Nutrition in Context: #2 - Weight Loss

Weight Loss

I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record...but this is something that probably needs to be repeated over and over so that it gets lodged in everyone's brain nice and snug. Weight loss is calories in versus calories out. Your macronutrient (carbs, fats, proteins) content will not make or break your weight loss...it's all about the calories. Ultimately, if you expend more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than you expend, you will gain weight. Now, the type of weight that you gain or lose has ALOT to do with your macronutrient content and your exercise habits, but that is for another blog post. Speaking of macronutrients, do you know how many calories are in each gram of carbohydrate, fat, and protein? Carbohydrates and proteins each contain 4 calories per gram, and fats contain 9 calories per gram. You learned something new didn't you?




* It should also be noted that carbohydrate cycling can cause water gains and losses, and this can give people an unrealistic view of true weight loss. Because water bonds to carbohydrates (approximately 3 to 4g water per 1g of carbohydrate), if you eat a lot of carbs, you'll retain more water. Conversely, if you cut carbs you'll flush water out of your system. This is why people who go on a low carb diet can lose 5-10lbs in a week and then suddenly their weight loss stops cold. They get frustrated, and return to their regular eating habits, only to see that 5-10lbs come right back. Without a proper understanding of true weight loss, these people think they burned 10lbs of fat in a week, and then added the 10lbs of fat back over a weekend of binge eating. Sorry Charlie, that was almost all water weight. True weight loss doesn't happen that that fast (without insane caloric expenditure and calorie restriction...i.e. the Biggest Loser).

Breaking it Down

In order to lose 1lb of true body weight, your body must expend 3,500 more calories than it consumes (caloric deficit). Conversely, in order to gain 1lb of body weight, your body must consume 3,500 more calories than it expends (caloric surplus). So, if you want to lose 10lbs, then you'll need to expend 35,000 more calories than you consume (10lbs x 3,500 calories = 35,000 calories). Weight loss really is that simple. Most people try to make it a whole lot more complicated than it needs to be...but there it is in 3 sentences. Ok, now it's time to get practical and actually understand how to track the numbers and create a plan to lose weight. With discipline, it is fairly easy to track how many calories you are consuming (myfitnesspal is a great calorie counter). The question of how many calories you expend is a little more complicated. You'll need to consider your BMR and your activity level.

BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate

Your body burns a certain amount of calories each day just to carry on life and normal functions. The calculation for how many calories your body burns each day at rest is called BMR (basal metabolic rate). This number varies for each person depending on a number of factors including but not limited to: gender, age, weight, height, hormone levels, and body composition. One of the primary factors is how much lean mass your body has. In order for your muscles to move, they need an energy source...calories are that source. Fat reserves just sit in your body as storage, they don't expend calories...however, your muscles (lean mass) have to work harder to support the additional weight that fat stores add. Therefore, a person who has weighs 200lbs at 11% body fat  (178lbs of lean mass) will burn less calories than someone with the exact same lean mass (178lbs) but weighs 240lbs at 26% body fat. This is because the larger person expends more energy via the work their muscles are doing by carrying around the additional weight. BMR calculations are an estimated average at best and aren't 100% accurate because they don't take body composition and hormone levels into account. BMR is calculated using gender, age, weight, and height; but again, it doesn't factor in how many pounds of lean mass you have. Looking for an online BMR calculator? Click HERE.

* It should be noted that various hormones and enzymes that your body produces can up-regulate or down-regulate your metabolism. The thyroid gland produces the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) which play a factor in your body's overall BMR. A condition of hypothyroidism may account for a small decrease in BMR; however, this factor is insignificant when you consider the overall picture of calorie consumption through diet and expenditure through exercise. I've read somewhere (which I can't find now) that most cases of hypothyroidism are responsible for less than a 5% decrease in metabolic rate. In a 2,000 calorie diet that amounts for about a 100 calorie allowance. My opinion is far too many people who have a hypothyroid condition use this as an excuse for weight gain versus looking at their eating and exercise habits. Furthermore, the majority of these people are taking medication to regulate their hormone levels, negating the majority of the metabolic slowdown. These people sell themselves short by buying into the myth that they can't lose weight, and give themselves an excuse to eat poorly and not exercise (the actual cause). There are A LOT of overweight people who don't have a thyroid condition, and it is due to their habits not a hormone imbalance.

Calories Burned Through Activity

Exercise is the #1 thing you can do to increase your body's calorie expenditure. Do you have a job where you are on your feet all day, or a sedentary desk job? Do you play sports or exercise regularly? There are some very good calorie counters available online which can provide you a good estimate of your calorie burn for varies types of exercise. The biggest challenge for getting an accurate estimate is your own estimate of "effort." The difference between moderate and intense exercise may be lost on some people, and studies have shown that most men women overestimate exercise intensity (see study #1 and study #2).

