How to create a diet
Before my journey with Beachbody I had a worked out on my own 4-5 days a week by jogging for 30 minutes and using a Pilates DVD program and I ate foods that were considered healthy. I started doing that in 2009. With my diet at the time, I had only set these boundaries for myself:
*Eat 3 meals a day where I would eat the most amount of food in the morning, less at lunch and less at dinner. (This was my only portion control)
*I made sure to eat foods that had proteins (chicken and fish) and eat what had carbs (brown rice, brown bread, fruits, low fat milk)
*I tried not eat after 7:30PM
*Besides milk I only drank water.
*I stayed away from what I thought was fattening (except avocado and ackee because I didn't know they had fat)
*No fried food or junk food.
*No White wheat foods.
I saw results while I followed this format. I went from 220-210 in 2 months while I did this, but I had a goal to be athletic. In order for me to improve on fitness I had to change my diet. If you are following something similar in terms of dieting to what I said above then you may need to change your diet because what I'm about to say in my next statement will show you how diet in a way that promotes your metabolism to move faster and help you to portion control your meals so that you can fuel your body right to match your daily activities and hit your target goal.
When I started my beachbody journey I had changed my diet according to the nutrition guide I was given. The concepts that were in the guide was completely new to me. You might see things in the news about how to diet, but the things here is something I certain that you wouldn't hear in those broadcasts. First off I'll start with this, food has many roles, its a source of fuel energy and nutrients. It affects your body's weight, it alters your health and vital indicators (i.e. cholestorol and blood pressure). Food is social and is emotional, but the primary purpose of food is to fuel. Your body needs fuel to function: proteins, fats and carbs. Steering away from the concept of using food for fuel and using it for something else (i.e. satisfy your taste buds) can and in most cases will result in a unhealthy diet.
When I began Insanity I had my first practice in portion control. The guide told me to do 2 things. The first thing I needed to do was to have a ratio of 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fats (40/40/20 rule) in all my meals. This ratio was for Insanity which is a high intensity workout program. For other workout routines there might be a different ratio, however, it is proven that you can get a leaner body with high protein intake. If you have seen how intense an Insanity workout is and you might not need to eat the amount of carbs listed in Insanity in terms of amount not ratio. In a single meal on an Insanity routine a person consumes 30-50 grams of carbs in 1 meal. If your workouts aren't as physically demanding as Insanity then do no eat that much in a single meal. Somewhere around 20 grams of carbs would be sufficient, the same would apply for the other major nutrients (proteins and fat). To give you a demonstration of what a meal would look like following the 40/40/20 rule, if I were to consume 100 grams of food in a meal I would be eating 40 grams of protein, 40 grams of carbs, and 20 grams of fat. Now in terms of the calculations for proteins, carbs and fats it is fine if you deviate a bit from percentage ratio, but the idea is to stay within the ratio. This can be applied to any ratio you choose.
The second thing the guide told me to do was to eat 5 times a day. This might seem a little odd to some people, but the whole point of doing this is to speed up your metabolism. The times per day you eat the faster your metabolism will be and that leads to your body burning carbs and fats faster by just eating alone. While eating in this manner you will need to follow 2 rules, you will need to eat in smaller portions and you'll need to eat every 2-3 hours. The question you might ask yourself here is how do I know how much I need to eat and how do I split that into 5 meals. Well this is what you do, the Insanity guide used a formula called the Harris Benedict Equation. The formula takes your measurements such as height, weight, gender, etc., and from that tells you how much calories your body needs for the day. After that you divide that number by 5 and you'll get how much calories to eat in each meal on a 5 meal diet. If you're working out DO NOT plan to eat below that number especially if your routine is an intense one like Insanity.
One last point, when it comes to shooting for a certain weight it will heavily depend on the amount of protein you eat. If you have a target weight of 150lbs then you need to an amount of protein for the whole day that either totals or is somewhere in the ballpark of 150 grams of protein for the whole day. So if you want to be 150lbs and you're eating 5 times a day you'll be eating about 30 grams of protein in each meal. Also if you plan to scale up the intensity of your workouts you'll need to eat more, I don't know the exact science behind calculating how much more you need to eat but a general rule would be to start eating 100 calories more in each meal you have. If you feel too full or still hungry then you can work your way up or down from there. Even though protein consumption is a big part of how much you'll weigh, carbs and fats will also determine that too. An illustration of that is a fat person. If person eats foods containing carbs and fats and he/she doesn't engage in activities that use up those nutrients then the body will store those nutrients. Carbs turns into fat once stored and fats remain as fat, and hence the term 'fat person' is created. This is not to say that fat is bad, what I am saying is that an improper use of carbs and fats will lead to you being fat or just not attaining your fitness goal.
To reiterate everything, you need to select a ratio for your food. I started with 40/40/20, it is up to you to decide what you want to do in terms of ratio. Strive to eat 5 times a day, if this is not possible for you then shoot to eat no less than 3 times per day while still applying the 40/40/20 ratio and still eating all the calories your body needs. Lastly, let protein determine your weight and not carbs and fats or you'll have a hard time reaching your fitness goals. At the end of Insanity I was 180lbs and I dropped from 210lbs in 2 months. This was possible with proper dieting, not just the workout itself.
