Find out what diet secrets are hidden by bodybuilding pros from ordinary gym goers. The effect of changing the body is guaranteed. If you train for yourself, then you don't need to count calories. But when you are planning to perform, this is very important. In this article, you will learn about 11 bodybuilders' misconceptions about not counting calories.
What you eat matters, not how much you eat
You can lose weight by eating only junk food and sodas. Of course, you can give a lot of reasons not to do this, and such a nutrition program will not be of interest to you. Scientists have not yet proven that junk food is more conducive to fat accumulation than healthy food. Including whole grains, fiber, and high protein levels in your diet is part of your appetite control routine. As long as you consume fewer calories than you burn, weight will drop.
With the right combination of nutrients, fat does not accumulate
This topic has been studied by scientists for more than a decade, but a formula has not yet been developed, thanks to which fats will be efficiently burned. If you consume the same amount of protein compounds, then with any nutritional program, fat loss will be the same. By consuming protein, you protect your muscles from breakdown, and fats are burned more efficiently with the same calorie intake. However, this statement is true only until the amount of protein compounds in your diet has exceeded 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight. Further increase in dosage no longer affects fat loss.
Counting calories, you lose less fat than you expect
Here we can only agree that even in the most controlled experiments, the subjects often lose less than it was planned according to the calculations. However, the point here is not in calorie content, but in the energy balance of the body. Let's highlight the main reasons why it is difficult to determine the indicator of this balance:
- A person cannot correctly estimate the number of calories received.
- With an energy deficit, a person is less active, which reduces calorie expenditure.
- People lose different amounts of water, which can significantly affect the result.
In all studies where the organizers controlled the diet, in those moments when the subjects ate less food, they also lost fat mass. Although the results were not in line with the estimates, the differences were not significant.
You can't put on as much weight as the calculations show
The situation here is similar to the previous point. The body resists not only weight loss, but also weight gain. Sometimes a person is not at all able to gain weight, even with a high calorie diet. Here are the main reasons for this:
- With an increase in calorie content, activity increases, which leads to a large expenditure of energy.
- As you gain weight, you need to move more weight, and this requires extra energy.
- The more food is consumed, the stronger the thermogenic effect, requiring additional calories.
With a decrease in caloric intake, metabolism slows down
Unfortunately, this is completely wrong, since otherwise the person could not die of hunger. In one study, subjects followed a half-calorie diet program and walked a total of 30 kilometers over a week. In six months, they managed to lose almost a quarter of their mass, and their basal metabolism decreased by only 225 calories per day. Of course, the metabolic rate will be reduced, but not significantly.
Weight loss cannot be controlled by calories
Of course, this is a very complex process and the composition of the human body depends on a large number of factors. However, if you reduce the energy value of your food, then you will lose weight, and you do not have to worry about these points.
Frequency of meals is important, not volume
Now we cannot say that six meals a day or temporary fasting is not just a way to control hunger, but something more. Just as so far, scientists have not precisely proven the need to consume a small amount of carbohydrates in the evening or the effectiveness of the "carbohydrate window". If you eat the same amount of calories, you will either lose or gain the same weight. It doesn't matter if you ate twice a day or 12 times.
Managing hormones is more important than calories
A large number of hormones have an effect on weight gain (loss). However, now scientists cannot say how to regulate their concentration during the diet with drugs or in any other way.
Supplements are guaranteed to lose weight
If you do not create an energy deficit in the body, then no supplement will help you lose weight. It should be remembered that there are very few truly effective supplements, and most of them are dummies. Even if you use such a powerful fat burner as ECA mixture, you will lose no more than three hundred calories during the day. It is also important to remember about getting used to any drug, which as a result leads to a decrease in effectiveness.
Reducing calories is ineffective and increases hunger
More often than not, eating a small amount of food will increase hunger. However, this does not apply to foods that fill the stomach well. For example, by increasing your protein intake, you may not even notice hunger while reducing your total calorie intake. Although it is difficult to fight hunger and you cannot argue with that. Sometimes you just need to endure.
I can't lose weight, although I eat little and exercise
Here are some reasons that disprove this claim:
- More often than not, people don't even know exactly how much food they are consuming. You cannot check for sure whether you have lost weight and rely on sensations alone.
- If you do not tune yourself to adherence to the dietary nutrition program, then the desired result will be extremely difficult to achieve.
- Even in the course of experiments, subjects know the details of the experiment, which can seriously affect the result.
You will learn how to count calories from this video:
