Losing Body Fat – How ‘Hardcore’ Isn’t Always Better

Losing body fat, getting into shape, getting 'dem summer shedz' is hard. Then why are people making more difficult than it already is? It seems that many people are stuck in the mind frame that the more 'hardcore' their nutrition is and the more 'hardcore' their training is the better results they will get. I can assure you now that this isn't the case. With people living busier lifestyles in this day and age the general public need to be as flexible as they can be with their lifestyle. Let me explain the stories of two different people.

 Meet Dave:

Dave's 35. Dave's a banker, meaning he lives a busy lifestyle. He has a wife, child and a dog called Carlos. Dave’s decided that he's fed up looking in the mirror and wants to do something about it. With the goal being fat loss he joins the gym. He trains 3 times a week, eats 2,250 calories a day made up of 200g protein, 250g carbs and 50g of fat. Whilst at the gym he performs 20 minutes of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) one day, 8 minutes of Tabita on another day and 30 minutes of LISS (Low Intensity Steady State). He's a flexible dieter, meaning he tracks his food on a daily basis. He's pretty forgetful, and sometimes forgets to prepare lunch for the day ahead. Luckily for him there's a Subway around the corner. He pops in during his dinner break, grabs a bite to eat and fit it into his macros.

Over the course of 8 weeks Dave has shed 24 pounds. He's very happy with this result. His old jeans now fit him again and he's beginning to see the outline of his abdominals. Dave will continue to use flexible dieting; eating the foods he loves whilst fitting them into his macros. Some days he doesn't even track his macros. He's been doing it for so long he can now eyeball his food servings. Good on you Dave!

 Meet Malcolm:

Malcolm's 20 years and he bloody loves squatting! He's a student. The only commitment Malcolm has is his 6pm-11pm job in Tesco down the road, where he works twice a week. He's also fed up of looking in the mirror and wants to do something about it and like Dave fat loss is the overall goal. Like Dave, he eats 2,250 calories a day, made up of 200g protein, 250g carbs and 50g of fat. He does 3 cardiovascular sessions a week, made up of 3, 40 minute LISS sessions. He follows a strict 'clean foods' only diet plan, where he eats the same meals all week, split into 6 small meals across the day to keep his 'metabolism burning'. He spends 2 hours in the kitchen every Sunday and Wednesday night preparing foods for the week ahead. He's also pretty forgetful, meaning he forgets his lunch box at home some days when he's at university. He's that hungry he can't wait until he gets home, therefore he eats whatever's going in the cafeteria, goes over his caloric goal for the day, stresses all day about it and promises himself that the ‘diet’ starts again tomorrow.! Over the course of 8 weeks he also sheds 24 pounds! He's very happy with his, but he's always craving chocolates, ice cream and pizza. At the end of the 8 weeks he goes on a binge, eating all of the foods he's craved, massively going over his caloric target whilst at the same time re-bounding some weight. After doing this he feels guilty for a few hours and promises himself that the 'diet' starts again tomorrow.

If you had to follow Dave's or Malcolm's 8 week progress, who's would you choose? Let’s conclude:

1. They both eat the exact same amount of calories a day, made up of the same macros. Unlike Malcolm who follows a 'diet plan' and eats 7 small meals a day, Dave can eat whatever he wants as long as he hits his total calorie and macro targets. This can be done in 2 massive meals or 6 smaller meals, it depends how he feels. Eating smaller meals a day does NOT keep your 'metabolism burning'. If you’re preparing 7 meals a day to achieve this then you may be wasting your time. There’s nothing wrong with eating 7 small meals a day. Maybe you have a small appetite. But to claim that doing this keeps the ‘metabilism burning’ isn’t backed up by any scientific data. Berkhan [1] claims that increasing meal frequency does not appear to favourably change body composition. Think of the bigger picture. Hitting your overall caloric and macronutrient target for the day is far more important than the total number of meals being consumed. Individual personal preference is also important on the total number of meals consumed per day.

2. They both train 3 times a week. Minus warm ups and cool downs Dave's total actual workout time is 58 minutes. Malcolm however (minus warm ups and cool downs) total workout time is 2 hours a week. Baring in mind they both lost the same amount of weight that's an extra hour of working out! There are other alternatives for repetitive LISS training. Tabita, HIIT and metabolic circuits can be performed in less time and provide similar results or in some cases, better results. These claims are backed up by Aragon[2], where he states ‘in long-term studies, both linear high-intensity and HIIT training is superior to lower intensities on the whole for maintaining and/or increasing cardiovascular fitness & lean mass, and are at least as effective, and according to some research, far better at reducing body fat’.

