Your Most Popular Diet Questions Answered

Diet

“Help! I know should eat better but I don’t actually know what that means!”

We get emails like this all day, every day, because “eating better” is a confusing subject.

  • Go to a doctor and he might tell you to eat more “heart healthy whole grains.”
  • Read another blog and it might say “eat 30 bananas a day for optimal health” (seriously, that’s a thing apparently).
  • Open the latest fitness magazine and you’ll be taught about belly-fat banishing super foods.

What’s the truth? How the heck does one “eat better?” How much should I eat? Why are we here? What’s the answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

The answer to all of these questions and more are covered below in an easily-digestible (heyo) article.

Let’s dig in.

How much should you eat?

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“Is it true that the less I eat, the faster I’ll lose weight?”

Maybe… and only up to a certain point. Our goal isn’t to get you to lose weight as quickly as possible. Our goal is to get you to lose body fat (not just weight) in a sustainable, permanent fashion.

Why?

Because starving yourself for a month-long “diet” only to return to old habits right after doesn’t help anybody.

So, we do NOT recommend you go on a diet. I actually hate that word. And the word “moist,” but I digress. A diet implies a temporary change to lose weight quickly, until you return to an unhealthy “normal life,” at which point you’ll put all of the weight right back on and have to repeat the cycle. Instead, we are going to make permanent changes to our lifestyle, moving the bar and adjusting what “normal” means to you.

Because over-consuming calories is generally the major culprit in an expanding waistline, consuming fewer calories is a good starting point. Spend a few days using a calorie tracker app (like MyFitnessPal) to track your daily food intake – every calorie. Once you start to educate yourself on how much you are eating every day, my bet is you’re eating more than you thought.

[note: Most sites and apps like MyFitnessPal give you macronutrient breakdowns that we don’t necessarily agree with. Disregard their recommendations for a low fat and high carb ratio, and simply use the apps for tracking.]

“So, I know how much I AM eating, how much SHOULD I be eating?”

Depending on your level of activity and body composition, your daily caloric needs will be different for every person… but here’s a broad range for an average human trying to eat an acceptable amount:

  • Men: 1800-2200 calories
  • Women: 1600-2000 calories

These are ROUGH estimates based on basic numbers, though the specific total you need will depend on your height, weight, genetics, and level of activity – you can actually calculate it by plugging in your stats here, and it’ll give you a ROUGH estimate of how many calories you should be consuming on average to maintain your weight. Eat less, lose weight. Eat more, gain weight. This is called your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).

You can calculate your TDEE here.

Now, because this amount might be drastically less than you currently consume, we recommend you slowly decrease the amount of food you eat so your body doesn’t revolt: going from 3500-4000 calories per day down to 1600 is a recipe for disaster!

“Wait, why is eating WAYYY too few calories bad?”

Regardless of how much you eat, we don’t recommend that you drop below the bottom end of the spectrum if you want to be healthy and happy. Eating 1200 calories a day (or less), along with running on a treadmill for two hours is unsustainable, unhealthy, and won’t get you the results you’re after in the long term.

When you eat the right kinds of food (explained below!), and the correct amount of it, you’ll give your body the “ok!” to stop hoarding calories and storing energy and start burning it!

Note: This doesn’t mean if you skip a meal here or there your body will kick into starvation mode. In fact, we recommend skipping meals here and there for many people! It’s called intermittent fasting.

“What if I’m trying to get bigger?? How can I eat more calories?”

Welcome to my world! If you are skinny and looking to pack on some size and muscle, you need to consume more calories than you are burning, in addition to following a challenging strength-training routine to stimulate muscle growth.

For that reason, the same foods we encourage people to avoid when they are trying to LOSE weight can be great tools to help you GAIN weight.

This means in addition to consuming protein sources to assist in muscle building (meat, fish, eggs, whey protein, etc), look for foods that are high calorie and high carb to get your total caloric/carb intake up:

  • Rice (brown or white)
  • Whole milk
  • Beans
  • Oats
  • Fruit
  • Nuts (healthy fats, high in calorie)
  • Nut Butter (peanut, almond, cashew)

If you’re not getting bigger, you’re not eating enough. Count calories for a week, add 250 more per day, and check again in two weeks to see how your weight has changed!

“What about snacking? What are some healthy snacks I can eat throughout the day?”

Actually, I’m not a big fan of snacking! I’m officially on Team “No Snack” as I just make sure my actual meals are big and healthy. Now, if you are looking for some healthy options, no problem. Make sure you check out our article on snacking! Just remember to keep track of total calories for the day!

Eating healthier

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“Got it, so I should eat fewer calories…but now I’m hungry all the time because I’ve cut half of what I used to eat in half. And now I’m cranky. And I want my cookies. And that ice cream over there.”

Although calorie restriction is a good start for losing weight, we also believe that the quality of the calorie plays a big role too! Your body does not treat every calorie equally: eating a lot of vegetables, healthy fats, and protein will result in a different experience for your body compared to an equal amount of candy, pasta, cookies, and cake.

For that reason, if you’re going to start eating fewer calories, you need to start consuming more filling foods that don’t have a ton of calories.

Foods like chicken, steak, fish, and most protein sources (provided they aren’t breaded and deep fried) can help you feel full without increasing your caloric intake.

The same is true for vegetables: if you can LOAD up a plate with veggies and grilled chicken covered in salsa (or one of our other healthy recipes), I guarantee it’ll be a fraction of the calories compared to a big soda, french fries, a plate of pasta, chips, or candy. And you’ll actually feel satiated after!

There’s a method to the madness with this type of eating. We don’t LOVE counting calories, as it can cause us to get neurotic and freak out over every calories, though it is a good place to start. So, instead, we try to simplify things and put the focus on real food as a strategy to stay on track long term.

Some use the Paleo Diet, which we are fans of due to its focus on consuming real foods. Others just use the “stop eating junk, start eating real food” strategy.

“Wait, eat more vegetables, and protein? But I read on many sites that meat is bad for you, and I should be eating more heart-healthy whole grains.”

Personally, I’m not a vegetarian nor do I prescribe to the lifestyle – I believe meat can be a healthy part of our diet. If you don’t eat meat, feel free to stick around, but make sure you check out my friend Matt at NoMeatAthlete.com too! As for “heart-healthy whole grains,” we actually recommend you minimize the amount of grains and total carbs you consume.

“How many carbs is too many?”

If your goal is weight loss, we recommend that you consume less than 100 grams of carbs per day, and aim to get most of those carbs from leafy greens and other vegetables. Depending on your training routine, that number might need to be lower or higher.

“If I keep my carbs under 100 grams per day, then what else do I eat?”

Lots of healthy fats (avocado, fatty meats, almond butter, nuts, olive oil, coconut oil) and protein!

“I thought fat was bad for me?” 

Nope! Fat has been wrongly vilified for years. Eating fat does not make you fat, just like eating foods with cholesterol is different than the cholesterol in your blood.The real enemy? Sugar and refined processed foods!

Want to kickstart your weight loss? Cut sugar from your diet. No more sodas.

“I know I should eat more vegetables. But I don’t want to give up the foods I love. And I love sugar.”

How about this: eat healthy as often as you can, and then for a few meals a week, eat what you want. See how your body changes over a few weeks, and then adjust accordingly. Don’t give up anything permanently, but you have to start limiting the junk food. And sugar is what’s ruining us.

What if I just don’t like the taste of vegetables?

That’s cool. Neither did I, til I found my gateway vegetable: grilled asparagus. And then I started liking zucchini when in a stirfry. And then broccoli. And now I eat bowls of vegetables. Here’s a strategy for vegetable haters.

Making changes permanent

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“Great work Steve, you made my head hurt. Eat less sugar, eat more fat. Vegetables are good, too many carbs is bad. Eat less but not too much less. Just tell me what to do.”

First and foremost, don’t over-complicate things. Knock that off. All I want you to do is make small, DELIBERATE, sustainable changes to your diet:

  • Try to eat some protein with each meal.
  • Vegetables are your friend. And no, corn doesn’t count.
  • Fat is not the enemy! Liquid calories, and sugar in particular, are your enemy.
  • Make changes you can live with.

All we’re trying to do is raise the average number of healthy decisions you make each week. If last week you made 0 healthy decisions, then if you make just 1 this week – congrats, your average week is now healthier than last week!

We are not trying to crash-diet our way into a bathing suit for a week. We are making permanent changes that permanently change our relationship with food. We take care of ourselves – we eat more veggies and protein because we know they make us operate and function better.

No matter your situation, start today. Make one better decision. As you get better at understanding how to eat better, you can increase the difficulty and make more healthy decisions each week to accelerate the speed you transform.

“What’s the answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?”

42.

Any other questions for me? I’d love to answer them.

-Steve

PS: If you want more specific instruction, check out the Nerd Fitness Academy, which has recipes, meal plans, diet strategy, workout plans, and the ability to level up a character by completing quests!

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