Do you need to keep a food log? That depends. You have to ask yourself if you are really ready for summer. Fat loss trainer of trainers, Alwyn Cosgrove, recently posted on his blog that now is the time (paraphrased) – It’s the next 12 weeks that determine if you are going to be the girl who has to wear a one piece swimsuit, or the girl who looks lean and hot in a bikini. It’s the next 12 weeks that will determine if you are the guy at the pool wearing a shirt, or if you’re the guy who can’t wait to take his shirt off.
So look – keeping a food log is the best thing ever! Keeping a food log is the access to getting the amazing results that you’ve always wanted. Sure, the workouts have got to be right – but the food has got to be right also.
If you don’t keep a food log, it’s hit or miss. Without a food log you literally have no idea what’s going on – you’re not even in the game.
You are playing a three games trying to lose stubborn fat:
1.) You need to burn more calories than you eat (or eat less calories than you burn), so you lose fat consistently.
2.) You need to consume enough protein and do enough resistance training that you hold on to muscle while you lose fat.
3.) You need to monkey with the ratios of protein and fat, and the quality of the carbs, until you are feeling full and satisfied at the lower caloric intake.
To really win at any of those games, you need to keep a food log.
By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
I’m a specialist in getting my clients lean, fast. I usually work the hardest clients to lean out – girls who are already in good shape. I like the challenge. It’s actually easier to lean out guys because guys naturally carry more muscle. My book is about how anyone can get that that lean, rockstar body.
© Joshua Hillis 2007
‘1.) You need to burn more calories than you eat (or eat less calories than you burn), so you lose fat consistently. ‘
The one thing that I still must say is off with this: coconut oil, apparently nourishes the thyroid, speeds metabolism, and aids in getting a leaner body. Yet, it’s fat, so it’s loaded with calories. To me, that kinda throws the whole calorie thing out the window.
Also, an interesting note: farmers feed pigs whole, full-fat, raw milk to lean them out, and skim milk to fatten them up.
Now, does that mean the pigs are drinking less milk when they drink the full-fat since fat fills them up? Not sure, but it works either way.
The number one point I stick to rather than calories is: “did this food ever come through a factory, at any point in time? If yes, I don’t want to be eating it.”
To me, everything else remains secondary to that.
I just speak from my experience – and my experience with my clients is that calories are the number one determinant of fat loss.
That being said, clients eating more protein lose fat faster. Clients eating whole food lose fat faster. Clients eating more often lose fat faster.
My experience with Paleo type diets (anything that doesn’t come from a factory) is that they work unbelievably well.
As far as the pigs getting leaner on whole milk, I always have my clients add fat to their diet if they are feeling hungry. So it could very well be that the pigs feel more full, sooner, when they are drinking whole milk vs. skim. That’s actually really interesting.
I’d never say that calories are the only game in town, but I definately feel like they are the most important game.