3. And finally, number 3 and this is my favourite....sustainability! Upon completion of the 8 week progress Dave continues to use flexible dieting, whilst Malcolm binges on foods that he has been craving throughout the 8 weeks. He re-bounds some weight after these binges, feels guilty and quite frankly he's sick and tired of eating the same foods over and over again. He could have simply factored these foods into his nutrition, rather than binge. That's why flexible dieting triumphs and other form of dieting. How many times have you heard ‘oh I went on the X diet and now I’ve stopped I’ve put it all back on’. McDonald [3] backs this up in his book by stating ‘the body is really good at storing incoming calories as fat after a diet and if you return to old eating habits, you can just watch the pounds come flying back on’. You shouldn't have to cut out the foods you love from your nutrition just for the sake of becoming lean. We're all human; we all get cravings but why use these cravings in a negative manner and go over your caloric target when you could have simply fitted them into your macros? There’s definitely nothing wrong with eating ‘clean’ foods. When fat loss is the goal 70-80% of your nutrition will come from ‘clean’ foods.

So there it is. Don't make fat loss harder than what it needs to be. Fit everything from your nutrition to your training into your lifestyle. 'Hardcore' is not always better. Oh, and for the record I used to be Malcolm. Life is so much better being Dave.

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For online coaching enquiries please contact: dan@flexiblefitnessonline.co.uk

                                                                                                          

1. [Berkhan, 2011] http://www.leangains.com/2011/04/critique-of-issn-position-stand-on-meal.html?m=1

2. [Aragon, 2006] Myths Under The Microscopes Part 1: The Low Intensity fat Burning Zone

3. [McDonald, 2005] A Guide To Flexible Dieting: How being Less Strict With Your Diet Can Make It Work Better

'Healthy Foods' - Are They Preventing You From Becoming Shredded?

‘Healthy Foods’ – Are They Preventing You From Becoming Shredded?

'Healthy eating starts tomorrow' is a sentence I hear quite often, usually from people who have maybe over indulged a little throughout the winter months and are maybe wanting to lose that little bit of excess body fat ready for summer shred time! But what exactly defines healthy eating?

People often define healthy eating as eating whole, unprocessed foods... in any amounts. You'll see gym monkeys eating out of their tupperware, filled with foods such as; chicken fried in olive oil, almonds, rice and their salad drizzled with olive oil, bearing in mind not a single macro has been accounted for. Now before I continue there is nothing wrong with these foods. I myself eat at least three of these foods on a daily basis to hit my macros. Where the problem lies is that people are confused and stuck in a rut, a rut I was stuck in for almost 4 years.

Before I started flexible dieting and tracking my macros, I was stuck in the mind-set that if I ate ‘clean’, healthy foods in any amount I would reach my body composition goal, which is to get as lean as can be. I was frying my chicken in copious amounts of olive oil, drizzling my salads with olive oil, eating peanut butter out of a jar as if there were no tomorrow and eating nuts for fun. I was frustrated and confused. Why wasn’t my body composition changing? ‘Where are my abs?’ I kept asking myself. Once I started tracking my macros I realised where I was going wrong…the calories I was consuming from these foods was the reason I wasn’t shredded. Below are photos, photos which will hopefully give you a better insight and maybe a shock as to how many calories are hidden in these foods.

Here’s olive oil in a pan. On the left is how much an average person would pour in before frying. Precisely 22ml. On the right is 5ml of olive oil.

                                           Macros on the left (22ml):   Macros on the right (5ml):                       

                                           Kcal: 180                           Kcal: 41

                                           Fat: 20.1g                           Fat: 4.6g

                                           Carbs: 0g                            Carbs: 0g

                                           Protein 0                             Protein: 0g

20g of fat just to fry some chicken? These days, I don’t even use oils as I’d rather use my fat macros on other foods. Again, there’s nothing wrong with olive oil, just take care as to how much you’re actually consuming.

Here are some cashew nuts. I love nuts. But this will seriously astonish you.

At the top is what people tend to define as a small handful. It’s actually 28g. Bottom left is what that handful looks like in a bowl, again 28g. Bottom right, is how much the average person would consume as a snack. Here are the macros. Are you ready for this?

