How Much Protein Should I Eat?

Why you need protein!

Protein is the ammunition you need for arming your guns. It’s built from amino acids stitched together into long chains, some of which your body can make naturally – known as ‘non-essential’ – and some of which it can’t. These are called ‘essential’ amino acids and you need to source them from food. When you chow down on a chicken breast your body breaks proteins down into their constituent amino acids, which it then uses to build everything from new muscle to organs and hair.

Are you getting enough?

In all likelihood, probably not. The current guidelines recommend you eat 0.8g of protein daily per kg of bodyweight, but that won’t get you Arnie arms. “Elite athletes eat around 2g per kg every day,” says Dr Karen Reid, a sports science nutritionist who’s worked with the Wales rugby team, and the founder of Performance Food. She recommends getting near that level for the first 12 weeks of a new workout programme. “That’s when you’re sore, when you’re breaking down muscle fibres and creating new structures.” And damage plus fuel equals growth. After 12 weeks, if your wallet requires it, you can scale back to between 1.2g and 1.6g per kilo.

But don’t eat too much

Upping your protein intake won’t automatically lead to muscle gain. If you’re not putting the work in at the gym then it’s wasted, and will either be burnt off as fuel or laid down as fat. That’s an expensive way to gain unwanted weight, and could be harmful in the long term. “Nitrogen from the amino acids has to be cleared,” says Reid. “That puts extra strain on your liver and kidneys, which have to filter it all out.” If you notice dark, concentrated urine, up your hydration and feast on bananas and spinach. They’re high in magnesium and potassium and help to reduce protein-associated kidney stones, according to research from the University of Granada.

 

Watch the clock

Timing your protein hits is vital to optimise your gains. Your body can’t process more than 30g of protein per serving, according to research from the University of Texas, so scoffing six steaks at dinner is a waste. “It’s not about having shedloads all at once,” say Reid. Instead, plan five or six small meals throughout the day, stagger your protein hits from morning to night.

Eat around your workout

The most important protein hit is the one after your gym session. “You want that immediate stimulus,” says Reid. “Within the 30-minute window post-workout you’re looking to optimise the repair and regeneration process.” That’s when you want rapidly-absorbed whey protein, either by chugging a shake or a pint of milk. Reid also recommends a skinny latte for a pre-gym boost: “You’ve got the caffeine kick, the protein in the milk and if you try a banana with it, a bit of carbohydrate.” Pairing your protein with carbs is good sense. After exercise your body produces the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which break down proteins, fats and sugars. When they’re coursing through you, you’re not building muscle. “When you get some recovery nutrition in it counters those stress hormones,” says Reid, switching your body back into repair mode and kick starting growth.

Protein for everyone

If you’re looking to pack on muscle then, obviously, you need protein to build it. But if you’re trying to lose weight then upping your intake is equally important. Your body only burns protein after it’s exhausted fat stores, so swapping carbs for meat ensures it’s your spare tyre that gets targeted for energy when you work out. What’s more, simply having muscle (which is, remember, built from protein) increases your calorie burn at rest. Plus there’s the handy fact that protein boosts satiety.

This post is from Macro Man's Main Blog!

Recipe: Protein Cheesecake

Ingredients Base: -2tbsps Almond Butter -1/2 cup of ground almonds -1 tbsp honey Topping: - 1 pot (170g) of 2% Total Greek Yoghurt - 1 pot (250g) of Quark - 1/4 cup of Vanilla Whey (£10.99 for 500g “Whey Protein 80” here) - 1/4 cup Egg Whites Directions Step 1: In a bowl, mix all the base ingredients together. Yeah, the almond butter, the almonds, and the honey (or calorie-free syrup if you want the whole thing to be lower in carbs). Once you have a crumbly mix, press it down into a small springform pan. If you want to use a medium or large pan, just duplicate the amounts for the whole thing. Step 2: After that, blend all your cheesecake ingredients in a bowl. Step 3: Pour the cheesecake filling onto the base. Step 4: Bake at 160 C (320 F) for about 30-45 minutes. Now, this part is important: DO NOT OVER BAKE THIS. You want to remove it from the oven while it's still wobbly inside and feels uncooked. Don't let it cook all the way, you want it wet inside because it sets as it cools. Step 5: Let it cool and then melt some dark chocolate. Melt 2 squares per slice (20 grams) of 90% Lindt and then just artfully drizzle it on top :-) Macros per slice (out of the three you get from the cheesecake above): - 242kcals - 30g Protein - 10g Carbs - 9g Fat

10 Mistakes Women Make In The Gym

Here's what you need to know...

