For a quick look on what type of macronutrient and how much of them to manipulate to best fit your lifestlye, attitude, and preference regarding food intake, read this first.
I assume most people reading this also understand the art of body recomposition (diet & training) and the 2nd law of thermaldynamic. If you don't, read this first to understand what it takes to lose, maintain, or gain body mass. For muscle gain, specifically, read this too for the training side of things.
So, for those who prefer to NEVER track your food intake or bother reading food labels and yet, aren't satisfy with how you look in the mirror, I have two advice for you, "eat real food", then when you get good at that, "eat less food"... and that's all i'm gonna give you.
Personally, I have no time for people who aren't willing to put in the work in order to get what they want. So if your ego is in the way or you're just too damn lazy to do some homework, good luck. invest your money on weight watchers, goldsgyms or some local RD who will show you the food pyramid.
For those who do care and willing to do it yourself, this is what you can do to structure your fat loss diet.
Energy Expenditure and Rate of Fat Loss
First of all, read this article to understand what is BMR, RMR, and energy spent on daily tasks.
And now that you know what are energy expenditure, calorie input, and what it takes to change body composition, let's do the math. btw, I will use the terms 'calories' and 'energy' interchangeably.
For fat loss specifically, it is generally more realistic to lose around 1% of body fat mass from your current bodyweight. If someone weigh 200lb and is trying to lose weight, it's perfectly acceptable to lose 2lb a week without facing crazy hunger pangs or suffer massive nutrient deficiecies (unless you're doing some long-term liquid fast or retarded vegan diets or something).
To find your maintenace (BMR), use this index. Click the 'BMR & RMR Calculator'. Plug in the numbers and it will automatically spit out your acitivity multipliers. too. Be honest with yourself. If you're not sure which category of activity level you belong to, take the average of the two you think you are.
| Activity Factor | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2 | Sedentary | Little or no exercise and desk job |
| 1.375 | Lightly Active | Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week |
| 1.55 | Moderately Active | Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week |
| 1.725 | Very Active | Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week4 |
| 1.9 | Extremely Active | Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job |
The Math
Let's assume you know you burn 2500kcal a day and you like to lose 2lb a week being a 200lb person. 2lb of fat mass is roughly 7,000kcal. so divide that by 7 days and you get 1000kcal a day. That's how many calories you need to burn more or take in less from your maintenace (2,500kcal) to see the 2lb fat loss a week.
So for the above example, eating 1500kcal a day (2500 minus 1000), everyday for a week would be appropriate for someone weighing at 200lb wanting to lose 2lb that week.
The above calculation are only theoretical and that the figures are only estimates. It's also more of a linear approach to calorie cutting that applies more appropirately to the sedentary population.
Non-Lineaer Cutting For Active Dieters
For those who are training or are athletic but still wanting to lose excess body fat, obviously you should be eating more on workout days than resting days to maximize recovery, performance, and strength/muscle gain.
Generally, and I do mean GENERALLY! for my physique-base clients, I require them to workout hard with resistance (freeweights and compound movements) at least 2x a week (but no more than 4) and on those 2 days, they will eat at maintenance. For the other 5 days they're not active or not exactly training hard as i want them, they cut the total calories needed to meet the fat loss goal/rate.
So for the above example, someone weighing at 200lbs and has a maintance of 2,500kcal a day. This person would eat at maintance for 2 days on their hard training days. Then use the other days to cut the 7000kcal to reach 2lb fat loss. Which is 7000 / 5 = 1400kcal.
2500 (maintenance) - 1400 (the cut) = 1100 (to eat).
Mon - dead and chins (2,500kcal)
Tues - rest (1,100kcal)
Wed - rest (1,100kcal)
Thurs - squat and press (2,500kcal)
Fri - rest (1,100kcal)
Sat - rest (1,100kcal)
Sun - zumba (1,100kcal)
Meeting The Essentials
If you've read my articles on what are 'essential nutrients' for human to sustain life and maintain/grow muscle on a day in day out basis (on or off dieting), you would know that depending on gender, lean mass, and couple other factors, we need about 550-800 calories a day just to meet these essential needs.
That means if you're overweight (over-fat) and have the luxury to not eat much for a while (or need to lose fat), you should at least meet these essential nutrients to stay healthy until you reach a certain bodyfat % in the very low range that you'll have to eat more again before you die.
So lets pretend this 200lb person carries around 100lb of lean mass. he/she would get about 1g of protein per 1lb of lean mass, which is 100g, which is 400kcal. On top of that, we need roughly 180kcal (or 200kcal to make calculation easier) of fat (some from essential fatty acids).
This means on rest days when eating about 1100kcal and this person will ingest roughly 600kcal to meet essential needs, which gives him/her 500kcal more to play with. This is what I called the 'calorie budget' or 'wiggle room' for.... wait for it.....
DIRTY FOODs!
Learn more about why clean eating is a scam and why sometimes, IIFYM might just work for you.
So, if you like cupcakes, pizza, twinkies, or ice creams, go for it! As long as you're meeting the essentials (and maybe take a couple multivitamins daily and have fruits and veggies from time to time) and you're keeping your caloric budget under control, you're set!
Here are some examples of what I mean, enjoy.
Modify and Adapt
Back to the diet setup. Obvious you don't want to be modifying your caloric intake on a daily basis, that's too stressful. Track your intake for a week, THEN find the average of which macro are going over or under and if you average total calories are in check. Then modify it for the next week when you go to the grocery store. Don't modify everyday unless you're the control-freak type who has the time and energy to do it.
So for this 200lb person burning 2500kcal a day looking to cut 1400kcal a day down to 1100kcal worth of intake on rest days and must have around 600kcal to meet the essentials. This dieter will have about 500kcal of wiggle room to 1) eat more protein, 2) eat more fat, 3) each more carbs, and 4) drink more alcohol.
Forgot to mention, I generally set carbs under 100g (400kcal) for active people and 60g (240kcal) for the sedentary on rest days. Depending on deadlines, training status, and food preference, I adjust it accordingly. So for this dieter, having 100g of carbs is perfectly acceptable. Or 500kcal worth of alcohol (4 cans of beer?), don't sweat it.
So, as long as you hit the macros and the total calories (lower than maintenance), nothing else really matters. With some heavy resistance training couple times a week and some patience (toss the scale), fat loss will occur!
Good Luck!