Macros in the handful and bottom left bowl (28g): Macros in the average person’s snack serving size(103g):

Kcal: 165                                                             Kcal: 606

Fat: 13.5g                                                             Fat: 49.5g

Carbs: 14.7g                                                        Carbs: 17.2g

Protein: 5.9    g                                                      Protein: 21.5g

Astonishing isn’t it? Again, there’s nothing wrong with nuts. But the next time you pick up your healthy snack of nuts during your lunch break, just remember to be sensible and track them damn macros.

Finally, peanut butter. My weak point! On the left is your average tablespoon guide (20g approx.) On the right is how much the average person would consume.

                                            Macros on the left:           Macros on the right:

                                            Kcal: 125                        Kcal: 280

                                            Fat: 10.6g                        Fat: 23.8g

                                            Carbs: 2.1g                     Carbs: 4.6g

                                            Protein: 4.6g                    Protein: 10.4g

Again, just by having that little bit extra on the spoon can add an extra 155 calories!

Now this post isn't claiming that healthy foods are bad for you in one bit! What I'm trying to get to here is that the foods we eat are extremely calorie dense. We all know that to become shredded we need to be in a caloric deficit and that’s why it’s vital that we track our food intake, which results in a caloric deficit which over time will make us shredded! 

For on-line coaching packages email: dan@flexiblefitnessonline.co.uk

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Remember, be flexible.

How Eating Clean Made Me Fat & Flexible Dieting Got Me Shredded

Dieting is the hardest part of getting into shape... and confusing, or is it? With so much misinterpretation within society, on the news, in many fitness magazines and gyms, its hard to define what we should and shouldn't be eating. Don't eat carbohydrates for breakfast, don't eat apples or bananas as they have sugar in them, don't put sugar in your coffee and my personal favourite, don't eat carbohydrates after 6:00pm as they will be stored as fat.

Clean foods only diet, Paleo diet, low carbohydrate diet. Yes, I've tried the majority and failed miserably. I hate the word diet! I can't think of many people who do like the word diet! I prefer to use the word Nutrition. Diet to me sounds like a strict eating regime that someone has to follow to get the body of their dreams. Now don't get me wrong one has to be strict (to an extent) whilst trying to get into shape. There's no if's or buts about it. You can NOT out train bad nutrition (yes, I've tried that too) especially if your goal is set out to get into shape, which entails losing unwanted body-fat.

I'm sure a lot of you have also been in the same boat as me, wanting to lose body-fat and get the body of your dreams. A body that turns heads on the beach. You've tried everything, copious amount of cardiovascular endurance, fat loss pills and EVERY diet under the sun. If this sounds like you, then maybe you should keep reading.

'Clean' Eating
I love my food. I love chicken. I love chocolate. Chicken throughout the world in considered a good food, a clean food, a un-processed food. Chocolate on the other hand, well need I say more? A complete opposite compared to chicken on the nutritional food scale. Chicken = Good, Chocolate = Bad. But does this mean that we have to cut chocolate and other processed 'un-clean' foods out of our diets? Many of you will think yes, but let me tell you a story, a story which will hopefully change your perception on food, a story which will hopefully help you start enjoying your food again whilst trying to lose weight, a story which will hopefully make you stop labelling foods as good as bad; 'clean' and 'un-clean'.

The picture on the left is me during a festival called Tomorrow-land during the summer of 2013,  less than a year ago. The one on the right is now. The exact date of the photo on the left is July the 28th. The holiday was booked roughly 9 months before. I set out a goal to be in the best shape of my life in the lead up to the festival. During the lead up, I was eating 'clean' foods only. 'Clean' foods are usually labelled as chicken, broccoli, oats, eggs, spinach, mackerel, steak and nuts. This is what my diet consisted of. I was eating any amounts of these foods day in, day out for 6 days a week. Sunday arrived and it was time to reward myself, my diet had been good all week so time for a treat right? At the beginning a treat was a large Domino's pizza. As the weeks progressed so did the treat meals. By the 6th week I was consuming a large Domino's, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, a tub of Nutella and a bag of cookies. I couldn't wait for Sundays to arrive, it was the highlight of my week. This cycle continued for 9 months and one thing was clear, I was making very, very little progress, if any at all. What's worse, is that along the way, looking back I definitely developed an eating disorder. How do you know this you may ask. Well... Orthorexia Nervosa is a condition where a person has an obsession with eating foods that one considers healthy. Now, you may be thinking 'but you were binging on the weekends?', well, that in itself is an eating disorder, but I'll leave that for another time. Although I wasn't diagnosed by a doctor, I self-diagnosed myself a few weeks back by answering a questionnaire which my friends at Shredded By Science put up. Questions included:

