Calories

DO YOU KNOW...your brain requires a minimum of 1,000 calories daily just to function properly?!! If you are eating as the "average" person, less than 1,500 calories daily, your body is starving.

Starving your body causes your body to "store" most of what you eat. Your body only knows how to store by creating fat. So, eating too little daily makes you fat - faster than if you were "over"-eating.

It takes 3,200 calories to gain 1 pound of fat - 3,200 calories over what your body requires. That means if your body requires 2,400 calories daily due to your energy requirements, you would need to eat a total of 5,600 calories in order to gain 1 pound of fat. For the average person, eating that much in one day would be impossible. But, if you factor this through say several days, or a week, or even 2 weeks, it becomes very possible.

But...if you are eating too little your body stores most everything, meaning you will gain more fat more quickly than if you were simply over-eating. There is no way to calculate how fast you gain fat by starving your body, but it's significantly faster than eating too much and gaining fat.

Using the above daily calorie mandate, 2,400 calories daily for your body, let's say you ate 2,858 calories a day for a week. We know that in a week you were only supposed to eat 16,800 calories. But in this scenario you ate 20,000 calories for the week. This equals 3,206 calories more for 1 week than you were required to eat. Therfore, you would have gained 1 pound of fat. Here is what happened:

2,400 calories daily required

2,858 calories daily you consumed

16,800 calories per week required

20,006 calories per week consumed

20,006 - 16,800 = 3,206 OVER what your body required for the week

1 pound of fat gained as a result

At this rate you would have gained 4 pounds of fat in the average month, or 48 pounds of fat in a year. Getting fat doesn't happen in a week or a month. You spend years getting to that point at which you finally draw the line and tell yourself you need to "get in shape". BUT...overeating is NOT the problem with most overweight individuals. Not eating enough is the usual reason for people getting fat. Of course that doesn't make sense because the public has been brain-washed by all the books and diets that don't work, leading you to think that you need to eat less in order to lose the fat. But, before we get into that let's examine what it takes to burn fat.

Burn Calories

You need to burn 3,500 calories in order to lose 1 pound of fat.

That just doesn't seem fair. Does it?! How come it takes more to lose a pound than it does to gain a pound?! Because your body is always trying to survive. That means you need to work harder to lose fat than gain fat. Following the example above, let's calculate how long it will take to lose 1 pound of fat.

2,400 calories daily required

1,500 calories daily you consumed (limit to 700 calorie per day deficit)

16,800 calories per week required

11,900 calories per week consumed

16,800 - 13,300 = 3,500 UNDER what your body required for the week

1 pound of fat lost as a result

This will only be true after you have "re-trained" your body to know that you are eating a good diet regularly. This could take at least 6 weeks before your body is willing to 'give up' that fat. So don't think that you will lose fat immediately upon changing your calorie count.

NO MORE THAN 1 TO 1.5 POUNDS PER WEEK weight loss should ever be attempted! It's not a matter of whether it's possible. It's not healthy to shed more than 1.5 pounds per week.

GAIN Fat From UNDER-EATING?

The "average" person consumes less than 1,200 calories daily! That's right. Even those who consume the fast-foods and greasy, unhealthy, high-fat foods. Why? Because those people usually only eat 1 or 2 meals a day. Even though the greasy burger is 400 to 600 calories and contains all that 'heart stopping' saturated fat, that's only 1/3 of the calories your body needs daily. One more meal that is double the burger in calories still won't get that person over 1,500 calories for the day.

Don't be surprised when you calculate the number of calories you eat daily and find that you are not eating enough food. More than 90% of our clients have found the same thing. It's not "over-eating" that is the problem with most overweight people. The problem is that they do not eat 'enough' food (under-eating), and what foods they eat are full of saturated fat and other un-healthy ingredients that are far from nutritious. Starve your body and it will create fat in order to survive.

Lean Mass vs. Fat Mass

There are going to be a lot of people upset with the fact that we've blatantly distinguised gaining and losing fat - not muscle. This is because gaining lean mass, muscle, or losing lean mass is much different than simply eating too much. If you think you can simply eat as the above example calculations and the extra calories (more than required) will "magically" turn into muscle, that's just your mind playing tricks on you.

In order to gain lean mass (muscle), you must be doing very strenuous weight training and have good nutrition to include at least as many calories daily as you burn. You are going to need a special program to follow and be prepared to lift weight that you never thought was possible for you. You can NOT gain lean mass easily nor by simply eating more food than you normaly would consume. For those seriously interested in gaining lean mass and/or body-building, please contact us for Personal Training. The general pages of Garrison Body should be already a part of your life if you are interested in body-building and you will need to 'jump to the head of the class' by allowing us to write you a routine that will provide at least 40% gains overall.

For the general public, you should know that gaining lean mass is the best method for burning/losing fat - more than any other form of exercise. And, for those of you who are already saying you "...don't want to get big...", it takes a lot of testosterone to build lean mass. Women have very little. Men, even though they have the testosterone and will see results faster, can simply look in the mirror and decide when they are at a body shape they would like to maintain. One doesn't simply wake up one day to find they have done too much work at gaining size. It's a very gradual transition that takes many months - perhaps even years. So, for the purpose of satisfying the general public, we are addressing fat and general nutrition.

