When your diet isn't cutting it - literally

“When your diet isn’t cutting it - literally.”

 

Even though we don’t like to use the word diet, many people frequently ask questions regarding their food consumption when they plateau or reach a point of stagnation along their weightloss journey.  A paleo-esque diet that focuses on healthy fats, quality proteins, and low-glycemic - gluten free carbohydrates is often the best route for anyone trying to look, feel, or perform better; however, it definitely does not mean that a one-size-fits-all approach will work for everyone.  For some, specific macro and micro nutrients must be tracked and tallied on a daily basis to elicit a desired effect with body composition.  The S.A.D (Standard American Diet) approach to weight and body fat loss would preach that fewer calories eaten and more calories burned equates to weight loss, but this is not always the case.  In fact, the human body can respond adversely to a calorically restricted diet by conserving the very thing most people want to get rid of, fat.  Carb cycling, intermittent fasting, and cold therapy are other options to consider, but realistically, the easiest way to determine your next step should be to keep a food journal.  This journal should include, sleep, hydration, macronutrient consumption and timing (i.e. the protein, carbs, and fat you eat), along with physical and mental performance throughout the day. Without having baseline data, tweaking macro and micronutrient numbers is like trying to shoot a moving target with a gun while blindfolded.  Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories argues that trying to burn more calories than what we consume is a rudimentary measuring stick for creating a change in body composition.  With a Ph.D in thermodynamics, he concludes that even the best calorie counters can’t determine the exact calories consumed or burned, and if someone is off by even 100 calories a day, that person could add or lose 2 pounds of fat a year or twenty pounds of fat in 10 years.  Before anyone makes a calculated change to an athlete’s diet, they must first gather baseline data of an athlete’s consumption, and then make tweaks to the diet to draw out a specific reaction.  Adrenal function, hormone production, sleep, stress, and hydration are just a few of the factors that can drastically affect the nutritional needs of an athlete.  Not everyone can wear size 10 shoes or drive a car with the same seat adjustment, and the same applies to nutrition.  The most comforting piece of advice that can be offered to someone who seemingly has little to no control over the way they look, feel, or perform, is that this is a science.  Your body composition issues can be resolved, but we need to know what to change before we starting making changes.  Start by tracking each of the 3 main macronutrients (fat, protein, and carbohydrates) for at least a week.  Do not, under any circumstance change your normal eating patterns to look good on paper.  Record in ounces, the non-caffienated fluid you drink, and also make note of your mental and physical performance both in the morning and at night.  For starters, look for patterns in the numbers, big highs or deep lows, and start drawing connections between the amount of food you consume and your mental and physical performance.  If you notice that your macronutrient consumption is fairly level throughout the week, then you could consider carbohydrate cycling.  The main premise behind carb cycling is to slowly ween your body off its dependancy on sugar for fuel.  You might be surprised by the number of carbs you eat in a day.  The easiest form of carb cycling is to simply tally your daily carbohydrate consumption for 1 week, add all 7 days together, then divide that number by 7.  On Monday, allow yourself to eat that number of carbohydrates, but on Tuesday eat roughly 75% of that average, and on Wednesday eat 50% of that original number.  On Thursday bump that number back up to the original 100% average.  While doing this you should replace your missing carbohydrates with healthy fats (grassfed butter, coconut oil, avocados, and grassfed meats.)   Test this for a period of 1 month, reassess your body composition, and then tweak your consumption again if necessary, usually favoring an increase in fat and decrease in carbohydrates.