How to Eat to Get Shredded Fast! | What You're Doing Wrong!
(Watch this video on YouTube here - https://youtu.be/MMCyC9Q2uZI)
Most women believe that, in order to get fit, they must eliminate all "bad" foods and only eat "clean" foods. They think there are certain foods which will magically make them shed fat and others which will pile it on.
And so, a lot of women proceed to "eat clean" and eliminate all unhealthy foods...only to wind up extremely frustrated because they don't actually see the results they want.
This is because "eating clean" is not the answer. What determines whether you gain or lose body fat is the amount of food you eat, not just what you eat.
This is called the Law of Energy Balance, which is essentially calories in versus calories out.
The Law of Energy Balance only has 3 possible outcomes:
1) You consume more calories than you burn = you gain weight
2) You consume the same amount of calories as you burn = you stay the same
3) You consume fewer calories than you burn = you lose weight
Now, a huge mistake a lot of women make when they hear "eat fewer calories to lose more weight" is they restrict their calories too much.
If you cut your calories too low, you will actually be shooting yourself in the foot.
If you eat too little, your body believes it's starving and will therefore try as hard as possible to not lose weight.
Your metabolism will slow down, your hunger cues will go up, you'll lose muscle mass, your hormones will go crazy and you're going to feel awful.
When you cut your calories too low, you'll actually gain back more weight than when you started (which is why this is so common with yo-yo dieting!).
Therefore, while eating fewer calories than you burn is essential to lose body fat, it can't be too extreme - you must use a moderately aggressive caloric deficit.
This means, you should be eating 20% fewer calories than the amount you are burning everyday (the absolute maximum is 25% fewer calories).
This is the amount that works like magic - you actually won't feel hungry (because you shouldn't ever feel hungry!) and you'll still be eating plenty of food. However, it's still a deficit, which means you are guaranteed to shed body fat.
However, a huge mistake most women make is only focusing on their total calorie consumption.
This is not enough - you must further dissect those calories and ask, where do they come from?
This is the most fundamental nutrition aspect of all that you must get right in order to experience rapid, lasting success - hitting your macronutrient targets.
Macronutrients - or macros for short - are protein, fats and carbohydrates.
The way you look and feel is a result of how much of each of these 3 macronutrients you're consuming.
The macro that most women are severely undereating is protein. Why is protein so important? Because it is the building block for muscle.
Muscle is what makes you "toned" - it's how you build those sexy lines and sculpted definition you want so badly.
But furthermore, the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be.
This means that by eating enough protein and building more muscle, you're going to be burning way more calories around the clock. That is how you stay lean and fit for life.
Protein is the most satiating of all 3 macros. This means that you are fuller for longer with less total calories, which is how you will rapidly shed body fat.
Then, you will keep the body fat off by having more muscle with a faster metabolism.
Carbs are the most readily accessible source of energy for your body and they are the second most satiating macro.
Fats are an essential nutrient and play an important role in hormonal and cognitive function, but they are the least satiating macro and the easiest to overeat because they have the most total calories.
Furthermore, dietary fats are chemically very similar to body fat, which means they convert to body fat the most easily of the 3 macros.
Tracking your macros is called flexible dieting. The best part of flexible dieting is that there are no off limits foods.
You can have absolutely anything you want - so long as it fits your macros.
This is why it's not just what you eat that matters, it's actually how much.
Eat too much of the healthiest, cleanest food in the world and you'll still gain body fat.
However, if you know the amount you're supposed to be eating, you can still have "unclean" foods and be in magazine cover shape.
That being said, the quality of your food choices of course still matters. You do need to get the vast majority of your food intake from nutritious, whole foods in order to be healthy. But you don't have to eat these foods 100% of the time. You can absolutely indulge in your favourite dietary sins some of the time if most of the time, you eat well.
So how much of your nutrition should come from whole foods (natural foods that come from Mother Nature that have been around for thousands of years) versus processed foods (foods that come from a package that were made by humans in the last 100 or so years)?
Ideally, you want to work towards 80% of your food intake coming from clean, whole sources. So long as you do that, 20% can come from whatever you want.
Whole foods are naturally high in nutrients and relatively low in overall calories, which is why eating this way would make you pretty fit, even if you didn't track your calories.
Processed foods, on the other hand, are low (or devoid) of nutrients and high in total calories, which is why, if they make up the majority of your diet, you're in trouble.
So what foods should you eat the majority of the time?
Fruits & vegetables (all of them)
Potatoes (white, red, sweet potato, etc)
Beans & legumes (lentils, black beans, chickpeas, etc)
Whole grains (oats, quinoa, rice, whole wheat pasta & bread, etc)
Lean red meats & poultry (beef, chicken, turkey, etc)
Fish & seafood (fish fillets, shrimp, etc)
Full-fat dairy (if it's not full-fat, it's processed, which isn't good)
Eggs & egg whites
Soybean proteins (tofu, tempeh, etc)
Nuts, seeds & their butters (chia seeds, almonds, almond butter, etc)
Avocados
Whole food oils (olive oil, coconut oil, etc)
Alright, now that you understand how fat loss actually works (energy balance and hitting your macros without any restrictions whatsoever), let's calculate how much you should be eating.
Check out my "How to Calculate Your Calories & Macros" video for a step-by-step walkthrough!