•  Too many women, because of poor exercise choices or practices, end up building a body that's "skinny fat," a condition where they appear thin in clothes, but actually have a higher body fat percentage than they did before they started exercising.

•  Women generally need to use heavier weights. Stop with the delicate little flower thing. Your muscles won't grow – won't get curvy – if you're pressing, squatting, or curling with weights that have roughly the same heft as your iPhone.

•  The one exception to working with heavy weights is the waist. The waist is comprised of muscles and muscles respond to heavy weights by getting bigger.

•  It's virtually impossible – no matter what you eat – to gain any fat in the post-workout period. While gaining fat during this period is highly improbable, it's highly probable that you will build some muscle during this same timeframe, provided you give your body the protein (and calories) it requires.

For anyone knowledgeable about exercise, walking into a public gym is kind of like stumbling into a nudist camp – you quickly just want to slap on some horse blinders because there's so much that you don't want to see. In the case of the nudist camp, it's usually a lot of flabby, pasty-white guys that should never be naked, even when they're alone in a secluded cabin on a mountaintop. In the case of the gym, you want to restrict your view because people are often doing the lamest, silliest, most illogical exercises and practices imaginable and it hurts your sensibilities as a fitness expert.

Guys are probably the biggest tools in the gym because they're driven by ego instead of logic, but women make their own share of mistakes that are unique to their sex. Women are torn between what they read in Shape or on some insane aerobic queen's blog, their unqualified husband's or boyfriend's pontifications on diet and exercise, or society's conflicting and confounding expectations of what a woman should look like. It's no wonder women can't decide between lifting weights, becoming a Crossfit wind-up toy, doing aerobics until they're thin as a waif from Oliver Twist, or practicing so much yoga that their seven angry and overworked chakras pack up their things and go to Cabo for a weekend of volleyball, sun, and suds.

Too often women end up blending elements of all those practices and as often happens when you combine too many recipes, that dish won't cook. Women make little progress and often end up looking worse than when they began, sometimes developing a body that's "skinny fat," a cruel, paradoxical condition where they appear thin in clothes, but actually have a higher body fat percentage than they did before they started to exercise because they lost muscle instead of body fat.

I'm going to assume that one of the reasons women go to the gym is to look better, and looking better usually means becoming leaner and/or acquiring more curves. Bodies, at least the most aesthetically pleasing ones, are a combination of convex and concave curves instead of straight lines. You're a delectable and enticing mammal, not a tree. As such, you want to build muscle to build or accentuate convex curves. If you're already blessed with convex curves, you want to createconcave curves by losing fat. You accomplish either or both by smart weight lifting. Plenty of women have accepted this wonderful reality, but I still see stuff that makes me want to wear blinders. Here are some of the regrettable practices I see women making all the time.

1. Fear of Appearing Butch

You've heard this one before, but it doesn't look like it's sinking in. You need to evolve beyond using rubber-coated dumbbells that have a clump of iron the size of a baby's fist on either side. In other words, you need to use heavier weights. Stop with the delicate little flower thing. Your muscles won't grow – won't get curvy – if you're pressing, squatting, or curling with weights that have roughly the same heft as your iPhone. Say hello to the 20 and 30-pound dumbbells, aspire to the 40 and 50-pound ones. Use weights that allow you to do between 8 and 15 repetitions.

And don't play the age-old, "I don't want to get too big" card. Unless you're the one woman in a million that has such high Testosterone levels that female horses start to whinny nervously when you walk by, you're not going to suddenly sprout muscle from your ears and everywhere else. Neither will your muscles grow beyond your aesthetic ideal unless you start feeding them a lot more. Muscles don't grow out of thin air; you've got to supply them with protein and carbs. That's why men who lift weights eat barnyards of fowl, ranches of cattle, rivers of fish, barrels of protein powder, and vats of Cocoa Puffs. If you don't eat that way, you won't get "too big." (See mistake #9 for advice on when you should eat big.)