If any of this is confusing then you may, Contact Me for clarification on anything.
*Eat 3 meals a day where I would eat the most amount of food in the morning, less at lunch and less at dinner. (This was my only portion control)
*I made sure to eat foods that had proteins (chicken and fish) and eat what had carbs (brown rice, brown bread, fruits, low fat milk)
*I tried not eat after 7:30PM
*Besides milk I only drank water.
*I stayed away from what I thought was fattening (except avocado and ackee because I didn't know they had fat)
*No fried food or junk food.
*No White wheat foods.
I saw results while I followed this format. I went from 220-210 in 2 months while I did this, but I had a goal to be athletic. In order for me to improve on fitness I had to change my diet. If you are following something similar in terms of dieting to what I said above then you may need to change your diet because what I'm about to say in my next statement will show you how diet in a way that promotes your metabolism to move faster and help you to portion control your meals so that you can fuel your body right to match your daily activities and hit your target goal.
When I started my beachbody journey I had changed my diet according to the nutrition guide I was given. The concepts that were in the guide was completely new to me. You might see things in the news about how to diet, but the things here is something I certain that you wouldn't hear in those broadcasts. First off I'll start with this, food has many roles, its a source of fuel energy and nutrients. It affects your body's weight, it alters your health and vital indicators (i.e. cholestorol and blood pressure). Food is social and is emotional, but the primary purpose of food is to fuel. Your body needs fuel to function: proteins, fats and carbs. Steering away from the concept of using food for fuel and using it for something else (i.e. satisfy your taste buds) can and in most cases will result in a unhealthy diet.
When I began Insanity I had my first practice in portion control. The guide told me to do 2 things. The first thing I needed to do was to have a ratio of 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fats (40/40/20 rule) in all my meals. This ratio was for Insanity which is a high intensity workout program. For other workout routines there might be a different ratio, however, it is proven that you can get a leaner body with high protein intake. If you have seen how intense an Insanity workout is and you might not need to eat the amount of carbs listed in Insanity in terms of amount not ratio. In a single meal on an Insanity routine a person consumes 30-50 grams of carbs in 1 meal. If your workouts aren't as physically demanding as Insanity then do no eat that much in a single meal. Somewhere around 20 grams of carbs would be sufficient, the same would apply for the other major nutrients (proteins and fat). To give you a demonstration of what a meal would look like following the 40/40/20 rule, if I were to consume 100 grams of food in a meal I would be eating 40 grams of protein, 40 grams of carbs, and 20 grams of fat. Now in terms of the calculations for proteins, carbs and fats it is fine if you deviate a bit from percentage ratio, but the idea is to stay within the ratio. This can be applied to any ratio you choose.
The second thing the guide told me to do was to eat 5 times a day. This might seem a little odd to some people, but the whole point of doing this is to speed up your metabolism. The times per day you eat the faster your metabolism will be and that leads to your body burning carbs and fats faster by just eating alone. While eating in this manner you will need to follow 2 rules, you will need to eat in smaller portions and you'll need to eat every 2-3 hours. The question you might ask yourself here is how do I know how much I need to eat and how do I split that into 5 meals. Well this is what you do, the Insanity guide used a formula called the Harris Benedict Equation. The formula takes your measurements such as height, weight, gender, etc., and from that tells you how much calories your body needs for the day. After that you divide that number by 5 and you'll get how much calories to eat in each meal on a 5 meal diet. If you're working out DO NOT plan to eat below that number especially if your routine is an intense one like Insanity.
One last point, when it comes to shooting for a certain weight it will heavily depend on the amount of protein you eat. If you have a target weight of 150lbs then you need to an amount of protein for the whole day that either totals or is somewhere in the ballpark of 150 grams of protein for the whole day. So if you want to be 150lbs and you're eating 5 times a day you'll be eating about 30 grams of protein in each meal. Also if you plan to scale up the intensity of your workouts you'll need to eat more, I don't know the exact science behind calculating how much more you need to eat but a general rule would be to start eating 100 calories more in each meal you have. If you feel too full or still hungry then you can work your way up or down from there. Even though protein consumption is a big part of how much you'll weigh, carbs and fats will also determine that too. An illustration of that is a fat person. If person eats foods containing carbs and fats and he/she doesn't engage in activities that use up those nutrients then the body will store those nutrients. Carbs turns into fat once stored and fats remain as fat, and hence the term 'fat person' is created. This is not to say that fat is bad, what I am saying is that an improper use of carbs and fats will lead to you being fat or just not attaining your fitness goal.
To reiterate everything, you need to select a ratio for your food. I started with 40/40/20, it is up to you to decide what you want to do in terms of ratio. Strive to eat 5 times a day, if this is not possible for you then shoot to eat no less than 3 times per day while still applying the 40/40/20 ratio and still eating all the calories your body needs. Lastly, let protein determine your weight and not carbs and fats or you'll have a hard time reaching your fitness goals. At the end of Insanity I was 180lbs and I dropped from 210lbs in 2 months. This was possible with proper dieting, not just the workout itself.
If any of this is confusing then you may, Contact Me for clarification on anything.
