Nutrition for Newbies: Our Top Five Ways to Crack the Code (Part 2 of 2)
Here we are! Back for Part 2 of our Nutrition for Newbies series. If you missed Part 1 and are just dying to read it, check it out here. Otherwise, we shall charge ahead.
3. The best diet is the one you can stick with. This is a tough thing for me to say, because I wish, like in the movie “Wall-E”, that we could give you the one diet approach that works across the board hands down, for everyone.
But that is simply not true.
There is no diet out there that is the absolute best approach for every person for all eternity. Not Keto, Atkins, HCG, or the Twinkie diet (yep, that happened).
The Ketogenic diet sounds great in theory for some, until they realize they have big-time energy demands, a difficult schedule for planning, and their body doesn’t respond well to high amounts of fat.
Paleo can help someone crush their goals, until they realize they spend every waking moment wanting all the things they are told NOT to have when eating this way.
Both scenarios lead to burnout, binge-ing, or “f*$%-itis” which simply means “I am tired of trying this, I quit.”
Find the diet instead that allows you to do most of the following:
Eat whole, unprocessed foods the majority of the time
Avoid liquid calories most of the time
Get a healthy amount of veggies and fruit
Maintain calorie intake
Stay consistent 80-90% of the time
Long story short: don’t be roped into diet approaches that sound miserable or you feel unable to do for longer than one week.
4. Understanding energy balance. Ah, the key to life and the confusing cosmos that is our universe... Or just the key to fat loss, muscle gain, or simply crushing life on maintenance.
This is also probably the most important thing to understand with relation to #3: Law of Thermodynamics which states that energy can neither be created or destroyed.
^What does this mean? Well, you have to burn more energy than you are consuming. Put simply: YOU CAN’T “OUT TRAIN” YOUR DIET.
No matter which approach to nutrition you venture into, if you are taking in more calories than you are burning...weight (hopefully muscle!) gain.
If you are burning more calories than you are taking in...weight (hopefully body fat!) loss.
Now, what does this tidbit of information give you in terms of actionable steps? You have a few ways you can go about this:
Count ya calories. It’s tedious. It’s sometimes frustrating. It always provides clarity. This is a whole separate topic in and of itself, but the reality is, knowing exactly what and how much you are putting in your body can give you great insight into what is going well for you and what you need to change.
Macro-based approach. This is another one that requires some counting and a little extra knowledge of the nitty-gritty. Essentially, we are tracking the amount of protein, carbs, and fat that you are taking in. We can set targets based on your body composition and goals, and it varies from person to person (shocking!). For many, this style gives the ability to not worry about every single calorie going in, and instead helps guide food choices.
Habit-based approach. Ah, the style that made Precision Nutrition famous. To keep it brief, this is the idea that principles guide your approach to eating, one habit at a time. Maybe you begin with focusing on breakfast, then start hitting protein goals, etc. until you feel you have mastered the world of nutrition, and ultimately, the universe.
These are all topics that need articles themselves, but to keep things simple, the ultimate way to fat loss in your life at Unlimited Training Systems is finding the sweet spot of a calorie deficit. While many other things are at play (personal preferences, hormonal needs, food allergies, or #foodislife struggles), thinking in this fashion will set you in the right direction to your health goals.
Bonus: Only a select few can out train their diet, so EAT LIKE AN ADULT
Why do I say select few?
Because ultimately there are people that are so dang active on their day, from 20,000 steps, to workouts frequently, to even being the most fidgety person you have ever met (yep, this matters sometimes), that they can seem to “eat whatever they want” and make change.
The harsh reality is that this is the exception, not the rule. The key to your fat loss success will be learning to eat your protein, locate some veggies, and take your time with/not rush through every meal like we do most of our life.
Biggest takeaway from all of this: Keep things simple and actionable.
Stay tuned, because we know it is training where the fun stuff occurs, so we lay out our unlimited essentials for awesome training to match your goals in our next series.
