Calorie Restricted Diets

Diets that restrict calories can decrease the amount of lean muscle mass in your body while reducing body fat. Muscle mass burns calories twenty four hours a day at a rate of 35 -50 calories per pound of lean muscle per day. If you were to lose 10 lbs, five from fat and five from muscle you will have lost the ability to burn 175 – 250 calories a day. Since 3500 extra calories equals a pound of fat then you have increased your chances of adding an extra pound of fat every 14-20 days. This can add up to an extra 18 -26 pounds of fat a year. Calorie reduced diets aren’t the best way to go. You do lose the weight right away, but in the long run it is not in your favour.  Following a moderate diet with the incorporation of strength training can allow you to burn fat while increasing your lean muscle mass.

Spot Reducing

There are so many tools to flatten your abs and tighten your toosh. Unfortunately the reality is that these won’t shed the fat that is covering the muscle you are working so hard to get. You must do something to shed the fat in order to see the muscle. Your body chooses where it is going to lose fat from first and last. Usually the place you want to lose first is the last place you lose. With a consistent work out routine, moderate nutrition and cardio you can achieve your goal. If you continue with good habits that you have created the effects will be long lasting!

Converting fat in food labels

Reading food labels can be confusing at times so here are a few simple tips to help you understand how much fat is in the food you are eating.

Manufactures know that fat grams look more inviting than total calories from fat. As well not many people know how to convert them and blindly buy their product. You want to have 30% or less fat in everything you eat. Ideally that would be less than10% saturated and 20% unsaturated fat.  To figure out what percentage of that portion size is fat look at the label. The labels always list the product total in calories but everything else is in grams. You have to know how to convert it.

There are 9 calories in every gram of fat. 1g fat = 9 calories

To convert the fat grams into calories you multiply them by 9.

Let’s say a product is 100 calories and 5 g of fat. Multiply the grams of fat by 9. 5 x 9 = 45 calories. So 45 cal of the 100 cal come from fat. This means the product is 45% fat.