1. Do you care more about the virtue of what you eat than the pleasure you receive from eating it?

2. Has the quality of your life decreased since the quality of your diet has increased?

3. Do you keep getting stricter with yourself?

4. Do you look down on others whose diets are not, in your eyes, healthy?

5. Do you skip foods you enjoy just to eat the "right" foods?

6. Does your diet make it difficult for you to eat away from home?

7. Do you feel guilty or hate yourself when you stray from your diet?

I answered yes to all of these questions. What's scary is that at the time I was completely oblivious to the fact my mentally towards food had ended up like this! Anyway, with the holiday over and the photos up on Facebook I was not happy with what I saw. It was time for a change. For a few weeks I cut carbohydrates from my diet, that didn't work. The only thing that did was turn me into a miserable, lethargic, tired, weak pathetic excuse of a human being. Scrap that!

Paleo

A few weeks after I gave the Paleo diet a go. What a joke that was. The Paleo diet is very popular among cross fitters and very similar to the clean eating one I had previously done. It involves and is emphasised around foods a caveman would eat. Things such as mackerel, steak, brocolli and a chunk of Mammoth every now and again if supermarkets stocked it!! 

I found this on Instagram. I must say I did have a little chuckle to myself.

Paleo was worse than clean eating! It was horrible. I was having mackerel and broccoli for breakfast. Yes, that's right, mackerel and broccoli for breakfast! At least I could have oats for breakfast whilst eating clean. I just don't understand the whole concept behind it. But I was desperate to  lose body fat that I'd try anything. I gave it a go, failed miserably and turned to the chocolate again.

September 2013 - New Job, New Me, New Diet?

I was fed up. All this hard work in the gym was for nothing. My body composition hadn't changed for years. I'd started a new job in Cardiff, moved into a new flat. This was it, it was happening this time, I was getting those abs I'd always craved.

I was searching the web one night, when I came across this fantastic article which gave me a much better insight into what it took to lose unwanted body-fat. I'll explain. The number one rule to lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat. It doesn't matte how 'clean' your diet is, if you're not in a caloric deficit you will NOT lose weight. I came across a word which made no sense at the time, but after further research it made complete sense. The famous word was 'Macro Nutrients', macros for short. For those of you that don't know, macros are the amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats and fibre one has to consume daily to either lose fat or gain muscle, depending on the individuals goals.When calculated, these macros add up to the total calorie intake an individual needs to achieve their goals, whether it's fat loss or muscle/weight gain. It made so much sense! I worked out my macros using an on-line calculator. I was hitting 2,300 calories a day, mostly made up of protein and fats. I wasn't consuming a lot of carbohydrates (around 75 grams only from fibrous green veg), as carbohydrates make you fat right? I was still in the mindset that processed, un-clean foods would harm me in my goal of losing fat. So I set out a 'diet plan' which involved mainly whole, 'clean' foods, eating specific meals at specific times of the day.

3 weeks in and things were shaping up. My body composition was definitely improving. BINGO, I'd hit the jackpot. But again I'd slipped into the habit of having cheat meals on a Sunday or Saturday night. I was ALWAYS craving chocolates, crisps and chips and I would full fill these satisfactions on weekends, which meant I would binge on a cheat meal one night a week, which meant I would go over my weekly caloric intake. Although fat loss was happening, it was very stressful and not a pleasant experience. Not only was I spending 2 hours in the kitchen every Sunday and Wednesday preparing meals for the week ahead, I would also freak out at the supermarket if a food which was in my 'diet plan' wasn't in stock. Was this a sign that I was going back to my eating disorder which I still din't know I may have had?

Christmas 2013 had arrived. There was food everywhere, but I stuck to my diet plan. I even felt guilty eating Christmas dinner. But I was losing fat, the 'diet' was working and I was hitting my macros on a daily basis (apart from weekends). But again I was unhappy. Surely there was another way?

January 2014-Flexible Dieting Changed My Life and a RANT!!

