You have stuck to your strict diet all week – avoided all of the foods you shouldn’t eat and made sure you ate all the foods you should when you want to lose weight; chicken, broccoli, fish, salad. The weekend has arrived and the cravings are at an all-time high. You decide to reward yourself with a little bit of ice-cream, but seconds seem to pass and you are staring at the bottom of an empty litre tub. Sound familiar? You are not alone! Personal trainer and Body Science expert, Holly Louise explains what flexible dieting is and why it works.
Experience has shown that restrictive diets which label foods as “good” or “bad” or even eliminate food groups altogether are not sustainable. In fact, they may lead to binge eating, yo-yo dieting and cheating which in turn creates feelings of guilt, generates self-punishment and negative emotions, resulting in a very unhealthy relationship with food and body image.
image via pinterest
We are constantly being told what to eat and to fill our diets with “good foods” and cut out “bad foods”, especially if we want to lose weight. But what makes certain foods “good” and others “bad”?
Firstly, we need to understand that our bodies do not identify foods as good, bad, healthy or unhealthy – they identify the macronutrient breakdown of the food we consume. Every food is made up of macronutrients, which includes protein, carbohydrates and fat and each of these have a corresponding caloric value:
– Protein = 4 calories per gram
– Carbohydrates/sugars = 4 calories per gram
– Fat = 9 calories per gram
With this knowledge we can more accurately describe foods. Foods that are considered “good” for us are usually whole foods which are rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre, and other essential nutrients and as such are best described as nutrient-dense. These foods are generally low in calories, keep us feeling full and should make up the majority of our diets.
On the other hand, foods that are considered “bad” for us generally contain a fair amount of fat, sugar or both and not many nutrients. However, rather than slapping a “bad” label on these foods, it is best to describe them as more calorie-dense (contains a lot of calories in a small amount) and as such are not the best choice to consume on a regular basis. This is because these foods do not contain many nutrients and don’t usually keep us feeling satisfied for long, making it very easy to overeat.
Which brings me to flexible dieting:
Firstly, flexible dieting is not a diet – it is an approach to nutrition. It involves meeting daily targets of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate and fat) that have been calculated specifically for you in order to reach a specific body composition goal. The focus is on reaching these targets as the driver of your results, with food selection left up to you. With this being said, at least 80% of the foods you eat on a daily basis should be composed of nutritious whole foods, while 20% can be used for more processed foods. This creates enjoyment and sustainability with your diet which in turn improves long term adherence and results.
Flexible dieting is essentially a form of calorie counting and is dependent on your energy balance. To put it simply:
– To lose fat you must consume less calories than you burn (calorie deficit)
– To remain the same weight your calories in and calories out should remain the same
– To gain weight you must consume more calories than you burn (calorie surplus)
The benefit of flexible dieting over typical calorie counting (e.g. eating 2000 calories per day), is reaching personalised macronutrient goals. By taking it a step further by calculating and tracking your macronutrients specific to your body composition goal, you can target fat loss or muscle gain as opposed to just weight loss or weight gain.
I find that this nutritional approach works for just about anyone. It can even help to reduce bingeing tendencies for some and promote a healthier relationship with food through removing restrictions and “good” and “bad” food labels. Flexible dieting is meant to be just as the name suggests…FLEXIBLE!
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