Recently I was having a discussion with someone about weight loss, but the conversation quickly turned into nutritionism speak and the merits of various functional foods for ‘health’ and ‘metabolic’ effects. The person I was talking to kept asking about various ‘phytonutrients’ and the importance of items like blueberries for their ‘antioxidant’ effect and other items that have similar health claims associated with them.

This was becoming a somewhat difficult conversation for me to follow because I couldn’t understand what this person was really after. At first we were discussing weight loss and how much weight they could realistically lose over the next 6 weeks or so. Then the conversation ended up on things like phytonutrients, antioxidants, phytosterols, fiber, the glycemic index and on and on.

It became clear to me that they really had no clue where to even start as far as losing weight and tracking how the hell they were even going to go about doing it. Withing 10 mins of chatting both of our heads were spinning.

I had to stop them and refocus them on the topic at hand, which was supposed to be weight loss.

This story is typical of the type of questions and conversations I end up in with people who want to lose weight but don’t really know what is the driving force behind it (a caloric reduction).

Of course there are limitless ways you can choose to eat, and from a purely weight loss stand point I think it makes little difference. Many of our competitors in the Adonis and Venus contests have lost a great deal of weight doing all manner of diets (low carb, high carb, low and high protein, and all fat levels). There was no consistency to the type of diet, the only consistent thing across the board was a consistent caloric reduction.

There is a point when the type of food matters, but not for the reasons you've been told

Maybe…Maybe at the lower bodyfat levels (sub 10%) it might help to limit certain food choices that contain sugar and saturated fats to help the process. But this might be more of a water retention thing than a true fat burning thing. This isn’t to suggest that reducing the water you carry is irrelevant because it certainly matters. Being bloated with water could easily be the difference between a visible 6-pack or a smooth midsection. So even once the fat is low enough there is still an effect your food choices can have on your look…this is why bodybuilders are so meticulous about their diet and preparation in the final 4-5 days before a show.

For the most part almost everyone can get to a visible 6-pack without really worrying about the exact food choices as long as the total calories are less than you’re burning.

Getting a handle on your calories is the first and biggest hurdle…once you’ve got this taken care of then and only then can you start worrying about what specific foods to eat for their claimed benefit.

John

Forget about 'what if' and starting focusing on 'what is'

If you do any recreational reading of nutrition info and nutrition marketing you’ve likely read a lot of ‘what if’ stories.

‘What if’ stories are things like:

What happens if I eat all my daily calories from carbs

or

What happens if I don’t eat enough protein today

or

What happens if I don’t eat a balanced macronutrient diet and control  my insulin levels

or

What happens to my metabolism if I don’t eat enough meals per day

This is typical of nutrition/diet marketing. But none of it deals with what IS happening right now. If you took an inventory of your current state including what you’re eating and how it is currently affecting your insulin levels, your metabolism, your energy and muscle building you’d likely find that whatever you’re currently doing is already enough and doesn’t need to be changed.

Without establishing a baseline of where you currently are you’ll never know if you need to change anything and in what direction you need to make that change.

Worrying about ‘what if’ scenarios without knowing ‘what is’ happening will just cause you stress and worry that you don’t need.

John