber.
Because fibrous carbs have low calorie density and at the same time “fill you up” so you don’t feel hungry they help you lose fat, so they should constitute the bulk of your carb intake.

Fibrous carbs are: Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Green Beans, Green peppers, Mushrooms, Onion, Peas, Salad (lettuce, romaine), Spinach, and Tomato.

4. Drink water.
Without enough water the body can’t “burn” body fat as efficiently as normally.
When dehydrated, the body tries to hold on to as much water as possible. When this happens, the body’s waste products can’t be eliminated and the kidneys become overwhelmed. At this point the liver starts to help remove these waste products, neglecting its own job which includes using stored body fat for energy.

5. Get Moving.
This is the most simple and most effective fat burning secret. Exercise, besides the fat that burns calories, increases the metabolism and develops lean muscle mass, also boosts your self-esteem, increasing the probability that you will do more things in this direction (losing the fat).
Running outdoors is a very pleasent activity and can help you quickly burn the fat!

For the best results, combine aerobic (walking, riding a bike, treadmill etc) with strength training.

Why training with weights is a must.

In the fitness world, there are very few things all people agree upon; the fact that, no matter what your goals are, strength training should be a part of your workout is one of them. And for a good reason too.

Some of the benefits of weight training are:

1. Burn more body fat.

The short term benefit of weight training is that it burns calories while you do it, at a rate of about 150 calories per 30 min.

If you compare this with cardio, which can burn up to 500 calories per 30 min, you may be tempted to skip weight training and do the cardio.

Why not do this? Because of the long term effects of weight training; research has shown that post workout increases you Basal Metabolic Rate by as much as 20% for up to 48 hours after the workout.
So a person that has a BMR of 2000 calories will burn an extra 400 per day besides the ones consumed working out. Cardio does not have this effect.

2. Reshape your body.

Weight training leads to stronger muscles and joints which have a drastic impact on posture.
Also, weight training increases your lean muscle mass, decreases body fat levels and tones your muscles.
From my experience, proper posture, toned muscle and low body fat levels make everyone feel better about their appearance.

3. Helps perform every day tasks more easily.

Every day tasks like grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, pushing a car, which we do not give to much attention to, require all muscle strength, power, endurance, balance and flexibility.

Weight training improves all of these.

You are convinced? Good!
Now let’s see how we can set up a strength training program that accelerates fat loss. (we will discuss this in a further post).