Hi I’m Lee Labrada, and welcome to this edition of Ask Lee. This week we’re going to be addressing a question I get from many of my students: Lee, what are your best diet shortcuts?
The best diet shortcuts of course are the ones that work. Our goal is always to strive for dropping body fat not weight. In other words we want to keep the lean muscle while burning off the fat.
If that is your goal, then here are some things that you can put to work right away: Increase your protein intake to 1g of protein per pound of body weight. So in other words if you weigh 200 pounds you’re going to consume at least 200 g of protein per day.
Protein feeds lean muscle tissue, and you want to maximize the amount of muscle that you have so that you can keep burning fat. An 8 ounce serving of chicken or fish has about 40 g of protein. You can also get protein from a high-quality protein powder. Spread your food intake out over five meals per day.
When I first tell people this, they look at me like I’m crazy, but it’s really easy. It’s just breakfast lunch and dinner with a high-protein snack at mid morning and mid afternoon, usually a protein shake and a piece of fruit.
By eating every three hours you don’t overload your system with too much food at one time which can cause you to get fat. It also keeps your muscles supplied with protein. Use complex carbohydrates and good fats for energy sources. You don’t want to overdo the energy part, you just want to eat enough to maintain your daily activity including exercise and still incur a slight caloric deficit, so your body will have to tap into body fat in order to make up the missing energy calories.
Examples of complex carbohydrates include oatmeal rice and beans and sweet potatoes. Examples of good fats include oily fish such as salmon, avocados, nuts and olive oil. Cut out all bread and wheat products, and cut out all junk foods including fried foods and sweets.
This change in and of itself most of the time has the greatest impact on the body composition of people who are dieting, because these foods contain a lot of empty calories. Drink lots of water to keep your system flushed out and healthy. Avoid sugary soft drinks and fruit juices as they contain unwanted calories.
And last but not least you can have the best diet in the world but you always get best results if you have an exercise program that includes weight training. Weight training stimulates muscle tissue, and as I’ve said before muscle is one of the biggest factors in determining your metabolic rate. If you’re already doing these things, good for you! If you haven’t already tried them out, do so and you will see a dramatic change in your body in under 90 days.
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