BLUEPRINT: PHASE II
What we’ve covered: The Foundation
In our first installment we laid the foundation for nutritional success.
We built this foundation using the Readiness to Change Model and the Motivation-Skill Continuum. These assessments allowed us to prescribe a personalized and realistic strategy.
We also covered the key habits for success. Without these basic habits and principles, complex meal plans, diets, and protocols will not be successful.
Executing on these simpler habits like: Sleep, Hydration, Vegetables, Protein Each Meal, and context-based Carbohydrates gives us feedback into how ready we are for the next phase.
The Next Step: Advanced strategies
In the next phase of Blueprint we will embark on more advanced strategies.
These strategies include Energy Balance and Macronutrients.
More complex concepts mean there is a higher chance of setbacks. As with any plan, we have to ask, “what do you do when you have a setback?”
This is where our foundation will serve us well.
Habits are the ultimate failsafe for setbacks. If you miss your calorie goal, had a cheat meal, or forgot your supplements it’s not game over.
Having this safety net allows us to build a more durable plan around these new strategies. Let’s explore these concepts of energy balance and macronutrient.
Energy Balance
The 1st Law of Thermodynamics is that “energy cannot be created or destroyed”. Energy is simply transferred from one form to another.
The concept of “Calories” is the application of this law to the human body. Calories refer to the energy human body gets from eating and converting food.
This “food-energy relationship” means:
If we eat more food than we burn, we use store that excess energy and gain body mass.
If we are spending more energy than we eat, we tend to lose body mass.
How much energy we use is a combination of our activity level and our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR refers to the energy your body uses for all its basic biological functions. So…..
to lose or gain weight, we need to calculate how much energy we are using.
This will give us a starting point to achieve the energy balance we are looking for. But this is only half of the story.
We also need to evaluate how this energy should be divided by macronutrients.
Macronutrients
If energy balance is the Physics explanation of why we gain or lose weight. Then macronutrients are the Chemistry/Biology explanation of why we gain or lose weight.
The 3 macronutrients are: Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat
Carbohydrates and Protein are 4 calories per gram. Fat is 9 calories per gram.
Immediately we see that fat will have a larger impact on energy per gram. And the biological impact of these macronutrients are drastically different.
Carbohydrates
Why we store or burn energy isn’t just about energy balance. Hormones also play a key role.
The amount of carbs in our system causes changes in two key hormones.
High carb levels increase insulin circulating in our bodies. Insulin is considered an “anabolic” hormone which encourages cell growth.
Less carbs circulating increases another hormone, glucagon. Glucagon is a “catabolic” hormone which encourages decreased size of our cells.
We want to leverage these hormones as much as possible to achieve our goals.
What might this look like?
For weight gain we want:
A positive energy balance. And more carbs comparatively to fat. This increases insulin. Increases anabolic (building up) pathways for more growth of muscle cells.
For weight loss we want:
A negative energy balance. And more fat than carbs. This increases glucagon. Enabling more catabolic (breaking down) pathways for weight loss.
We don’t want to completely cut a macronutrient. This cuts all the health benefits associated with that macronutrient. Benefits like: improved absorption of certain vitamins with fat. Or more available ATP (energy) from carbs.
We also need to understand how to time carbs.
Post-workout: we can use carbs to replenish depleted carb stores and encourage recovery.
In the morning: we can’t use carbs as well. High levels of the hormone cortisol mean carbs could further raise insulin levels. Increasing the potential for storage as fat.
Protein
Protein is behind almost all of our bodies functions. From recovery to performance, proteins are foundational pieces of our cells. And countless compounds we need to survive.
Proteins are made of smaller compounds called amino acids. And our body needs plenty of these basic materials to build muscle tissue and other cells in our body.
If we want to gain weight:
We need to have plenty of these building blocks to build muscle.
If we want to lose weight:
We need enough protein to preserve muscle tissue, as we reduce our fat stores.
Protein also contributes to weight-loss due to the thermic effect of food.
This effect refers to the energy it takes to digest food. And digesting protein requires more energy compared to fat and carbs.
This makes protein a pivotal macronutrient for those looking to lose weight.
Many protein sources are also full of minerals, B vitamins, and amino acids. These are critical for our bodies to produce the enzymes, cofactors, and neurotransmitters we need.
Conclusion:
The ultimate goal of Phase II is to build on the foundation of Phase I. Energy balance and macronutrients are huge tools to leverage toward this goal. And Phase II will provide more clarity on these topics.
These principles are far more important than a simple meal plan. Because it is impossible to select exact food options that everyone will like and execute for a long period of time.
Instead, we go over the foundation of how these pieces fit together to change your body composition.
This means that macronutrients and energy balancing are less about “what” to eat. And more about “why” we are eating something at a specific time or amount.
And just like habits, if we understand the pillar principles behind success, we will have a more effective and sustainable strategy.