Paleo, macros, zone, juicing, death by cupcakes… Why isn’t your diet giving you the results you want?! Simple, you’re not implementing it correctly. First of all, let’s talk about diet, not as a fad, but as a way of life, because that’s what it needs to become. You will never, ever, out train a poor diet. Does this mean you won’t get stronger and healthier from training? Not at all, but it does mean you will never have shredded abdominal muscles, or perform to the best of your ability if you eat like a fat kid in a doughnut shop.
So what am I saying here? What should we eat? Well first of all, I’d definitely argue that the type of food you eat does matter on a micronutrient level (vitamins/minerals). IE broccoli is better than a doughnut for your carbohydrates. However, you technically can get away with eating crap food, as long as the amount of food being consumed is being regulated. Here’s a crazy little analogy to drive the point home. Let’s say you have a car.. for kicks, it’s a brand new badass Ferrari and it’s candy apple red (not helpful, but mine would be red). Now, this Ferrari has a full gas tank, but you decide to pull up to a gas station and put gas in anyways. What happens? You look like an idiot, because gas is going all over the ground, the car, and your clothes. Let’s bring this analogy back to your body. Your body is the Ferrari, and the already full gas tank is your caloric intake for the day - that spilling gas, yeah.. that’s you getting fatter. So I ask you, if you wouldn’t fill up a full gas tank, why do we fill up a full energy system with surplus of calories?
Here’s the point guys. Eating paleo is much better than eating fast food, but if you’re only burning 2000 calories a day, and crushing 5000 paleo calories - you’re still going to gain weight in an un-majestic way. Lately the idea has been driven that the type of food matters more than how much you’re eating, and it’s simply not true. A simple principle of science states that, “matter can not be created or destroyed”. It’s the same for what you’re putting in your body. It’s not being destroyed, it’s being converted to energy, and if you have an excess it’s being stored as that fluffiness we all don’t want.
Now, for those of you already counting macro-nutrients, or doing the zone diet - what’s going on?! Simple, it’s likely that you’re not nearly as active as you think you are, and you’re falling into the same problem as the rest of the population. The problem with zone calculators, or un-coached macro-nutrient diets, is that everyone assumes they’re the most active human being in the world. To put this in perspective, if you’re training 5 days a week, you’re a moderately active to active individual. A quick check on your caloric intake can be done by taking the number of grams of protein and multiplying it by 4, carbs x4, and fat x9. Try it out, you’ll be surprised where you are. The nice thing is, you’re already ahead of the game by trying to portion control. Adjust accordingly, if you’re gaining weight, cut back, if you’re losing too much, add. Every body is different, and as with all things, it takes time to figure out what works best for you!
Happy eating!