Nutrition Focus
BEGINNER WEIGHT LOSS GUIDE
From a strictly weight loss and weight gain perspective for the average person, it comes down to energy input and energy output. If you expend more energy than you take in you will lose weight. However if you’re looking for a shapely figure and muscle “tone” (previous picture) there is a little more involved.
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Firstly make your focus on health. Do it gradually by giving yourself realistic targets each week. For example the first week could be making sure to eat more green veg at lunch or dinner. The next week could be to make sure you eat the right amount of protein (below) on a certain day every week then every day of the week. Overall health is a long term process and changing your lifestyle dramatically can be too much too soon for a lot of people.
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Figure out how many calories you burn in a day (including activity level) and then stay under this level. There are tons of calorie calculators online. You can even ask the trainers at your gym and they will do it for you.
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There are two ways you can stay under the calorie balance: A) restrict calories B) Exercise enough to stay under calories.
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Track your foods over a period of a week (maybe longer) and you can see how much you are over or under eating by. Majority of people are surprised by how many calories are in certain foods they eat.
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Figure out your macro nutrients (carbs, protein and fats) as you start to train with weights (shape body/ lose fat/”tone”) these will become more important. There are a ton of macronutrient calculators online or ask trainers again they are there to help! They will do it.
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Protein (Repair/Satiety): Research now shows that 0.76g of protein per pound of bodyweight is all you need for recovery and growth. For example if a 170lbs male would require 130g of protein per day. As well as having the highest thermic effect of food(takes more calories to digest than carbs and fats) it also keeps you satiated.
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Carbs : Carbs have been demonized for making people fat however they are actually quite helpful and have been found to be anabolic (builds muscle) Certain carbs also contain fibre which you will need for digestion and assimilation. You can play about with this macro nutrient and see what works for you. I shift between 20 to 40% carbs when trying to lose weight.
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Fats: Fats are also important when considering weight loss. You need fats to keep hormones in check, keep you insulated and help protect joints. These will make up the rest of your macro nutrients.
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Eat a well-balanced diet! Balanced! Not restrictive. Provided you are staying under your macro nutrients and are getting enough fibre into your system you do not need to be completely restrictive with food, I recommend the 80/20 rule. 80% of foods should be healthy and nutritious, these foods which help keep you full (especially when you are restricting calories) and 20% can be what you love!
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Play sports/games, go for walks or do what you can to be active. This isn’t a must if you are restricting calories but if you do enjoy your foods simply increase activity levels and enjoy more calories.
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Finally understand that this is a process and will take time. Treasure the little victories and enjoy the process.
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