Sport Good article by Chris Aceto

Sport Fitness
FACT High-Fat Diets Make Your Fat
They do! When you compare calorie for calorie carbohydrates, protein or dietary fat, fat is more “fattening.” That’s because dietary fat is less; “thermic” then carbs or protein. Thermic describes the “cost of digestion” of foods. When you eat 100 calories of protein 20% or more of the total 100 calories is burned away thru the digestion process. With carbs it’s 7-12% (depending on how empty or full your muscle glycogen reserves are) and with dietary fat its 4% or less. In addition, the storage form of protein is, well muscle tissue. When you eat excess protein, it’s turned into muscle (if you have trained hard enough). Any further excess will be stored as body fat. The storage form of carbohydrates is muscle glycogen. If glycogen stores are close to full, the excess will be stored as body fat. With dietary fat, the storage local is good old hips, glutes abs and thighs.

FACT Skipping Breakfast Can Lead to Fat Gain
100% for sure. When you wake up hungry and skip breakfast, leptin levels can change encouraging the body to hold onto body fat. In addition, skipping breakfast facilitates a catabolic- muscle wasting state which, in turn causes the metabolism to slow.

FACT Protein Intake Needs to Increase When Trying to Lean Out
At the beginning, as calories come down and you have a copious amount of body fat to burn, protein needs do not rise too much. However, as body fat begins to be used up, the body begins to rely on an alternative source of energy – protein. If you do not increase your intake of dietary protein – the protein you eat- the body will burn its muscle tissue.

FICTION You Can’t Get Lean on High Carbs
Getting lean boils down to the fundamentals; calorie control from eating fewer calories then the body is used to getting. Calorie output; burning more through training and cardio is the second fundamental issue. Outside of that, you have to control carbs to some degree but you can get lean on a higher carb intake. In fact, an adequate carb intake prevents thyroid levels from dropping, the super important master hormone that governs fat burning. If carbs plummet, generally you will experience a drop in thyroid levels. So keeping carbs adequate; enough to train hard and to keep hormones in check is the smart way to go.


FICTION Pre-Workout Meals Should be Avoided When Trying to Get Lean (in other words, you should allows train on an empty stomach)
You should eat before training! Eating before training allows you to train hard and hard training ALWAYS take precedent over cutting back on calories. In other words, you should NEVER do anything to interfere with your ability to train hard. In fact, it’s my litmus test I use to judge whether someone is overdoing his diet – and risking losing valuable muscle mass. If someone is not sure where he is in a dieting phase, I will ask him; how’s your workout intensity. If they answer that it stinks, is ok or “so –so” then its an indication he is eating too little and making the huge mistake of reducing calories at the expense of maintaining his ability to train hard. Hard training makes you lean. Hard training drives the metabolism. Those who skip and eating zilch before training end up over trained, run down or lose muscle simply because they cant get the job done in the gym

FACT When Trying to Lose Bodyfat, You Should Eat Less Later in the Day (ie, at dinner)
As the day goes on, reserves of carbohydrates in the muscle called muscle glycogen tend to fill up. As glycogens stores approach “full” the body tends to become more efficient at storing food, especially carbs, into body fat.


FICTION All Carbs Should Be Avoided After 6pm When Trying to Lean Out
If you train at night, you have to eat something- a meal – before training and that meal should include carbs and protein. aAnd, after training you need a relatively higher carb intake- even if it’s 11 Pm at night- to kick start recovery. If you skip on the carbs here, kick drop your growth and recovery right out the window.

FICTION Simple Carbs Should Always Be Avoided When Trying to Lean Out
Simple or fast digesting carbs are great at the first meal of the day to bring up what is typically low blood sugar levels. This helps guide the body back into a growth mode. They are also helpful after training to quickly re start growth which is interrupted with hard core training.

FACT Caffeine Can Help You Burn Bodyfat
Caffeine increase adrenalin levels which, in turn triggers norepinephrine and that supports the burning of body fat. Cource, calories count too. If you are over eating don’t expect coffee to make you leaner. On the other hand, if you are eating fewer calories then you need each day and using caffeine, you can expect the caffiene to affect the burning of body fat.

FICTION Drinking Water Can Help You Burn Bodyfat
Dehydrated individuals show a compromised metabolism; somewhere around 2%. This means a person who is dehydrated will probably burn 2% fewer calories a day. If you need 2500 a day 2% is only 50 calories. That’s nothing. People…yes those nutritionists too like to harp on it…but it does NOT play into the burning of calories.

What I gathered from this article
-eat some kind of fruit in the morning and not run on an empty stomach
-need to watch my pre-workout nutrition
-lower fats overall in my diet
-eat less later in the day.
-increase protein intake
-don't rely on "low carb" days to quicken up fat loss. this just causes me to lose energy and recovery.
-get some caffeine like green tea. I do drink alot of diet coke though lol
 
I think the last point is just plain silly. Adequate hydration is necessary for all humans, and if you're losing weight you should drink more because the conversion of fat into energy requires water. If in doubt, drink a bit more water, if your body doesn't need it you'll just pee it out, no harm done.
 
I think the last point is just plain silly. Adequate hydration is necessary for all humans, and if you're losing weight you should drink more because the conversion of fat into energy requires water. If in doubt, drink a bit more water, if your body doesn't need it you'll just pee it out, no harm done.

Yeah, hyrdation is important but I think the author was just trying to get the point across that tons of water doesn't equal fat loss.

I always got a bottle of water near me.
 
