Fat loss and food is timing everything?

I would like to touch on an area in Health and Nutrition that I have had many inquires about. That is meal timing…..how important is meal timing when we are looking to maximize fat loss or muscle gain?While we are at it I will also include some specific meal options and other tips along the way.

Now with regards to the separate goals of fat loss and muscle gain, quantity of food intake would differ greatly, and the types of food would differ somewhat, but the meal timing would be very similar.

For the purpose of this article we will look specifically at fat loss through meal timing and proper food selection.

So let’s take a look at a few things

Breakfast

Skip meal this and you are inviting fat storage on your body! You need to eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking. Your body is most metabolically active in the morning. Consider that your body has went all night without nourishment and it should be screaming for food when you wake.  If you consistently skip this meal your body will slow down your metabolism drastically and go into what is called “starvation mode”. In starvation mode your body is not sure if you are in the middle of the desert with no source of nourishment in sight for days, or just being too lazy to organize a good breakfast. Either way, your body doesn’t care..it just slows your metabolism down to a snail’s crawl as a survival instinct just to be safe.

On the other hand if you do eat a healthy balanced breakfast within an hour of waking up…and believe me this does not include bread, milk and “healthy cereal” or coffee and a bagel. A great breakfast would be rich in protein and some unsaturated fats with some vitamin packed fruit.

An example of a great breakfast would be:

2-4 eggs

half an avocado

raw fruit on the side

Not complicated, but protein and vitamin packed with the right amount of healthy fats to JACK up your metabolism for the day.

Lunch

You need to eat this meal as early as possible after breakfast preferably within 3-4 hours. This can be the either easiest or most difficult meal of the day to manage. A little bit of preparation at home and you are set for the week. If you eat out one meal then you should bring enough food for at least one other meal or snack every day. If you don’t eat out then you need enough for two meals. This does not have to be complicated.

On a Sunday afternoon you can throw a few chicken breast/fish steaks/ground beef or turkey patties (seasoned to your liking) in the oven to cook. You will have lunch for the next 3-4 days (5 if you stretch it out like I do).

Example of healthy lunch would be:

6-10oz  ofChicken breast

6-12 (non-salted or roasted) nuts or seeds of choice

Raw vegetables of choice or salad with an oil based dressing (low in sugar)

The more calories you consume earlier in the day the more chance your body has of keeping your metabolism working and incinerating calories. A 2pm lunch won’t cut it.

If you go out for lunch, remember you don’t need to order off the menu. Most restaurants can make you a salad with grilled boneless, skinless chicken, maybe with a little Cajun spic or something. If there are no healthy salad dressing options then ask for some oil/vinegar and lemon on the side.

Dinner

Of the three main meals for the day, dinner is generally the one that is seldom missed. Now dinner time is where you can likely tell if you have correctly timed your meals and eaten and made the right food choices during the day.You need only pay attention to how your body feels..are you famished?....cravingvariety or sweet and/or salty foods?...carbs? Or are you feeling a little hungry but not like you could devastate a buffet?

You may not be hungry at all, this can be ambiguous because it either means you have eaten a little too much during the day (even of healthy food) OR you have not eaten properly during the day and your metabolism has slowed do to a snail’s crawl in turn repressing your appetite.

Dinner should be the smallest meal of the day of the three main meals (snacks not included) so your level of hunger should be manageable but quenchable with another balanced meal.

So what should you eat.?

A lean protein source, such as chicken, fish, beef, lamb, or pork.

A large amount of a variety of vegetable, raw or lightly steamed

Olive oil dressing.

Keep in mind that some of the “lighter” protein sources such as fish can be eaten in larger quantities.

Remember, you need to eat the majority of your food by mid afternoon and dinner should be a smaller “top up” for the evening. 

 Snacks

It is a good idea to have a snack or two during the day to re-ignite your metabolism between meals. Mid-morning and/or early afternoon. Snacks do not need to be big but they do need to contain Protein, Fats and Fruit or Vegetables.

2-3 oz of protein

2-8 unsalted/unroasted nuts

Piece of raw fruit

Emergencies

What do you do if despite making all your meal preparations on a regular basis you find yourself in a pinch and you cannot have a meal?

The protein shake - this is one of the situations where supplements come into play for the average person, but not just any supplement. Find a good quality clean protein powder with a serving of 20+ gram of protein with some vitamins and minimal preservatives and other fillers. There is a lot of crap out there but therear some great ones, my favorite at the moment is “Vega sport”, it’s pricey but you don’t need to have it every day.

I like to keep a scoop or two of protein powder in a shaker cup and a bottle of water nearby. If there is not time to eat, you take 30 seconds and pour the water in the shaker cup, shake it up and drink it! Viola, a meal in a pinch!

Calorie intake

You don’t really need to count calories (fats are the only exception), your body will tell you if you are eating too much. I find 90% of the time it is the opposite and people do not eat enough food. Healthy, natural foods are so low in calories that you can eat like a king all day and eat the equivalent of a McDonald’s happy meals. Not to mention that the quality of calories in whole, natural foods are infinitely better for your body. Fast food and other processed crap with cause excess fat storage and slow your metabolism down by taxing the liver in order to get rid of all the toxins in the food. Not to mention all the negative affects that we don’t even know yet.

Cravings

When you make proper balanced food choices and space your meals out evenly throughout the day you will keep your metabolism revved up and burning FAT.

Not only will this help deplete FAT storage it will cut your food craving in half and some! How does that happen you ask? When your body receives an adequate amount of whole, natural foods it will receive all the nutrients it needs ad in turn, feel satisfied. When your body does not receive what it needs, the result is cravings. Salt, sugar, carbs or whatever else…..and this is all bad for your waistline!

 

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