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All About Abs - Nutrition
First Class Eating Habits = First
Class Abs 90% of Ripped Ab Gurus Have Fantastic Nutritional Habits
Why Nutrition is 90% or More
of Your Success
Let me explain this particular concept
as it seems that the current direction is to buy fat burning
pills, ab machines and do daily training. The problem is with
all that training and other facts is they will never have as
much influence on the layer of fat covering your abdominals as
a good metabolic meal will that helps your body burn away fat
every day.
Turning your body into a fat burning furnace
should be your #1 priority.
Eating 5-7 meals per day is critical
in order to make your body a calorie burning machine; you must
supply it with 5-7 small but frequent meals. The reason you do
this is because you will be continually burning calories to utilize
the food. Be cautious of portion size. Eat too much of anything
and you'll never see those abs!
The more meals you have, the more
your body must use energy to burn it. It's like a furnace. You
will RAISE your metabolism simply by eating more frequently.
You see if your nutrition isn't
nearly perfect, your body will always store some fat. And that
fat will most likely be kept in the abdominal region. The only
way to get to the sub-10% body fat region is with rock-solid
nutrition. Countless people cannot do this. Their eating habits
are never correct, they don't track what they eat and they do
not have the discipline necessary to eat correctly all of the
time (with some cheat meals in there of course). The group of
people who can do that are competitive bodybuilders.
Does this mean you can't do it?
Heck no! You just need to be acutely aware that having a ripped
abdominal region is about a low percentage of body fat. To get
that low, your nutrition needs to be impeccable. The more disciplined
you are, the more fat you'll burn and the more muscle you'll
keep. The lower your body fat becomes, the more your abs will
show.
It's just that simple but it's not
that easy. In the next few steps, you are going to learn exactly
what you need to do in order to turn your body into a fat burning
machine.
Step 1: Calculate How Many Calories
a Day You Need to Lose Fat
Listen, figuring out how many calories
a day you need to lose weight really isn't too hard. And with
the formula I'm about to give you plus a very cool website, you
can easily track where you are and what you need to do daily
to reach your goals. So lets' begin!
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE,
THEN LOSING, MAINTAINING OR GAINING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE!
Step 1:
Take your current body weight in
pounds (lbs) and multiply by 11.
Example: 194 lbs x 11 = 2134 calories
This is what I need to just keep what I have, without moving.
But remember, you do move. So you have to then calculate your
metabolic factors into this' so off to step 2...
Step 2:
Figure out your metabolic factor
according to the table below.
But first, some definitions to help
you determine where you might fit in:
Slow Metabolism: You basically look at food and you seem
to put on pounds. You can gain weight by eating salads but it's
difficult to lose the weight.
Moderator Metabolism: You can gain weight if you try. You can
lose weight if you try. You really don't have trouble losing
weight depending on what you want to do.
Fast Metabolism: You are the skinny guy or gal who can eat
*ANYTHING* and it makes no difference. Gaining weight is difficult.
Losing weight can happen overnight. Just by watching T.V. you
seem to shed pounds.
Metabolic %
Under 30 years old
Slow Metabolism-30%
Moderate Metabolism-40%
Fast Metabolism- 50%
30-40 years old
Slow Metabolism-25%
Moderate Metabolism-35%
Fast Metabolism- 45%
Over 40 years old
Slow Metabolism-20%
Moderate Metabolism-30%
Fast Metabolism- 40%
Example: 2134 calories x 35% (33
years old and with
moderate metabolism) = 746.90
I took my calories needed above
just to sit here and not move and multiplied it by my metabolic
factor and I find that I need an additional 746.90 calories because
of my specific metabolism.
Step 3:
Put it together. 2134 + 746.90 =
2880.90 calories I need 2,880.90 calories to maintain my current
weight with my current activities.
Note: You can also adjust your metabolic
factor if you do something that might take you to the next level.
If you are a moderator metabolism person but you do distance
running, it might make more sense to put your self in the fast
category since you burn a lot more calories.
Step 4:
Lose Weight: I would take 2880.90
- 500 = 2380.90
Note: 500 calories a day is just
a general term everybody uses to say that adding this amount
is within safe limits. Eat too much, and you end up storing fat.
Cut too many calories and your body just goes into starvation
mode and ends up retaining more fat. 500 is a safe, recommended
guideline. You can also eat 15-20% below your maintenance calorie
levels to get a more accurate and aggressive plan. Avoid eating
below 20% for very long as your body's will start to slow down.