Putting it all Together

Ok, so now that: 1) you understand that you have to expend more calories than you take in to lose weight, 2) and have tools and methods to track your calorie intake, 3) you have tools and methods to track your calorie expenditure, and 4) you know that in order to lose 1lb of body weight you have to expend 3,500 more calories than you consume; it's time to put together a weight loss plan. I consider healthy weight loss 1-2lbs per week. Depending upon weight, this number could be greater or smaller, but 1-2lbs is a good range for the vast majority of people. Therefore to lose 1lb per week, you'll need to run a daily caloric deficit of 500 calories (-500 calories x 7 days/week = -3,500 calories, or 1lb weight loss per week). To lose 2lbs per week, you'll need to run a 1,000 calorie deficit each day. Still need some help visualizing how to calculate your daily calorie goal to lose weight? Check out the following formula with an example.

FORMULA to lose 1lb per week:

BMR: _____ + ADCB _____ - 500 calories = Daily calorie goal: _____

* ADCB = Average Daily Calorie Burn.

Here is an example (with estimates provided for BMR and exercise activities) which shows you how to calculate your ADCB and your Daily Calorie Goal for 1lb weight loss:

Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) (how many calories you burn at rest per day based on your age, height, weight):   1,700

Average calories burned daily through exercise    (ADCB)                                       + 229

(Add your total exercise calories for the week and divide by 7 days)

                Boot Camp x 2 days = 950 calories

                Jogging 30 mins x 2 days = 400 calories

                Strength training x1 day (45 mins) = 250 calories

                = Total 1,600 calories / 7 days  = 229 calories per day

Daily caloric expenditure with exercise                                                                     = 1,929

Less 500 calories per day for 1lb/week weight loss                                                      - 500

Daily Calorie Goal in order to lose 1lb per week:                                                       1,429

Hopefully this post clarifies some of the mystery behind nutrition for weight loss. Yes, there are many other factors to consider when you have goals aside from just losing weight, but if weight loss is the context in which you are considering a plan of action...focus on CALORIES. In the next post in this series, I'll try to address nutrition for muscle gain. I won't get into supplements in that post because that is rabbit trail that I'd never make it back from...but I'll talk about carbs and protein quite a bit.

Scripture for the Day:

WOW! I came across this blog post today, and it is the BEST explanation of why bad things happen to good people that I've ever read. The author wrote this (Why Does God Allow Tragedy and Suffering) in response to the Aurora, Colorado shootings. Take a few minutes and read it...it is inspired: http://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/07/why-does-god-allow-tragedy-and-suffering/

Nutrition in Context: #1 - Making Sense of the Nonsense

This is twice in a row I sat down to write a blog about carbs and twice I somehow started writing about something else. I am definitely going to get to the carb post, but when inspiration comes I roll with it.

I'm going to write a little mini-series called Nutrition in Context. I think I'll call this first post: Making Sense of the Nonsense. So...here we go!

Making Sense of the Nonsense

What I've found over the past few years of learning more and more about nutrition is that there is A LOT of conflicting information and nutritional advice out there. Sometimes it is due to flat out bad information and people who have no clue what they are talking about. However, I think most often the advice is decent but it isn't placed in the proper context.

For example, I'm sure at one point or another, every one of you has been told that you need to cut carbohydrates out of your diet in order to eat healthy. Or, you've been told to avoid starchy foods, or that you shouldn't eat any dairy, or take your pick. It seems like there is a never ending drum beat of diet plans that promise to be the key to get your body to look like this:

In reality, the proper nutrition plan for  you depends upon what your goals are (what you hope to accomplish) and where you are currently at. Is your goal weight loss? Do you want to pack on muscle? Do you want to change your body composition without losing weight? Do you want to increase physical performance (sports, running, etc?), or do you have a specific medical condition in which certain foods must be restricted for optimal health (gluten free diets, etc). All of these goals would necessitate a different eating plan.

I'm not going to try to tackle putting all of the various diet plans in context in this little blog series...I'm also not going to pretend that I have all of the answers. My purpose is to get you to begin thinking about proper context when you read an article that throws out nutritional advice; or further, begins to recommend eating or not eating a specific food. Without proper context, you can become frustrated and confused, and make the process of reaching your goals quite a bit more complicated than it needs to be. So how do you make sense of all of the nonsense?

