This week I was pointing out to a client the four different levels of calorie intake any diet can put you on –
1) Low Calorie – “Good” Quality Foods
This is what dieting should be about, reducing food so that you are able to lose fat but not so much so you greatly annoy the metabolism of the body. I discussed this the other day talking about calorie thresholds. Where “good” food refers to known foods that are not sensitive toward the body and loaded with nutrients. With high quality foods you can preserve the metabolic rate of the body despite eating less and thus effectively drop body fat.
2) Low Calorie – “Bad” Quality Foods
This would be one of the better options when you are not eating good foods for your body. If you know they are sensitive or they are extremely processed / loaded with chemicals and toxins etc then the less of them consumed the better for your body. Based on which type of fat loss mode your body is in you could even lose fat while eating “badly”. However, the worse your foods the more they suppress your metabolic rate meaning you will need less calories to exist / gain body fat. So it makes it harder to lose fat on such foods.
3) High Calorie – “Bad” Quality Foods
While you may lose fat eating lower calories on poor food options one way to guarantee fat gain is to eat a higher calorie diet of bad quality foods. This is double trouble, wrong foods and too much of them. While one day may not kill you for most people these happen way too frequently and hence the lack of results.
4) High Calorie – “Good” Quality Foods
When you are eating higher calories but made of good quality food you will turbo charge metabolism. You will maximise both micronutrient and macronutrient intake. This is how sports competitors and body athletes eat. The key is identifying and not crossing your fat storing threshold. When this is done then you will greatly improve your health and vitality.
Using the Different Intake Amounts
Most people cycle between high calorie/ “bad” foods and lower calorie / “good and bad” foods. The result is their body is often being subjected to stress from both ends of their diet. The high calorie/ “good” foods are rarely used by most people. It is either they are eating good foods while on a diet (lower calorie) or bad foods while not on it (higher calorie).
In an ideal world you would swap between higher calorie / “good” foods and lower calorie “good” foods as dictated by your needs for losing body fat. If at your goal body fat now then you should maximise metabolism on the high calorie/ “good” diet with some annual food rotations and eliminations to keep the body honest. If your goal is lose fat then you must cycle between the two phases.
In the real world almost no one trying to get in shape ever focuses on maximising their metabolism through purposely eating maximal amounts of good food. It is always when focused you eat as little food as possible then when relaxed you eat too much. What most people cannot see is that their continual low calorie intake fuels the desire for going off the rails later on. Your body is more intelligent than you give it credit for and when stores are low it will send out signals to eat. The problem is how we interpret these signals and end up eating the “bad” foods and not the “good” ones as requested.
Adding in purposeful higher calorie days will really help your body and metabolism and allow you to control bad eating binges. An example week for fat loss could be Monday-Wednesday – higher calorie good foods, Thursday – Saturday lower calorie good foods, Sunday lower calorie bad foods. This could work to push your body forwards body fat wise and be more effective than trying to do 7 days lower calorie. It even includes a purposeful a day of more relaxed eating.
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