How To Change Your Diet To Burn Fat And Build Muscle

I always prefer to make choices that are easy to follow and that have a positive impact on your health. Even though all of the choices aren't directly the best choices to make a dramatique change in your body composition, they will in the long run be good choices due to multiple health benefits. I am against all processed foods, since they aren't in a natural state. Your body is not built to handle food which is full of chemicals and trans-fats. It simply doesn't know what to do with them. This goes as well to the processed carbs (pasta, bread etc.).

There are also quite a few psycholigical aspects in dieting. For e.g: Plan your breakfast the night before. Make it as healthy as possible and somewhat bigger than the meals for the rest of the day. When you eat a super-healthy meal in the morning the rest of the day follows. "You started the day well, why make a mess out of it at lunch". Same thing applies oppositely: If you start out the day with a crappy breakfast it is easy to say "What the hell. I already had a bad breakfast, eating this and this for lunch won't ruin the day anymore... I had a pizza for lunch, I can't make it any worse by having a bad dinner also. I'll continue on the diet tomorrow. Maybe next monday!" A larger breakfast jumpstarts the metabolism. You haven't eaten for many hours during the night, so your body is craving for nutrients, protein and carbohydrates. This is the best time of the day to eat all of those! Make sure the day before that you have decent supplies to make a good breakfast and plan it the night before.

This may look like a very low-carb/ketogenic/carbophobia at a first glance and it may have resemblance to the Atkins Diet Plan, but as you read on you will realize that it is mostly about choosing the right foods at the right time and keeping it as healthy as possible. If you fall of the wagon and hit the buffet, just make sure the next meal is according to these guidelines. Don't throw away the day and start again on monday!

Insulin Sensitivity And Partitioning

Let's talk about insulin resistance first. Simplyfied: the more your body produces insulin over a perioid of time, the more resistant your tissues will be to insulin. What makes your body produce insulin? On the top of the list is sugar, and all kind of simple carbs. They are quickly absorbed and have a high impact on your blood glucose.Next on the list are complex carbs, then proteins and then fats. Carbs that have a lot of dietary fiber are digested slower so they have a lower impact. Carbs consumed with protein have a lower impact, as do protein consumed with fat and carbs consumed with protein, fat and a lot of dietary fiber. Insulin resistance is the main reason for type 2 diabetes. What this means is your body can not transport the blood sugar efficently inside the cells which results in chronically elevated blood sugar levels. In type 2 diabetes there is insulin production still present but its effect on the tissues has diminished. If you already have diabetes or think that you might have some of the symptoms including constant urinations, drowsiness and constant thirst, you might want to try some diabetes medical supplies to either help you with your insulin resistance or with your diabetes.

The combination of the rising blood glucose and a few hormones your intestins produce while digesting result in your pancreas producing more insulin. When blood sugar is going to below-normal levels, your pancreas starts to produce glucagon. Glucagon releases liver glycogen (which is a storing form of glucose) in to the bloodstream and raises the blood glucose. When liver glucose is starting to deplete, lipolysis (releasing your bodys fat) aka fat burn is activated by a number of hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline. Liver glycogen is more efficently replenished when depleted.

Muscle tissue also has glycogen stores but they aren't used to raise the blood glucose, they are intended for the use of the muscle. When muscle glycogen is low/depleted its glycogen has a tendency to be replenished more easily. Post workout is the best time to replenish muscle glycogen, since the muscle glycogen is depleted and insulin sensitivity is at its highest. Also if no carbs are ingested after workout, muscle cells start to break down its own protein into glucose to fill clycogen stores in an event called gluconeogenesis.

How can we use this information? Liver and muscle glycogen are replenished easily when depleted. Insulin sensitivity is at its highest after workout. So what is partitioning all about? Forcing the extra calories and carbohydrates in the muscle tissue instead of adipose tissue. Only eat carbs when glycogen is depleted and insulin sensiticity is high - post workout. You might want to start searching for no carb recipes to keep your low carb foods as tasty as possible. Liver glycogen also depletes during the night when you are fasting for a long time. Fructose is efficent in filling the liver glycogen, since it cannot be used by any other part of your body as energy. So after a while dieting a few fruits in the morning is a good idea. This will really help you in knowing how to loose love handles fast.

Good Fats

You have propably heard enough of the good fats and that omega-3 basically helps with everything. So I won't write too much. When people talk about "the good fats" they forget that versatility is important. All fats (except trans-fats) have a purpose in your body. Saturated fats and cholesterol are used to build hormones in the body. Omega-3 fats are anti-inflammatory and also promote insulin sensitivity which is very important if you have any of the symptoms of diabetes. Dairy fat contains CLA which has a lot of studies on helping fatloss and even support anabolism. What this means is that you should eat fat from all sources: Dairy, red meat, fish, peanuts, vegetable oils. The best source for saturated fats in my opinion is coconut oil. I use it for all cooking. Unsaturated fats shouldn't be used for cooking purposes since they have a tendency to oxidate when heated. So basically it destroys the unsaturated fats. When dieting you should focus on getting enough omega-3-fatty acids, since it has an significant impact promoting insulin sensitivity. 2-4g of EPA and DHA combined should be a good starting point. Supplementation might be necessary. Unsaturated fats have been showd to be more readily used to heat the body. So by having most of your fat from unsaturated sources, more of the energy ingested will be burnt to heat.

