How Do You Gain And Lose Weight?
Before I learned about flexible dieting, I tried all sorts of different diets to help me lose weight - the Kellogg’s Cereal diet, the SlimFast diet, and the Profile diet, to name a few…
And some of these diets DID work for me (in the short term anyway), but what I didn’t understand at the time is that they worked because they created an energy deficit NOT because of some magical foods or specific meal plan.
So the moment I ate something “off plan,” I had no perspective or way to gauge what kind of damage I had done. My brain immediately went to “well, I’m off-plan so I might as well binge and get it out of my system, so I can start fresh the next Monday.”
Can you relate? As a society, we’re lacking some major foundational knowledge around nutrition. There’s a big gap between what we’re eating and awareness of how it affects us. I think flexible dieting really closes that gap because it’s very educational. What’s even better is that it’s accessible, no foods are off limits, nor are certain foods required. Neat, huh?
Gaining and Losing Weight
Note, I’m talking weight as in body tissue changes (gain or loss of muscle mass & gain or loss of body fat) NOT day-to-day scale fluctuations from water retention/hormonal influences.
So your body is an energy system, it needs a certain amount of fuel each day to do things like: support your movements, keep your heart beating, digest your food, and allow you to study for your Ph.D. while working full time and raising children. That fuel being calories, coming from the food you eat.
Now if you don’t eat enough calories one day, your body still needs to get that energy from somewhere. Luckily, we have stored energy reserves (in our muscles and body fat) so that we don’t just keel over and die and if this continues on for a while, you’ll see weight loss.
If, on the other hand, you’re eating more than your body can use in a given day, that energy gets stored away for a rainy day when energy intake is low. And if this continues on for a while, you’ll see weight gain.
And if you’re eating the same amount of energy that your body needs, your weight stays the same and these are your “maintenance calories.”
So that’s what dictates your weight change. Now where that weight comes FROM (muscle vs fat) can be manipulated through strength training and a strategic nutrition strategy.
Where Do Calories Come From?
Previously, I told you how your ‘calories in’ vs ‘calories out’ determines what happens to your weight (outside of fluid status/hormone fluctuations).
So where do those calories from? The macronutrients in your food. Everything you eat (containing calories) is made up of Carbs, Fat, Protein, or some combination of the 3.
Carbs and Protein both yield 4 calories per gram. Fat yields 9 calories per gram.
If you look at any food label, the total calories in a single serving come from adding together the calories supplied by each macronutrient.
The US likes round numbers, so your math might not match perfectly. In other countries, you’ll usually see it as it’s supposed to be, if not down to the decimal.
Knowing what macros are in the foods you eat can help you not only manipulate your body weight (like counting calories) but also help manipulate your body SHAPE.
So in summary, counting calories determines what happens to your weight. Counting macros determines where that weight comes from. Sexy curves, anyone??
If your goal is to get leaner and build sexy curves, I can help with that structured plan. Oh, and you won't have to give up cake either or carbs or any food you don't want to give up. Learn more about my 12 Weeks to Fitness group coaching program here.