Fitness made easy

My method: disclaimer

First and foremost, I have no "method" set in stone, although I personally prefer intermittent fasting (see below). Short periods of fasting allows for easy dieting and eating larger meals, which is a big deal when on a calorie deficit. Without getting too technical, let me just say that alot of people love the intermittent fasting approach, and maybe you will as well.

IF doesn't postulate a specific intake of dietary nutrients, but is rather about the periods of fasting and eating. This leaves room for personal food preferences and doesn't necessarily have to involve healthy foods, although they obviously should be preferred if one cares about his/her own health.

BUT, in order to loose weight and tighten your body, there is no need to eat overly healthy. Intermittent fasting is more of a lifestyle, which allows for big and satisfying meals, while keeping your weight under control at the same time. And dieting with IF is so easy, because of the fact that you delay your daily food intake and thus get to eat more at fewer meals later in the day. This is especially nice since the initial hunger you feel doing IF for the first couple of days during the fast, some days later goes away and doesn't bother you anymore. So, in conclusion this means that you save calories from earlier on in the day until when you do eat; later on in the day.

Doing this without being bothered by hunger is an obvious win-win situation.

HOWEVER, intermittent fasting is of course not the ONLY way to loose weight. But for alot of people it will be a more pleasant experience than adopting a regular eating pattern, based on experience. The point of my consultations is that I will cater to YOUR needs and wants, with the single goal of loosing weight (body fat) as an absolute endpoint. Bear in mind though that some people might want to gain weight, and I can help you with that as well. Putting on weight, as in preferrably more muscle and less body fat, is of course what we generally want and there are ways to make you get there easily.


Intermittent fasting

Since I follow periodic fasting, or "intermittent fasting" (IF)- a concept that implies that you eat during some part of the day and "fast" the remaining part, I do not eat as often as people do in general. But studies have shown that eating fewer meals per day during the diet (kcal deficit) causes the body to retain more muscle and lose more fat (1). Fewer meals per day also reduces feelings of hunger; one study compared three meals a day to six and found that those who ate three were less hungry. It was also found that a higher protein intake was correlated with greater perceived satiety, regulated by the action of peptide hormones that control hunger, for example Pyy (Peptide Tyrosine Tyrosine), ghrelin, etc. (2).

A basic rule no matter how often you eat, then, is to keep a relatively high protein intake. Protein stimulates satiety, which means everything when you're on a diet and want to lose weight. What you want to avoid is sugar cravings and hunger pangs when you are on a reduced daily calorie intake.

There are different ways of doing intermittent fasting: either the ADF (alternate day fasting), or any form of IF that includes periods of both feeding and fasting during a single day. People who fast intermittently do it to varying degree, some daily, some only once a week and so on. Me, I fast every day between 14-24 h, usually around 16-20 h. In the beginning it was quite unthinkable, and I thought that it seemed crazy and that I would probably die without food for so many hours. On the contrary, I feel just great during the fast, but it takes up to a week before the body gets used to the new feeding schedule. Because it definately does and the reasons for this include hunger hormone ghrelin, which gets used to how we eat and in response sends out hunger signals for when we usually eat, not when we need food for our survival (3, 4, 5). Hunger is not the same as desperately needing energy from food at that particular time for survival, which is very important to remember.

The fact that you get used to eating a certain number of meals is very interesting when it comes to dieting and weight loss. I usually eat quite late in the day and eat my last meal around 19-23 before the fast starts, depending on my daily routine at the moment. And there are no problems whatsoever. In fact, I enjoy the fast and the upregulation of noradrenaline / adrenaline that it causes (6). I have more energy, feel brighter in my head, more alert and stimulated.