January arrived, but I had no New Years resolutions. I'd given up already. Fed up of eating the same old food, over and over again and again! The first few weeks of January were filled with guilt. I went back to eating anything I wanted, but I kept hitting the gym. Funnily enough my body composition didn't change at all, even though the majority of my diet was made up of 'bad/junk' foods. The main reason for this was because I had a better knowledge of how portion sizes should look like. Every night I lay in bed thinking the same old thing, 'surely dieting doesn't have to be this strict. Surely I can enjoy the foods I love whilst still getting into shape?' Then suddenly BINGO!!! It was as if a light bulb had gone off in my head. A fitness model who I follow on Instagram always used the #FlexibleDieting. Now this meant nothing to me at the time, but after thinking it made sense. He always uploaded pictures of home made pancakes, topped with Nutella, berries and honey; home-made sausage casserole etc., foods I'd always dream to eat whilst on a 'diet'. Flexible dieting is what it says, it's about being flexible with your foods, fitting everything in moderation using a simle app on your Iphone or laptop called MYFitnessPal. Here is a perfect example of how flexible dieting should be implemented into ones daily food intake.

Why hadn't I thought of this before? Think of it like this, imagine if you had a burger from McDonald's and a home-made burger. They both contain the same amount of calories, lets say 330 for arguments sake. They both contain 26 grams of protein, 45 grams of carbohydrates and 36 grams of fat. Now, a McDonald's burger is considered a 'bad' 'un-clean' food am I correct? And a home-made burger made with a beef burger from the butchers, a wholemeal roll from your local supermarket, and some cheddar cheese with salad is considered 'clean'. What difference is it going to make to your body composition baring in mind that both of these burgers contain the EXACT same calories and the EXACT same macros? The answer...NOTHING! As your body in digesting the McDonald's burger the brain isn't going to say 'oh this is a McDonald's burger, this will be stored as fat'. Your body will digest it in the EXACT same way! Okay, so there may be a difference in quality within the burger but I only used this as an example. This is the mindset I was stuck in for almost 4 years and sadly the majority of the public always have this mindset and always will until they are educated.

Now flexible dieting doesn't give you the freedom to eat whatever you want in any amounts. You will need to meet your macro nutrient goals, but it gives you the freedom to eat whatever you want in moderation. And you will have to weigh and track everything you eat, but it's so easy. You simply scan the barcode and type in how much of that food you are having. If you fancy a chocolate bar then eat it, just fit it into your macros. If you fancy a glass of wine then drink it, just fit it into your macros.

There is no such thing as a bad food, but there is such a thing as a bad diet. Foods shouldn't be categorized as god nor bad. Everyone in one way loves 'bad' foods such as chocolate, crisps, cookies, doughnuts, beer, wine so why cut the foods you love out of your diet? Food is there to be enjoyed. Nothing infuriates me more than seeing people eating salad and chicken for lunch, claiming they are eating healthily to lose weight. I then ask them what their macro nutrient intake is for the day and they ask 'what the hell is that'? You see people think that if you eat healthy food in any amounts you will lose weight. This is not the case. I even saw one teacher claiming to eat healthy where she had 2 mackerel fillets, 50 grams of almonds with a side of cheddar cheese. She claimed they were healthy, so there was no way they could make her fat! Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with eating this, but she was probably getting 3/4 of her daily caloric intake from her lunch, as we all know the fats in the foods she was eating are extremely calorie dense. It doesn't matter how healthy your diet is guys, if your not in a caloric deficit and hitting your daily macros you will NOT lose weight/body fat. It's scientific and you can't beat science. Below is a perfect of why people believe this 'eat as much healthy food as you want, but don't eat un-clean foods (excuse my French) BULLSHIT':

What a load of Bloocks!!!

Where I am now.
Well, in a nutshell, I couldn't be happier and I mean that. I am eating whatever I want (in moderation) and I have signed up to an on-line personal training company called 'Shredded By Science' who use a flexible dieting approach. They have turned me from a bingeaholic to a flexible dieter who is in the best shape of his life. I have recently completed a personal training course, which means I can share my knowledge with others and change their perception on food whilst getting them into the shape of their life, whilst improving their way of life. I have also decided to compete this year in the men's physique UKBFF category, with the goal to break into the fitness industry. Here is an example of my weekly shop, baring in mind the only meat which is in this picture is bacon and gammon. The chicken and mince was hidden in the freezer.

This post isn't aimed to have a go at clean eaters, paelio dieters or any other types I may have offended. Just don't claim to eat clean and then cheat on weekends because it gets you nowhere. Don't look down on people who don't eat foods which are labelled 'un-clean'. Everyone has different ways of doing things and to me flexible dieting works. if you can get away with eating these so called 'clean' foods all the time whilst hitting your macro nutrient targets for the day then great, do it. So guys, I hope this has helped. Don't get stuck in the 'clean foods only' rut. There's more to life. Enjoy your foods and be flexible.

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