July 14 2009 Dieting is simple
Dieting is simple. You need to:
NOT be thinking about supplements until the diet and training are correct.
Eat below your maintenance calorie level.
DON’T be too aggressive with caloric deficit. You didn’t gain it overnight and can’t expect to lose it overnight.
Lose as many carbs for as long of “time blocks” as you can without severely impacting performance. This means you go as many hours as possible in the day without training going in the toilet, and as many days a week at low carb levels as possible. You want a cookie cutter recipe? Sorry, that only exists for people that don’t mind giving bad advice to trainees. I have training clients log their diet and get a basic understanding about what maintenance levels are, how carb sensitive they are, and what they can tolerate both mentally and physically before I write a diet plan.
Do cardio as often as possible without overreaching your body’s ability/caloric deficit tolerance level. Both high and low intensity cardio work well, BUT…the worst possible time to start a high intensity cardio programming is while starting a diet. If you want to use high intensity cardio, get in shape BEFORE you start dieting. One of the biggest mistakes dieters make is starting an aggressive diet, AND starting an aggressive high intensity cardio program. Low intensity (65-70% age adjusted heart rate) can be done DAILY if caloric levels are not to low and while the “time spent vs. kcals burned” is not very high, the fuel source is PERFECT - mostly fat! Some great examples are light walking or light sled pulling.
Don’t make the diet plan something that is so “deprivation oriented” that you can’t stick with it. I have training clients that walk around all day long with images of pizza in their heads and absolutely will not eat anything they deem “unclean” for months on end. I have WAY more that despite my insistence on moderation, will do deprivation dieting (as in NOTHING they actually like to eat) for as long as it takes them to cave in and eat everything in site, get depressed for “blowing” their diet and end up eating more.
Simple, huh?
Iron Addict
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