2. Fear of Making an Ugly Face

We just discussed using heavier weights, but we didn't discussintensity. When you're lifting weights, you shouldn't be able to maintain the same facial expression as when you're getting a mani-pedi. Too many women just don't get down and dirty. There's rarely even a grimace or a bit of semi-feminine grunting. Look, building muscle requires some discomfort; it requires some pain. You might be able to look all pretty and composed for the first few reps, even while using an appropriately heavy weight, but you're ultimately going to have to make an ugly she-wolverine face on the last few highly-productive "money" reps where you coerce muscle into growing. No ugly face, no curvy muscle. No ugly face, no increased strength. Tank your outdated views of femininity. Screw how it looks or what anyone thinks.

3. Absession

Absession is not a new scent from Calvin Klein. Rather, it's being obsessed with working the abs or the waistline in general. Here's a shocker: everyone has a six-pack; you just have to whittle away enough fat so that it shows. Granted, you may want to build the abdominals so they're more pronounced, but stop thinking that you need to dedicate half your workout or more to working abs. Three or four hard sets of 15 to 20 – using resistance or using more challenging angles as necessary – a few times a week is all you need. Spend the rest of the time building overall muscle and doing activities that burn fat in general.

4. Working the Abs Like a Powerlifter

I know mistake #1 said to use heavier weights, but ab work is the one exception. For some reason, a lot of women already use heavy weights when working the midsection. Oddly, they think that working the waist with heavy weights is somehow going to make it smaller. Maybe... if we all lived in the Bizarro world. The waist is comprised of muscles and muscles respond to heavy weights by getting bigger. If you want a waist that's as broad as a tree stump, then have at it. If, however, you want the mythical wasp waist, stop working your abs with heavy weights. As mentioned in the previous tip, stick with weight or resistance that allows you to do roughly 15 to 20 reps. Most importantly, don't use weights while working your "side muscles," otherwise known as the obliques. The surest way to build a blocky waist is to do side bends while hanging onto dumbbells. Instead, work your obliques by doing a few sets of side planks a couple of times a week.

5. Balancing on the BOSU

I'll grudgingly admit that the BOSU ball probably has some merit in developing balance. As such, it might be useful for Cirque du Soleil performers. It also makes for a lovely post-modernist style chair. Beyond those functions, I see little use for it.

Okay, I'm being overly snarky. Yes, the BOSU has some application for abdominal work or rehab work for people with hinky ankles and it can probably help with balance issues, but somewhere along the line, exercisers, most often women or their enabler-slash-trainers started using the BOSU as a weight-training accessory. They either put one foot on it to use with lunges or they put both feet on it while doing any number of traditional weight training exercises like dumbbell curls, lateral raises, overhead presses, or squats. Some morons have even taken this a step further by doing these same movements on a Swiss ball. (If you see someone doing the latter, feel free to hip check the ball and send them crashing to the ground.)

The thinking is that lifting weights on an unstable surface makes the muscles work harder to keep you from doing a face plant, but balancing isn't the type of muscular effort that builds muscle. And, in order to keep your balance, you have to use lighter weights than you would otherwise.

Lifting weights – even light ones – while standing on a BOSU will make your muscles fatigue much faster, forcing you to abort the set earlier than you normally would. You end up missing out on the "money reps," those reps at the end of a set where you activate the muscle fibers most responsible for growth. If all of that falls on deaf ears, consider that none of the major studies conducted on the BOSU have found it to build muscle any faster than doing the same exercises on solid ground.

6. Too Much Aerobics

I've got a question for you: Have you ever see a marathoner or even an accomplished jogger with a really good body? Probably not. They're either slightly emaciated, have a body with very few curves, or are plagued with the skinny-fat condition I talked about in the intro. They also have really ugly feet.

Without going into all the hormonal or evolutionary permutations, let's just accept the scientific fact that the body would generally, during caloric deficits, rather sacrifice muscle than fat, and what is excessive endurance exercise but an artificially induced caloric deficit? Regardless, women especially are saddled with the myth that the more aerobic exercise they do, the better they'll look.

Remember, you want muscle, and excessive aerobic exercise is death to muscle. There are far more effective ways to burn fat. Going for a brisk walk first thing in the morning is incredibly effective and it saves muscle. Similarly, brief bouts of high-intensity exercise in the form of sprinting or Tabata-style exercise-bicycling or weight training build muscle and burn fat simultaneously. In case you're not familiar with Tabata, it's a simple but brutal protocol where you do an activity as fast and hard as you can for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, and then do another exercise/rest cycle of 20 and 10 seconds. You do this for 4 minutes straight and then collapse into a spent but proud heap. You can do Tabata workouts with kettlebell swings, dumbbell squats, stationary bicycle sprints, or any number of other exercises.

