Home Nutritionist and PT for a Month

More examples of what I eat:



Turkey salad with a homemade pickled hardboiled egg, homemade tomato soup, and a fresh fig with a piece of brie cheese for 'dessert'. Simple.

Diet? This is no diet. This is LIVING! I love eating this way, and my body loves it too. It rewards me with high energy, full 8 hours sleep, no hunger, no cravings, and yes, fat loss!

Last night I got a surprise from DH. He said to me, "Ok, you want me to lose weight. It's obvious that you know what you're doing and you've done more research than me. So how about you prepare my meals and tell me what to eat for a month?"



Uhhh...what? Double take...



Wow! Acknowledgement and validation that what I'm doing works. Amazing!

I guess I have a job as a nutritionist and personal trainer for a month!

I became excited and started collecting data. Height, weight, BMR, BMI, bodyfat %, and lean body mass. I scribbled furiously in a notebook. I calculated how many grams of protein/carbs/fat and calories he needed to eat.

I'm going to put him on a 'primal' diet where I restict daily carbs to 80g or less per day. He shouldn't get 'low-carb flu' at this level, but it should be enough to keep insulin levels low. 80g is actually a bit high for me, but I am a much smaller woman.

Protein is problematic. He's a tall man, and his lean mass is double mine. The amount of protein I eat can be challenging! I'm not sure how I'm going to get DOUBLE the protein into him.

I've worked out c/p/f ratios for him to be about 20c/35p/45f.

His BMR is ~2100, and I'm restricting calories to 1600. Yes, calories do count. I am not a believer that one can eat whatever they want. However, it is possible to restrict calories without feeling hungry.

Constant hunger on a diet is a sign that you're not getting enough nutrition. Your body will keep driving you to eat and eat if it's lacking something. When I ate a low-fat diet, that 'something' was fat. I lose more fat by eating fat than I ever did restricting it.

How low carb diets work is by manipulating a metabolic trick. In a healthy body with no metabolic damage, our bodies moves calories in and out of fat cells constantly. During times of perceived 'starvation', more calories are withdrawn than put in.

This is accomplished, as you guessed, by withdrawing carbohydrates. But there is a catch. If you withdraw carbs, you must supply energy with dietary fat and eat a certain level of protein to match current lean body mass. Protein is required every day to repair muscle tissues and build new tissue. Protein also contains essential amino acids to make our organs function property. Low-protein causes muscle to be catabolized to obtain these amino acids. High carb/low-protein diets also lowers resting metabolism, as shown by this recent clinical study:

jama.jamanetwork.com/art
icle.aspx?articleid=1199154

If we restrict protein, then our bodies will downshift metabolism in order to preserve as much lean mass as possible. When protein supply is adequate, metabolism is upshifted to use it.

Our bodies are lazy. It will always use what's in the gut and bloodstream first before turning to reserves. If we eat 1g protein per pound of lean mass, then it will use the dietary protein for amino acids, even if we 'trick' it into perceived 'starvation' through carbohydrate restriction.

As many LCers will enthusiastically attest, there is no hunger with the right levels of protein/fat in place of carbs.

I got all these numbers worked out. I told him how many calories, carbs/fat/protein he'll be eating per day. I said he would be eating approximately 4-5 meals per day with breakfast.

He said, "No, I don't eat breakfast. I just eat lunch and dinner"





I explained there's no way he can get all the calories he needs with just two meals per day. It's killing his metabolism. 1600 calories in 2 meals? No, it won't work.

We argued, but he was insistent about not eating breakfast. He says he's just not hungry then.

Yeah, but it is why he's starved by lunch.

Break. Fast. Breaking the fast from sleeping.

Arg.

I suggested, "What if I make protein bars or a trail mix bag you can eat on the drive to work?"

He actually was amenable to the idea. Score. Except he didn't like my last attempt at making protein bars. It was nutritious, but not tasty - lol.

I researched protein bars that has the macronutrients I wanted, but would still be tasty. I found a no-bake recipe that used bananas, nut butter, and protein powder. Score again. Exactly what I had in mind.

I gave it a try last night. While the taste was good, the consistency won't work. It started 'melting' as soon as I took it out of the freezer this morning. The middle bars, still frozen, look great. Just the way I want. The others are partially melted. Not exactly what I had in mind for portable protein breakfast.



Freezer works great to 'set' it, but I have to tweak the recipe so it's a little more solid at room temp.

Now I'm going to be occupied with meal planning and preparation for both of us. This is going to be challenging. But this is what people do every day to get their families healthy breakfast and lunch to school/work, right?

I'm planning on preparing 'chef salad' type lunches for him. Salad, but with lots of protein so it's 'manly'. Fortunately, my man is easy when it comes to the veg, so no problem there. I'm going to make homemade trail mix nut blends for snacking.

The amount of protein he needs is still throwing me for a loop. Although I'm loathe to it due to the nitrates, I'm thinking jerkies might be the way to go. I know he won't do protein shakes, so that's out. I'm not a huge fan of protein shakes myself, but I'm really freaking out about how much protein he needs.

He's resistant to breakfast and won't drink shakes. What a fussy client. He said he would eat what I tell him, but this seems to have a lot of restrictions! I have a feeling I may quit this 'job' by the end of the week!



Any suggestions out there? Any LC men have any tips on what has worked for them?