First, if you burn calories all day long, then doesn't it makes sense that your calorie intake should be spread throughout the day to ensure optimal energy levels? Surprisingly few people take advantage of this simple trick which can significantly increase your metabolic rate.
Just think about it for a moment. If you need 1800 calories each day, and you eat 90% of those calories at night when your only energy requirement following dinner is a few chores, making lunches for the kids, and then going to bed, do you really believe that your body is going to magically make all those calories disappear?
Of course not. And believe me this is going on all around us. Just take a look around, its not hard to spot an overweight person these days, and chances are they're making this huge mistake.
The problem when you go all day without eating is that you're teaching your body to conserve calories. The big caloric load that subsequently arrives with dinner is dumped onto a sluggish metabolism that has no way to use it. The result? Increased bodyfat storage.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #1 - POOR CALORIE DISTRIBUTION
Your calories should be divided over your six meals prioritizing meals consumed before and after your workouts. Up to 50% of your daily calories can be consumed in these two meals providing an abundance of energy for your workout and for replenishing your muscles afterwards without risk of storing any bodyfat. After that, earlier meals should contain more calories than later meals.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #2 - POOR MEAL STRUCTURING
Typically, when people are hungry they open the fridge, nothing is prepared, they seek instant gratification for their hunger and they down whatever strikes their fancy. If it's breakfast, a bowl of sugary cereal will do the trick. If it's lunch, heck, who eats lunch these days anyway!!! Well ok, if they do eat lunch then it's a quick peanut butter and jam sandwich or a quick stop at Tim Hortons or McDonalds. If it's dinner, hot dogs, hamburgers, hamburger helper, kraft dinner, all these items are fast to prepare and they very quickly satisfy your hunger, but their consumption is another fat loss roadblock.
Constructing meals should always start with your protein source, then progress to fat source, and finally end with carbohydrate source.
Here's an example of a typical North American breakfast at home:
Cereal w/milk
Juice
Bread w/jam
Fruit
All four items are carbohydrate based foods. Carbohydrate based means that the majority of the calories come from carbohydrates. The problem with this breakfast is that while it will get you going with a bang, it will also stop you like a truck shortly after.
Fast in, fast out! All night you've fasted, and your blood sugar, blood amino acids, and blood fat levels are likely at the lowest they'll be all day. So if you dump all carbohydrate based foods into your bloodstream, your insulin is going to spike like crazy and your energy will drop off just as fast as it came on.
Here's an example of a typical North American Breakfast at a restaurant:
Bacon
Eggs
Sausages
Hash browns
Toast with margarine
Juice
Coffee
IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF BREAKFAST THEN YOU'VE GOT SOME MAJOR FAT LOSS ROADBLOCKS TO BULLDOZE!
The solution is to ALWAYS have a mixture of protein, carbohydrate, and fat based foods maintaining a moderate caloric load. And in fact this should be the way you structure all your meals, not just your breakfast. You can modify it as needed depending on what you're doing, but as a general rule, a mixture of all three will always elicit the type of result you're seeking: lasting energy!
Always start by deciding on your protein source. And remember, a protein based food is a food that contains more protein than carbohydrates per serving. Just look at the label and it will tell you.
Here's a list of acceptable protein sources:
Eggs
Organic Yogurt (must have a higher protein than carbs... check the label!)
Cottage Cheese (2%)
Low Fat (2%) Cheese
Beef (steak... trim visible fat)
Beef (ground... choose lean or extra lean and try to drain off a bit of the fat after cooking)
Bison (both steaks and ground are very lean)
Lamb Pork (tenderloin is the best choice)
Bacon (not a great choice, but if you're going to eat it, choose Back Bacon it's lower in fat)
Salmon (Farmed or Fresh... both are low in mercury)
Tuna (Skipjack light tuna from cans... Albacore tuna has higher levels of mercury)
Protein Powders (Natural or plain flavour... use Stevia to sweeten if needed and fruit to add flavour)
Once you've picked your protein source, then you look for your fat source. If you're having eggs, you don't need an additional fat source. Often is the case for higher fat meats too.
