Food is SOOOOO Important to Your Fitness Goals. Like, REALLY IMPORTANT. Eat more, weigh less – It sounds so simple! But there is a method to the madness, as my father would say.
Listen, I get it. I have been a personal trainer for almost a decade, and I STILL eat the ‘bad stuff’ like pizza, fried chicken and cake. When I am in fight camp (the 12 weeks before a fight), I eat clean. I HAVE to. When I’m working out 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, my body doesn’t give me the option to “cheat” on my diet. If I do, my training and brain suffer for it. I’ll be a tad slower on my run, a split second slower on my kicks, and a hair behind in my reaction drills. When I am working towards my fitness and performance goals, I don’t have an option to eat poorly.
When I am not in fight camp, I am working on my strength. My training regimen is only 3 days a week, so I focus on getting enough calories in order to be in a calorie surplus.
A calorie surplus means I am eating MORE THAN what my body needs to maintain all it’s energy systems. There is something called “Total Daily Energy Expenditure”, or TDEE which is the total number of calories your body needs just to survive as you. This is the amount of calories your brain needs to function, your organs need to work correctly, and to have everything running smoothly. Your TDEE is reflective of height, weight, age, and activity level, so it will range for every different body.
“Total Daily Energy Expenditure”, or TDEE which is the total number of calories your body needs just to survive as you.”
When you look at a Nutrition label, do you see those percentages? Those are based off of the AVERAGE TDEE of 2,000 calories per day. Now, like I said before, that is the AVERAGE. As a personal trainer, I’ve worked with people who are 6’4″, 280 lbs who need to eat a MAINTENANCE of 3,500 calories a day… I’ve also worked with people who stand 4’10”, maybe 95 lbs soaking wet, who can barely break 1,100 calories. The best way to see what your own TDEE is by starting with an online calculator like this one here .
Did you calculate our your TDEE? Great! Now you have the number of how many calories you need to eat PER DAY in order to MAINTAIN your current weight.
If you are looking to GAIN muscle, you need to be in a calorie SURPLUS –> Add 500 calories / day to your TDEE
Example: TDEE is 2,000 cal + 500 cal = New Calorie Goal is 2,500 calories
If you are looking to LOSE weight, meaning FAT LOSS, you need to subtract 500 from your TDEE
Example: TDEE is 2,000 cal – 500 cal = New Calorie Goal is 1,500 calories
This is where things CAN get complicated..
Weight loss is a tricky thing to calculate if you don’t know what you’re doing. The extremist in my brain is like, “Well, if I can lose weight by subtracting 500 calories from my diet, can’t I lose MORE weight FASTER if I subtract 1,000 calories instead?”
Short answer: No.
Long answer: OH GOD NO DON’T DO THAT.
Longer answer: The goal of weight loss is actually fat loss, right? The number on the scale doesn’t mean anything if you were happy with how you looked, right?
Fat loss is the name of the game. If you cut TOO MANY CALORIES, your body will go into the “starvation mode” and will refuse to give up any of your fat stores. Your body is stupid/smart, meaning that it’s stuck trying to save you from yourself. If your body feels like it isn’t getting the amount of calories it needs to function properly, your body will literally STOP BUILDING MUSCLE. Meaning you WON’T RECOVER FROM YOUR WORKOUTS and you set yourself up for INJURY, FATIGUE and MUSCLE LOSS.
Cut too few calories, and you won’t see results. The easiest option is to set up a nutrition consult with one of our Untamed Fitness Trainers (here!), but the other option is to keep a food journal.
For one solid week, cut 500 calories from your meals. Keep a log of how you are feeling, what you ate that day and when, as well as weight when you wake up, before and after workouts, and before bed.
If at the end of the week, you feel pretty energized and the weight is coming off (ideally between .5-2lbs per week for fat loss) then hurray! Keep it up for the next week.
If you get to the end of the week and notice a trend of binge eating, cravings, poor sleep, dark circles under your eyes, lethargy, dry or flaky skin, then this is a HUGE red flag that you are CUTTING TOO MANY CALORIES AND NEED TO INCREASE YOUR CALORIE AMOUNT.
…”But Amanda, I can’t increase my calorie amount! I haven’t lost any weight!”
Yes. I know.
If this is the case, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you booking an appointment with a professional. This is usually a sign of too many fad diets, binge eating, as well as a potential unhealthy relationship with food, that may take months and sometimes YEARS to fix! (Book here for a No Sweat Consult!)
I have seen this a handful of times in various clients, but knowledge is the key to your success. Lower calories is not the answer – getting your body to stop thinking it’s wandering the Sahara Desert and needing to hold on to every calorie and fat cell is the REAL answer to your fat loss journey.
Anyways, I’m going to end this rant here. If you would like to learn more about healthy eating, nutrition habits, or nutrition coaching, feel free to book a call here!
Below is one of my all time FAVORITE smoothie mixes – it’s sweet, it’s healthy and HEY! it’s even tasty.
Thanks for stopping by!
Recipe of the Week: “Green-A-Colada” Smoothie
Total prep time 5 min
456 Calories, 32g Protein, 52g Carbs, 16g Fat
Ingredients for 1 serving
1 tbsp, ground Flaxseeds
3/4 cup Water
1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
1 Frozen banana
2 cup Spinach
1 cup Pineapple chunks frozen
3/4 cup Coconut milk canned light
Directions
- Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Serve immediately.
