Faraday Top 11 Diet and Fat-loss Tips

Faraday's Top 11 Fat-Loss tips!

Faraday’s Best Diet and Fat-loss Tips!

Always remember:  There is no magic bullet! The simple  key to dieting creating a calorie deficit– Simply that your body is burning more than you are eating!  There are only 2 ways to do this- 1.) through diet and  2.)  through exercise– and the best way to go is a combination of both!  You need a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 lb.  That’s a 500 calorie deficit a day to lose 1lb in a week!  And you wonder why weight loss is hard!  So the best way to go is to create a deficit of 500 calories a day with a combination of exercise and diet to trim a 1 lb a week.

1. First you need to find the amount of calories you need to be in a deficit.  I like to take my weight times 10 to find my minimum calories for regular body function.  So I weigh 135 x 10 equals 1350.  Plus add in my exercise calories.  So if I work-out 1-2 hours I can add in another 500-800 calories to bring my daily total 1850-2150 for maintenance.  To lose a lb a week you need a deficit of 500 calories a day.  So subtract 500 from the 2000 to come to 1500 calories a day to lose 1 lb a week.  I don’t think you should ever try to lose more than 1-2 lbs a week because you would need to cut your calories too low which will only have a negative effect on your metabolism and greater likelihood of gaining it back.  Additionally, If you are losing more than 2lbs a week- the weight you are losing will include water and muscle which is exactly what you don’t want.

1. Track your calories.  Write everything down.  You can’t know how many calories you are eating if you don’t write it down.  And it is very easy to eat much more than you think you are eating. Believe me, I always underestimate my calories.   Extras add up like the amount of cream in your coffee, butter to your bread or oils for cooking etc. There are several calorie counting sites online you can use.  Journal your exercise too- and adjust your calories up or down depending on your exercise. You will become much more aware of the calories you are eating.

1. Eat small frequent meals.  Spread your calories in 5 or 6 mini- meals or  3 meals and 2-3 snacks.  This keeps your hunger at bay, blood sugar stable and energy  steady.  Frequent meals  keeps the metabolism churning- So if you need to eat 1500 calories a day.  Spread it out over  5 meals of 300 calories or 6 meals of 250 calories.  Or if you prefer bigger meals try 3 meals of 400 calories and 2 snacks of 150.  Use only as a guideline and find what works for you.  My post work-out meals and main evening meal are always my biggest meals.  The total calories is more important than how you spread your meals.  But this is another tool to optimize your results.

1. Include high quality low fat protein in each meal.  Protein will help satisfy your appetite- Plus you will have a thermic effect- the body will require slightly more energy to burn protein calories.  Which means you will actually burn a few more calories digesting the proteins as compared to fat or carbohydrates.  Most formulas for active life-style or heavy weight-training  individuals suggest  1  grams per every lb of lean body weight you have.  So say your lean mass is 130lbs- that means at 1X your lean body mass- you would require 130grams of protein a day or x4grams = 520 calories a day should be lean protein sources such as combination of eggs and egg-whites, chicken , turkey, fish, lean beef, low-fat cottage cheese.  If you split this into 5 meals- that would mean you would include 25 grams of protein per meal or 100 protein calories in each meal.  That would be like 6-7 egg whites, or 3-4 ounces of lean meat , or ½ cup of cottage cheese.  You should become aware of the protein grams and calories of the foods you eat.  There are many calorie count guides online which list grams of protein, carbs, or fat in the foods you eat.

1.   Include  Low glycemic index complex carbs and/or lots of fibrous veggies (my preference)

If you are getting 500  of your calories from lean protein sources- and you are following a 1500-800 calorie diet plan- that leaves 55%-60% of your calories to fill.  40-50% of your calories should come in the form of complex carbohydrates and/or  fibrous veggies  which are absorbed slowly and provide sustained energy to fuel  your work-outs.  So if you are eating 5-6 mini meal a day- that would allow you approximately  30 grams of carbohydrates for each of your 5 meals or closer to 25 grams  if you are eating 6 meals a day.    That would give you  about  150 calories of carbohydrates per meal.  Complex carbs you might select per meal might be ½ cup of brown rice, ½ c of oat meal, 1 cup of wheat bran,  1 small sweet potato, ½ c of beans, ½ cup of whole grain pasta. Or you can do like me and just quadruple up on veggies instead!  Stay away from processed foods or foods with added sugar.  These foods  absorb quickly in the blood-steam creating a spike in your insulin increasing  the appetite and turning on the  fat storing hormones. If it has an ingredient list- it’s too processed!   I personally  prefer  to include lots of veggies with every meal because I can eat a much greater volume of them and they fill me up better than the smaller portions of complex carbs I would have to eat.  (½ cup of rice or oatmeal does not fill me up!)  Think like several cups(3-5 cups!) of stir-fry veggies, (watch the oil)  broccoli,  cawliflower, cabbage, peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, Big veggie salads. Just watch the dressings.  I like Walden Farms dressings which are calorie free, carb free and sugar free- and taste great!  The honey dijon and balsalmic vineagrite  are my favorite.  There are many, many veggies to choose from!  The veggies are also the lowest on the glycemic index so provide the slowest most steady affect on the insulin levels  on your blood stream.  A very good thing.  They are loaded with fiber and antioxitants and photonutrients!  You need to get a calorie count book so you can properly calculate how much of a particular veggie you can include.  Think green and you can’t go wrong!