Eating later involves fairly obvious advantages. Above all, you can fit your daily energy intake later in the day and thus eat yourself full with just a few meals, instead of eating for example eight minimal meals spread throughout the day and feeling constantly hungry. Many feel that food in general and maybe especially carbohydrates trigger their hunger feelings in a tough manner. One option that I tried with success is to eat lightly during the day, preferably just vegetables and a protein source and save the fat and any carbohydrates for the evening meal. For example, fast forward to lunch; eating broccoli and chicken keeps hunger during the afternoon hours significantly down, compared to eating macaroni and meat sauce, at least for me. Moreover, it doesn't make you tired in the same way, but helps you keep your energy up. Later in the day, in the evening you can indulge in the rest of your daily calorie allotment. A big advantage for many people is to go to bed full, instead of being hungry which unfortunately is the case with many million-meals-a-day diets. These people might otherwise find it difficult to sleep on a diet.

Intermittent fasting is how I prefer to eat and center my consultations around, but of course not all people will want to. A variation which I mentioned above is to eat lighter during the day, as this as my own experience doesn't trigger significant hunger and then eat more at night. Examples of "light" food are protein sources such as eggs, chicken, tuna, etc., and vegetables of any kind such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc. Avoid any starches and other carbohydrates completely during the day, other than vegetables. You will probably find that your energy levels are maintained and that you will not get hungry.

Nuts are also something you can take a small handful of each day if you like; such as cashew, walnuts etc. It's important that they are unsalted, as salt tends to trigger hunger in some people. (Unsalted) sunflower seeds and almonds are also good. Nuts are also interesting because they provide a feeling of satiety and all the calories in the nuts are also not absorbed by the body; some of the energy is not bioavailable. Furthermore, some of the fat in nuts come out with your stools (7). Do not take this as an invitation to eat nuts [i]ad libitum[/i], but a handful during the day, with for example eggs / chicken (or any other source of high quality protein), will probably be enough to keep you going until the evening, without significant hunger.

Good sources of quality protein are meat, fish, game, eggs, milk etc. Basically, animal protein sources.

It is often useful to try to reduce your carbohydrate intake and especially the simple carbohydrates which cause a big rise in blood sugar after a meal. This rise in blood sugar makes your body secrete insulin, that takes care of the blood sugar and shuttles it into your cells for energy. Insulin, is a hormone that very effectively shuts down fat burning in the body (8) and by eating more vegetables instead of rice, pasta, bread, potatoes etc as the major source of carbohydrates, we keep insulin in check, and achieve positive health benefits through more even levels of blood sugar. The lower value on the scale of glycemic index (GI) of vegetables, contributes to smaller fluctuations in blood sugar. Through the lessened influence of insulin, the body therefore burns more body fat when we eat vegetables instead of starch as the source of carbohydrates in our diet. Starch (rice, pasta, potatoes etc) may advantageously be eaten right after exercising, to replenish the glycogen storage in your muscles. Studies show improved insulin sensitivity with exercise (9) and the combination of slower carbohydrates is beneficial as well. Without going into it in more detail, you can indulge in starch-based carbohydrates right after training to make your muscles strong for the next workout.


References:

1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21410865?dopt=Abstract Intermittent versus daily calorie restriction: which diet regimen is more effective for weight loss?

2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20339363 The influence of higher protein intake and greater eating frequency on appetite control in overweight and obese men.

3) http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/50/8/1714.short A Preprandial Rise in Plasma Ghrelin Levels Suggests a Role in Meal Initiation in Humans.

4) http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/294/3/G699.abstract Possible entrainment of ghrelin to habitual meal patterns in humans.

5)http://www.eje.org/content/152/6/845.abstract Spontaneous 24-h ghrelin secretion pattern in fasting subjects: maintenance of a meal-related pattern.

6) http://jap.physiology.org/content/48/1/109.short Catecholamine-fuel interrelationships during exercise in fasting men.

7) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20199999 Nuts and healthy body weight maintenance mechanisms.

8) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14641008 Molecular mechanisms regulating hormone-sensitive lipase and lipolysis.

9)http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21712533 Intramyocellular Lipid Content and Insulin Sensitivity are Increased Following a Short-Term Low-Glycemic Index Diet and Exercise Intervention.