7. Workout Monogamy

Mating for life, as swans, wolves, turtledoves, and Catholics are wont to do, has some biological advantages. Mating to your workout for life, however, has none. Too bad so many women ignore this fact. Whether it's from a lack of imagination or a misguided belief that "exercise is exercise" or that "there's only one way to lift a weight," some women keep doing the same routine year-in and year-out. They may have torn it out of a Shape or Cosmo that was lying in the doctor's office and since they've been healthy and haven't gone back to the doc's office and read some new magazines, they're still doing the same routine a year or two later.

That's unfortunate because the body adapts to workouts whether they be weight workouts or aerobic workouts. That's why there are so many fat aerobics instructors. They've done the same routine for years and their neurological system is so accustomed to it that it costs them little in calories or effort to complete the workout. You need to cycle your workouts every four to six weeks. Emphasize legs in one cycle, shoulders or arms the next. Get new routines from articles right here on T Nation.

8. Workout Promiscuity

The opposite of the workout monogamist is of course the workout slut. While much more common among males, there are plenty of women who can't stick with a workout for very long. They try out a workout a few days, see that it hasn't yet given them an NFL cheerleader body, and then try something else. One manifestation of this is "CrossFit Fever." These women, not entirely sure of what constitutes CrossFit training, do a bastardized version where they perform non-stop, often non-sensical, semi-aerobic, semi-anaerobic conditioning work for 1 to 2 hours for no apparent reason, save to exorcise or exercise some professional or personal demons.

In either case, their workouts are chaotic and ultimately produce rotten results. Find a logical, progressive workout that addresses your particular needs, builds muscle, burns fat, and makes you the queen of curves and give it 4 to 6 weeks to work. Then and only then should you change it up, even if it worked well (see step #7).

9. Fear of Food

Ready to have your dietary beliefs shaken, Jell-O like, to their core? Okay, here goes: It's virtually impossible – no matter what you eat – to gain any fat in the post-workout period, which is roughly defined as the hour-long timeframe after you finish lifting weights. While gaining fat during this period is highly improbable, it's highly probable that you will build some muscle during this same timeframe, provided you give your body the protein (and calories) it requires.

It all has to do with insulin, the hormone that carries glucose and amino acids to muscle cells. Broadly speaking, insulin has two choices, it can either shuttle glucose and protein to storage in fatty tissue and the liver, or it can deliver those nutrients directly to muscle cells where they're used to fuel, repair, and grow muscle. The path it takes is determined by exercise – if you're lifting weights or just finished lifting weights, insulin will take the nutrients directly to muscle instead of storing it.

Muscle is particularly sensitive to insulin during this workout/post workout period, so if you want to build muscle/curves, it's imperative that you eat during what we call the "peri-workout" period, which is comprised of the period just before, during, and after a resistance workout. So temporarily forget your calorie fears. Temporarily forget your carb fears, too, because this is when you definitely need to provide your muscles with the material it needs to build those curves. In general, have a protein/carbohydrate drink about 45 minutes to an hour before a workout and a substantial amount of protein and carbohydrates after a workout. In an ideal world, you'd also sip a protein/carb drink during the workout, too, but at the very least, make sure you don't skimp on that post-workout meal.

10. Juicing

No, not juicing as in steroids. I'm talking about the plastic cups of pulverized, Osterized, barely palatable concoctions of kale, seaweed, wheat grass, and whatever other obscure vegetables or fruits the juicer is able to buy at a discount that so many women have permanently affixed to their hands when they walk into the gym.

I know it seems contrary, even heretical, to suggest you stop or limit your consumption of these drinks, but hear me out. Vegetables and fruits contain simple sugars and more complex, harder-to-digest carbs. No problem there. However, when you blend up fruits and vegetables, you're breaking down all those normally hard-to-digest carbs into infinitesimally small pieces. Drink that stuff down and you're virtually bypassing much of the digestive process. All those sugars are presented to your bloodstream like flowers to your momma on Mother's Day. They get absorbed super quick, and your pancreas releases a surge of insulin to counteract all that sugar. It's virtually the same effect you'd get from shot-gunning a 24-ounce 7-11 Slurpie.

