Diet and calories

Oh yes, the good old diet and calorie talk. If you know me for a while, you might know that I want to educate myself and others to get past the confusion around food, what to eat and lifestyle techniques for health and specific goals. As 80% of the female population, I too have struggled in the past with body image and restrictive dieting to get skinny fast. Did I succeed in losing weight fast? Yes. Was I healthy and happy? No.

Throughout the past years of education and experimentation, I have found balance with food and training. I know first-hand, that it is not easy to get clear on which nutrition and workout program you should follow to reach your specific goals. To give you some clarity, I will discuss my take on nutrition for health and fitness. Starting with a common misconception.

You need to cut out sugars and carbs

No, you don’t. If you prefer to go low carb, be my guest but it is unnecessary if you are a healthy individual. I cover this more in depth in my article on 'Should I cut carbs'. We need this macronutrient more than some people make believe. With our population now working out more and more, we need to refuel properly with the right carb sources to recover and reach our health and fitness goals.

So with that out of the way, let’s focus on some nutrition and calorie principles:

80/20 rule

This means 80% health foods, 20% processed. Like many of you, I sometimes fail too but as a rule of thumb, focus on what you can add to the diet that has natural ingredients and avoid the processed foods as much as possible. I am not for the restrictive diets and obsessing behavior that comes with it. Everything in moderation. More quality, less empty nutrients.

Health comes first

The last couple of years, my health always came in first place. No diet or fitness goal comes before my hormonal health. Since I have had hormonal imbalances throughout my mid-twenties, I know how much stress restrictive diets and mindset can place on our bodies. I ask every one of you to go about your fitness journey for health reasons and not solely for looks. In the end, we are what we eat. Do it the right way, nourish your beauty from the inside out.

‘Calories in vs. calories out’

To lose fat you need to be in a calorie deficit. How you create this deficit and how extreme you go about it, will eventually translate into losing fat or losing weight. Doing it the right way like applying a very small deficit (for example through decreased food intake or being more active) combined with a resistance training program and adequate protein intake will give you the desired results.

Counting calories is a great tool for athletes that eat and train performance or weight based (for example a track athlete or bodybuilder). They need the right amounts of calories, carbs, proteins and fats for optimal results. Besides that, tracking calories can also help someone out who is starting their health and fitness journey to get familiar with portion sizes and the necessary nutrients.

With that said, if you are trying to get in shape, build some muscle and want to maintain good health, you don’t need to count calories. Most importantly you need to make sure you keep your calorie and nutrient intake as high as possible and listen to your body and its needs. A good amount of each macro (protein, carb and fat) is needed for good health and performance. I always recommend to focus on whole proteins, whole carbs and moderate amounts of fats. Keep added fats and sugars to a minimum.

A golden tip: be aware of liquid calories such as alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, juices, too many lattes. It all adds up without you even realizing. Sugars, especially those in liquid form contribute to excessive energy intake and eventually weight gain.

Quality over anything else

Let’s say your diet consists of mostly sweets such as lattes, cinnamon buns and Oreos. These foods are merely made up out of carbs (mostly added sugars) and fats. If this is the case, there won’t be much calories left for the essential protein, which is much more important for your body to maintain, restore and build tissue. It is perfectly fine to eat an Oreo or drink a latte, as long as it is an addition to your balanced main meals. When you apply the quality measure, you will unintentionally get yourself in a calorie deficit through adding all the whole volume (vegetables) and satiating (proteins and fats) foods. So, If you want to lose fat, choose quality.

Conclusion

To wrap it all up, calories are important but you don’t need to occupy yourself with counting them or following crazy diets if you are looking for fat loss or trying to achieve wellbeing. If you set out a consistent resistance training program and a balanced diet plan providing sufficient energy in the form of complete proteins that satiate, fats for hormones and carbs for the nervous system, you will likely get to your results without going crazy on the numbers.