FACT High-Fat Diets Make Your Fat
They do! When you compare calorie for calorie carbohydrates, protein or dietary fat, fat is more “fattening.” That’s because dietary fat is less; “thermic” then carbs or protein. Thermic describes the “cost of digestion” of foods. When you eat 100 calories of protein 20% or more of the total 100 calories is burned away thru the digestion process. With carbs it’s 7-12% (depending on how empty or full your muscle glycogen reserves are) and with dietary fat its 4% or less. In addition, the storage form of protein is, well muscle tissue. When you eat excess protein, it’s turned into muscle (if you have trained hard enough). Any further excess will be stored as body fat. The storage form of carbohydrates is muscle glycogen. If glycogen stores are close to full, the excess will be stored as body fat. With dietary fat, the storage local is good old hips, glutes abs and thighs.

FACT Skipping Breakfast Can Lead to Fat Gain
100% for sure. When you wake up hungry and skip breakfast, leptin levels can change encouraging the body to hold onto body fat. In addition, skipping breakfast facilitates a catabolic- muscle wasting state which, in turn causes the metabolism to slow.

FACT Protein Intake Needs to Increase When Trying to Lean Out
At the beginning, as calories come down and you have a copious amount of body fat to burn, protein needs do not rise too much. However, as body fat begins to be used up, the body begins to rely on an alternative source of energy – protein. If you do not increase your intake of dietary protein – the protein you eat- the body will burn its muscle tissue.

FICTION You Can’t Get Lean on High Carbs
Getting lean boils down to the fundamentals; calorie control from eating fewer calories then the body is used to getting. Calorie output; burning more through training and cardio is the second fundamental issue. Outside of that, you have to control carbs to some degree but you can get lean on a higher carb intake. In fact, an adequate carb intake prevents thyroid levels from dropping, the super important master hormone that governs fat burning. If carbs plummet, generally you will experience a drop in thyroid levels. So keeping carbs adequate; enough to train hard and to keep hormones in check is the smart way to go.


FICTION Pre-Workout Meals Should be Avoided When Trying to Get Lean (in other words, you should allows train on an empty stomach)
You should eat before training! Eating before training allows you to train hard and hard training ALWAYS take precedent over cutting back on calories. In other words, you should NEVER do anything to interfere with your ability to train hard. In fact, it’s my litmus test I use to judge whether someone is overdoing his diet – and risking losing valuable muscle mass. If someone is not sure where he is in a dieting phase, I will ask him; how’s your workout intensity. If they answer that it stinks, is ok or “so –so” then its an indication he is eating too little and making the huge mistake of reducing calories at the expense of maintaining his ability to train hard. Hard training makes you lean. Hard training drives the metabolism. Those who skip and eating zilch before training end up over trained, run down or lose muscle simply because they cant get the job done in the gym

FACT When Trying to Lose Bodyfat, You Should Eat Less Later in the Day (ie, at dinner)
As the day goes on, reserves of carbohydrates in the muscle called muscle glycogen tend to fill up. As glycogens stores approach “full” the body tends to become more efficient at storing food, especially carbs, into body fat.


FICTION All Carbs Should Be Avoided After 6pm When Trying to Lean Out
If you train at night, you have to eat something- a meal – before training and that meal should include carbs and protein. aAnd, after training you need a relatively higher carb intake- even if it’s 11 Pm at night- to kick start recovery. If you skip on the carbs here, kick drop your growth and recovery right out the window.

FICTION Simple Carbs Should Always Be Avoided When Trying to Lean Out
Simple or fast digesting carbs are great at the first meal of the day to bring up what is typically low blood sugar levels. This helps guide the body back into a growth mode. They are also helpful after training to quickly re start growth which is interrupted with hard core training.

FACT Caffeine Can Help You Burn Bodyfat
Caffeine increase adrenalin levels which, in turn triggers norepinephrine and that supports the burning of body fat. Cource, calories count too. If you are over eating don’t expect coffee to make you leaner. On the other hand, if you are eating fewer calories then you need each day and using caffeine, you can expect the caffiene to affect the burning of body fat.

FICTION Drinking Water Can Help You Burn Bodyfat
Dehydrated individuals show a compromised metabolism; somewhere around 2%. This means a person who is dehydrated will probably burn 2% fewer calories a day. If you need 2500 a day 2% is only 50 calories. That’s nothing. People…yes those nutritionists too like to harp on it…but it does NOT play into the burning of calories.

What I gathered from this article
-eat some kind of fruit in the morning and not run on an empty stomach
-need to watch my pre-workout nutrition
-lower fats overall in my diet
-eat less later in the day.
-increase protein intake
-don't rely on "low carb" days to quicken up fat loss. this just causes me to lose energy and recovery.
-get some caffeine like green tea. I do drink alot of diet coke though lol

Great article! Much has been learned :)
 
Most of this stuff is true, but misses the main point. A lot of this stuff about nutrient timing and fats verses carbs and protien is the last 2% of what you need to worry about to get to the ideal body composition (like when you are already within 2-3% of your goal body fat percentage, not when you are 20%+ above your ideal body fat percentage). A lot of people concentrate on this minutia and miss the big picture and fail miserably in their fitness goals. Simplify:
1. eat less, move more
2. exercise at progressively increasing intensity (best achieved by lifting heavy wieghts with compound movements)
3. eat nutrient rich foods (generally less processed, natural, whole foods)
That's the first 98% and all most healthy individuals need to get started and make enormous progress for many years.
 
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