1. First, you have to have a clear, tangible goal in mind of what you hope to accomplish. You also need to be realistic about what it will take to achieve that goal. For example, if you want to have any muscle tone at all...your plan will need to involve exercise, and specifically strength training. 
2. Second, you need a very basic understanding of nutrition and physiology. This doesn't mean you need to go take a college course or sit for a nutritional certification, but it does mean that you need to do a little independent research so that you understand what a protein, a carbohydrate, and a fat are. You need to know a little about calories, and you need to know how to read a nutrition label.
3. Third, you need to use a whole lot of common sense. Understand that there is no miracle diet, and that achieving the results that you are looking for will take hard work, discipline, and consistency. Diets or products that promise FAST results with little effort are bogus. If there really was a miracle diet, everyone would be in fantastic shape. Whether we are talking about diets or products, the same logic applies. For example...the Shake Weight:

...I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this guy, who is a paid fitness model/actor, never used the shake weight a day in his life...until, of course, he was hired to do their infomercial. So the picture you see here is just a snapshot of the entire 30 minutes that this guy had a shake weight in his hand. Common sense should have prevented anyone who didn't intend to order a fancy paperweight from buying this...but something tells me they sold way more than they should have. Yes...I know I transitioned from nutrition to exercise products, but I've been wanting to find a way to say something about crazy products like the Shake Weight...maybe I forced it? Oh well.

My plan for this blog series is to hit a few of the optimal nutritional strategies that can help with common goals. I will attempt to tackle: weight loss, muscle growth, and toning/body composition in different posts. I'll probably talk about caloric deficit and surplus, macronutrient content, carbohydrate refueling, and calorie cycling as well. Hopefully the series as a whole will help you to understand nutrition a little bit better so that you can make sense of things and put all of the conflicting advice you read in context.

Scripture for the Day:

I may have posted this passage of scripture before in the past, but I felt it was applicable today based upon some opportunities God has given us recently.

James 2:14-18 ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Just in case you were unclear about my stance on Fish Oil...

Alright...the wife is at work, and the kid is asleep...time to update the blog! I know I haven't been blogging lately...that is partly because I'm busy, partly because I'm lazy, and partly because I'm not narcissistic enough to believe that there are hundreds of people out there waiting for me to blog about something...dozens maybe...but definitely not hundreds :) However, I've run across some interesting info this week and decided to share. Additionally, I can feel myself slacking significantly on my food intake (burgers, brownies, pizza, Chinese, more brownies, more burgers, more pizza), and keeping the blog up to date and posting weekly evaluation numbers and photos seems to help me stay on track.

Originally, I was planning on writing an article about carbohydrates today. I will still do that in the upcoming days, but today I'm going to follow back up on one of my favorite topics...Omega 3's and specifically fish oil supplementation! I've written some stuff about this before HERE. In my previous article, I really didn't talk much about Omega6's, but for things to make sense in the context of my experiences over the past month or so, you'll need to understand the relationship between Omega3's and Omega6's.

PUFA's

First off, Omega3's and 6's are essential fatty acids. They are also known as a long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, or PUFA's. PUFA's play a critical role in brain function, skin and hair growth, bone health, metabolic regulation, reproductive systems, and a variety of other important functions. Your body cannot produce Omega3's or 6's and you must get them from your diet. If you live in America, the good news is you are probably getting plenty of Omega6's in your diet...the bad news is you are probably not getting enough Omega3's. Omega6's are very predominant in our western diet, but Omega3's are not because we don't eat a lot of fish. There are 3 common Omega3's - EPA, DHA, and ALA. EPA and DHA are primarily found in fatty fish such as mackerel, tuna, and salmon. ALA can be found in certain green vegetables and grain sources such as flax seed. For the purposes of this blog post, we will focus on the EPA and DHA.

Standing Up for Omega3's

I'll be honest, one of the reasons I'm posting about this is a friend of mine (he knows who he is) recently came across some info that vilifies all PUFA's including Omega3's. Many times there is a thread of truth in just about any reasonable point of view you come across; however, some truth doesn't mean all truth. The author of the article that vilified PUFA's is immanently more qualified than I am to write about this topic...but that doesn't mean he is right. Sometimes we can get so locked into our point of view, that we disregard solid logic and evidence if it contradicts our agenda. There is a vast amount of info out there indicating the importance and health benefits of PUFA's...but as you'll see very shortly...balance is important. Ok...now that I got that out of the way, and I've come clean on one of my motivations for blogging about this topic, I'll continue.

Balance, Balance, Balance

Ok, now onto the meat. It is important to have a proper balance of Omega3's and Omega6's. When your body is out of balance and is short on Omega3's, a number of inflammatory conditions including tendinitis can arise. There is some variance among doctors and scientists on the optimal ratio of 3's to 6's, with some arguing for a 1:1 ratio, and others at least a 1:4 ratio. Dr. Matthew Isner has estimated that the average American has a diet probably varies from a 1:10 to a 1:25 ratio of Omega3's to Omega6's. Pretty ridiculous huh? No wonder there are so many chronic health conditions and obese people in America...we don't know how to eat properly.