Insulin shuttles off some of the sugar to muscle cells and the rest are stored (in the liver or as body fat), but then insulin levels dip below baseline and you get hungry again pretty fast. If you give in to that hunger, you're ingesting more calories than you might normally have and extra, unnecessary calories get stored as fat. What's more, if you do the juice thing often enough, you may actually develop some insulin resistance, which is the first step down the path to Type II diabetes.

There's one more thing to consider, too. You probably wouldn't be able to eat all the fruits and vegetables that are in a typical fruit or vegetable smoothie if they were sitting there on a plate. They'd take up too much room in your stomach and even all that Spandex in your Lululemon pants wouldn't be able to flatten out your belly. However, pulverize all those fruits and vegetables down into primordial ooze and they, and all the calories they contain, fit in your stomach just fine. Juicing allows you to eat more than you normally could, which is never really good if you're trying to keep tabs on your body fat levels. 

Recipe: Plantain Protein Pancakes

I’m a firm believer in whole, nutrient-dense foods to maximize training and recovery, so most of my meals look like meat or eggs, veggies, fruits, and healthy fats. That being said, every once in a great while, you may want something to mix up your routine. Carbohydrates are an important dietary macronutrient for athletes, especially those athletes training for high-intensity or endurance sports. Partitioning a big chunk of carbohydrates to the post-workout window (somewhere in the range of fifty to a hundred grams) works well for many athletes - and these pancakes fit that application.
Sweet potatoes are probably the most famous paleo source of nutrient-dense carbs, but one of my favourites is the lesser-known plantain. Plantains are far starchier than their banana doppelgangers and must be cooked before eating. You can recognize plantains because of their more angular, less curved shape and really tough, thick skin. They take several days to ripen, so if you’re going to make this recipe, plan ahead. You’ll know your plantains are ripe when the skin turns dark yellow and develops black patches. It’ll feel softer than when you bought it, but not as mushy as an overripe banana. To achieve a smooth batter, you’ll need to run the ingredients through a food processor, though a blender will also work.
For an optional protein boost, add half a scoop of your protein powder of choice, but it’s definitely not a mandatory ingredient. The entire batch is approximately 130g carbs, 30g protein and 15g fat (not including cooking fat). This recipe makes approximately ten two-inch pancakes.

Plantain Protein Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe plantains
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 1/2 scoop protein powder, optional
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil or your fat of choice

Directions:

1. Peel the plantains and cut them into large chunks. Load all the ingredients into a food processor. Run the processor until all the ingredients are smooth and a batter has formed.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add about 1 heaping teaspoon of coconut oil or your fat of choice to the pan and let it melt. Form pancakes using about 2 Tablespoons of batter. Cook approximately 3 minutes on each side or until each side is golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is gone.
3. Serve with fresh berries and a side of eggs and bacon for a complete breakfast.

Recipe: Delicious Coconut Macaroons

It’s time to get fat - as in, intake good, healthy, essential fats. Without fat and protein, we expire. These two nutrients are essential to our joints, organs, and brain function. So, chew on these yummy balls. Tip: These are a good (and easy) recipe for holiday parties, too!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dried unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup organic blackstrap molasses
• 1/4 cup organic raw cacao powder
• 2 tbsp stevia powder
• 6 egg whites

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Next, add molasses and egg whites. Mix thoroughly.
3. Use hands to mold mixture into 20 1 1/2" balls. Put on cookie sheet. Cook for 12 minutes.
4. Allow to cool.
5. Eat! Enjoy.

Nutritional Information:

Servings 20, Serving Size 1 Ball
• 95 calories
• 8 grams of fat
• 7 grams of carbohydrates
• 2 grams of protein 

Recipe: Strawberry Lemonade Gelatin Gummies

Gelatin is gaining popularity in the real food and athletic communities for its gut- and joint-soothing properties. It's a protein derived from collagen - another type of protein found in animal connective tissue - that's been cooked. Collagen is well known for its role as a supportive protein, helping form skin, tendon, ligament, and bone. It's also important for gut health. As athletes, maintaining healthy joints, which go through a lot of wear and tear, and a healthy gut, which keeps us from getting sick, is really important.

Normally, we get gelatin from cooked animal tissue. Bone broth (soup stock) is a great way to get it naturally. If you've ever cooked, then refrigerated a chicken and come back to find jiggly meat juice at the bottom of the pan - that's gelatin.

