In many areas of life, people tend to make things more complicated than they should, and they also tend to bite off more than they can chew. This is especially true when it comes to dieting. Quite often I see where people who have zero experience or history in successfully dieting attempt to completely flip their life and dietary habits upside down in order to see some quick results. Like most changes that people want to make, the best way to make these changes is to start off with small, incremental changes in order to smooth out the transition and avoid detrimental stress concentrations. As mentioned in one of my original posts, stress concentrations occur whenever an accumulation of stress is seen due to trying to change too many things at once without a transition plan. In dieting, I believe there is somewhat of a hierarchy of stages in dieting that should guide you with what changes to make first and help you transition your dieting intensity with a smooth transition. The main levels of this dieting hierarchy are eating good, whole foods, counting calories, counting macronutrients, and then nutrient timing and scheduling. These levels are briefly discussed below.
The first level of dieting is to focus on eating good, clean, whole foods. People severely underestimate the impact it would have if they just changed what it was that they were eating and not even how much food they are eating. Not only will this ensure that you are getting more high-quality macro and micronutrients in your daily diet, but you will also simultaneously decrease your overall calories without even knowing it. In general, clean whole foods are much more nutrient dense which means it contains much more positive ingredients per the same total amount of food consumed. For example, 8 oz of a 70/30 beef burger and 8 oz of a grilled chicken breast yield extremely different nutritional profiles for the same amount of food. Additionally, as mentioned in a previous post, most people are also terrible at understanding exactly how many calories are in the foods they consume. Most people probably know that 8 oz of beef has more calories than 8 oz of chicken, but most people don’t understand the magnitude of the difference and/or comprehend the compounding effect of that small decision. Like usual, let’s put some numbers to it for reference. Say you typically eat a mostly red-meat diet, and you decide you want to introduce some chicken to cut down on the calories. Assume you start by substituting one serving of 8 oz 70/30 beef a day for one 8 oz serving of grilled chicken. The difference in calories between 8 oz of 70/30 beef and 8 oz of grilled chicken is ~ 422 calories (beef – 70g fat, 32g protein, chicken – 8 oz fat, 64 g protein). Making that change once a day is ~ 3000 calories a week, or just under one lb bodyweight per week – from just one meal swap. Granted, this difference gets smaller and smaller the leaner meat that you buy (80/20 or 93/7), but there is a premium price for the leaner beef and a majority of people are not paying for it. There are lots of examples of this, this is just one example to prove the point. A lot of ground and progress can be made by just choosing good, clean whole foods without even worrying about your calorie count. This is the first thing that a newfound dieter should focus on.
The next thing that should be focused on, once the aspect of clean & whole foods is figured out, is counting calories. This is the most widely known and commonly practiced aspect of dieting. As mentioned several times before, and as I’m sure most people know, in order to lose weight, you have to be in a caloric deficit. This means that you burn more calories over time than you consume. Similarly, in order to gain weight you have to be in a caloric surplus. This is easy in theory, but a little more difficult in practice. Although somewhat difficult, this is a non-negotiable when it comes to weight loss or weight gain. I have written about the difficulties and details of keeping up with calories consumed and calories burned (most recently here), so I am not going into a whole lot of detail surrounding the intricacies of calorie counting here. It is just important to know that counting calories should come after focusing on eating good, clean whole foods but before attempting to dive into macronutrients or meal timing. Once you learn how to count calories and get used to it, then it is time to dial in the macros.
Once you figure out how to count calories, it is time to look into counting macros. One thing I like to always say regarding calories and macros is that calories determine how much body mass you have, but macros determine what that mass is composed of. A lot of people like to argue that they can eat 1000 calories of oreos or 1000 calories of bland chicken and it will affect their weight the same.. Without getting too much into the details as to why this isn’t necessarily true, let’s assume for a second that this is a true statement. If this is true then yes your weight on the scale will look extremely similar from day to day, but your weight in the mirror will look vastly different. Not all calories are created equal, and different macronutrients serve different purposes throughout the body. Protein is for structure, carbs are for performance, and fats are for function. Though they all serve multiple purposes each, this is the way I like to simplify it and differentiate on a very broad level. Some more information regarding macronutrients can be found in a recent post of mine here. Once you figure out how to control your weight with your calories, look into learning how to control what that weight is made of with your macros.
The last thing someone new to dieting should focus on, is meal timing. This minute detail of dieting provides less of a benefit than the previous three and should only be prioritized when the first few aspects of dieting have been dialed in. Though the total quantity of the foods you eat throughout the day are the biggest deciding factor, when and where you eat certain calories throughout the day may even introduce some added benefit. For example, eating the highest % of your carbs (& total calories) around a workout can potentially help your body utilize the fuel a little more efficiently. Eating some carbs and simple sugars pre workout can help your muscles stay full throughout the workout longer, and eating carbs and proteins post workout will help replenish the glycogen stores in your muscles that you just depleted as well as help rebuild the muscles you just tore down. Another example of nutrient timing is the fact that a lot of people like to eat their most dense meals earlier in the day, so that their body has more time and activity to utilize those calories throughout the day as you move as opposed to storing them as extra fat. Some people also like to eat some slow-releasing protein and fats before bed so that their body does not go into a catabolic state and start eating away at their muscle while they sleep. Although these are only a few examples, and like I said provide minimal benefit in comparison to the other staples of dieting, it is important to note that it is not only important what you eat, but when you eat it also plays somewhat of a role.
Although the more you read about dieting the more seemingly complex and intimidating it seems, there is a method to the madness and certain ways you can ease your way into it without getting overwhelmed. If you are new to dieting & don’t know how to start, simply just start making some better choices and quality substitutions every now and then. Once you get used to this, add on by learning to track calories and macronutrients, and then slowly ease into some meal timing if you feel up for it. Like I have mentioned before – dieting is a long-term game. Avoid the stress concentrations that extreme dieting can bring a long with it, start with the basics, and be consistent.
