Calories: The Only Rule Of Dieting

Watching Calories To Get In Shape

I review several products on this site that I recommend for transforming yourself into a better man. However, the one thing I will never recommend is a “diet product/book/ebook etc”. I am about to tell you all what you need to know about dieting. This includes if you are losing fat or gaining muscle.

Calories: The Only Rule Of Dieting

So you have decided that you want to be fit. That is good! I am going to tell you the only factor that you need to consider when dieting and that is CALORIES. You gain weight by eating more calories than you use and you lose weight by eating fewer calories than you use. That is all there is to it. I swear it is that simple.

If we follow this rule then we have four options:
– To lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than you use a deficit.
– To gain weight, you must eat more calories than you use a surplus.
– To build muscle, you must eat at a surplus and exercise
– To get the toned look, you need to build muscle and have a low percentage of body fat.

In order to do any of these you need to find out what your “Total Daily Energy Expenditure” is.

Picking Your Fitness Goal
After calculating your TDEE you can then calculate your daily calorie goal based on one of the four paths below:

If you want to lose weight then it is recommended you eat at a 500 calorie deficit(TDEE 500 Calories)
If you want to gain weight then you should eat at a 500 calorie surplus(TDEE + 500 Calories)
If you want to gain muscle then you should eat at 500 calorie surplus and exercise. You must select the appropriate exercise level when calculating your TDEE in the form.
If you want to become toned then you need to gain muscle then lose body fat or lose body fat and then gain muscle. Always remember that you can never gain muscle and lose weight at the same time. It is impossible.
After determining your daily calorie goal you must ensure that your macro nutrients are correct.

Macro Nutrients
Macro nutrient or macros for short are are the correct distribution of protein, fats, and carbs that will keep your body in top shape. It is important to make these part of your daily calorie goal. I have provided a brief explanation and the bodily requirements for each one below.

Protein
– Necessary to build muscle.
– It is recommended that you consume 0.45-1 grams per pound of body weight.
– Amount will allow you to maintain muscle if you are losing weight and build muscle if you are gaining weight.

Fat
– Necessary for many bodily functions including metabolism, brain function, and hormone production.
– Recommended that you consume 0.4-0.5 grams per pound of body weight.

Carbs
– Necessary for energy.
– Recommended that you consume .5- 2.2 grams per pound of body weight.
– Amount can largely depend on performance needs(what type of exercise you are performing).
– If fat and protein macros are satisfied then you may use the rest of your calories for carbs. This is due to you still not going over your calorie goal.

Putting it all together
This section puts everything we have learned together. I have also provided you with a TDEE calculator that will calculate your daily calorie goal and your macros. The only thing you will need is the TDEE amount that you calculated earlier.

Supplements
Our final section will touch on supplements. I want to stress that I do in fact think fad diets or diet products are silly. However supplements can be quite helpful. From experience I can say that it is sometimes hard to get the required amount of protein without eating nothing but meat. This can obviously become quite expensive. This is where protein supplements come into play. The problem becomes the sheer amount of protein supplements. For your convenience I have sampled the top 5 from Amazon and compared them in the table below.

Protein Powder Comparison Chart

You can fact check my data in the table above. My goal was to find the best protein powder based on price. The supplement should also maximize protein intake while also keeping calorie intake as low as possible. As you can see that basically eliminates all but the top two. We can then see that Optimum Nutrition provides 1 extra gram of protein and 3 additional servings. However Syntrax is 13 dollars cheaper and only has 3 less servings. I also have to say that Syntrax tasted a lot better. It also didn’t seem to clump together as bad as the Optimum Nutrition brand. Taking this into consideration along with the price difference, and the minor 1 gram difference in protein made Syntrax the overall winner. Syntrax also has a lot of flavors that other powders do not have. Peanut Butter, Mint Chocolate, Banana etc. Google them directly if you want to know any product information or to consider purchasing anything.

In short, if you looking at loosing those pounds you must consider your calorie consumption. You should be eating lean meats (chicken breast, turkey, fish) and vegetables (broccoli and spinach). If you just do that those extra pounds will be falling off you. If you feel hungry, you should up your vegetable consumption. Our bodies need some good fats as well. These include almonds, organic avocado, and cooking your vegetables with olive oil. Really good bodybuilders and dieters eat the same meals over and over again. That is the key! Get into the cycle of pre-planning your meals so they are ready to grab immediately when it’s time to eat.

Lastly, try to eat every 3 hours. If you need to snack in-between your means stick to celery, vegetables, and almonds.

The key to looking good is seriously 80 percent diet and 20 percent exercise. You can do any workout in the world but if you are eating terrible food it will not matter. All the exercise in the world cant stop all of the negative effects of a bad diet.

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