God designed our bodies very intelligently. Inflammation is an important function within the body, as it aids in growth and repair. The problems come into play when our body experiences chronic inflammation and leads to tissue damage and even pain. Let's cut right to the chase...I want to talk about tendinitis.

Matt's Anecdote

I am always leery of other people's anecdotes. Everyone seems to have a different experience and therefore a different opinion on a matter. When it comes to anecdotes you have to use your best judgement and be sure that you have a good bull-crap sniffer. Take into consideration what the person is telling you, but weigh it against other factors, including the knowledge and credibility of the person who is telling you their experience. Hopefully you guys trust me...buhahahaha! In all seriousness, I am shooting you straight because I am passionate about health and nutrition, and my experience only verifies the science that I've found and that I've tried to explain in very brief details above.


About 2 years ago I developed extremely bad tendinitis in my right elbow. The injury stemmed from overuse as I was playing softball 2 nights a week (sometimes 3), working out 6 days a week, including 2 days of fairly intense Boot Camp. The pain got so intense that I was no longer able to throw a softball, and had to stop doing triceps exercises at the gym. Even push-ups were painful, and if I bumped my elbow...it felt like someone was stabbing me with an ice-pick! I wore a tennis elbow brace designed to put pressure on the tendon and relieve the inflammation...that didn't work. I iced the elbow down in the evenings, and sometimes during the day at work...that didn't work. I took Ibuprofen and put pain relieving creams and gels on it...that didn't work. I even took a week and a half off from any type of exercise that affected the tendon...and it began to feel much better...until I did anything with it and then it hurt again...so that didn't work. I even went to a doctor, he told me to do all of the things that I just mentioned, and when I told him that I had done all of that he said "you just need to rest it some more." I battled the tendinitis for over a year...YES...an entire year. I had essentially given up triceps pull downs, skull crushers, etc. because they hurt too bad. I even backed off of push-ups...it was miserable.


Then one day I was watching a YouTube video (The video I was watching) that was talking about Omega3's and how they can help increase muscle recovery. I remember my doctor also telling me in the past that I should supplement fish oil to increase my HDL...so I figured I should start taking it. I had no idea that this is what would cure my tendinitis. After a few weeks I began to notice that the pain in my elbow was dulling. After another 2-3 weeks it was completely gone! I was EXCITED...but I still didn't put it together. What can I say...maybe I'm slow. I was racking my brain to try to figure out why (after an entire year) did my tendinitis suddenly go away??? Then it hit me...the fish oil was the only thing I changed. I did a quick Google search for "fish oil and tendinitis" and BOOM! Apparently this stuff is all over the internet...but I didn't know...and apparently neither did my doctor...thanks a ton Doc!

Since then, I've been taking fish oil supplements every day. Even though I work out 6 days a week, I hadn't been experiencing chronic inflammation...until the last month or so when suddenly, my tendinitis flared up again. Talk about a kill-joy. I had been lifting heavier weight, so I thought maybe that was part of the problem, but with my daily fish-oil supplementation (1.5g EPA/DHA per day), I just couldn't see why the tendinitis came back after a year of being gone. However, this time I got my light bulb a little faster. Since I began the Intermittent Fasting program, I have changed my diet up and I've been consuming a lot more Omega6's than I have been at any time in the past. I decided that if this was the case, I had fallen out of the proper balance and needed to supplement additional Omega3's (increase to 2.25g EPA/DHA per day). Just like clockwork, after a few days the tendinitis began to dull, and now it is gone once again. So...whether you understand the science or not, if you are having tendinitis pains, and you don't want to back off of your exercise program, I'd suggest you consider supplementing fish oil before something more extreme like a cortisone shot. Even if you aren't dealing with chronic inflammation, there are so many health benefits of getting enough Omega3's you can pick your reason for why you should be making it a regular part of your diet.

Moral of the Story

...well I'll just let Arnold explain it to you...

Scripture for the Day

^{I John 3:16-18
16} This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Getting the Bug Again...

I haven't blogged in a while...but I think I might start doing it a little over the next few weeks. I've learned a few new things which will cause me to tweak my nutrition a little bit. I'll talk about that a little more on my next blog update. For a little preview...we're talking about carbohydrates and the differences between how the body utilizes carbs that come from starches and those that come from sugars.

I'll write a pretty good blog update on Saturday, and will do an eval update on Sunday.


Romans 12:3
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.