Diet Theory.

Eat healthy, look good. It sounds pretty simple.

As one researches more and more about dieting for a better body, they will find that there are many different theories out there. I work by something I call the "best body theory", it's relatively simple, I do what makes people with average figures look the best.

Am I going to get great results at 160lbs if I follow the diet regimen of a 300lb heavyweight Mr Olympia contender like Jay Cutler? Probably not, but someone built like Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp in more recent years is far less likely to have genetic freak show on their resume, and so are a more likely template to work from.

There is no magic diet! What works best for you will not always work for your training partners or best buddies. The most effective way to get the results you want from your diet is with micro-adjustment.

Keep a carefully maintained diet log. Track your caloric intake, and your caloric burn. Track the grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrates in everything you eat. make small changes to your diet once a month to get the changes you want. A good goal to shoot for at first is to track what you'd normally eat over a month. Just keep an eye on what you eat and when, and try to balance your daily intake of calories with your daily burn.

How much should I eat? A good place to start is to look at your basal metabolic rate (or how many calories your body burns per day for survival purposes.) which can be calculated like so:

I read this formula in this article at www.bodybuilding.com

Step 1
For Men: 1 x body weight (kg) x 24 = _________
For Women: .9 x body weight (kg) x 24 = _________
* to convert pounds to kg, divide weight in pounds by 2.2
Step 2
Take your body fat percentage into account and adjust the number form step one accordingly
Men 10 to 14%, Women 14 to 18% 1.0
Men 14 to 20%, Women 18 to 28% .95
Men 20 to 28%, Women 28 to 38% .90
Men over 28%, Women over 38% .85

So for example if you are a 180lb man with 25% body fat, your body uses ((180*24)*0.9) or 3888 calories per day. If you eat less than your BMR, you will lose weight, and if you eat more, you will gain weight.

That's all I have time for today. Tune in later this week for my article on macro-nutrient balance to learn about how much protein, fat, and carbs you should be eating.