Matthew Fogle
NASM CPT FNS BCS SFC
There are many conflicting opinions on fitness. Yet, as many conflicting opinions as there are surrounding the proper way to train in the gym for fitness and muscle performance/growth, that is beans in comparison to the back-and-forth battle that is evident surrounding food and nutrition. (Get it? Beans?….)
You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it. This diet. That diet. The other diet.
Erg, it gets old. At least it does to me.
And that’s not to take away anything from people who have succeeded and reached their goals while adhering to certain diets. I’m not going to bash them. If their lives were changed in a positive way, then that is truly awesome!
Yet, here is something you won’t see in most of the anecdotal evidence (i.e. personal success stories) surrounding the latest “fad” diets: controls and variables.
If you remember from middle school science class (and no, not the baking soda and vinegar volcanoes), when scientific laboratories do research, they include controls and variables (factors that stay the same and factors that change throughout the course of the experiment). Therefore, scientists know that if any changes are documented in the research statistics over time, it can reasonably be concluded that the changing variable, not the static control, influenced the change.
Why does this matter to the world of diets and nutrition?
It’s for the simple fact that we don’t know the controls and variables that are involved in most fad diet testimonials by just simply accepting the personal success stories attached to them.
If someone claims, “I lost 35 pounds on a _____ diet,” follow up with the question, “How were your eating habits before you started this diet?”
Almost 99% of the time, they will say a combination of fast food and candy canes.
So while they go on preaching about how carbs or legumes are the devil, they don’t mention that they went from a cheeseburgers and soda diet to a wholesome diet with salads, lean meats, and meal prepping.
A pastor friend of mine, who went through a weight loss transformation, may have said it best: “What is the best way to lose weight? … First, gain 100 pounds.”
I’m not attempting to be crass with this 1W4L Nutrition Intro article. However, we have to remember that nutrition is a science. It can’t be learned or preached overnight. In turn, most of the arguments for the latest fad diets heard on the news – if they only rely on anecdotal evidence and loose research, are invalid. Almost all of them.
Here’s the good news…
The nutritional research studies are in (and have been in for some time), and across the board the research concludes the same results time after time after time. And that is this: no matter what diet you have ever read or heard about – weight loss (or gain) can be encapsulated down to one thing: Calories.
Food makes for more than a tasty meal. Food is an essential and vital way for our bodies to get the nutrition and energy it needs to perform its daily functions. “Calories” is the measurement of the total amount of energy that comes from your food. “Calories” is also the measurement of the total amount of energy that happens inside YOUR body.
Nutrition can get as super complex as you want it to get, but in the end, if you consume less calories than your body uses to perform each day, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than it uses, you will gain weight. If you consume around the same as your body uses, you will stay around the same weight. This is fact.
Every credible dietitian you’ll ever speak with will concur.
[Read also about nutrient timing tips in this 1W4L article]
The trick is knowing how many calories your body uses throughout the day to function (a.k.a. your “caloric expenditure”). There are mathematical equations based on your age, weight, and activity level that estimate this number of calories. There is also rising technology such as the Fitbit™ and similar devices/apps that attempt to track the calories you burn by counting the number of steps you take each day and assessing your heart rate.
Some users claim that these devices come close to accurately calculating their calorie expenditure. Other people, however, say these devices aren’t accurate at all. If these devices work for you, then that is fantastic. If these devices don’t work for you or you’d rather circumvent the effort/hassle, then the mathematical equations come fairly close, as a general rule.
However, before you go and grab a sheet of paper and that crusty ballpoint pen you’ve had in the drawer since 2002, keep reading…
Estimating your caloric expenditure, therefore estimating how many calories you should consume per day, and therefore tracking foods when you eat them – once involved a pen, a notebook, and a considerable amount of time. Now, with a wide assortment of meal-tracking apps you can download at your fingertips, tracking meals is easy!
Personally, when it comes to a food tracking app, my favorite is “MyNetDiary.” (Note, this app didn’t pay me for a mention in this article. I wish they did. I could use a swimming pool.) The app is attractive, the food logging is simple, and if you eat similar foods from time to time (like I do), you can save them as favorites to easily access them when logging again in a future meal.
[Click here for the 1W4L list of Top 7 Supplements]
In my opinion, MyNetDiary is the best representation for calculating how many calories you need in order to reach your goals, and how those calories should break down into macronutrients (fat, carbs, and protein). The app is free with many of the options included in the free version. There is also a paid option (around $40/year) with the benefits of tracking a wide array of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), and also linking a Fitbit, Garmin, Withings, or other device to help calculate your calorie expenditure even more accurately.
For the purposes of this article – and ultimately for your success – I won’t be exclusive with mentioning this app, however. There are many meal tracking apps. My friends have enjoyed fitness success with MyFitnessPal, Lose It, and others. The great part is that many of them are free to download, so you can essentially try them all. This can be a major step towards your fitness goals.
Be sure to read other 1W4L Nutrition articles for tips on how to get the best out of your eating habits!
To you best health,
~ Matthew