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Reduce the Fat Mass and Increase the Lean Mass

As mentioned, the best method to increase the muscle and lose the fat is through intense weight training. However, not many people are willing to train that hard. For the general public we're going to discuss how to lose the fat through methods you are 'willing' to use. By losing fat you increase the lean only because the ratio is changing - not because you are increasing the amount of lean mass on your body.

Something you should note about our nutrition information. We are not specifying any particular foods. Why? There are no magic foods. A "balanced diet means eating the proper amounts of grain, fruits, vegetables, dairy and protein. What do you need to know about nutrition? Complex carbohydrates do NOT make you fat - fat makes you fat and not eating enough food makes you fat. Your daily nutrition, or "diet", should include:

• 12 - 13% protein
• 60 - 65% carbohydrates
• 22 - 28% UN-saturated fats

Un-saturated fat is an essential part of your daily nutrition. In order for the body to transport necessary vitamins, nutrients and other essential elements throughout the body you need un-saturated fat.

If you consume too much protein your body will turn the excess into fat. Protein is the easiest essential to turn into fat.

Carbohydrates are like wood on a fire. Carbohydrates provide the essential energy and for long periods of time. Carbohydrates are the most difficult essential for the body to turn into fat.

Why "Diets" Do Not Work

Review the calculations to the left. According to the facts you can reduce your calories in order to burn fat. All the "diet" books and routines say that this is the best method for losing "weight". However, you NEVER want to have more than a 700 calorie per day deficit. That means you want your calorie expenditure to be no more than 700 over your calories consumed. Let's give you an example.

In the example our daily caloric requirement is 2,400. Now in reality, the average male weighing 160 pounds who has a desk job, drives to work, goes home and sits in front of the T.V. until it's time for bed, the guy who does 'nothing' for exercise, will burn approximately 2,000 in 24 hours. Please refer to our "Calorie Expenditure Chart" to understand why. We burn calories 24/7/365. There is never a time when our body burns nothing or under 20 calories per hour. Sleeping burns nearly as many calories per hour as sitting in front of your computer. The average person consumes approximately 900 to 1,200 calories per day. It doesn't take a mathemetician to figure out that 2,000 calories expended minus 900 calories consumed leaves a deficit of 1,100 calories daily. If you burn 2,000 calories daily you must consume at least 1,300 calories daily. Not enough food = "Catabolism"/storing (the body creates fat!). When your body does not get the required calories daily it will "store" most of what you eat. The ONLY method the body has of storing is to create fat. The speed at which the body gains fat through storing as compared to over-eating is dramatic!

Reduce My Calories and Lose...Muscle?!

If you think because you are eating fewer calories than you burn that you will lose fat, you are at this Web site for a VERY good reason! That theory is FALSE! Look around at all the people who have tried the thousands of "diets" from books or even your own physician.

TEST:

• Q: How much time does the average physician spend in training for health and nutrition before being licensed?
• A: 2 WEEKS!!!

Do you really want to trust your diet to a general practioner physician?!

If you have more than a 700 calorie per day deficit your body will store. The only defense your body has to protect itself from your not feeding it enough food is to store most of what you consume. The only method the body has to store food is to turn the food into...FAT! Did this all start to make sense? Do you understand now that starving your body only makes you more fat?

The body stores food and creates more fat when you starve your body from necessary nutrition and calories. So, in order for the body to attain the daily nutrition requirements, the body will consume the lean mass (muscle) since lean mass is full of all the good nutrients the body requires. You, then, will have forced your body into a catabolistic state - catabolism - in essence, the body is canabalizing itself - eating the muscle in order to survive.

You cannot "trick" your body. Your body will always do whatever it feels is necessary to survive. Until you eat enough nutrients daily to prove to your body that you are satisfying the daily nutrition it demands, your body will continue to use your lean mass for nutrition and continue to store food - thus, creating more fat. Eventually, you may lose weight but you become more fat than you were due to the loss of muscle and an increase in fat mass. Fat mass weighs much less than lean mass. So your 'scale' weight may decrease, but your fat will 'increase'.

Fine! Liposuction Here I Come!

If "cosmetic surgery" is something you have decided will work best for you then you obviously have a LOT of money to burn. If you elect to have any form of surgery in order to reduce fat, the fat will continue to build and you will, eventually, return to the same condition you were in prior to the surgery. Why?! Because you didn't re-train your body to eat healthy and learn about nutrition in order to stop your body from doing what brought you to the surgeon. If you are considering some sort or surgery to reduce your fat, learn about nutrition and what is considered a healthy diet before you spend that money on surgery. Then you won't return to the state that brought you to the surgeon.

I'm Really Confused Now

Let us clarify. If you want to lose fat, EAT! If you starve your body you will get fatter - perhaps your dimensions will decrease, but the fat will continue to increase. In the end, that "saggy skin" to which you refer is what is left after starving yourself. That "saggy skin" IS FAT you attempted to lose! Use the information in the pages of Garrison Body to find out how many calories per day you expend. Then, use our calculators to understand how many calories per day you need to consume. Once you have this information you are on your way to eating a good daily diet.

You will never know how much food you should be eating if you do not know how many calories per day you are expending. Your nutrition and health are based upon knowing how many calories you burn daily and how many calories you eat daily. Once you have these figures you can either attempt to create a healthy diet for yourself, or, let us provide a diet plan for you and provide the nutrition your body needs.