Understanding The Way Caloric Deficit Works
Having a low body fat basically means looking phenomenal (only if you have some muscle mass packed). In order to have a low body fat it is obligatory that you consume food at a caloric deficit.
By consuming less calories than your body burns, it will be enforced to use stored energy (fat) for energy.
Nevertheless, this is much easier said than done. Nowadays it very hard to consume food at a caloric deficit.
In this chapter we're going to understand the most efficient strategy to understand what does it mean eating at a deficit. Moreover,most of those strategies will also serve to increase your lean body mass absorbtion and advance your mental activity Let’s get started!
Record Your Calories
You're not going to save money without tracking your expenses. Why would you lose body fat without tracking your calorie consumption?
When you don't know how many calories you are consuming , reducing body fat becomes much more hard. Thus it is crucial that you record your caloric intake.
You're most probably won't overeat because you know precisely how much to eat and when to stop.
Nowadays with all the advanced technology , you could simply download a calorie tracker application on your smart-phone, tablet or whatever and simply track your calorie intake.
You will need a digital food scale to know the proper weight of a particular food you're going to consume then find what you're going to eat in the application, add the serving and let the app do it's job ;)
Get Rid of Snacks and Junk Beverages
When eating at a caloric deficit it is extremely important to get rid of all the junk food and junk beverages out of your dieting scheme.
Any junk drinks should be removed from your dieting scheme because they make you feel full. The only drinks you should consume are tea, coffee , water. Only exception here is if you're going to drink some alcoholic beverages during the weekend. ultimately, you should have fun from time to time.
Forget About the Breakfast and Burn Some Fat
Did you know that when you wake up your body is in the ideal fat burning condition because there is no food energy left in your body,moreover your insulin levels are pretty low at this point.
If you eat your first meal after 6- 7 hours from waking up your body will be burning fat this whole time.
in addition, when your body is in a fasted mode, it gives you a massive increase in adrenaline levels and energy levels although you're hungry (fasting mode)
After couple of weeks your system(body) will start getting used to skipping breakfast, you will start getting less hungry during the fasting period. This method of skipping breakfast and having your first meal after 6-7 hours from waking up gives you a chance to eat large meals and feel significantly full and happy while staying in a caloric deficit.
Food Variety
When being in a caloric deficit, your food variety is crucial . You are obligated to choose the foods you consume very carefully.
Eating lean protein and some vegetables will get you pretty full . As well as , conservative amounts of carbohydrates like yams ,Greek yoghurt and fruits are also quite filling . A balanced intake of fats should be contained in your scheme to lower your hunger level.
When you’re eating a meal of protein sources like beef, salmon or eggs you’re already receiving a good amount of fats, but if you’re having a lean protein meal then you could add cheese, nuts or avocado’s to have the suitable fat intake.
Protein Intake
When you're on a caloric deficit, protein plays the most crucial role because having protein makes you feel full.
If you’re on a caloric deficit diet, with a low protein consumption, it will be a horrific experience for you physically and mentally.
Nevertheless, when your protein consumption is very high, it is relevantly easier to stay full. Moreover, Protein will build and reconstruct your muscle tissue and preserve muscle mass when being on a caloric deficit.
Higher protein dieting always surpass lower protein dieting that has exactly the same calories. We advise adjusting your protein intake at approximately 40% of your total daily calories when being on a caloric deficit scheme. 40 % is more protein than you actually need but it will make your diet more enjoyable and simpler.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the most productive sources of your daily energy intake. When we are on a diet we are willing to burn body fat for energy not carbohydrates. For that reason carbohydrates should be lowered to boost the fat burning process.
We advise keeping carbohydrates around 30-35% of your total daily calories.
twice per week, preferably on the day of your strength training, carbohydrates should be increased. This will promote muscle growth and reconstruction of your exhausted muscles.
Moreover, increasing carbohydrates will significantly increase a hormone called leptin, which in turn will prevent your metabolism from slowing down and it will keep your hunger balance under control.
So its very important to include carbohydrates refeeds into your dieting scheme. Limiting calories creates an anabolic boom effect. When you change to a high calorie day , you will have a chance to separate a lot of micro-nutrients towards developing muscle mass.
Fats
Finally we'll talk about fats, Fats are very heavy caloric nutrients with approximately 9 calories per gram .Therefore , our fat intake needs to be kept under control when being on a caloric deficit
If you wont concentrate on your fat intake then your calorie scheme might get mixed up pretty fast. A handful of nuts or few grams of fatty meat and you'll end up consuming 200/300 calories from fats , that’s why you need to understand how much fats daily you could eat.
You can’t lower your fat too considerably. Doing so will result in you being/feeling very hungry and testosterone levels will start decreasing, that's why you should include conservative amounts of fats in every meal you consume.
Your total fat intake should approximately be 25/30% of your daily caloric intake. Below 25% and you will start having hunger problems and most likely testosterone issues.
Caloric Deficit + Coffee = ?
Caffeine is a hugely efficient stimulant when you are on caloric deficit. Caffeine boosts your metabolic level, suppresses your appetite and boosts your energy levels. This surely makes your dieting scheme much more efficient and simple.
Having 2 cups of coffee during your fasting period in the morning is the most effective strategy, while fasting fasting in the morning you will be start getting hungry, that's why drinking 2 cups of coffee during that period will suppress your appetite while burning fat at the same time
After your fasting period finishes you will be eating your first meal, at this point you won’t need any appetite suppressants. Moreover, we do not recommend you drinking coffee after your fasting period ends as coffee tend to prevent you from sleeping, in our case sleeping is crucial as muscle growth and recovery happen when you're asleep.
Note : Please do not add any sugar or full cream milk into your coffee, learn to drink your coffee black
Adding it UP
Our goal is to make your fat loss journey as effortless as possible, the method we will be adopting is to wake up and drink a cup of black coffee or black tea in the morning. Try to drink as much water as possible, never get thirty , dehydration is your worse enemy.
Then we will be eating two big meals per day: lunch and dinner. Meals should consist of proteins that give you the feeling of being full. Moreover. you should eat vegetables, yums and healthy fats to reach your appropriate daily fat intake.
Also, you should have one mini meal between lunch and dinner or in the evening. This meal should consist of something quite simple like an omelet or cottage cheese.
If you're feeling lazy , you could have one protein bar for the mini meal (ONLY ONE PROTEIN BAR !)
Your dieting scheme will look like this
Morning – Black Tea or Black Coffee
Lunch – Lean Meat, Veggies, Yums/Potatoes
Dinner – Lean Meat, Veggies, Yums/ Potatoes
Mini meal – Protein Bar,Cottage Cheese or Omelet
Choice 1
Choice 2
Note
You shouldn't panic about ending your fasting at the same time everyday. One day you could finish your fasting early and other day you wont have a chance to eat your last meal . Moreover, there’s no problem with eating before going to sleep. Eating before going to sleep won’t slow down your fat loss process.