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.

Fats

Fats are the type of calories that dieters try to cut out of their diet because they are “fattening”.

If you take into account the fact that 1 gram of fat equals 9 calories and that 97% of the calories coming from fats are absorbed as opposed to 90% from carbs and 80% from protein you will realize that gram for gram fats are more fattening than other foods. To make matters worse fats don’t take up room in your stomach so they are easily overeaten.
The three types of fats are:

1. Saturated fats.

They are mostly animal fats and tend to stay solid at room temperature.
They should be avoided because they are harmful, leading to increased levels of cholesterol in the blood. Butter, cheese, chocolate, egg yolks, meat fat, dairy fat and palm and coconut oils all contain saturated fats.

If you are following the approved food lists strictly you should not worry about saturated fats.

2. Unsaturated fats.

Vegetable fats fit in this category.

Unsaturated fats are essential as they:

• reduce levels of blood cholesterols.
• Provide the body with essential fatty acids (EFA): omega 3’s and omega 6’s.
  Some of the benefits of EFA’s are:
  1. increased metabolic rate
  2. improved skin texture
  3. promote joint health
  EFA’s are required for:
  1. absorption of fat soluble vitamins
  2. growth promoting
  3. energy production

Needless to say, fats should be apart of your diet: 15 to 20% of your calories should come from unsaturated fat sources.

Approved list of fats

Source	Portion size	fats/portion
Avocado	1 oz or 28.35 g	5 g
Almonds (dry roasted)	1 tbsp or 6 pieces	5 g
Oil (olive & canola)	1 tbsp	5 g
Peanuts	1/3 oz or 10 pieces	5 g
Salad dressing (light)	2 tbsp	5 g
Walnuts	1 tbsp	5 g

3. Hydrogenation and trans fatty acids

Hydrogenation is a process used to prolong the shelf life of products. This process has the downside effect of making healthy unsaturated fats have the proprieties of saturated ones.

Trans fatty acids are chemically altered fats found in partial hydrogenated foods.

Some of the destructive effects of trans fatty acids are:

• Cholesterol level increase
• Hampered immune system functioning
• Increased sensitivity to insulin

Foods that contain trans fatty acids and should be avoided:

• Fried foods (fried chicken, French fries etc.)
• Bakery Products (cookies, Biscuits, doughnuts etc.)
• Refined Vegetable Oils
• Margarine

Where to get your calories from?

Calories are derived from food. There are 3 types of calories:

• carbohydrates
• protein
• fat

Dietary guidelines for the burn body fat fast nutritional plan - part II

This is post is the fifth in a series of 7 posts aimed at detailing the official burn-body-fat.blogspot.com nutritional plan. More info about the series here. Also, make sure you check out:

The concept behind The Burn Body Fat Fast Nutritional Plan
Super Food List part I
Super Food List part II
Dietary guidelines for the burn body fat fast nutritional plan - part I

Guideline #4: Any carbohydrate that does not fall under the categories of vegetables and fruits should be eaten only with the meal following an exercise session

The non-fruit and non-vegetable carbohydrate category includes:

* Carbohydrath starchy foods: bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, oats and cereal grains
* Simple sugars:
* Table sugar and anything that contains it: juice, soda, cake, cookies etc
* Sport and recovery drinks

For optimum body composition, your best bet is to remove the simple sugars completely and stick only with starchy carbs post workout.

If you were to eat foods from this category with non-post-workout meals, what would happen is that because of their high glycemic index, they would drastically increase insulin and blood glucose levels, negatively affecting glucagon levels causing the slowdown or stop of fatty acid oxidation.

But when ingested post workout they replenish glycogen stores.

Bottom line: No exercise, no carbohydrates other then fruits or vegetables!

Food type	Food timing	Foods included
Fruits and vegetables	With each meal	Vegeatbles Fruits
Starchy carbohydrates	Eaten with the mini-meal following a workout	Whole grain breads, pasta, rice; potatoes, yams, cereal grains
Simple sugars	Eaten only during or immediate after exercise (if at all)	Sports and recovery drinks, soda, fruit juice, table sugar and anything containing it.

