Tuesday – Weigh in first thing and post your results on the Facebook page
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Healthy nutrition
Today is a 2nd Fat Flush day (low carb). This is to ensure that you use up any excess carbohydrates in your system. Please eat one handful of a protein rich food and lots of salad / veg at each meal. THIS skinny soup recipe would be a great option.
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Happy movement
No exercise today, but I do want you to do extra movement today in whatever way you enjoy. Up to 2 hours of extra movement or an extra 10,000 steps on your pedometer. Feel free to break this up into smaller time chunks.
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HOT tip
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to learn everything all at once. We have still got 7 weeks together. There is plenty of time to ask questions and let all of the information sink in.
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HOT lesson – Why are we limiting our carbohydrates?
During most days of this program (then ongoing), I want you to limit your daily carbohydrate limit to between 1.2 and 2.0 grams per kg of body weight (on the lower end if you are sitting all day, on the higher end if you are moving all day). I recommend you start at 1.5grams and adjust up or down from there depending on your fat loss results and energy levels.
**NOTE – please keep your carb intake as low as you can on Fat Flush days.
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So the question is WHY are we limiting carbs?
If weight loss is all about calories in vs calories out, then why cant we live off bread, rice, pasta and cakes, as long as we stay under our calorie limit?
If you did that it would mean that you have no room left in your calorie budget to fit in protein and fats. That would not be a balanced diet AND you would be much more likely to lose precious muscle instead of body fat (boo) .
The 3 different macro-nutrients have different and important “jobs” to do in our body.
- Protein – repairs, builds and maintains all of our cells including muscle cells
- Carbohydrates – give us energy
- Fats – support cell growth and helps your body absorb nutrients
If you eat too much of one macro nutrient, you will not get enough of another. Or you will end up over our calorie “budget”. As we discussed yesterday, if you go over calorie budget, you will not lose weight, even if its from healthy foods.
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Real life case study
(names have been changed)
Betty and Mary are having a little bet to see who can lose the most weight in 8 weeks. They both stick to a calorie deficit and exercise daily.
Betty filled her calorie budget primarily with low fat, low protein, high carbohydrate foods. Typical diet foods like low fat yoghurts, muesli bars, rice crackers, smoothies etc.
Mary filled her calorie budget with a good balance of all 3 macro-nutrients. Protein, fat and carbohydrates. This naturally limited the amount of carbs Mary ate each day. Not because they are evil, simply to fit everything in to her calorie budget.
Please also read Carbs, calories and weight loss explained
They both lost weight of course, they were both in a calorie deficit. As we learned yesterday… THAT’S HOW ALL WIEGHT LOSS WORKS.
BUT…
(here’s the important part)
Betty, who did NOT eat enough protein lost 6kgs (on the scales). Out of those 6kgs, only 1.2kgs was from body fat. Most of the other 4.8kgs came from fluid and lean muscle mass (boo). Losing lean muscle will mean that Betty’s metabolism will go down slightly, she will be weaker and she will look flabbier.
Mary, who consumed enough protein (hence less carbs) in her budget, lost 8.5kgs (on the scales). Most of it from body fat. (Yay)
Betty and Mary consumed the same AMOUNT of calories (quantity). But the macro-nutrient balance was different, hence very different results in the amount of body fat lost.
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** Side Note – Eating a lot of highly processed carbohydrates will also play a (negative) role in your blood sugar management. We discuss this in full in a later lesson.
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Please remember
Carbohydrates are not “good” or “bad” or any other emotional term that you may come up with.
Carbs have a role to play in our body and that role is to provide us with energy.
- More energy used each day = more carb needed. Up to 2 grams x body weight in kgs. (more for an elite athlete)
- Less energy used each day (lots of sitting) = less carbs needed. As low as 1.2 grams x body weight in kgs
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Carbohydrates are contained in most foods, not just in bread, pasta, rice etc.
Please check ALL food and drink labels to find out carb amounts and stay under your daily limit of 1.5grams of carb X your body weight in kgs.
www.calorieking.com.au is a useful website to look up any foods nutritional info.
Please view the below video for carb and sugar content of some common foods.
Your best choices of carbohydrate rich food will be foods that are also…
- high in fibre such as lentils, beans, grain bread, brown rice, fruit etc. (the higher fibre, the better)
- closest to their natural state (less processing) e.g. sweet potato, pumpkin, fruit
- high in water – where possible (veg and low sugar fruits such as berries)
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Last important note –
This is not a low carb plan. It is simply lower carb than most people eat these days.
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Further recommended reading –
- Carbs, calories and weight loss explained
- Weight loss vs fat loss – what the scales don’t tell you
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Go to Week 2, Lesson 3 Carbs that break the rules – – HERE
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