Introduction to meal timing, portioning, and post meal walks.

Digestion throughout the day.

Due to the way the human body digests food in relation to its circadian rhythm, front loaded diets have proven to lead to greater statistic and pragmatic weight loss. This coming from front loaded diets leading to less hunger in the evening, and structural adherence to it may help with getting to sleep. Here is an example of a typical front loaded diet:

~2400 daily calories

C: 270 81/81/67/40 P:180 45/45/45/45 F: 65 20/15/15/15

Distribution will be arranged in any order depending on your chosen meals.

Another very important part of digestion is the ten minute walks post meals. A ten minute walk post meal aids in:

• Promoting heart health by lowering blood pressure, regulating blood sugar, and lowering cholesterol

• Improving brain function through increasing the level of Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor

• Easing depression through the release of endorphins.

• Improving bone health.

• Burning calories.

• Motion is lotion!

Caloric needs.

Most people will tell you there are no quick fixes or hacks to get you in shape. But I would argue that changing something about your body in 12 to 24 months is quite the quick fix.

Everyone has different caloric needs, and if you're reading this you probably wish to lower the amount of fat you're carrying and increase the muscle mass you (don’t) hold. I have found that eating close to maintenance needs and ranging ~100 kcals below or above is the ideal for people that realize that body composition and health are not sprinting events but marathons. So when the choice is between starving yourself for 10 weeks to lose 10kg/22lbs, or eating like a normal person and enjoying life for a year and lose the same weight. Which method would you choose?

So through eating at near maintenance calories and starting out with 10 minute walks post meals the outcome is having a minor caloric deficit causing your body to burn fat to maintain and or build muscle mass.

I started at 86kg/189lbs in may 2020, eating 50 calories below maintenance at 2850, with an end goal of going down to 83kg,

A month later in June, I was already carrying considerably less fat while weighing roughly the same.

The big turning point was around September, here I weighed 84kg/185lbs while still eating the same amount of calories and walking the same amount every day.

And here we are in March 2021, after almost a year of consistency in my diet model, I am at my lightest, leanest, and strongest weighing in at 81kg/178lbs.

Eating in accordance to activity.

When trying to live a healthy and active life it is important to eat not only to curb hunger but to fuel your body until its time for the next feeding window. In my experience I have found that snacking and binging is at an all time low when meals are adequately spaced apart in accordance to their size, but also when they are adequately portioned towards the upcoming activity needs.

This means 4 meals a day, one meal every ~5 hours, with each meal containing 25% of your daily protein needs, should have their fats and carbohydrates portioned differently. The outcome being that you wont get hungry, or snacky until the next feeding time comes up. The majority of your carbs ideally should be eaten after waking up, and either pre or post workout. And the fats should be eaten in windows away from activity as it slows down digestion. Example: I wake up at 8am, and I train in the morning, so I have my breakfast an hour before my workout starts at 10am. Which means my following meal is at 2pm. So out of roughly 300 grams of carbs that I consume daily, 2/3rds will be eaten in the morning and post workout. And the remaining 100 grams split between my 7pm evening and 11pm prebed meal.

Example: Imagine I have to train at 8 in the evening instead, out of the roughly 300 grams of carbs I consume, I would eat 30% in the morning after waking up, 25% in the afternoon, and 35% at 7pm pre-workout, and the remaining 10% before bed.

Take-aways

So what are the take-aways from this post?

• Front loaded diets are better with managing hunger and weight loss

• A minimum of 10 minutes walk after every meal

• Eating at maintenance caloric intake and letting your walks and workout create a deficit

• Eating 4 meals a day portioned in accordance to upcoming activities