Since gelatin is a protein, people commonly think it's good for post-workout recovery, but that's incorrect. Gelatin is high in the non-essential amino acids proline and glycine, and while those are good for building connective tissue, they're not great at building muscle. For post-workout recovery, choose protein sources such as meat, eggs, and fish, which are rich in the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These BCAAs are critical for muscle protein synthesis.
While bone broth and soups are great, you may want to switch it up and include these gummies to supplement gelatin in your diet. Look for high-quality brands of gelatin powder such as Great Lakes, which derives the gelatin from grass-fed animals. This recipe is only slightly sweet, so you won't want to eat the whole pan at once. As a supplement, the recommended serving of gelatin per day is about one tablespoon, so if you cut this recipe into sixteen servings, then four squares will get you there.

Strawberry Lemonade Gelatin Gummies

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (455 grams) strawberries
• 1 cup (240 mL) coconut water
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 Tablespoon (15 mL) lemon juice
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons (22 mL) honey, optional
• 4 Tablespoons (40 grams) high-quality gelatin powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) coconut oil

Directions:

1. Grease an 8"x8" (20 cm x 20 cm) glass baking dish with coconut oil. You can really use any sort of pan you'd like, but if it's larger, the gummies will be really thin.
2. Cut the green tops off the strawberries, then roughly chop the berries.
3. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, bring the strawberries with the coconut water to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the berries soften and release their juice, about 10 minutes.
4. Carefully pour the mixture into a blender or food processor, and blend until it's smooth. (Caution: Take care when using hot liquids in a blender!)
5. Pour the blended mixture back into the same pot you used earlier. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and honey (optional). Gently stir to combine.
6. Now it's time to add the gelatin. If the fruit mixture is boiling hot, wait until it's cooled down a bit. If the fruit mixture is only slightly warm, turn on the heat to low. One tablespoon at a time, slowly add the gelatin and whisk it constantly until it completely dissolves. Continue until all four tablespoons of gelatin have been dissolved.
7. This recipes makes an 8"x8" (20 cm x 20 cm) pan. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and refrigerate at least two hours or until the gelatin is firm to the touch. Cut into squares as large or small as you'd like. Store covered in refrigerator for three to four days. 

The Right Way to Lose Fat: What to Eat

Let’s set the record straight from the outset: the goal of any weight loss, pound-shedding, “trimming,” or whatever-you-label-it program is body FAT loss, not necessarily scale-weight loss. So, bubble-wrap your weight scale and put it in the basement or attic and focus on your body composition: the fat to muscle ratio.

I am not a Registered Dietician so I cannot offer you specific advice on what you should be consuming. I will, however, lay out bits and pieces of some of the most recent issues and arguments in the fat loss world, such as:

• Is it simply creating a calorie deficit, so your body is forced to tap into adipose fat?

• Is a calorie a calorie regardless if it comes from protein, carbohydrate, or fat?

• Regarding the last question, what is better: a high carb/low fat or a low carb/high protein diet?

• What about the glycemic content of carbs and blood sugar levels?

Calorie Deficit

There is no question that a reduction of calorie intake coupled with high-level energy expenditure results in weight loss (all other factors being equal). But what guarantees the weight loss to be fat only? Consider these facts:

• It is a long-standing fact that a pound of fat equals 3,500 calories.

• A pound of muscle renders around 600 calories.

• People with a higher percent of body fat will lose more fat and retain more muscle with a significant calorie deficit.

• People with a lower percent of body fat will lose more muscle and retain more fat with a significant calorie deficit.

Let’s do some maths. A 500 calorie deficit per day over one week could result in two outcomes: a loss of one pound of fat (3,500/3,500 calories = 1) or a loss of nearly six pounds of muscle (3,500/600 calories = 5.8).

Obviously, the loss of muscle is not desirable. This is why attention must be paid to the correct calorie deficit based on your existing percentage of fat and your activity level. If you possess a significant amount of body fat, you can probably get away with a larger deficit in the early stages. As you become leaner – or if you are relatively lean to begin with – the calorie deficit needs to be adjusted to preserve lean tissue. This also explains why it is so difficult to shed those elusive few pounds to get completely “ripped".

Calories from Proteins, Carbs, and Fats: Is There a Difference?

