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Designing A Nutrition Program - Christian Thibaudeau
Designing A Nutrition Program - Christian Thibaudeau
MAINTENANCE LEVEL
Knowing how much calories are required to maintain your current body
weight is an important thing to know. Even though these measures are only
an approximation, they still give us a number to start from. We can adjust
this number up or down depending on our goal (fat loss or muscle gain).
First Step: Calculating Your Basal Metabolic Rate
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) simply means the amount of energy used
by your body during a 24-hour period if no activity is performed. In other
words, if you're inactive for 24-hours straight, you'd still "burn" the amount
of calories equivalent to your BMR.
Your BMR is a function of your size, sex, and age. It's also influenced by
your metabolic status (hypo or hyperthyroid state for example). I opt for a
modified Harris-Benedict formula to calculate the BMR. I say modified
because I prefer to use the lean body weight (total body weight minus fat
weight) to set up caloric intake.
For Men
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x lean weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age)
For Women
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x lean weight in kg) + (1.7 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)
Second Step: Factoring in activity level
The amount of calories found using the modified Harris-Benedict formula is
what your body burns every day, even if you do nothing all day. Obviously,
the more active you are the more you'll burn fuel. So, energy expenditure
will be increased when your activity level goes up.
To get an adequate estimation you need to multiply your BMR by an activity
level factor:
Activity level factor
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
Activity level
Sedentary
Very light activity
Light activity
Moderate activity
High activity
Extreme activity
By sedentary we mean doing nothing all day (sleeping and watching TV).
By very light activity we mean doing nothing physical. Working a desk job
or on a computer and not performing any type of physical activity during
your day.
By light activity we mean having a non-physical job (desk, computer, etc.)
but performing some sort of physical activity during the day (e.g. above
average walking) but no hard training.
By moderate activity we mean having a non-physical job, performing some
sort of physical activity during the day, and including a daily workout
session in your routine. This is where most of you are at.
By high activity we mean either training plus a physical job or non-physical
job and twice-a-day training sessions.
By extreme activity we mean a very physical job and daily hard training.
DESIGNING A NUTRITION PROGRAM SETTING CALORIC
INTAKE DEPENDING ON YOUR GOAL
The following tables give basic guidelines on how to set your average
caloric expenditure depending on your goal.
Caloric intake adjustment depending on your goal (natural trainee)
Maximum muscle gain while accepting a moderate
fat gain
Maintenance x 125-130%
Maintenance x 115-120%
Maintenance x 105-110%
Maintenance x 90-95%
Maintenance x 80-85%
Maintenance x 70-75%
better suited:
Now, even though the nutrients are divided equally among the six meals, it
doesnt mean that the actual food choices will be the same. This is especially
true of a carb dominant approach where high and low glycemic carb should
be used at different times during the day, more on that later.
Type of food at each meal
While its true that ultimately there exist only carbs, protein and fat and that
once fully digested it all boils down to a mix of glucose, amino acids and
fatty acids. Yet, different types of food have different effects on our body
biochemistry. As body transformers we can use these effects to improve our
physique; adding muscle or losing fat.
The simplest way to understand how to eat while trying to transform your
body is to focus on foods that are as close as possible to their natural state.
Lean cuts of meat, fish, poultry, egg whites (some egg yolk too) and cottage
cheese are all prime example of good protein sources while on a body
transformation diet. Oatmeal, cream of wheat, rice and veggies are the best
carb sources with whole wheat bread, rye bread, fruits and yogurt are
acceptable secondary sources.
Breakfast food choices
Breakfast is a crucial meal in the day of a bodybuilder; first because it stops
the catabolic state of being without food and nutrients for 8-10 hours straight
but also because at this time the body is in a positive (for us) nutrient
portioning state. This means that a lesser proportion of the food we eat will
be stored as body fat. This is mostly due to the fact that upon waking up
(after several hours of sleep and food deprivation) our body has an increased
sensitivity to insulin. For that reason, breakfast is a good time to ingest
moderate (or even high) glycemic carbohydrates and fast-absorbed protein
(like whey for example). In that regard, we should treat breakfast much the
same way we do our post-workout meal.
Post-workout meal
The post-workout meal is similar to the breakfast in that the body is very
efficient at soaking up the ingested nutrients. Furthermore, the faster we can
give nutrients to our body, the faster can the recovery/muscle building
process start.
During the post workout meal we want to focus solely on fast-absorbed high
glycemic carbs that will provoke an insulin spike as well as fast-absorbed
protein. The ideal solution is to use a specialized post-workout drink (e.g.
Surge by Biotest or Vitargo/waxy maize + whey isolate powder) instead of a
solid meal. However, during more restrictive dieting periods, I feel that its
best to include at least some solid food during the post-workout meal as this
increases satiety and makes diet compliance easier. For that second option
the following carb choices are adequate (note that the protein portion of the
meal should still be in the form of a whey isolate drink):
The quantity of carbs to include in the post-workout meal will depend on the
type of diet you are using as well as your set caloric intake.
Other meals
Beside the post-workout and breakfast meals, you should only ingest foods
that have a low impact on your insulin levels. Basically we want to have an
elevated insulin level in the morning and after a workout because your body
is in a state that favors storage in the muscles (and liver) instead of in the fat
cells. However if insulin levels are kept elevated all day, it will become hard
to shed body fat. You see, insulin is a storage hormone. It tells the body to
stock up on nutrients to fill its reserves. However it also tells your body to
prevent the stored nutrients to be released for use. So if insulin levels are
elevated, it becomes next to impossible to mobilize and burn body fat.
If we are using a balanced non-mixing diet or a low-carbs (fat dominant)
diet, it becomes quite easy to control insulin because carbs are the main
insulin stimulators. If you are using a balanced non-mixing diet you are not
ingesting any carbs at all meals besides breakfast, mid-am snack and post workout
and if you are on a fat-dominant diet you are not consuming much
carbs at all. In both cases, at those meals you should ingest only protein + fat
food like meat, fish, poultry, eggs, etc. Green veggies are acceptable as they
contain a negligible amount of carbs as well as a lot of fibers which slows
down digestion (which helps keep insulin levels under control).
If you are using a carbs-dominant approach you should select very low glycemic
carbs as well as slow-digesting protein (any type of animal food).