Proteins

Everybody seems to have an opinion on how much protein one should be eating. There are a lot of guidelines and if you have found a good amount for you, you should stick with that. Basically no-one should be eating less than 150g protein when dieting. When carbs are low and calories are below maintenance, your body will break some protein in to glucose. Somewhat over 100g of carboydrates are needed by the brain if not in ketosis, and that part will be taken out of proteins if carbs are not available. So if you aren't eating enough protein, you will lose muscle tissue.

A good starting point for protein intake is 1g per pound of bodyweight per day, but never under 150g. Many people go higher to 2-3g per pound and get good results with it. Although there is no scientific data supporting such a high protein intake, many people seem to benefit from it.

Divide your protein intake evenly during the day with the exeption of eating a bit more in the morning, after workout and before you go to sleep. Use quality protein sources such as red meat, chicken, eggs, whey, dairy and everything which has a lot of BCAA especially leucine. You can even use a leucine supplement throughout the day.

Good Carbohydrates

I talked before about processed foods, and this is the part where it really shows. Good carbohydrates are not pasta and bread. Good carbs are filled with nutrients as well as fiber and some also protein so they won't have such a high impact on blood glucose: The faster it goes up, the faster it comes down.

When starting the diet you should stick to GREEN vegetables for the first two weeks to get your body adapted in burning its fat for its main energy source, instead of the blood glucose and muscle and liver glycogen. Green vegetables have a very low carbs ratio. Usually maximum of 5g/100g and they are loaded with fiber which will lower your cholesterol and help your digestive system. You can't eat too much of them.

After two weeks of having only green vegetables as carbs you might have already lost about 2-4lbs. Your muscle tissue has better insulin sensitivity hence it will absorb the ingested carbohydrates more easily. This is what partitioning is all about: Driving the extra calories/carbohydrates to the muscle tissue instead of the adipose tissue. You can start having some fruits (2-3 servings daily). Remember while fruit carbs are composed mainly from glucose and some fructose, they are still the healthy choice because of the vitamins and antioxidants.

After 3-4 weeks more dieting you can start adding some quality carbs to your diet. You should be about 6-10lbs lighter than when you started. You have already burnt a decent amount of fat, so adding some carbs won't hurt. Your muscles have a higher insulin sensitivity, so eating some carbs will only feed the muscles. This is why lean individuals do not get fat as easy as fatter individuals. Although keep the carbs only post-workout and in the morning, when insulin sensitivity is at its highest. Good carb sources for e.g. quinoa and lentil which are high in protein, fiber and minerals.

Building The Daily Diet

You should have some idea what is coming if you read the text above. But now I will make it simple. Consume 4-5 meals per day. Protein divided evenly on all meals with some extra in the morning, after workout, and before you go to sleep. Eat vegetables on all the meals! If you can't do this, then having one meal without the veggies is still acceptable. So if you are looking for a new diet plan, here comes!

Weeks 1-2:
You should only focuse on making the right choices. You might feel some discomfort, have some headaches and digestive problems, but they are all going to disappear after a few days if you stick with it. If you choose to eat something that isn't on the menu, you will only prolong the discomfort.

What you should be eating right now?
1. Green vegetables on all the meals of the day. And if you get cravings for sweets, try to fulfill them with the veggies :)
2. Have some protein rich food at all meals (meat, poultry, fish...)
3. Eat a lot of fat. Fatty foods and oils. This helps your body to make the switch in metabolism. If you go just low carb and low fat, your body will become very efficent at using protein for energy. Nuts are a good choice here.

Weeks 3-?
This is basically where the dieting kicks in. You should have lost a significant amount of weight, since the foods you have been eating also suppress appetite, so you are most likely eating below maintenance calories. Now it is time to do some calculations. They are necessary at the beginning, and when you learn to do this, it will get a lot easier.

1. Carbohydrate intake should be set to below 80g for the day. This should be coming from vegetables and some fruits in the morning.
2. Protein intake to 1-1.5g per pound of bodyweught. So if you are at 150lb, 150g per day is enough. Divide this to 5 meals and you have roughly 30g per meal.
3. Fat intake should be set to roughly 0,75g per pound of bodyweight. So with every meal this will be about 23g of fat if you are 150lb. If at some point you feel that you are not progressing, cut off some daily fat to lower your caloric intake.
4. Always have a post workout drink after exercise, which contains some carbs and proteins.
5. Still eat the veggies at all meals :)

Once a week you can have a pre-planned carbohydrate loading post-workout. Only post-workout. Which basically means that for five hours after hitting the gym you can eat carbohydrates as much as you like :) But remember to keep it healthy and not eat until you explode.

Weeks ?-and on

Now you are satisfied with your looks and decide to start eating more normally. Try adding about 20g carbs every two weeks for your breakfast, and 20g carbs post workout. This will prevent you from regaining fat quickly. When you feel like you are starting to gain fat, remove 20g carbs. Make adjustments slowly so you can see what doesn't work for you. You might even try out some diet pills fat burners to make your project faster.

Hopefully this was helpful. I didn't provide a list of foods to eat, since I don't want to limit your choices. As long as it is concidered healthy and isn't too processed it is ok! And please experiment with food. Eat those veggies that you always hated, because you will develop a new taste while dieting. You start to like everything that is healthy and dislike unhealthy stuff.





This is not professional advice. IF you intend to carry out any of the advice given in this article you should consult your physician first.