Regarding the first law of thermodynamics, a calorie is a calorie. That is, no matter what source it is from, one calorie is the energy required to increase the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed.

Here’s a little bit of historical science behind the accepted caloric value of protein, carb, and fat in the diet. The past work of Rubner and Atwater is the standard used today. Using a bomb calorimeter to measure the heat of combustion of various proteins, carbs, and fats, they determined the energy density of dietary protein = 4.1 calories/gram, carbs = 4.1 calories/gram, and fat = 9.3 calories. Rounded off, it is 4 calories/gram of protein, 4 calories/grams of carbs, and 9 calories/gram of fat that we currently use (and why many panic when they see fat is more than double in potency).

Past thinking was to eat .7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight, load up on the carbs for energy, and minimize the fat. After all, 15 grams of fat has 135 calories and 15 grams of carbs has only 60, so to help shed the pounds, back off on the fat intake. But it’s not that simple. The type of protein, carb, and fat must be considered as well as how the body processes them.

High Carb/Low Fat or Low Carb/High Protein?

A review was conducted that evaluated studies comparing weight loss and energy expenditure in adults consuming high protein and/or low carbohydrate with low fat diets. I believe this is where all the support for low carb diets got its momentum.

The review analyzed nine studies where diets composed of high protein and/or low carbs resulted in a 5.5 pound greater weight loss after twelve weeks as compared to diets of high carbs and/or low fat. However, neither macronutrient-specific differences in the availability of food energy nor changes in energy output could explain these differences in weight loss.If a calorie is a calorie, then what other factors could account for the differences in weight loss between the two diets?

Low carb diets facilitate the loss of glycogen stores and associated water, which can be as great as 4.4 pounds.

Because the Rubner and Atwater factors used to calculate metabolizable energy are not exact, the standard macronutrient values are not perfect, and small errors can occur. The substitution of one macronutrient for another has been shown in some studies to be statistically significant regarding the effect on the expenditure half of the energy balance equation, especially in high-protein diets. Because the energy expenditure is minimal, however, it may account for less than one-third of the differences in the weight losses reported between high-protein or low-carb diets and high-carb or low-fat diets.

Carb Glycemic Level and Blood Sugar Stabilization

In general, high glycemic carbs create a large, temporary rise in blood sugar (glucose) because they are quickly digested. Low glycemic carbs take longer to digest, thus produce a smaller and slower rise. A rapid rise in blood sugar means:

•More insulin is released. A high insulin level promotes a quick storage of sugar in muscle and the liver. It also inhibits the hormone glucagon, which normally tells the body to burn stored fat. Obese people tend to be “sugar burners”– they mainly burn stored glycogen. Their forthcoming meals restore glycogen (especially if high glycemic) and the cycle keeps repeating. Thus, fat stores do not get touched and usually grow larger.

•Blood sugar levels then drop quickly, leaving you hungry sooner. Suddenly, the body needs more fuel. But because glucagon is still in short supply, the body does not tap into its fat supply for energy. The inevitable result? Hunger. You will eat again, needlessly, which can lead to increased fat gain over time.

Facts to consider:

 • Highly processed foods that contain refined sugars (cookies, crackers and corn syrup) usually have a higher glycemic level.

• Other factors affecting the glycemic level is whether the food is liquid or solid, raw or cooked, and the amount of fiber it contains.

• The more grams of carbohydrate consumed the higher the glycemic response because there is an increased glycemic load. So, one can over-consume even low glycemic foods.

• Most people usually eat foods in combination. The fat and protein also consumed at feedings can help lower the overall glycemic level.

• Not all simple sugars are high glycemic. Fruit, for instance, contains the simple sugar fructose. Fructose has a slow rate of digestion and absorption and thus a lower glycemic response.

Moderate and high glycemic foods are recommended during and after exercise. Consuming a high glycemic food within 45 minutes after exercise elevates plasma glucose concentrations and facilitates muscle glycogen replenishment. Post-exercise insulin secretion increases protein synthesis by increasing amino acid uptake in the muscles. Insulin also enhances blood flow into muscle, thus facilitating the removal of lactate and carbon dioxide.

Final Thoughts

Information abounds on all aspects of fat loss. Who and what can you believe? My advice would be to consult a registered dietician or a nutrition specialist for specific diet recommendations based on your fat loss goals. Even if your goal is to gain weight (muscle), there are certain dos and don’ts the dietician can address.