Guideline #5: Be sure to include healthy fats in your daily diet

In a previous I mentioned that adding healthy fats (omega-3 and omega-6 rich monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats) to your diet as well as balancing the saturated fats to monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats ratio and eliminating trans fats from your diet are all critical steps toward improved health and body composition.

Read my earlier post My fat friend eats a low fat diet to find out the advantages of increasing protein intake.

Aiming for a fat intake consisting of:

* 1/3 saturated fats
* 1/3 monounsaturated fats
* 1/3 polyunsaturated fats

Would help you achieve all the three goals above.

Although it might seem hard, balancing your fat intake is quite easy.

The amount of saturated fats you need is coming from animal fats (the fat in eggs, dairy products and meats that you are eating) so you don’t have to worry about them.

So, basically, all you need to do is focus on supplementing your intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Adding monounsaturated fats is as simple as using olive oil for salad dressing, eating mixed nuts and avocado. You can supplement you polyunsaturated fats intake by flax seeds, vegetable fats and fish oil supplements to your diet.

Cooking your meals yourself, using the super foods and this guidelines almost guarantees that you will be eliminating the majority of trans fats from your diet.

Now, a word on fat intake timing. As long as you get your daily requirements it doesn’t matter when you eat the healthy fats. The only time you want to keep fat intake low is immediately after exercise because the fatty acid oxidation rate increases post workout and by keeping fat intake low we are encouraging the use of stored fatty acids for oxidation.

Food type	Food timing	example
Saturated fats	none	Animal fats
Monounsaturated fats	none	Olive oil, nuts, avocado
Polyunsaturated fats	none	Vegetable fats, fish oil, flax seeds

Guideline #6: You should not drink calorie containing beverages

Water should be the only fluid you drink.

Alcohol, soda and all types of sugary beverages, including fruit juice, should be eliminated as they provide “empty calories” (calories without nutritional value). If you must drink something other then water then you can have some tea as long as it is not sweetened with table sugar.

A few things that you should know about water, but probably don’t:

· Every physiological process in the body requires water

· Without enough water, the body can’t perform it’s metabolic processes (including fat mobilization and oxidation) as efficiently as possible

· dehydratation decreases endurance, strength and physical performance.

In order to make sure you get enough water, drink between 8 – 10 glasses of water per day. That is about one glass every 2 hours whether you are thirsty or not. During workout sessions, you should drink a glass of water for every 30 minutes of exercise.

My fat friend eats a low fat diet

Many people still believe that in order to get fit you have to eat a low fat diet.

This article is for them. While it is true that some types of fats are associated with health problems, removing fats completely from your diet is catastrophic both to your health and fat loss attempts.

This guy eats low fat. Can't you tell it's working?:P

It is time to clear up some myths about fats. Read this article and find out the truth about fats and how adding certain kinds of fats to your diet is not only beneficial but even critical to your well being.

Types of fats

Fats come in three basic forms: saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Plus, nowadays there is a new artificially manufactured fat present in food called trans fat.

Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats

Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are considered to be the “good” fats. The reason they are considered good is because they are sources of essential fatty acids: omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Essential fatty acids

All fats are composed of fatty acids. Some can be synthesized in the body while others cannot. The ones that cannot be synthesized in the body and therefore must come from the diet are known as essential fatty acids (EFA). There are two essential fatty acids:

• Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) – member of the omega-3 fatty acid family
• Linoleic acid (LA) – member of the omega-6 fatty acid family

EFA are required by every cell in the body on a daily basis for synthesis purposes (used to build cell membranes). The body’s need for EFA outweighs the need for protein and other nutrients considered to be essential.

Omega-3 fatty acids

The essential omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid:

• Promotes eye and brain development
• Improves immune function
• Helps prevent abnormal heart rhythms

The other two omega-3 acids are docosahexanoic (DHA) and eicosapentalnoic acid (EPA).

