This month we are focusing on how we can most effectively influencing body recomposition. Whether you are looking to lose weight, gain muscle, or both one of the most effective tools we can use is to track our nutrition. If you think about tracking nutrition as having a map to a new area we are going to be able to more easily navigate to our destination with the more information we have. I don't expect most people to keep tracking their food every day for the rest of their lives but it is a good idea to occasionally check in just to make sure you're still on track. Remember that you can't change what you don't know.
Now generally speaking weight changes occur due to calories in vs. calories out. Simply put if you are consuming more calories than you are burning you will gain weight, if you are consuming less calories than you are burning you will lose weight. This does take into account N.E.A.T. (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis i.e. walking, sleeping, fidgeting etc.) so don't think you need to burn all 2000 or so calories by just doing cardio. However it gets even more complicated than that. I'm sure you've heard the phrases that weight loss/gain is "80% nutrition and 20% exercise" or that "abs are made in the kitchen" and both of these just emphasize how important our diet is in manipulating our weight changes. To put this in perspective if you were to walk on a Stairmaster for an hour you would expend about 400 calories - about the equivalent of eating a muffin (which could take 1 minute.) Doesn't seem like a fair trade off right? So that is when we need to consider the quality of what we are expending and consuming. The intensity of your workout can severely affect how many calories you burn, generally having more muscle mass has a higher caloric demand, and the quality of food can affect how your body processes it (including factors such as micronutrients and fiber.)
This can be a lot to try to track on your own which is why we have been given such amazing tools as MyFitnessPal and other diet tracking apps that can break down this information into more easily digestible details about your diet. Tracking your diet will also help with accountability - making sure you are accountable to yourself and creating the ability to share your diary with others. It can also help address our consistency: are we actually eating as many fruits/vegetables as we think; are over or under-consuming; what do our macronutrients look like? Once we have the fact we can start to interpret them, think of your body like an experiment and start to make changes. What macronutrient spread allows you to have the most energy? What number of calories allows you to lose/gain/or maintain to get to your goal weight? Remember that everyone is different and small changes are typically the most long lasting so let's find out what works for you!
MyFitnessPal has some awesome tutorials on their YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3KlWfvSrf9Nxz5FJeSEVZQ
1. Please start by sharing your diary with friends or account-a-buddies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D0xb1bbp-U
2. Set your goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TIV5Tu-QT0
3. Start logging!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK7JdNQMVb8
For shortcuts you can use tools such as Meals and Recipes:
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