Diet and Nutrition For Total Body Transformation - The Macronutrients

Now that we have a handle on how many calories we need on a daily basis to maintain, gain or lose weight, it's time to focus on the ratio of protein, carbohydrates and fat (or macronutrients) that make up those calories.  Like everything else we've looked at so far and are doing with diet and exercise, each component builds off the next to help contribute to ultimately making the whole process of transforming your body easier. 

The Macronutrients
Here's a very brief refresher on the macronutrients and how they impact our body:

Protein:  4 calories per gram.  Comprised of amino acids.  Used by the body primarily for repair and rebuilding of muscle tissue.

Carbohydrates:  4 calories per gram.  Comprised of simple and complex sugars.  Used by the body primarily for energy production.

Fats:  9 calories per gram.  Comprised of various density lipids ranging from liquid to solid at room temperature.  Used by the body primarily for storage and energy production. 
All three of these are very important for the body to function properly but consideration should be taken to insure they're delivered in a ratio your body can benefit from. 
You've no doubt heard many of the dietary mantra's that have permeated the diet, fat loss and nutrition realm for some time:  High protein, low carb diets.  Low fat.  Zero carb diet. Etc.  They all have their place but the timing and length of implementation of these diet phases carry an equal amount of importance.  The goal isn't to stick to one radical style of eating over the long term (i.e.:  low carb all the time), but to bring them into the fold when necessary for short periods of time to prevent our bodies from adapting and kick start/ramp up results.  These dietary phases will come into focus more in the future, but now we're going to look at a foundation we can build from. 

The Baseline Macronutrient Ratios

I have found over the years that my body type (pretty normal, don't gain muscle very easily, seem to maintain a consistent bodyweight easily and can store fat easily with a poor diet) responds best to a higher protein, moderate carb and low-ish fat (good fats!) diet.  These proportions have worked out to generally be:

Protein:  45%
Carbs:  30%
Fats:  25%

It's somewhat of a loose translation of the 'Zone Diet' popularized by Dr. Barry Sears but without the complexity of buying specifically marketed nutrition bars, meals, books, supplements, etc. 

This ratio of macronutrients helps to reduce the amount of calories you get from fat while providing the benefits of the necessary Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's), provides sufficient energy from carbohydrates and fills you up, repairs your body and minimizes the daily total caloric impact by eating a solid amount of protein.  When actively and consistently following this structure in a dietary plan, I know from experience that positive results will follow. 

Doing the Math - How Many Calories From Each Macronutrient?

This is actually quite easy and intuitive.  First, let's recall our general daily baseline caloric needs.  Mine ranged from 1,800 on the low end to 2,200 on the high end.  I'll use the mid-range of 2,000 calories for this example.  Then, we simply determine how many calories these specific percentages equate to:

45% from Protein:  2,000 calories x .45 = 900 calories
30% from Carbs:  2,000 calories x .30 = 600 calories
25% from Fats:  2,000 calories x .25 = 500 calories

Next, we'll take it a step further by looking at the approximate number of grams for each macronutrient needed to make up these ratios:

Protein:  900 calories / 4 calories per gram = 225 grams
Carbs: 600 calories / 4 calories per gram = 150 grams
Fats: 500 calories / 9 calories per gram = 56 grams


Now we know exactly what we need to for our daily nutritional requirements to reach our body transformation goal!
 
What Does This Look Like In Terms of REAL Food?
 
Here's a snapshot of a single day where I was pretty much right on these numbers (this was a non-work day where I slept in and started the day off with some cardio):
 
Time                        Food                         Calories          Protein         Carbs        Fat
 
10:30am - Carb/protein drink after cardio   215                24                27                1
11:35am - Burger King Tendergrill salad   220                 30                  9                7
2:05pm - Meal replacement bar                  340                 30                35                9
3:40pm - 3serv pouch of Salmon                 180                30                  0                 6
6:25pm - Egg and cheese omellete               345                32                 13               18
6:25pm - 1/2 cup brown rice                       109                  2.5               23               1
8:15pm - Pre-workout drink                        108                16                   9                 0
9:50pm - Carb/protein drink after workout   215               24                 27                1
10:50pm - 1/2 serv Muscle Milk                 150                16                   8                 6
12:25am - 1 serv Whey Protein                   120                24                   3                 1
 
Totals                                                  2,002          228.5         154        50


As you can see, there was ample opportunity throughout the day to eat.  In this particular real world example there were nine (6:25pm was a single meal) seperate points throughout the day when something was consumed.  When eating like this, the body never really gets a chance to get hungry in the sense you're probably used to at this stage.  Sure, you feel hungry, but not ravenous.  You will also note that while there's a lot of liquid and or supplemental nutrition there's also three 'real food' meals with one of them being from a fast food restaurant.
I certainly recommend using dietary supplements and we'll continue to talk more about them as we move along.  Here are some of the reason why I like using them: 

1)  I like the taste of them - chocolate and peanut butter are my favorites and they often taste great!
2)  They are incredibly easy and convenient to use - no cooking, preparing, etc.
3)  They are pre-engineered to contain the proper quality and ratio of nutrients we're looking for.
4)  Price - when it comes down to a per serving basis, you can't beat it.  Where else can you get a full meals worth of high quality nutrition for $1 - $3 ???

Take a few minutes to calculate what your macronutrient needs are using the simple math above and begin looking more closely at the nutrition labels on the foods you like to eat.  I'm certain you'll be able to fit some of them into your new diet plan and still maintain the proper ratios consistently.  We'll continue to explore more daily diet plans and recipes in future posts to help mix things up a bit. 

A Brief Word On Carb Types

Not all carbs are created equal and the popular press has made sure you've heard about this over the past few years! 

Complex carbs are obviously better than sugars - why?  Because they have a minor impact on insulin secretion which is preferred over massive releases of insulin into your blood stream.  Why is that important?  Insulin acts as a 'shuttle' of sorts with respect to transporting macro and micro nutrients into your cells.  If you're eating a poor diet that consists of high fat and lots of sugar, what do you think your elevated insulin is transporting into your cells?  You guessed it, lots of fat to store.  By modulating your insulin levels with complex carbohydrates, you don't get this same effect and your body can manage the total nutrient load much more efficiently. 

We know that carb types are important, but did you also know that the timing of eating carbs is also important?  It sure is!  For the best results in transforming your physique, you want to have most of your carbs earlier in the day and/or immediately after exercise (we'll discuss the importance of this in a later post, but for now, think about how we can creatively manipulate the effect of insulin to benefit nutrient transport...).  This way, the carbs will be used early on for energy throughout the day and be far less apt to be stored as fat if consumed late in the day and not ultimately used for energy.  We'll continue to look into the details of how all this works going forward because it is a very important component of dieting for fat loss.  Keep these in mind as you're making adjustments to your daily diet at this time.  Every little bit contributes to BIG results when consistently implemented! 


Stay tuned for more important diet details to follow!  We're just getting started in transforming into a Better Than Average You! Sphere: Related Content