Some of the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are:

• They reduce blood cholesterol and triglycerides levels
  
• Lower the risk of stroke, heart attack and hardening of arteries
• Improve immune response, brain and glandular system functioning

The best source of omega-3 fatty acids are fish, especially cold water marine fish.

Also, dark-green leafy vegetables and some plant-derived oils (flaxseed oil, canola oil, soybean oil, walnut oil etc.) contain omega-3 EFA.

Omega-6 fatty acids

Linoleic acid (LA), the essential omega-6 fatty acid is responsible for lowering total blood cholesterol levels as well as low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol levels.

The main sources of omega-6 EFA are vegetables and oils.

Although omega-6 EFA consumption is important by itself, some scientists feel that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 acids is important as well. While most tissues require a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 between 5 to 1 and 3 to 1, the average person consumes these fats in a ratio of 20 to 1 or more.

Increasing omega-3 consumption, while controlling omega-6 intake, is an important step towards improved health and body composition.

Saturated fats

The main sources of saturated fats are animal products, including milk and dairy products.

Saturated fats are considered the “bad” fats because:

• When there is a deficiency of EFA in the diet, this are replaced with saturated fats in the cell structure. Using saturated fats to create cell membranes disrupts proper cellular function.
• A large intake of saturated fats leads to increased cholesterol levels, contributing to heart disease.

Because of their implication in many health problems, you should lower saturated fat intake.

Besides lowering saturated fat intake it is also important to shift the ratio of polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats. A 1997 Van Marken, Lichteenbelt et al study shows that there is a direct correlation between the polyunsaturated to saturated fats ratio and the metabolic rate, a higher polyunsaturated to saturated fats ratio leadind to metabolic increase (22% increase in the TEF and 3% increase in the resting metabolism).

Trans-fats and hydrogenation

Trans fatty acids are chemically altered monounsaturated fats found in partial hydrogenated foods.

Hydrogenation is a process used to prolong the self life of products that has the downside effect of making healthy unsaturated fats act like saturated fats in the body. When fat is hydrogenated, the process destroys the EFA. Consuming food cooked in hydrogenated oils can lead to a deficiency of good fats while simultaneously increasing saturated fat (and fats that behave like saturated fats in the body) levels.

Most margarines and any vegetable based oil or fat that stays solid at room temperature contain trans fats as they have undergone hydrogenation. Also most supermarkets, fast food, bakery products and snacks contain hydrogenated oils.

Also, it is worth mentioning that a 1998 Harvard University report mentions that a 2% increase in calories coming from trans fats can increase the risk of coronary heart disease by as much as 97%.

For the reasons above, we should try to remove completely all trans fats from our diet.

Weight Loss VS Fat loss

The mistake that most people do, when they want to start a exercise program and diet, is to think that the bad shape their body is in is caused by a excess of weight.

With this idea in mind they go on crash diets that produce a lot of weight loss at the begging. The problem with this crash diets is (and if you were on one previously you would know I'm right) that after a period they stop working and that the weight lost is gained back. Some people even end up weighing more at the end of a crash diet that they weighed when they started.

These people failed because they failed to determine that -excess body fat - is the true cause of their problem and not their weight.

Your total weight is the sum of:
- your muscle mass
- body fat amount
- water weight and the weight of the food you ate.

When you go on a crash diet the weight you lose is water weight and the weight of the food you ate. It is logical that when you start eating again you will rapidly gain it back. And, after that period of starving you could be eating way more than before, increasing your body fat. For this reason, stay away from books that promise Weight Loss.

Now Back to body fat.

What you should know about body fat is that it is less dense than muscle: 1 pound of fat has the same volume as 3 pounds of muscle. What this translates into is that if even if you remained at your current weight but replaced all the fat with muscle, you would look completely different.

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.

So, the clear winner is BODY FAT!
Lower your body fat level and you'll have the body you want, guaranteed.