1. Macronutrient tracking works, but it sucks. No doubt about it, if you are stuck with your weight loss, having to track macronutrients for a few days or even two weeks will help you get a grip on the situation. Most of the time, the tracking alone gets you to start losing weight again. It is funny how people tend to pay closer attention to what they put in their mouth when they have to write it down!
2. Intermittent fasting works for men but not as well for women. It can work for women, but I have found that women do best with larger gaps of time between consistent meals. So instead of having them eat 6 small meals a day, you can have them eat 3 larger meals with larger amounts of time between those meals. You get a similar effect to having men fast for 12-16 hours.
3. Load your carbohydrate intake later in the day. Your body will store these carbs as glycogen, which might lead to a slight increase in weight the next morning, but it will lead to longer term fat loss. A majority of your starchy carbs should be consumed in your dinner. This also allows you to get higher quality of sleep in most cases due to the hormonal response of spiking your insulin later in the day.
4. Carb cycling is not as complicated as most people make it out to be and can be used as an effective means of dropping fat without changing much else. On strength training days, eat higher carbohydrates, and on non-training or metabolic-conditioning-only days, stick to green veggies only and avoid starchy carbs, especially if you aren’t tracking.
5. Pink Himalayan Sea Salt might lower cortisol if taken first thing in the morning. During periods of high stress, a small amount 1/8- 1/2 tsp. taken with a large glass of water first thing upon waking will help lower cortisol and kick start some fat burning. Cortisol has been shown to promote fat storage, so reducing this hormone during periods of high stress is beneficial to many people and makes burning at easier.
6.Dietary fat isn’t bad, but it certainly can hold people back from losing weight. I like to keep fat around 20-25% of total calories, pushing as high as 35% in some individuals. This takes some experimentation to dial in for each individual, but when you get it right, you can eat more carbs and still lose weight, which means performance in the gym increases and progress comes much faster. Fat isn’t the enemy, but you certainly can’t consume it with reckless abandon.
7. Re-feeds work if done right. Reduce calories throughout the week to somewhere between 10-12x bodyweight in pounds. You can also restrict carbohydrates to between 75-100g/ day during the week. On one weekend day, you can do a re-feed day and aim to triple your food intake. Most of this should come from carbs if possible, and fat should be kept to a minimum. This will keep the hormones functioning well while allowing people to get the feel of a cheat day.
8. Flexible dieting takes work (you have to track macros), and other means of dieting are a bit simpler but don’t allow you the freedom to enjoy some of your favorite foods. Find the one that works for the individual’s own personality and sets them up for success. Don’t tie yourself down to one dogmatic approach to dieting. Moderation is the key to most individual long- term success. You can’t be healthy and perform at a high level by eating all your calories from Pop Tarts and cookies, but you also don’t have
to eliminate entire food groups to get results.
9. BCAA supplementation to replace pre-, peri-, and post-workout recovery methods that typically are recommended can produce great results. Supplement with 10g of BCAA pre- and peri-workout instead of a regular recovery drink or meal. This will reduce the overall caloric load without reducing recovery.
10. Caffeine supplementation prior to training, especially for morning or mid-day training sessions, can boost workouts. Starting with a cup of coffee or two is effective (aim for 100mg of caffeine).
Speak Your Mind