Faraday tip for fullness:  Think shirataki noodles.  Shirataki noodle have virtually no calories.  They are 97% water and 3% fiber.  They have no flavor- so they absorb the flavor of whatever food you prepare them with. And they absorb 10 times their weight in water.  So that means if you add them to your stir-frys they simply add texture to your meals but they really fill you up!!  Just make sure you drink plenty of water with them.  Youll be shocked by how full you get with no added calories!!

1. Include essential fatty acids for the remainder of your calories.  Fats are not all bad.  We need some fats for the body to function properly.  Fats help to fill us up- They turn on a satiety hormone and have no effect on insulin levels. .  The remaining 20-30% of your calories should come from monounsaturated and  polyunsaturated fats and essential fatty acids or that leaves approximately 50 calories per meal for fats.  That’s allowing 250-300 calories a day in a 1500 calorie plan from fats.  Fats have 9 calories per gram as compared to 4 calories per gram for protein or carbs which means fats are much more calorie dense so the key is to keep the portions small.  Think 1 egg yolk, a handful of nuts, a 1/3 of an avocado, a Tablespoon or 2 of flax seeds,  ½ tablespoon of olive oil for cooking or salad dressing, 1 ounce of cheese, an ounce of olives or nuts.  Try to include some fatty fish like salmon once or twice a week to help get your essential fatty acids.

1. 7.       Incorporate Weight-training

Weight training is probably one of the best ways to increase your metabolism 24/7 around the clock.  First of all, muscle is much more metabolically active than fat which requires no energy to maintain it.  So the more muscle you have- the more calories you need to maintain that muscle.  So your metabolism increases.   So simply, You can lose weight with more calories.  Also, weight-training  prevents  you from losing muscle while following a reduced calorie diet- which you likely would do without it.  If you lose muscle that means you need  less calories to maintain your weight.  You will end up having to keep reducing your calories more to continue losing weight.  You should aim for working each body part at least once a week.  If time is limited- I would shoot for a full body work-out at least twice a week.  The best exercises  are ones that include big muscle groups or compound muscle groups (more than one muscle group included per exercise) If I could include just one exercise per body part- I would choose-Squats for legs ( big muscle and compound exercise) Pull-ups or lats pull down for back, chest press for chest, shoulder press for shoulders, bicep curls for biceps, and tricep push downs for tricep.  You can look up new exercises online or talk to a local trainer to show you some basic exercises.

8.) Include Cardio training exercises

Try to include a minimum of 3-5 days a week of 30-60 minutes of cardio and optimally 2-3 days which include HIIT High Intensity Interval Training which has been proven to be more effective for calorie and fat-burning for up to 48 hours after the fact.  The benefits of cardio are numerous and allows you to eat a little more when you are dieting.  Relying on restricting calories alone is hard- and the amount of calories you need to stick to without exercise may not be satisfying enough to stick with.  Exercise allows you to eat a little more when you are dieting.  Relying on restricting calories alone is hard- and the amount of calories you need to stick to without exercise may not be satisfying enough to stick with.  The best approach is a combination of cutting calories and excising more to create your deficit.  Don’t over-do it though.  Too much cardio will actually slow your results, increase cortisol and slow your bodies fat-burning along with it.

9.) Fiber, Fiber, Fiber– included with your carbs-Hint- Get your veggies and you automatically get your fiber!  Fiber  keeps you full longer, keeps your blood sugar stable- makes it 100% easier to stick with your diet.  Plus colon benefits.  No polyps!  Anti-cancer benefits!  Colon loves you for it!

10.) Drink enough water and fluids.  Very important to stay hydrated!  And water and non-sugar beverages help you stay full!

11.) Don’t forget sleep!  You will not lose weight effectively, recover effectively or control your appetite without adequate sleep.  Aim for 8hours a night!