Step 5:
You must track what you are eating
so you'll know if you've made your goal for the day. And tracking
food does not have to be complicated with weights and scales.
It's a shame that so many people
just start training and never figure out what they need to eat
daily to reach their goals.
You can keep doing the math over
and over as you reach a goal.
Step 2: Calculate How Much Protein
You Need a Day to Keep Muscle
Often overlooked, protein is the
key component to building muscle but keep in mind; it's also
the same fundamental that will help you keep muscle. What this
means to you is that if you get enough protein during this 'cutting'
phase, you'll burn more fat and keep
more muscle. You want to keep as much muscle as possible because
you want those abs to show.
As discussed before, having a low
body fat percentage is core to the ripped effect but having abs
to show is common sense. Protein has many functions that you've
learned about in the Beginner's Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding,
one of which is to help promote and maintain muscle.
Step 1:
Take your body weight in pounds
Example: 194 lbs
Step 2:
Find your body fat % Example: 15.7%
(which is .157 for the step below)
Step 3:
Take your body weight in pounds
and subtract the % body fat Example: 194 lbs - (194 x .157 =
30.45 lbs of fat) = 163.54 lbs of lean body weight
Step 4:
Take your lean body weight and multiply
by 1.14 Example: 163.54 lbs x 1.14 = 186.4g of protein a day
Step 5:
Divide your daily protein requirements
by 5-6 meals and that is what your protein target is for each
meal. Example: 186.4/6 meals = 31.07g of protein per meal As
you will see, a person who is 286 lbs of lean body weight will
require a lot more protein. And a person who is 286 lbs should
not be consuming the same amount of protein if their percentage
of body fat is 35%. But why use 1.14 for protein requirements?
The RDA recommends .75g of protein.
But that's been shown to be too low for active athletes.
Some sites will recommend 2.0g of
protein. But that seems a bit high and your body will have trouble
absorbing that not to mention you will probably have a lot of
excess calories which can lead to fat gains.
1.14-1.5 is the most efficient range
for most active, healthy adults. This range will help build muscle
but not lead you into a high protein diet. Feel free to adjust
within that range if you feel you need more protein.
Step 3: Divide Up the Calories in
5-7 Meals Per Day (Ratios)
At this point you know how many
calories a day you need to burn fat and how much protein you
need to maintain the muscle. Your goal is to burn fat, not lose weight
and certainly not lose muscle! What's next?
Just divide up your daily calorie
requirements by 5-7 meals a day in order to determine the calories
per meal and your protein goals.
That might seem like a difficult
tasks but once you start using some type of fitness tracking
program (like FitDay) it becomes very easy to hit your targets
and understand portion control.
If you don't track what you are
eating, then dividing this up will be nearly impossible unless
you eat the same things every single day (boring).
There's nothing fancy to this step.
Preparation Ideas:
* Grocery shop for the entire week
so you have an ample supply of food
* Prepare things in bulk so putting
together meals is quick and easy
* Use Tupperware as it's easy to
clean and easy to control portions
* Use the grocery list from the
Beginner's Guide to pick and choose foods that are proteins,
carbohydrates and good fats
Step 4: Review the Nutritional Fundamentals
On page 68 of the Beginner's Guide
there are some nutritional fundamentals that you must master
overall in order to get your nutrition dialed in and it working
for you. When you turn your body into a fat burning furnace
you need to review these key concepts.
* Eat about 15-20% below your calorie
maintenance level. If you use a more aggressive calorie deficit,
then do not keep calories too low for too long; increase calories
to maintenance or maintenance +10-20% 1-2 days per week. * Getting
your ratios correct (50% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fats) * Eating
5-7 meals per day * Having a lean protein source with every meal
* Getting the good fats and avoiding the bad fats * Drinking
enough water * Eating as many natural and unrefined foods as
possible * Keeping your total fats and saturated fats low. A
little bit of good fats (seeds, flax, fish) is better than a
no fat diet.
Stay tuned for Part 3 that will
discuss Ab training and the question that everybody wants to
know - How Many Times Per Week to Train Abs?
Copyright 2006 Marc David
If you can't wait, the Beginner's
Guide to Abdominal Training is just one bonus book in the Beginner's
Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding http://www.beginning-bodybuilding.com
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