Diet tips, part 1

Hello again people. I finished my previous, research-related post only seconds ago, and now I’m already writing a new one – this! And it’s going to contain some diet tips! How awesome is that?! I have only my recipe for protein coffee to thank for my burst of energy. Try it – it will give you superpowers.

I know the official, scientific definition of diet – your overall intake of food, both quality- and quantity-wise. However, what I almost always mean by “diet” is a diet aimed at fat loss – like most of the world population does. Most of the tips here will apply to general maintenance diets as well, though.

Another disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor (not even a D.Sc. yet), nor a dietician, and even a certified personal trainer. So, what you’re about to see reflects mainly my personal views and observations, mainly agreeing with the mainstream guidelines with maybe a twist or two. Nor do I claim being an expert on clinical obesity – that seems to be a psychosocial clusterfuck well beyond my expertise.

With that out of the way, let’s begin. Some tips of mine for losing some chub and going from a keg to a two-pack at the least!

1. Stop eating obvious crap

This should be easy. Cut back on stuff that most of the brain-equipped population agrees is not good for you. Fast food of any kind, candy, ice-cream, any kind of sugared drinks.

Just. Do it.

You don’t have to give it up altogether. Just be sensible about the amounts.

Once a week could be a good starting point in my opinion. However, that’s not a get-away-from-jail card for insane binging. It’s actually quite easy to destroy one week of good dieting with one day of uncontrolled bliss. Maybe even one-and-a-half weeks.

Try to keep it to one meal, instead. Friday evening would be a good choice, for obvious social reasons.

By the way: marshmallows are awesome for that. They have almost negligible weight, so you can eat a huge pack of them for something like 300 extra calories only.

A note about fast food

Please note that the typical fast food dishes – burgers, pizza, and tortillas – are not inherently bad themselves.

Prepare them yourself and you can easily halve the calories and double the time they keep you full. Just use moderate-to-low fat meat, and don’t drench them with mayo and cheese. Opt for an oat or full-corn bun if you like as well.

That’s pretty much it. Works like magic, only with actual effects rather than sleight-of-hand tricks.

The taste hardly suffers at all. In fact, I personally have lost all taste for the grease-dripping burgers you get from most joints. A home-grilled burger with some proper meat is just so much better.

Try it and see for yourself.

2. Have balanced meals

The old Finnish plate-model (before its latest update, which decreased the amount of protein) was quite good indeed, in my opinion. Make sure that half of your plate is filled with veggies (or fruit, or berries), and divide the remaining half equally between a good protein source (red meat, chicken, fish) and carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta, the like). Do that and you’re golden.

Now, this is where my opinion differs slightly from the official guidelines: Include any bread you have in the carb-quarter. Don’t have it as an extra side-dish. Two pieces of bread, for two meals a day can be easily 400 to 500 kcals a day. That’s 20-25% of the typical daily expenditure. It adds up – in a bad way. (About good things adding up – see here.)

Have balanced snacks too

Actually most people seem to manage the above. Their main meals are at least OK, if not actually good. However, it’s the snacks where they go wrong.

I wrote just moments ago how two pieces of bread at lunch and dinner can easily bring your daily calories up by quite a respectible number. Well, add some bread-based snacks for breakfast, mid-afternoon, and evening, and sixty percent of your daily calories are empty.

Now, despite the opinions of some paleo- and gluten-free fanatics, I don’t think there’s anything inherently bad about bread. It’s a dense source of carbohydrates, and also has some fiber and minerals.

However, the bad thing about bread – and what I mean by empty calories – is that it’s a dense source of carbs. And when you are trying to lose fat, you don’t want any macronutrients from particularly dense sources. (The 20 grams of protein you get from 100 grams of meat is okay since protein is extremely satiating and hard to overeat).

Well okay, pasta and rice are also quite dense-ish, but those you rarely have on their own. Instead, you are supposed to have them with some satiating protein, and voluminous veggies, limiting the total amount you can consume without getting overly stuffed. And you get some protein and vitamins and stuff with it.

The bottom line is: if you have to snack, follow the plate model. Make sure your snack is at least half veg, and one-quarter protein. That’ll keep you satiated, that’ll keep you healthy.

However, it will should not make you stuffed. Which brings me to my next point.

3. Expect the Suck

And this is maybe the most important of them all.

It is almost certain that dieting to lose fat will not be easy. Every now and then, you will be slightly hungry. Maybe even most of the time.

And, you can rarely ever overeat until you are completely stuffed. Nope.

That being said, you should not be starving, i.e. being so hungry that it interferes with your normal life to a significant degree.That is both unnecessary and unsustainable, and very likely a sign of too low intake of calories or nutrients in general.

Rather, you should probably aim to be somewhat hungry before starting your next meal. Likewise, you should probably not stuff yourself until you are completely full. Instead, leave the table when you are not any more hungry. Or even a couple of forkfulls after that. Or before. It’s fine.

But it gets better

Some people love to say how dieting is about permanent life-style change, rather than a quick fix.

That’s partially true. Your overall diet should change into a healthy one, if it’s not one already. Like the one described above. That’s permanent.

But the dieting part is not. Fat loss is hard. Your body will fight you every step of the way.

But the good thing is it get’s better. Maintaining your new lower bodyfat is so. much. more. easier than getting to it in the first place. And it gets easier the longer you stay in it. It might even become automatic and not require any conscious effort.

So expect the dieting part to suck. Expect to hungry and miserable, within reason.

But also remember that is not permanent. That’s the hardest part, by far.

Survive it.

Like the post? Check out the next part!

Diet tips, part 1