Calories .... What just went through your mind? Track them, eat them, fuel, bad, I eat too much, I don't eat enough, love them, and the list can go on.
Energy .... You need it daily! We wake up, hit the snooze button, wake up again and from then on tirelessly work to provide for needs in our life. We're busy. And our body is busy as well from the moment we roll out of bed. Digestion, brain function, heart pumping, muscle work, skin rejuvenation, cell reproduction, and breathing give us the life we need to perform in our tireless work habits. Our body naturally requires energy.
Fats, Carbs, Proteins .... The calories by which we create energy for everything above. Proteins rebuild muscle and tissue, fats are the building blocks of all cells as well as transfer agents for nutrients, and carbs provide quick energy for all systems. Each have their place and ARE GOOD FOR YOU!
Now what ...
1. From wake up to sleep we inherently burn calories through our body's natural functions. This is called our RMR, Resting Metabolic Rate. Without adding other exertion, we need to eat X amount of calories to sustain life. Now, our bodies are amazing in that if we provide it with LESS calories, it will adapt over time to rely on this reduced calorie intake.
2. We add on top of that daily activities and exercise. Now our body needs X + Y amount of calories to sustain quality life. Our metabolism moves at a specific pace to each person in burning these calories. Metabolism pace is dictated by what kind of foods we intake and how often we eat. Along with metabolism, lean muscle mass burns calories while fat does not.
3. Clean foods such as raw vegetables, raw fruit, unpackaged/unprocessed meats, and clean dairy provide GREAT calories. These foods tend to be more nutrient rich than processed foods and simply more easily digested.
To the main point ....
If our daily RMR is 1500 calories, add 500 calories for daily activities, and burn 500 more calories during your 1 hour run, then we theoretically need to eat 2500 calories that day to maintain quality life. That's outrageous! You may say "I don't want to gain weight" or "I can't eat that much food".
YOU ARE RIGHT! (If you continue eating processed foods, sugars, and unhealthy fats).
Example:
If you eat 1500 calories of clean foods, and 1000 calories of unhealthy sugars, simple carbs then your body will use a high percentage of the clean food and only a small portion of the other calories. The rest gets stored as a harder to metabolize fat and you feel horrible during your workout. We want to maximize the amount of calories that your body uses. So when you eat clean your body is more likely to use nearly all of the calories supplied without storing anything extra. Great analogy for this is water in your car versus gasoline. You body will, in your best interest, choose to not use the "empty calories".
Adaptation:
In response over time your body will reduce it's RMR so that you can use the extra calories for everything else. This reduction in RMR means now that you need less fuel to function, BUT when you take away any activity the body will store the extra and weight gain will occur with even less food than before.
*Now you need 1000 calories instead of 1500 so anything you eat over 1000 will cause weight gain.
Solutions:
1. Eat clean, healthy foods so that your body utilizes a larger percentage of those calories.
2. If you want to lose weight, eat a few hundred less calories from your total, not from your RMR (only count CLEAN CALORIES, just suck it up and take the extra weight if you want the cookie then workout later to get rid of it!)
3. Find out your RMR and fat/carb burn during workouts through testing.
4. Eat more often, up to 6 times each day, to increase metabolism. Maintain 3 larger meals with snacks between. Lunch is your largest meal, followed by breakfast, then dinner. Eat Breakfast!
5. Have fun and enjoy your diet, eat variety!
Great Resource: Rich Food, Poor Food by Jayson & Mira Calton
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