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“Dieting Basics”
“Going on a diet” is a phrase usually used to refer to people looking to lose weight, while in actuality a diet is a structured plan of your nutritional needs that serves a predetermined purpose.
This purpose could be weight loss, weight gain, maintaining weight, building muscle, supplying energy for intense athletic activity, etc.
“How can my diet be healthier in general?”
For the general sedentary individual, even the most general and small changes in eating habits can lead to a healthier diet.
For example, "eat more vegetables" is a very good bit of advice because+
For the general sedentary individual, even the most general and small changes in eating habits can lead to a healthier diet.
For example, "eat more vegetables" is a very good bit of advice because+
vegetables are full of fiber (good for digestion), full of vitamins, low in calories, and very filling. This means vegetables have important micronutrients for your body and can help you avoid overeating, which is the main cause of obesity and a multitude of other issues.
So instead of eating a sandwich or some cookies between meals, maybe you can snack on a carrot or two. This is a very small change, but forming this habit will benefit you tremendously on the long run.
Another general tip is “eat out less”. The idea behind this statement is not that fast food is “bad” and home cooked food is “good”, it’s just that fast food is usually very dense in calories from fats and refined carbs, which are not very filling, resulting in you overeating.
Home-cooked food is usually less calorie dense and you can control exactly what goes into it.
So if you eat out 4 times a week, try and make it 3 times per week, and if you eat out 7 days a week, try cooking on the weekends.
So if you eat out 4 times a week, try and make it 3 times per week, and if you eat out 7 days a week, try cooking on the weekends.
These little changes of habits are very helpful, and for a lot of people can have a great impact on their health especially obese individuals seeking to lose weight.
“Macronutrients”
There are three forms of Macronutrients that make up almost everything you eat: Carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
It is important to at least recognize that fats and carbs are the main energy sources, and protein is mainly used to “build stuff” in your body.
There are three forms of Macronutrients that make up almost everything you eat: Carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
It is important to at least recognize that fats and carbs are the main energy sources, and protein is mainly used to “build stuff” in your body.
Also, we can store excess fat and carbs for when we need them, but we cannot store excess protein, therefore it is important we get our daily requirements of proteins from food for optimal health, while we can let go of carbs and fats a little bit more easily.
The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein is 0.8 g/kg/day. Which means that if you weigh 70 kg, then you need 70 X 0.8 = 56g of protein every day for the sedentary individual. The RDA of protein can increase notably depending on the type of activity you do.
Fats and carbs can be distributed in whichever way, 0% carbs and 100% fats, 0% fats and 100% carbs, and anywhere in-between, depending on your physical demands and personal preferences.
“How do I know if I’m eating too much or too little?”
First we need to understand the concept of “energy balance”.
If you intake more food than you burn (caloric surplus), you will gain weight, and if you intake less food than you burn (caloric deficit), you lose weight.
First we need to understand the concept of “energy balance”.
If you intake more food than you burn (caloric surplus), you will gain weight, and if you intake less food than you burn (caloric deficit), you lose weight.
This is a fact, which means if you’re trying to lose weight but nothing is happening, then you’re not in a caloric deficit, and vice versa.
“Ok, so how do I set up my diet for weight gain or loss?”
1-First off you need to set a goal. Do you want to lose weight/fat, gain weight/muscle, or just maintain.
1-First off you need to set a goal. Do you want to lose weight/fat, gain weight/muscle, or just maintain.
2-Second of all, you need to find out how many calories you need. You can do this using a “calorie calculator” online, which will give you an approximation of your maintenance calories, which is the amount of calories your body burns in a day.
3- If your goal is to lose weight, I would recommend you take away 500Kcal from your maintenance calories. So if your maintenance calories were 2000Kcal, then you only eat 1500Kcal.
Make sure your protein intake is at least the RDA, so only subtract calories from fats and carbs.
Make sure your protein intake is at least the RDA, so only subtract calories from fats and carbs.
This should lead to about 0.5 kg of fat loss per week. Is this exact? No, but as long as you’re losing weight week to week then you’re in a caloric deficit, and if not, then you need to either decrease calories or increase activity (training, working out, etc.).
4- If your goal is to gain weight, then I would recommend you increase you’re intake by 500Kcal as well. So if your maintenance calories are 2000Kcal then you should be eating around 2500Kcal. I would recommend that you start exercising or lifting weights and+
increase your protein intake to about 1.6g/kg/day. This is to make sure you maximize the amount of muscle you gain and minimize the amount of fat.
5- If you’re happy with your current weight and body composition, just eat your maintenance calories and you should be fine :)
These are very general guidelines for you to follow, but they are basically all you need to know to control your weight loss/gain.
There’ll probably be more threads in the future where each specific goal is discussed with greater detail.
There’ll probably be more threads in the future where each specific goal is discussed with greater detail.