Here's some great fat sources:
Flax seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Hemp seeds
Almonds
Pecans
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Udo's oil
And finally, when you've made it this far, select a carbohydrate source:
Great carb sources:
Oats
Quinoa
Bulgur
Spelt
Brown rice
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Fruit
Vegetables
There are too many veggies and fruit to list them all, but try combining different veggies when you eat them. Veggies generally don't give you many calories compared to fruit or other carbohydrate sources, so typically you choose your carbohydrate sources based on your energy requirements for the following three hours.
Obviously if you're going to be sitting down and watching television at night, then you don't need many carbohydrate calories so multiple vegetable selections is best. If you're getting up Saturday morning, and you have a long day ahead of you of taking the kids to their sports, groceries, and various chores, you'll want to have a mixture of some starchy carb sources as well as fruit and/or veggie sources. If you have a workout planned for 4pm, then at 2:30pm, a good dose of starchy and fruit carbs will see you through your workout with plenty of energy.
Let's look at a typical day. This example of daily meal structuring must be tailored for each person based on your weight and activity level. If you were to eat this menu exactly day in and day out over a few weeks and you gained weight, then you would simply need to reduce the amount you eat. But the combinations of foods is excellent and shows how you should combine foods to eat for optimal health and fat loss.
Breakfast
1/2 scoop whey protein powder - PROTEIN
1 tbsp Udo's oil - FAT
1/3 cup Oats w/skim milk - CARBS
1/2 banana - CARBS
1/2 cup thawed frozen raspberries - CARBS
1/4 tsp stevia powder (sweetener)
Mid-Morning Snack
Handful of almonds (maybe 10-20) - PROTEIN & FAT
1 apple - CARBS
Lunch
3 oz chicken breast - PROTEIN
7 or 8 walnut pieces - FAT
big handful of spinach (not baby spinach) - UNLIMITED
1 Mandarin orange (put pieces in salad) - CARBS
1tbsp Udo's oil - FAT
1tsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
Mid-Afternoon
1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese - PROTEIN & FAT
1/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple - CARBS
Dinner
6 oz salmon fillet - PROTEIN & FAT
10 asparagus spears (steamed) - UNLIMITED
1 med carrot (steamed) - UNLIMITED
1 small red potato (chopped and steamed) - CARBS
1 tsp butter - FAT
salt & pepper to taste
Salad
Bowlful mixed greens - UNLIMITED
6 halved cherry tomatoes - UNLIMITED
10 cucumber slices - UNLIMITED
small handful pine nuts - FAT
Salad Dressing
2 tsp Renee's Caesar dressing - FAT
1 tsp Udo's oil - FAT
2 tsp Organic Plain Yogurt
mixed well and drizzled over salad
Evening Snack
High Protein Fat Free Butterscotch Cinnamon Jello Pudding
Ingredients: Fat Free Butterscotch Jello Pudding prepare as
directed and add 1-2 scoops protein powder and a half tsp
of cinnamon for improved flavour.
1 serving is 1/4 of prepared product.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #3 - CONVENIENCE FOODS
If you know how to put together healthy fat loss meals, but you don't because you feel like you don't have time, coming to the realization that the time spent preparing healthy meals is an investment is inevitable to smashing your fat loss roadblocks! Convenience or fast foods are always laden in fat and sugar to make them taste good so you always crave them whenever you are in a rush.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #4 - GLUTTONY
Another common fat loss roadblock is just plain old eating too much! Even the healthiest of foods will make you gain body fat if you eat too much of it. Heck, thousands of years ago when there was no unhealthy food, there were still some heavier people. Of course they were the wealthy ones who could afford to eat enough food to actually become heavier.
Sometimes it's tough to say no to convenience foods, but if you ever want to shed the fat and see those abs you have to draw the line at some point and just plain not step over. For me personally, I just plain out refuse to eat fast foods except at certain times. If I travel I'll allow some exceptions. Camping is definitely another time I'll break the rule. In fact, I'll even seek out a McDonalds to get a couple McChicken sandwiches when I go camping. But a good 99% of the time I just plain old say no.
Well there you have it folks! Some great meal tips to help you bulldoze your fat loss roadblocks!
Oh yeah, my wife made some Fat Free Butterscotch Jello Pudding tonight... ohhhh... Here I come!
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